The True History 
 
 of the 
 
 Civil War 
 
 By 
 
 Guy Carleton Lee, Ph.D. 
 
 Of Johns Hopkins University 
 
 With Twenty-four Illustrations and Maps 
 
 Ego verum amo, verum volo mihi dici : mendaccm odl" 
 
 Philadelphia &f London 
 J. B. Lippincott Company 
 
 1903 
 
.w 
 
 Copyright, 1903 
 BY GUY CARLETON LEE 
 
 Published November IO 
 
 Electrotyped and Printed by 
 J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U. S. A. 
 
TO 
 
 GEORGE BARRIE, SR. 
 
 334247 
 
Preface 
 
 THE burden of authorship is indeed heavy, but 
 the responsibility of title-making is insupportable. 
 Therefore, while I bear the onus that may fall 
 upon me because of the contents of this book, I 
 leave to my publishers the credit or the blame 
 that may come from the title which they have 
 selected. Presumptuous, no doubt, I am to attempt 
 to crowd within the space at my command a his 
 tory of the Civil War, but, believe me, to my sins 
 of commission cannot be added that of arrogantly 
 assuming that this book of mine is the only " true" 
 history of the war between the States. Indeed, so 
 clearly do I recognize the futility of such a claim, 
 that here, in all humility and gratitude, I express 
 my obligations to the distinguished historians and 
 the score and more of patient students whose re 
 searches have made my work the easier, as well as 
 to those persons who have placed at my disposal 
 the original sources upon which I in great part 
 rely; and I am especially indebted to W. R. Gar- 
 rett, of Nashville, Oakley P. Haines, of Baltimore, 
 and Alfred Brittain, of Newark, not only for their 
 kindness in reading the proof of this volume, but 
 for the many helpful suggestions made by them. 
 
 I may say, without disparagement to the his 
 torians whose works have won deserved credit, that 
 the word " True," which the publishers have 
 
 5 
 
6X. ; .. PREFACE 
 
 chosen as best describing this book, has in it some 
 thing of force. It does not, as here used, mean 
 absolutely free from error. " True," in our title, 
 means unprejudiced and non-sectional, and in this 
 sense I accept it as placing my book in not out 
 side of the ranks of those histories which have 
 won the respect of their readers. Perhaps, too, in 
 following out the idea expressed by the word 
 True," I have succeeded in producing a book that 
 in some degree differs from existing histories in 
 that it is not written from the stand-point of a 
 neutral. What is said of any section is said as a 
 partisan of that section. I have endeavored when 
 writing of the North to write as a Northerner, of 
 the South as a Southerner, and in all this as an 
 American upon whom all the States have a claim. 
 The book attempts no balancing, no hedging, no 
 glossing, and it seeks no " golden mean," for 
 there is no true mean in passion, and the Civil War 
 was a conflict of passion. I give, therefore, a book 
 of extremes of uncompromising conclusions. I 
 present men and events as they were, not as they 
 might have been. In this presentation I have 
 necessarily written plainly, perhaps brutally, but 
 in every case in strict honesty. 
 
 GUY CARLETON LEE. 
 
 JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY. 
 
Contents 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. IN THE BEGINNING n 
 
 II. THE SLAVERY PROBLEM 24 
 
 III. PRECEDENT EVENTS 54 
 
 IV. THE NATIONALIZATION OF SLAVERY 88 
 
 V. KANSAS BUCHANAN S ADMINISTRATION 112 
 
 VI. THE ELECTION OF LINCOLN 131 
 
 VII. THE FIRST BLOWS 156 
 
 VIII. THE THREE-MONTHS WAR 185 
 
 IX. PREPARATIONS FOR THE LONG CONFLICT 208 
 
 X. SOUTHERN SUCCESSES 242 
 
 XL THE WAR IN THE WEST 264 
 
 XII. THE WAR IN VIRGINIA 294 
 
 XIII. LEE S INVASIONS 3*3 
 
 XIV. SHERMAN S MARCH 34* 
 
 XV. GRANT ENDS THE STRUGGLE 372 
 
 XVI. RECONSTRUCTION 394 
 
List of Illustrations and Maps 
 
 PAGE 
 
 NEWSPAPER POSTER ANNOUNCING THE DISSOLUTION OF THE 
 
 UNION Frontispiece 
 
 CALHOUN, WEBSTER, AND CLAY 64 
 
 From a photograph by Brady 
 
 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON 68 
 
 LETTER FROM ABRAHAM LINCOLN TO SALMON P. CHASE... 92 
 STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS 136 
 
 From a photograph by Brady 
 
 MAP OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1860 142 
 
 JEFFERSON DAVIS 146 
 
 ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS 164 
 
 From a photograph by Brady 
 
 GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT 176 
 
 From a photograph by Brady 
 
 GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE 192 
 
 GENERAL ULYSSES S. GRANT 216 
 
 From a photograph by Brady 
 
 REFERENCE MAP FOR THE CIVIL WAR, 1861-65 22 ^ 
 
 LETTER FROM JEFFERSON DAVIS TO P. C. JOHNSON 236 
 
 LETTER FROM "STONEWALL" JACKSON TO MAJOR FRENCH . 244 
 MAP OF THE VICINITY OF VICKSBURG, ILLUSTRATING OPERA 
 TIONS OF GENERAL GRANT S ARMY, APRIL AND MAY, 
 1863 286 
 
 LETTER FROM GENERAL ULYSSES S. GRANT 290 
 
 9 
 
io LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 LETTER FROM GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE TO GENERAL 
 
 JAMES LONGSTREET 296 
 
 MAP OF THE THEATRE OF WAR IN VIRGINIA 302 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 322 
 
 From a photograph by Brady 
 
 ANTI-ABOLITION PLACARD r 330 
 
 PLACARD ISSUED BY GOVERNOR CURTIN, OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
 CALLING FOR VOLUNTEERS FOR THE DEFENCE OF THE 
 
 STATE, JUNE, 1863 336 
 
 THE BATTLE OF THE CRATER 384 
 
 From the painting by Elder 
 
 POSTER ANNOUNCING THE REWARD FOR THE APPREHENSION 
 
 OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN S ASSASSIN 396 
 
 GENERAL LEE ON " TRAVELLER" 404 
 
 [The poster of the Charleston Mercury and \hzfac-s-imile letters appearing 
 in this volume are reproduced by kindly permission from the collection of the 
 Historical Society of Pennsylvania.] 
 
The True History of the 
 Civil War 
 
 IN THE BEGINNING 
 
 THE seeds of dissension between the North 
 and the South were carried to Virginia in the 
 ships commanded by Newport, and to Massachu 
 setts in the " Mayflower." Each kind fell upon 
 soil well adapted to nourish its characteristics. 
 The progress of the colonization and settle 
 ment of the sections was so affected by natural 
 laws that the germs of antagonism developed 
 until dissensions in opinion became conflicts 
 of force; and the union of States, the result of 
 rebellion and compromise, was well-nigh perma 
 nently dissolved into congeries of conflicting 
 democracies. 
 
 Elemental causes of the great conflict between 
 the sections may be seen, for example, in the 
 spatial separation of the people, their differing 
 social antecedents in the old country, the indus 
 trial and social results of contrasting climatic in 
 fluences, and the political consequences of differ 
 ing locations and environments. In all this, 
 
 XI 
 
12 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 however, there is not found anything that is 
 necessarily productive of disunion. 
 
 In the beginning of their history the people of 
 the United States were not far from being homo 
 geneous. It is safe to say that, under similar 
 succeeding conditions, racial differences, as well 
 as those resulting from social status, might have 
 disappeared, for there was no natural barrier 
 between North and South; indeed, the confor 
 mation of the country is as if it were designed 
 for one people. Of this Abraham Lincoln made 
 a point in his inaugural address : 
 
 " We cannot separate, we cannot remove our respective 
 sections from each other. We cannot build an impassable 
 wall between them. A husband and a wife may be divorced, 
 and go out of the presence and beyond the reach of each 
 other, but the different parts of our country cannot do this. 
 They cannot but remain face to face, and intercourse, 
 either amicable or hostile, must continue between them." 
 
 Nevertheless, there was in the beginning an 
 almost imperceptible rift between the people of 
 the North and those of the South. This grad 
 ually widened until, notwithstanding the neces 
 sity for union, a separation in sentiment, thought, 
 and custom arose. This estrangement developed 
 until it gave to the people of the North and the 
 South the aspect of two races, manifesting 
 towards each other all the antipathy of rival 
 and dissimilar nations and, in their disagree 
 ments, rendering impossible either sympathy 
 with each other s stand-point or patient listen 
 ing to each other s contention. 
 
IN THE BEGINNING 13 
 
 The direct cause of the outbreak of the war 
 between the States was slavery; the direct object 
 of the prosecution of the war was the preserva 
 tion of the Union; but rightly to understand 
 these patent elements of the conflict, the far- 
 descending causes must be traced back to those 
 influences which threw the North and the South 
 out of sympathy with each other. 
 
 The differentiation of the American people ap 
 pears to have had its beginning in the original, 
 pre-colonial British stock from which they were 
 derived. To the North, in the days of settle 
 ment, came the alert, democratic, middle-class 
 townspeople, while the Southern colonists were, 
 in large part, of the rural aristocratic type. 
 
 As two distinct classes of English society set 
 tled America, so did two distinct principles 
 actuate and control the settlement itself, mate 
 rial interests, as sought by the individual adven 
 turer as well as by the whole colony; ideas, 
 seeking a refuge in the wilderness from cramp 
 ing intolerance at home. The former directed 
 the original settlement of the South; the latter 
 were, in great measure, the cause of the earliest 
 immigrations to the North and more especially 
 to New England. 
 
 Newport brought to Jamestown one hundred 
 and five souls, of whom one-half were gentlemen 
 expecting nothing other than to live as such 
 on estates the like of which the law of primo 
 geniture denied to them in the Old World. The 
 " Mayflower" conveyed a company of people 
 
14 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 who were prepared to cling desperately to any 
 conditions in which liberty was a possible 
 feature. 
 
 We cannot afford to overlook the influence 
 exerted on early American social and political 
 conceptions by the nature of the agricultural 
 products of the different sections of the country. 
 While, under the conditions then prevailing, the 
 crops of the South could be cultivated profitably 
 only upon a large scale and by some sort of 
 system of enforced labor, those of the North, in 
 the very nature of things, made for small farms 
 tilled by the owners themselves. In the South, 
 therefore, the bondage of the black race found 
 easy and welcome acceptance. Large holdings, 
 aristocratic institutions, and slave labor were 
 natural to Virginia and the other Southern colo 
 nies, while in New England small holdings, dem 
 ocratic institutions, and free labor prevailed. 
 The contrast is such, therefore, that divergence 
 of habit and sentiment can alone be expected 
 in the succeeding history. Would the results 
 have been the same had the colonists of Virginia 
 settled in Massachusetts Bay and those aboard 
 the " Mayflower" disembarked on the banks of 
 the James River? 
 
 We have, then, two peoples who, though geo 
 graphically undivided, inevitably drew apart 
 from each other because, the dominant strain in 
 each originally sprang from different classes of 
 society and because of the results of dissimilar 
 environment. 
 
IN THE BEGINNING 15 
 
 The social contrast between the colonists of 
 the two sections has, however, been frequently 
 thrust into too great prominence. We must re 
 member that there was a strong sprinkling of 
 Independents and Covenanters throughout the 
 South, and not a few scions of the gentry class 
 went to Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut. It 
 is, nevertheless, true and vitally important that 
 the royalist faction impressed its character on 
 Southern social and political habits of thought 
 and action, while its despised rival laid the foun 
 dation of New England. But in both North and 
 South office-holding became a mark of distinc 
 tion and the starting-point of an indigenous 
 aristocracy. 
 
 A free soil for Puritanism peopled Massachu 
 setts ; a desire to better their material well-being 
 sent colonists to Virginia. It may be open to 
 question as to whether burning old women for 
 witchcraft or paying one hundred and fifty 
 pounds of tobacco for a wife were a more de 
 cided reversion to barbarism; at all events, the 
 Puritans did not hesitate to enslave the pagan 
 aborigines, and African domestic servitude ex 
 isted in all the colonies, while an active com 
 merce in slaves sprang up throughout the South ; 
 but in course of time the social ideals as well 
 as the industrial conditions of the North grew 
 more, as those of the South grew less, impatient 
 of slavery. 
 
 Men who have been persecuted cultivate in 
 tolerance when they come into power; conse- 
 
1 6 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 quently, the laissez faire principle was an impos 
 sibility in New England. The immoderation of 
 the abolitionist descended to New Englanders 
 by direct inheritance from the narrowness of the 
 Puritan. When the descendants of the Puritans 
 once formed the notion that a thing was wrong, 
 no consideration of expediency, extenuating cir 
 cumstance, or the necessities of the times could 
 divert them from utterly denouncing it. It was 
 this habit in their manner of dealing with slavery 
 which later on so thoroughly exasperated the 
 South. On the other hand, the Southern peo 
 ple took little pains to adapt themselves to 
 the peculiarities of their Northern neighbors, for 
 the ruling class had not been bred to regard 
 with favor a policy of conciliation. Convinced 
 of the justice of their cause, and even more confi 
 dent of their ability to carry their point, the de 
 scendants of the Cavaliers strove against the 
 sons of the Puritans, and this, too, with an air of 
 superiority that caused New England to swallow 
 hard, to gulp back, if need were, her rage. 
 
 The disproportion between the natural advan 
 tages of North and South is plain, though the 
 worth of that difference is by no means so ap 
 parent. When the colonies had developed into 
 States, the natural differences between the sec 
 tions were more noticeable. 
 
 Despite her climatic and geographic advan 
 tages, upon which great stress has been laid by 
 many historians, the South was behind the North 
 in every element that made for permanent pros- 
 
IN THE BEGINNING 17 
 
 perity, and much of her advantage was unavail 
 able. Each census marked an advance in the 
 status of the North, and each census warned 
 the South that, unless some action were taken to 
 check the movement of the North or add to the 
 progress of the South, the day might speedily 
 come when the power of the slave-holding States 
 would be as nothing against that of the free 
 States with their numerical preponderance " and 
 the ability to control the legislation of Congress, 
 which, under the Constitution, was theirs by 
 virtue of their resistless majority." 
 
 The differences in status and habitat did not, 
 however, in the first years of settlement, produce 
 a conflict of opinion upon what was to be a 
 question that the Civil War alone could answer. 
 The subjection of the blacks to enforced ser 
 vitude was, in the beginning of the history of 
 the United States, considered compatible with 
 both justice and Christianity. As the industry 
 of the South was confined to agriculture and the 
 raising of semi-tropical products, slavery was 
 there regarded as making for the welfare of the 
 section. But the manufacturers and traders of 
 the North could not avail themselves of slave 
 labor. Nature herself excluded New England 
 from all possibility of a wide-spread system of 
 African bondage. This was realized more 
 quickly than the idea of the unrighteousness of 
 the traffic was conceived, for, in many cases, the 
 thrifty farmers sent their blacks to the South to 
 be sold. 
 
1 8 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 Slavery was not, therefore, a source of mis 
 understanding. It is true that at the very first 
 Congress petitions were received praying for its 
 abolition. They were from Pennsylvania and 
 New York. But there were those in the South, 
 even among the ranks of the slave-holders, who 
 were equally willing to have this design accom 
 plished. 
 
 But new inventions, an extension of territory, 
 the desire for tropical luxuries, and a demand 
 for home markets united in crushing out the 
 general abolition sentiment of the eighteenth 
 century that, North and South, had been born 
 of the French Revolution. Individuals in the 
 South, however, continued, even down to the war 
 between the sections, to encourage emancipa 
 tion, either by voluntarily manumitting their 
 slaves by deed or will or by allowing them to buy 
 their time; nor was the Liberia scheme without 
 its Southern supporters, though as to the latter, 
 the North asserted that the South encouraged 
 it for the sole purpose of ridding the land of the 
 free negroes. On the other hand, there was 
 nothing in the religious or moral ideas of the 
 Puritan that specially predisposed him to view 
 the institution of slavery with disfavor. Be 
 lieving as he did that men should be guided in 
 their conduct by the Scriptures, not by the spirit 
 breathed through the whole but by the precept 
 of each individual text, he quite contentedly fol 
 lowed, and allowed others to follow, the example 
 of the Patriarchs. The Puritans who removed 
 
IN THE BEGINNING 19 
 
 to the South soon became slave-holders them 
 selves, and not a few defended the institution 
 from the Bible, as did Southern divines at a later 
 date. 
 
 Public opinion in the North, however, where 
 domestic servitude was not profitable, grew more 
 and more opposed to the institution, especially 
 after the discovery that slavery and the tariff were 
 irreconcilable, until at last the institution was 
 thefe stigmatized as " the sum of all villanies." 
 A corresponding determination to maintain the 
 system manifested itself in the South, where it 
 was looked upon as being essential to Southern 
 economic conditions. The people of the one 
 section condemned as a sin an act which they 
 were under no temptation to commit ; the people 
 of the other section saw a dispensation of Provi 
 dence in that which their fancied interest predis 
 posed them to maintain. Consequently, all the 
 latent antagonism of social organization, ideals, 
 and pursuits which existed between the North 
 and the South was stirred into lively activity by 
 the efforts of the abolitionists. In the long 
 struggle of this party of agitation to win public 
 opinion to their cause, was evinced in wordy 
 debate all that bitterness which was later to char 
 acterize the fratricidal war. Misunderstanding, 
 originally arising from the causes mentioned, 
 warped and distorted the view which the people 
 of each section took of the aims of the other. 
 All the virtue and honor of the South was held 
 as naught by a large and growing party that 
 
20 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 had eyes for nothing but the evil of African 
 bondage, while those to whom slavery seemed 
 an economic necessity stubbornly refused to rec 
 ognize any honesty of purpose in the North. 
 
 Given the institution of slavery as the bone of 
 contention between sections already predisposed 
 to jealousy and misunderstanding, and ultimate 
 conflict is almost inevitable. With the introduc 
 tion of the slavery question into Congress, a new 
 school of statesmen sprang up. In the North 
 men looked to the future, with novel conceptions 
 of national life and power; in the South nearly 
 every eye reverted, almost instinctively, to the 
 past and scanned with eagerness the forgotten 
 Articles of Confederation with their reservations 
 as to State sovereignty. Unfortunately, there 
 were few, either at the North or at the South, 
 who understood the portent of the situation. 
 Perhaps that was too much to expect. But to 
 the average Southern mind, " our people" and 
 " our country" meant one thing; to the average 
 Northern mind, quite another. 
 
 Another potential dissimilarity between the 
 two sections is found in their prevailing eccle 
 siastical systems. Congregationalism in New 
 England, with all its Hebraistic Eutopianism 
 and Blue Laws, fostered a theocracy which was 
 in reality a democracy. The church in the South 
 made the parish the unit of government. The 
 vestries presiding over these parishes were, in 
 many cases, close and co-optative corporations, 
 which had no small effect in accustoming the 
 
IN THE BEGINNING 21 
 
 people to leave public matters in the hands of 
 their leaders. 
 
 Southern society contained in its constitution 
 all those elements which tend to resist change. 
 Urban centres were few and small, while the 
 large areas of the States, as contrasted with 
 those of the Northern commonwealths, was a 
 barrier to intercommunication. Then, too, the 
 North was progressive in its opinions, principles, 
 and organizations, while the South was stub 
 bornly conservative. Hence, in the discussion of 
 every national question which involved a new 
 departure, there arose suspicion and misunder 
 standing. Tory and Whig did not wish to agree. 
 
 Moreover, in the North every institution 
 tended to excessive individualism and to the 
 union of the various sections. The growth of 
 town life directed towards the municipal organ 
 izations those local attachments which at the 
 South, in the absence of urban centres, went to 
 the States. 
 
 Everywhere were being built cities which 
 gathered their inhabitants from all parts of the 
 North. The different sections became bound 
 together by canals, railroads, and telegraphs. 
 Companies for banking and commercial purposes 
 drew their members and capital from all direc 
 tions, indifferent to State boundaries. Manu 
 facturing and trade made strongly for disinte 
 gration. Religious and educational associations 
 arose, which included members in cities and 
 towns far asunder. All this militated against an 
 
22 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 exclusive affection for the individual State, but 
 fostered patriotism in a wider and national sense. 
 
 The inhabitants of the North have always 
 been in a large measure a floating population 
 and one of varying elements. Side by side with 
 the immense influence of migration stood that 
 of immigration. The stream of foreign immi 
 gration which emptied itself almost exclusively 
 upon the shores of the North brought an ever- 
 increasing body of people from Great Britain, 
 Ireland, Germany, Scandinavia, and other Euro 
 pean countries. These scattered in all direc 
 tions; while attached to the government of the 
 country in which they obtained citizenship, they 
 naturally could not hold deep-rooted predilec 
 tion for any one State. 
 
 Foreign immigration had little effect on the 
 South; in fact, it was scarcely present, being ex 
 cluded and rendered almost impossible by the 
 presence of slavery. In view of these patent 
 facts, it is no wonder that the drift towards cen 
 tralization, which early gained ground at the 
 North, was first largely a matter of indifference 
 and later a subject of stern opposition in the 
 South. 
 
 Notwithstanding the final ratification of the 
 Federal Constitution by the Thirteen States, and 
 notwithstanding the fact that there was no more 
 opposition to its acceptance in the South (save 
 the bitter attack led by Patrick Henry) than in 
 the North, the exceptions taken by the delegates 
 from Maryland to the Articles of Confederation 
 
IN THE BEGINNING 23 
 
 of 1778 express a jealousy of national preroga 
 tive which, on the part of the South, was never 
 overcome, and which, with the other causes we 
 have indicated, brought about the movement 
 which culminated in that conflict which to one 
 side was a war between the States, to the other a 
 rebellion. 
 
II 
 
 THE SLAVERY PROBLEM 
 
 THE blight of negro slavery infected the South 
 in the very earliest infancy of its history. In 
 1619 a ship, engaged in the Dutch trade, touched 
 at Jamestown and there sold a few negroes to 
 the colonists. This traffic, however, did not 
 greatly flourish at first, for in 1650 or thirty- 
 one years after their first introduction only 
 three hundred negroes were to be found in Vir 
 ginia. It was not until 1663 that the institution 
 began to take a firm hold in Virginia. At that 
 date a sharp impetus was given to the traffic by 
 the formation, in England, of a company for the 
 special purpose of importing slaves ; a head-right 
 or bonus being awarded the colonists who im 
 ported negroes, the traffic grew apace. The 
 Royal African Company, at the head of which 
 was the Duke of York, had the monopoly of this 
 business; it increased its profits and forced 
 slavery on the colony by the enactment of laws 
 which cut off the supply of indentured servants. 
 Down to a late date, however, the people of Vir 
 ginia looked upon slavery as an evil which they 
 had been compelled to accept and of which they 
 would gladly be rid. 
 
 In South Carolina, natural conditions made 
 
 slave labor more acceptable. The rice-plant was 
 24 
 
THE SLAVERY PROBLEM 25 
 
 early brought from Madagascar. For it and for 
 indigo, also, the soil of South Carolina was found 
 to be eminently suitable; but the cultivation of 
 these products was attended by conditions disas 
 trous to the health of white people, and it seemed 
 as if there was little chance for the planters 
 unless they could procure Africans, who were 
 better suited to the work. In one year a slave 
 could produce enough rice and indigo to defray 
 his whole cost. It was impossible for the not 
 overactive principles of humanity then existing 
 to stand in the way of such attractive prospects 
 of gain. 
 
 The condition of the slaves employed in this 
 labor was one of extreme degradation. The only 
 indication that their owners regarded them as 
 being in the least degree removed from the 
 nature of beasts is found in the severe laws en 
 acted to prevent an uprising. Many of these 
 enactments, however, were less bloody than they 
 now seem, and were made either to terrorize the 
 newly arrived savage Africans or to ward off 
 the influence of the West Indian blacks ever a 
 source of dread in the far South. Whipping was 
 the universal punishment for bondmen, white or 
 black. Mutilation was the next step in severity. 
 Death was the statutory punishment in the South 
 for the majority of crimes committed by negroes, 
 though deportation was greatly favored; hang 
 ing was the common form of execution, and we 
 have record of negroes having been burned at 
 the stake in the North. There was no legal 
 
26 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 recognition of any binding form of marriage 
 among slaves, and in consequence sexual rela 
 tions were extremely promiscuous. But custom 
 was softer than the positive law, and in course 
 of time slaves were encouraged to go through 
 the marriage ceremony before a minister. 
 
 An endeavor was made to establish and main 
 tain Georgia as a free colony. Oglethorpe, who 
 founded it in 1773, was in so doing largely moved 
 by his desire to provide the large number of debt 
 ors who languished in the London prisons an 
 opportunity to make a new start under improved 
 conditions. Consistency demanded that, with 
 such an origin, the colony should contain none 
 but free inhabitants. Its founder maintained 
 that slavery was contrary to both the Gospel and 
 the fundamental law of England. " We refused," 
 said he, " as trustees, to make a law permitting 
 such a horrid crime." Besides this, Oglethorpe 
 clearly saw the effect that slavery would have 
 on the poor white laborer ; his purpose in found 
 ing the colony was not to provide the affluent 
 an opportunity profitably to invest their wealth, 
 but to give the unfortunate a chance to redeem 
 their fortunes. But these humane provisions 
 were not for long regarded. At the first, the 
 planters hired slaves from the South Carolinians ; 
 and within seven years from Oglethorpe s first 
 landing, cargoes of negroes captured in Africa 
 were being unloaded at Savannah. 
 
 During its early history Georgia was for a time 
 the scene of the labors of Whitefield, the great 
 
THE SLAVERY PROBLEM 27 
 
 Methodist preacher, who founded an orphan- 
 house at Savannah. It is interesting, as illus 
 trating how the slave traffic was viewed by the 
 most religious men of that time in respect to its 
 morality, to note the position which Whitefield 
 took in the matter. In a letter written in 1751 
 he expresses himself as having no doubt as to the 
 lawfulness of keeping slaves; and he states the 
 opinion that Georgia would have been much 
 more prosperous if the use of them had been 
 earlier permitted. At the same time, he was 
 careful to indicate how gain and godliness, profit 
 and piety, might be combined : 
 
 " Though it is true they are brought in a wrong way 
 from their own country, and it is a trade not to be ap 
 proved of, yet as it will be carried on whether we will or 
 not, I should think myself highly favored if I could pur 
 chase a good number of them in order to make their lives 
 comfortable, and lay a foundation for breeding up their 
 posterity in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I 
 had no hand in bringing them into Georgia, though my 
 judgment was for it." 
 
 At the time of his death this famous divine 
 owned seventy-five slaves, whom he bequeathed 
 to a lady who was also a religious zealot of his 
 own type. 
 
 Whitefield as a slave-owner was not excep 
 tional among clergymen. Even Jonathan Ed 
 wards owned slaves, as a bill of sale still in exist 
 ence plainly shows. In the North as well as in 
 the South slaves were held by the clergy. 
 
 Traffic in human beings was attended by no 
 
28 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 compunctions of the Puritan conscience. As 
 with the South, so the records of slavery in Mas 
 sachusetts begin with its earliest history. The 
 first statute establishing slavery in America is 
 to be found in the famous Code of Funda 
 mentals, or Body of Liberties of the Massachu 
 setts Colony in New England, the first code of 
 laws of that colony, adopted in December, 1641. 
 The first persons held in bondage were Indians 
 captured in the Pequot war of 1637. But in 
 order that these might not be a menace to their 
 captors, the men were sold in the Bermudas, 
 while the women were distributed as domestic 
 servants in the towns around .the bay. This 
 treatment was in many cases attended by great 
 sorrow to the unhappy captives. In earliest New 
 England we find no regard for the preservation 
 of the integrity of the slave family. In the eigh 
 teenth century even the parting, by sale, of par 
 ents and children or of husband and wife, a pro 
 ceeding which was to be held in the bitterest 
 reproach by the North when it was practised 
 in the South in the nineteenth century, did not 
 attract appreciable disapprobation. 
 
 The giving away of little negroes as soon as 
 weaned was then a common civility, much as it 
 now is for one to present a friend with a puppy. 
 Little regard was paid to any natural affection a 
 black mother might be supposed to cherish for 
 her offspring. " A likely negro woman about 
 nineteen years, and a child of about sixteen 
 months, to be sold together or apart," this is an 
 
THE SLAVERY PROBLEM 29 
 
 example of the sort of advertisement frequently 
 seen in Boston in the eighteenth century. 
 
 The destruction of home ties by the removal 
 of slaves to new sections of the country, where 
 they were friendless, was later to be a matter of 
 reprobation when the antislavery agitation was 
 on; but in this New England again led. No 
 words can describe this practice so well as those 
 of Edward Everett at Bloody Brook, in 1835, 
 when he speaks of the treatment of the family of 
 Philip, the great Pequot chief: 
 
 " And what was the fate of Philip s wife and his son ? 
 This is a tale for husbands and wives, for parents and 
 children. Young men and women, you cannot understand 
 it. What was the fate of Philip s wife and child? She is 
 a woman, he is a lad. They did not surely hang them. 
 No, that would have been mercy. The boy is the grandson, 
 his mother the daughter-in-law, of good old Massasoit, the 
 first and best friend the English ever had in New England. 
 Perhaps perhaps, now Philip is slain, and his warriors 
 scattered to the four winds, they will allow his wife and 
 son to go back the widow and the orphan to finish their 
 days and sorrows in their native wilderness. They are 
 sold into slavery, West Indian slavery! an Indian princess 
 and her child, sold from the cool breezes of Mount Hope, 
 from the wild freedom of a New England forest, to gasp 
 under the lash, beneath the blazing sun of the tropics! 
 Bitter as death ; aye, bitter as hell ! Is there anything 
 I do not say in the range of humanity is there anything 
 animated that would not struggle against this?" 
 
 The enslavement of the Pequots led to the 
 establishment of a slave-trade among the North 
 ern colonies, and the " Desire," one of the very 
 first vessels built in Massachusetts, was fitted out 
 for the carrying on of that traffic. This enter- 
 
30 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 prise was, in its first stages, a public matter. 
 The colony was the principal in the business, and 
 individuals received strong hints that private in 
 terests were for the present to keep out of the 
 traffic. However, the profits promised to be so 
 large and the demand for slaves in foreign parts 
 so constant and increasing that private ventures 
 began in the earliest days of New England s 
 commerce. Ships took cargoes of colonial prod 
 ucts across the Atlantic; and then, touching at 
 African ports, they procured a load of slaves for 
 the homeward run. These negroes were at first 
 sold in the Barbadoes and other West Indian 
 islands, but the trade finally included the Amer 
 ican coast ports. The traffic became so popular 
 that great attention was paid to it by the New 
 England ship-owners, and they practically mo 
 nopolized it for many years. New York, how 
 ever, was not to be outdone by her Eastern 
 rival, and her port became a centre of the slave- 
 trade. 
 
 To the great discredit of the Puritans, it must 
 be admitted that treacherous means were some 
 times resorted to in order to maintain the supply 
 of this kind of merchandise. It is on record that 
 on one occasion one hundred and fifty Indians 
 were enticed into Plymouth by a show of friend 
 liness, and were then sold out of the country by 
 the authorities. The women, however, were 
 usually retained as especially acceptable prizes 
 bestowed by a Providence having a peculiar re 
 gard for the Puritans. Captain Stoughton, who 
 
THE SLAVERY PROBLEM 31 
 
 led in the Pequot war above mentioned, wrote 
 to Governor Winthrop : 
 
 " By this pinnace you shall receive forty-eight or fifty 
 women and children . . . concerning which there is one I 
 formerly mentioned, that is the fairest and largest I saw 
 among them, to whom I gave a coat to clothe her. It is 
 my desire to have her for a servant, if it may stand with 
 your good liking, else not. There is a little squaw that 
 Stewart Culacut desireth, to whom he hath given a coat. 
 Lieut. Davenport also desireth one, to wit, a small one, 
 that hath three strokes upon her stomach, thus: | | | + 
 He desireth her, if it will stand with your liking. Solomon, 
 the Indian, desireth a young little squaw, which I know 
 not." 
 
 The Indians were usually, however, exchanged 
 for negroes, called by the colonists " Moors/ the 
 character of the natives being such that they 
 were of more value elsewhere than in their own 
 country. The above-mentioned governor re 
 ceived a letter from his brother-in-law, Downing, 
 in which the latter, speaking of the Narragan- 
 setts, with which tribe the colonists were having 
 trouble, says : 
 
 " If, upon a just war, the Lord should deliver them into 
 our hands, we might easily have men, women, and children 
 enough to exchange for Moors, which will be more gainful 
 pillage for us than we can conceive, for I do not see how 
 we can thrive until we get in a stock of slaves sufficient to 
 do all our business ; for our children s children will hardly 
 see this great continent rilled with people, so that our 
 servants will still desire freedom to plant for themselves, 
 and not stay but for very great wages. And I suppose you 
 know very well how we shall maintain twenty Moors 
 cheaper than one English servant," 
 
32 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 But negro slavery never took a very deep hold 
 in Massachusetts. For a century after the settle 
 ment, the number of slaves increased very slowly, 
 and it is probable that the largest number at 
 any time in the colony never greatly exceeded 
 six thousand. They were used almost entirely 
 as domestic servants. Their condition was re 
 garded with the same apathy as in the Southern 
 colonies. The increasing of their number by 
 procreation was in the first years of the colony 
 regarded with favor, and not a few persons 
 strove to rear slaves. We have a curious record 
 of this in Josselyn s account of two voyages to 
 New England. He tells us that Samuel Mave 
 rick, one of the principal colonists, possessed a 
 very superior negress who refused to be mated 
 with any of the blacks of her owner. Maverick, 
 however, was a stubborn man, and became pos 
 sessed of the idea that the progeny of such a fine 
 wench would be of much value to him. He there 
 fore attempted that of which no Southern slave 
 owner has been accused : seeing she would not 
 yield by persuasions to company with a young 
 negro man he had in the house, he commanded 
 him, willed she nilled she, to go to her bed, which 
 was no sooner done than by a fierce struggle she 
 ejected the intruder. Her grief was so great as 
 to lead her to recount what she regarded as her 
 wrongs to Josselyn, who was at the time visiting 
 Maverick. 
 
 The breeding of slaves ceased in New Eng 
 land, but not because of religious or humanita- 
 
THE SLAVERY PROBLEM 33 
 
 rian scruples. It was cheaper to buy than to 
 rear. White bondmen of almost the same status 
 as slaves, and red and black adult slaves, were 
 abundant and cheap. Therefore the increasing 
 of the slave population by natural means was not 
 looked upon with favor, for childbearing inter 
 fered with service and the rearing of children 
 was accompanied by an expense that brought 
 no adequate return. In 1680 Bradstreet wrote: 
 " There are very few blacks born here, not above 
 five or six in a year at most; none are baptized 
 that I ever heard of." The ordinary practice 
 was to sell a slave who was pregnant and to 
 dispose of the offspring either before or imme 
 diately after its birth. Two advertisements are 
 interesting in this connection ; the first was pub 
 lished in the Continental Journal, March i, 1781, 
 and reads : 
 
 " To be Sold, an extraordinary likely Negro Wench, 17 
 years old, she can be warranted to be strong, healthy and 
 good-natured, has no notion of Freedom, has been always 
 used to a Farmer s Kitchen and dairy, and is not known to 
 have any failing, but being with Child, which is the only 
 cause of her being sold." 
 
 The second was printed in the Independent 
 Chronicle on December 14, 21, and 28, 1780, and 
 is a curious example of the reluctance of New 
 Englanders to rear slaves : 
 
 " A Negro Child, soon expected, of a good breed, may 
 be owned by any Person inclining to take it, and Money 
 with it." 
 
34 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 Active opposition to slavery originated not in 
 the conscience of the Puritan, nor yet in that of 
 the Cavalier, but among the Quakers whom both 
 so cruelly persecuted. In 1688 some of the fol 
 lowers of William Penn, who were settled in 
 Pennsylvania, declared that buying, selling, and 
 holding men in slavery were inconsistent with the 
 principles of the Christian religion. 
 
 It was not until 1766, however, that an effec 
 tive movement against slavery was fairly 
 launched. By this time, another spirit had begun 
 to gain a foothold in the North. From 1767 
 until 1774, representatives in the Massachusetts 
 Assembly, instructed by their constituents, 
 brought in bills " for the total abolishing of 
 slavery among us." But these measures suc 
 cessively failed to obtain the governor s ap 
 proval. It was to the interest of England to 
 promote the slave-trade and slavery. No clause 
 in the Treaty of Utrecht was more jealously 
 guarded than that which gave her the exclusive 
 right of selling Africans in the Spanish West 
 Indies and on the coast of America. In view of 
 the policy which England has always consistently 
 followed when her commercial interests have 
 been in question, it is not surprising that her 
 governors in these colonies should frown upon 
 legislation so entirely derogatory to those inter 
 ests, " or that the modest efforts of Massachu 
 setts, in 1744, should be met by Hutchinson and 
 Gage with the same spirit which in 1775 dictated 
 the reply of the Earl of Dartmouth to the earnest 
 
THE SLAVERY PROBLEM 35 
 
 remonstrance of the agent of Jamaica against 
 the policy of the government : We cannot allow 
 the colonies to check or discourage in any 
 manner a traffic so beneficial to the nation/ 
 
 When, in 1776, the government of Massachu 
 setts had been reorganized in accordance with 
 the advice of the Continental Congress, it made, 
 in theory, short work of the question of slavery. 
 Some negroes had been taken in an English ship 
 and were brought into Salem to be sold. This 
 was prevented by the General Court, and the 
 House passed a resolution that : " The selling 
 and enslaving the human species is a direct viola 
 tion of the natural rights alike vested in them 
 by their Creator, and utterly inconsistent with 
 the avowed principles on which this and the 
 other States have carried on their struggle for 
 liberty." But this resolution accomplished little, 
 for the sentiment of the community was divided ; 
 the majority of the people were not as yet of the 
 opinion that slavery was wrong. Traffic in slaves 
 continued, and even in 1780 the newspapers of 
 New England contained many advertisements 
 like the following: 
 
 " To be Sold, very Cheap, for no other Reason than for 
 want of Employ, an exceeding Active Negro boy, aged 
 fifteen. Also, a likely Negro Girl, aged seventeen." 
 
 " To be sold a likely Negro girl, 16 years of Age, for no 
 fault, but want of employ." 
 
 " To be Sold, a likely Negro Boy, about 13 years old, 
 well calculated to wait on a Gentleman. Inquire of the 
 Printer." 
 
36 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 " To be Sold, a likely young Cow and Calf. Inquire of 
 the Printer." 
 
 " To be Sold, for want of employment, an exceeding 
 likely Negro Girl, aged fifteen." 
 
 " To be Sold, a likely Negro Boy, about eighteen years 
 of Age, fit for to serve a Gentleman, to tend horses or to 
 work in the Country." 
 
 The sentiment against slavery was, however, 
 on the increase. The principles of liberty, which 
 for two decades had been sedulously preached 
 by the revolutionists, were extended by a certain 
 portion of the community to cover the blacks in 
 bondage. The idea of abolition began to grow. 
 Resting solely upon a humanitarian base, it 
 might not have endured; but sentiment was re 
 inforced by economic conditions. It had been 
 proved beyond question that slavery was un 
 profitable in New England, and, further, that free 
 negroes were a " dead-weight" to the community 
 and a clog to free white labor. 
 
 A section of the early antislavery party ex 
 hibited, in 1780, positive antagonism to the very 
 presence of the blacks, and by an act of March 
 26, 1788, all negroes resident in Massachusetts 
 and not citizens of some one of the United States 
 were ordered to depart under penalty of whip 
 ping. 
 
 But, on the other hand, slavery was the source 
 of large and constant profit to those buying, sell 
 ing, or carrying negroes. These persons, backed 
 by those to whom slavery was a patriarchal insti- 
 
THE SLAVERY PROBLEM 37 
 
 tution to be cherished, or a matter concerning 
 the internal polity of a sister State and not to be 
 interfered with, continued in power until the 
 period just anterior to the Civil War, though 
 slavery in New England practically ceased early 
 in the century. 
 
 The antislavery party, however, secured, with 
 out opposition, in the constitution of 1780 a 
 clause which read : " All men are born free and 
 equal, and have certain natural, essential, and un- 
 alienable rights." In the following year the Su 
 preme Court construed this as rendering the 
 condition of slavery impossible in the Common 
 wealth. Yet it can be held to have done so only 
 by implication, and in not a few cases the impli 
 cation was not regarded. In fact, though actu 
 ally prohibited, slavery in strict legality was not 
 formally abolished in Massachusetts until 1866, 
 when it was ended throughout the United States 
 by the Xlllth Amendment. It is a curious fact 
 that the legal termination of slavery in Massa 
 chusetts was accomplished by the votes of Geor 
 gia and South Carolina, those States towards 
 which the abolitionists had been most bitter. 
 
 In Rhode Island emancipation took place in 
 1773. Slavery in New Hampshire died a natural 
 death, all negroes, born after the constitution of 
 1776 was adopted being considered free. Those 
 of Connecticut were freed in 1784; that is to 
 say, the Legislature then passed an act declaring 
 that all persons born of slaves after the ist of 
 March in that year should be free at the age 
 
38 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 of twenty-five. In 1799 New York also passed 
 a law for the gradual emancipation of the slaves 
 within her territory, the number of whom at that 
 time was approximately twenty-two thousand. 
 Vermont, by her constitution of 1793, pro 
 hibited the institution. In like manner, it soon 
 disappeared from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, 
 while the Ordinance of 1787 excluded it from 
 the Northwest Territory. At the same date, 
 however, the Federal government recognized it 
 in the nascent State of Tennessee, and, also, 
 it gained a foothold in Kentucky by a constitu 
 tional provision of that State. Thus did the in 
 stitution cross the Alleghanies, to become, later 
 on, a fresh bone of contention when the trans- 
 Mississippi region was thrown open to settlers. 
 
 One of the various causes that operated to 
 expel negro slavery from the North was the 
 readiness with which white servants were bought 
 and sold. These were either the so-called re- 
 demptioners, or apprentices, " those bound for 
 a term of years," as the Federal Constitution 
 styled them. The former came over originally 
 as indentured servants; the latter were either 
 minors who wished to learn a trade, or children 
 whose parents were dead or unable to support 
 them. Similar classes were found in the South 
 also, but, owing to the solidarity of the Caucasian 
 race and the ease with which slaves could be pur 
 chased, they grew less and less frequent. In the 
 North, in the eighteenth century, the indentured 
 servants were not only subjected to many of 
 
THE SLAVERY PROBLEM 39 
 
 the restraints imposed by Southern owners on 
 their black slaves, but it was no uncommon 
 thing to find the unexpired terms of such persons 
 advertised for sale. The Pennsylvania Gazette 
 for August 21, 1755, for example, contains an 
 advertisement of the sale of " a white lad and a 
 negro woman ;" it was added that " the man 
 writes a good hand and is very good at ac 
 counts." 
 
 The world has never known a more powerful 
 advocate of universal freedom than was Thomas 
 Jefferson. The earnest effort which he put forth 
 to have a denunciation of slavery incorporated 
 in the Declaration of Independence is a well- 
 known matter of history. In the first draft which 
 he wrote of this famous document, referring to 
 George III., he accused him of being 
 
 " determined to keep open a market where men should be 
 bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for sup 
 pressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or restrain 
 this execrable commerce. And that this assemblage of 
 horrors might want no fact of distinguished dye, he is now 
 exciting those very people to rise in arms against us, and 
 purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them by 
 murdering the people on whom he has obtruded them, 
 thus paying off former crimes committed against the liber 
 ties of one people with crimes which he urges them to 
 commit against the lives of another." 
 
 This ardent denunciation of a system so hate 
 ful to Mr. Jefferson s sense of justice, though it 
 was concurred in by all the best men of Virginia, 
 including Washington, Randolph, Madison, 
 Henry, and Mason, was struck out from the final 
 
40 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 draft of the Declaration, in deference to the 
 wishes of many in the South and not a few in 
 the North. Regarding this omission, Mr. Jeffer 
 son says : 
 
 " The clause, too, reprobating the enslaving the inhabi 
 tants of Africa was struck out in complaisance to South 
 Carolina and Georgia, who had never attempted to restrain 
 the importation of slaves, and who, on the contrary, still 
 wished to continue it. Our Northern brethren also, I 
 believe, felt a little tender under those censures; for, 
 though their people had very few slaves themselves, yet 
 they had been pretty considerable carriers of them to 
 others." 
 
 It is interesting to note, in view of later 
 history, the arguments advanced in favor of 
 slavery by Northern leaders when the aid of the 
 South was needed in the Revolutionary War. 
 For example, when, on Friday, July 12, 1776, the 
 Congressional Committee appointed to draft 
 the Articles of Confederation made its report, a 
 debate followed regarding the manner of voting 
 and the amount each State ought to contribute 
 towards the common treasury. In the course of 
 the discussion, John Adams remarked " that as 
 to this matter it was of no consequence by what 
 name you called your people, whether by that 
 of freemen or of slaves. That in some countries 
 the laboring poor were called freemen, in others 
 they were called slaves; but that the difference 
 to the State was imaginary only." Adams then 
 went on to ask : 
 
 " What matters it whether a landlord employing ten 
 laborers on his farm gives them annually as much money 
 
THE SLAVERY PROBLEM 41 
 
 as will buy them the necessaries of life, or gives them 
 those necessaries at short hand? The ten laborers add as 
 much wealth annually to the State, increase its exports 
 as much in the one case as the other. . . . Suppose, by an 
 extraordinary operation of nature or of law, one-half the 
 laborers of a State could in the course of one night be 
 transformed into slaves, would the State be made the 
 poorer or the less able to pay taxes?" 
 
 He added that the condition of the laboring 
 poor in most countries particularly the fisher 
 men of the North was as abject as that of 
 slaves ! 
 
 The treatment of the subject of slavery by the 
 framers of the Constitution is a matter very per 
 tinent to the purpose of this history. At that 
 time (1784) Congress lacked but one vote of 
 precluding those disputes which afterwards led 
 to the Civil War. Jefferson proposed a clause 
 which provided for the interdiction of slavery,^ 
 after the year 1800, in all territory west of the < 
 States then existing and above the parallel of 31 
 north latitude. This included the territory which 
 afterwards formed the States of Kentucky, Ala 
 bama, Mississippi, Tennessee, also all to the 
 northwest of these. So radical an antislavery 
 clause was lost by one vote ; and when it is con 
 sidered how all the great national disputes arising 
 from the admission of Territories as slave States 
 might have been forefended by the turning of so 
 slight a balance, it seems wonderful that an All- 
 wise Providence, that is supposed to watch the 
 destinies of nations, did not intervene to ward off 
 such a cataclysm as resulted. 
 
42 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 In 1787 an act was passed which differed from 
 the above in that it took effect immediately and 
 prohibited slavery in only the Northwestern 
 Territory. Four of the Southern States were 
 represented in the convention which adopted 
 this ordinance, and every one of their delegates 
 voted for it. It is almost certain that had it 
 not been for the adoption of this ordinance, 
 Illinois and Indiana would later have been or 
 ganized as slave States. Webster said of this 
 measure : 
 
 "It fixed forever the character of the population in the 
 vast regions northwest of the Ohio, by excluding from 
 them involuntary servitude. It impressed on the soil itself, 
 while yet a wilderness, an incapacity to sustain any other 
 than freemen. It laid the interdict against personal servi 
 tude, in original compact, not only deeper than all local 
 law, but deeper also than all local constitutions." 
 
 When the great struggle came later, it gave a 
 preponderance of power to the free States. 
 
 Curiously enough, the Articles of Confedera 
 tion made no provision for the return of slaves 
 fleeing from one State to another, although such 
 a clause had been inserted in the articles of 
 Union between the New England Colonies, made 
 in the preceding century. As slavery rested on 
 local customs, the owners of this species of prop 
 erty could rely, in the absence of a compact, only 
 on the courtesy of the provinces where slavery 
 was non-existent. This had been observed in 
 early days, but the failure of the Articles of Con 
 federation to enforce the right, added to the 
 
THE SLAVERY PROBLEM 43 
 
 augmenting spread of abolition principles, be 
 came a source of irritation between the Northern 
 and Southern States. 
 
 In the Federal convention of 1787 the question 
 was thoroughly discussed. As for the foreign 
 slave-trade, it was almost unanimously repro 
 bated, although the South Carolina and Georgia 
 members declared that they would not consent 
 to its immediate prohibition, as they had lost a 
 vast number of negroes during the war and they 
 wished time in which to lay in a new supply. It 
 must be said, to the credit of the South, however, 
 that Virginia was the first State North or South 
 to prohibit the slave-trade, and Georgia was the 
 first State to incorporate a prohibition of it in 
 her constitution. Meanwhile, all the slave States 
 insisted that, in view of the altered opinions of 
 the North in respect of domestic servitude, some 
 guarantee ought to be made of their right and 
 title of ownership. It was insisted that a full 
 recognition of this right was indispensable to 
 this form of property and vital to the mainte 
 nance of their domestic interests. The most cur 
 sory reading of the discussions of this subject 
 will plainly show that unless some provision had 
 been made for the surrender of slaves fleeing to 
 the non-slave-holding States, the South would 
 not have entered the Union. Finally, there was 
 considerable diversity of opinion regarding the 
 representation in Congress. The outcome of 
 the efforts to reconcile the opposing interests 
 and views of the two sections was the adoption 
 
44 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 of three great compromises. (Elliot s Debates, 
 vol. iv. 98.) 
 
 " i. The States desiring to continue their right to import 
 African slaves were to enjoy it, if they saw fit, for the 
 space of twenty years, after which it was forever to cease. 
 
 " 2. Owners of slaves were to have the right to recapture 
 their property in non-slave-holding States. 
 
 "3. Three-fifths of the slaves were to be represented in 
 Congress." 
 
 Of less importance than these three compro 
 mises was a fourth, namely, that there was to 
 be no duty on exports. As the South depended 
 largely on foreign markets for her products, it 
 was thought necessary to guard against hostile 
 legislation; but it became necessary to concede 
 the right on the part of the new national govern 
 ment to impose duties on imports, a cause of 
 future trouble hardly less fatal to harmony than 
 was slavery itself. Each of the three great com 
 pacts in regard to slavery became, in turn, a pro 
 lific source of discord. 
 
 Shortly after an agreement had been reached 
 on the compromises above mentioned, all the 
 States had enacted laws forbidding the importa 
 tion of slaves. But South Carolina subsequently 
 repealed the law passed by her to that effect, 
 asserting that, owing to the failure of the Federal 
 government to render aid in the matter, it was 
 impossible to enforce her enactment. Charles 
 ton harbor was soon filled with vessels bearing 
 human cargoes. Smith, of South Carolina, in 
 a speech delivered in the United States Senate 
 
THE SLAVERY PROBLEM 45 
 
 on the Missouri Compromise, estimated that dur 
 ing the three years that the slave-trade thus 
 remained open more than two hundred slavers, 
 carrying upward of forty thousand Africans, 
 entered the port of Charleston. Only two thou 
 sand of these slaves, however, appear to have 
 been consigned to South Carolina planters, while 
 about eight thousand were intended for Bristol, 
 Newport, and Providence dealers; seven hun 
 dred and fifty for Baltimore parties; and about 
 two hundred each for Hartford, Boston, and 
 Philadelphia persons. Facts like these, in the 
 language of Smith, will show that " those people 
 who most deprecate the evils of slavery and 
 traffic in human flesh, when a profitable market 
 can be found, can sell human flesh with as easy 
 a conscience as they sell other articles!" He 
 then reminded the Senate that one of the mem 
 bers from Rhode Island, De Wolf, had made his 
 fortune in the slave-trade. 
 
 Meanwhile, the whole civilized world was be 
 ginning to cry out against the slave-trade, whose 
 greatest blow was received by the declaration of 
 the Powers at the Congress of Vienna. This was 
 followed by an Act of Congress declaring guilty 
 of piracy those caught taking part in the traffic. 
 Very soon afterwards South America and the 
 West Indies abandoned the trade. But, as 
 mighv have been expected, the three-fifths clause 
 of the Federal Constitution was a constant temp 
 tation to import African slaves. With the acqui 
 sition of Texas and the Pacific section, there was 
 
46 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 a growing demand for a revival of the trade in 
 order to populate new Territories and preserve 
 the influence of the South in Congress, and, not 
 withstanding the vigilance of the governments 
 of the United States and Great Britain, a brisk 
 trade in African slaves continued to be carried 
 on, and numbers were smuggled into this coun 
 try and the West Indies, down to the outbreak 
 of the Civil War. According to New York news 
 papers, there were fitted out in that port, during 
 the years 1859 and 1860, as many as eighty-five 
 slavers, which imported from thirty thousand to 
 sixty thousand blacks annually. All proposals 
 formally to reopen the commerce were silenced, 
 however, by the storm of 1860. (See Lalor s 
 Cyclo. of Pol. Sci., article Slavery.) 
 
 Regarding the third compromise that which 
 may be designated the suffrage clause much 
 has already been said. It may be added, how 
 ever, that, as the North grew in wealth and 
 population, it became more and more dissatisfied 
 with an arrangement which gave to the South a 
 larger representation than the free population 
 warranted. This dissatisfaction reached an acute 
 stage in the struggle over the division of the 
 Western territory. The South claimed and 
 with reason that her soldiery had won Texas 
 and the Pacific slope ; that her citizens were im 
 pelled to move westward by the same causes 
 that influenced Northern people in their migra 
 tions; that slaves represented property, and 
 that, in respect to the removal of property from 
 
THE SLAVERY PROBLEM 47 
 
 one part of the country to another, all citizens 
 stood on an equal footing. The North main 
 tained, on the other hand, that slavery was local, 
 that it possessed a political significance, and that 
 it should not be extended beyond its existing 
 limits. Nor can it be gainsaid that the vast ma 
 jority of Northern people, aside from the nar 
 rower and more fanatical section of abolitionists, 
 were sincere in their declaration that it was not 
 their intention to interfere with the " peculiar 
 institution" where it existed. But such an ideal 
 state of things was impossible. The day of com 
 promise was a thing of the past. 
 
 Finally, we come to the fugitive slave clause 
 of the Constitution. This provision is to be 
 traced to the Confederacy, in which Massachu 
 setts was the ruling colony. The Commissioners 
 of the United Colonies found occasion to com 
 plain to the Dutch governor in New Netherlands, 
 in 1646, of the fact that the Dutch agent at Hart 
 ford had harbored a fugitive Indian woman-slave, 
 of whom they said, in their letter, " Such a ser 
 vant is parte of her master s estate, and a more 
 considerable parte than a beast." A provision 
 for the rendition of fugitives, etc., was after 
 wards made by treaty between the Dutch and 
 the English. (Plymouth Colony Records, ix. 6, 
 64, 190.) 
 
 As this compromise did more than anything 
 else to widen the chasm between the rival sec 
 tions, it may be well to quote it. The language 
 is plain : 
 
48 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 " No person held to service or labour in one State, under 
 the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence 
 of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such 
 service or labour, but shall be delivered up, on claim of the 
 party to whom such service or labour may be due." 
 
 This provision was unanimously adopted, and 
 every Southern member of the Constitutional 
 Convention regarded its terms as sufficient to 
 protect the slave-owners. One of their prime 
 objections to entering the Union was the fear 
 that persons residing in non-slave-holding States 
 would declare free all runaway negroes, or other 
 wise interfere with this form of property, which 
 rested on local custom. In 1772 Lord Mansfield 
 had decided this very point in Somerset s case, 
 and there was a tendency to follow this precedent 
 in New England. The South said to the North : 
 
 " Our part of the country is newer than yours, and we 
 need labor ; experience has taught us that the best form 
 of labor for us at present is negro slave labor for whose 
 existence we are in no wise responsible. If the institution 
 is destroyed we are wrecked. Our lands would become 
 valueless; our commerce destroyed. Besides there would 
 be turned loose on us a horde of black barbarians to sweep 
 away, as they have done in the West Indian Islands, our 
 homes, our wives, and our children. Don t talk to us about 
 the sinfulness of slavery. You did the same thing as long 
 as you found it profitable. But when you decided to unload 
 on us, you face about and preach to us ! You know nothing 
 about the subject. Leave us to manage our own affairs and 
 we will accord the same privilege to you. And unless you 
 do give us some protection there will be no constitution, so 
 far as we are concerned. With the abstract question of the 
 righteousness or unrighteousness of the question we have 
 nothing to do. Our terms are known to you. Will you 
 accept or reject them?" 
 
THE SLAVERY PROBLEM 49 
 
 As seen above, they were accepted unani 
 mously. 
 
 Congress did not rest here. In an Act passed 
 in 1783, entitled "An Act respecting fugitives 
 from justice, and persons escaping from the ser 
 vice of their masters," special directions were 
 given for the recovery of runaway negroes. 
 The owners, or their agents, of such fugitives 
 were empowered to seize them whenever found, 
 as in other cases of lost or stolen property, 
 without a warrant, and to take them before any 
 Federal circuit or district judge, or any State 
 magistrate. Upon proof to the satisfaction of 
 such officers, either by oral testimony or affidavit, 
 that the claimant was entitled, under the laws of 
 the State from which the runaways fled, to their 
 labor or services, it was made the duty of the 
 judge or magistrate to give a certificate to that 
 effect to the claimant. This was made a suffi 
 cient warrant for his removal of the fugitives to 
 the State from which they had fled. A fine of 
 five hundred dollars was to be imposed on all 
 persons harboring or concealing slaves after 
 notice that they were runaways. 
 
 As the abolition movement gained headway 
 at the North, many of the States of that section 
 passed so-called " Personal Liberty" laws, which 
 were designed to nullify the Constitutional and 
 Congressional protection extended to Southern 
 slave-holders. (See Acts of Pennsylvania, 1826, 
 pp. 150-155.) In three leading decisions of the 
 Supreme Courts of Northern States, however, 
 
 4 
 
50 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 such legislation was pronounced unconstitu 
 tional, and a similar conclusion was reached by 
 the Supreme Court of the United States in the 
 celebrated Prigg case. 
 
 After this case, in which Justice Story ren 
 dered a decision in favor of the South, North 
 ern opposition to slavery cast aside all efforts 
 to clothe itself in legal forms. 
 
 The data thus far presented indicates that, 
 taking into consideration the greater number of 
 slaves in the South and the seemingly much 
 greater need of their labor there than in the 
 North, the feeling on the subject was by no 
 means contradictory between the two sections 
 in 1787. In both sections the presence of slavery 
 was encouraged and its growth forced by Eng 
 lish influence. The withdrawal of this pressure 
 gave economic conditions full play, and the 
 South came to cherish that which the North 
 learned to abhor. But in 1787 many of the 
 wisest men in all the States believed that slavery 
 would speedily die out in Maryland and Virginia, 
 as it had in the North. The majority of their 
 Representatives in Congress were strongly in 
 clined to antislavery views. " While public senti 
 ment in the three most southern States lagged 
 behind, a Representative from Georgia stated in 
 the House, without contradiction, that not a man 
 lived in Georgia who did not wish there were no 
 slaves, and that everybody believed they were a 
 curse to the country." 
 
 But after 1808 though that was the date at 
 
THE SLAVERY PROBLEM 51 
 
 which the Federal prohibition of negro importa 
 tion came into force the whole situation took 
 on a different complexion. The invention of the 
 cotton-gin had entirely revolutionized the pro 
 duction of cotton. An almost unlimited market 
 for this commodity had come with the industrial 
 and commercial awakening of England, which 
 resulted in the opening up of the Gulf territory, 
 because it was peculiarly adapted to the pro 
 duction of cotton. From that time the profit 
 which was to be derived from breeding slaves to 
 meet the ever-increasing demand in Alabama 
 and Mississippi overcame the abolitionist senti 
 ment which had prevailed in Virginia. Thus, 
 while the antislavery movement grew stronger 
 in the North, the system of involuntary negro 
 servitude gained a corresponding hold upon the 
 industrial and political life of the South. King 
 Cotton had come into power, and the negro was 
 bound to his enslavement. 
 
 In the mean time the humanitarian sentiment 
 which gained ground in the North, causing the 
 people there to view the bondage of the slave 
 with deepening repugnance, was reinforced by 
 reports of the cruel treatment to which the slaves 
 were subjected in the Lower South. The slave- 
 block from which fathers were sold from their 
 children and children from their parents, with 
 no recognition on the part of the dealers of the 
 natural affection which might exist even in con 
 nection with a black skin ; the severe punishment 
 for misdemeanors which were excused in the 
 
52 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 whites; the penalties for actions which are com 
 mended in the free ; the stultifying of all possible 
 and laudable ambition; the slave-gangs on the 
 large cotton plantations, under brutal overseers 
 who believed in no encouragement for a negro 
 other than the sting of the lash, these, to the 
 harangued North, appeared so to preponderate 
 in the life of the slave that the possibility of any 
 extenuating circumstances was entirely over 
 looked. 
 
 Abolition societies grew apace. Men in the 
 North worked themselves up to a frenzy of de 
 nunciation, until at last such hatred and misun 
 derstanding were engendered between the two 
 sections that a patient hearing became impossi 
 ble. All this misconception and misinformation 
 was concentrated in Mrs. Stowe s famous work. 
 That it was an effective book none can deny; 
 but nothing is easier than to prove that it is an 
 utter misstatement of the situation of the slave. 
 The lamb-like " Uncle Tom" was not a more 
 typical example of the negro slave than was Nat 
 Turner, who, in Virginia, in 1831, led an insur 
 rection of slaves to the massacring of sixty-one 
 white persons, mostly women and children. 
 That there were "nigger-drivers" approxi 
 mating the character of Legree, and that cruel 
 ties such as his may occasionally have been per 
 petrated, is as undoubtedly true as the startling 
 fact that the most cruel overseers were men from 
 the North is undeniable. As a picture of the 
 usual condition of slavery, however, the book is 
 
THE SLAVERY PROBLEM 53 
 
 absolutely false; but even the possibility of such 
 inhumanity is sufficient to condemn the institu 
 tion in which it could originate. 
 
 Statements alleging the habitually cruel treat 
 ment of the slaves are unworthy of credence. A 
 man does not frequently abuse to its injury a 
 valuable piece of property. Moreover, the testi 
 mony of travellers is unanimous in stating that 
 the physical well-being of the slave was, except 
 in certain limited districts, the constant care of 
 his master. Then there was the absolute devo 
 tion of the slaves to the families to which they 
 belonged, well known in antebellum days and 
 abundantly proved during the war, and which 
 would not have existed much less endured if 
 cruelty had been the common practice of slave 
 owners. 
 
 The truth of the situation is to-day plain. The 
 sections stood as antagonists in a feud of half a 
 century. The time of judgment had passed; 
 the passions of North and South were aroused. 
 The abolitionist movement found its opportu 
 nity. The frothing of fanatics stirred both sec 
 tions to a frenzy with which astute politicians 
 played. It gave to the leaders the shibboleth by 
 which they led the United States into the turmoil 
 of secession and the horrors of that war that 
 forced the renewal of the partnership the South 
 sought to dissolve. 
 
Ill 
 
 PRECEDENT EVENTS 
 
 THE statement that the war was fought for 
 and against slavery though of common accept 
 ance is true, as already shown, in only a limited 
 sense. To employ again Abraham Lincoln s 
 homely figure, when a husband and wife, be 
 tween whom there is a decided incompatibility 
 of temperament, at last fall out so hopelessly 
 that they seek relief by divorce, the primal cause 
 is found not in the particular matter over which 
 they quarrelled, but in the incompatibility. The 
 South fought because it would brook no inter 
 ference by the Federal government in State pre 
 rogative, particularly as concerned with slavery, 
 below Mason and Dixon s line ; the North fought 
 for its idea of the Union. From the beginning, 
 this, divergence of sentiment, arising from the 
 various causes which we have in the preceding 
 chapters mentioned, became manifest and took 
 historical form in the contest between the two 
 political parties, Democrat and Whig, which 
 contest, as is inevitable with political parties, 
 was a continual struggle for supremacy. When, 
 in 1856, the new Republican party succeeded to 
 the Whig, slavery became the vital issue. Pre 
 vious to that time it had been mainly a question 
 as to which organization should hold the balance 
 
 54 
 
PRECEDENT EVENTS 55 
 
 of power, the South being specially desirous of 
 protecting the institution. 
 
 Moral considerations in regard to slavery 
 were, as already pointed out, at first a small ele 
 ment in these sectional differences. Hence it 
 may truly be said that, inasmuch as the war ulti 
 mately resulted from the bitterness which was 
 engendered between the North and the South 
 by many years of strife for dominance, it was, in 
 point of fact, a war of politicians. In its funda 
 mental causes it was a struggle for rule rather 
 than a war for right. At the time of the Louis 
 iana purchase, when and where the institution 
 of slavery was entirely out of the discussion, 
 George Cabot, of Massachusetts, wrote to Sena 
 tor Pickering, of the same State, giving as his 
 reason for opposing the acquisition, " that the 
 influence of our part of the Union must be dimin 
 ished by the acquisition of more weight at the 
 other extremity." This gives the key to the con 
 troversy. It was a sustained effort to preserve 
 the balance of power, each section endeavoring 
 to tip the scales in its own direction, this, and 
 the disagreement as to the extent of State auton 
 omy under the Constitution. After the settle 
 ment of the Missouri Compromise, Samuel A. 
 Foote, of Connecticut, referring to it, said: 
 
 "The Missouri question did not involve the question of 
 freedom or slavery, but merely whether slaves now in the 
 country might be permitted to reside in the proposed new 
 State; and whether Congress or Missouri possessed the 
 power to decide." 
 
56 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 So, then, the causes leading to the Civil War 
 may thus be named in order of their progress 
 and importance : sectional differences leading to 
 the localization of the two great political parties 
 respectively in the North and the South; a dis 
 similarity of conception as to State rights under 
 the Constitution; the lust of both parties for 
 power by means of increased territorial repre 
 sentation, the South being increasingly pushed 
 thereto by the growing threat of abolition from 
 the North. 
 
 In the original compact between the States, 
 the smaller ones, apprehensive of oppressive 
 measures on the part of the larger, insisted on 
 an equality of senatorial representation as the 
 condition of their agreement. The dispropor 
 tionate growth of the population as between the 
 North and the South eventually put all the States 
 of the latter in the position occupied by Mary 
 land, Delaware, and Rhode Island at the first. 
 Consequently, the doctrine of State sovereignty 
 came to be conceived of as the essential protec 
 tion of the South, and her leaders were not slow 
 to augment the separatist tendency. 
 
 The South claimed for each State an untram 
 melled freedom of action. It asserted that the 
 Constitution was an agreement between sover 
 eign States, and that the very essence of sov 
 ereignty was the liberty of a State to regulate its 
 own internal affairs, and its external in so far 
 as the action did not conflict with existing agree 
 ments, which, however, might be broken at will. 
 
PRECEDENT EVENTS 57 
 
 It pointed to the Treaty of Peace in 1783, and 
 claimed that the citing of the several names of 
 the States established their sovereignty. It 
 pointed to the Articles of Confederation, by 
 which it was undeniably stated that each of the 
 thirteen States of the Union retained all rights 
 of sovereignty, i This view of the status of the 
 individuals in the Union was, for half a century 
 and more after the adoption of the Constitution, 
 held by the majority of the people of the North 
 ern States. But from the first there was an 
 active separatist opposition, and the party of the 
 Federal idea constantly gained in strength. It 
 held that the naming of the several States in the 
 treaty of 1783 was simply a matter of definition; 
 that the treaty was not negotiated by the sepa 
 rate States, but by commissioners representing 
 their aggregate; and that the Constitution was 
 not a compact between States, but an agreement 
 of all the people of the territory embraced in the 
 United States. It pointed to the fact that the 
 Constitution had not been ratified by State legis 
 lators, but by the people. From the beginning, 
 the politicians of the South denied the soundness 
 of the argument, and acted upon the assumption 
 of State sovereignty, and year after year they 
 became strengthened in their position and more 
 insistent upon the claims resulting therefrom. 
 
 For the first forty-eight years of its history the 
 Union was dominated by the South. During 
 that time only two Northern men were elected 
 to the Presidency; neither of them served a 
 
5 8 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 second term. In 1819 the North endeavored to 
 strike a blow at this pre-eminence of the South. 
 In that year Missouri petitioned for admission. 
 Heretofore new States had been admitted in 
 pairs, a slave and a free coincidently. Thus 
 Kentucky came in with Vermont; Tennessee 
 with Ohio; Louisiana with Indiana; Mississippi 
 with Illinois. So there was a tacit agreement 
 that the two sections should be equal in their 
 territorial gains. But when the bill providing 
 for the admission of Missouri came up for con 
 sideration in the House, Representative Tall- 
 madge, of New York, offered an amendment 
 (1819) to the effect that the introduction of 
 slaves into the newly proposed State should be 
 prohibited, and that all children born therein 
 after its admission should be free at the age of 
 twenty-five. This naturally precipitated a dis 
 cussion which spread throughout the country 
 and caused intense excitement. The arguments 
 advanced by the North were based, naturally, on 
 the injustice of slavery. The South insisted that 
 the diffusion of slavery did not mean its increase, 
 but would, rather, turn out to the betterment of 
 the condition of the negroes. It is pretty certain 
 that both sides were disingenuous. More terri 
 tory to the South certainly did mean more 
 slaves; and, on the other hand, though there 
 was a growing repugnance in the North to negro 
 servitude, it was many years before the demoli 
 tion of the institution was taken up as an issue 
 by practical politicians. 
 
PRECEDENT EVENTS 59 
 
 The Tallmadge amendment was carried by a 
 vote of 87 to 76, notwithstanding the impas 
 sioned warning from the Territorial delegate of 
 Missouri that the measure would endanger the 
 Union. The bill, with this amendment, went to 
 the Senate, where it was defeated by the whole 
 Southern vote aided by six from the North, and 
 Congress adjourned with the question still un 
 decided. The whole country was aroused. 
 Public meetings were held everywhere, in the 
 North supporting, in the South condemning, 
 the amendment; and State Legislatures, in strict 
 accordance with their geographical position, 
 passed resolutions exhorting Congress to one 
 course or the other. Threats of disunion and 
 bloodshed were in the air. North and South 
 for the first time definitely and, so it seemed, 
 irreconcilably confronted each other. 
 
 But when Congress reassembled, the whole 
 question was seen to have been one of politicians, 
 and the direction of the movement incited by 
 them was changed by one of those manoeuvres 
 common in politics : Maine was seeking admis 
 sion as a State. The Senate therefore coupled 
 Missouri and Maine on the balance of power 
 principle which had long been adhered to. After 
 another amendment, prohibiting slavery in the 
 former Territory, had been voted down, Senator 
 Thomas, of Illinois, proposed that no restriction 
 as to slavery be imposed on Missouri in her adop 
 tion of a State constitution, but that there should 
 be no slavery in all the country ceded by France 
 
60 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 north of 36 30 , Missouri (whose southern 
 boundary this measure of latitude is) being ex- 
 cepted from the scope of the restriction. This 
 was the gist of the famous Missouri Compro 
 mise (1820). After much bitter wrangling, it 
 was at last accepted by both Houses, with the 
 assistance of eighteen Northern members, whom 
 John Randolph stigmatized as " doughfaces." 
 As Carl Schurz says, by the Missouri Compro 
 mise " the slave power obtained the present tan 
 gible object it contended for; free labor won a 
 contingent advantage in the future." 
 
 What was it that thrust into American politics 
 this new question as to whether the inhabitants 
 of States about to be created should be permitted 
 to hold slaves? No such question had been 
 raised previously. Louisiana, Alabama, Ken 
 tucky, and Tennessee, not to speak of Northern 
 States, had been admitted without a breath of 
 such discussion. Certainly in the case of Mis 
 souri it proceeded entirely from the North, and 
 the South especially the slave-holders of Mis 
 souri was taken by surprise. Doubtless the 
 people of the North were cultivating an uncom 
 fortable conscience in view of the inconsistency 
 between slavery and the Declaration of Inde 
 pendence, not to mention the influence exerted 
 by the concerted action taken by the European 
 powers against the foreign slave-trade. But 
 " beneath the moral considerations lay others of 
 a political kind, in which were contained the con 
 vulsive force that caused, after several premo- 
 
PRECEDENT EVENTS 61 
 
 nitions, the social earthquake which has been 
 witnessed in our days." 
 
 Thomas Jefferson saw this clearly. Though 
 he had long since retired from active participa 
 tion in public affairs, and was now in the late 
 eventide of life, he had, by reason of his retire 
 ment, a more comprehensive view of the situa 
 tion than had those who were participators in it. 
 He said : 
 
 "The [Missouri] question is a mere party trick. The 
 leaders of Federalism are taking advantage of the virtuous 
 feeling of the people to effect a division of parties by a 
 geographical line; they expect that this will insure them, 
 on local principles, the majority they could never obtain on 
 the principles of Federalism. . . . The coincidence of a 
 marked principle, moral and political, with a geographical 
 line once conceived," he continued, " I feared would never 
 more be obliterated from the mind; that it would be re 
 curring on every occasion, and renewing irritations, until 
 it would kindle such mutual and mortal hatred as to render 
 separation preferable to eternal discord. . . . The people of 
 the North went blindfold into the snare, and followed their 
 leaders for a while with a zeal truly moral and laudable, 
 until they became sensible that they were injuring instead 
 of aiding the real interests of the slaves that they had been 
 used merely as tools for electioneering purposes and that 
 trick of hypocrisy then fell as quickly as it had been got 
 up." 
 
 The Missouri dispute served to band the South 
 together in defence of slavery, and it crystallized 
 the Southern doctrine of State rights. 
 
 The North had struck at the South, and the 
 blow had been parried; now the opportunity 
 came for the South to aim a stroke at the basis 
 of Northern prosperity, namely, her industries. 
 
62 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 The imposition of a high protective tariff was a 
 measure which largely originated in the South, 
 as a political weapon. Opposed at first by the 
 Eastern States, it nevertheless fostered their 
 manufacturing interests, until at last the North 
 saw that the policy was for her benefit, and each 
 Administration witnessed the extension of the 
 tariff. So it was with the doctrine of internal 
 improvements, which won for the North the sup 
 port of the West. The South, however, became 
 bitterly opposed to these policies. According to 
 Mr. Benton: 
 
 "In the colonial States the Southern were the rich por 
 tion of the colonies, and expected to do well in a state 
 of independence. They had the exports, and felt secure of 
 their property; not so the North, whose agricultural re 
 sources were few, and who expected privations from the 
 loss of British favor. But in the first half-century after 
 independence this expectation was reversed. The wealth of 
 the North was enormously aggrandized ; that of the South 
 had declined. Northern towns had become great cities. 
 Southern cities had decayed or become stationary. . . . The 
 North became a money-lender to the South. And this in the 
 face of a Southern export, since the Revolution, to the 
 value of eight hundred millions of dollars. The Southern 
 States attributed this result to the action of the Federal 
 government, its double action of levying revenue upon the 
 industry of one section of the Union and expending it in 
 another, and especially to its protective tariffs. To some 
 degree this attribution was just." 
 
 During the nullification trouble South Caro 
 lina advanced those two principles in regard to 
 which, later on, the nation sprang into civil war. 
 This State had few manufactures. It was there- 
 
PRECEDENT EVENTS 63 
 
 fore to her interest to buy commodities as 
 cheaply as possible. Consequently, she could 
 have no sympathy with legislation which had for 
 its object the fostering of Northern industries at 
 her expense. The raising of cotton needed no 
 protection; it followed, therefore, that the high 
 prices resulting from the tariff taxed the South 
 for the benefit of the North, especially as the 
 principal market for cotton was England. It was 
 no answer to the South to say that she, too, 
 could organize factories and take advantage of 
 the tariff laws. In the very nature of things it 
 was impossible to employ slaves in such indus 
 tries, and there was no available white labor. 
 
 In 1828, incited by the "Bill of Abomina 
 tions," as the South called the tariff law of that 
 year, Calhoun turned a political somersault and 
 published " The South Carolina Exposition and 
 Protest on the Subject of the Tariff." In this 
 the right of a State to veto Federal action is as 
 serted. Thomas Y. Hayne also had the intrepid 
 ity to enunciate the same doctrine in the Senate, 
 whereupon he encountered Daniel Webster and 
 became immortalized. 
 
 Though the Massachusetts statesman con 
 vinced the rest of the Union of the futility of a 
 State vetoing national legislation, his eloquent 
 argument had not that effect upon South Caro 
 lina. Calhoun perfected his doctrine of nullifica 
 tion, which the majority of the South Carolinians 
 adopted, though it was understood by few. A 
 State convention was called in November, 1832, 
 
64 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 when an ordinance based upon Calhoun s doc 
 trine was passed; by this it was declared and 
 ordained : 
 
 " that the several acts and parts of acts of the Congress 
 of the United States, purporting to be laws for the im 
 posing of duties and imposts on the importation of foreign 
 commodities, and now having actual operation and effect 
 within the United States, are unauthorized by the Consti 
 tution of the United States, and violate the true meaning 
 and intent thereof and are null, void, and no law, nor bind 
 ing upon this State, its officers or citizens ; and all promises, 
 contracts, and obligations, made or entered into, with pur 
 pose to secure the duties imposed by said acts, and all 
 judicial proceedings which shall hereafter be had in affirma 
 tion thereof, are and shall be held utterly null and void. 
 . . . And we, the people of South Carolina, do further de 
 clare that we will not submit to the application* of force on 
 the part of the Federal government to reduce this State to 
 obedience, but that we will consider the passage by Con 
 gress of any act authorizing the employment of a military 
 or naval force against the State of South Carolina, her 
 constitutional authorities or citizens, ... as inconsistent 
 with the longer continuance of South Carolina in the Union ; 
 and that the people of this State will henceforth hold 
 themselves absolved from all further obligation to maintain 
 or preserve their political connection with the people of the 
 other States; and will forthwith proceed to organize a 
 separate government and do all other acts and things which 
 sovereign and independent States may of right do." 
 
 A rigorous test oath was exacted of all State 
 officers, and there was also much talk of war. 
 
 Such was the spirit of South Carolina, inspired 
 by Calhoun, in 1832. So rampant was it that 
 medals were struck, bearing the inscription, 
 " John C. Calhoun, first President of the South 
 ern Confederacy." But the time for secession 
 
CALHOUN, WEBSTER, AND CLAY 
 From a photograph by Brady 
 
PRECEDENT EVENTS 65 
 
 was not yet. Andrew Jackson was in the Presi 
 dential chair. He issued a proclamation firmly 
 intimating that any recourse to violence on the 
 part of South Carolina would be met by stern 
 measures from the Union. Calhoun learned that 
 his arrest for treason was under serious consid 
 eration, and with the assistance of Clay a com 
 promise was reached. 
 
 Andrew Jackson possessed a correct insight 
 and an accurate foresight. He saw that the root 
 of these troubles was in the disappointment of 
 political aspirants. Referring afterwards to this 
 episode, he said, " The tariff was but a pretext. 
 The next will be the slavery or negro question." 
 
 While these discussions and agitations were in 
 progress, the effective abolition movement came 
 into being. The country heretofore had not been 
 ripe for the effectual dissemination of its princi 
 ples ; and never before had there been a William 
 Lloyd Garrison. 
 
 The abolitionist movement has three distinct 
 stages. In the first of these the advocates of 
 freedom for the blacks were few in number, and 
 their efforts were sporadic. Yet a steady, 
 though feeble, sentiment continued, and in the 
 first days of the Constitution it resulted in 
 legal freedom for Northern blacks. After 1800 
 came a period of inactivity, an interim at whose 
 close began the second period of the abolition 
 movement. This was marked by the formation 
 (in 1815) of the "Union Humane Society," in 
 Ohio, by Benjamin Lundy, the father of aboli- 
 
 5 
 
66 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 tionism, to whom Garrison, until compelled to 
 a radical position by the force of his convic 
 tions, was an active assistant. In the second 
 decade of the nineteenth century the activity of 
 the abolitionists constantly increased. Class 
 journals were established, The Genius of Uni 
 versal Emancipation, by Lundy, in 1812; the 
 Herald, Free Press, National Philanthropist, and 
 Journal of the Times, all identified with Garri 
 son; the Liberator, founded by him in 1831 ; and 
 many another enthusiastic sheet whose name 
 has been forgotten save by students of the his 
 tory of slavery. 
 
 The Liberator was established at Boston be 
 cause, as Garrison stated, there was the place 
 where such a paper was most needed. In the 
 first number of the Liberator, he said of the atti 
 tude of Boston towards the abolitionist move 
 ment, " I found here contempt more bitter, 
 detraction more relentless, prejudice more stub 
 born, and apathy more frozen than among 
 slave-holders themselves/ No platform speech 
 of Garrison, of Wendell Phillips, no poem of 
 Whittier, no article in the Liberator, was more 
 eloquent or moving than the picture on the front 
 page of that periodical. 
 
 Here was represented a Southern auction 
 scene. In the midst of " slaves, horses, and other 
 cattle/ which, with an entire impartiality of sen 
 timent, were being exposed for sale, was shown 
 a whipping-post at which a slave was undergoing 
 a cruel flogging. To give point to the whole, in 
 
PRECEDENT EVENTS 67 
 
 the background was the Capitol at Washington, 
 on the dome of which floated a flag whereon was 
 inscribed the word " Liberty." The slaves could 
 not read, but they could easily interpret this rep 
 resentation of the injustice and inconsistency of 
 their lot. True, the vast majority of them were 
 docile and insensibly contented. But there were 
 those in whose hearts the word " Liberty" met a 
 responsive longing; and the increase of fugitive 
 slaves soon became an added source of discon 
 tent in the South, and a reason for her demand 
 for legislation that irritated the North. 
 
 The abolitionist campaign was carried on by 
 three methods, (i) Individual persuasion, by 
 which the most substantial gains were made in 
 the first years of the second stage of the move 
 ment. (2) Circulation of printed matter: great 
 quantities of antislavery literature were distrib 
 uted ; much of this was sent to the South, where 
 its main effect was to excite bitter opposition. 
 This went so far that the postmasters in 1835 
 refused to deliver the abolition newspapers 
 and pamphlets. Amos Kendall, of Massachu 
 setts, then Postmaster-General and a stanch 
 Unionist, refused to compel the delivery of the 
 obnoxious literature. He held that the postmas 
 ters were justified in their action, because the 
 law authorizing the transmission of newspapers 
 and pamphlets through the mail was intended to 
 promote the general good of the public and not 
 to injure any section ; that the abolitionist litera 
 ture injured the South, and the postmasters of 
 
68 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 that section were therefore justified in refusing 
 to deliver it. (3) Lectures: this method of pro 
 mulgating the abolition doctrines was confined 
 chiefly to the North, and there it met with the 
 bitterest opposition. 
 
 The labors of the abolitionists would have 
 been comparatively resultless had not the South 
 in the heat of the onslaught forced issues that 
 need not have been raised. The North, from the 
 beginning until the close of the second stage of 
 the abolitionist movement, was well-nigh a unit 
 in opposing interference by one State in the do 
 mestic institutions of another, and, until the 
 passage of the Fugitive Slave Bill, was almost 
 unanimous in declaring that the duty of a State 
 into whose territory a fugitive from another 
 State took refuge was to aid the State from 
 which flight had been made to regain jurisdiction 
 over the fugitive. 
 
 In 1832 the abolition movement began to re 
 solve itself into units of effort ; the New England 
 Antislavery Society was formed, with the fun 
 damental tenet, " Immediate emancipation the 
 duty of the master and the right of the slave." 
 In 1833 the National Antislavery Society was or 
 ganized at Philadelphia, and in 1837 it claimed 
 a membership of one hundred and twenty-five 
 thousand persons. State societies were estab 
 lished throughout the North, and the propa 
 ganda became active. To an abolitionist a slave 
 holder was an inhuman monster in whom was no 
 good; by the people at large he was not re- 
 
WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON 
 
PRECEDENT EVENTS 69 
 
 garded with aversion. To the slave-holder the 
 abolitionist was an anarchist; to the bulk of 
 the people of the North he was an incendiary 
 endangering the welfare of the common coun 
 try. 
 
 The testimony of contemporary abolitionists 
 is unanimous as to the treatment the abolition 
 ists received at the hands of the North. Against 
 them churches were closed, and school-houses, 
 usually the open court for the debate of all sub 
 jects, were locked. Mobs attacked and damaged 
 the houses of leaders of the movement. Anti- 
 slavery lecturers were pelted with eggs, stones, 
 and brickbats. The Rev. G. Storrs, while on his 
 knees in prayer at an antislavery meeting in New 
 Hampshire, was arrested as a " common rioter 
 and brawler." Garrison was seized while ad 
 dressing a meeting in Boston and haled through 
 the streets with a rope around his neck; his life 
 was with difficulty saved. Samuel J. May was 
 mobbed five times while lecturing in Vermont, 
 and H. B. Stanton had his meetings broken up 
 one hundred and fifty times in six years. George 
 Thompson, the eloquent Englishman who came 
 at Mr. Garrison s invitation to aid the cause of 
 abolition, was so maltreated in New England 
 that his friends in Boston, " to save his life," sur 
 reptitiously conveyed him to a ship, in which he 
 fled to British territory and thence to England. 
 The attitude towards abolitionist meetings is 
 shown by a placard posted in 1835 in Boston, 
 before Thompson s last advertised lecture : 
 
70 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 "THOMPSON THE ABOLITIONIST. 
 
 " That infamous foreign scoundrel, Thompson, will hold 
 forth this afternoon at 46 Washington Street. The present 
 is a fair opportunity for the friends of the Union to snake 
 Thompson out! It will be a contest between the abolition 
 ists and the friends of the Union. A purse of one hundred 
 dollars has .been raised by a number of patriotic citizens, to 
 reward the individual who shall first lay violent hands on 
 Thompson, so that he may be brought to the Tar Kettle 
 before dark. Friends of the Union, be vigilant!" 
 
 This broadside is of the usual type of anti-aboli 
 tion bills, though the spirit of opposition in it 
 seems to have been intensified by the fact that 
 Thompson was a foreigner. 
 
 Every State in the North mobbed abolitionist 
 lecturers. Every State in the North repudiated 
 their doctrines. Printing-presses and types were 
 destroyed in Cincinnati ; for example, an " or 
 ganized mob, led on by popular men and church- 
 members," destroyed the office of the Philan 
 thropist and gave its editor, James G. Burney, 
 twenty-four hours to leave the city; only the 
 iron will and determined courage of the fer 
 vent abolitionist enabled him to remain at his 
 post. In Alton, Illinois, the office of the Ob 
 server was four times sacked by a mob, and on 
 the last raid Elijah Lovejoy, its editor, was 
 killed. 
 
 The opposition to the abolitionists was di 
 rected against the negroes also; they were as 
 saulted, their houses damaged, and every effort 
 for their education was thwarted. In Connecti 
 cut Miss Prudence Crandall s school for negro 
 
PRECEDENT EVENTS 71 
 
 girls was mobbed. So determined was the oppo 
 sition to this school that the enemies of the 
 movement for the education of negroes caused 
 the Connecticut Legislature to pass, on May 24, 
 1833, a special " Black Law" practically prohibit 
 ing the education of colored persons. This was 
 received with joy, the bells were rung and can 
 nons were fired. Miss Crandall was arrested 
 and confined in the cell from which a murderer 
 had just been led. After Miss Crandall s release, 
 her house was set on fire; the incendiary at 
 tempt failed. A few nights afterwards the 
 school was again attacked and so damaged that 
 Miss Crandall abandoned it and gave up her 
 struggle to maintain in Connecticut a seminary 
 for colored girls. This failure had its forerunner 
 in the abandonment, because of the opposition 
 by the " most respectable citizens of the place/* 
 of the school for the education of male negroes, 
 which had been organized two years before 
 (1832) in New Haven. 
 
 In New Hampshire the opposition to negro 
 education was as great as in her sister State. 
 The trustees of " Noyes Academy," in Plymouth, 
 voted to admit colored pupils. " The respectable 
 people of the town were so incensed" that they 
 razed the building in which the school was kept. 
 These are not isolated examples, for, says Samuel 
 J. May, the ardent abolitionist, colored children 
 were not admitted into the common schools. 
 " This was not the utmost of the contempt in 
 which colored people were treated. They were 
 
72 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 not permitted to ride in any public conveyances, 
 stage-coaches, omnibuses, or railroad cars, nor 
 to take passage on any steamboats, or sail-pack 
 ets, excepting in the steerage or on deck/ In 
 church, they were compelled to sit in the back 
 pews; when, in one instance (in 1835), a colored 
 man bought a pew on the floor of Park Street 
 Church, Boston, his pew door was nailed up and 
 so much disturbance was caused that the trustees 
 were obliged to eject the colored purchaser. In 
 Dr. Storrs s church a clause was inserted in the 
 pew-deeds providing that the pews should " be 
 held by none but respectable white persons." In 
 Connecticut a certain colored family so increased 
 and multiplied that it overspread the dimensions 
 of the " negro pew." The minister invited the 
 negroes to take a front pew, with the following 
 result : 
 
 " They hesitated some time, lest their doing so should 
 give offence. But I insisted that none would have any 
 right to be offended, and at length persuaded them to do 
 as I requested. But one man, a political partisan of the 
 leader of Miss Crandall s persecutors, was, or pretended to 
 be, much offended. He said, with great warmth, How 
 came that nigger family to come down into that front pew? 
 Because, I replied, it was unoccupied ; they are uncom 
 fortably crowded in the pew assigned them, and I requested 
 them to remove. * Well, said he, there are many in the 
 society besides myself who will not consent to their sitting 
 there. Why? I asked. They are always well dressed, 
 well behaved, and good-looking withal/ But, said he, 
 they are niggers, and niggers should be kept to their 
 place. I argued the matter with him till I saw he could 
 not be moved, and he repeated the declaration that they 
 should be driven back. I then said, with great earnestness, 
 
PRECEDENT EVENTS 73 
 
 Mr. A. B., if you do anything or say anything to hurt the 
 feelings of that worthy family, and induce them to return 
 to the pew which you know is not large enough for them, 
 so sure as your name is A. B. and my name is S. J. M., 
 the first time you afterwards appear in the congregation 
 I will state the facts of the case exactly as they are, and 
 administer to you as severe a reproof as I may be able to 
 frame in words. This had the desired effect. My colored 
 friends retained their new seats." ("Recollections of the 
 Antislavery Conflict," pp. 270, 271.) 
 
 It has been asserted that, in the general attack 
 upon the abolitionist movement, certain sects 
 took no part. The Universalists, it is true, gave 
 to the movement its greatest men, but the Uni 
 versalists as a sect never advocated it ; the Unita 
 rians were no exception to the general rule, and 
 the Quakers, we may say in destruction of a 
 popular fallacy, never as a body in the nineteenth 
 century took a stand against the institution. 
 This, too, despite the most urgent appeals of the 
 abolitionist leaders. 
 
 Though for fifty years from the founding of 
 the Union Humane Society, in 1815, the aboli 
 tionists were to continue their struggle, they 
 steadily gained adherents and advanced their 
 position. This was because of the steadfast pur 
 pose and fervid energy of their leaders, who 
 were honest in their belief that they were carry 
 ing out God s will and were convinced, therefore, 
 that their doctrine was to be maintained in spite 
 of popular opinion, positive law, and the Consti 
 tution itself. Theirs was the reincarnated spirit 
 of the Puritan and theirs the Puritan success; 
 
74 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 but as the Restoration, because of the errors of 
 the Roundheads, overthrew their government, 
 so the white race in the South was, by the over 
 throw and subordination of reconstructionist 
 legislation, to regain its supremacy in the open 
 ing years of the twentieth century. 
 
 The activity of the abolitionists caused peti 
 tions to pour into Congress, demanding the abo 
 lition of slavery in the District of Columbia. 
 Thereupon was passed (1836) the Atherton 
 " Gag Law," named after the anti-abolitionist 
 member from New Hampshire, to whom it owed 
 its introduction; it ruled that all such petitions 
 should be laid on the table without being de 
 bated, printed, or referred. This, however, John 
 Quincy Adams contended, was unconstitutional; 
 and he made a point of occupying the whole time 
 allowed for the reception of petitions in present 
 ing those of the abolitionists, which on one day 
 numbered five hundred and eleven. 
 
 The South was now fully aroused to the 
 danger which threatened her peculiar institution. 
 In Congress, and elsewhere, she fought as one 
 fights for life. She secured the passage of a 
 resolution, offered by Clay (1837) : 
 
 " that any attempt of Congress to abolish slavery in any 
 Territory of the United States in which it exists would 
 create serious alarm and just apprehension in the States 
 sustaining that domestic institution, and would be a viola 
 tion of good faith towards the inhabitants of any such 
 Territory who have been permitted to settle with, and hold, 
 slaves therein ; because the people of any such Territory 
 have not asked for the abolition of slavery therein; and 
 
PRECEDENT EVENTS 75 
 
 because, when any such Territory shall be admitted into the 
 Union as a State, the people thereof shall be entitled to 
 decide that question exclusively for themselves." 
 
 This resolution was intended to cover the case 
 of Florida ; and doubtless it also had in view the 
 annexation of Texas, upon which the South was 
 now tenaciously bent in order to carve from it 
 new slave-States. American colonists had en 
 tered it for that express purpose. In 1829 the 
 republic of Mexico had emancipated all slaves 
 within its boundaries. But the American settlers 
 in what is now Texas had refused to obey this 
 decree, and in order to avoid insurrection, which 
 in the weakened condition of their government 
 the Mexican authorities felt unable to cope with, 
 they had permitted the matter thus to rest. In 
 1830 an attempt was made by President Jack 
 son to purchase Texas, but without success. 
 The Mexican government prohibited the immi 
 gration of Americans into the territory ; but Sam 
 Houston, whose mysterious flight from the gu 
 bernatorial chair of Tennessee to the Cherokee 
 nation in the Indian Territory had kept him in 
 enforced idleness, now passed over into Texas 
 with the express purpose of raising an insurrec 
 tion. Bloody conflicts took place, and on March 
 2, 1836, the independence of Texas was declared. 
 The declaration was signed by about sixty men, 
 all of whom, with the exception of two, were 
 Americans. 
 
 On April 22, 1836, Santa Anna, the Mexican 
 President, was made prisoner; and in his ex- 
 
76 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 tremity he was compelled to recognize the inde 
 pendence of Texas. A republic was formed, 
 modelled after the United States, and Houston 
 was inaugurated as its first President. 
 
 It took eight years for the South to compass 
 the annexation of this temporary republic; and 
 it was accomplished only after the fiercest oppo 
 sition from the North. 
 
 Mississippi voiced the sentiment of the South 
 in a report of a committee of its Legislature, 
 declaring that " The South has very peculiar in 
 terests to preserve, already violently assailed and 
 boldly threatened. Your committee are fully 
 persuaded that this protection to her best inter 
 ests will be afforded by the annexation of Texas ; 
 and equipoise of influence in the halls of Con 
 gress will be secured, that will furnish us with a 
 permanent guarantee of protection." 
 
 Thus the South boldly showed her hand, and 
 the challenge was met in the same determined 
 spirit. Several Northern members of Congress, 
 headed by Ex-President John Quinoy Adams, 
 issued an address in which it was charged that 
 " it was intended, by the admission of new slave 
 States, to secure undue ascendency for the slave- 
 holding power in the government, and rivet that 
 power beyond all redemption." 
 
 In this same address is found a note which is 
 not usually credited to the North. It is familiar, 
 but intensely surprising, considering its source: 
 
 " We hesitate not to say that annexation effected by any 
 act or proceeding of the Federal government, or any of 
 
PRECEDENT EVENTS 77 
 
 its departments, would be identical with dissolution. It 
 would be a violation of our national compact, its objects, 
 designs, and the great elementary principles which entered 
 into its formation, of a character so deep and fundamental, 
 and would be an attempt to eternize an institution and a 
 power of a nature so unjust in themselves, so injurious to 
 the interests and abhorrent to the feelings of the people of 
 the free States, as, in our opinion, not only inevitably to 
 result in a dissolution of the Union, but fully to justify it." 
 
 This doctrine from a member of Congress 
 from Massachusetts was but an echo of 1811, 
 when Josiah Quincy, another member of Con 
 gress from Massachusetts, speaking in opposi 
 tion to the bill to introduce the " Orleans Terri 
 tory" into a State, said that such an act would 
 be a breach of the Constitution, and a virtual 
 dissolution of the bonds of the Union, freeing 
 the States composing it from " their moral obli 
 gations of adhesion to each other, and making it 
 the right of all as it would become the duty of 
 some, to prepare definitely for separation, ami 
 cably if they might, forcibly if they must!" The 
 gentleman from Massachusetts was called to 
 order by Poindexter, of Mississippi, who said 
 that " no member of the House ought to be 
 allowed to stimulate any portion of the people 
 to insurrection and a dissolution of the Union." 
 
 The assertion by the New England man, fifty 
 years before the Civil War, of the right to secede 
 " amicably if they might, forcibly if they must!" 
 and the denial of the doctrine by the Southerner, 
 is a pointed illustration of our thesis that slavery 
 and secession were the tools whereby the poli- 
 
78 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 ticians moved the people. In the first years of 
 the nineteenth century New England again and 
 again advanced the right to secede; before the 
 half-century mark was passed the South claimed 
 the right, and New England denied it. For a 
 decade opinion was divided in North and South, 
 and in 1860 the politicians forced the war on 
 both sections. 
 
 Hence we see that, even in the North, seces 
 sion was not an idea of such strange and horrid 
 guise as, twenty years later, it was made to 
 appear. Also, we know that the enforced annex 
 ation of Texas by the South did not avail in the 
 purposes for which it was sought. 
 
 As the result of the Mexican War (1846), 
 which, although inevitable, was needlessly pro 
 voked by President Polk and his advisers, the 
 United States acquired New Mexico and Cali 
 fornia. The pregnant question thus faced the 
 politicians of both sections: Should the newly 
 gained territory be slave or free? This time the 
 North took the initiative ; and when, in August, 
 1846, Congress was considering an appropriation 
 of two millions " for the settlement of the boun 
 dary question with Mexico," David Wilmot, a 
 Democratic Representative from Pennsylvania, 
 offered his famous " Proviso" amendment. Its 
 terms were as follows: 
 
 " Provided that, as an express and fundamental condi 
 tion to the acquisition of any territory from the republic of 
 Mexico by the United States, by virtue of any treaty that 
 may be negotiated between them, and to the use by the 
 executive of the moneys herein appropriated, neither slavery 
 
PRECEDENT EVENTS 79 
 
 nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of 
 said territory, except for crime whereof the party shall 
 first be duly convicted." 
 
 By accident, the bill failed. But the signifi 
 cance of it is that this proviso was offered by a 
 Democrat. The extension of slavery had pro 
 duced a schism in the Democratic ranks, which 
 was fated to bring about the downfall of the 
 political power of the South. 
 
 The god of the Southern machine was Cal- 
 houn. This great man, who, from the day he 
 entered Congress in his twenty-ninth year, was 
 a power therein, and soon evinced a genius which 
 placed him high among the statesmen of the 
 world, was devoted to the Union, yet neverthe 
 less he was the greatest exponent of that theory 
 of politics by which a Representative gives the 
 first cream of his interest to his own immediate 
 constituents. Two ideas now dominated his po 
 litical creed, the sovereignty of the individual 
 State, and the inviolableness of the Southern in 
 stitution of slavery. His programme of forcing 
 the issue on these two principles in a large meas 
 ure led to their being overthrown. In 184? 
 wrote a letter to a member of the Alabama Legis 
 lature, in which he said : 
 
 "Instead of shunning, we ought to court the issue with 
 the North on the slavery question. I would even go one 
 step farther, and add that it is our duty due to ourselves, 
 the Union, and our political institutions to force the issue 
 on the North. We are now stronger relatively than we 
 shall be hereafter, politically and morally. Unless we bring 
 on the issue, delay to us will be dangerous indeed. . , , 
 
8o THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 This brings up the question, How can it be so met without 
 resorting to the dissolution of the Union? . . . There is, in 
 my opinion, but one way in which it can be met, and that 
 is by retaliation." 
 
 This furnishes " the key which unlocks his 
 whole system of slavery agitation which he com 
 menced in the year 1835. That system was to 
 force issues upon the North under the pretext of 
 self-defence, and to sectionalize the South, pre 
 paratory to disunion, through the instrumental 
 ity of sectional conventions, composed wholly of 
 delegates from slave-holding States." 
 
 But early in the history of this agitation the 
 position of the South was too morally weak to 
 endure the discussion which was brought upon 
 her by " forcing the issue." Calhoun and his 
 friends did not realize that their strength lay in 
 passive resistance and not in aggressive action. 
 
 The third stage in the abolitionist movement 
 may be dated from the beginning of the final 
 steps leading to the admission of Texas to the 
 Union, in 1845. The abolitionists had been per 
 sistent in their propaganda, but up to the period 
 of differences between North and South over the 
 question of territorial acquisition their progress 
 had been unaided by politicians. The proposed 
 annexation of territory and the formation of new 
 States aroused the leaders of the North, and, 
 though persistently and vehemently disavowing 
 the theories of the abolitionists, they were hence 
 forth to be the means by which the aims of the 
 latter were to be gained. The efforts of the 
 
PRECEDENT EVENTS 81 
 
 abolitionists were directed to the total aboli 
 tion of slavery because of its evils; and because 
 of these evils the efforts of the politicians were 
 directed to the confinement of slavery to desig 
 nated sections. The proslavery opinions of the 
 people of the North were thus under great press 
 ure; yet down to the outbreak of the war of 
 secession the majority of them, despite the fact 
 that they had no inclination to permit slavery in 
 their section, were bitterly opposed to interfer 
 ence with the institution as it existed in the 
 South. However, they were no less determined 
 to follow the lead of their politicians and repress 
 the extension of slavery into new Territories, 
 than were the people of the South to follow 
 theirs and enlarge the territory of the slave 
 States. 
 
 In 1838 the Legislatures of Massachusetts, 
 Ohio, and Rhode Island had protested against 
 the admission of Texas. In 1843 Connecticut 
 and New Jersey joined the protestants. The 
 movements leading to these protests marked the 
 changed status of abolitionism. We find an al 
 liance between the politicians and the abolition 
 ists perfected, and Garrison and his colleagues 
 addressing large and respectful audiences. Yet 
 even at this time there was generally a great 
 reluctance to discuss the question of slavery. 
 Conservatism still controlled North and South, 
 and abolition, when viewed apart from politics, 
 was looked on askance. The treatment of the 
 negro and his supporters was, however, less 
 
 6 
 
82 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 severe, and platform and pulpit resounded with 
 the clamor of the abolitionists. The " under 
 ground railway" was in active operation by 1838. 
 A constant northward movement of slaves went 
 on. From abolitionist to abolitionist at the chain 
 of stations (private houses usually a night s jour 
 ney apart) the fleeing slaves were passed until 
 they were safe from pursuit, in Canada. From 
 1850 to the outbreak of hostilities between North 
 and South the work of the underground railway 
 steadily increased ; and the change in public sen 
 timent in the fifties enabled the majority of the 
 escaped slaves to remain in the Northern States 
 and defy those laws by which the South had 
 deemed the right to the possession of her slave 
 property to have been secured in whatever State 
 it might be found. 
 
 The aggressiveness of the South served only 
 to render impregnable the position of the anti- 
 slavery politicians of the North, and to goad to 
 frenzied activity the abolitionists, now divided 
 into a radical, seceding society, and a conserva 
 tive lai&sez-faire one. Every day the number was 
 growing of those who not only were indomitably 
 opposed to the extension of the domain of 
 slavery, but also saw in its presence upon Ameri 
 can soil an intolerable evil. The preachers of 
 abolition were possessed of a spirit like that of 
 enthusiasts who court eternal glory in martyr 
 dom for their cause. No argument could silence 
 them, and mob violence could not put them 
 down. They were intemperate, and it may per- 
 
PRECEDENT EVENTS 83 
 
 haps be laid to their door that they precipitated 
 a terrible war in eradicating an institution of 
 which the country might have been rid peace 
 fully; but in the whole history of zeal for hu 
 manity, few are the examples that have equalled 
 the devotion given to the abolition movement 
 in the United States. 
 
 In 1850 the parliamentary fight centred on the 
 admission of California. This Territory had 
 framed an antislavery constitution. But the 
 North insisted on attaching the Wilmot Proviso 
 to the organization of the rest of the Territory 
 gained from Mexico. This was the deadlock. 
 The South was willing to admit California as a 
 free State without this proviso. 
 
 The air was full of secession talk, which, 
 though many affected to regard it as gasconade, 
 after-events proved to be seriously meant. In 
 this year (1850) Robert Toombs wrote: 
 
 " I saw General [President] Taylor and talked fully with 
 him, and, while he stated that he had given and would 
 give no pledges either way about the proviso, he gave me 
 clearly to understand that if it were passed he would sign 
 it. My course became instantly fixed. I would not hesi 
 tate to oppose the proviso, even to the extent of a dissolu 
 tion of the Union." 
 
 The South was then drifting towards the point 
 reached ten years later. But a temporary stay 
 was effected by the compromise introduced by 
 Henry Clay, his last signal service. Clay was a 
 genius in compromise. No man knew better 
 than he how to ward off imminent political dan- 
 
84 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 ger by temporary measures which neither party 
 could with good grace reject. His principles in 
 vested him with that sufficient ease that enabled 
 him, without an effort of conscience, to accom 
 modate his action to the requirements of contra 
 dictory positions. His present measure provided 
 for the admission of California with her free con 
 stitution; the establishment of Territorial gov 
 ernments in the rest of the Mexican cession, 
 without any restriction as to slavery; a deter 
 mination of the boundary between Texas and 
 New Mexico, which was in dispute; provision 
 for the payment of the public debt of Texas ; a 
 declaration of the inexpediency of abolishing 
 slavery in the District of Columbia ; the prohibi 
 tion of the slave-trade in that District; an ef 
 fectual provision for the restoration of fugitive 
 slaves ; a declaration that Congress has no power 
 to interfere with the slave-trade between the 
 States. 
 
 This was a compromise worthy of Clay. In 
 regard to the Mexican territory, it conceded 
 nothing by which the antislavery people would 
 lose, for slavery was not likely to be established 
 there; and it recalled to the North the terms 
 of the Constitution. 
 
 Clay was followed by Calhoun in an appeal for 
 peace, without any abatement of his contention 
 for Southern rights, as they were understood by 
 him. It only needed that the other one, and the 
 supreme, of the great senatorial triumvirate 
 should be heard. Of Daniel Webster, Carlyle 
 
PRECEDENT EVENTS 85 
 
 said, " As a logic-fencer or parliamentary Her 
 cules, one would incline to back him at first sight 
 against all the extant world." Never did states 
 man s mere word, independent of political com 
 binations, though Webster was an able politi 
 cian, go farther than his. In these days of the 
 decline of popular respect for oratory, it is diffi 
 cult to conceive of the full effect of Webster s 
 utterances. His " Seventh of March Speech" 
 was one of those efforts which are potent in 
 making history. He began with, " I wish to 
 speak to-day, not as a Massachusetts man, nor 
 as a Northern man, but as an American. ... I 
 speak to-day for the preservation of the Union." 
 In his recital of the history of slavery he alluded 
 to the fact that at the framing of the Constitution 
 the eminent men in both parts of the country 
 held slavery to be an evil. But the evil still 
 existed, and was more strongly than ever in 
 trenched in the South. He called the attention 
 of the sober-minded men of the North to the fact 
 that the Constitution demanded the rendition of 
 fugitive slaves. He paid his compliments to the 
 abolitionists : " I do not think them useful. I 
 think their operations for the last twenty years 
 have produced nothing good or valuable." Re 
 ferring to the change of sentiment on the part of 
 Virginia in regard to slavery, he attributed it to 
 the intemperance of the abolitionists. " Every 
 thing that these agitating people have done has 
 been, not to enlarge, but to restrain, not to set 
 free, but to bind faster, the slave population of 
 
86 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 the South." And for those who talked of 
 " peaceable secession" he said : 
 
 " Sir, he who sees these States, now revolving in har 
 mony around a common centre, and expects them to quit 
 their places and fly off without convulsion, may look the 
 next hour to see the heavenly bodies rush from their 
 spheres, and jostle against each other in the realms of 
 space, without causing the wreck of the universe." 
 
 Webster s speech was a terrible disappoint 
 ment for the North. Theodore Parker, the abo 
 litionist Unitarian minister of Boston, who more 
 than once wrote his sermon with loaded pistols 
 on his desk, and a determination in his mind to 
 protect from arrest fugitive slaves who were con 
 cealed in his house, accused Webster of having 
 sold himself for a chance of the Presidency. 
 Seward spoke of the " higher law," and thus gave 
 the antislavery men a doctrine that served them 
 in good stead. But Webster was constitutional. 
 California was admitted, and the Fugitive Slave 
 Law was passed. The fact that the bill was 
 signed by Millard Fillmore, " a New York man 
 and a Unitarian withal," was a fact that was 
 particularly grievous to the abolitionists, whose 
 cause received a setback. But it was only a lull 
 before the gathering of the final storm. What 
 both sides failed to grasp was the change 
 wrought by circumstances beyond individual 
 or party control. Viewed from a strictly legal 
 stand-point, the South was unquestionably cor 
 rect in its interpretation of the Constitution; 
 but it failed to give due weight to the moral 
 
PRECEDENT EVENTS 87 
 
 aspects of the case. On the other hand, the 
 North or that portion of it which had now 
 set its face resolutely against slavery did not 
 always put itself in the place of its Southern 
 rivals, so as to understand fully what emancipa 
 tion meant for them. In the course of time 
 morality always outstrips the law in its ideals of 
 justice and righteousness, and, unless through 
 the interposition of equity or legislation, the 
 popular mind will itself make short work of ob 
 jectionable legal conceptions. This was the 
 doctrine of the " higher law" which was then 
 established at the North. It was the basis of 
 action. In the South the doctrine of State 
 rights was no less potent to force the issue. The 
 antagonists were now face to face. Which 
 should give the provocation for assault was now 
 the one question. 
 
IV 
 
 THE NATIONALIZATION OF SLAVERY 
 
 " THERE is a higher law than the Constitu 
 tion," Seward had said, and this phrase became 
 a shibboleth of the abolitionists. Moral senti 
 ment thus became an effective political weapon, 
 but one that its creator shrank from using in any 
 cause but that of emancipation ; for the " higher 
 law" meant one thing when applied to slavery, 
 and it meant quite another when considered in 
 connection with the tariff. The doctrine by 
 which the Constitution might be abrogated 
 found little favor with President Fillmore, this 
 perhaps because of the jealousy which he bore to 
 its author, the brilliant Senator from New York. 
 However that may be, Fillmore, who when a 
 Representative was a radical antislavery Whig, 
 reversed his political position, abandoned prin 
 ciples for the sake of policy, and gave his sup 
 port which was decisive to the passage of the 
 Compromise Bill. The position of Seward and 
 the action of Fillmore illustrate the effect per 
 sonal aspirations had upon the political move 
 ments that preceded the war. That the national 
 policy was shaped upon personalities, and that 
 the selfish interests of ambitious politicians deter 
 mined the course of national as well as of local 
 affairs, are undeniable truths. 
 
THE NATIONALIZATION OF SLAVERY 89 
 
 The Compromise, or Omnibus Bill (1850), as 
 it was derisively called by its opponents, was far- 
 reaching in its effect. Its ultimate results were, 
 however, the opposite of those alleged to have 
 been its purpose; for instead of allaying irrita 
 tion it stirred up bitterness. The two most 
 important provisions of this bill in which it may 
 well be said were planted the roots of the par 
 liamentary struggle of the late fifties were the 
 waiving of the Wilmot Proviso in the establish 
 ment of New Mexico and Utah as Territories, 
 and the Fugitive Slave Law. The former pro 
 vided a logical argument for the subsequent re 
 peal of the Missouri Compromise, and also made 
 possible the bitter struggle over Kansas. The 
 latter gave the antislavery men in the North a 
 powerful engine wherewith to work on the popu 
 lar emotions of their section. 
 
 The Fugitive Slave Law caused more pitiful 
 shifting and skulking to avoid responsibility than 
 any previous piece of national legislation. The 
 Northern men were willing enough to see it 
 enacted, but many of them were not willing to 
 share in the Act that placed it upon the statute 
 books. It was carried by a vote of 109 to 76. 
 Many Northern Representatives purposely ab 
 sented themselves while the vote was being 
 taken. Thaddeus Stevens suggested to the 
 Speaker that he " send a page to notify the mem 
 bers from our side of the House that the Fugitive 
 Slave Law has been disposed of, and that they 
 may now come back into the hall." A resolution 
 
90 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 was afterwards passed by the Common Council 
 of the city of Chicago that " the Senators and 
 Representatives in Congress from the free States, 
 who aided and assisted in the passage of this 
 infamous law, and those who basely sneaked 
 away from their seats, and thereby evaded the 
 question, richly merit the reproach of all lovers 
 of freedom, and are fit only to be ranked with the 
 traitors Benedict Arnold and Judas Iscariot, who 
 betrayed his Lord and Master for thirty pieces 
 of silver." 
 
 The South, of course, viewed the law in a 
 different light, though there is great reason for 
 supposing that it was elated by it less as a means 
 of retaining its property than for its effect as a 
 defeat of the North. In the first place, the slave 
 holders of the Cotton States were not suffering 
 to a great extent by the loss of fugitive negroes ; 
 these came mostly from the border States of the 
 South. Then, again, the advocates of the Fugi 
 tive Slave Law had little confidence in the possi 
 bility of enforcing the law. When Webster ex 
 pressed his determination to aid in putting into 
 effect that part of the Constitution which re 
 quired the rendition of runaway slaves, Calhoun 
 replied, " What if you do enact such a law? The 
 people of New England will not submit to it." 
 
 It is even possible that the Southern extre 
 mists did not wish the bill passed. Their plan 
 seems to have been to propose a measure so 
 stringent that the North would not agree to it, 
 whereupon the Northerners might be charged 
 
THE NATIONALIZATION OF SLAVERY 91 
 
 with wilfully invalidating the Constitution. 
 Seward s opinion was that " Political ends 
 merely political ends and not real evils, result 
 ing from the escape of slaves, constituted the 
 prevailing motives to the enactment." After the 
 measure had become law, Senator Butler, or 
 South Carolina, admitted in so many words that 
 he "would just as soon have the law of 1795 as 
 the present law, for any purpose, so far as re 
 gards the reclamation of fugitive slaves." 
 
 But the passing of the Fugitive Slave Law 
 proved to be an unfortunate move for the South. 
 Its severe terms were calculated to increase the 
 irritation of the North, and, indeed, did arouse 
 the people there to the highest pitch of indigna 
 tion. Because of the use made of its text by the 
 abolitionists, it helped more than anything else 
 to array men against slavery. Those who, hith 
 erto, had been wavering as to their acceptance 
 of radical abolitionist principles, on its account 
 now decided in favor of universal freedom. It 
 gave the politicians who professed antislavery 
 views a tremendous vantage-ground for argu 
 ment. The poorest of their speakers could work 
 on the sympathies of voters, already predis 
 posed against the Southern system, by holding 
 up to execration a law which placed the deter 
 mination of a man s freedom wholly in the hands 
 of a commissioner, and that, too, without benefit 
 of jury or right of appeal! A particularly objec 
 tionable feature of the law, and one that rendered 
 it open to criticism, was found in the fact that 
 
92 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 the United States commissioner received a fee 
 of ten dollars if he sent an alleged fugitive back 
 to slavery, and but five dollars if he pronounced 
 him free. 
 
 The law was rendered almost inoperative by 
 the opposition of the people of the North, and 
 the comparatively few instances in which it was 
 enforced augmented the strength of the aboli 
 tionists. Not infrequently, black men and 
 women were violently rescued from the slave- 
 hunters and the officers of the law. When the 
 negro Burns, for instance, was delivered up by 
 Commissioner Loring, he could be taken out of 
 Boston only under the escort of a United States 
 artillery battalion, three platoons of marines, the 
 marshal s civil posse of one hundred and twenty- 
 five men, a field-piece, with another platoon of 
 marines as its guard. The mob had been excited 
 to frenzy by speeches from Theodore Parker and 
 Wendell Phillips, who incited it to rescue the 
 slave. 
 
 Wendell Phillips represented as well as led the 
 most uncompromising school of abolitionists. 
 For him the Constitution was nothing other than 
 a compact with hell in so far as it protected 
 slavery. His sincerity is as unquestionable as his 
 eloquence was powerful; but his devotion to 
 idealism in regard to the rights of the negro can 
 only be characterized as fanatical. He never 
 voted, for he would have no part or lot in a 
 system which supported this " sum of villanies." 
 
 Between the radical wing of the abolitionists 
 
LETTER FROM ABRAHAM LINCOLN TO SALMON P. CHASE 
 
THE NATIONALIZATION OF SLAVERY 93 
 
 and the politicians of both great parties there 
 was, however, even yet a great gulf fixed. The 
 former were eager to settle the whole question 
 of slavery by the " higher law." On the other 
 hand, even the Whigs of the North could not 
 forget that there was in existence such a thing 
 as the Constitution. That document left no 
 room for argument in regard to what the differ 
 ent States should do as to runaway slaves. In 
 it was not only an unequivocal Federal provision, 
 but a direct inhibition on State legislation. 
 
 Unjust, iniquitous, inconsistent with the prin 
 ciples of the Declaration of Independence, this 
 clause was held to be by the antislavery party; 
 nevertheless, it was the weapon of the Southern 
 Democrats and the sharpest horn of the dilemma 
 which confronted the Northern Whigs. Conse 
 quently, whatever may have been the private sen 
 timents of individual members of the latter party, 
 the platform to which the whole party agreed 
 was far from according with the views of the 
 extreme abolitionists. 
 
 The Democratic Convention, which met on the 
 1st of June, 1852, and nominated Franklin Pierce, 
 of New Hampshire, for the Presidency, adopted 
 the following plank regarding slavery : 
 
 " That Congress has no power under the Constitution to 
 interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the 
 several States, and that such States are the sole and proper 
 judges of everything appertaining to their own affairs, not 
 prohibited by the Constitution; that all efforts of the abo 
 litionists, or others, made to induce Congress to interfere 
 with questions of slavery, or to take incipient steps in 
 
94 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarming 
 and dangerous consequences ; and that all such efforts have an 
 inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of the people, 
 and endanger the stability and permanency of the Union, and 
 ought not to be countenanced by any friend of our political 
 institutions." 
 
 When it is remembered that on a platform 
 containing this clause a New England man was 
 elected President in 1852, it will be seen that at 
 that date there was a large body of men in the 
 North who were still sympathizers of the South 
 in her fight for the protection of its peculiar in 
 stitution. 
 
 The Whig Convention, also, was held in Bal 
 timore, on the i6th of June. Note now the 
 platform on which General Winfield Scott was 
 nominated : 
 
 " The series of acts of the Thirty-first Congress the act 
 known as the Fugitive Slave Law included are received 
 and acquiesced in by the Whig party of the United States 
 as a settlement in principle and substance of the dangerous 
 and exciting question which they embrace ; and so far as 
 they are concerned, we will maintain them and insist on 
 their strict enforcement, until time and experience shall 
 demonstrate the necessity of further legislation, to guard 
 against the evasion of the laws on the one hand and the 
 abuse of their powers on the other, not impairing their 
 present efficiency; and we deprecate all agitation of the 
 question thus settled, as dangerous to our peace ; and will 
 discountenance all efforts to renew or continue such agita 
 tion whenever, wherever, or however the attempt may be 
 made; and we will maintain this system as essential to 
 the nationality of the Whig party of the Union." 
 
 Thus there was little to choose between the 
 platforms of the two great parties. Both were 
 
THE NATIONALIZATION OF SLAVERY 95 
 
 willing to allow the country to rest from the bit 
 ter disputes over slavery. It was tacitly agreed 
 that the compromise measures of 1850 were to be 
 accepted by both parties as oil allaying the trou 
 bled waters. Franklin Pierce was now at the 
 helm, which expression in his case is nothing 
 more than a figure of speech, for of him no more 
 is needed in the way of characterization than to 
 say that he was an honest man and a gentleman, 
 and of average mediocrity as Presidents go. In 
 his inaugural address, President Pierce said, 
 and it is easy to imagine the sigh of content with 
 which he prepared this part of his speech, " I 
 believe that involuntary servitude is recognized 
 by the Constitution. I believe that the States 
 where it exists are entitled to efficient remedies 
 to enforce the constitutional provisions. I hold 
 that the compromise measures of 1850 are 
 strictly constitutional, and to be unhesitatingly 
 carried into effect. And now, I fervently hope 
 that the question is at rest." 
 
 The controversy for a time was stilled. For 
 a time there was to be a truce, an era of appar 
 ent good-will. Aside from the abolitionists, the 
 North was contented; it had acquiesced in such 
 measures as gave the South all she could pos 
 sibly expect. This state of peace was rudely 
 shattered, however, by Douglas, and for no 
 other reason than the desire to further his 
 ambitious schemes for personal aggrandize 
 ment. 
 
 A bill for the organization of the Territory of 
 
96 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 Nebraska had been passed in the House of Rep 
 resentatives. This bill was introduced into the 
 Senate in December, 1853, and was referred to 
 the Committee on Territories, of which Douglas 
 was chairman. The Territory of Nebraska in 
 cluded the present States of Kansas, Nebraska, 
 Montana, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, 
 and part of Colorado. 
 
 On January 4, 1854, Douglas made a report 
 intended to be far-reaching in its effect, which 
 was so, indeed, for it precipitated afresh the sec 
 tional quarrel with such vehemence that it could 
 no more be allayed until after there had been a 
 terrific and fratricidal war. In this report it was 
 declared that " It is a disputed point whether 
 slavery is prohibited in the Nebraska country by 
 valid enactment. ... In the opinion of those 
 eminent statesmen who hold that Congress is 
 invested with no rightful authority to legislate 
 upon the subject of slavery in the Territories, 
 the eighth section of the act preparatory to the 
 admission of Missouri is null and void." 
 
 It was this eighth section of the Missouri 
 Compromise which prohibited the extension of 
 slavery in all the Louisiana territory lying north 
 of latitude 36 30 , the State of Missouri ex- 
 cepted. This enactment had become a source 
 of bitter regret to the Southerners, for since 
 all available territory lying south of north lati 
 tude 36 30 had been organized into States 
 it precluded all expansion of the slave-holding 
 power. Moreover, it gave the North a vast 
 
THE NATIONALIZATION OF SLAVERY 97 
 
 country out of which numerous free States 
 might be carved. The South saw its equality of 
 power in the Senate doomed. The repeal of the 
 Missouri Compromise was therefore its last 
 hope. This could never be formally carried. But 
 that measure might be abrogated by being de 
 clared unconstitutional. This is what Douglas 
 discovered that the compromise measures of 
 1850 had done. His report stated that " It 
 is apparent that the compromise measures of 
 1850 affirm, and rest upon the following propo 
 sitions : 
 
 " First. That all questions pertaining to 
 slavery in the Territories, and in the new States 
 to be formed therefrom, are to be left to the 
 people residing therein, by their appropriate rep 
 resentatives, to be chosen by them for that pur 
 pose. 
 
 " Second. That all cases involving title to 
 slaves/ and questions of personal freedom/ are 
 to be referred to the adjudication of the local 
 tribunals, with the right of appeal to the Supreme 
 Court of the United States. 
 
 " Third. That the provision of the Constitu 
 tion of the United States in respect to fugitives 
 from service is to be carried into faithful execu 
 tion in all the original Territories/ the same as 
 in the States. 
 
 " The substitute for the bill which your com 
 mittee have prepared, and which is commended 
 for the favorable action of the Senate, proposes 
 to carry these propositions and principles into 
 
 7 
 
98 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 practical operation, in the precise language of 
 the compromise measures of 1850." 
 
 The proposition to repeal the Missouri Com 
 promise came upon the North with the stunning 
 effect of a thunderbolt. The settlement of 1820 
 had come to be regarded as something sacred 
 and inviolate. To repudiate it seemed in the 
 nature of a breach of faith. To obliterate the 
 prohibitive line at 36 30 was to overthrow 
 the bulwarks upon which the North had all 
 along relied to stem the tide of slavery extension. 
 There were very many in Massachusetts who, 
 so distinctly sectionalized had the country be 
 come, would have as freely welcomed a propo 
 sition to eradicate their State line. Doubtless it 
 is hard for the present generation to realize what, 
 in those days of the fifties, the terms North and 
 South meant. They were as separate as two 
 nations who, diametrically opposed in every in 
 terest, yet abode discontentedly under the same 
 government and eyed each other with suspicious 
 jealousy across the same legislative halls. And 
 both sections were conscious of these facts. No 
 more striking proof of this could be found than 
 in the literature of the day, which, North and 
 South, reflects sectional sentiment. 
 
 The form in which the Kansas-Nebraska Bill 
 was finally passed provided for the organization 
 of both Kansas and Nebraska. The understand 
 ing was, among those who engineered the meas 
 ure (without, however, divulging all their pur 
 pose), that Kansas should be an acquisition to 
 
THE NATIONALIZATION OF SLAVERY 99 
 
 the slave-holding States. This notwithstanding 
 the fact that Douglas declared that the true in 
 tent and meaning of the bill was not to legislate 
 slavery into any Territory or State, and not to 
 exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people 
 perfectly free to regulate their domestic institu 
 tions in their own way. 
 
 This was the doctrine known as "popular 
 sovereignty," but nicknamed " squatter sov 
 ereignty" by the opponents of the bill. The 
 measure was finally passed on May 26, 1854. It 
 was signed by the President amidst the firing of 
 cannon and the triumphant shouting of its 
 friends. But these demonstrations were truly 
 premonitory of the battle-cries and deadly bom 
 bardments which were to follow, for the Kansas- 
 Nebraska Bill was a direct and causal antecedent 
 of the war. Doubtless the controversy would 
 have sprung up again in some other guise ; but, 
 as it was, Stephen A. Douglas, in stirring up this 
 subject which was for the time quiescent, made 
 himself responsible for the conflict which fol 
 lowed. 
 
 The repeal of the Missouri Compromise was 
 the beginning of the end. By it the South made 
 her last throw, and lost. It was a desperate and 
 hopeless attempt to break the barrier which con 
 fined the slave power to proportions which were 
 daily being outstripped by the North. There 
 was no possibility of slavery taking root in 
 the newly opened country; climate, soil, and the 
 very configuration of the land itself entirely un- 
 
ioo THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 fitted it for anything but the energetic resources 
 of free labor. It was useless, as Daniel Webster 
 had said, to " reaffirm an ordinance of Nature, 
 or to re-enact the will of God." Nevertheless, 
 the effect on the North was tremendous, the 
 conviction there growing strong that the Union 
 and slavery could not much longer exist to 
 gether. The expression of this opinion pro 
 ceeded at first from the extremists, but at this 
 day it is not the habit to acknowledge how ready 
 the abolitionists were to give utterance to dis 
 union sentiments. On the 4th of July, 1854, Gar 
 rison publicly burned a copy of the United States 
 Constitution with the words, " The Union must 
 be dissolved." Again he said, " Justice and lib 
 erty, God and man, demand the dissolution of 
 this slave-holding Union, and the formation of 
 a Northern confederacy, in which slave-holders 
 will stand before the law as felons and be treated 
 as pirates." In another chapter we shall have 
 an opportunity to point out and illustrate the 
 fact that Northern antislavery men did a fair 
 share in the work of promulgating the idea of 
 secession, just as the Hartford Convention fur 
 nished ammunition for the South Carolina nulli- 
 fiers. 
 
 The immediate consequence of the Kansas- 
 Nebraska Bill was that many to whom slavery 
 had hitherto been a matter of indifference now 
 became opposed to it on the ground that its 
 defenders were persistently putting the Union in 
 danger. 
 
THE NATIONALIZATION OF SLAVERY 101 
 
 It will thus be seen that the slavery question, 
 which was hurrying the two sections to the abyss 
 of war, now overshadowed all other political con 
 siderations and was at the same time the chief 
 line marking the division of parties. In the 
 North the words of the Declaration of Indepen 
 dence especially those Jefferson had borrowed 
 from the doctrinaire philosophers of revolution 
 ary France, regarding natural law and the equal 
 ity and brotherhood of man appealed with tell 
 ing effect, just as they had done to the majority 
 of New England men at the time of the adoption 
 of the Federal Constitution. It was claimed by 
 them, moreover, that the Southern slave-holders 
 were abandoning their old position, which had 
 been one of defence, and in exchange therefor 
 were adopting an aggressive attitude with the 
 object of nationalizing their institution. 
 
 That there was much reason in this contention 
 becomes obvious when we recall the position as 
 sumed by the South in 1787, and contrast it with 
 the policy that actuated the Southern leaders 
 during the quarrel regarding Kansas. Generally 
 accepted in the former period as a local custom 
 ary institution, with no other protection in the 
 free States and elsewhere than what was ac 
 corded it by either comity or treaty, the slave 
 holders had arrived at a point where they un 
 dertook to argue that there was no difference 
 between their human chattels and any other 
 form of property. This altered opinion had been 
 partly the cause and partly the effect of the series 
 
102 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 of events, in part already discussed here, which, 
 however natural, were well calculated to deepen 
 the chasm between the sections. 
 
 These events, briefly recapitulating, were : the 
 purchase of Louisiana; the Missouri Compro 
 mise; the annexation of Texas; the war with 
 Mexico and the territorial acquisitions resulting 
 therefrom; the compromise of 1850; the repeal 
 of the Missouri Compromise; the amendment 
 of the Fugitive Slave Law ; the Kansas-Nebraska 
 Bill; the extension of slavery to Territories like 
 Utah and New Mexico; to these we must add 
 the various filibustering expeditions fitted out by 
 " Southern annexationists" against Cuba and 
 Central America, with the avowed purpose (only 
 thwarted by threat of Federal interference) of 
 carving out new territory from which to con 
 struct slave-holding States; and, finally, an in 
 creasing demand, voiced by Governor Adams, of 
 South Carolina, in his message to the Legislature 
 of 1856, for the reopening of the African slave- 
 trade. 
 
 To the South, if slavery were to continue, this 
 policy of extension was not only natural, but 
 necessary. It already saw its rival far ahead of 
 it in population and wealth. The future held still 
 further gain for the North. The public lands of 
 the great Northwest long unavailable for lack 
 of means of communication were being rapidly 
 settled by busy and industrious immigrants, who 
 were carried thither by the lines of railway that 
 were beginning to gridiron the country; and the 
 
THE NATIONALIZATION OF SLAVERY 103 
 
 construction of artificial waterways like the Erie 
 Canal had already laid the foundation of new 
 communities in the region bordering the Great 
 Lakes. Nor was the West the only part of the 
 country that was thus rapidly developing. The 
 opening up of the coal, iron, and oil fields of 
 Pennsylvania was fast adding to the richness 
 and population of the Middle States; McCor- 
 mick s reaper and other agricultural implements 
 brought about the cultivation of lands in the 
 wheat-growing portions of the North ; and New 
 England, under the protection of a high tariff 
 and with the multiplication of new inventions, 
 was from an industrial point of view fast ap 
 proaching the social and economic type of 
 manufacturing Great Britain. 
 
 The original differences between the North 
 and the South were now heightened to a degree 
 they had never before reached, for few of the 
 great industrial forces were felt in any marked 
 degree below Mason and Dixon s line. Slavery 
 excluded them. The natural advantages of the 
 South were unutilized. Such resources, for ex 
 ample, as the rich coal and iron mines of Ten 
 nessee and Alabama were almost untouched. 
 Urban life, moreover, was becoming even more 
 sluggish. It is true that seaports like Charles 
 ton, Savannah, Mobile, and New Orleans main 
 tained a more or less active trade, but the popu 
 lation was largely composed of planters who 
 made these cities their homes in winter and were 
 too often but slightly interested in the improve- 
 
104 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 ment of community life, and who were in many 
 cases hostile to anything that might impel change 
 or advancement. In the interior of the South 
 there were numerous small towns, to be sure, 
 but, as a rule, they were mere political and ad 
 ministrative centres, whose inhabitants consisted 
 in the main of office-holders, a few professional 
 men, some merchants, together with their slaves 
 and a sprinkling of lazy, shiftless, free negroes. 
 Rural interests were well-nigh supreme, and each 
 plantation was not only a social but an industrial 
 centre, for almost everything needed was pro 
 duced by the slaves themselves. 
 
 Nor were the differences between the sections 
 thus accentuated only by mere material agencies. 
 In matters of education there was a vital differ 
 ence between the North and the South, and one 
 that in course of time did no little to foster the 
 inherited and mutual dislike of the people of the 
 two sections. Town life at the North not to 
 speak of the ideals of the people had con 
 tributed largely to the creation and development 
 of a system of education far superior to that pos 
 sible to agricultural communities Free schools 
 had multiplied and finally attained to a degree 
 of efficiency that did much to raise the level of 
 general intelligence, while numerous colleges and 
 universities aided in the work of advancing the 
 cause of civilization and enlightenment. Not so 
 with the South, whose entire social constitution 
 was in every manner calculated to hinder the 
 growth of general culture. It is true that there 
 
THE NATIONALIZATION OF SLAVERY 105 
 
 were Southern people whose critical tastes could 
 be said even to surpass those of Northern citi 
 zens, and there were not a few notable private 
 libraries. At the same time, the fact cannot be 
 disguised that there were few Southern authors 
 of note; and when readers desired books they 
 sought them rather in England and France than 
 at the North, whose literary productions were 
 increasingly crowded with attacks upon slavery. 
 Thus the two peoples often thought differently 
 because they did not read the same things. 
 Meanwhile, in the domain of higher education 
 there was every whit as much variance. State 
 universities like those supported by Virginia, 
 the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and Missis 
 sippi were admirable so far as they went. In 
 deed, in some instances their courses of instruc 
 tion will bear very favorable comparison with 
 those provided by the Northern institutions of 
 learning, while more than one professor at such 
 colleges as those maintained by Virginia and 
 the Carolinas won universal esteem by reason 
 of his culture and learning. Notwithstanding 
 these facts, however, the education thus im 
 parted was little calculated to develop catho 
 licity of thought. 
 
 The students, as a rule, met men from their 
 own States who thought and acted as they them 
 selves did. It is true, many young men of the 
 South went abroad, as well as to such Northern 
 institutions as Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. 
 But this custom began gradually to decline, as 
 
106 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 the discussion of the slavery question forced itself 
 into the intimate life of the people, and students 
 preferred to remain at home, where their feelings 
 would not be irritated by attacks upon their sec 
 tion and its institutions. Thus we find a line of 
 demarcation in the educational life of the period. 
 
 A similar line of cleavage took place between 
 the religious organizations of the country. The 
 members of great bodies like the Methodist 
 Conference, the Presbyterian Assembly, and the 
 Baptist Convention found it impossible to harmo 
 nize, and separated into Northern and Southern 
 bodies, over the slavery question. Hence men 
 who had theretofore met annually or less fre 
 quently in national meetings became estranged 
 from one another. 
 
 Of political controversies much has been said 
 already. That these should have increased in 
 virulence as time went on, and slavery ceased to 
 remain a local and moral issue and became in 
 stead a political and national question, was nat 
 ural. It was slavery, for example, that slowly 
 produced a great political party almost wholly 
 composed of Northern men and directed to the 
 denationalization, if not to the uttermost over 
 throw, of the institution. How this came about 
 is indisputable, yet it may not be out of place 
 briefly to trace here the formation of Northern 
 opinion as the advocates of slavery extension 
 grew bolder and bolder in their efforts to retain 
 and strengthen their power. 
 
 To do this will require us to add something 
 
THE NATIONALIZATION OF SLAVERY 107 
 
 more to what has been previously said on the 
 tariff, which was a potent factor in swelling the 
 number of agencies at work in bringing about 
 the war between the sections. Hence it may be 
 well to speak now of the latter phase of the 
 subject. 
 
 The so-called " era of good feeling" that set 
 in with the Presidency of Monroe and the enun 
 ciation of the policy that has been associated 
 with his name was one largely swayed by per 
 sonal and factional considerations rather than by 
 those larger political conceptions which are sup 
 posed to guide the conduct of thoroughly organ 
 ized parties. 
 
 Because of its behavior during our second 
 struggle with Great Britain, the old Federal party 
 had committed suicide. Now and then, to be 
 sure, it gave fitful exhibitions of returning vital 
 ity, but these, by its enemies, at least, were re 
 garded more in the light of the spasms of a 
 reptile whose head had been crushed than as 
 the threat of a restoration to life. At first 
 there was nothing to take its place. The old 
 Democratic-Republican party of Jefferson alone 
 maintained its existence. It is true, a group 
 of young men like Calhoun, Clay, and others 
 already gave evidence of a trend towards na 
 tional aspirations that was very far from the 
 doctrines of the orthodox Jeffersonian school; 
 but they still gave their loyal adherence to the 
 party in spite of their support of the bill re- 
 chartering the Bank of the United States and 
 
toS THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 their endorsement of the Tariff Act of 1816. 
 But as the disposition not only to maintain but 
 to raise the tariff manifested itself, as well as 
 a spirit of national activity looking to increasing- 
 expenditure for internal improvements, the 
 Democratic factions began to ripen into parties, 
 and sectionalism to lift its head in a new direc 
 tion. 
 
 At first in sympathy both with the policy of 
 protecting infant industries and that implying 
 so liberal an interpretation of the Constitution 
 as to sanction the improvement by national 
 agencies of highways, canals, and harbors, the 
 South soon began to recede from a policy which 
 apparently enriched the North without giving 
 herself any proportionate return. With the elec 
 tion, by the House of Representatives, of the 
 second Adams to the Presidency, the altered sit 
 uation had become sufficiently marked to attract 
 attention. In the first place, Adams received but 
 slight support in the South; secondly, he was 
 elected by Clay s casting the tie vote in his favor. 
 This was the beginning of that alliance between 
 the North and the West which during the Civil 
 War was destined to disappoint the South in all 
 its hopes towards the securing of Western as 
 sistance, or, at least, indifference. Leadership, 
 moreover, both North and South passed through 
 a shifting process of unusual importance. As 
 Monroe had been the last President of the Old 
 Virginia type, so Adams marked the end of New 
 England s hegemony. To the West the North 
 
THE NATIONALIZATION OF SLAVERY 109 
 
 was henceforth to look for her leadership, while, 
 at the same time, Virginia, partly by reason of 
 her new Constitution widening the franchise, 
 partly because of the development of the lower 
 South, was forced to abdicate in favor of South 
 Carolina and the Gulf States. 
 
 One of the earliest results of this altered state 
 of things was the birth of the Whig party, whose 
 principles were largely represented by Clay s 
 " American System," with a large share of the 
 Federal party s ideas of a loose construction of 
 the Constitution. The party, despite its lean 
 ings, soon found a number of warm Southern 
 supporters. 
 
 Committed to the policy of protection, the 
 Whigs were responsible for the "Tariff of Abom 
 inations" of 1828, that resulted in the nullifica 
 tion movement in South Carolina, and what was, 
 in point of fact, the first germ of the Civil War. 
 The Whig party was opposed by the Democrats, 
 then, as usual, divided into hostile factions. Its 
 Southern members, moreover, were in favor of 
 slavery, opposed to the tariff, and, as a rule, op 
 posed to the bank. To this Southern wing the 
 party owed its final destruction when the slavery 
 question dominated every other political subject. 
 
 The South naturally looked upon England as 
 its best market. There it could buy at reason 
 able prices the necessaries and luxuries of life, 
 and at the same time find an excellent opportu 
 nity to dispose of Southern products. After the 
 repeal of the British Corn Laws and the increased 
 
no THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 activity of commerce brought about by this 
 change of policy, English manufacturing indus 
 tries took on a new lease of life, from which all 
 parts of the world reaped advantages, but few 
 more so than the Southern States. What was 1 
 more natural, therefore, than that they should 
 embrace with enthusiasm Peel s doctrines of free 
 trade, and view England with friendlier eyes than 
 they did the North? Was not the tariff a direct 
 blow at the commercial interests of the Southern 
 States? Depending as they did on commerce 
 in its largest sense, they now found that interest 
 shattered in pieces for the welfare of a section 
 already threatening the horrors of a servile war. 
 
 Above Mason and Dixon s line there was a 
 lack of that unanimity of opinion that prevailed 
 so widely south of it. Politically speaking, there 
 were, in the first place, the Democrats who were 
 disposed to adopt Southern views out and out 
 and those members of the same party who were 
 heartily sick of their Southern friends. Arrayed 
 against this organization was the Whig party; 
 it, too, was disposed to wink at slavery in order 
 to obtain Southern support. Added to these was 
 the abolitionist party, composed of two factions, 
 conservative and liberal; the one opposed to 
 slavery extension but unwilling to disturb its con 
 tinuance at the South; the other unreservedly 
 committed either to the extinction of slavery or 
 the dissolution of the Union. 
 
 In the North at this time there were abolition 
 ists, Free-soilers, antislavery Whigs, and anti- 
 
THE NATIONALIZATION OF SLAVERY in 
 
 Nebraska Democrats, as well as minor groups. 
 The Whig party went to pieces on the rock of 
 the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and the new Repub 
 lican party took its place. This was destined to 
 develop into a mighty force, which, in the armed 
 contention of the nation, was to demolish slavery 
 itself. From the start its policy was sectional 
 rather than national, a party desiring no en 
 tangling Southern alliance to cripple it as the 
 Whigs had been crippled. The advent of the 
 Republican party definitely arrayed the North 
 against the South. No Southern wing hampered 
 this new organization; and from the first its 
 object was confessedly the overthrow of the slave 
 power. 
 
KANSAS BUCHANAN S ADMINISTRATION 
 
 "BLEEDING KANSAS" was both a premonition 
 and an immediate cause of the blood-shedding 
 into which the strife between the sections was 
 soon to develop. The South was not directly re 
 sponsible for the movement to repeal the Mis 
 souri Compromise, but she gladly hailed the 
 measure as a means of extending her power. 
 Never was there greater lack of political fore 
 sight. Had the South been contented with the 
 territory south of 36 30 , the overthrow of 
 her institution might have been a much slower 
 process, and accomplished peaceably and with 
 satisfaction based upon due compensation. The 
 marvel is that the Southern statesmen did not 
 clearly perceive that the North had become not 
 only too strong for them, but also too greatly 
 dominated by antislavery principles to relinquish 
 the least portion of the public domain to slave- 
 holding control. The opinion is here ventured 
 that the leaders of the Southern people must 
 have seen it. It seems evident that, resting on 
 what they believed to be their constitutional 
 right, they were determined to push, if neces 
 sary, the issue of slavery to the point of secession. 
 At the same time, it must be added that among 
 
 112 
 
KANSAS BUCHANAN S ADMINISTRATION 113 
 
 the larger slave-holders, as opposed to mere 
 politicians, there was a decided opposition to 
 the secession movement. The conservatism of 
 wealth in both the North and the South strove 
 to preserve the status quo. 
 
 But Kansas seemed to afford a chance for 
 Southern expansion. The South threw, and lost ; 
 for the dice, so to speak, were heavily loaded in 
 favor of the North. From this time forward the 
 controversy takes a new form. It is no longer a 
 legal and constitutional argument, a Congres 
 sional debate, or even a manoeuvring for the pas 
 sage of laws ; it is an open quarrel, with deeds of 
 violence becoming steadily more frequent; skir 
 mishes between the pickets of armies marching 
 rapidly to meet each other. 
 
 Kansas was in a virtual state of war. There 
 " Border Ruffians" from Missouri and " Free 
 State Settlers" from the North carried on a 
 course of violence in which arson and assassina 
 tion were incidents of daily occurrence. Such 
 was the extent of these outrages that a conserva 
 tive estimate thus enumerates their effects: 
 value of crops destroyed, $37,349; number of 
 buildings burned and destroyed, 78; horses 
 taken or destroyed, 368; cattle taken or de 
 stroyed, 533; property taken or destroyed by 
 pro-slavery men, $318,718; by free State men, 
 $94,529. Over two hundred lives were lost, and 
 the expeditions to Kansas cost over two million 
 dollars. The Territory was divided, in accord 
 ance with the views of the settlers, into two dis- 
 
 8 
 
ii4 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 tricts, each vying with the other in the perpetra 
 tion of every species of outrage. The pro-slavery 
 men gathered around Leavenworth and Lecomp- 
 ton, where they held conventions and formulated 
 a State constitution, while the free-State people 
 met at Topeka and Lawrence and put into opera 
 tion rival political machinery, neither party rec 
 ognizing the legislative performances of the 
 other. 
 
 The New York Times said, " The question of 
 slavery domination must and will be fought out 
 on the plains of Kansas." This was the feeling 
 both North and South. Accordingly, in sending 
 out men each section was careful to see that they 
 were well armed. Some of the contingents from 
 both sections were equipped with Bibles, but it 
 is difficult to see that they had any effect what 
 soever on the dispute in Kansas or the manner 
 in which it was carried on. A remarkable scene 
 was enacted in Connecticut, at New Haven, 
 where Deacon Lines had raised a company of 
 seventy-nine emigrants. Before their depart 
 ure, a mass meeting was held, in a church, for 
 the purpose of raising funds for their equipment. 
 There were present many eminent clergymen, 
 and of Yale professors not a few. Henry Ward 
 Beecher, who was afterwards to do a far better 
 service for the Union by his mission to England, 
 made a stirring address. Then Professor Still- 
 man started the subscription with one Sharp s 
 rifle ; others, including the pastor of the church, 
 followed. Beecher announced that if twenty-five 
 
KANSAS BUCHANAN S ADMINISTRATION 1 1 5 
 
 rifles were subscribed on the spot, his church 
 would duplicate the number. He had already 
 expressed his opinion that for the slave-holders 
 of Kansas the rifle was a more effective moral 
 agency than the Bible; consequently, from that 
 time on Sharp s rifle was popularly known as 
 "Beecher s Bible." This incident fairly illus 
 trates the spirit in which the North met the 
 Kansas troubles. 
 
 The Southern method was no less strenuous. 
 The pro-slavery men had an advantage in that 
 they were favored by the Administration in 
 Washington. The Territorial officers were all 
 of this party. That they did not fail to take ad 
 vantage of their power and that to the utmost 
 limit is illustrated in the destruction of Law 
 rence. Sheriff Jones, during an attempt to arrest 
 a free-State man in that town, was wounded. 
 The pro-slavery men were immeasurably in 
 censed, and demanded that the abolition town be 
 wiped out of existence. A legal pretext for at 
 tacking the place was sought. 
 
 The Territorial Legislature had passed laws 
 which inflicted the death penalty upon those who 
 committed certain acts prejudicial to slavery. 
 Even to speak, write, or print matter by which 
 slaves might be advised or induced to rebel was 
 a capital crime. In accordance with these enact 
 ments, Judge Lecompte, the chief justice of the 
 Territory and an ardent pro-slavery man, enun 
 ciated his doctrine of Constructive Treason. In 
 charging the grand jury at Lecompton, he ruled 
 
n6 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 that to resist such laws was equal to treason 
 against the United States. He said : 
 
 " If you find that no such resistance has been made, but 
 that combinations have been formed for the purpose of re 
 sisting them, and that individuals of influence and notoriety 
 have been aiding and abetting in such combinations, then 
 must you find bills for constructive treason." 
 
 Accordingly, this grand jury, in addition to 
 indicting prominent free-State leaders for trea 
 son, recommended the abatement as nuisances 
 of newspapers published at Lawrence. 
 
 Marshal Donaldson, in May, 1856, issued a 
 proclamation to the people of Kansas, an 
 nouncing that he had certain writs to execute at 
 Lawrence, and that as previously his deputy 
 (Jones) had been opposed in the execution of 
 justice, he had every reason to believe that on 
 this occasion he would likewise be resisted by. 
 a large and armed force. Therefore all law- 
 abiding citizens were commanded to appear at 
 Lecompton in order to aid in the due execution 
 of the law. Pro-slavery men otherwise desig 
 nated as " law-abiding citizens" appeared in 
 ample force. 
 
 These men, so flatteringly designated, com 
 prised the marshal s posse. There were seven 
 hundred and fifty of them, and, to state the 
 fact moderately, they were a gang of ruffians. 
 Armed with rifles and five pieces of artillery, 
 they took a position on the bluffs which from 
 the West commanded the town. The inhabi 
 tants of Lawrence were not prepared to resist 
 
KANSAS BUCHANAN S ADMINISTRATION 117 
 
 such a force. Right was on their side, though 
 they were law-breakers; but it was an instance 
 in which " the heaviest battalions" prevailed in 
 dependent of the justice of the cause. Donald 
 son, after making some arrests, turned the posse 
 over to Jones, the sheriff of Douglas County, 
 with the avouchment, " He is a law-and-order 
 man, and acts under the same authority as the 
 marshal." Jones immediately proceeded to ex 
 emplify his idea of law and order. The men were 
 marched into the town with banners flying. One 
 of these was ornamented with the inscription : 
 
 " Let Yankees tremble, abolitionists fall ; 
 Our motto is, Give Southern rights to all." 
 
 The first objects of this disciplinary visitation 
 were the offices of the offending free-State news 
 papers. These were quickly destroyed, presses, 
 type, books, and all. The sheriff also had a writ 
 against the large stone hotel which had just been 
 erected and was the pride of the town. The exe 
 cution of this writ gave him a welcome oppor 
 tunity to test the mettle of his artillery. But the 
 walls being proof against the balls, the torch 
 was applied to the edifice, and it was burnt to 
 the ground not until the wines and liquors it 
 contained were first preserved for immediate use. 
 Under the influence of these, and unsubmissive 
 to the control of Buford and Atchison, who coun 
 selled against the destruction of property, the 
 posse sacked the town and set fire to Governor 
 Robinson s house. In one project, however, they 
 
n8 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 did not succeed. They failed to get possession 
 of the Sharp s rifles which were in the hands of 
 Pomeroy, the representative of the Emigrant 
 Aid Company. These were retained by the free- 
 State men for future and effective use. 
 
 This, though a victory for slavery in Kansas, 
 only served to strengthen and crystallize the 
 Northern antagonism to that institution. It 
 made Republicans. 
 
 But the outrages in the Territory were not all 
 perpetrated by the pro-slavery rrien. In fact, if 
 careful investigation is made with such evidence 
 as is available and trustworthy, it will be found 
 that dishonors were not far from being even be 
 tween the two parties. In 1857 the retiring gov 
 ernor of Kansas said truly : 
 
 " Desolation and ruin reigned on every hand ; homes and 
 firesides were deserted ; the smoke of burning dwellings 
 darkened the atmosphere ; women and children, driven 
 from habitations, wandered over the prairies and among 
 the woodlands, or sought refuge among the Indian tribes. 
 The highways were infested with numerous predatory 
 bands, and the towns were fortified and garrisoned by 
 armies of conflicting partisans, each excited almost to 
 frenzy, and determined upon mutual extermination." 
 
 In the annals of crime we can learn of no deed 
 more atrocious than that laid to the charge of 
 the demented agitator John Brown, later of Har 
 per s Ferry infamy, and afterwards canonized by 
 public opinion at the North. After the destruc 
 tion of Lawrence, Brown determined to expiate 
 the blood of five free-State men who had been 
 killed since the beginning of the troubles. He 
 
KANSAS BUCHANAN S ADMINISTRATION 119 
 
 called together his four sons, a son-in-law, and 
 two neighbors, to whom he had made known his 
 determination to put to the sword all the pro- 
 slavery men living on the Pottawatomie. To the 
 objection of one of them he replied, " I have no 
 choice. It has been decreed by Almighty God, 
 ordained from eternity, that I should make an 
 example of these men." Brown and his party 
 went out one night, and coming to the house of 
 Boyle, one of the proscribed men, compelled 
 him and one of his sons to go with them. What 
 followed is indicated by the evidence, given un 
 der oath, of a surviving son : 
 
 " I found my father and one brother, William, lying dead 
 in the road, about two hundred yards from the house. I 
 saw my other brother lying dead on the ground, about one 
 hundred and fifty yards from the house, in the grass, near 
 a ravine; his fingers were cut off and his arms were cut 
 off; there was a hole in his breast. William s head was 
 cut open and a hole was in his jaw as though it was made 
 by a knife; and a hole was also in his side. My father 
 was shot in the forehead and stabbed in the breast." 
 
 John Brown and his band then went to the 
 house of another settler named Wilkinson. De 
 spite the pleading of his sick and helpless wife, 
 they compelled him to go with them. In the 
 morning he also was found dead. William Sher 
 man made up the number of the five. In nearly 
 all the accounts of the life of John Brown this 
 incident is either slurred over, or extenuated by 
 the conditions which then obtained in Kansas, or 
 excused by Brown s principles. But in any true 
 history it can be regarded only as one of the 
 
120 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 most atrocious, cold-blooded, cowardly murders 
 that have blotted the history of the United 
 States. 
 
 The troubles in Kansas had a great effect on 
 the Presidential election. Though the result 
 was not the triumph of the free State candidate, 
 the Republican party came astonishingly to 
 the fore, and was given strong hope of victory 
 in the next Presidential campaign. The elec 
 tion, in 1856, of Nathaniel T. Banks, of Massa 
 chusetts, on the one hundred and thirty-third 
 ballot, to the Speakership of the House stimu 
 lated the Republicans. They saw that Southern 
 ascendency in Congress was doomed, and were 
 encouraged to bend every energy to capture the 
 executive branch of the government. 
 
 Prejudices ran high during these years of ex 
 citement and passion. Men were often quite as 
 much enraged by hatred of the Southern slave 
 holders as by any love of the blacks, for whom, 
 in many respects, the Southerners really had a 
 higher regard. As Carlyle bluntly put it, the 
 South said to the negro, " l God bless you and 
 be a slave; the North, God d n you and be 
 a freeman. In many a Northern heart, more 
 over, there was jealousy, that consumer of the 
 fairest of ideals. At the South there grew up a 
 scarcely less noxious product. It was hatred. 
 
 Nothing so strikingly illustrates the height of 
 sectional animosity as the personal assault on 
 Charles Sumner by Brooks, of South Carolina. 
 Sumner s ability placed him in the foremost rank 
 
KANSAS BUCHANAN S ADMINISTRATION 121 
 
 of the leading spirits of his time, his conscious 
 ness of that ability endued him with a self-confi 
 dence which never failed. He had a highly 
 wrought moral sense, leading him to devote him 
 self to the benefit of his country and the uplifting 
 of the enslaved race; but it did not include a 
 quick sense of the courtesy due to those who dif 
 fered from him in opinion. Consequently he was 
 a man who made many enemies; indeed, it has 
 been said of him that at the period of the con 
 troversies before the outbreak of the war he was 
 the most hated man in Washington. Possessed 
 of indomitable courage, he made no attempt to 
 mollify this enmity. Indeed, his public addresses 
 were ultrasensational and characterized more by 
 invective than by argument. On the iQth and 
 2Oth of May, 1856, Sumner had delivered his 
 famous speech on " The Crime against Kansas." 
 It was a needlessly bitter attack on South Caro 
 lina, one of those speeches frequently delivered 
 by Northern men to make political capital, and 
 naturally calculated to goad the South to mad 
 ness and thus defeat the very object which the 
 speakers professed to be seeking. Moreover, 
 Sumner s address contained insulting allusions to 
 Senator Butler, who was a relative of Brooks. 
 Seward, who read the speech previous to its de 
 livery, strongly advised the elimination of some 
 of its expressions. But Sumner was not fully 
 " conscious of the stinging force of his language." 
 The story is well known, how Brooks attacked 
 Sumner while the latter was writing letters at his 
 
122 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 desk in the Senate Chamber, and with a walking- 
 cane rained upon his head blows that would have 
 resulted in the death of a man of weaker consti 
 tution. From the effects of this assault Sumner 
 never fully recovered. 
 
 The South approved of the attack. It lauded 
 Brooks and eulogized his action. The North, on 
 the contrary, seemed to lack words to express 
 the bitterness of its detestation and resentment. 
 Congress did not expel Brooks, but, sure of a 
 triumphant re-election, he defied the House and 
 resigned from it. He was well-nigh unanimously 
 returned to his seat by his district. 
 
 This assault has been made altogether too 
 much of by our historians. It carried no deep 
 political significance. It was nothing more nor 
 less than the ebullition of passion intensified by 
 sectional feelings. It was strictly personal and 
 had little or no connection with matters of state 
 craft. 
 
 It is remarkable that in 1856 all parties drew 
 their candidates from the North. The South 
 would have preferred the re-election of Pierce 
 or the election of Douglas as its second choice. 
 But both these men had estranged the members 
 of the Northern Democracy. The only avail 
 able candidate was Buchanan. Fortunately for 
 himself, he had been serving the country as Am 
 bassador to England while the Missouri Com 
 promise was being repealed and the Kansas- 
 Nebraska Bill passed. Consequently, in regard 
 to both these measures he could prove an alibi. 
 
KANSAS BUCHANAN S ADMINISTRATION 123 
 
 It was found on examination that he had never 
 given a vote " against the interests of slavery, 
 and never uttered a word which could pain the 
 most sensitive Southern heart." He satisfied the 
 South, promising that the aim of his administra 
 tion should be to settle the slavery question in 
 such a manner that the Union might be pre 
 served and Southern interests amply guarded. 
 " If," said he, " I can be instrumental in settling 
 the slavery question on the terms I have named, 
 and then add Cuba to the Union, I shall, if Presi 
 dent, be willing to give up the ghost and let 
 Breckinridge take the government." The North 
 was even more satisfied with the Democratic 
 candidate; he was supposed to view the repeal 
 of the Missouri Compromise with disfavor. 
 
 This Presidential campaign (1856) showed a 
 striking disintegration and re-formation of polit 
 ical parties. There were four political organiza 
 tions before the people, a small remnant of the 
 Whigs, the Know-Nothings, Democrats North 
 and South, and the new Republican party. The 
 Whigs and the Know-Nothings combined in the 
 nomination of Millard Fillmore. The Republi 
 can party, though only four years of age, was 
 yet sturdy enough to challenge the South and 
 the Northern Democracy. Their nomination was 
 governed entirely by availability. John C. Fre 
 mont s picturesque character and career were 
 relied upon as qualities sufficient for a Presiden 
 tial candidate. But so far as the Republicans 
 were concerned, this was pre-eminently a cam- 
 
i2 4 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 paign for principles rather than for the man. 
 Fremont was chosen solely because he was pop 
 ular and had made no enemies. They were de 
 cisive, however, in their platform, which declared 
 it to be "both the right and the duty of Con 
 gress to prohibit in the Territories those twin 
 relics of barbarism, polygamy and slavery." 
 
 The Republican party was absolutely sec 
 tional ; and undoubtedly for this reason many in 
 the North, who otherwise were not unfavorable 
 to its principles, dared not endanger the Union 
 by giving it their support. To these Fillmore 
 effectively appealed when he said : 
 
 " We see a political party presenting candidates for the 
 Presidency and the Vice-Presidency selected for the first 
 time from the free States alone, with the avowed purpose 
 of electing these candidates by suffragists from one part of 
 the Union only, to rule over the whole of the United 
 States. 
 
 " Can it be possible that those who are engaged in such 
 a measure can have seriously reflected on the consequences 
 which must inevitably follow in case of success ? Can they 
 have the madness or the folly to believe that our Southern 
 brethren would submit to be governed by such a chief 
 magistrate? Would he be required to follow the same rule 
 prescribed by those who elected him in making his ap 
 pointments? If a man living South of Mason and Dixon s 
 line be not worthy to be President or Vice-President, would 
 it be proper to select one from the same quarter as one 
 of his Cabinet council, or to represent the nation in a 
 foreign country, or, indeed, to collect the revenue, or ad 
 minister the laws of the United States? . . . Therefore you 
 must see that if this sectional party succeeds, it leads in 
 evitably to the destruction of this beautiful fabric reared 
 by our forefathers, cemented by their blood and bequeathed 
 to us as a priceless inheritance. 
 
 " I tell you, my friends, that I speak warmly on this 
 
KANSAS BUCK ANAN S ADMINISTRATION 1 2 5 
 
 subject, for I feel that we are in danger. I am determined 
 to make a clean breast of it. I will wash my hands of the 
 consequences, whatever they may be ; and I tell you that 
 we are treading on the brink of a volcano that is liable 
 at any moment to burst forth and overwhelm the nation." 
 
 This feeling of imminent danger prevailed 
 among the conservative men of the North and 
 was justified by the bitterness with which the 
 possibility of a sectional government was re 
 garded by the South. Southern men were not 
 slow to declare with approval their belief that 
 Republican victory would result in immediate 
 disunion. 
 
 This was met by expressions of equal intoler 
 ance and what was later called " treason" on the 
 part of abolitionists in the North. So promi 
 nent a man as Horace Greeley is reported to have 
 said, " I have no doubt but the free and the slave 
 States ought to be separated. . . . The Union 
 is not worth supporting in connection with the 
 South." Such declarations as that made by one 
 Hurlburt, a lawyer in Herkimer, New York, were 
 common : " Rather than admit another slave 
 State into the confederacy I would dissolve it. 
 Rather than endure the curse of another four 
 years of governmental infamy as that Pierce, 
 Douglas & Co. have inflicted upon us, I would 
 dissolve it, so help me Heaven." 
 
 The result of the election was : Popular vote 
 for Buchanan, 1,838,169; Fremont, 1,341,264; 
 Fillmore, 864,534; electoral vote: Democrats, 
 174; Republicans, 114; Know-Nothings and 
 
126 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 Whigs, 8. Thus James Buchanan became Presi 
 dent of the United States, March 4, 1857. ^ 1S 
 noteworthy that a bare twelve hundred Republi 
 can votes were cast in all the Southern States. 
 It was the Republican party against the South. 
 The North was now beginning to " press the 
 issue." The South was thrown upon its defence. 
 Immediately after President Buchanan s inau 
 guration the Supreme Court of the United States 
 rendered its memorable decision in the case of 
 Dred Scott (March 6, 1857). This negro, the 
 property of a surgeon of the army, had been 
 taken by his master to the military post at Rock 
 Island, in the State of Illinois, where he resided 
 as a slave until May, 1856. At that time his 
 owner removed to Fort Snelling, which was situ 
 ated north of latitude 36 30 , and also north <~ 
 the State of Missouri. Dred Scott s claim was 
 that by his residence in Illinois, where negro 
 slavery does not exist by law, and in the territory 
 north of 36 30 , where by the Missouri Com 
 promise it was prohibited, his liberty had been 
 acquired. This question had been carried in 
 course to the Supreme Court of the United 
 States. Chief Justice Taney, whose accurate 
 knowledge of the law was held in the highest 
 estimation, but who was a man of intense po 
 litical opinions, and withal a lover of Southern 
 institutions, delivered the opinion of the Court : 
 
 Negroes " were not intended to be included under the 
 word citizens in the Constitution, and therefore can claim 
 none of the rights and privileges which that instrument 
 
KANSAS BUCHANAN S ADMINISTRATION 1 2 7 
 
 provides for and secures to the citizens of the United 
 States. . . . They had for more than a century been re 
 garded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit 10 
 associate with the white race, either in social or political re 
 lations ; and so far inferior that they had no rights which the 
 white man was bound to respect, and that the negro might 
 justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit." 
 
 Referring to the clause in the Declaration of 
 Independence asserting that " all men are cre 
 ated equal," the chief justice said : 
 
 " The general words above quoted would seem to em 
 brace the whole human family, and if they were used in 
 a similar instrument at this day would be so understood. 
 But it is too clear for dispute that the enslaved African 
 race were not intended to be included, and form no part 
 of the people who framed and adopted this Declaration." 
 
 Justice Taney furthermore passed on the con 
 stitutionality of the Missouri Compromise, the 
 discussion of which political question in the 
 opinion was a mere obiter dictum not necessary 
 to a decision of the matter involved. It was in 
 cluded wholly for the pleasure and benefit of the 
 South. The declared opinion of the court was 
 that the Missouri Compromise Act " is not war 
 ranted by the Constitution, and is therefore 
 void." Taney from the Supreme Court Bench 
 completed the work done by Douglas in his seat 
 in the Senate. Sound law the decision from a 
 strict point of view may have been, but it was 
 a most disastrous one in its results. 
 
 " The negro has no rights that the white man 
 is bound to respect" became an effective legend 
 on the abolitionist banner. It added new force 
 
128 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 to the fiery zeal of the antislavery party, and 
 went far towards insuring Republican victory 
 four years afterwards. 
 
 President Buchanan was very tender of South 
 ern interests. We may credit him with, however, 
 an earnest and honest desire to allay the troubles 
 that were rending the country; but he had an 
 eye to only one side, and he was willing to sacri 
 fice justice in Kansas in order to give satisfac 
 tion to the South. Twenty years earlier he might 
 have been an ideal executive. As it was, at a 
 most critical position of affairs he proved himself 
 incapable. Had a strong man filled the office of 
 President, the last political tie uniting the 
 North and the South, the Civil War might have 
 been averted. Buchanan s term of office proved 
 how utterly weak the Union had become. 
 
 A pro-slavery Legislature had been estab 
 lished at Lecompton (September 5, 1857), by 
 means which were farcical and fraudulent in the 
 highest degree. A convention was called and a 
 constitution submitted to the people, which was 
 of course in accord with the wishes of the men 
 who wrote it. The people were required to vote 
 not on the constitution itself, but on the ques 
 tion whether they would accept that instrument 
 with or without slavery. This, as it was char 
 acterized at the time, was like the ancient method 
 of trying witches : they were thrown into deep 
 water; if they floated, they were judged guilty 
 and forthwith taken out and hanged; if they 
 were drowned, they were pronounced innocent. 
 
KANSAS BUCHANAN S ADMINISTRATION 129 
 
 The free State men refused to vote in this 
 manner, or to have anything whatsoever to do 
 with this constitution. Consequently, it was 
 adopted by a unanimous vote, the returns in 
 cluding thousands of ballots beyond the number 
 which were actually cast. The Lecompton con 
 stitution was transmitted to Congress, accom 
 panied by a message from President Buchanan 
 recommending the admission of Kansas as a 
 State. On the ground of this Lecompton trans 
 action he declared that Kansas was as much a 
 slave State as were Georgia and South Carolina. 
 " It has been solemnly adjudged," said he, " by 
 the highest judicial tribunal known to our laws 
 that slavery exists in Kansas by virtue of the 
 Constitution of the United States." This action 
 proved the downfall of the Democratic party. 
 Douglas broke away, and refused to give his 
 countenance to the proceeding. 
 
 But the South fought hard for the admission 
 of Kansas as a slave State ; it was needed to pre 
 serve the balance of power in the Senate. In 
 connection with this phase of the controversy it 
 is worth while to quote the reason for Southern 
 aggression, as adduced in an address to the Sen 
 ate by Jefferson Davis while this bill was before 
 that body : 
 
 "We are arraigned day after day as the aggressive 
 power. What Southern Senator during this whole session 
 has attacked any portion or any interest of the North? 
 In what have we, now or ever, back to the earliest period 
 pf our history, sought to deprive the North of any advan- 
 
 9 
 
1 30 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 tage it possessed? The whole charge is, and has been, that 
 we seek to extend our own institution into the common 
 territory of the United States. Well and wisely has the 
 President of the United States pointed to that common 
 territory as the joint possession of the country." ... In the 
 South is presented " a new problem. ... A race suited to 
 our labor exists there. Why should we care whether they 
 go into other Territories or not? Simply because of the 
 war that is made against our institutions ; simply because 
 of the want of security which results from the action of 
 our opponents in the Northern States. Had you made no 
 political war upon us, had you observed the principles of 
 our confederacy as States, that the people of each State 
 were to take care of their domestic affairs, . . . then, I say, 
 within the limits of each State the population there would 
 have gone on to attend to their own affairs, and have had 
 little regard to whether this species of property or any 
 other was held in any other part of the Union." 
 
 These words fairly represent the prevailing 
 Southern opinion. They were fatuous, however, 
 inasmuch as they failed to take into considera 
 tion the change of Northern views. 
 
 Every effort was made by the administration 
 to force through Congress the bill for the ad 
 mission of Kansas; but Douglas stood in the 
 way, and, though he could not prevent a major 
 ity vote for it in the Senate, it failed to pass the 
 House. The marvellous spectacle of Douglas 
 voting with the Northern Republicans was now 
 being witnessed, and the South branding with 
 the term " traitor" him whom it had but recently 
 adored. The important aspect in all this, how 
 ever, is the effect it had in disintegrating the 
 Democratic party, thus making possible the elec 
 tion of Abraham Lincoln. 
 
VI 
 
 THE ELECTION OF LINCOLN 
 
 THE Kansas-Nebraska Bill, by a bold, desper 
 ate stroke, had swept away all compromise meas 
 ures and set in motion a campaign of sectional 
 vituperation. Editors and pamphleteers, both 
 North and South, from this time forward in 
 dulged in reckless statements and objurgative 
 expressions which, because they were regarded 
 as reflecting popular opinion, increased the ran 
 cor that now prevailed on both sides of the 
 Potomac. 
 
 The Dred Scott decision, however sound its 
 doctrine to the effect that a slave did not become 
 free by being taken to a non-slave-holding Com 
 monwealth, had startled the North. That sec 
 tion was the more incensed because it now felt 
 that, instead of being dependent on local custom, 
 slavery was nationalized by the highest tribunal 
 in the civilized world. 
 
 Meanwhile, the tariff reduction of 1857 and 
 the financial stringency of the same year had the 
 natural result of widening the chasm between 
 the agricultural and industrial States. Nor could 
 the South view with complaisance the admission 
 into the Union of two new States which, because 
 of natural causes, were destined to be free. 
 These were Minnesota and Oregon, which joined 
 
1 32 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 the sisterhood of States in 1857 and 1859 re 
 spectively. 
 
 But of all the immediate agencies which rent 
 the Union in twain, the most potent was John 
 Brown s raid on Harper s Ferry. This occurred 
 on October 17, 1859, when Brown, with seven 
 teen white men and five blacks, seized the Federal 
 arsenal at this point, captured several prominent 
 citizens, slew others, and terrorized the entire 
 community. Claiming to have been inspired 
 " by the authority of Almighty God," Brown 
 displayed unusual courage, and surrendered only 
 after having been overpowered by the militia and 
 a company of United States marines under the 
 command of Colonel Robert E. Lee. 
 
 Brown s followers, white and black, were 
 drawn entirely from the North, and among the 
 papers discovered on his person or in the house 
 in Maryland which he had occupied for several 
 months, were documents which, in the opinion 
 of many Southern and not a few Northern peo 
 ple, implicated some of the abolition leaders. No 
 less significant was the fact that, in addition to 
 revolvers, rifles, and other weapons found in pos 
 session of the insurgents (as Brown s men were 
 called), were a large number of pikes which are 
 said to have been manufactured at the North. 
 These spears were about ten inches in length, 
 shaped like a dagger, with both sides sharpened, 
 and were attached to handles of white ash about 
 six feet in length. Evidently intended for 
 negroes unaccustomed to the use of fire-arms, 
 
THE ELECTION OF LINCOLN 133 
 
 their existence indicated a plan of a wide-spread 
 servile insurrection. These instruments of death 
 caused a shudder to convulse the whole South. 
 All the horrors that had overtaken the West In 
 dies seemed to rise before the minds of the entire 
 slave-holding population. 
 
 John Brown s raid also persuaded a large sec 
 tion of the South that the movement was inau 
 gurated for the purpose of strengthening the 
 abolition cause in the border States. It did more 
 than this. Southerners, failing to distinguish 
 between a handful of fanatics and a whole popu 
 lation, began to think that Brown s ideas were 
 those of a great majority of the Northern people, 
 particularly those whose political views were 
 those of the new Republican party. " Disguise 
 it as we may," said the Petersburg Express, in 
 commenting on the Harper s Ferry tragedy, 
 "large portions of the North are our enemies. 
 More bitter, more deadly hostile than though 
 hereditary enmity had pitched their opposing 
 hosts on a hundred battle-fields. The spirit of 
 the effort to wrest Kansas from slavery, made 
 by the concert of a party which polled more than 
 a million votes at the last Presidential election, is 
 manifest enough from the dead and captured 
 agents of the bloody design at Harper s Ferry. 
 Had one of the men of the irrepressible conflict 
 school occupied the Presidency in the past five 
 days, who can tell the bloody news which would 
 at this instant be ringing through the land?" 
 
 Brown had formulated his plans in Canada. 
 
134 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 He and his admirers had, moreover, a printed 
 constitution, together with a set of by-laws, for 
 a provisional government of the United States. 
 Also, from a so-called War Department at a 
 point near Harper s Ferry, they had issued com 
 missions, of which the following is a specimen : 
 
 " Whereas, W. H. Leeman has been nominated Captain 
 of the army established under the Provisional Government, 
 now, therefore, in pursuance of authority vested in me by 
 the said constitution, I do hereby appoint and commission 
 the said W. H. Leeman, Captain. Given at the office of 
 the Secretary of War on the I5th day of October, 1859. 
 (Signed) "JOHN BROWN, 
 
 " Commander in Chief." 
 
 This document was countersigned by a man 
 styling himself " Secretary of War," and is inter 
 esting as a proof of Brown s attempt to organize 
 a government hostile to the Union. 
 
 Brown and his surviving confederates were 
 tried by the Virginian courts and promptly exe 
 cuted. To one section he was a dangerous an 
 archist, a red-handed murderer; to the other, a 
 martyr who had yielded up his life on the altar 
 of human liberty. Whether the result would 
 have been the same had he, at that time, been 
 tried for treason by the Federal authorities, may 
 admit of some doubt; but, at all events, the 
 tragedy left an ugly wound which was ready to 
 gape at the first shock given the body politic. 
 This occurred when the Republican party came 
 into power at the election of 1860. To the rank 
 and file of Northern people the victory of the 
 
THE ELECTION OF LINCOLN 135 
 
 Republicans meant the denationalization of 
 slavery; but to an augmenting number of South 
 erners it announced the repetition, on a more 
 elaborate scale, of the strife in Kansas and the 
 conspiracy that ripened at Harper s Ferry. 
 Counsel was thrown to the winds, and those bent 
 on secession proved stronger than State conven 
 tions. 
 
 Three names had now come to dominate 
 American politics ; three new men had taken the 
 places formerly occupied by Webster, Clay, and 
 Calhoun. These, of course, were Lincoln, Doug 
 las, and Jefferson Davis. And around these 
 three names may be gathered the theories and 
 influences upon which the States were divided. 
 Each was as distinct in the doctrine which he held 
 as in personal characteristics and circumstances. 
 
 The antecedents of Lincoln were found in the 
 despised " poor whites" of Kentucky. His father 
 was dull, ignorant, and shiftless, but his mother 
 (the natural offspring of a Southern planter) 
 possessed unusual qualities of intellect. While 
 he was yet a child the family of Lincoln moved 
 to the sparsely settled and uncivilized West, 
 where he was brought up in extreme poverty as 
 well as in entire lack of educational advantages. 
 When, on his nomination for the Presidency, 
 a newspaper requested the facts of his life for a 
 biographical article, Lincoln replied that it could 
 all be summed up in one sentence found in Gray s 
 Elegy, " The short and simple annals of the 
 poor." His mind was early attracted to national 
 
136 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 politics. Though wanting in the training of the 
 schools, the strength of his intellect compensated 
 for his lack of educational advantages. Beyond 
 all his contemporaries, Lincoln had the power of 
 penetrating, to the utmost depths, the problems 
 which engaged his earnest thought. It was this 
 quality which rendered him the successful rival 
 of the more brilliant Douglas. 
 
 The latter was of aristocratic origin. On his 
 father s side he descended from the famous 
 Scotch family of that name. His mother traced 
 her ancestry to William Arnold, of Rhode Island, 
 who assisted Roger Williams in founding that 
 colony. Though poor like Lincoln, Douglas 
 managed to acquire a fair amount of education. 
 In 1834, when he was not yet twenty-one years 
 of age, Douglas was admitted to the bar in the 
 State of Illinois. In the same year, he made a 
 speech at Jacksonville in favor of President Jack 
 son s anti-Bank proposal. This, on account of 
 its remarkable vigor and the speaker s lack of 
 inches, gained for him the sobriquet of " The 
 Little Giant." Immediately thereafter he con 
 ceived the plan of organizing the Democratic 
 party in the State of Illinois, that certainty in its 
 nominations might be assured. This was a new 
 method in political campaigns, and it became 
 popularly known as the " Douglas Machine." 
 To the end of his life Douglas was the soul of this 
 machine. It sent him to the Legislature in 1836, 
 when he was but twenty-three years of age. In 
 1841 it enabled him to obtain the office of Secre- 
 
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS 
 From a photograph by Brady 
 
THE ELECTION OF LINCOLN 137 
 
 tary of State of Illinois, and early in the same 
 year the election, by the Legislature, to a judge- 
 ship in the Supreme Court of the Common 
 wealth. Gaining his seat in the House of Repre 
 sentatives in 1843 by the same influence, through 
 it he remained, from that year to the end of 
 his life, a member of the National Congress. 
 Possessing a ready intellect and a flashing elo 
 quence, Douglas s chief strength, aside from his 
 power of political management, lay in those 
 superficial qualities which have an immediate but 
 not lasting effect in debate. 
 
 The Southern member of this triumvirate 
 Jefferson Davis differed in every respect from 
 the other two. He was saturated with the tradi 
 tions of the South. After a course of training 
 at Transylvania University, Lexington, Ken 
 tucky, he was sent to West Point, from which 
 he was graduated in 1828 and was immediately 
 assigned to duty in the regular army. During 
 seven years of arduous service, chiefly on the 
 frontier taking part in Indian wars, he distin 
 guished himself by bravery and a devotion to 
 duty. Resigning, in 1835, his commisssion as 
 first lieutenant, he married the daughter of 
 Zachary Taylor and settled down to the life of 
 a prosperous cotton planter in Mississippi. It 
 is interesting to remark that it is claimed that 
 during the Black Hawk War of 1831-32 he re 
 ceived the oath of allegiance from Abraham 
 Lincoln, who had been appointed captain of 
 a company of volunteers. Davis entered Con- 
 
138 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 gress in 1845, m which year he took his seat 
 as a member of the House of Representatives. 
 This, however, he resigned in June of the fol 
 lowing year, in order to become colonel of the 
 First Mississippi Volunteers, which he led with 
 brilliant success in the Mexican War. He was 
 appointed by the governor of Mississippi to fill 
 a vacancy in the United States Senate in 1847, 
 and in the following year the Legislature of his 
 State unanimously elected him to the Senatorial 
 office. Davis s quality of mind was intensely 
 logical. He saw clearly, but not deeply. He 
 based his political opinions on the strict letter 
 of the Constitution, to which he held with abso 
 lute tenacity. No changing social conditions or 
 developments of the country were allowed by 
 him to justify deviation from the interpretation 
 which had been given to that document by the 
 Fathers. Thus he was peculiarly adapted to 
 succeed Calhoun as the leader of the Southern 
 section. 
 
 In the Presidential campaign of 1860 these 
 three strong men Lincoln, Douglas, and Davis 
 were pitted against each other in a three-cor 
 nered fight. The preponderance of power was 
 clearly with Lincoln, owing to the division in the 
 Democratic party. 
 
 When at the Republican State Convention, 
 which met at Springfield, Illinois, June 16, 1858, 
 Lincoln quoted the Scriptural aphorism which he 
 adopted as his political watchword, " A house 
 divided against itself cannot stand," he uttered 
 
THE ELECTION OF LINCOLN 139 
 
 a prophecy which applied equally to the hereto 
 fore dominating Democratic party and the sec- 
 tionalized Union. The Democratic party had 
 been wrenched asunder when Douglas opposed 
 the Lecompton policy of the Buchanan admin 
 istration. His motive for this action has been 
 questioned. Was it that he saw the impossibility 
 of holding the allegiance of the Northern Democ 
 racy and at the same time opposing the senti 
 ment prevailing in that section against the pro- 
 slavery Kansas scheme; or did he deliberately 
 endanger his Presidential prospects for the sake 
 of his conscientious convictions ? Notwithstand 
 ing the blame attaching to him in the repeal of 
 the Missouri Compromise, we are inclined to hold 
 the latter as the correct view. 
 
 Political affairs had now reached such a pass 
 in the North that Lincoln s Springfield doctrine 
 was the only possible solution of the difficulty. 
 With his natural perspicacity, he saw what must 
 come to pass, and said, on his nomination to the 
 United States Senate, at the Republican State 
 Convention at Springfield, Illinois, June 16, 1858: 
 
 " If we could first know where we are and whither we are 
 tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do 
 it. We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was 
 initiated with the avowed object, and confident promise, of 
 putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation 
 of that policy that agitation has not only not ceased, but 
 has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease 
 until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. * A house 
 divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this govern 
 ment cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. 
 I do not expect the Union to be dissolved, I do not expect 
 
1 40 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 the house to fall, but I do expect it will cease to be 
 divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. 
 Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further 
 spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest 
 in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; 
 or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become 
 alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as 
 well as South." 
 
 When, before its delivery, he read over this 
 speech to his friends, one said, " It is a damned- 
 fool utterance." The speech was condemned by 
 all, with the exception of Herndon, who said, 
 " Lincoln, deliver that speech as read, and it will 
 make you President." To one and all it is re 
 ported that he replied, "This thing has been 
 retarded long enough. The time has come when 
 these sentiments should be uttered; and if it is 
 decreed that I should go down because of this 
 speech, then let me go down linked to the truth 
 let me die in the advocacy of what is just and 
 right." 
 
 Pity it is to spoil a climax, but Lincoln never 
 made such a response, though, with his political 
 astuteness, which excelled that of most men, we 
 can well believe that he expressed the thoughts 
 to which admiring biographers have given an 
 elegance of diction unwonted to Lincoln s off 
 hand utterance. 
 
 However, it was with these or approximate 
 sentiments, chosen not from moral but expedient 
 reasons, that Lincoln started on his Senatorial 
 campaign and the ever-memorable joint debate 
 with Douglas, his political opponent. His 
 
THE ELECTION OF LINCOLN 141 
 
 friends believed that he would win. Lincoln 
 thought otherwise; but he sapiently declared 
 that he would prevent Douglas s success in 
 the next Presidential campaign. In this he 
 succeeded; for Douglas found it impossible to 
 make his Popular Sovereignty doctrine agree 
 with his acceptance of the Dred Scott dictum, 
 and was compelled to place himself on record 
 in a manner which was hardly satisfactory to the 
 North and repugnant to the South. 
 
 The poor whites of North Carolina produced 
 Hinton Rowan Helper, who in 1857 wrote " The 
 Impending Crisis of the South : How to meet 
 It." It is safe to say that, with the exception of 
 " Uncle Tom s Cabin," no abolition work cre 
 ated a greater effect in the North or aroused 
 more animosity among the slave-holders. Its 
 purpose was to show that the influence of slavery 
 was fatal to the interests of the immense majority 
 in the South. Helper brought forward a mass 
 of data of which the majority of the items, when 
 viewed individually, are accurate enough, but the 
 uses made of the facts were such as to deprive 
 them of a large part of their value as evidence. 
 The spirit of the book, which had an enormous 
 circulation for its period, is well shown by the 
 following quotation (page 361, fiftieth thousand, 
 1860) : 
 
 " Now, so long as slave-holders are clothed with the 
 mantle of office, so long will they continue to make laws, 
 like the above, expressly calculated to bring the non-slave- 
 holding whites under a system of vassalage little less oner- 
 
142 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 ous and debasing than that to which the negroes them 
 selves are accustomed. What wonder is it that there is no 
 native literature in the South? The South can never have 
 a literature of her own until after slavery shall have been 
 abolished. Slave-holders are too lazy and ignorant to write 
 it, and the non-slave-holders even the few whose minds are 
 cultivated at all are not permitted even to make the attempt. 
 Down with the oligarchy ! Ineligibility of slave-holders 
 never another vote to the trafficker in human flesh!" 
 
 How far " The Impending Crisis" accorded 
 with the views of the non-slave-holding people of 
 the Southern community it is difficult to deter 
 mine ; for these were not in a position, nor was it 
 to their interest, to make known their wishes if 
 these were antagonistic to those of the slave 
 holders. The ignorant class of Southern whites 
 (except in the mountain sections) was as com 
 pletely dominated by the slave-holders as were 
 the blacks. There was also in the slave-holding 
 States a strong element which was not greatly 
 concerned regarding the protection of the pecu 
 liar Southern institution. The census of 1850 
 showed that of the Southern population of about 
 8,000,000 whites only 325,000 were owners of 
 slaves. What were the exact sentiments of the 
 immense preponderance of the people regarding 
 slavery it is impossible to determine. The press 
 of the South was subservient to the slave-holders. 
 That the non-slave-holders were not antagonistic 
 to the institution is certainly true ; nevertheless, 
 that they were actively sympathetic is not so 
 demonstrable. 
 
 When, however, John Brown and his follow- 
 

 
THE ELECTION OF LINCOLN 143 
 
 ers attempted to incite an insurrection of the 
 slaves in Virginia, which, had it been successful, 
 might have resulted in the indiscriminate mur 
 der, outrage, and robbery of many of the South 
 ern whites, all classes were united in a common 
 fear. The possibilities of servile insurrection 
 were, naturally, magnified, and the South was 
 united in a unanimous and bitter hatred of the 
 North, of which section Brown was regarded as 
 the recognized emissary. 
 
 The exploit of this fanatical abolitionist, had 
 not the Civil War followed, resulting in the bias- 
 sing of Northern opinion, could never have been 
 regarded by historians as other than a vicious 
 atrocity; and men like Gerrit Smith and Theo 
 dore Parker, who abetted his crime by financial 
 aid and sympathy, could have been considered 
 only as abominable conspirators. Professor Bur 
 gess is correct in his estimation of the impor 
 tance and bearing of this event, when he says 
 (" The Civil War," vol. i. p. 43) : 
 
 " From the Harper s Ferry outrage onward the convic 
 tion grew among all classes that the white men of the South 
 must stand together, and must harmonize all internal dif 
 ferences in the presence of the mortal peril with which, as 
 a race, they believed themselves threatened. Sound de 
 velopment in thought and feeling was arrested. The follies 
 and the hatreds, born of fear and resentment, now assumed 
 the places of common sense and common kindliness. And 
 war and bloodshed became a necessity for the relief of 
 burning hearts. The South believed that the Harper s 
 Ferry outrage was perpetrated with the connivance of the 
 leaders, and was commended by the rank and file, of the 
 Republican party." 
 
i 4 4 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 In this view even Mr. Douglas might have 
 concurred, for he had said (January 23, 1860) : 
 
 " Without stopping to adduce evidence in detail, I have 
 no hesitation in expressing my firm and deliberate con 
 viction that the Harper s Ferry crime was the matured, 
 logical, inevitable result of the doctrines and the teachings 
 of the Republican party, explained and enforced in their 
 platform, their partisan presses, their pamphlets and books, 
 and especially of their leaders in and put of Congress. . . . 
 The great principle that underlies the organization of the 
 Republican party is violent, irreconcilable, eternal warfare 
 upon the institution of American slavery, with a view to 
 its ultimate extinction throughout the land. Sectional war 
 is to be waged until the cotton-fields of the South shall be 
 cultivated by free labor, or the rye-fields of New York and 
 Massachusetts shall be cultivated by slave labor." 
 
 That Northern men were able to look with 
 equanimity on the possibility of a servile up 
 rising and its horrible accompaniments, is seen 
 from the words of Mr. Giddings, member from 
 Ohio, who, during the Thirty-third Congress, is 
 reported to have spoken as follows : 
 
 "When the contest shall come; when the thunder shall 
 roll, and the lightning flash ; when the slaves shall rise in 
 the South; when, in emulation of the Cuban bondmen, the 
 Southern slaves shall feel that they are men; when they 
 shall feel the stirring emotions of immortality, and shall 
 recognize the stirring truth that they are men, and entitled 
 to the rights that God has bestowed upon them; when the 
 slaves shall feel that, and when masters shall turn pale and 
 tremble, when their dwellings shall smoke, and dismay shall 
 sit on each countenance, then, sir, I do not say, we shall 
 laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear cometh ; 
 but I do say, that when that time shall come, the lovers of 
 our race will stand forth and exert the legitimate powers 
 of this government for freedom. We shall then have con- 
 
THE ELECTION OF LINCOLN 145 
 
 stitutional power to act for the good of our country, and 
 do justice to the slave. Then will we strike off the shackles 
 from the limbs of the slave. Then will be a period when 
 this government will have power to act between slavery 
 and freedom, and when it can make peace by giving free 
 dom to the slaves. And let me tell you, Mr. Speaker, that 
 time hastens. It is rolling forward. The President is exert 
 ing a power that will hasten it, though not intended by him. 
 I hail it as I do the dawn of that political and moral milen- 
 nium, which I am well assured will come on the earth." 
 
 During the closing days of 1859 Ex-President 
 Tyler wrote, though with gross exaggeration : 
 
 "Virginia is arming to the teeth; more than fifty thou 
 sand stand of arms already distributed, and the demand for 
 more daily increases. Party is silent and has no voice. 
 But one sentiment pervades the country, security in the 
 Union, or separation. An indiscreet move in any direction 
 may produce results deeply to be deplored. I fear the 
 debates in Congress, and above all, the Speaker s election. 
 If excitement prevails in Congress, it will add fuel to the 
 flame which already burns so terrifically." 
 
 On December 5, 1859, the Thirty-sixth Con 
 gressassembled. In the Senate there were 
 thirty-eight Democrats, twenty-five Republicans,- 
 and two Know-Nothings. In the House there 
 were one hundred and nine Republicans, eighty- 
 eight Administration Democrats, thirteen Anti- 
 Lecompton Democrats, and twenty-seven Know- 
 Nothings; the last, with the exception of four, 
 from the South. No party having a majority, 
 it was inevitable that the election of a Speaker 
 would mean a bitter contest. It was precipitated 
 by Mr. Clark, of Missouri, who offered a resolu 
 tion that no Representative who had endorsed 
 
 10 
 
146 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 Helper s " Impending Crisis" was fit to be the 
 Speaker of the House. The contest was almost 
 as prolonged as the one which ended in the elec 
 tion of Mr. Banks ; but unlike the preceding, this 
 struggle was characterized by the most intense 
 passion. The members all carried deadly weap 
 ons, and on more than one occasion it seemed 
 that the wrangles which occurred on the floor 
 of the House would end in bloodshed. "I be 
 lieve," wrote Senator Hammond, " every man in 
 both Houses is armed with a revolver some 
 with two and a bowie knife." This was typical 
 of the feeling which prevailed throughout the 
 country. In the South the large slave-holders 
 had a black-list on which were the names of 
 Northern merchants known to be antagonistic. 
 These were boycotted. On the other hand, every 
 effort was made to prevent those Northerners 
 who were likely to winter in the South from 
 doing so; they were urged to go to the West 
 Indies or to Europe. 
 
 Jefferson Davis, the fully recognized leader of 
 the Southern party, uttered his ultimatum before 
 the Senate. It was to the effect that the Union 
 would be dissolved in event of the election of a 
 radical Republican. Moreover, he introduced, 
 on the 2d of February, 1860, a series of resolu 
 tions which clearly defined the Southern position. 
 The most important of these resolutions were 
 the following : 
 
 "Resolved, That the unity of these States rests on the 
 equality of rights and privileges among its members, and 
 
JEFFERSON DAVIS 
 
THE ELECTION OF LINCOLN 147 
 
 that it is especially the duty of the Senate, which repre 
 sents the States in their sovereign capacity, to resist all 
 attempts to discriminate, either in relation to person or 
 property, so as, in the Territories which are the common 
 possession of the United States to give advantages to the 
 citizens of one State which are not equally secured to those 
 of every other State." 
 
 "Resolved, That neither Congress nor a Territorial 
 Legislature, whether by direct legislation or legislation of 
 an indirect and unfriendly nature, possesses the power 
 to annul or impair the constitutional right of any citizen of 
 the United States to take his slave property into the com 
 mon Territories; but it is the duty of the Federal govern 
 ment there to afford for that, as for other species of prop 
 erty, the needful protection; and if experience should at 
 any time prove that the judiciary does not possess power to 
 insure adequate protection, it will then become the duty of 
 Congress to supply such deficiency." 
 
 " Resolved, That the inhabitants of an organized Terri 
 tory of the United States, when they rightfully form a con 
 stitution to be admitted as a State into the Union, may 
 then, for the first time, like the people of a State when 
 forming a new constitution, decide for themselves whether 
 slavery, as a domestic institution, shall be sustained or pro 
 hibited within their jurisdiction; and if Congress shall 
 admit them as a State they shall be received into the Union 
 with or without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe 
 at the time of their admission." 
 
 These resolutions contained the doctrine of 
 Davis; to it Douglas was unalterably opposed. 
 He held that Congress had no right to prohibit 
 slavery in the Territories, and at the same time 
 it was not obliged to protect it. In this view, he 
 placed himself in opposition to the South and 
 also to the Republicans of the North. But he 
 was the mouth-piece of the Northern Democracy. 
 Lincoln, on the other hand, held that Congress 
 
148 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 had the power to prohibit slavery in the Terri 
 tories, and that this had always been the inter 
 pretation given to the Constitution by the great 
 statesmen, and that consequently the Republican 
 party was not revolutionary, but rather in the 
 way of being conservative. These were the op 
 posing views of the three great leaders in the 
 Presidential contest which was imminent. 
 
 The Democratic Convention met at Charles 
 ton, South Carolina, April 23, 1860. The Doug 
 las men were in the majority ; but their opponents, 
 owing to the fact that California and Oregon 
 seemed to be leagued with the slave States, held 
 the majority in the committees. Consequently, 
 the reported resolutions of the committee on the 
 platform declared that the Territorial Legisla 
 ture has no power to abolish slavery in a Terri 
 tory, to prohibit the introduction of slaves 
 therein, or to destroy the right of property in 
 slaves whatever; and that it is the duty of the 
 Federal government to protect, when necessary, 
 slavery in the Territories. Henry B. Payne, of 
 Ohio, submitted a minority report. In his ad 
 dress defending it, he said : 
 
 " The Northern mind is thoroughly imbued with the prin 
 ciple of popular sovereignty. We ask nothing for the people 
 of the Territories but what the Constitution allows them, 
 for we say we abide by the decision of the courts, who are 
 the final interpreters of the Constitution." 
 
 In an eloquent speech, Mr. Yancey, of Ala 
 bama, replied: 
 
THE ELECTION OF LINCOLN 149 
 
 " The proposition you make will bankrupt us of the 
 South. Ours is the property invaded, ours the interest at 
 stake. The honor of our children, the honor of our females, 
 the lives of our men, all rest upon you. You would make 
 a great seething cauldron of passion and crime if you were 
 able to consummate your measures. ... I say it in no dis 
 respect, but it is a logical argument that your admission 
 that slavery is wrong has been the cause of all this dis 
 cord." 
 
 The Douglas platform was adopted, with the 
 result that Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, 
 South Carolina, Florida, Texas, and Arkansas 
 withdrew from the convention. Those who re 
 mained failed to nominate, and on the tenth day 
 the convention adjourned to meet at Baltimore 
 on the i8th of June. The seceders formed them 
 selves into a separate convention, adopted a plat 
 form consistent with their own views, and passed 
 a resolution to meet at Richmond on the second 
 Monday in June. 
 
 Stevens saw clearly to what end all this was 
 tending. To Johnston he said, " Men will be 
 cutting one another s throats in a little while. 
 In less than twelve months we shall be in a war, 
 and that the bloodiest in history." 
 
 " Why must we have civil war, even if the Re 
 publican candidate should be elected?" Johnston 
 asked. " Because," replied Stevens, " there are 
 not virtue and patriotism and sense enough left 
 in the country to avoid it." 
 
 The Republican Convention met at Chicago 
 on the 1 6th of May, 1860. Though called a na 
 tional convention, it was far from being such; 
 
150 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 no delegates from the slave States were present, 
 except those from what were known as " Border 
 States." This Convention resolved : 
 
 " That the new dogma that the Constitution, of its own 
 force, carries slavery into any or all of the Territories of 
 the United States is a dangerous political heresy, at vari 
 ance with the explicit provisions of that instrument itself, 
 with contemporaneous exposition, and with legislative and 
 judicial precedent; is revolutionary in its tendency and 
 subversive of the peace and harmony of the country ; that 
 the normal condition of all the territory of the United 
 States is that of freedom." 
 
 A protective tariff plank was inserted in the 
 platform for the purpose of securing the adher 
 ence of Pennsylvania. This was purely a politic 
 measure, the wisdom of which was proved by its 
 success. 
 
 Seward was the logical but not the available 
 candidate for nomination. His radical anti- 
 slavery utterances were too fresh in the mem 
 ory of the people. It was agreed that, because 
 of them, he could carry neither Pennsylvania 
 nor Indiana. This is an important indication 
 of the disinclination of the majority of people 
 in the North, at that time, to the principles of 
 abolition. 
 
 Illinois had a candidate. He was not pressed 
 in opposition to Seward, but rather as an alterna 
 tive. Lincoln owed his nomination to the astute 
 ness of his political managers, and also very 
 largely to the fact that the Convention was meet 
 ing on his home ground. He did not come forth 
 at the call of the nation; for, though his debate 
 
THE ELECTION OF LINCOLN 151 
 
 with Douglas had given him some fame, he was 
 practically unknown outside of Illinois. 
 
 It is possible, indeed probable, that had the 
 Convention been held in any other State than 
 Illinois, Lincoln would not have been nominated. 
 The opinion of judicious contemporaries and it 
 has been supported by careful historians is that 
 he very largely owed his success to the fact that 
 his fellow-statesmen outshouted the Seward fac 
 tion. 
 
 Weed told the story of how, years afterwards, 
 he and Seward were riding by the statue of Lin 
 coln, in Union Square, and Seward said, " Weed, 
 if you had been faithful to me, I should have 
 been there instead of Lincoln." " Seward," replied 
 Weed, " is it not better to be alive in a carriage 
 with me than to be dead and set up in bronze?" 
 But had it been as he wished it is doubtful if 
 Seward, notwithstanding his professed adherence 
 to a " Higher Law," could have won the confi 
 dence which the people learned to place in 
 " Honest Abe." The man who so eagerly sought 
 the honor of the Presidency was not the man 
 whom the times and the crisis demanded. 
 
 Greeley also, though as editor of the Tribune 
 he exerted an influence far greater than that of 
 the chief magistrate, was far from being un 
 moved by ambitions for office. When Raymond 
 was elected lieutenant-governor he was not able 
 to hide his disappointment that the office had not 
 fallen to himself. In his attitude towards the 
 causes which brought on the war, Greeley was 
 
1 52 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 often paradoxical. This arose from his dual dis 
 position. Holding the highest theories, he had 
 an eager desire for the loaves and fishes of poli 
 tics. 
 
 Lincoln was nominated on the third ballot, 
 thanks to the efforts of Greeley, who, while he 
 did not support the successful candidate, secured 
 the defeat of Seward, whom he sacrificed for the 
 good of the party. The nomination was received 
 with a shock of surprise by the country. " Who 
 is this huckster in politics? Who is this county 
 court advocate?" ungraciously asked Wendell 
 Phillips. 
 
 Douglas was nominated by a strictly Northern 
 Democratic vote, at Baltimore, on the i8th of 
 June. The Democratic seceders, on the 28th, 
 organized a convention consisting of delegates 
 from twenty-one Commonwealths, and nomi 
 nated John C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, and 
 Joseph Lane, of Oregon. Thus, for the first time, 
 the election of a United States President was 
 fought out on strictly geographical lines. 
 
 In the result Lincoln received 180 of the elec 
 toral votes; Breckenridge, 72; Bell, 39; and 
 Douglas, 12. But the popular vote is far more 
 worthy of attention, as it more closely indicates 
 the position in which the people stood. Lincoln 
 received 1,866,352, all from the free States with 
 the exception of 26,430. Douglas received 
 1,375,157 (free States, 1,211,632; slave States, 
 l6 35 2 5); Breckenridge, 571,871 slave, 277,082 
 free; Bell, 515,973 slave, 74,678 free. It will 
 
THE ELECTION OF LINCOLN 153 
 
 be seen from this that the Republicans polled 
 only about two-fifths of the popular vote; and 
 the Southern Democracy did not carry the 
 South. There the Union candidates received 
 together 679,498 votes against 571,871 for the 
 secession candidate. Thus the Republican party 
 was not supported by the will of the people ; and 
 the disunion element had not a majority in the 
 South. Consequently, it would seem as if, with 
 the exercise of wisdom and patience, the coun 
 try might yet have been saved without the 
 horrors of a civil war. 
 
 But the preponderating inclination among the 
 leaders, North and South, was against the exer 
 cise of that patience. Douglas declared at Balti 
 more, on September 6: 
 
 "In my opinion there is a mature plan through the 
 Southern States to break up the Union. I believe the elec 
 tion of a Black Republican is to be the signal for that at 
 tempt, and that the leaders of the scheme desire the elec 
 tion of Lincoln so as to have an excuse for disunion." 
 
 Immediately after the election the truth of this 1 
 assertion seemed to be demonstrated. South 
 Carolina did not hesitate in her action. Seces 
 sion was declared by the leaders and welcomed 
 by the people. Wrongly, they judged the Repub 
 lican party to be controlled by abolition senti 
 ment, and Lincoln to be bent on emancipation. 
 They believed ruin was all they could expect from 
 the Union, for they were certain that the destruc 
 tion of their prosperity, and, indeed, their eco 
 nomic life, would follow the freeing of their 
 
154 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 slaves. The South Carolinians sincerely believed 
 that they were subject to grievances which were 
 irremediable in the Union. Therefore, on the 
 2Oth of December, in convention assembled, they 
 solemnly declared : 
 
 "That the Union heretofore existing between this State 
 and the other States of North America is dissolved, and 
 that the State of South Carolina has resumed her position 
 among the nations of the world, as a separate and inde 
 pendent State, with full power to levy war, conclude peace, 
 contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other 
 acts and things which independent States may of right do." 
 
 Among the reasons adduced for this action is 
 found the following: 
 
 " Observing the forms of the Constitution, a sectional 
 party has found within that article establishing the Execu 
 tive Department the means of subverting the Constitution 
 itself. A geographical line has been drawn across the 
 Union, and all the States north of that line have united in 
 the election of a man to the high office of President of the 
 United States whose opinions and purposes are hostile to 
 slavery. He is to be intrusted with the administration of 
 the common government, because he has declared that that 
 * Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half 
 free/ and that the public mind must rest in the belief that 
 slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction. . . . 
 
 "On the fourth of March next this party will take pos 
 session of the government. It has announced that the 
 South shall be excluded from the common territory, that 
 the judicial tribunal shall be made sectional, and that a 
 war must be waged against slavery until it shall cease 
 throughout the United States. 
 
 "The guarantees of the Constitution will then no longer 
 exist ; the equal rights of the States will be lost. The slave- 
 holding States will no longer have the power of self-gov 
 ernment or self-protection, and the Federal government 
 will have become their enemy." 
 
THE ELECTION OF LINCOLN 155 
 
 Three commissioners R. W. Barnwell, J. H. 
 Adams, and James L. Orr were appointed to 
 treat with the government of the United States, 
 and negotiate the withdrawal of the Federal 
 troops then in the State, and the terms on which 
 the forts, arsenals, etc., situated therein, might 
 be handed over to South Carolina. The informal 
 negotiations which occurred between them and 
 the Secretary of State, for they were not offi 
 cially received at Washington, and the promises 
 they were cajoled with, on no authority, only 
 served to furnish the somewhat unstable founda 
 tions on which certain historians afterwards 
 rested the allegation that from the beginning of 
 the active secession movement the South was 
 treacherously dealt with by the Federal authori 
 ties. 
 
VII 
 
 THE FIRST BLOWS 
 
 THE fact that James Buchanan was President 
 of the United States in 1860 and during the first 
 months of 1861 was unfortunate for both the 
 South and the North. Buchanan was not able to 
 master circumstances. He failed, not through in 
 ability to grasp the full meaning of the situation, 
 but because he brought a vacillating mind to a 
 problem which imperatively demanded firmness 
 and decision. Consequently, Buchanan has been 
 blamed by both sides. He was loyal to the 
 Union, but did not protect it. He loved the 
 South and sympathized with the motives which 
 prompted secession, but dared not pronounce 
 upon the withdrawing States a parting bene 
 diction. 
 
 In his message of December, 1860, he said that 
 " the long-continued and intemperate interfer 
 ence -of the Northern people with the question 
 of slavery in the Southern States has at last pro 
 duced its natural effect." He asserted that those 
 States were suffering under such grievances that, 
 " after having used all peaceful and constitu 
 tional means to obtain redress, [they would] be 
 justified in revolutionary resistance to the gov 
 ernment of the Union." He declared further that 
 after considerable reflection he had come to " the 
 156 
 
THE FIRST BLOWS 157 
 
 conclusion that no power has been delegated to 
 Congress, or to any other department of the Fed 
 eral government, to coerce a State into submis 
 sion which is attempting to withdraw, or has 
 actually withdrawn, from the Union." Never 
 theless, he denied the right to secede. 
 
 The message was, despite this last statement, 
 bitterly assailed at the North, where it was re 
 garded as weak, vacillating, incendiary, and as 
 furnishing the secessionists with potent argu 
 ments to support their claims. The North held 
 that Congress had the same power to enforce a 
 law in South Carolina that it had to enforce in 
 Massachusetts the Fugitive Slave Law. In 
 speaking of Buchanan, the Boston Herald, on 
 March 4, 1861, declared, "he will stand out in 
 the future as a monument of all that is hideous 
 and deformed." Seward fairly characterized 
 Buchanan s attitude when he said that the mes 
 sage " shows conclusively that it is the duty of 
 the President to execute the laws unless some 
 body opposes him; and that no State has a 
 right to go out of the Union unless it wants 
 to." 
 
 Buchanan, however, had good authority for his 
 doctrine of non-coercion. The forcing of recal 
 citrant States by the Federal government is a 
 measure to which the fathers of the Constitution 
 clearly expressed themselves as being opposed. 
 Alexander Hamilton, for example, said : 
 
 " It has been observed, to coerce the States is one of the 
 saddest projects that was ever devised. A failure of com- 
 
158 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 pliance will never be confined to a single State; this being 
 the case, can we suppose it wise to hazard a civil war? 
 Suppose Massachusetts, or any larger State, should refuse, 
 and Congress should attempt to compel them, would they 
 not have influence to procure assistance, especially from 
 those States that are in the same situation as themselves? 
 What a picture does this idea present to our view ! A 
 complying State at war with a non-complying State; Con 
 gress marching the troops of one State into the bosom of 
 another; the State collecting auxiliaries, and forming, per 
 haps, a majority against its Federal head. Here is a nation 
 at war with itself. Can any reasonable man be well dis 
 posed towards a government which makes war and carnage 
 the only means of supporting itself?" 
 
 On the same subject, George Mason, of Vir 
 ginia, said : 
 
 " The most jarring elements of nature, sin and malice, 
 are not more incompatible than such a mixture of civil 
 liberty and military execution. Will the militia march 
 from one State into another, in order to collect the arrears 
 of taxes from the delinquent members of the Republic? 
 Will they maintain an army for this purpose? Will not 
 the citizens of the invaded States assist one another till 
 they rise and shake off the Union altogether?" 
 
 A very large contingent in the North agreed 
 with the President in his belief that the Federal 
 government did not possess the right to force 
 unwilling States to remain in the Union. The 
 most astonishing feature of the history of this 
 period that immediately preceding the out 
 break of hostilities is the slight and insignifi 
 cant amount of war-talk that was in the air. The 
 idea of peaceable secession prevailed. In the 
 New York Tribune of November 9, 1860, so 
 
THE FIRST BLOWS 159 
 
 thorough a Northerner as Horace Greeley 
 said: 
 
 " We hold, with Jefferson, to the inalienable right of 
 communities to alter or abolish forms of government that 
 have become oppressive or injurious; and, if the cotton 
 States shall decide that they can do better out of the Union 
 than in it, we insist on letting them go in peace. The right 
 to secede may be a revolutionary right, but it exists, never 
 theless ; and we do not see how one party can have a right 
 to do what another has a right to prevent. We must ever 
 resist the asserted right of any State to remain in the Union 
 and nullify or defy the laws thereof; to withdraw from 
 the Union is quite another matter. And, whenever a con 
 siderable section of our Union shall deliberately resolve to 
 go out, we shall resist all coercive measures designed to 
 keep her in. We hope never to live in a Republic whereof 
 one section is pinned to the residue by bayonets." 
 
 Northern historians have written of this ex 
 pression of Greeley s as though it were made in 
 a moment of temporary aberration. On the 
 other hand, there is ample evidence to prove that 
 a large section of Northern opinion was in strict 
 accord with that expressed by the Tribune. Not 
 only was there a dread of civil war and a belief 
 in the wrongfulness of violent measures, but 
 there was a strong sense that constitutional 
 sanctions had been overridden by the North in 
 respect to the rights of the South. Note, for in 
 stance, this opinion of the Albany Argus: 
 
 " We sympathize with and justify the South so far as 
 this: their rights have been invaded to the extreme limit 
 possible within the forms of the Constitution; and, be 
 yond this limit, their feelings have been insulted and their 
 interests and honor assailed by almost every possible form 
 of denunciation and invective; and, if we deemed certain 
 
160 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 that the real animus of the Republican party could be car 
 ried into the administration of the Federal government, 
 and become the permanent policy of the nation, we should 
 think that all the instincts of self-preservation and of man 
 hood rightfully impelled them to a resort to revolution and 
 a separation from the Union, and we should applaud them 
 and wish them Godspeed in the adoption of such a remedy." 
 
 In February, 1861, the Detroit Free Press said, 
 editorially : 
 
 " If there shall not be a change in the present seeming 
 purpose to yield to no accommodation of the national diffi 
 culties, and if troops shall be raised in the North to march 
 against the people of the South, a fire in the rear will be 
 opened upon such troops, which will either stop their march 
 altogether or wonderfully accelerate it." 
 
 These utterances represent the conservative 
 by far the prevailing thought of the North, as 
 expressed by both Republicans and Democrats 
 during the first months of secession. How 
 stood the abolitionists, the men who for many 
 years had been active in stirring up anger and 
 bitterness against the South? Were they ready 
 to fight the South in order to preserve the Union 
 intact? Nay; the Union in their estimation was 
 nothing; their whole purpose was confined to 
 the freeing of the government to which they 
 were bound from the disgrace of human slavery. 
 They were not patriots. Hear William Lloyd 
 Garrison : 
 
 "At last the covenant with death is annulled and the 
 agreement with hell broken, by the action of South Caro 
 lina herself, and ere long by all the slave-holding States, 
 for their doom is won. . . . Justice and liberty, God and 
 
THE FIRST BLOWS 161 
 
 man, demand the dissolution of this slave-holding Union, 
 and the formation of a Northern confederacy, in which 
 slave-holders will stand before the law as felons and be 
 treated as pirates. . . . Up, then ! Up with the flag of dis 
 union ! That we may have a free and glorious union of our 
 own! How stands Massachusetts at this hour in reference 
 to the Union? Just where she ought to be, in an attitude 
 of open hostility." 
 
 Wendell Phillips was, if possible, still more en 
 thusiastically gleeful over the prospect of cutting 
 loose from the slave-power. 
 
 "We are," said he, " disunionists, not from any love of 
 separate confederacies, or as ignorant of the thousand evils 
 that spring from neighboring and quarrelsome States; but 
 we would get rid of this Union to get rid of slavery. . . . 
 All hail, disunion! Sacrifice everything for the Union? 
 God forbid ! Sacrifice everything to keep South Carolina 
 in it? Rather build a bridge of gold, and pay her toll over 
 it. Let her march off with banners and trumpets, and we 
 will speed the parting guest. Let her not stand upon the 
 order of her going, but go at once. Give her the forts 
 and arsenals and sub-treasuries, and lend her jewels of 
 silver and gold, and Egypt will rejoice that she has de 
 parted." 
 
 It will thus be seen that the attitude of the 
 abolitionists, as expressed by their greatest lead 
 ers, was just as inimical to the integrity of the 
 nation as was that of the most rabid secessionists 
 of the South. And when later the sword was 
 drawn for the purpose of preserving the Union 
 intact, the abolitionists regarded it as a fight in 
 which their conscience called upon them to take 
 no part. The Hon. Sherrard Clemens, of Vir 
 ginia, speaking in the House of Representatives, 
 
 ii 
 
162 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 January 22, 1861, fairly characterized the posi 
 tion of the abolitionists. 
 
 "We have, then," he said, "before us, these knights of 
 a new crusade. The Constitution of the United States is 
 the sanctified Jerusalem, against which their deluded co 
 horts are arrayed. They contend the only mode to over 
 throw slavery is to overthrow the Constitution. They re 
 fuse to take office under it, because it recognizes slavery. 
 They will not take an oath to support it, because it pro 
 tects slavery. They claim their allegiance is due to the 
 State, and to the State alone. They are State rights men 
 of the straitest sect; and they wield the legislative power 
 of the State for the extinction of slavery, as South Caro 
 lina professes to wield hers for the perpetuation of slavery." 
 
 In view of all this anticoercive feeling existent 
 in the various parties of the North, representing 
 as it did the opinion of the majority of the peo 
 ple, it is not a matter of wonder that President 
 Buchanan was hesitant in his policy. The ques 
 tion has frequently been asked : Why did not he 
 follow the example of Andrew Jackson during 
 the Nullification trouble, and prepare himself to 
 strongly enforce the observance of the laws. But 
 the situations were not similar. In 1830 South 
 Carolina did not secede; she determined while 
 remaining in the Union to repudiate its enact 
 ments. Moreover, at that time she stood alone 
 in her attitude towards the Federal government. 
 In 1860, however, South Carolina was, accord 
 ing to her own belief, a separate and independent 
 power to which the laws of the United States 
 were totally foreign. The South upheld her in 
 this belief, and almost every Southern State was 
 
THE FIRST BLOWS 163 
 
 prepared to take the same stand, or, at least, 
 looked with extreme jealousy on every North 
 ern contradiction of the right to secede. More 
 over, as we have seen, a considerable proportion 
 of Northern sentiment upheld the President in 
 his opinion that he had no right to use coercion. 
 Consequently, had Andrew Jackson been in 
 James Buchanan s place, although it is very 
 certain that he would have adopted measures 
 entirely different from those employed by the 
 latter, it cannot justly be argued that the course 
 he took in 1830 would have been followed in 
 1860. 
 
 Public opinion at the South at this time might 
 be conveniently arranged into four classes. Un 
 der the first came the radical section of Southern 
 men, mainly Senators and Congressmen, who 
 were clamoring for secession, and a small but 
 active and influential group that found its coun 
 terpart in the extreme wing of the abolitionists 
 of the North. Indeed, they were in accord re 
 garding the impossibility of union. In this first 
 group of Southern leaders were men like Yancey 
 and Fitzpatrick, of Alabama; Jefferson Davis, 
 of Mississippi; Robert Toombs, of Georgia; 
 James Chestnut, of South Carolina; R. B. Rhett, 
 of the same State ; Judah P. Benjamin, of Louisi 
 ana, and John Slidell, his colleague in the United 
 States Senate, together with Wise, Mason, and 
 Hunter, of Virginia, and Wigfall, of Texas. 
 These leaders wished, because of their theories 
 in respect to State rights, that each State should 
 
164 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 act independently in withdrawing from the 
 Union; but they asserted that after having re 
 sumed its sovereignty a State could enter any 
 confederacy it pleased. 
 
 The second and larger group of Southern men 
 represented those who were every whit as much 
 devoted to Southern interests, but were opposed 
 to hasty, separate-State action. They desired 
 time both for reflection and to test the justice of 
 Lincoln s administration ; to gain this breathing- 
 space, they favored a co-operation of the South 
 ern States, a general convention which was to 
 set forth their claims and present them to the 
 government at Washington. These men, whose 
 most conspicuous leader was Alexander H. Ste 
 phens, were derisively called submissionists by 
 their opponents. They numbered in their ranks 
 some of the ablest and wealthiest men of the 
 South. Indeed, they were often charged with 
 being conservative because of their riches. 
 
 The Union men represented the third and 
 smallest section of Southern opinion. Some of 
 these were Federal office-holders who wished to 
 retain their posts ; but others comparatively 
 few were descendants of the old Federal and 
 Whig families, men noted for their possessions 
 and intellectual attainments. If in the Federal 
 army or navy, they often remained in the ser 
 vice. But the majority of out-and-out Union 
 men were included in the ranks of the poor, 
 ignorant whites of the mountain region of the 
 South. 
 
ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS 
 From a photograph by Brady 
 
THE FIRST BLOWS 165 
 
 Finally, we have the fourth class of Southern 
 men at the outbreak of the war, the large and 
 important element found everywhere, men who 
 let others think for them and are ready to be 
 blown in any direction. In the ranks of these 
 were to be found the tradesmen, the small farm 
 ers, and the artisans. 
 
 How to form these four classes of men into 
 one united whole rallying around the standard 
 of " Southern Rights" was the problem of the 
 out-and-out secessionists. The first step of the 
 secession advocates was to hold a meeting in 
 Washington while the Committee of Thirty- 
 Three, appointed by Congress, was discussing 
 plans for peaceably settling the issue raised by 
 the triumph of the Republican party. This meet 
 ing took place on the evening of December 14, 
 1860, and was called by Reuben Davis, of Mis 
 sissippi, a Representative in the Lower House. 
 It was attended by about thirty Congressmen, 
 all of whom were from the far South. Among 
 the States represented were Alabama, Georgia, 
 Florida, Arkansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, 
 Louisiana, Texas, and South Carolina. Those 
 present at the meeting, which was held in the 
 rooms of Reuben Davis, included A. G. Brown 
 and Jefferson Davis, Senators from Mississippi; 
 John Slidell and Judah P. Benjamin, Senators 
 from Louisiana; Wigfall, Hemphill, and other 
 active secessionists. 
 
 The result of this gathering was the imme 
 diate issue of a " Southern manifesto" (Decem- 
 
1 66 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 ber 14, 1860), signed by all present, and tele 
 graphed to their constituents. 
 
 " The argument is exhausted," said the document. "All 
 hope of relief in the Union through the agency of com 
 mittees, Congressional legislation, or constitutional amend 
 ments, is extinguished, and we trust the South will not be 
 deceived by appearances or the pretence of new guarantees. 
 In our judgment the Republicans are resolute in the pur 
 pose to grant nothing that will or ought to satisfy the 
 South. We are satisfied the honor, safety, and indepen 
 dence of Southern people require the organization of a 
 Southern Confederacy a result to be obtained only by 
 separate State secession; that the primary object of each 
 slave-holding State ought to be its speedy and absolute 
 separation from a union with hostile States." 
 
 This Washington meeting outlined the pro 
 gramme of the chiefs of the secession move 
 ment. The proceedings indicated, moreover, 
 that South Carolina would secede within a few 
 days, and that her example would be quickly fol 
 lowed by the lower South. In each case there 
 was to be a convention, a debate, and then an 
 ordinance of secession ; but, as already observed, 
 the separatists more than once encountered such 
 opposition in the convention that they were 
 forced to resort to a coup de guerre in order to 
 carry their States with them. 
 
 There is no evidence of any such strong and 
 determining sympathy on the part of the people 
 towards secession as some writers have claimed. 
 It was far from being a popular uprising. The 
 secessionist movement, while it was not of the 
 nature of a plot. for there was little of secrecy 
 about its development, was fostered in Wash- 
 
THE FIRST BLOWS 167 
 
 ington, and presented to the Southern people 
 by their leaders. In the conventions, therefore, 
 it was not so much the will of the people that 
 was executed as the determination of the politi 
 cians. 
 
 The first chapter in the history of secession 
 was to be written by South Carolina, and she pre 
 pared for the work by electing an unusually 
 strong man as her governor, F. W. Pickens, 
 who had been minister to Russia under the 
 Buchanan administration. Pickens was a firm 
 believer in Southern rights, which he believed to 
 include the execution of the Fugitive Slave Law, 
 the repeal of the antislavery enactments for the 
 District of Columbia, the protection of South 
 erners travelling or sojourning at the North in 
 the enjoyment of their property in slaves, and the 
 full and equal protection of slave property in all 
 the Territories of the Union. Among the various 
 declarations of the new governor s inaugural ad 
 dress was one to the effect that the Northern 
 people " propose to inaugurate a chief magis 
 trate at the head of the army and navy, with vast 
 powers, not to preside over the common inter 
 ests and destinies of all the States alike, but upon 
 issues of malignant hostility and uncompro 
 mising war to be waged upon the rights, the in 
 terests, and the peace of half the States of this 
 Union." 
 
 The influence of South Carolina s ordinance 
 of secession was immediate. Salutes were fired 
 at Mobile, Pensacola, New Orleans, Norfolk, and 
 
1 68 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 other points. Palmetto cockades and flags were 
 displayed. Speeches sustaining the action of 
 South Carolina were everywhere heard. The 
 enthusiasm thus kindled swept over the South. 
 The question of the hour was what was to be the 
 action of the President and the Federal govern 
 ment. 
 
 Buchanan evaded the issue. The sole deter 
 mination to which he adhered with any degree 
 of firmness was to close his administration with 
 out taking any step towards a solution of the 
 trouble. But South Carolina was determined 
 to press the question. She had at her hand an 
 opportunity in the Federal forts within her boun 
 daries. The State of South Carolina asserted 
 its right to control these forts, but Federal 
 forces, disregarding the claims of the secession 
 ists, still held them. The state of affairs was in 
 tolerable to the South Carolinians, and the ques 
 tion as to Federal action was a momentous one. 
 
 There were two courses open to the Presi 
 dent. He might protect the property of the Fed 
 eral government by sending reinforcements, as 
 he had been warned was necessary by both 
 Major Anderson and General Scott; or he might 
 evacuate the forts, as Davis, Secretary of War 
 Floyd, and other men of the South wished him 
 to do in the hope that such a procedure would 
 result in the greater likelihood of arriving at a 
 peaceable understanding. 
 
 The latter course, dishonorable as it would 
 have been, viewed from the stand-point of the 
 
THE FIRST BLOWS 169 
 
 North, would have been less weak than the drift 
 ing policy which characterized the last months 
 of the administration of President Buchanan. On 
 December 8, 1860, he seems to have come to a 
 tacit understanding with South Carolina to the 
 effect that the forts would not be attacked, pro 
 vided that the military status should " remain as 
 at present." But shortly after this Assistant Ad 
 jutant-General Buell was sent to Charleston with 
 verbal instructions to Major Anderson : 
 
 " You are carefully to avoid every act which would need 
 lessly tend to provoke aggression ; and for that reason you 
 are not, without evident and imminent necessity, to take up 
 any position which could be construed into the assumption 
 of a hostile attitude. But you are to hold possession of 
 the forts in the harbor, and, if attacked, you are to defend 
 yourself to the last extremity. The smallness of your force 
 will not permit you, perhaps, to occupy more than one of 
 the three forts, but an attack on or attempt to take pos 
 session of any one of them will be regarded as an act of 
 hostility, and you may then put your command into either 
 of them which you may deem most proper to increase its 
 power of resistance. You are also authorized to take 
 similar steps whenever you have tangible evidence of a 
 design to proceed to a hostile act." 
 
 Buchanan, though he had not seen these in 
 structions when they were sent by the Secretary 
 of War, afterwards acceded to them. 
 
 On the evening of December 26 Anderson, be 
 lieving that an attack on Fort Moultrie (which 
 he was then occupying) might be expected at 
 any time, and in view also, of its untenable con 
 dition, spiked the cannon and burned the gun- 
 carriages of that fort, and moved his small force 
 
170 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 to the new and unfinished Fort Sumter. This 
 action the governor of South Carolina deemed 
 to be a violation of the understanding which had 
 existed between his commissioners and the Pres 
 ident. Thereupon he ordered the State troops 
 to take possession of Fort Moultrie and Castle 
 Pinckney, and soon the flag of the State was 
 raised above them. 
 
 Secretary of War Floyd, failing to have the 
 action of Major Anderson condemned, resigned 
 his office. He was glad of the opportunity to 
 relinquish it with some pretension to honor, 
 seeing that the President had asked for his resig 
 nation on account of malversation in respect to 
 funds. 
 
 The resignation of Floyd seemed the signal for 
 revolt. On January 5 a caucus of the Southern 
 Senators was held, and it decided on the imme 
 diate secession of all the Southern States, the 
 meeting of a convention at Montgomery, Ala 
 bama, not later than February 15, 1861, to organ 
 ize the seceding States into a confederacy, and 
 the continuance of the Southern Senators in 
 office to obstruct action opposed to the plans of 
 the caucus. A committee headed by Jefferson 
 Davis was appointed " to carry out the objects of 
 this meeting." 
 
 On the 9th of January, 1861, was struck the 
 first blow of the Civil War. The forces of South 
 Carolina fired upon and drove from Charleston 
 harbor the steamship " Star of the West/ which 
 had been chartered, as secretly as possible, by 
 
THE FIRST BLOWS 171 
 
 the Federal government and despatched with 
 men and provisions for the relief of Major An 
 derson. 
 
 The " Star of the West" episode attracted 
 little attention. It forced no effective action, for 
 everything in the North waited for the advent 
 of the new administration. Not so, however, in 
 the South. There events moved with surprising 
 rapidity. Mississippi seceded from the Union on 
 the 9th of January, 1861. Two days later Florida 
 and Alabama took the same course. On the 2Oth 
 Georgia, though hesitating under the influence 
 of the powerful arguments of Alexander H. 
 Stephens, severed her connection with the 
 North. Louisiana followed on the 26th, and 
 Texas on the ist of February. How thoroughly 
 consistent were the Southern men with their 
 State rights theory is notably illustrated in the 
 case of Stephens. He urged, with all the power 
 of logic and eloquence he possessed, against the 
 necessity of secession. But when his State voted 
 against him, as a loyal son he bowed to the de 
 cision and did his best to aid the cause of his 
 section. 
 
 The Confederate Constitution contained the 
 following article : 
 
 "Congress shall . . . have power to prohibit the intro 
 duction of slaves from any State not a member of this 
 confederacy." 
 
 When it is remembered that the principal in 
 dustry of Virginia was the breeding of slaves for 
 
172 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 the supply of the cotton States, it looks as 
 if this was intended as a forcible argument 
 to induce Virginia to cast in her lot with the 
 Confederacy. It was not, however, until the I7th 
 of April, 1 86 1, after Lincoln s call for volunteers, 
 that she determined so to do. Her mind was at 
 first bent on conciliation. Her General Assem 
 bly invited the other States, slave-holding and 
 free, to join with her in a conference looking 
 towards the proposing of such concessions as 
 might ward off hostilities. The invitation fur 
 thermore announced that the Crittenden Com 
 promise would be, in the estimation of Virginia, 
 a satisfactory basis for conciliation. 
 
 The Crittenden Compromise provided in its 
 Article I. for prohibiting slavery north of 36 
 30 in all the territory now held or which may 
 hereafter be held, and recognizing it as existing 
 in all the territory south of that line, and for 
 allowing any territory to come into the Union 
 when it has a sufficient population for a member 
 of Congress, according to the existing ratio of 
 representation of the people of the United States, 
 on an equal footing with the other States either 
 with or without slavery, as the Constitution of 
 such new State shall provide. In Article II. it 
 declared that Congress shall have no power to 
 abolish slavery in places under the exclusive 
 jurisdiction of Congress and within the limits of 
 States that permit the holding of slaves. In Ar 
 ticle III. it declared that Congress shall not have 
 power to abolish slavery in the District of Co- 
 
THE FIRST BLOWS 173 
 
 lumbia except on certain conditions. In Article 
 IV. it declared that Congress shall not interdict 
 the transportation of slaves from one State to 
 another where the laws permit slavery. In Ar 
 ticle V. it declared that the Fugitive Slave Law 
 shall be modified in such a manner that, in case 
 the owner meets with forcible obstruction from 
 people to the recovery of his slave, the United 
 States shall pay for such fugitive slave ; it being 
 provided that the county where this force, or in 
 timidation, or rescue takes place, shall be liable 
 for the amount paid, with authority to remu 
 nerate itself by a suit against the rescuers or 
 wrong-doers. 
 
 The Peace Congress desired by Virginia as 
 sembled on the 4th of February, 1861 ; twenty- 
 one Commonwealths fourteen Northern and 
 seven slave-holding States were represented. 
 In this Conference the six Confederate States 
 did not, of course, take part. The Union men of 
 the North were not hopeful of any salutary re 
 sult from the Conference; indeed, it appears as 
 if some were not even desirous of it. Senator 
 Chandler, of Michigan, writing to the governor 
 of his State, and forwarding the request of Mas 
 sachusetts and New York that Michigan would 
 send delegates, said : 
 
 " No Republican State should have sent delegates ; but 
 they are here, and cannot get away; Ohio, Indiana, and 
 Rhode Island are caving in, and there is danger of Illinois ; 
 and now they beg us, for God s sake, to come to their 
 rescue, and save the Republican party from rupture. I hope 
 you will send stiff-backed men, or none. The whole thing 
 
174 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 was gotten up against my judgment and advice, and will 
 end in thin smoke. Still I hope, as a matter of courtesy 
 to some of our erring brethren [the Northern men who 
 were willing to compromise for the sake of peace], that you 
 will send the delegates. Some of the manufacturing States 
 think that a fight would be awful. Without a little blood 
 letting this Union will not, in my estimation, be worth a 
 rush." 
 
 The advantage of the Republican party seems 
 to have caused Chandler more concern than did 
 the integrity of the Union. In this he was not 
 alone. 
 
 Nothing resulted from the Peace Convention, 
 and the Crittenden Compromise was defeated in 
 Congress, the House vote being 113 to 80, and 
 that of the Senate 20 to 19. But the peace-at- 
 any-price party proposed a Thirteenth Amend 
 ment to the Federal Constitution, which read as 
 follows : 
 
 "No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which 
 will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or 
 interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions 
 thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service 
 by the laws of said State." 
 
 This was not satisfactory to the Border Com 
 monwealths, and it received no attention from 
 the seceded States. 
 
 In the mean time the day of Lincoln s inaugu 
 ration (March 4, 1861) approached. On his 
 journey from Springfield to Washington the 
 President-elect made many speeches, none of 
 which, because of his uncultured manner and off 
 hand mode of expression, tended to increase the 
 
THE FIRST BLOWS 175 
 
 respect and confidence of the people. His dec 
 larations that " nobody was going to be hurt/ 
 and that " nothing was going wrong," were sub 
 jects for the caricaturists and created a painful 
 impression upon the minds of serious men. 
 
 Inauguration day fell on a Monday. The 
 morning broke clear and beautiful; a passing 
 shower prevented the troubling presence of the 
 dust clouds that are an accompaniment of early 
 Spring in Washington. The public buildings, 
 schools, and business houses were closed that all 
 might make holiday, and sounds of martial music 
 echoed throughout the city. National flags hung 
 everywhere. As the hour drew near for admin 
 istering the oath of office to the first Republican 
 President that had ever occupied the White 
 House, Pennsylvania Avenue was thronged as 
 it had not been for many a year. The vast 
 multitude moved towards Capitol Hill, where it 
 occupied every vantage-point. Diplomats in a 
 greater number than usual attended the exer 
 cises ; distinguished men were more numerous 
 than ordinarily, and all sections save the South 
 were represented. 
 
 Lincoln s inaugural address indicated that he 
 was not at this time fully decided as to what 
 the situation demanded. His attitude towards 
 slavery, however, was a positive one. 
 
 "I have no purpose," said he, "directly or indirectly, to 
 interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where 
 it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I 
 have no inclination to do so." 
 
1 76 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 There was also no uncertain sound in his ex 
 pressed views on the subject of secession. 
 
 " I consider that, in view of the Constitution and the 
 laws, the Union is unbroken; and to the extent of my 
 ability I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly 
 enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully 
 executed in all the States." 
 
 On the question of coercion, however, he was 
 somewhat at sea: 
 
 " I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only 
 as the declared purpose of the Union that it will constitu 
 tionally defend and maintain itself. In doing this there 
 needs to be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall be 
 none unless it be forced upon the national authority. The 
 power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and 
 possess the property and places belonging to the govern 
 ment, and to collect the duties and imposts; but beyond 
 what may be necessary for these objects there will be no 
 invasion, no using of force against or among the people 
 anywhere. Where hostility to the United States in any 
 interior locality shall be so great and universal as to pre 
 vent competent resident citizens from holding the Federal 
 offices, there will be no attempt to force obnoxious strangers 
 among the people for that object. While the strict legal 
 right may exist in the government to enforce the exercise 
 of these offices, the attempt to do so would be so irritating, 
 and so nearly impracticable withal, that I deem it better to 
 forego, for the time, the uses of such offices. The mails, 
 unless repelled, will continue to be furnished in all parts 
 of the Union. So far as possible the people everywhere 
 shall have that sense of perfect security which is most 
 favorable to calm thought and reflection. The course here 
 indicated will be followed, unless current events and ex 
 perience shall show a modification or change to be proper; 
 and in every case and exigency my best discretion will be 
 exercised according to circumstances actually existing, and 
 with a view and a hope of a peaceful solution of the na- 
 
GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT 
 From a photograph by Brady 
 
THE FIRST BLOWS 177 
 
 tional troubles and the restoration of fraternal sympathies 
 and affections." 
 
 No one listened to Lincoln s address more atten 
 tively than President Buchanan and Chief Jus 
 tice Taney. By the latter, who had sworn in Van 
 Buren, Pierce, and Buchanan, Lincoln was in 
 ducted into office. 
 
 Lincoln soon assembled his Cabinet, which for 
 the first t : me in American history met to discuss 
 civil war. It was composed of William H. Sew- 
 ard, Secretary of State ; Simon Cameron, shortly 
 to be succeeded by Edwin Stanton, Secretary of 
 War; Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treas 
 ury ; Edward Bates, Attorney-General ; Caleb B. 
 Smith, Secretary of the Interior; Gideon Welles, 
 Secretary of the Navy; and Montgomery Blair, 
 Postmaster-General. 
 
 The Southern Confederacy raised its flag over 
 Montgomery as its national capital and adopted 
 a Constitution, much of which was borrowed, and 
 of right, from the Federal Constitution. Special 
 stress was laid upon the doctrine of State sover 
 eignty, general taxation for the benefit of par 
 ticular localities or industries was prohibited, in 
 ternal improvements were to be at the expense 
 of the sections profiting by them, and the ques 
 tion of slave-holding in any Territory that might 
 apply for admission to the Confederacy was to 
 be decided by the people of that Territory. Jef 
 ferson Davis was elected President; Alexander 
 H. Stephens, Vice-President ; Robert Toombs, 
 Secretary of State ; Charles G. Memminger, Sec- 
 
 12 
 
1 78 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 retary of the Treasury; John H. Reagan, Post 
 master-General; Leroy P. Walker, Secretary of 
 War; Stephen R. Mallory, Secretary of the 
 Navy; and Judah P. Benjamin, Attorney-Gen 
 eral. It was distinctly a far-South cabinet, and 
 both South Carolina and Virginia were left out. 
 Rhett, of South Carolina, whose ambition was to 
 become President, never forgave Davis, whose 
 election was due to a misunderstanding, the ma 
 jority of the States favoring Robert Toombs, of 
 Georgia, but giving their votes to Davis rather 
 than to Howell Cobb, whose name was falsely 
 represented to be the favorite of the Georgia 
 delegation by the managers of the Davis inter 
 ests. It may also be said, on the authority of 
 Alexander H. Stephens, that Davis did not seek 
 the presidency at first, nor until he found it im 
 possible to accomplish his desire to be comman- 
 der-in-chief of the forces of the Confederacy, a 
 post for which he was almost alone in believing 
 himself eminently qualified. 
 
 The provisional Congress of the Confederacy 
 authorized the calling to arms of one hundred 
 thousand volunteers to serve for twelve months. 
 Acts were also passed providing for the estab 
 lishment of a navy. A post-office was organized 
 and a judiciary provided for. An issue of one 
 million dollars in treasury notes was authorized. 
 Commissioners were sent to the European 
 courts; and thus the seceded States objectified 
 their belief that they were in all respects an 
 independent nation. But, in accordance with 
 
THE FIRST BLOWS 179 
 
 their settled policy, the powers agreed not to 
 recognize the new government until it should 
 be recognized by the United States. Mason and 
 Slidell, two of the commissioners, were taken 
 from the English ship " Trent" by the captain 
 of the United States steamer " San Jacinto," 
 but because of pressure threatened from Eng 
 land were released shortly afterwards. 
 
 The outlook for the Union cause was far from 
 encouraging. The country was still suffering 
 from the results of the recent panic; Federal 
 forts, arsenals, and mints had been seized 
 throughout the South; the attitude of the rank 
 and file of the Democratic party was unknown 
 until Douglas pledged the government its sup 
 port; the border States were hesitating, and 
 State after State in the far South had passed 
 ordinances of secession or had been forced un 
 willingly into the Confederacy. On the other 
 side of the Atlantic sympathy was scant and 
 opinion critical. 
 
 The extent to which the South hoped to se 
 cure aid from Europe is a question that may 
 never be satisfactorily answered. It is true that 
 as the war progressed, especially after the rec 
 ognition of belligerency by Great Britain, France, 
 and Spain, there was more or less expectancy of 
 foreign intervention; but even before the out 
 break of hostilities the more clear-sighted lead 
 ers of the ill-starred Confederacy realized that 
 it was vain to expect any assistance whatever 
 from England. In a letter, for instance, written 
 
i8o THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 in Washington, December 3, 1860, by John B. 
 Floyd and addressed to Nathaniel Tyler, at Rich 
 mond, Virginia, the writer declared that 
 
 " the South should remember that, in dissolving the Union 
 she annihilates a mighty army of true, unselfish, and de 
 voted friends at the North who battle for the constitu 
 tional rights of the slave States. Without this great and 
 efficient aid the power of abolition fanaticism would be 
 unbroken and unchecked would indeed surround the 
 South with a wall of fire. It would do more. New Eng 
 land would consort with old England in devising means 
 by which the cruel and inhuman philanthropy practised by 
 the latter in the West India islands should be practised 
 here. That religious zeal which turned away from all 
 rational hope of progress in the Christian faith half a mil 
 lion of Africans to the barbarism of fetish worship, and 
 converted the fairest islands of the sea into a desert and 
 a waste; that English justice which seized upon a thou 
 sand millions of her subjects property and vaunted herself 
 before the world for having paid one-tenth of its value, 
 would find, surely and speedily, ample room, in conjunction 
 with New England abolitionism, for the practice of her 
 Pharisaical virtues amidst the fields of Virginia and Louisi 
 ana." (Richmond Enquirer, December 7, 1860.) 
 
 Floyd then points out a few other reasons for 
 believing that the South must not commit the 
 error of counting on the support of Great 
 Britain. All the work of the North in harassing 
 the South and impairing the security and value 
 of her slave property would, in his estimation, be 
 justice, honesty, and fair dealing, compared with 
 " the inexorable hate and majestic fanaticism of 
 England directed against the slavery of a dis 
 membered Union and a feared and hated com 
 mercial rival." With prophetic insight, he main- 
 
THE FIRST BLOWS 181 
 
 tains that twenty-five years of union and har 
 mony will concentrate the commercial power of 
 the world in the waters of New York, and that 
 then 
 
 "the decline of England becomes as certain as was that of 
 Alexandria and Venice, and for the same cause. Instead of 
 the first, she becomes a third-rate European power. But 
 let disunion take place, let civil war and discord distract 
 this country, and England well knows that the ships of the 
 North must rot at their wharves and the busy hum of their 
 manufactories must cease forever. Then, indeed, would 
 England feel again that she was mistress of the seas with 
 out a rival, secure in a commerce that no power would 
 ever shake." 
 
 Meanwhile, aside from the outspoken utter 
 ances of Queen Victoria, Albert, the Prince Con 
 sort, and Lord Palmerston, the upper classes of 
 England professed to feel much sympathy 
 towards the South, whose leaders they flattered 
 and cajoled by turns. Gladstone uttered an ex 
 pression so favorable towards the nascent con 
 federation that even his ingenuity was never able 
 entirely to avoid its effect. The South had 
 hoped, also, that the great mill-owners of Eng 
 land, whom she furnished with cotton, would be 
 inclined, from selfish motives, to favor her cause ; 
 but industrial England was on the side of the 
 North, while Henry Ward Beecher s visit to 
 Great Britain, together with the firm attitude of 
 the Federal government, soon destroyed all pros 
 pects of open sympathy with the South. 
 
 In point of fact, moreover, our transatlantic 
 
i8 2 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 kinsmen had never looked for an American civil 
 war. It seemed, in the first place, too good to be 
 true. Then, again, it was not supposed that a 
 nation of " shopkeepers" would do any fighting. 
 The Presidential campaign of 1860 had naturally 
 aroused keen interest throughout Europe; but 
 the result, judging from the general tone of the 
 English press, does not appear to have given 
 rise to any widespread conviction that interne 
 cine strife was imminent. Some, indeed, pro 
 fessed to view the subject with indifference, 
 others as a victory for human progress, and but 
 an exceedingly small minority regarded disunion 
 as inevitable. The London Review, for exam 
 ple, whose sympathies were apparently with the 
 Republican party, informed the South that her 
 only hope of preserving slavery was in the Union, 
 and that any attempt to organize a Southern 
 Confederacy would be resisted by the whole 
 strength of Europe and civilization. The Times 
 was no less optimistic. It expressed no fear for 
 the safety of the Union. 
 
 " Of course, it will take sortie time before men can cool 
 down from the bluster, which has been so profusely used 
 for electioneering purposes, to the language of moderation 
 and truth. When the cooler heads of the South begin to 
 consider how imaginary is the injury which they have sus 
 tained, how vast are the interests involved, how heavy would 
 be the cost, how considerable the danger of disunion, and 
 how impossible it would be for the Southern States to 
 maintain in the face of the world the strong position they 
 hold as members of the great American Confederation, we 
 suspect that the South will think better of it, and turn its 
 activity into the more practicable channel of providing Mr. 
 
THE FIRST BLOWS 183 
 
 Lincoln a Democratic successor in 1864." (" Summary of 
 English Views/ Richmond Enquirer, December II, 1860.) 
 
 The faith thus expressed in the good sense of 
 the American people, North and South, by the 
 press of Great Britain, was shared in a measure 
 by Continental publicists. Europe had grown 
 weary of war. The useless struggle in the Cri 
 mea, the war of Italian independence, not to 
 speak of the increasing suspicions regarding the 
 forward policy of Napoleon III., were facts in 
 themselves sufficient to create a genuine desire 
 for peace. Nor had the revolutionary move 
 ments of 1848 been without the resultant crea 
 tion of an extensive popular sympathy in favor 
 of the black slaves of the South. Facts such as 
 these were not calculated to win for the leaders 
 of a movement at conflict with the pacific and 
 liberal views current abroad that hearty, spon 
 taneous good-will which is often, because of sen 
 timent, bestowed on the efforts of a nationality to 
 secure for itself an independent State life. On 
 the contrary, the average person on the Conti 
 nent saw one-half of our country seeking to over 
 throw slavery, and the other half endeavoring by 
 force of arms to perpetuate the institution. To 
 this conception of the nature of the American 
 conflict may accordingly be traced that lack of 
 encouragement met with by the South at the 
 outset, and which prevented her from having her 
 independence recognized. The world was unre 
 servedly against slavery. Nevertheless, the 
 
1 84 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 North, contrary to European opinion, did not 
 enter into the war to secure the liberation of 
 the bondmen, but to preserve the Union. Never 
 theless by the progress of events Lincoln was 
 forced to free the slaves as a war measure, and 
 by so doing he gained the approval of Europe. 
 
VIII 
 
 THE THREE-MONTHS WAR 
 
 THE history of the negotiations which took 
 place between the Southern commissioners and 
 Secretary of State Seward is of the most vital 
 importance in the genesis of the War, for in 
 the outcome of these conferences South Caro 
 lina found her excuse and justification for the 
 bombardment of Fort Sumter. It appears as 
 if Seward clung to the hope that the border 
 States might, if time could be gained, be re 
 strained from seceding, and that eventually 
 the people of the States that had withdrawn 
 might be won back, in spite of their leaders. He 
 gave pledges that Sumter would be evacuated, 
 and that the status at Fort Pickens should re 
 main the same. President Lincoln, it is prob 
 able, was unaware of these promises. Seward 
 had a way, during the early days of the adminis 
 tration, of taking matters into his own hands, a 
 mistake which he soon learned to avoid commit 
 ting. While preparations were being carried on 
 by the naval authorities from New York for the 
 relief of Fort Sumter, Seward was writing to 
 the Southern commissioners in regard to his 
 previously given promise : " Faith as to Sumter 
 fully kept. Wait and see." The day following 
 the delivery of this message Governor Pickens, 
 
 185 
 
1 86 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 of South Carolina, received notice from the State 
 Department at Washington that Fort Sumter 
 was about to be supplied with provisions. The 
 only conclusion possible in regard to Seward s 
 negotiations with the Southern commissioners is 
 that he was either acting on his own authority 
 and deceiving his chief, or, being cognizant, as 
 he must have been, that an expedition was in 
 preparation for the relief of Sumter, he was play 
 ing with the South in order to gain time for the 
 North to gather her strength. 
 
 As soon as the authorities at Charleston 
 learned that Fort Sumter was to be suc 
 cored, General Beauregard demanded from 
 Major Anderson its surrender. This action the 
 logic of the secessionists position compelled 
 them to take. The descent of the fleet was in 
 truth the inauguration of the war between the 
 sections. With the fleet in the harbor and 
 Charleston menaced by the guns of Sumter, 
 South Carolina could place no confidence in 
 Northern pledges. Believing itself constitution 
 ally enabled to secede, and having actually done 
 so, the reduction of Fort Sumter was a necessary 
 conclusion. Even Mr. Douglas said, " I take it 
 for granted that whoever permanently holds 
 Charleston and South Carolina is entitled to the 
 possession of Fort Sumter." Horace Greeley 
 said, " Whether the bombardment and reduction 
 of Fort Sumter shall or shall not be justified by 
 posterity, it is clear that the Confederacy had 
 no alternative but its own dissolution/ To the 
 
THE THREE-MONTHS WAR 187 
 
 demand for the evacuation of the fort Major 
 Anderson replied that compliance with it was 
 prevented by his honor and his obligations to his 
 government. 
 
 The man whose fate it was to strike the first 
 blow directly against the Union was Pierre Gus- 
 tave Toutant Beauregard. Born near New Or 
 leans, his sympathies were all with the South. 
 He graduated from West Point in 1838, and 
 served with distinguished gallantry through the 
 Mexican War. In November, 1860, he received 
 the appointment to the superintendency of the 
 Military Academy at West Point. This he re 
 signed almost immediately, owing to the crisis 
 in the South. He was one of the very first to 
 resign his commission in the United States 
 army; he at once entered the service of the 
 Confederacy with the rank of brigadier-general, 
 receiving the command of the South Carolina 
 troops at Charleston. 
 
 At a little before five o clock on the morning 
 of Friday, April 12, 1861, Beauregard opened 
 fire with his batteries, which had been erected 
 during the period of negotiations. The fort 
 responded gallantly, and the bombardment con 
 tinued throughout the day. After dark, Ander 
 son ceased firing, but Beauregard s batteries 
 continued at intervals during the night. It 
 was a spectacle which the inhabitants of Charles 
 ton enjoyed; they thought they were cele 
 brating their freedom ; but it was a display which 
 presaged disaster. The bombardment continued 
 
1 88 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 for about thirty-four hours. Anderson s guns 
 responded for a short time on the morning of the 
 1 3th, but it was soon discovered that the fort 
 was on fire. Ex-Senator Wigfall, of Texas, then 
 voluntarily and without authority went to the 
 fort in an open boat, thus exposing himself to 
 the fire; he pointed out the hopelessness of the 
 Federal position and urged Anderson to surren 
 der. The gallant major could not do otherwise. 
 It was a bloodless battle ; for although the brave 
 defenders clung to their post until the works 
 were in juins and they had to cover their ammu 
 nition with earth to prevent its exploding, no one 
 was injured except through the bursting of some 
 of their own cannon while a final salute to the 
 Union flag was being fired. 
 
 The news of the capitulation of Sumter 
 reached Washington on the izj-th of April. It 
 electrified the North. Nothing is more difficult 
 of explanation than the sudden and complete re 
 version of feeling which took place. This was 
 intensified by the events at Baltimore on the 
 iQth, when the Massachusetts Sixth Regiment, 
 while marching through that city, was fired on 
 by the mob and several soldiers were killed and 
 wounded. 
 
 While the Southern States were seceding, the 
 North was apathetic if not encouraging. " Let 
 them go in peace," was the prevailing verdict. 
 The firing on the " Star of the West" had scarcely 
 aroused an interest. The North did not wish war. 
 She seemed to be more afraid of loss of trade than 
 
THE THREE-MONTHS WAR 189 
 
 of disunion. The people expected and desired com 
 promise; but measures directed thereto had been 
 frustrated by their politicians. As soon, however, 
 as the gage of battle had been thrown down or 
 taken up for it is difficult to determine which 
 by the South, and war in reality had begun, a 
 willingness to fight was manifested. At the same 
 time, we believe that the men of the North en 
 tered the conflict in a comparatively lightsome 
 spirit of adventure. Few had the faintest realiza 
 tion of the manner of conflict that was before 
 them. They thought the quarrel would speedily 
 and easily be ended, and that only a show of de 
 termination was necessary to convince the South 
 of the error of her ways. Lincoln himself, while 
 he trusted the North, was not quite certain what 
 to expect. After he had issued his call for 
 seventy-five thousand volunteers, he was heard 
 to exclaim, with the impatience born of a belief 
 that the Confederacy would attack the National 
 capital, as he walked the floor of his office in a 
 particularly anxious hour of the days of waiting 
 for the troops, " Why don t they come, why 
 don t they come?" 
 
 In the free States the call for volunteers was 
 responded to with enthusiasm and alacrity. In 
 six of the eight slave States which had not se 
 ceded it was negatived with defiance. Said Gov 
 ernor Letcher, of Virginia : 
 
 " The militia of this State will not be furnished to the 
 powers at Washington for any such purpose as they have 
 in view. Your object is to subjugate the Southern States, 
 
1 9 o THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 and a requisition made upon me for such an object an 
 object, in my judgment, not within the province of the 
 Constitution or the Act of 1795 will not be complied with. 
 You have chosen to inaugurate civil war, and, having done 
 so, we will meet it in a spirit as determined as the admin 
 istration has exhibited towards the South." 
 
 Governor Ellis, of North Carolina, declared : 
 
 " I can be no party to this wicked violation of the laws 
 of the country and to this war upon the liberties of a free 
 people. You can get no troops from North Carolina." 
 
 Governor Magoffin said : 
 
 " Kentucky will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose 
 of subduing her sister Southern States." 
 
 Harris, of Tennessee, boldly announced that 
 his State would 
 
 " not furnish a single man for coercion, but fifty thousand, 
 if necessary, for the defence of our rights or those of our 
 Southern brethren." 
 
 The reply of Governor Jackson, of Missouri, 
 was: 
 
 " Your requisition in my judgment is illegal, unconstitu 
 tional, and revolutionary in its object, inhuman, and dia 
 bolical, and cannot be complied with." 
 
 Rector was governor of Arkansas, and he 
 said: 
 
 " In answer to your requisition for troops from Arkansas 
 to subjugate the Southern States, I have to say that none 
 will be furnished. The demand is only adding insult to 
 injury." 
 
THE THREE-MONTHS WAR 191 
 
 Governor Hicks, of Maryland, found himself 
 placed in a serious dilemma. Not daring to defy 
 a government with its capital situated almost 
 in his own State, and pressed on every side by 
 the secessionist element which predominated in 
 Maryland, he temporized. 
 
 Governor Burton, of Delaware, waited until 
 the 26th, when he informed the President that he 
 had no right or authority to comply with his 
 requisition. 
 
 Two days after President Lincoln s call for 
 troops, President Davis retaliated by issuing a 
 proclamation inviting applications for letters of 
 marque and reprisal against the merchant ship 
 ping of the United States. This was a justifiable 
 method of attack, because the latter government 
 had refused to enter into an international com 
 pact with the European powers to prohibit priva 
 teering. Lincoln responded to this menace with 
 a proclamation announcing the blockade of the 
 ports of the Confederacy, which he ended with 
 the ominous words : 
 
 "And I hereby proclaim and declare that if any person, 
 under the pretended authority of the said States, or under 
 any other pretense, shall molest a vessel of the United 
 States, or the persons or cargo on board of her, such per 
 son will be held amenable to the laws of the United States 
 for the prevention and punishment of piracy." 
 
 On May 3 Lincoln called for forty regiments 
 of volunteers, to serve for three years or during 
 the war, increased the regular army by the addi- 
 
i 9 2 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 tion of ten regiments, and directed the enlistment 
 of eighteen thousand seamen. 
 
 In the mean time events were moving to the 
 advantage of the Confederacy. It gained pos 
 session of Harper s Ferry and the Gosport Navy- 
 Yard, with such supplies contained therein as the 
 Federal commanders in their hasty exit had not 
 been able to destroy. This prompted Secretary 
 Chase to complain to the President " that the 
 disunionists have anticipated us in everything, 
 that as yet we have accomplished nothing but the 
 destruction of our own property." 
 
 The South was fortunate in the fact that she 
 had sent her full quota of men to the Military 
 Academy at West Point as well as to the Naval 
 Academy at Annapolis. The majority of them 
 were loyal to their States. The credit which 
 has been lavishly though not improperly be 
 stowed upon Robert E. Lee for the sincerity of 
 his motives cannot justly be denied the com 
 manders who served under him. The Union was 
 dear to him, and, though he believed that the 
 South suffered under the aggressions of the 
 North, he was not in favor of secession. 
 Nevertheless, he held that his allegiance to 
 his State was rightly primary. 
 
 "A Union," said he, "that can only be maintained by 
 swords and bayonets, and in which strife and civil war are 
 to take the place of brotherly love and kindness, has no 
 charm for me. If the Union is dissolved and the govern 
 ment is disrupted, I shall return to my native State and 
 share the miseries of my people, and, save in defence, will 
 draw my sword on none." 
 
GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE 
 
THE THREE-MONTHS WAR 193 
 
 These sentiments were common to the South 
 ern officers who brought to the Confederacy an 
 experience gained in the United States army. 
 They could not have been so ill-advised as to 
 change their allegiance for ambitious reasons. 
 It is interesting to note that not a few Southern 
 men, such as General Thomas and Admiral Far- 
 ragut, remained in the Federal service, and that 
 many Northern men, conspicuous among whom 
 were General Gorgas and General Francis A. 
 Sharp, cast their lot with the secessionists. Lee 
 was indirectly offered the post of commander- 
 in-chief of the Federal army ; but his heart would 
 not permit him to lead an army of invasion into 
 his native Virginia. He resigned his commis 
 sion in the Federal army, and a few days later 
 accepted that of commander-in-chief of the Vir 
 ginia State forces. 
 
 The South rallied with an enthusiasm certainly 
 equal to that of the North. Aristocrat and ple 
 beian joined shoulder to shoulder for the protec 
 tion, as they believed, of their homes and rights. 
 
 "The flower of the Southern youth, the prime of South 
 ern manhood, are collected in the camps of Virginia. Some 
 of the most remarkable of these are here in the close 
 neighborhood of Richmond. Genius, learning, and wealth, 
 enough to furnish the aristocracy of an empire, wear the 
 coarse gray of the common soldier and learn the use of 
 the soldier s common weapon." 
 
 " In the South the volunteers who spring to arms with 
 so much alacrity are men of substance and position, wealthy 
 farmers and planters, with their sons, professional men, 
 merchants and their clerks, intelligent and industrious me 
 chanics, and, indeed, from every art, trade, profession, and 
 
 13 
 
i 9 4 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 occupation; the wealth, intelligence, industry, and back 
 bone of society have rallied for the defence of their homes 
 and for the assertion of constitutional liberty." 
 
 But the army of the South was wofully lacking 
 in equipment. It possessed no ready means for 
 the manufacture of arms and ammunition. It 
 depended at first upon a quantity of rifles of a 
 discarded pattern, which had been distributed 
 through the States. Flintlock muskets were 
 adapted to the use of percussion caps. The caps 
 were, in great part, smuggled through from Bal 
 timore, and the supply was extremely limited. 
 On July 13 President Davis wrote : 
 
 " I could get twenty thousand men from Mississippi, who 
 impatiently await for notice that they can be armed. In 
 Georgia numerous tenders are made to serve for any time, 
 at any place, and to these and other offers I am still con 
 strained to answer I have not arms to supply you." 
 
 But what the Southern troops lacked in fight 
 ing material they made up in provision for their 
 personal comfort. General Johnston refers to 
 the delay occasioned by heavy baggage, and says 
 that every common soldier came to the front 
 provided with a trunk. 
 
 On the 24th of May General Benjamin Butler, 
 by means of an epigram, inserted the point of the 
 wedge which thrust the institution of slavery 
 from the Southern States. He had been ordered 
 to the command at Fortress Monroe. The ad 
 vent of Union troops frightened the white in 
 habitants of Hampton from their homes, and in 
 the confusion three negroes escaped to the Union 
 
THE THREE-MONTHS WAR 195 
 
 camp. They belonged to Colonel Mallory, of 
 the Confederate army, who intended to remove 
 them to North Carolina and there employ their 
 services upon the Confederate fortifications. 
 Butler needed labor. He argued that if they had 
 been horses or arms or tools he would have 
 appropriated and used them without hesitation. 
 " These men," said he, " are contraband of war; 
 set them at work." The sentence was epoch- 
 making in its effect. Other negroes came in to 
 the number of more than nine hundred. They 
 were all welcomed and employed. The Northern 
 Secretary of War justified Butler s view of the 
 matter. 
 
 In the mean time the navies of both sides were 
 beginning to play their important part in the 
 struggle. President Davis s offer to grant letters 
 of marque and reprisal was met with a quick and 
 ample response; and President Lincoln s block 
 ade of the Southern ports provided activity for 
 all the vessels at his command. In March, 1863, 
 the United States Congress passed a bill author 
 izing the President to issue letters; but he did 
 not do so, probably for the reason that it would 
 be considered " a recognition of the assumption 
 of the insurgents that they are a distinct and 
 independent nationality." The Royal Gazette, 
 of England, also published a pertinent comment 
 on this matter: 
 
 "The United States Congress, in its last session, au 
 thorized the President, if he deemed it proper, to issue 
 letters of marque. His having not done so, in view of the 
 
196 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 destruction of property by the "Alabama" and the " Florida," 
 is severely censured by a writer in one of the late New 
 York papers. This writer suggests that a reward of five 
 hundred thousand dollars be given to any letter of marque 
 that should capture and bring into any of the ports of the 
 United States any Confederate privateer, or two hundred 
 and fifty thousand dollars for the sinking or otherwise de 
 stroying of such a privateer. The writer concluded by 
 observing that the almighty dollar might then be the means 
 of bringing privateering to an end/ 
 
 " We can hardly understand why such a measure should 
 be adopted. When patriotism is not sufficient to induce 
 men to serve their country, is it probable that the dollar 
 will? Will the dollar inspire courage in a man when the 
 sight of his lowered flag fails to do so? And, besides, are 
 there not enough United States ships-of-war skimming the 
 seas after the "Alabama" and the " Florida," the only two 
 known Confederate privateers, and are these Federal ves 
 sels not commanded by admirals and officers that the Union 
 boasts of? The issuing by the Washington government of 
 letters of marque would be, indeed, an acknowledgment of 
 the inefficiency of their navy compared to the two or three 
 comparatively small vessels-of-war owned by the Confed 
 eracy, and of the incapacity of the men at the head of their 
 fleet." (Scharf s "The Confederate Navy," p. 61.) 
 
 The privateers soon became a very efficient 
 department of the Southern navy. They almost 
 succeeded in driving the United States merchant 
 marine from the seas. The " Alabama" captured 
 no less than sixty-nine vessels of various descrip 
 tion during her career. It was an exceedingly 
 effective method of damaging the North and 
 rendering her people weary of the war. 
 
 The New York Herald of May 7, 1861, printed 
 a letter from a correspondent in Montgomery 
 which throws a curious light on this feature of 
 our civil strife. " But it may be asked/ it says, 
 
THE THREE-MONTHS WAR 197 
 
 "who will take these letters of marque [issued 
 by President Davis] ? Where is the government 
 at Montgomery to find ships? The answer is to 
 be found in the fact that already numerous appli 
 cations have been received from the ship-owners 
 of New England, from the whalers of New Bed 
 ford, and from others in the Northern States for 
 these very letters of marque, accompanied by the 
 highest securities and guarantees! This state 
 ment I make on the very highest authority." It 
 would be extremely interesting if we could de 
 monstrate the veracity of this authority. 
 
 The first privateer which received a commis 
 sion from the Confederate States was the " Sa 
 vannah." She was also the first to be captured. 
 She was a schooner of fifty-four tons, carrying 
 one eighteen-pound gun. Her crew numbered 
 thirty-two. The career of the " Savannah" was 
 a brief one. Putting to sea on the 3d of June, 
 she immediately fell in with and made prize of 
 the brig " Joseph," of Rockland, Maine. Ex 
 ulting over this success, the " Savannah" next 
 encountered the United States brig " Terry," 
 disguised as a merchantman. The privateer was 
 confident of another prize; but no sooner had 
 she come within gun-range than the sides of the 
 brig yawned with portholes and bristled with 
 guns. A short chase with a few shots which 
 disabled her rigging convinced the Confederate 
 of the wisdom of surrendering. Her crew were 
 transferred to the United States man-of-war 
 " Minnesota," by which they were conveyed in 
 
198 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 irons to New York, where they were incarcerated 
 in the Tombs. President Lincoln, as we have 
 seen, in a proclamation, declared that the officers 
 and crew of privateers would be dealt with under 
 the laws relating to piracy. The crew of the 
 " Savannah" were so tried. But it was soon 
 made apparent both by Northern and English 
 jurists that there was no law to sustain such a 
 position. It was with seeming reluctance, how 
 ever, that Mr. Lincoln receded from his position ; 
 and it is probable that he was influenced by the 
 Confederate threat of retaliation more than by 
 any other argument. As soon as it became 
 known in the South that Captain Baker and his 
 crew were in irons, thirteen Federal prisoners 
 of war were placed in close confinement, and 
 Washington was notified that such punishment 
 would be meted out to them as might be inflicted 
 on the privateer s men. 
 
 The Confederate government availed itself to 
 the utmost possibility of injury to the North by 
 destroying private property on the high seas. 
 Almost all the success of the Southern navy 
 was thus won. The most prominent of its 
 vessels were the " Sumter," the " Florida," the 
 " Alabama," and the " Shenandoah." For the 
 losses inflicted by all but the first named, which 
 was purchased by the Confederacy in April, 1861, 
 the United States obtained redress from Eng 
 land, on account of the fact that they were fitted 
 out in her ports. The sum of $15,500,000 was 
 awarded by the Board of Arbitration, sitting at 
 
THE THREE-MONTHS WAR 199 
 
 Geneva, Switzerland, in settlement of the Ala 
 bama claims. The " Sumter" was a vessel of 
 four hundred and thirty-seven tons, barkentine 
 rigged, also having a propeller. She was put 
 into commission on the 3d of June, 1861, as a 
 vessel-of-war of the Confederate States. Com 
 mander Semmes received instructions " to do the 
 enemy s commerce the greatest injury in the 
 shortest time." These instructions were obeyed 
 to the letter. Many prizes were made in Amer 
 ican and European waters, until, at last, being 
 blockaded at Gibraltar by the Federal vessels 
 "Kearsarge," " Chippewa," and " Tuscarora," 
 Semmes laid the " Sumter" up and paid off his 
 crew. 
 
 Orders were issued for the first invasion of 
 Virginia on May 23, 1861. About thirteen thou 
 sand men, under the command of General Mans 
 field, crossed the Potomac. Alexandria was 
 entered with little or no opposition. A casualty 
 occurred there, however, which was exaggerated 
 in importance by the North. Colonel Ellsworth, 
 commanding the New York Fire Zouaves, seeing 
 a Confederate flag flying over the cupola of the 
 Marshall House, desired its removal. Instead of 
 sending a corporal to lower it, as the dignity 
 of his position required, Ellsworth went through 
 the house without a by-your-leave and seized it 
 himself. On returning, he was met in the hall by 
 Jackson, the proprietor. " This is my trophy," 
 said Ellsworth. " And you are mine !" exclaimed 
 the innkeeper, instantly shooting him dead. His 
 
200 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 death produced intense excitement in the North, 
 Ellsworth being popular for his handsome figure 
 and generosity. An " atrocious murder," it was 
 called. Jackson, the hotel-keeper, was himself 
 slain immediately after what the people of the 
 South regarded as his " gallant act done in de 
 fence of his country s flag." 
 
 Virginia during these stirring events was 
 experiencing a secession within her own State 
 borders. While her convention was seemingly 
 hovering between allegiance to the North and 
 to the South, one of the members from western 
 Virginia offered a set of resolutions in which 
 the following words were contained : 
 
 " The right of revolution can be exercised as well by a 
 portion of the citizens of a State against their State gov 
 ernment, as it can be exercised by the whole people of a 
 State against their Federal government. . . . And that any 
 change of the relation Virginia now sustains to the Federal 
 government, against the wishes of even a respectable mi 
 nority of her people, would be such an act of injustice per 
 petrated upon the rights of that minority as to justify them 
 in changing their relation to the State government by sepa 
 rating themselves from that section of the State that had 
 thus wantonly disregarded their interests and defied their 
 will." 
 
 The people of the western part of Virginia 
 were divided from the rest of the State by the 
 character of their soil and (a result of this) their 
 freedom from slavery. Their sympathy was with 
 the North. These circumstances led to the crea 
 tion of the State of West Virginia, soon an accom 
 plished though an entirely unconstitutional fact. 
 
THE THREE-MONTHS WAR 201 
 
 Both Northern and Southern historians have 
 been careful to set forth reasons for the presence 
 of their respective armies in Virginia. They as 
 sume that an excuse is needed. But this seems 
 hardly necessary, as the State was the natural 
 meeting-place of the main combating forces. 
 The Confederate troops were concentrated on 
 the south bank of the Potomac, awaiting the 
 movement of the Northern regiments around 
 Washington. Major-General Patterson, pur 
 posing to march into the western counties of 
 Virginia, moved from Pennsylvania with an 
 army. General McClellan moved four regiments 
 by different routes to Grafton, where Porterfield, 
 with a small Confederate command, was harass 
 ing the country. The latter retreated to Phil- 
 lippi, followed by a West Virginia regiment, and 
 there suffered a defeat. This skirmish became 
 known as the " Phillippi Races." To repair this 
 loss the Confederate authorities sent ex-Gov 
 ernor Henry A. Wise and General Garnett to 
 this region. Colonel Pegram took a position in 
 the pass at Rich Mountain with a regiment and 
 six guns. Lee, under whose command these 
 forces were combined, was at Laurel Hill with 
 four regiments. 
 
 At the beginning of July General McClellan 
 determined to clear West Virginia of these Con 
 federate troops. On the nth Brigadier-General 
 Rosecrans, with nineteen hundred men, as 
 cended Rich Mountain from the south, while 
 Pegram was expecting him to make the attempt 
 
202 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 at the north. The latter made a plucky resist 
 ance, but was overpowered by numbers, losing 
 about one hundred and thirty-five killed and 
 about twenty wounded, while twenty-one were 
 made prisoners. On the I3th, after a vain at 
 tempt to get out of the toils which McClellan 
 had thrown around him, Pegram and his whole 
 command surrendered at Beverly as prisoners 
 of war. On the I4th Garnett was beaten at Car- 
 rick s Ford by a greatly superior Union force 
 and himself killed. McClellan telegraphed : 
 
 " Garnett and forces routed ; his baggage and one gun 
 taken; his army demoralized; Garnett killed. We have 
 annihilated the enemy in Western Virginia, and have lost 
 thirteen killed, and not more than forty wounded. We 
 have in all killed at least two hundred of the enemy, and 
 their prisoners will amount to at least one thousand. Have 
 taken seven guns in all. I still look for the capture of the 
 remnant of Garnett s army by General Hill. The troops 
 defeated are the crack regiment of eastern Virginia, aided 
 by Georgians, Tennesseeans, and Carolinians. Our success 
 is complete, and secession is killed in this country." 
 
 The Confederates were in possession of Har 
 per s Ferry. General Patterson concluded (and 
 in the opinion he was supported by Scott) that 
 the taking of this position would have a good 
 moral effect in the encouragement of Virginia 
 Unionists and would, also, protect Maryland. 
 Patterson wrote to the Secretary of War, on 
 June 10: 
 
 " I beseech you, therefore, by our ancient friendship, give 
 me the means of success. You have the means; place them 
 
THE THREE-MONTHS WAR 203 
 
 at my disposal, and shoot me if I do not use them to 
 advantage." 
 
 But Johnston did not attach the importance to 
 Harper s Ferry that his opponent supposed. He 
 retreated upon Winchester. Beauregard was at 
 Manassas. The authorities at Washington, 
 having determined upon a movement against this 
 place, gave Patterson the task of preventing 
 Johnston from effecting a juncture with Beaure 
 gard. His failure to block Johnston s move 
 ments was the direct and only strategic cause of 
 the Federal defeat at Bull Run. His order from 
 Scott was : 
 
 " If not strong enough to beat the enemy early next week, 
 make demonstrations so as to detain him in the valley of 
 Winchester; but if he retreats in force towards Manassas, 
 and if too hazardous to follow him, then consider the route 
 via Keys Ferry, Leesburg, etc." 
 
 On the 1 8th Scott again telegraphed: 
 
 " I have certainly been expecting you to beat the enemy. 
 If not, to hear that you had felt him strongly, or, at least, 
 had occupied him by threats and demonstrations. You have 
 been at least his equal, and I suppose superior in numbers. 
 Has he not stolen a march and sent reinforcements towards 
 Manassas Junction? A week is enough to win victories." 
 
 Patterson replied : 
 
 " The enemy has stolen no march upon me. I have kept 
 him actively employed, and, by threats and reconnoissances 
 in force, caused him to be reinforced. I have accomplished 
 in this respect more than the general-in-chief asked, or could 
 well be expected in face of an enemy far superior in num 
 bers with no line of communication to protect." 
 
204 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 There is only one fault that can be found with 
 this dignified response; it was not true. John 
 ston was no more than two-thirds as strong as 
 Patterson; he was already stealing the march, 
 though Patterson did not discover this until two 
 days later. On the i/th of July his army marched 
 to Charleston, thus doubling the distance be 
 tween himself and Johnston. The latter was 
 alert to the opportunity, and on the i8th his 
 advance regiments passed through Ashby s Gap 
 in the Blue Ridge. By the morning of the fol 
 lowing day they had reached the Manassas Gap 
 Railroad, and seven regiments were in Beaure- 
 gard s camp that afternoon. Johnston arrived 
 next day with the last detachment of his force, 
 in time to join battle that same afternoon, Sun 
 day, the 20th, and turn the first great fight to 
 the advantage of the Confederacy. 
 
 McDowell was in command of the Union 
 forces which engaged in the Manassas campaign. 
 The plan of battle was formulated by himself, 
 and he emphatically stated that he could not hope 
 to beat the combined armies of the two Confed 
 erate generals. But Scott gave him the assur 
 ance that, " If Johnston joins Beauregard he shall 
 have Patterson on his heels." 
 
 The men under McDowell were extremely 
 poor war material. They were all three-months 
 volunteers, and entirely unacquainted with ef 
 fective discipline. McDowell said of them : 
 
 " When marching they stopped every moment to pick 
 blackberries or get water, they would not keep in the ranks, 
 
THE THREE-MONTHS WAR 205 
 
 order as much as you pleased; when they came where 
 water was fresh, they would pour the old water out of 
 their canteens and fill them with fresh water; they were 
 not used to denying themselves much; they were not used 
 to journeys on foot." 
 
 The term of enlistment of many of the men was 
 expiring, and they were leaving. One Pennsyl 
 vania regiment, whose service had ended, turned 
 its back upon the army on the morning of the 
 battle. 
 
 The Confederate forces were intrenched in a 
 line extending eight miles along the course of 
 Bull Run, defending seven fords and a bridge. 
 McDowell held his position at Centreville. His 
 plan was to outflank his enemy. Owing to the 
 failure of his engineers to find a ford, this was 
 not attempted until the 2ist, thus giving time for 
 Johnston s reinforcements, which had escaped 
 Patterson, to arrive. The main force, under Mc 
 Dowell, marched by night, and, crossing at Sud- 
 ley s Ford, attacked the end of the Confederate 
 line, while feints were being made at the centre. 
 The brigades under Evans and Bee received the 
 brunt of the onset, and after a stiff resistance 
 were thrown into confusion. While striving to 
 restore order to his troops, Bee called their at 
 tention to Jackson and his men " standing like a 
 stone wall." Johnston notes that at the moment 
 those of Jackson s brigade who were in sight of 
 Bee s men were lying down to avoid the enemy s 
 artillery. The presence of Johnston and Beaure- 
 gard, who came galloping to the scene, rallied 
 
206 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 the Confederates, and a line was re-formed at 
 right angles to the original. More than once 
 during the day it seemed as if the Southern 
 army was beaten and on the point of going to 
 pieces. In fact, President Davis, whose anxiety 
 drew him from Richmond to the field of battle, 
 met Confederate fugitives on the way, who as 
 sured him that all was lost. But belated and 
 fresh detachments of Johnston s army kept 
 breaking into the battle, and at last the fear grew 
 upon the Union troops that they were beaten. 
 Their total lack of discipline resulted in the panic 
 which followed. Captain Woodbury says : 
 
 "At four o clock on the 2ist there were more than twelve 
 thousand volunteers on the battle-field of Bull Run who had 
 entirely lost their regimental organization. They could no 
 more be handled as troops, for the officers and men were 
 not together. Men and officers mingled promiscuously ; and 
 it is worthy of remark that this disorganization did not 
 result from defeat or fear." 
 
 But the impression that they were beaten grew 
 to conviction in the minds of the Federal troops, 
 and to the astonishment of their enemies, whose 
 leaders did not seem to have the battle well in 
 hand, a spontaneous retreat soon broke into an 
 awful panic. 
 
 Sightseers and among them members of 
 Congress had come out from Washington in 
 their carriages, " to see the rebels run." But, as 
 one of the latter put it, the cry " On to Rich 
 mond" was now changed to " Off for Washing 
 ton." The fear of the retreating men gathered 
 
THE THREE-MONTHS WAR 207 
 
 momentum as they ran. Soon there was a head 
 long flight, in which mingled, in wild and con 
 fused jumble, carnages and cannon, soldiers and 
 civilians. They ran without cause; for the vic 
 tors were themselves so much surprised at their 
 success that they made no pursuit worth men 
 tioning. 
 
 When, on the following day, these multitudes 
 of haggard and begrimed fugitives poured into 
 Washington, it seemed to many that the Union 
 cause was lost and that immediately the capital 
 itself would be in the hands of the Confederacy. 
 
IX 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR THE LONG CONFLICT 
 
 THE Northern disaster at Manassas (Bull 
 Run), July 21, 1861, had markedly different 
 effects on the mental attitude of the two sections. 
 The South thought the war was over ; the North 
 saw that it had only begun. The Confederate 
 volunteers believed, with one of their poets, that 
 the artillery of the North had been stilled; that 
 they had whipped the despised Yankees and 
 driven them bleeding homeward; that thence 
 they would not come back for a second drubbing. 
 So general was this conviction, and so slight a 
 sense of discipline existed among the soldiers of 
 the South, that after the battle many went back 
 to their homes, believing that there was no fur 
 ther need of their services. The wisest of their 
 leaders, however, knew otherwise. Jefferson 
 Davis had from the first been convinced that 
 there was no hope of the permanent establish 
 ment of a Southern nation except by means of 
 a prolonged and bloody struggle. The courage 
 of a man who was willing to accept the leader 
 ship with such a conviction and with a clear per 
 ception of the disproportionate resources of the 
 two contending parties, is in itself worthy of 
 commendation, though his judgment may be 
 
 open to criticism. 
 208 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT 
 
 209 
 
 The North was now aroused in a different 
 manner from what it had been by the bombard 
 ment of Sumter. The " bloodletting" desired 
 by Senator Chandler had come to pass. After 
 Sumter, the men of the North freely responded 
 to Lincoln s call, with the idea that they were to 
 administer a salutary but light castigation to the 
 erring South. They volunteered for three 
 months service, the majority thinking that a 
 summer s outing in the South, enlivened by mili 
 tary operations (of the seriousness of which they 
 knew nothing by experience), would be hardly 
 more than a frolic. But after Manassas frolic 
 was over, for honor had to be retrieved and re 
 venge satisfied. The North was now thoroughly 
 angered and was determined to fight the South 
 to a stand-still. Anglo-Saxon doggedness, which 
 is born of encounter with obstacles, brushed 
 away all propositions of conciliation and forced the 
 issue. 
 
 Mr. Crittenden, who won everlasting honor by 
 his earnest counsels for peace, introduced (July, 
 1861) a resolution in the House that well sets 
 forth the opinion of the bulk of the Northern 
 people. It ran thus : 
 
 " The war is not waged in any spirit of oppression, or 
 for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, or the over 
 throwing or interfering with the rights or established insti 
 tutions of those States, but to defend and maintain the 
 supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union 
 with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several 
 States unimpaired, and that as soon as these objects are 
 accomplished the war ought to cease." 
 
 M 
 
210 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 This resolution was adopted by both Houses. 
 In the discussion which arose over it in the Sen 
 ate, it was agreed that slavery in the South was 
 not to be molested; but when Harris of New 
 York said that if it should be abolished as the 
 result of the war he would not shed a tear, he 
 gave expression to the feeling of the largely in 
 creased radical party in the North. The time 
 was near at hand when the majority of the people 
 who believed in the war were to expect the abo 
 lition of slavery as its consequence. 
 
 The ultimate defeat of the South was a fore 
 gone conclusion from the start. There being no 
 racial distinction, courage and spirit being equal, 
 the vast preponderance of resources in the North 
 confronted the South as with an inevitable fate. 
 
 When Congress met, July 4, 1861, there were 
 in attendance forty-nine Senators, thirty-one 
 Republicans and eighteen members opposed to 
 the policy of the administration, ten Democrats 
 and eight Unionists, men of the conservative 
 type, who, though in favor of the war, were op 
 posed to any interference with slavery. In the 
 House there were one hundred and six Repub 
 licans and seventy-two of the opposition, forty- 
 two of whom were Democrats. Thus Congress 
 was overwhelmingly in favor of voting the gov 
 ernment everything needed to prosecute the 
 war. 
 
 On the day after the defeat at Manassas (July 
 21, 1861) the House of Representatives passed 
 a resolution : 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT 211 
 
 " That the maintenance of the Constitution, the preser 
 vation of the Union, and the enforcement of the laws are 
 sacred trusts which must be executed ; that no disaster shall 
 discourage us from the ample performance of this most 
 sacred duty; and that we pledge to the country and to 
 the world the employment of every resource, national and 
 individual, for the suppression, overthrow, and punishment 
 of the rebels in arms." 
 
 This resolution received the abundant and en 
 thusiastic support of the people. 
 
 The previous military acts of the President, 
 which were of doubtful constitutionality, were 
 ratified. His suspension of the writ of habeas 
 corpus so forcefully employed in the border 
 States was also tacitly acquiesced in. The 
 President was authorized to enlist volunteers to 
 the number of five hundred thousand, for a maxi 
 mum service of three years. The appointment of 
 general officers was left to him, subject to the 
 consent of the Senate. He was furthermore au 
 thorized to make substantial additions to the 
 regular army and to increase the volunteer force 
 to a million men. Carte blanche was given him 
 in the matter of the increase of the navy. The 
 Secretary of the Treasury was permitted to bor 
 row two hundred and fifty million dollars, on 
 the credit of the government, by the issue of 
 treasury notes. Duties on imports were in 
 creased, thus providing for the levying of a direct 
 annual tax of twenty million dollars. Provision 
 was made for an annual income tax, the levying 
 of which the Supreme Court has since declared 
 unconstitutional. These resources placed nearly 
 
212 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 one million dollars a day in the hands of the 
 government for the purpose of carrying on the 
 war. On the 6th of August, having employed 
 the whole of the short session in placing the 
 government on a war footing, Congress ad 
 journed, leaving President Lincoln practically in 
 the position of absolute dictator. On that one 
 occasion was recognized the principle that the 
 Constitution was made for the Union and not 
 the Union for the Constitution. 
 
 When Congress convened again the following 
 December, it reflected the change that had taken 
 place in the North regarding the wisdom of abol 
 ishing slavery. The North had accepted the ne 
 cessity of war. The Republican party was united 
 in its hearty support of the President. The Dem 
 ocratic party, it is true, was still for peace, but 
 it was constantly losing by desertion to the Re 
 publican ranks, and there were not a few war 
 Democrats. 
 
 But from the beginning to the end of the war 
 Republican prestige fluctuated in accordance 
 with the success or failure of Northern arms. In 
 the autumn of 1862, after the Confederacy had 
 surprised the North with the amount of its fight 
 ing strength, considerable opposition to the 
 President manifested itself at the elections out 
 side of New England ; New York, Pennsylvania, 
 Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin showed 
 decided gains for the Democracy; but subse 
 quently, with the triumph of the Federal armies, 
 the Republicans gained renewed strength, and 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT 213 
 
 in 1864 re-elected Lincoln to the Presidency. To 
 lose sight of the political situation at the North 
 during the war a situation Lincoln had to keep 
 constantly before him is to lose sight of fully 
 half of his work. 
 
 The political situation in the South is of no less 
 importance. The case of Davis presents many 
 contrasts. His temperament was obstinate and 
 domineering. He soon made all branches of the 
 government subservient to his will, although 
 there were both a Congress and a Supreme 
 Court. He was the State. And this unfortunate 
 disposition alienated from him some of the ablest 
 men of the South, men who were ardent sup 
 porters of the independence of their section and 
 whose self-sacrificing spirit could not be chal 
 lenged. 
 
 Despite the loyalty of her citizens to the 
 South, her President from the inception of 
 the war found himself faced by a bitter oppo 
 sition that again and again thwarted his plans 
 and refused to support his measures. The 
 spirit of antagonism to the executive mani 
 fested in the North was as bitter in vitupera 
 tion of Lincoln, but he could always count on 
 the support of Congress and the obedience of 
 his officials, but this Davis could not always do, 
 and the result was unhappy. Now that the war 
 is far in the past, the tendency to idealize Lin 
 coln and Davis is present and increasing, but in 
 their days of power they were the most vilified 
 men in America. Stanton wrote of " the pain- 
 
2i 4 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 ful imbecility" of Lincoln, and Governor Curtin 
 said " the country is at the mercy of a dotard," 
 while Bowles called him " a simple Susan," and, 
 when fortune was against the Northern arms 
 and passions ran wild, even worse things were 
 said of Lincoln by the dissatisfied and the ma 
 licious. Davis endured no less bitter vitupera 
 tion, and with less opportunity to receive it with 
 equanimity. The Confederate President was 
 in a position for which he was not fitted and 
 which he did not desire. It is a thankless task 
 to lead a losing cause. 
 
 At a new election, Davis and Stephens were 
 re-elected. But the situation did not change for 
 the better. The Southern President, though 
 with better justification, because of military 
 experience, than the Northern, like him con 
 stantly meddled with the plans of his generals. 
 This led to regrettable consequences, of which 
 Davis cannot be held guiltless. He was, how 
 ever, constantly harassed and hampered by the 
 unjustified bickerings of disgruntled subordi 
 nates. 
 
 The North, though it was in possession of 
 every necessary resource, was entirely unpre 
 pared for war. It is true, several States, notably 
 Ohio, New York, and Massachusetts, had reor 
 ganized their militia shortly before the war, and 
 that the famous war governor of the last-named 
 Commonwealth had been sent as an agent to Eu 
 rope to buy munitions; but, on the whole, the 
 North was not ready. She had no drilled troops 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT 215 
 
 worth the mention. That fact was in a large 
 measure the cause of the reverse at Manassas. 
 The volunteers who had come forward on the 
 first call were officered by men elected by their 
 neighbors for any sort of prominence except ex 
 perience and aptitude in military affairs. The 
 Three-Months War was beneficial to the North 
 in that it increased the standard of the efficiency 
 of her volunteer regiments. 
 
 At the beginning of the war the government 
 owned but one establishment for manufacturing 
 arms, that of Springfield, Massachusetts, which 
 had a capacity of only ten thousand guns annu 
 ally. Everybody set earnestly to work; sub 
 scriptions from States as well as from citizens 
 poured in; men and women vied with those of 
 the South in inspiring general enthusiasm ; and 
 the largest iron-mills were transformed into can 
 non foundries. At first it was necessary to de 
 pend on purchases in Europe. There was no 
 reservoir of military equipment of any sort. The 
 destruction of the Gosport Navy- Yard had well- 
 nigh demolished what remained of a fleet already 
 scattered to the four quarters of the globe. But 
 the North possessed a great population of me 
 chanics. Her people had already manifested a 
 mechanical genius unequalled among the na 
 tions. Every requisite for manufacture was 
 abundantly produced within her own borders. 
 The sources of wealth were unlimited. Above 
 all, the great wheat fields assured abundant sus- 
 tentation for however large an army the exi- 
 
216 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 gencies of the war might demand. Though the 
 personnel of available officers had been greatly 
 depreciated by the withdrawal of the men whose 
 loyalty to their States carried them over to the 
 Confederacy, yet there were left able and ex 
 perienced men and, as events proved, an abun 
 dance of the most promising material. 
 
 After his defeat, General McDowell resigned 
 his command of the Army of the Potomac, but 
 did not thereby lose the respect of his country 
 men; nor did he, in his after career, give occa 
 sion for its withdrawal. But the event forced 
 upon the Northern government the need of thor 
 oughly reorganizing the army. Political gen 
 erals except those like Banks and Butler were 
 now thrust into the background to make room 
 for experienced soldiers such as Grant, Sherman, 
 Meade, Hooper, Slocum, and Thomas. There 
 was daily drilling, the medical department was 
 put on a good footing, the engineer corps was re 
 inforced by trained civil engineers, and a large 
 number of woodsmen were secured. The vener 
 able commanding general, Scott, was retired; 
 his high post was given to McClellan. This 
 officer, though his subsequent operations and his 
 character gave occasion for serious animadver 
 sions, certainly rendered an immense service to 
 the North by the magnificent military organiza 
 tion which he created at the beginning of the 
 war. General Meade s verdict that Grant could 
 not have accomplished what he did had not Mc 
 Clellan given him the army which he did may 
 
GENERAL ULYSSES S. GRANT 
 From a photograph by Brady 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT 217 
 
 be accepted so far as the nucleus of the forces 
 which compelled Appomatox is concerned. 
 Rosecrans, Anderson, W. T. Sherman, Buell, 
 Halleck, and Fremont also assisted in the organi 
 zation and discipline of the six hundred thousand 
 volunteers who were assembled during the sum 
 mer and autumn of 1861. 
 
 When the war to the South one of defence, 
 to the North a struggle to preserve the Union 
 had fairly begun, the limits of the Confederacy 
 were definitely outlined. Prompt action had pre 
 vented the secession of Maryland and Missouri. 
 At Paducah Grant, by his promptness in prevent 
 ing the Confederates from gaining a foothold in 
 that important point at the mouth of Tennessee 
 River, " neutralized the Confederate seizure of 
 Columbus," and prevented Kentucky from going 
 into the Confederacy. The western portion of 
 Virginia belonged no longer to the Old Do 
 minion; but the following States had either 
 adopted ordinances of secession and formed the 
 Confederate States of America, or had been an 
 nexed thereto, in spite of the protests of the 
 opponents of separate State action : South Caro 
 lina, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, 
 Texas, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, 
 Arkansas, and Georgia, together with the Indian 
 Territory and Arizona. Briefly, the frontier of 
 this incipient government extended along the 
 Potomac westward through the boundary line be 
 tween Kentucky and Tennessee to the Mississippi 
 River and, crossing it, through the centre of 
 
218 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 Missouri to Kansas, thence southward to the 
 Mexican Gulf. Through a large part of this ex 
 tensive region flowed the Mississippi and other 
 important streams ; it contained numerous spurs 
 of the great Appalachian range, and several thou 
 sand miles of sea-coast from the North Atlantic 
 to the far-off ports of southern Texas, and from 
 beyond its borders the Confederacy received aid 
 and comfort and promises that seemed to presage 
 increase in territory and strength. 
 
 Judged from the utterances of her public men, 
 California was either in sympathy with the South 
 or in favor of erecting a republic on the Pacific; 
 the border States, especially the slave-holding 
 States of Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, de 
 sired a central Confederacy and leaned strongly 
 to the South; while the North was honey 
 combed with organizations in communication 
 with Southern leaders and ready to supply them 
 with all the information they could obtain. Be 
 cause of this hidden though active treachery to 
 the policy of his administration Lincoln did not 
 call an extra session of Congress as soon as he 
 was inaugurated. 
 
 The South decided on a policy of defence, and 
 in doing so was influenced in no small measure 
 by the topography of the country as well as by 
 its vast area. Moreover, by keeping her slaves 
 at work there was a possibility that she might 
 provide for the sustenance of her armies. 
 
 To the North, when affairs at last emerged 
 from the nebulous condition of the first few 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT 219 
 
 months, it became plain that aggression must 
 be the policy of an effective plan of military oper 
 ations. The first step to be taken was to open 
 up the Mississippi and render the blockade of 
 Southern ports effectual. With a reorganized 
 navy this was accomplished. Gunboats were sent 
 to the Southern coasts. The second step was to 
 penetrate the long frontier; this, also, was done, 
 east and west. The third and last, the heart 
 of the Confederacy was to be broken by a blow 
 at the Middle South, a plan subsequently ma 
 tured by Sherman in his "March to the Sea." 
 From the beginning, therefore, the theatre of the 
 war was to be the States of Virginia and Ten 
 nessee, States where, at the same time, a strong 
 loyal element was to give rise to a fierce inter 
 necine conflict, a desultory, cowardly guerilla 
 warfare that forms one of the darkest chapters 
 in the history of that larger and nobler struggle 
 which was now absorbing the attention, energies, 
 and aspirations of two great peoples. 
 
 What had the South with which to meet the 
 vast resources that the North was able to com 
 mand? A comparatively small population de 
 pending on the North and Europe for commodi 
 ties of subsistence; an evanescent wealth which 
 could be replenished only by access to foreign 
 markets; abundant courage; and a unanimous 
 and an enthusiastic faith in its cause. The South 
 had not expected war. The people had hoped 
 for either a peaceable secession or a compromise 
 enforced by the mere threat of disunion. There 
 
220 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 was not even the nucleus of a military organiza 
 tion; that, like the government, had to be cre 
 ated. There were no arms or any other equip 
 ment for warfare. There were no establishments 
 for their manufacture. Within the bounds of the 
 Confederate States there was but one small 
 powder-mill; nor was there any supply of nitre 
 or sulphur. In the whole land there was not a 
 single machine for the manufacture of percussion 
 caps. For these necessaries the South was at 
 first wholly dependent upon the North and upon 
 Europe. From the former but a small supply 
 was procured. But owing to the fact that the 
 Confederate agent reached the European market 
 in advance of the agent of the United States gov 
 ernment, large contracts for the supply of arms 
 and ammunition were placed. Immediately after 
 his inauguration President Davis sent Captain 
 Semmes to the North for the purpose of pro 
 curing what supplies he could. The letter of in 
 struction from Mr. Davis is interesting as indi 
 cating for what small mercies the Confederate 
 government was at first thankful. 
 
 " MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA, February 21, 1861. 
 
 "DEAR SIR, As agent of the Confederate States, you are 
 authorized to proceed, as hereinafter set forth, to make 
 purchases and contracts for machinery and munitions, or 
 for the manufacture of arms and munitions of war. 
 
 " Of the proprietor of the Powder Company, in 
 
 , you will probably be able to obtain cannon and 
 
 musket powder the former to be of the coarsest grain; 
 and also to engage with him for the establishment of a 
 powder-mill at some point in the limits of our territory. 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT 221 
 
 "The quantity of powder to be supplied immediately will 
 exceed his stock on hand, and the arrangement for further 
 supply should, if possible, be by manufacture in our own 
 territory; if this is not practicable, means must be sought 
 for further shipments, from any and all sources which are 
 reliable. 
 
 " At the arsenal at Washington you will find an artisan 
 
 named , who has brought the cap-making machine to 
 
 its present state of efficiency, and who might furnish a cap- 
 machine and accompany it to direct its operations. If not 
 in this, I hope you may in some other way be able to obtain 
 a cap-machine with little delay, and have it sent to the 
 Mount Vernon Arsenal, Albany. 
 
 " We shall require a manufactory for friction-primers, 
 and you will, if possible, induce some capable person to 
 establish one in our country. The demand of the Confed 
 erate States will be the inducement in this as in the case 
 of the powder-mill proposed. 
 
 "A short time since, the most improved machinery for 
 the manufacture of rifles, intended for the Harper s Ferry 
 Armory, was, it was said, for sale by the manufacturer. 
 If it be so at this time, you will procure it for this govern 
 ment, and use the needful precaution in relation to its 
 
 transportation. Mr. , of the Harper s Ferry 
 
 Armory, can give you all the information in that connec 
 tion which you may require. Mr. Ball, the master armorer 
 at Harper s Ferry, is willing to accept service under our 
 government, and could probably bring with him skilled 
 workmen. If we get the machinery, this will be important. 
 
 " Machinery for grooving muskets and heavy guns is, I 
 hope, to be purchased ready made. If not, you will con 
 tract for its manufacture and delivery. You will endeavor 
 to obtain the most improved shot for rifled cannon, and 
 persons skilled in the preparation of that and other fixed 
 ammunition. Captain G. W. Smith and Captain Lovell, late 
 of the United States army, and now of New York City, may 
 aid you in your task; and you will please say to them 
 that we will be happy to have their services in our army. 
 
 " You will make such inquiries as your varied knowledge 
 will suggest in relation to the supply of guns of different 
 calibers, especially the largest. I suggest the advantage, if 
 
222 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 to be obtained, of having a few of the fifteen-inch guns, 
 like the one cast at Pittsburg. 
 
 "I have not sought to prescribe so as to limit your in 
 quiries, either as to objects or place, but only to suggest 
 for your reflection and consideration the points which have 
 chanced to come under my observation. You will use your 
 discretion in visiting places where information of persons 
 or things is to be obtained for the furtherance of the object 
 in view. Any contracts will be sent to the Hon. L. P. 
 Walker, Secretary of War, for his approval ; and the con 
 tractor need not fear that delay will be encountered in the 
 action of this government. 
 
 " Very respectfully yours, etc., 
 
 "JEFFERSON DAVIS." 
 
 The charge laid against John B. Floyd, who 
 was Secretary of War under Buchanan, of having 
 taken advantage of the opportunity afforded by 
 his office to supply the South with arms, might 
 lead one to infer that the South was well supplied 
 with weapons, but the charge was in itself false, 
 and the assertion that the South was without 
 modern or sufficient weapons for even the pre 
 liminary campaigns of the war between the sec 
 tions cannot be disproved. 
 
 The statement was, however, generally be 
 lieved during the war. Even a Southern his 
 torian like Pollard said that Floyd " had by a 
 single order effected the transfer of one hundred 
 and fifteen thousand improved muskets and rifles 
 from the Springfield Armory and Watertown 
 Arsenal to different arsenals at the South. Add 
 ing to these the number of arms distributed by 
 the Federal government to the States in pre 
 ceding years of our history, and those purchased 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT 223 
 
 by the States and citizens, it was safely estimated 
 that the South entered upon the war with one 
 hundred and fifty thousand small-arms of the 
 most approved pattern and the best in the 
 world." This is the only instance we know of in 
 which a Southern historian unduly magnifies the 
 advantage of his side. The report made Febru 
 ary 18, 1861, by the House Committee on Mili 
 tary Affairs, of which Stanton was the chairman, 
 indicates the true nature of those " improved 
 muskets." One hundred and five thousand of 
 them were condemned fire-arms which were 
 offered for sale to the States at two dollars each. 
 Ordnance officers had reported that the govern 
 ment would do well to get rid of them at any 
 price. They were purchased by one Belknap, 
 whose plan was to sell the muskets in Europe. 
 But few of them found their way to the South, 
 and they were sent there during the spring of 
 1860 for storage. At this time Floyd was not a 
 secessionist. The insinuation is that the alleged 
 action by Floyd was part of a conspiracy to se 
 cede existing among the Southern leaders, a the 
 ory which has no warrant in established facts. 
 The charge that Floyd tried to arm the unfin 
 ished Southern forts with heavy ordnance should 
 be laid at the door of the lobbyists of the Pitts- 
 burg iron-founders. The motive which brought 
 about the manufacture of this ordnance is found 
 not in a conspiracy to arm the South, but in the 
 enterprise of the iron-founders of the North. 
 That they were prepared for delivery before the 
 
224 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 forts at Ship Island and Galveston were finished 
 was owing to the fact that the manufacturers 
 were to receive their pay for the ordnance only 
 when it reached its destination; therefore, quick 
 delivery was to their interest. The guns, how 
 ever, were never shipped, the order for their de 
 livery being rescinded by Acting Secretary Holt. 
 So far were the Southern States from making 
 preparation for armed rebellion that in 1860 they 
 did not even make requisition for, nor did they 
 receive, their full quota of new arms. 
 
 Truly, the South before going to war did not 
 " sit down first and count the cost." She sprang 
 incontinently into the conflict, and then prepared 
 for its continuance. All the vessels of the navy, 
 with one or two insignificant exceptions, re 
 mained with the United States. Commanders 
 who were Southern in birth and sympathy, and 
 who determined to cast in their lot with the Con 
 federacy, first took their ships into Northern 
 ports. President Davis, though honoring the 
 sentiment, remembered with regret " how much 
 was lost by their view of what their honor and 
 duty demanded." It is a signal proof of their 
 devotion to the cause that they offered them 
 selves for any position in its service, leaving, with 
 empty hands, posts which had become endeared 
 by association and in which future recognition 
 was assured. 
 
 Whatever may be our opinion as to the judg 
 ment of these men, it is impossible to doubt 
 their sincerity. We may unquestionably take it 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT 225 
 
 for granted that the men who followed the for 
 tunes of the South were actuated by principle. 
 A man does not change his allegiance, when to 
 do so provides no prospects of gain and does 
 open a possibility of loss, for other than what he 
 deems to be honorable motives. The withdrawal 
 of three hundred and twenty-one secessionist offi 
 cers for a short time seriously crippled the Union 
 navy. It is true that three hundred and fifty 
 Southern men remained in the navy and did 
 effective service. Of this number were Farragut 
 and Jenkins. Of the naval officer who threw in 
 his lot with that of the Confederacy, Admiral 
 Semmes truly said : 
 
 " His profession was his only fortune ; he depended upon 
 it for the means of subsisting himself and family. If he 
 remained where he was, a competency for life, and promo 
 tions, and honors, probably awaited him ; if he went with 
 the South, a dark, uncertain future was before him ; he 
 could not possibly better his condition, and, if the South 
 failed, he would have thrown away the labor of a lifetime. 
 The struggle was hard in other respects." 
 
 It is alleged that Union vessels were incapaci 
 tated for service in the cause of the North by 
 the fact that Isaac Toucey, of Connecticut, who 
 was Secretary of the Navy under Buchanan, had 
 designedly placed them in far-off seas. But that 
 this was of malice aforethought, done in the in 
 terest of secession, there is no positive evidence. 
 On the other hand, it is true that the navy was 
 not so ordered as to protect the interests of the 
 North. Some of the vessels were on the coast 
 
226 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 of Africa, and did not reach home until Septem 
 ber, 1861. In fact, the United States navy was 
 scattered over the seas in accordance with nor 
 mal custom in a time of peace, and the only safe 
 conclusion is that, even when secession was 
 threatened, war had not been expected. 
 
 The naval resources and manufacturing facili 
 ties of the United States at the outbreaking of 
 the Civil War were far from being adequate to 
 the demands made upon them. In point of fact, 
 the government " had not one establishment 
 where a shaft could be made for steamers or 
 a plate for ironclads." There were about six 
 thousand seamen afloat in the United States ser 
 vice. The vessels were greatly inferior to those 
 of European navies. Probably nine-tenths of 
 them would have been quite useless in meeting 
 battle-ships of the same class and tonnage be 
 longing to almost any other nation. Of the 
 ninety vessels belonging to the United States in 
 1861, no more than forty-two were in commis 
 sion; there were twenty-seven others available; 
 the rest were unserviceable. Counting those 
 which were immediately put into commission, 
 the United States could muster a fleet of sixty- 
 nine vessels mounting one thousand seven hun 
 dred and eighty-three guns. The close of the 
 struggle found the United States, to the alarm 
 of Europe, in possession of five hundred and 
 eighty-eight war-ships, including steamers for 
 coast service and inland purposes, side-wheelers, 
 screw- and sailing-ships. Yet in spite of what 
 
LONGITUDE WEST 
 
FROM GREENWICH 8 
 
 REFERENCE MAP 
 
 V FOR THE 
 
 CIVIL WAR, 1861-65 
 
 Early Seceding States; thus...... TEXAS 
 
 Later Seceding States; thus -VIRGINIA 
 
 Blockading Vessels, thus - - .-^S 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT 227 
 
 was actually achieved in the way of construct 
 ing a navy, Secretary Welles wrote, as late as 
 1864: " Our country, whose strength and power 
 must cause her to be identified with and main 
 tained by her navy, and which possesses in such 
 abundance the means of creating and sustaining 
 one, has not, in all the navy-yards combined, the 
 appliances possessed by single establishments in 
 England and France." 
 
 It is difficult, without serious consideration, to 
 grasp the extent of the sea-coast which the gov 
 ernment of the United States undertook to effec 
 tively blockade. Stretching from Alexandria, 
 Virginia, down rivers, bays, the ocean, and the 
 Gulf to the Rio Grande, in Texas, it represented 
 more than three thousand five hundred miles 
 and almost two hundred river and harbor open 
 ings. 
 
 The government required, in addition to fleets 
 necessary to enforce the blockade, ships to 
 pursue blockade-runners and privateers. This 
 demand created unexampled activity and demon 
 strated the futility of relying on private ship 
 building. Measures were therefore immediately 
 taken by the government at Washington to pur 
 chase everything afloat that could be bought. 
 Immediately there began the construction of 
 war-vessels which were equipped for the service 
 required of them with all the latest devices. 
 Among these was that " immense river fleet, 
 composed of river steamboat rams, ironclads, tin- 
 clads, and mortar boats," which did such efficient 
 
228 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 service at Donelson, Vicksburg, New Orleans, 
 and Richmond. 
 
 Just what the result would have been had Cali 
 fornia followed the lead of her Congressmen at 
 the beginning of the war and joined the South, 
 it is hard to say. That the position of the South 
 would have been greatly strengthened by her 
 accession cannot be doubted, for the task of the 
 United States navy, as well as its army, would 
 have been tremendously increased. Along the 
 great lakes there was little serious trouble. It is 
 true the representatives of the South in Canada, 
 emulating the example of John Brown and of the 
 engineers of the " underground railroads" of 
 earlier days, made expeditions across the borders, 
 which at St. Albans, Vermont, proved serious; 
 but these operations, on the whole, were by land 
 and not by water. But of course it was neces 
 sary to protect the lakes, and towns like Buf 
 falo, at one time seemingly threatened, felt safer 
 by reason of the presence of gunboats on the 
 lakes. 
 
 Over against the naval equipment of the 
 Union, what had the Confederacy ? The question 
 has been answered thus : 
 
 "The Confederate States had at their disposal a small 
 number of trained officers; some of these, like Buchanan, 
 Semmes, Brown, Maffitt, and Brooks, were men of extraor 
 dinary professional qualities ; but except its officers, the 
 Confederate government had nothing in the shape of a 
 navy. It had not a single ship-of-war. It had no abun 
 dant fleet of merchant-vessels in its ports from which to 
 draw reserver,. It had no seamen, for its people were not 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT 229 
 
 given to seafaring pursuits. Its only ship-yards were Nor 
 folk and Pensacola. Norfolk, with its immense supplies of 
 ordnance and equipment was indeed valuable; but though 
 the three hundred Dahlgren guns captured in the yard were 
 a permanent acquisition, the yard itself was lost when the 
 war was one-fourth over. The South was without any 
 large force of skilled mechanics, and such as it had were 
 early summoned to the army. . . . Worst of all, there was 
 no raw material, except the timber that was standing in the 
 forests. Under these circumstances, no general plan of 
 naval policy on a large scale could be carried out, and the 
 conflict on the Southern side became a species of partisan, 
 desultory warfare." 
 
 Nevertheless, the Confederate States went 
 bravely to work to supply its needs. Secret acts 
 of its Congress were passed on May n, 1861, 
 following which agents went to England, to the 
 North, and to Canada, with authority to pur 
 chase vessels for the South. Only in the first- 
 named country, however, were they successful. 
 Steps were then taken by the Confederate States 
 to construct ironclads, the first result of which 
 was the raising and plating of the renowned 
 " Merrimac" ("Virginia"), which caused such 
 consternation to the North. 
 
 When the United States began building gun 
 boats, skilled mechanics were sent from the 
 South with instructions to obtain work on the 
 boats which were under construction in St. 
 Louis. The result was that the Confederate 
 authorities very early obtained accurate infor 
 mation as to the number, strength, and probable 
 destination of the gunboats, and immediately 
 directed the preparation of such defences of the 
 
2 3 o THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 Mississippi as might cope with the fleet from the 
 northward. 
 
 By August 27, 1862, in relation to the criti 
 cisms which followed the fall of New Orleans 
 and the destruction of the " Merrimac" in Hamp 
 ton Roads by her own crew, Secretary Mallory 
 could report that his department had established 
 eighteen yards for building war-vessels, had built 
 twelve war-ships, had purchased or otherwise 
 acquired and converted to war-vessels forty- 
 four, and had then under construction thirty- 
 two. 
 
 As the Southern States one after another se 
 ceded, their first care was to take possession of 
 the government property situated within their 
 territory. From the stand-point of their belief 
 in the right to withdraw from the Union, this 
 action was perfectly justifiable. The sites on 
 which these properties were situated had been 
 ceded to the central government with the under 
 standing that they should revert to the respec 
 tive States when no longer used for their pro 
 tection or benefit. The properties themselves 
 had been created by means of a revenue derived 
 from every part of the Union. Consequently, 
 the South, in dissolving partnership with the 
 Northern States, desired to adjust matters ami 
 cably with reference to these public possessions. 
 That there could be no question in the minds of 
 either or both the parties (granting the right to 
 secede) as to the ownership of the sites is shown 
 by many public documents relative to the cession 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT 231 
 
 of such lands. As an example, we will quote an 
 Act of the State of Virginia in reference to Old 
 Point Comfort and the Rip Raps : 
 
 " WHEREAS, it is shown to the present General Assembly 
 that the government of the United States is solicitous that 
 certain lands at Old Point Comfort, and at the shoals 
 called the Rip Raps, should be, with the right of property 
 and entire jurisdiction thereon, vested in the said United 
 States for the purpose of fortification and other objects of 
 national defence : 
 
 " Be it enacted by the General Assembly, that it shall be 
 lawful and proper for the governor of this Commonwealth, 
 by conveyance or deeds in writing under his hand and seal 
 of the State, to transfer, assign, and make over unto the 
 said United States the right of property and title, as well 
 as all the jurisdiction which this Commonwealth possesses 
 over the lands and shoal at Old Point Comfort and the Rip 
 Raps : 
 
 "And be it further enacted, That, should the said United 
 States at any time abandon the said lands and shoal, or 
 appropriate them to any other purposes than those indi 
 cated in the preamble to this act, that then and in that case, 
 the same shall revert to and revest in this Commonwealth." 
 
 The Southern States, on seceding, wished and 
 sought, as we saw in the case of South Carolina, 
 to treat with the Federal government in regard 
 to the equitable adjustment of the value of the 
 public properties situated upon lands thus (as 
 they held) reverting to them. And there is no 
 reason for thinking that this was not done in 
 good faith and, at first, in the belief that such an 
 adjustment might be made. But the position 
 taken by the Republican party of the North pro 
 hibited it. 
 
 Thereupon the Confederacy seized and appro- 
 
2 3 2 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 priated to its own use and defence all national 
 properties situated within the bounds of the se 
 ceding States. This included the revenue cutter 
 " William Aiken," a boat of ninety tons and 
 armed with one forty-two pounder pivot gun; 
 the revenue cutter " Lewis Cass;" the steamer 
 " Ida ;" the " McClellan," carrying five guns ; 
 and a few other small and unimportant vessels. 
 The " Fulton," a war steamer carrying three 
 guns, had been wrecked off Pensacola, and was 
 rebuilt by the Southern government. Alto 
 gether, the ten vessels seized by the Confed 
 eracy, and forming the nucleus of its navy, which 
 soon became so formidable, contained an arma 
 ment of not more than fifteen guns. 
 
 The Confederate States obtained by seizure 
 the munitions of war found in Charleston Harbor 
 and in the other ports and forts on the Southern 
 coast. These in themselves were by no means 
 inconsiderable. But, considering the magnitude 
 of the enterprise upon which the South had en 
 tered, the vastly superior preparations of the 
 North, and her stupendous resources, the nucleus 
 of warlike equipment in the hands of the Con 
 federacy in the fall of 1861 was most pitiably 
 small. 
 
 Moreover, the industrial organization of the 
 South was in every way unfavorable to the prose 
 cution of her cause. Her staple products were 
 cotton and tobacco. The former, a source of im 
 mense wealth though it was, was rendered use 
 less by the effective blockade established by the 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT 233 
 
 North. The whole system of agriculture had to 
 be changed in order that the land might support 
 her army and population. This was but slowly 
 accomplished, because of the fact that the people 
 held to the conviction that the war would be of 
 short duration. Consequently the South was 
 soon in possession of vast stores of her staple 
 product, which could not be turned into money, 
 and at the same time she was suffering for lack 
 of the necessaries of subsistence. This condition 
 was largely influential in the final result. 
 
 Then, too, the facilities for transportation 
 were very meagre in the South. The rail 
 roads were few in number and were in the 
 habit of depending on Northern foundries and 
 machine-shops for their rails and rolling stock. 
 At the opening of hostilities this supply was, 
 of course, immediately cut off. The skilled em 
 ployees of the railroads were nearly all Northern 
 men, and the greater part of them left their 
 situations at the commencement of the war. 
 
 Never was a country so totally unprepared to 
 fight its battles. And the rapidity with which 
 the South created out of nothing so efficient a 
 military organization as she did is perhaps the 
 most striking feature of the great struggle. It 
 evidenced a courage, a determination, and an 
 absolute devotion to their cause on the part of 
 the people nothing less than marvellous. 
 
 The Southern Congress, in retaliatory re 
 sponse to the Act of the North by which the 
 property and estates of all those aiding in 
 
234 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 the " insurrection" were confiscated, passed a 
 measure of sequestration. This included the 
 estates and property of all alien enemies. It 
 applied, also, to the debts which had been in 
 curred by Southern people to Northern mer 
 chants. The extent to which the South profited 
 by this Act may be seen from the following, 
 which is copied from the Richmond Despatch of 
 September 24: 
 
 " We have seen it estimated that under the operation of 
 the Sequestration Act of the Confederate Congress, from 
 fifteen to thirty millions of dollars will pass into the cus 
 tody of the Confederate receivers in Virginia. The esti 
 mate strikes us as moderate. It is well known that nearly 
 all the merchants of our cities, towns, and villages were in 
 the habit of purchasing their stock in the North. Even 
 though a small portion of the merchants of the interior laid 
 in their goods in Richmond, still, inasmuch as the Rich 
 mond merchants bought the largest portion of their goods 
 from New York, the result was the same as if the country 
 merchants had all gone directly to the city. The war came 
 on in April, just after the season when the merchants had 
 laid in their spring supplies of goods from the North. Very 
 few of these goods were purchased for cash. The custom 
 of trade was to buy on credit, and nearly all these goods 
 were bought on the usual terms of six months time. Thus 
 the war opened on an indebtedness from Virginia (and 
 doubtless the case was the same with all the Southern 
 States) to the North equal to the total of the spring pur 
 chases of her merchants. This indebtedness was augmented 
 by the whole amount of old debts of prior standing, which 
 had resulted from a course of business that had existed for 
 a long train of years. From these considerations we are 
 inclined to put the indebtedness from Virginia to the North 
 on mercantile account at a very high figure. We do not 
 think it can be less than twenty millions. For that portion 
 of the State not overrun by the enemy we suppose it to 
 be at least fifteen millions." 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT 235 
 
 The weakness of the South was its lack of 
 endurance. It placed in the field at the outset an 
 army sufficiently large for the purpose of resist 
 ing invasion of short duration. At first there 
 were plenty of volunteers ; in fact, the contention 
 among the men of the South in the first year of 
 the war was not as to who should go, but as to 
 who should stay at home. But the South ex 
 hausted herself in the outset. It is true a very 
 large proportion of whites were able to take up 
 arms because they could with security leave the 
 slaves to cultivate their fields and care for their 
 homes, but the very eagerness of citizens to vol 
 unteer hastened defeat, for the supply of recruits 
 was far from being inexhaustible. Even the 
 North recruited from itself down to the dregs; 
 the fate of the South was determined by its far 
 smaller population. 
 
 In regard to the men who led the Confederate 
 army, they are thus characterized by " An Eng 
 lish Combatant :" 
 
 " Who are our generals, thought I, walking about, and 
 meditating; our men are as brave as steel, but who are to 
 lead them? Our best officers are from the old army, yet 
 none of them held higher rank than that of colonel. R. E. 
 Lee was in the cavalry, and was a lieutenant-colonel ; Jo 
 seph E. Johnston was quartermaster-general, and ranked as 
 lieutenant-colonel; Beauregard has been major of engi 
 neers ; Evans, Longstreet, and others did not rank higher 
 than major of cavalry or infantry, and had seen but little 
 service, except on the frontier among the Indians; Bragg 
 was a retired captain of artillery; T. J. Jackson was Pro 
 fessor of Mathematics and of Tactics in the University of 
 Virginia; D. H. Hill was a lawyer; Polk, an Episcopal 
 
236 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 bishop in Louisiana, etc. This was all the talent we had, 
 and much of it was only said to be promising. General Lee 
 was at Richmond, acting as Secretary of War; General 
 Cooper was there also as adjutant-general; Bragg and 
 Polk were in Tennessee and Johnston in the Valley ; 
 Beauregard was alone at Manassas, having Evans, Ewell, 
 Longstreet, and a few less known names, as subordinates in 
 the approaching struggle." 
 
 We may say, in conclusion, therefore, that if 
 the war found the North in a state of unpre- 
 paredness, it found the South in an even worse 
 plight. Wholly dependent on agriculture, and 
 obliged to look to the North and Europe for all 
 the necessaries of life, the Confederacy soon 
 found that men are useless unless provided with 
 arms. Accordingly, the one hundred and fifty 
 thousand soldiers who, east and west of the Mis 
 sissippi River, in the early part of 1861 flocked 
 to the standard of the Confederate States, could 
 not be provided with the simplest means of self- 
 defence, not to mention other munitions of mod 
 ern warfare; yet, like some of the crusaders of 
 old, they appeared to imagine that all these 
 would be given them by miracle. 
 
 But the age of miracles was past, and no one 
 realized the fact more keenly than the more 
 practical leaders of the Southern government. 
 How these men wrought something out of noth 
 ing; how they gave to an infantry accoutre 
 ments, simple and rude at times, to be sure, but 
 serviceable and well enough adapted to their use 
 to enable the Confederate soldier to win univer 
 sal admiration; how a cavalry without arms or 
 
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 LETTER FROM JEFFERSON DAVIS TO P. C. JOHNSON 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT 237 
 
 equipment was furnished with these necessaries 
 of war ; how the armies of a country with no fac 
 tories, laboratories, mines, or foundries secured 
 artillery, powder, caps, and bullets; how this 
 government, whose people had few skilled arti 
 sans, constructed a fleet ; in a word, how, thrown 
 on its own resources, it was able to maintain for 
 four years the greatest war of modern times, is 
 one of the problems of history. It was because 
 these Southern men were Americans because, 
 after all, they, too, were " Yankees" to the core, 
 inventive, resourceful, courageous that they 
 were able to do these things. 
 
 It is well to remember, also, that at the South, 
 as contrasted with the North, the arsenals had 
 been used as depots, and only the one at Fayette- 
 ville, North Carolina, had any machinery at all. 
 The work of preparing war material, with the ex 
 ception of what was done at Harper s Ferry, had 
 been wholly performed at the North. " Not an 
 arm," says Jefferson Davis, "not a gun, not a 
 gun-carriage, and, except during the Mexican 
 War, scarcely a round of ammunition had been 
 prepared in the Confederate States." (" Rise and 
 Fall of the Confederate Government," vol. i. p. 
 472.) There were no skilled workmen, of 
 course, and consequently no powder, except the 
 coarser sort used in blasting, was produced in 
 the South. It lacked saltpetre, it lacked lead, it 
 lacked copper, it lacked iron, it lacked leather, 
 it lacked money it lacked everything. And yet 
 in a short time all these were found, copper for 
 
238 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 field artillery ; percussion caps ; saltpetre for the 
 manufacture of gunpowder; lead for cartridges; 
 iron for guns and machinery; leather for shoes, 
 for harness; and, in fact, everything else that 
 was required to carry on a long struggle was 
 forthcoming. 
 
 Until Fort Sumter was fired on, powder was 
 bought at the North; but afterwards the South 
 had to depend upon her own resources or on the 
 precarious methods employed by blockade-run 
 ners. Battle-fields were gleaned for lead and 
 small-arms. Soon, however, the Tredegar Iron- 
 Works were turning out artillery at Richmond, 
 and sword-bayonets were being made at Fayette- 
 ville, North Carolina. There was, also, a salt 
 petre refinery at Nashville, Tennessee, which util 
 ized the nitre found there and in the caves of 
 that State. It is true that a lead-mine existed 
 in Virginia, but it was in an unsafe region, as 
 were also the only blast-furnaces south of Rich 
 mond, those in east Tennessee and Virginia. 
 The progress of development, however, appears 
 to have been steady, and soon there were two 
 small powder-mills in South Carolina, one near 
 Raleigh, North Carolina, and a fourth in New 
 Orleans, where powder was manufactured until 
 the fall of that city. Then, again, the government 
 of the Confederacy took the initiative and con 
 structed powder-mills in Augusta, Georgia, and 
 elsewhere. The chemical works of the govern 
 ment were located at Charlotte, North Carolina, 
 and on the Cape Fear River, in the same State, 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT 239 
 
 the Confederacy maintained a fishery in order to 
 procure oil. The chief armories were at Rich 
 mond and Fayetteville, but the whole South was 
 organized into districts, each presided over by an 
 ordnance officer, and nitre, old iron, lead, and 
 other material were carefully collected. But in 
 spite of its nitre and mining bureau, in spite of 
 every exertion made to arm and equip the splen 
 did soldiery it sent to the front, the South suf 
 fered great hardship a hardship that is scarcely 
 conceivable. The whole country was a huge Val 
 ley Forge. 
 
 Much reliance was, of course, placed on the 
 blockade-runners. These vessels were small, 
 low, compactly built craft, using fuel that made 
 little smoke. On account of the dangers of navi 
 gation, Albemarle Sound, off the coast of North 
 Carolina, was selected as the base of their opera 
 tions, and Wilmington as their port. Plying be 
 tween that point and the West Indies, with 
 depots at Nassau and Havana, the blockade- 
 runners usually carried six or seven hundred 
 bales of cotton and brought back in return muni 
 tions of war and other necessaries. 
 
 The Confederacy was greatly aided by the 
 above methods. To them ought to be added 
 appropriations made by Several States and the 
 general government itself; cotton loans, paper 
 money, and bonds of the States and the Con 
 federate States, to say nothing of private munifi 
 cence, for money, plate, personal property 
 everything owned by private persons were 
 
2 4 o THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 freely given for what was considered the gen 
 eral good. Whole regiments were sometimes 
 equipped at private expense, while every soldier 
 was glad to furnish his own horse as well as his 
 own accoutrements. Many took their body ser 
 vants with them, and these became useful in fell 
 ing trees and throwing up breastworks, a work 
 that the Federal government sought to interfere 
 with by declaring free all slaves so employed. 
 Just why the blacks were not armed by Southern 
 men can never be satisfactorily explained. It is 
 said that General Lee advised it, but that Davis 
 set his face against the proposition. 
 
 In the efforts of the South its women displayed 
 great heroism ; by every means they encouraged 
 and supported those who fought for the Stars and 
 Bars. They endured privation; they suffered 
 from bitter want with earnest and uncomplaining 
 courage. Old clothing was turned and returned 
 for the growing children; thorns and pegs were 
 employed as pins; china-berries and persimmon 
 seeds were converted into buttons; substitutes, 
 including rye, were found for tea and coffee; 
 and countless other inventions were created by 
 the necessities of the times. Every loom on the 
 plantation was set to work; shoes, stockings, 
 and clothing were made for those in the field as 
 well as those at home. Every effort was made to 
 aid the cause of the South. 
 
 It was this popular devotion to a cause hesi 
 tatingly embraced by the majority of Southern 
 ers, but once espoused faithfully adhered to 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT 241 
 
 that was the life of the Confederacy. The full 
 strength of this enthusiasm was not reached until 
 the Northern armies crossed the Potomac. The 
 whole South flew to arms in defence of home 
 and fireside, and the logic of events proved 
 stronger than any theoretical arguments based 
 on the logic of Constitutional law. War had 
 come. It must be fought until the last man fell 
 in the ditch. Thus, to the Southerner the strug 
 gle once entered upon became a fight for life 
 a resistance to invaders. 
 
 16 
 
X 
 
 SOUTHERN SUCCESSES 
 
 THE Confederate generals were severely criti 
 cised both by contemporary journalists and by 
 historians of the South for not having followed 
 the victory at Bull Run by marching on Washing 
 ton. Pollard declares that " for days there was 
 nothing to oppose them but an utterly demoral 
 ized army intent upon a continuance of their 
 flight at the approach of our forces." He pic 
 tures the enemy " still cowed, dispirited, and 
 trembling for his safety in the refuges of Wash 
 ington." But it is very apparent that this view 
 of the case minimizes the difficulties which were 
 clearly seen by the leaders of the Confederate 
 forces. Had success in such an undertaking ap 
 peared to any degree possible, the failure on the 
 part of Johnston and Beauregard to attempt it 
 would be unpardonable from the Southern stand 
 point ; for such a demonstration in the Northern 
 capital would have had, on the combatants and 
 on the rest of the world, a moral effect so great 
 as possibly to have decided the ultimate issue. 
 But Johnston declares that " all the military con 
 ditions we knew forbade an attempt on Washing 
 ton." He cites the facts that the Confederate 
 army was no less disorganized than that of the 
 Union; the raw troops were unprepared for 
 242 
 
SOUTHERN SUCCESSES 243 
 
 marching or assailing intrenchments; they were 
 in want of necessary rations and ammunition; 
 moreover, the fortifications to be assailed were 
 manned by undefeated troops, and the Potomac 
 was strongly defended by United States war- 
 vessels. These reasons, which convinced John 
 ston of the impracticability of the attack, also 
 reassured the Federal generals (though not Sec 
 retary Stanton) of the safety of Washington. 
 Cameron telegraphed to New York : " Our works 
 on the south bank of the Potomac are impreg 
 nable, being well manned with reinforcements. 
 The capital is safe." 
 
 During the rest of the summer the two great 
 armies which faced each other in the valley of 
 Virginia remained inactive, though each em 
 ployed the time in the drilling of recruits and 
 effective preparations for future work. The 
 Southern side was enlivened by a quarrel be 
 tween President Davis and General Johnston 
 over a question of precedence affecting the latter. 
 Jealousies and disputes of this nature continued 
 among the Southern leaders, to the great detri 
 ment of their cause. 
 
 During the period of inactivity between the 
 armies in Virginia a lively little war was being 
 carried on in the valley of the Mississippi. The 
 principal scene of these hostilities was Missouri, 
 where in May a severe political conflict, in which 
 physical force was brought largely into play, was 
 waged for the possession of the State. Gov 
 ernor Jackson s attempt to carry Missouri into 
 
244 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 the Confederacy was frustrated by the adroitness 
 and determination of F. P. Blair, Jr., and General 
 Lyon, of the Federal army. On the I3th of June 
 Governor Jackson issued a proclamation calling 
 for fifty thousand volunteers to enter " into the 
 service of the State for the purpose of repelling 
 invasion." The governor was actuated by a de 
 termination to insist upon Missouri s right to 
 take her own course in the national dispute. He 
 moved the capital to Boonville, on the south 
 bank of the Missouri River. General Lyon fol 
 lowed him on the 2Oth of June with seven thou 
 sand Federal troops. These were met by a small 
 force of Missourians, a " barefoot brigade/ 
 who were defeated, but not until they had shown 
 that they were of good fighting metal. 
 
 The first engagement of any importance was 
 that of Carthage. The Federal troops were 
 under the command of General Sigel and Gen 
 eral Lyon. The brave and popular General Price 
 led the men of Missouri. Sigel was without cav 
 alry, Price was deficient in artillery. What few 
 cannon the Missourians possessed, they were 
 obliged, for want of better ammunition, to load 
 with trace-chains, bits of iron, and rocks. When 
 Sigel first saw the Missourian troops coming 
 against him, he sneered at their lack of discipline. 
 They came into line like a worm fence. But after 
 a while he exclaimed " Great God, was the like 
 ever seen ! Raw recruits, unacquainted with war, 
 standing their ground like veterans, hurling de 
 fiance at every discharge of the batteries against 
 

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 LETTER FROM "STONEWALL" JACKSON TO MAJOR FRENCH 
 
SOUTHERN SUCCESSES 245 
 
 them, and cheering their own batteries whenever 
 discharged. Such material, properly worked up, 
 would constitute the best troops in the world." 
 Victory was with the Missourians; and though 
 the loss of men was not great on either side, what 
 was of more importance, from the spoils of vic 
 tory they provided themselves with much-needed 
 arms. 
 
 By the first of August, 1861, Price had been 
 reinforced by McCulloch with a small division of 
 regular Confederate soldiers, while Lyon and 
 Sigel had made a conjunction. The two armies 
 sought each other, and on the Qth of August 
 they collided at Wilson s Creek. General Mc- 
 Culloch s official report of this engagement says, 
 " No two opposing forces ever fought with 
 greater desperation; inch by inch the enemy 
 gave way, and were driven from their position. 
 Totten s battery fell back; Missourians, Arkan- 
 sans, Louisianians, and Texans pushed forward; 
 the incessant roll of musketry was deafening and 
 the balls fell thick as hailstones; but still our 
 gallant Southerners pushed onward, and with 
 one wild yell broke upon the enemy, pushing 
 them back and strewing the ground with their 
 dead. Nothing could withstand the impetuosity 
 of our final charge. The enemy fled and could 
 not again be rallied." This was a severe and dis 
 couraging blow to the Federal forces. They lost 
 not far from two thousand in killed, wounded, 
 and prisoners. The brave chief-in-command, 
 Major-General Lyon, was among the killed.. 
 
246 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 The Confederates gained here also large supplies 
 of arms and ammunition. 
 
 In the mean time General Fremont had been 
 appointed by the Federal administration to take 
 command of the Missouri department. He re 
 solved to establish a military line from Cape 
 Girardeau, on the Mississippi, through Ironton 
 and Rolla, to Jefferson City on the Missouri. In 
 this work, however, he was hampered by the 
 strong secessionist element which prevailed. 
 Being a radical Republican, and a man not distin 
 guished by any noticeable degree of tact, he re 
 solved on a dictatorial measure which gave the 
 authorities in Washington much trouble and re 
 sulted in his own downfall. He issued a procla 
 mation (August 30, 1861) confiscating the 
 property " of all persons in the State of Mis 
 souri who shall take up arms against the United 
 States, or who shall be directly proved to have 
 taken an active part with their enemies in the 
 field." Their slaves, if they had any, were de 
 clared free men. In accordance with this procla 
 mation, he set up a bureau of manumission, and 
 gave papers of freedom to the slaves. How little 
 consideration Fremont gave to the lawfulness and 
 expediency of this action is shown by his letter 
 to Lincoln, in which he says, " In the night I 
 decided upon the proclamation. I wrote it the 
 next morning and printed it the same day. I did 
 it without consultation or advice from any one." 
 
 Of course, the abolitionists and the radical Re 
 publicans of the North entirely approved of Fre- 
 
SOUTHERN SUCCESSES 247 
 
 mont s action. Lincoln, however, though it was 
 not his habit to insist upon particular regard 
 for the dignity and precedents of his office, was 
 not yet ready to endorse emancipation. More 
 over, he was endeavoring to aid the Unionist 
 citizens of Kentucky in retaining the loyalty of 
 that State. He knew that this proclamation 
 would be likely to defeat this object. There 
 fore, he requested Fremont to modify the ob 
 jectionable paragraph so as to bring it into 
 accord with the Confiscation Act of Congress, 
 approved August 6. The caution and gentle 
 ness with which Lincoln dealt with Fremont s 
 arrogant act is characteristic of the man. Never 
 theless, Sumner wrote : " Our President is now 
 dictator, imperator, which you will; but how 
 vain to have the power of a god and not to 
 use it godlike." A terrible dissension arose in 
 the Republican party over this matter. A large 
 and growing number in the North wanted aboli 
 tion outright and immediate, and were bitterly 
 disappointed that their President did not follow 
 Fremont s lead. George Hoadley, afterwards 
 governor of Ohio, wrote to Secretary Chase : 
 
 * Our people are in a state of great consternation and 
 wrath on account of the quarrel between Fremont and the 
 Administration ; ... no word describes popular sentiment 
 but * fury/ I have found men of sense, such as are called 
 conservative, advocate the wildest steps, such as the im 
 peachment of Mr. Lincoln, the formation of a party to carry 
 on the war irrespective of the President and under Fremont, 
 etc., etc. For myself, I must say that if the letters of Mr. 
 Lincoln to Magoffin and Fremont are any fair indication 
 
248 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 of his character and policy, I pray God to forgive my vote 
 for him. Loyal men are giving their lives and means like 
 water to no end, if the imbecility of Buchanan s administra 
 tion is to be surpassed thus. I cannot, cannot think that 
 your wise head and true antislavery heart have consented 
 to this abasement of the manhood and honor of our nation. 
 Let Mr. Lincoln, while he is conciliating the contemptible 
 State of Kentucky, a State which ought to have been coerced 
 long ago, bear in mind that the free States may want a little 
 conciliation, that they are not wasting their substance to 
 secure the niggers of traitors. ... I have never heard wilder 
 or more furious denunciation than yesterday and day before 
 found expression from the lips of cool men. Three times 
 I was applied to to join in getting up a public meeting to 
 denounce the Administration and support Fremont; and 
 while no such disturbance will be permitted, I am neverthe 
 less certain that there is here a perfect and, I am sorry to 
 say, very angry unanimity in support both of Fremont s 
 proclamation and of his action at St. Louis in other respects, 
 expensive though it may have been. . . . General Fremont 
 is thus far the favorite of the Northwest, because he has 
 come up to the standard. And if the election were next 
 fall, to displace him would be to make him President." 
 
 Two months after the issuing of his proclama 
 tion Fremont was relieved from his command of 
 the military department of the West. Previous 
 to this, however, he sent Colonel Mulligan to 
 occupy and fortify Lexington, on the Missouri 
 River, with a force of three thousand men and 
 a battery of artillery. In accordance with Fre 
 mont s instructions, he confiscated the funds, 
 considerable in amount, in the bank at Lexington. 
 General Price hastened to Lexington and gave 
 battle to the Federals before the plans of fortifi 
 cation could be accomplished. A peculiar fea 
 ture of the battle of Lexington were the movable 
 
SOUTHERN SUCCESSES 249 
 
 breastworks which General Price constructed out 
 of bales of hemp. After fifty-two hours of con 
 tinuous fighting, Mulligan was compelled to sur 
 render on September 20. Pollard recounts an 
 anecdote which illustrates the unscientific nature 
 of the Missouri warfare : 
 
 " A number of citizens came in from the neighboring 
 country, and fought, as they expressed it, on their own 
 hook. . . . An old man, about sixty years of age, came up 
 daily from his farm, with his walnut stock rifle and a basket 
 of provisions, and went to work just as if he were engaged 
 in hauling rails or some other necessary labor of his farm. 
 He took his position behind a large stump upon the descent 
 of the hill upon which the fortification was constructed, 
 where he fired with deadly aim during each day of the 
 siege." 
 
 The Missourians claim to have lost but twenty- 
 five killed and seventy-two wounded. In addition 
 to much larger casualties, the Union forces were 
 depleted by over three thousand prisoners. 
 
 Until September Kentucky had considered 
 herself a neutral State. From among her popu 
 lation men were enlisted for both armies. But 
 on the 4th of September General Polk occupied 
 Columbus, near the conjunction of the Missouri 
 and the Mississippi. This he called " The Gib 
 raltar of the West." Kentucky s Unionist Legis 
 lature now declared that her neutrality had 
 been invaded by the Confederate forces. The 
 governor was called upon to expel the invaders, 
 and to invoke the aid of the United States gov 
 ernment for that purpose. He vetoed these reso 
 lutions, but the majority of the people were 
 
2 5 o THE TRUE CIVIL WAR, 
 
 against him, and Kentucky was saved to the 
 Union. 
 
 Early in November General Grant, under the 
 instructions of Fremont, dropped down the Mis 
 sissippi with about four thousand men, and 
 landed on the Kentucky shore above Columbus. 
 From thence he crossed over to Belmont. There 
 he attacked General Pillow, who was in command 
 of three regiments of Confederate troops, and 
 cut his way into the enemy s camp. Exulting in 
 their victory, Grant s men dispersed to plunder 
 the enemy, who, meanwhile, was reinforced by 
 General Polk. Grant s generalship was now ex 
 emplified by his address in cutting his way out 
 of a perilous position, which he did at a great 
 loss of men and munitions. This, however, 
 ended for a time the war in the Mississippi 
 Valley. 
 
 In the mean time the inactivity of the armies 
 on the Potomac was varied by the Federal disas 
 ter at Ball s Bluff. This is a spot about thirty 
 miles above Washington, where the banks of the 
 Potomac are steep and high. General Stone had 
 been sent to reconnoitre in that neighborhood 
 upon Confederate troops whose intentions were 
 uncertain. His order said, " Perhaps a slight 
 demonstration on your part would have the 
 effect to move them." This was leaving a good 
 deal to Stone s discretion. Colonel Devens was 
 sent with a regiment to Harrison s Island, mid 
 way in the river between Poolsville Landing and 
 Ball s Bluff. He was later ordered by Stone to 
 
SOUTHERN SUCCESSES 251 
 
 cross to the latter place with five companies of his 
 regiment, to surprise a Confederate camp whose 
 existence had been reported. No such camp was 
 found, and on the morning of the 2ist of October 
 Devens was resting his seven hundred men in an 
 exposed clearing on the Bluff. Here he was 
 attacked, and Colonel E. D. Baker, at the 
 moment in command of the brigade, went over 
 to Devens s assistance. They were attacked by 
 a Confederate force from out of the dense sur 
 rounding woods. Baker was killed and the Fed 
 eral troops thrown into terrible confusion. They 
 fled in every direction, many falling or throwing 
 themselves over the steep bluff. Those who at 
 tempted to swim across the swift-flowing river 
 were almost all either drowned or shot. 
 
 Out of a force of less than two thousand, at 
 least a thousand were killed, wounded, or taken 
 prisoners. This disaster, so humiliating to the 
 North, was very evidently the result of a blunder. 
 Somebody must be punished to satisfy public 
 opinion. Stone, who does not seem to have been 
 the one to blame, was incarcerated in Fort Lafay 
 ette for six months, and then released without 
 trial or exculpation. 
 
 Ball s Bluff, serious as it was, forms an incident 
 in the preliminary sparring with which the two 
 armies occupied themselves, to the intense dis 
 trust of the people on both sides, during the 
 summer and autumn of 1861. McClellan, who 
 seemed unable to make up his mind to put into 
 action the organization he was perfecting, was 
 
252 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 still disinclined to fight. He magnified John 
 ston s army of fifty thousand troops to one hun 
 dred and fifty thousand. He drilled, and asked 
 of the North patience; this he was given to the 
 utmost limit. 
 
 Early in the war the United States found that 
 its blockade of the Southern ports could not be 
 made effective without the possession of some 
 Southern harbors as coaling stations and supply 
 depots. The defence of Charleston, Mobile, and 
 other Southern ports forms a remarkable chapter 
 in the history of modern warfare. On the 29th 
 of October, 1861, there steamed out of Hampton 
 Roads fifty vessels under sealed orders. It was 
 as nondescript an assortment of craft as any 
 modern power had ever formed into a war-fleet. 
 Their destination was Port Royal, South Caro 
 lina, where, under Flag-Officer Dupont, the fleet 
 was to concentrate. Though these orders were 
 supposed to be kept a profound secret, Benja 
 min, the Confederate Secretary of War, tele 
 graphed Governor Pickens, Columbia, South 
 Carolina, under date of November i : " I have 
 just received information which I consider en 
 tirely reliable, that the enemy s expedition is in 
 tended for Port Royal." This harbor is about 
 midway between Savannah and Charleston. The 
 several streams flowing into it form numerous 
 islands, some of which were fortified, the prin 
 cipal forts being Walker and Beauregard, on 
 Hilton Head and Philips Island respectively. 
 The Federal war-ships, headed by the " Wabash" 
 
SOUTHERN SUCCESSES 253 
 
 and the " Susquehanna," circled before these 
 forts for four hours, delivering broadsides until 
 they were reduced. This successful attack gave 
 possession of Port Royal and the adjacent coast to 
 the North. 
 
 Shortly before the Port Royal expedition Gal- 
 veston, Texas, had been bombarded by Com 
 mander Allen. In November, 1861, Pensacola, 
 Florida, was bombarded by Fort Pickens and 
 United States war-vessels, while in December of 
 the same year there was a naval engagement at 
 Cape Hatteras. The activity of the naval depart 
 ment of the Federal government was now intense 
 and persistent, and its every energy was bent on 
 increasing the number of available ships. The 
 effort bore fruit early in 1862, when one hundred 
 and twenty-six war-ships, carrying upward of one 
 hundred and fifty thousand soldiers, sailed for 
 the South and almost one hundred other ships 
 were in active service. 
 
 The Civil War revolutionized sea-fighting. At 
 its close the men-of-war which had theretofore 
 been relied upon by the most advanced nations 
 of the world were rendered useless by naval fight 
 ing machines against which they were as vul 
 nerable as card-houses. The Civil War brought 
 in the ironclads and the monitors. The " Merri- 
 mac" was the first vessel of this class to come 
 into action. She was built in 1855, and, lying in 
 Elizabeth River at the time when the Norfolk 
 ship-yards were evacuated by the United States, 
 she was sunk so that she might not be of use to 
 
254 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 the Confederates. In this, however, the Federal 
 intention seriously miscarried. The Confeder 
 ates conceived the possibility of converting her 
 into a " shot-proof steam battery." Being raised, 
 they cut her down to within three feet and a half 
 of her water-line. A slanting roof covered with 
 iron four inches thick formed her armor. She 
 carried ten guns. Her armor and plan of arma 
 ment were designed by Lieutenant John M. 
 Brooke. 
 
 From the construction dock the " Merrimac" 
 went immediately into battle, for the need of her 
 by the South was great. On the 8th of March, 
 1862, under the command of Captain Buchanan, 
 this sea-monster steamed slowly down Elizabeth 
 River on her trial trip, the intent of which was to 
 do deadly work upon any Federal vessels that 
 should come in her way. She was accompanied 
 by the gunboats " Beaufort" and " Raleigh," 
 each with one gun. Later, when going into 
 action, she was joined by the " Jamestown," with 
 two guns, the " Teaser," with one gun, and the 
 " Patrick Henry," with twelve guns. The Fed 
 eral force, including ships and shore batteries, 
 attacked by this little fleet, mounted three hun 
 dred guns. Selecting the " Congress" and the 
 " Cumberland," two frigates lying off Newport 
 News, the " Merrimac" first tried her strength 
 upon them. The latter she struck at right angles 
 with her terrible ram, making such a hole in her 
 side as a " horse and cart might drive through." 
 The " Cumberland" was commanded by Lieu- 
 
SOUTHERN SUCCESSES 255 
 
 tenant Morris, and notwithstanding the loss of 
 life occasioned by the blow and hot fire of the 
 " Merrimac," he gallantly continued fighting 
 until, after thirty-five minutes, his vessel sank 
 " with the American flag flying at the peak." 
 
 The " Congress" tried to escape, but she 
 grounded, and her sides were riddled by the 
 " Merrimac" and her accompanying escort until 
 the Federal commander was compelled to display 
 the white flag. Her officers surrendered, but 
 soon afterwards seized an opportunity to escape. 
 The vessel burned until her exploding magazines 
 blew her into fragments. The United States 
 " Minnesota" also stranded, having been so 
 pierced and pounded by the Confederate guns 
 that she would have been helpless in deep water. 
 The " Merrimac," though one hundred guns had 
 been concentrated upon her, sustained no injury 
 other than the demolishing of her smoke stack 
 and the weakening or breaking of her ram. 
 
 Darkness preventing further action, the " Mer 
 rimac" and the other Confederate vessels retired ; 
 with the intention of finishing their work on the 
 morrow. But by the dawn of the pth a new 
 antagonist had appeared on the scene. News of 
 the construction of the " Merrimac" had reached 
 the North, and Northern ingenuity was set to 
 work to produce a vessel which might cope with 
 the expected monster. John Ericsson had 
 planned and constructed the " Monitor," the first 
 turret-ship which was accepted by the Naval 
 Commission. "A cheese box on a plank" well 
 
256 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 describes the appearance of this new fighting 
 craft. She was protected by a still heavier de 
 fensive armor than the " Merrimac," but was 
 armed with only two guns. 
 
 The details of the duel which took place on 
 the 9th of March, 1862, between these two 
 strange fighting craft is well known. Neither 
 could make any serious impression on the other. 
 But the timely appearance of the " Monitor" not 
 only saved the " Minnesota/ but cut short a 
 career for the " Merrimac" that might have ren 
 dered the history of the Civil War vastly differ 
 ent from what it is. Which ironclad had the 
 advantage in the struggle it is hard to say. Their 
 commanders considered that further battle be 
 tween them would be useless, and accordingly 
 each withdrew. On the loth of May, Johnston 
 having determined to retreat from the Peninsula, 
 the Confederate evacuation of Norfolk became 
 necessary, and the " Merrimac," being both un- 
 seaworthy and of too deep draft to ascend the 
 river, was burned. No other vessel of her design 
 was built, but " monitors" were constructed, and 
 henceforth the ironclad became an essential ele 
 ment in naval warfare. 
 
 The South continued her active privateering, 
 greatly to the distress of the North. Moncure 
 D. Conway characterizes the latter s feelings re 
 garding this matter in " The Rejected Stone :" 
 
 "A cry comes up to the ear of America, a long, piercing 
 cry of amazement and indignation, recognizable as one which 
 can come only when the profoundest emotions of the human 
 
SOUTHERN SUCCESSES 257 
 
 pocket are stirred. The privateers are at large ! They have 
 taken away my coffee, and I know not where they have laid 
 it. They have taken my India goods with swords and staves. 
 For my first-class ship they have cast lots. 
 
 " Was such depravity ever known before ? So long as it 
 was a human soul, launched by God on the eternal sea, that 
 they despoiled; so long as it was only a few million bales 
 of humanity captured; so long as it was but the scuttling 
 of the hearts of mothers and fathers and husbands and 
 wives, we remained patient and resigned; did we not? But 
 coffee and sugar ! Good God ! What is that blockade about? 
 To seize a poor innocent sloop ! Has slavery no bowels ? 
 And its helpless family of molasses-barrels ! Can hearts 
 be so void of pity? Slavery must end! The spirit of the 
 age demands it. The blood of a dozen captured freights 
 crieth to Heaven in silveriest accents against it. Brothers, 
 there is a laughter that opens into the fountain of tears." 
 
 Stock companies were organized in the South 
 for the purpose of making a business of preying 
 upon the enemy s commerce; and large sums 
 of money were subscribed for the purpose of 
 building and fitting out privateers. The New 
 York Herald of June 2, 1861, says : 
 
 " On the 26th of last month there were under seizure, or 
 as prizes in the port of New Orleans, the following vessels. 
 [Then follows the list.] Of the above vessels some doubt 
 attaches as to the seizure of the " Enoch Train" and " Wil 
 bur Fiske," but the probabilities are that they have been 
 confiscated. The seizures made by the Confederates up to 
 the last accounts may be thus enumerated: 
 
 Off the different ports 12 
 
 In port 30 
 
 Steamers captured on the Mississippi 15 
 
 Total 57." 
 
 "We are satisfied," the New York Herald of August 10, 
 1861, says, "that already twenty million dollars worth of 
 
 17 
 
258 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 property has been lost in various ways through the opera 
 tions of these highwaymen of the seas, increasing daily in 
 number, and becoming more and more daring from im 
 punity. The worst effect is not the loss of the vessels and 
 their cargoes, but the destruction of our trade. Our com 
 merce with the West Indies was immense before the pirates 
 commenced their depredations. Now no Northern vessel 
 will get a charter or can be insured for any reasonable pre 
 mium. English bottoms are taking all our trade. When 
 the Great Eastern was here she could have been filled with 
 cargo if her draft of water were not so great. Thus our 
 shipping interest is literally ruined." 
 
 The most famous of the commerce-destroying 
 cruisers was the " Alabama." Captain Bulloch 
 bought her of Liverpool ship-builders for 47,- 
 500. At the ship-yards she was known as " No. 
 290." That she was designed for Confederate 
 service Minister Adams very well knew. He 
 strongly exerted himself to have her seized by 
 the British authorities. But before the slow- 
 moving English officials had taken action the 
 " Alabama" sailed. On August 24 she was duly 
 commissioned as a Confederate States cruiser, 
 Captain Semmes, commander. She was one 
 thousand and forty tons burden, carried eight 
 guns, and had a steam-propeller. The latter 
 could be lifted out of the water, and then she 
 worked as a sailing vessel of barkentine rig. The 
 record of her success as a commerce-destroyer 
 was phenomenal. One of her earliest successes 
 was the engagement in the Gulf of Mexico, in 
 January, 1862, with the United States gunboat 
 " Hatteras," which she defeated in thirteen 
 minutes. The Atlantic was the scene of her 
 
SOUTHERN SUCCESSES 259 
 
 greatest success, although the Pacific and Indian 
 Oceans were swept by her. After two years of 
 ceaseless activity, by which over ten millions of 
 dollars worth of ships and their cargoes were 
 captured or destroyed, the " Alabama" put in 
 at Cherbourg, France, to refit. On June 19 she 
 came from the harbor and engaged the United 
 States sloop of war " Kearsarge," which was of 
 somewhat heavier metal and in much better con 
 dition to fight. In less than two hours the " Ala 
 bama" was a sunken wreck. Her crew was res 
 cued by the English yacht " Deerhound." 
 
 The " Florida" was another Confederate vessel 
 bargained for and built in England. In the ship 
 yard she went under the name " Oreto," and 
 sailed with English officers and crew. Her arma 
 ment was placed aboard after she got to sea, and 
 then, having taken the name " Florida," and 
 command of her being assumed by Captain J. N. 
 Maffitt, she proceeded to make prizes until Octo 
 ber 7, 1863, when she was compelled to surrender 
 to the United States " Wachusett" at Bahia, 
 Brazil. This capture was in most flagrant con 
 tradiction to international law. Brazil made de 
 mand that she be returned with her crew. But 
 though this was agreed to by the United States, 
 it was never carried out, for while lying in Hamp 
 ton Roads an army transport struck her under 
 the pretence of accident, and very soon there 
 after she sank at her mooring, those in charge 
 of the ship having opened the water-cocks in her 
 hull. 
 
260 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 The " Georgia" took but nine prizes, and after 
 a year was sold. The " Shenandoah" cruised 
 with considerable success in the Northern Pacific. 
 
 On November 8, 1861, occurred the seizure 
 on board the British steamer " Trent" of the 
 Southern commissioners, Mason and Slidell, by 
 Captain Wilkes, of the United States war-ship 
 " San Jacinto." This infringement of interna 
 tional law produced such an effect that for a 
 time there was danger that England would de 
 clare war against the United States. The people 
 of the North were carried away with thought 
 less enthusiasm over the bold action of Captain 
 Wilkes. Even Secretary of the Navy Welles 
 declared officialy that " the prompt and decisive 
 action of Captain Wilkes on this occasion 
 merited and received the emphatic approval of 
 the Department." In England warlike prepa 
 rations were made, and troops were sent on ship 
 board ready for transportation to Canada. But 
 fortunately the United States had in Charles 
 Francis Adams the right man at the British 
 Court. England was satisfied with an apology 
 and the release of the prisoners. The Spectator 
 said: 
 
 " Mr. Seward has for once made a hit. In his recent cor 
 respondence with Lord Lyons he has developed, possibly 
 from a novel consciousness of being in the right, an unex 
 pected self-restraint, and, writing like a gentleman, is victo 
 rious as a diplomatist." 
 
 The Times said of Mason and Slidell: 
 
SOUTHERN SUCCESSES 261 
 
 " Impartial as the British public is in the matter, it cer 
 tainly has no prejudice in favor of slavery, which, if any 
 thing, these gentlemen represent. They must not suppose, 
 because we have gone to the very verge of a great war to 
 rescue them, that therefore they are precious in our eyes. 
 We should have done just as much to rescue two of their 
 own negroes, and, had that been the object of the rescue, 
 the swarthy Pompey and Caesar would have had just the 
 same right to triumphal arches and municipal addresses as 
 Messrs. Mason and Slidell. So please, British public, let s 
 have none of these things." 
 
 England s seeming duplicity in her attitude 
 towards the contending parties was the result of 
 a contradiction between her moral sentiment and 
 her mercantile interests. She was opposed to 
 slavery, but she needed cotton. On the other 
 hand, she was willing to see the nation across the 
 Atlantic, which threatened commercial rivalry, 
 weakened by disruption; but that was putting 
 a future prospect over against a present and 
 pressing need. England s haste in proclaiming 
 neutrality was actuated by President Davis s 
 course in regard to privateers. Had not neutral 
 ity been proclaimed, she would have seemed to 
 the Confederates as taking sides with their adver 
 sary, and her own maritime interests would have 
 suffered. Again, England was not unwilling to 
 see American bottoms, which at that time had a 
 due share of the world s carrying trade, preyed 
 upon and driven off the high seas. The North 
 was greatly annoyed at England s haste, and 
 much jingoism was displayed. Seward even rep 
 resented this sentiment in his despatches to the 
 British government. But fortunately, Charles 
 
262 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 Francis Adams was, by his birth and training, 
 as well as by the natural qualities of his mind, 
 especially fitted to safeguard the interests of the 
 North at the court of St. James, and he trans 
 lated the Secretary of State s reckless language 
 into the suave terms of diplomacy. But it was 
 with difficulty that he convinced the members of 
 the British Cabinet of the injustice of an imme 
 diate recognition of the Confederacy. 
 
 Lord Palmerston fully expressed the English 
 mind on the matter when he said, " We do not 
 like slavery, but we want cotton, and we dislike 
 very much your moral tariff." Punch gave the 
 same idea in words calculated to please the public 
 ear. It printed " The National Hymn of the 
 Confederate States :" 
 
 " When first the South, to fury fanned, 
 Arose and broke the Union s chain, 
 This was the Charter, the Charter of the land, 
 
 And Mr. Davis sang the strain; 
 Rule Slavonia, Slavonia rules and raves, 
 Christians ever, ever, ever, have had slaves." 
 
 Another effusion of the same character was 
 the following: 
 
 " Though with the North we sympathize, 
 
 It must not be forgotten 
 That with the South we ve stronger ties, 
 
 Which are composed of cotton. 
 Whereof our imports mount unto 
 
 A sum of many figures; 
 And where would be our calico 
 
 Without the toil of niggers? 
 
SOUTHERN SUCCESSES 263 
 
 " The South enslaves those fellow-men, 
 
 Whom we love all so dearly ; 
 The North keeps commerce bound again, 
 
 Which touches us more nearly. 
 Thus a divided duty we 
 
 Perceive in this hard matter: 
 Free-trade, or sable brothers free? 
 
 Oh, won t we choose the latter!" 
 
 France, untrue to her traditions, was with 
 England on this occasion; she, also, believed 
 that the attempt of the Confederates to destroy 
 the American Union would be beneficial to her 
 interests. 
 
 It was absolutely necessary, in view of the cir 
 cumstances, that the United States should at 
 once demonstrate her ability to cope successfully 
 with the rebellion. This she was not doing. 
 McClellan remained quiet on the Potomac. 
 Such battles as were being fought were, with 
 deadly monotony, favorable to the Southern 
 cause. Affairs looked black for the North at the 
 end of the year 1861. Yet President Lincoln, in 
 his message of December 3 to Congress, asserted 
 that the cause of the Union was " advancing 
 steadily and certainly southward." It was cheer 
 ing to the North that she had an optimist for 
 President. 
 
XI 
 
 THE WAR IN THE WEST 
 
 THE first year of the war was in a great meas 
 ure a preliminary skirmish, during which both 
 sides learned that the struggle was to be no 
 child s play, but a duel that was to call forth 
 every element of human strength. So marked is 
 the difference henceforth in the nature of the 
 conflict that in a sense one enters on an entirely 
 different period of history from that in which 
 the disruption of the Union occurred. In point 
 of fact, however, the struggle is the same as that 
 of the year before, aye, the same that had been 
 going on since Colonial days; it only reaches a 
 whiter heat. Hitherto, kindly sentiments and the 
 alluring charm of past associations had veiled 
 in part the hatred that lurked in the shadows on 
 both sides of the Potomac; but now the fiercer 
 passions of war had thrown aside their masks, 
 and the two peoples, old and young, men and 
 women, glared at each other with murderous 
 hearts. 
 
 The year 1862 did not open with much promise 
 to either side. The South had won the most con 
 siderable battles, and the North had at least 
 come to realize something of the task which was 
 before her. The advantages she had gained con 
 sisted in the retention in the Union of Ken- 
 264 
 
THE WAR IN THE WEST 265 
 
 tucky, Missouri, and West Virginia; the pos 
 session of Hatteras Inlet and Port Royal, Fort 
 Monroe and Fort Pickens; also, the establish 
 ment of the blockade of the whole Southern 
 ports. The plan of attack was now developed, 
 and its general features, as earlier outlined, was 
 consistently followed to the end of the war. 
 Broadly speaking, its purpose was to compress 
 the Confederacy from all sides, cutting off sup 
 plies by means of the blockade; to deal death 
 blows by driving expeditions through its heart. 
 This latter end necessitated the breaking through 
 of the Southern defence of the East and West 
 Railway. The key of this defence consisted in 
 the possession of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson 
 on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. 
 
 The only weakness in the position of the North 
 was in her military organization. The immense 
 army which had been gathered was weakened 
 and rendered inefficient by disharmony and fric 
 tion at head-quarters, and by jealous rivalry of 
 ambitious officers. Men were forthcoming in 
 numbers greater than the State needed or could 
 use. There is this evidence of the enthusiasm of 
 the North. On the other hand, it is clearly ap 
 parent that the war was made, by many men high 
 in position, simply an occasion for pushing their 
 own private fortunes. Towards the end of the 
 first year Mr. Chase wrote to Secretary of War 
 Cameron : 
 
 " The want of success of our armies and the difficulties of 
 our financial operations have not been in consequence of a 
 
2 66 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 want or excess of men, but for want of systematic adminis 
 tration. If the lack of economy and the absence of account 
 ability are allowed to prevail in the future as in the past, 
 bankruptcy and the success of the rebellion will be necessary 
 consequences." 
 
 Cameron himself was probably innocent of 
 using his position for pecuniary advantage; but 
 it is equally certain that he allowed himself to be 
 led into the signing of contracts by persons who 
 were ready to rob the government to the fullest 
 extent of possibility. On November 13 Senator 
 Grimes wrote to Fessenden : " We are going to 
 destruction as fast as imbecility, corruption, and 
 the wheels of time can carry us." Later he de 
 clares that a flood of corruption "is sweeping 
 over the land and perverting the moral sense of 
 the people. The army is in most inextricable 
 confusion, and is becoming worse and worse 
 every day." The House of Representatives, 
 April 30, 1862, passed a vote of censure upon 
 Cameron, who in January had been dismissed 
 from the Cabinet by President Lincoln and sent 
 as minister to Russia. Edward M. Stanton was 
 appointed Secretary of War, and proved a 
 striking illustration of the imbecility of the 
 political system which appoints men to posi 
 tions for which they have no fitness either by 
 nature or by training. 
 
 The grand army of the Potomac was still drill 
 ing. Early in the year McClellan was taken sick ; 
 his army must remain inactive until he recov 
 ered. On January 10, 1862, Lincoln said before 
 
THE WAR IN THE WEST 267 
 
 a council of war at the White House, "I am in 
 great distress. If something is not done soon the 
 bottom will be out of the whole affair; and if 
 General McClellan does not want to use the 
 army I would like to borrow it, provided I could 
 see how it could be made to do something." On 
 the 2/th of January, 1862, Lincoln, with a de 
 pendence on sentiment which was not unusual 
 with him, issued the remarkable order that there 
 should be " a general movement of the land and 
 naval forces of the United States against the in 
 surgent forces on the 22d of February." This 
 order was issued more for the sake of its effect 
 on the minds of the Confederates than on the 
 movements of the Union forces. It inaugurated 
 one campaign, however, which was successful; 
 the result was the breaking of the Confederate 
 line of defence which extended from Bowling 
 Green to Columbus, At this time Buell was at 
 Louisville. There was a force of Confederates 
 at Mill Springs on the Cumberland River, un 
 der General Zollicoffer. General Thomas was 
 sent against the Confederates and a battle was 
 fought, which resulted in the death of Zollicoffer 
 and in the opening of the way for an attack on 
 the centre of the Confederate line of defence. 
 Albert Sidney Johnston, at that period the most 
 able general of the Confederacy, was in com 
 mand of the forces in that part of the country. 
 After some trouble General Grant induced Hal- 
 leek to permit him to go against the forts on 
 the Cumberland and the Tennessee, supported 
 
268 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 by gunboats under the command of Flag-Officer 
 Foote. On the 6th of February the troops and 
 gunboats advanced to the assault of Fort Henry. 
 The Confederates, numbering less than three 
 thousand men, were under the command of Colo 
 nel Tilghman. He sent all of his force save sixty- 
 six men to Fort Donelson. With the handful of 
 troops that remained he held the fort until on the 
 third day of the investment he was forced to sur 
 render. The taking of Fort Donelson was an 
 operation of a different character. It brought 
 out in Grant those qualities of generalship, espe 
 cially his tenacity of purpose and his capacity for 
 adapting his plans to the special character of the 
 circumstances which confronted him, which dis 
 tinguished his after career and gave him success. 
 Fort Donelson was under the command of John 
 B. Floyd, who had been Secretary of War under 
 Buchanan. Grant understood Floyd s character, 
 knew that he was a man entirely devoid of cour 
 age, and planned the attack accordingly. He 
 strung his army of nearly thirty thousand men 
 over eight miles of country. There were about 
 twenty thousand men in the fort. Had Floyd 
 made a sally before Grant strengthened his thin 
 line by sending to Fort Henry for Lew Wal 
 lace, it might have been successful. But Grant s 
 calculation of the safety of taking the chances 
 was justified. The assault was made on the 
 evening of the I5th, and during the night fol 
 lowing the besieged generals determined to sur 
 render. 
 
THE WAR IN THE WEST 269 
 
 Lew Wallace, who, as we have seen, was on 
 the ground, thus describes the charge led by 
 General Smith : 
 
 "Taking Lauman s brigade, General Smith began the ad 
 vance. They were under fire instantly. The guns in the fort 
 joined in with the infantry, who were at the time in the 
 rifle-pits, the great body of the Confederate right wing being 
 with General Buckner. The defence was greatly favored by 
 the ground, which subjected the assailants to a double fire 
 from the beginning of the abatis. The men have said that 
 it looked too thick for a rabbit to get through. General 
 Smith, on his horse, took position in the front and centre 
 of the line. Occasionally he turned in the saddle to see how 
 the alignment was kept. For the most part, however, he 
 held his face steadily towards the enemy. He was, of 
 course, a conspicuous object for the sharp-shooters in the 
 rifle-pits. The air around him twittered with minie bullets. 
 Erect as if on review, he rode on, timing the gait of his horse 
 with the movement of his colors. A soldier said, I was 
 nearly scared to death, but I saw the old man s white 
 moustache over his shoulder, and went on. 
 
 " On to the abatis the regiments moved without hesitation, 
 leaving a trail of dead and wounded behind. There the fire 
 seemed to get trebly hot, and some of the men halted, 
 whereupon, seeing the hesitation, General Smith put his cap 
 on the point of his sword, held it aloft, and called out, No 
 flinching now, my lads ! Here this is the way ! Come on ! 
 He picked a path through the jagged limbs of the trees, 
 holding his cap all the time in sight; and the effect was 
 magical. The men swarmed in after him, and got through 
 in the best order they could not all of them, alas ! On the 
 other side of the obstruction they took the semblance of re 
 formation and charged in after their chief, who found him 
 self then between the two fires. Up the ascent he rode; up 
 they followed. At the last moment the keepers of the rifle- 
 pits clambered out and fled. The four regiments engaged in 
 the feat planted their colors on the breastwork. Later in the 
 day Buckner came back with his division, but all his efforts 
 to dislodge Smith were in vain." 
 
2 7 o THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 The fort was practically won, as was well un 
 derstood by its defenders. Floyd, and also Gen 
 eral Pillow, the second in command, had more 
 than sufficient reasons for not desiring to fall 
 into the hands of the Union officials ; they feared 
 they would be hanged. The manner in which 
 these officers decided on their surrender is in 
 terestingly picturesque, and is thus described 6y 
 Jefferson Davis : 
 
 " The decision to surrender having been made, it re 
 mained to determine by whom it should be made. Generals 
 Floyd and Pillow declared they would not surrender and 
 become prisoners ; the duty was therefore allotted to Gen 
 eral Buckner. Floyd said, General Buckner, if I place you 
 in command, will you allow me to draw out my brigade? 
 General Buckner replied, Yes, provided you do so before 
 the enemy act upon my communication/ Floyd said, Gen 
 eral Pillow, I turn over the command. General Pillow, 
 regarding this as a mere technical form by which the com 
 mand was to be conveyed to Buckner, then said, I pass it. 
 Buckner assumed the command, sent for a bugler to sound 
 the parley, for pen, ink, and paper, and opened the negotia 
 tions for surrender." 
 
 All the world knows Grant s reply to Buck- 
 ner s demand for terms, " No terms, except an 
 immediate and unconditional surrender, can be 
 accepted. I propose to move immediately upon 
 your works." 
 
 By the capture of Fort Donelson Grant de 
 pleted the Southern forces to the extent of from 
 twelve to fifteen thousand prisoners; also, he 
 took forty pieces of artillery and a large amount 
 of stores, etc. But more than all, by the manner 
 in which he had broken into the Southern de- 
 
THE WAR IN THE WEST 271 
 
 fence he had proved himself to be the coming 
 man. On the morning of February 17 the North 
 heard her first really important and cheering 
 news from the war. Grant s name was on every 
 body s lips. " Who is this U. S. Grant?" people 
 asked. " Unconditional Surrender Grant, I sup 
 pose," was the answer made by characteristic 
 American humor. 
 
 The fall of Fort Donelson was a severe dis 
 couragement to the South. It resulted in push 
 ing the Confederate line of defence two hundred 
 miles to the southward. It secured Kentucky 
 and Tennessee to the Union. 
 
 Who and what was the man who had thus so 
 effectually changed the face of the situation, and 
 was eventually to bring complete victory to the 
 Northern arms ? At this time forty years of age, 
 his life had hitherto been a complete failure. 
 Born in Clermont County, Ohio, of poor parents, 
 he received no education but such as the scanty 
 opportunities of the common schools afforded, 
 until he was appointed to West Point. His 
 standing there was not high. He was graduated 
 in 1843 twenty-first in a class of thirty-nine. He 
 served with honor during the Mexican War. In 
 1852, being then a first-lieutenant, he was sent 
 with his regiment to the Pacific coast. Here, 
 separated from his family, he fell into dissipated 
 habits. In 1854 he was practically forced to re 
 sign his commission, which was then that of a 
 captain, and went back to St. Louis, where he 
 unsuccessfully endeavored to make a living on 
 
2 72 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 his wife s farm. Then he tried real estate busi 
 ness, and made a failure. At the age of thirty- 
 eight we find him looking to his father and his 
 younger brother for assistance. The latter put 
 him in charge of a hardware store in Galena, Illi 
 nois. Grant at this time was still under the in 
 fluence of habits of intemperance. Acquaint 
 ances would cross the street to avoid meeting 
 him and being importuned for loans. His army 
 comrades were at this time under the impression 
 that the life of U. S. Grant was completely 
 wrecked. 
 
 But the nation s emergency was Grant s op 
 portunity. He was a fighter, a military leader, 
 and nothing more. In May of 1861, he applied 
 to the adjutant-general of the army for a regi 
 ment, and was totally ignored. He went to Cin 
 cinnati, where McClellan had his head-quarters 
 of the Department of the Ohio, but was not re 
 ceived. Before the year was over, however, such 
 was the need of the nation that his past was over 
 looked and he was appointed a brigadier-general 
 of volunteers. Grant had sagacity for general 
 ship; he possessed a natural savoir faire. He 
 was endowed with a courage which was marvel 
 lous; not alone personal coolness in the face 
 of danger, but also that which enabled him to 
 take the gravest chances as a general. He 
 schooled himself in the idea that the enemy 
 was just as much afraid of him as he was of the 
 enemy. 
 
 February 22, 1861, was the day appointed for 
 
THE WAR IN THE WEST 273 
 
 the change from a provisional to a permanent 
 Confederate government. On this occasion Jef 
 ferson Davis voiced the sentiment of the South : 
 " After a series of successes and victories which 
 covered our arms with glory, we have recently 
 met with serious disasters^. But in the heart of 
 a people resolved to be free these disasters tend 
 but to stimulate to increased resistance." 
 
 A. S. Johnston had by this time concentrated 
 his forces at Nashville. He was selected by the 
 people as the one to blame for the reverses to 
 the Confederate arms. The Senators and Rep 
 resentatives from Tennessee waited on Davis and 
 demanded his removal. The President s answer 
 was, " If Sidney Johnston is not a general, the 
 Confederacy has none to give you." 
 
 Johnston was compelled by the appearance of 
 Buell to evacuate Nashville. He marched back 
 to Pittsburg Landing, whither Grant brought his 
 forces from Donelson, planning a junction with 
 Buell. Johnston, foreseeing that Corinth would 
 be the centre of attack, was making every effort 
 to protect that point. Bragg thus describes 
 Johnston s army: 
 
 " It consisted of such levies as could be hastily raised, all 
 badly armed and equipped. ... It was a heterogeneous 
 mass, in which there was more enthusiasm than discipline, 
 more capacity than knowledge, more valor than instruction. 
 Rifles, rifled and smooth-bore muskets, some of them origi 
 nally percussion, others hastily altered from flint-locks by 
 Yankee contractors, many with the old flint and steel, and 
 shot-guns of all sizes and patterns held place in the same 
 regiments." 
 
 18 
 
274 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 This army was organized in four divisions un 
 der Polk, Bragg, Hardee, and Breckenridge. 
 
 Johnston knew that Buell was expected, and 
 determined to give battle before Grant was thus 
 reinforced. The latter seems to have displayed 
 an over-confidence on this occasion. He had 
 neglected to sufficiently fortify himself; and it is 
 more than probable that he was not aware of the 
 strength of Johnston. Early on the morning of 
 the 6th of April a reconnoitring party from the 
 Union army engaged Johnston s pickets, and the 
 famous battle of Shiloh was on. Grant was some 
 distance away at the Landing, looking for tidings 
 of Buell. His army was engaged before he could 
 return to make dispositions. The day s fighting 
 resulted in a success for the Confederates. But 
 they lost Johnston, who was killed. This event 
 resulted in the complete turn of fortune which 
 occurred on the following day. General Beaure- 
 gard thus describes the first day s victory : 
 
 " Like an Alpine avalanche our troops moved forward, 
 despite the determined resistance of the enemy, until after 
 six P.M., when we were in possession of all his encampments 
 between Owl and Lick Creeks but one; nearly all his field- 
 artillery, about thirty flags, colors and standards, over three 
 thousand prisoners, including a division commander (Gen 
 eral Prentiss), and several brigade commanders, thousands 
 of small-arms, an immense supply of subsistence, forage, and 
 munitions of war, and a large amount of means of transpor 
 tation, all the substantial fruits of a complete victory, 
 such, indeed, as rarely have followed the most successful 
 battles, for never was an army so well provided as that of 
 our enemy. 
 
 " The remnant of his army had been driven in utter dis 
 order to the immediate vicinity of Pittsburg, under the 
 
THE WAR IN THE WEST 275 
 
 shelter of the heavy guns of his iron-clad gunboats, and we 
 remained undisputed masters of his well-selected, admirably 
 provided cantonments, after our twelve hours of obstinate 
 conflict with his forces, who had been beaten from them 
 and the contiguous covert, but only by the sustained onset 
 of all the men we could bring into action." 
 
 Note that the Confederate army was in pos 
 session of all Grant s encampments between Owl 
 and Lick Creeks but one. That one gave a 
 landing for Buell s reinforcements, which, on the 
 following day, turned the victory. In the even 
 ing, as Bragg was about to head a final charge, 
 which would have completely swept the field, he 
 received an order from Beauregard to stop the 
 pursuit, lest the men be exposed to the gunboat 
 firing. Beauregard thought " the victory was 
 sufficiently complete." " Is a victory ever suffi 
 ciently complete?" angrily exclaimed Bragg. 
 But he obeyed the order, and the Confederate 
 army went into camp. 
 
 Grant s army was beaten. If the Confederates 
 had pressed on and gained full possession of the 
 water-front, and thus prevented Buell s landing, 
 leaving out of the consideration other exigencies 
 which might have affected the final result of the 
 war, and looking at the history as it really was, 
 the battle of Shiloh would in all probability have 
 given the victory to the South. Jefferson Davis 
 says that after this, " Grant s army being beaten, 
 the next step of General Johnston s programme 
 should have followed, the defeat of Jewell s and 
 Mitchell s forces as they successively came up, 
 
276 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 and the return by our victorious army through 
 Tennessee and Kentucky. . . . What great con 
 sequences would have ensued must be matters of 
 conjecture ; but that the people of Kentucky and 
 Missouri generously sympathized with the South 
 was then commonly admitted." 
 
 On the following morning Grant had twenty- 
 five thousand fresh troops. He himself com 
 menced the attack. The Confederates were 
 dispirited by the loss of Johnston. Point by 
 point they were driven back, until at the close of 
 the day Beauregard admitted his defeat and 
 turned towards Corinth. Thus ended the battle 
 of Shiloh one of the strongest, most indescriba 
 ble, and unscientific fights of the whole war. 
 Grant had unnecessarily exposed his men. Gen 
 eral Buell says : 
 
 " Of the army of not less than fifty thousand effective men, 
 which Grant had on the west bank of the Tennessee River, 
 not more than five thousand were in ranks and available on 
 the battle-field at nightfall on the sixth, exclusive of Lew 
 Wallace s division, say eight thousand five hundred men, 
 that only came up during the night. The rest were either 
 killed, captured, or scattered in inextricable and hopeless 
 confusion for miles along the banks of the river." 
 
 The slaughter had been terrific. Grant had 
 enemies at Washington, men who were bitterly 
 opposed to him through jealousy of his position; 
 for the moving spirit in the North was not 
 wholly an emulation as to who best could serve. 
 There was a large element of greed for office. 
 Great pressure was brought to bear upon Lin- 
 
THE WAR IN THE WEST 277 
 
 coin to have him removed. But the President 
 had begun to feel his way towards the men in 
 whom he could place reliance. Probably having 
 McClellan in mind, he said, " I can t spare this 
 man; he fights." 
 
 Halleck went to Pittsburg Landing and took 
 command there April n. He called in General 
 Pope, who had just succeeded in capturing 
 Island Number Ten, a strong fortress in a com 
 manding position on the Mississippi. Grant was 
 second in command; but as this gave him no 
 division, he felt that he was being shelved, and 
 had it not been for the influence of Sherman he 
 would have retired. Halleck marched on Cor 
 inth, which Beauregard vacated, and the Union 
 army continued almost to Chattanooga. Here 
 the policy of caution and consequent delay again 
 prevailed. This gave Bragg the opportunity to 
 slip past the left flank of the Union army and 
 again turn northward. He made for Louisville, 
 with Buell in close pursuit, though on a different 
 line of march. The Union general arrived first; 
 but instead of attacking the enemy, he waited to 
 organize, and Bragg, having nothing further to 
 gain, swept the country for the means of sub 
 sistence and started back southward with an im 
 mense train of plunder. 
 
 The Civil War was won by the Union navy. 
 It was prolonged by the Southern. What Grant 
 and Sherman did to bring the struggle to a suc 
 cessful issue was made possible by the opera 
 tions of Farragut and Foote. The gunboats on 
 
278 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 the Mississippi and Cumberland Rivers rendered 
 effective access by the Federal forces to Forts 
 Henry and Donelson. The former river remained 
 barred to the Union until Foote broke through 
 from the North and Farragut took New Orleans. 
 The blockade of the Atlantic ports, by prevent 
 ing the Confederacy from recuperating itself by 
 means of European commerce, made possible 
 that sapping of its strength without which its de 
 feat could not have been accomplished. Sher 
 man s " March to the Sea" was a deadly blow, 
 which could not have been delivered had it not 
 been that there was a friendly fleet off the At 
 lantic coast to which he could look for support. 
 
 The Mississippi, above Vicksburg, was now 
 in possession of the Union. It was in accordance 
 with the general plan to start from the other end 
 also. Said Secretary Stanton, " Why can t New 
 Orleans be taken?" " It can," laconically replied 
 General Benjamin Butler, to whom the question 
 was addressed. A fleet of war-vessels was de 
 spatched under the command of Farragut, aided 
 by mortar-boats under David B. Porter. 
 
 David G. Farragut was a Southerner, having 
 been born in Tennessee. In his ninth year he 
 entered the service of the United States navy as 
 midshipman, and was on board the " Essex" in 
 the war of 1812. Thus for fifty years he had 
 sailed and fought and commanded under the 
 Stars and Stripes. It is no wonder then that, 
 though bound to the South by intimate ties, 
 his wife was a Norfolk lady, he could not en- 
 
THE WAR IN THE WEST 279 
 
 tertain the thought of deserting the old flag. He 
 was in Norfolk when the war broke out. Im 
 portuned by his friends to give his services to 
 the Confederacy, he replied, " I would see every 
 man of you damned before I would raise my 
 hand against that flag." Still it was with some 
 hesitancy that the authorities intrusted so mo 
 mentous and difficult an undertaking as the 
 attack on New Orleans to a Southerner. But 
 there was no other man so well fitted for the 
 work. 
 
 On reaching the mouth of the Mississippi, it 
 was found that, owing to the shallow water at 
 the bar, it was impossible to take the largest ves 
 sels across; thus the most effective part of Far- 
 ragut s fleet was rendered useless. The defences 
 of New Orleans were extremely formidable. 
 Ninety miles below the city were the two forts, 
 St. Philip and Jackson, commanding the passage 
 from either side. Besides these the Confeder 
 ates had on the lower river a fleet of gunboats 
 and ironclads, the principal ones being the iron 
 clad ram " Manassas" a most formidable craft, 
 owing to her almost impenetrable protection 
 and the " Louisiana," which was not quite com 
 pleted. The river was also blocked by rafts and 
 chains of schooners. 
 
 Farragut began his attack by a bombardment 
 from his fleet of mortar-boats on April 18. This 
 was kept up for five days with no effect on the 
 forts, though in that time over sixteen hundred 
 shells had been fired by the Union mortar-boats. 
 
2 So THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 Farragut determined to take his wooden ships 
 past the forts, an heroic measure, but he con 
 sidered that it was the first thing which he was 
 sent there to do. At two o clock on the morn 
 ing of April 24 the mortar-boa ts under David B. 
 Porter opened fire, which drew a furious response 
 from the forts. To the accompaniment of this 
 music Farragut started his procession of ships. 
 As soon as the Confederates surmised the pur 
 pose of the Union fleet huge fires were lighted 
 on the river banks, and fire rafts of pine-knots 
 were sent down-stream. These lighted up the 
 river, so that, until obscured by the clouds of 
 smoke, the ships were in plain sight of the forts. 
 So they passed up, firing at and receiving the 
 fire of the forts as they went. Farragut s flag 
 ship, the " Hartford," in trying to escape a drift 
 ing fire-raft, ran aground. Pacing his deck, the 
 commander cried, " Don t flinch from that fire, 
 boys ! There s a hotter fire for those who don t 
 do their duty." It was a terrific scene, of which 
 a detailed account as gathered from the reports 
 of the participating officers causes one to wonder 
 how any of those wooden vessels lived through it. 
 But after much damage was given and received, 
 the foremost of the Union ships reached 
 Chalmette at five o clock in the morning. The 
 loss in this river engagement was thirty-seven 
 killed and one hundred and forty-seven wounded 
 on the Union side, and certainly not less among 
 the Confederates. But the chief gain to the for 
 mer lay in the fact that Farragut had forestalled 
 
THE WAR IN THE WEST 281 
 
 such increased defences as would have perhaps 
 rendered the attack a failure. " Had they suc 
 ceeded," he said, " in getting any one of those 
 on the Mississippi finished before our arrival, it 
 would have proved a most formidable adver 
 sary." Admiral Porter says that if New Orleans 
 had " been left three months longer to perfect its 
 defences and its works of offence, our wooden 
 fleet would have been driven North, and the en 
 tire Southern coast would have been sealed 
 against us. The blockade would have been 
 raised, and the independence of the South recog 
 nized by the powers of Europe." 
 
 The city being unprotected by any adequate 
 troops, its capture was immediately accom 
 plished; not, however, before its inhabitants had 
 performed an act of loyalty to the Confederate 
 cause in the destruction of an immense quantity 
 of cotton, which they burned to prevent its be 
 coming of advantage to the North. On May i, 
 1862, General Butler entered the city with two 
 thousand five hundred troops. He was not wel 
 comed. Military rule was established, and it was 
 such a rule as will ever be remembered to the 
 disgrace of the man. Butler s regulations can 
 not be condoned with justice, or excused by any 
 consideration of the necessities of war. It is true 
 that the women of New Orleans had no love for 
 his officers or his men. But his order of May 15, 
 that if any female should insult in any manner 
 a Union officer or soldier, " she should be re 
 garded and held liable to be treated as a woman 
 
282 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 of the town plying her vocation," warrants Lord 
 Palmerston s denunciation of it in the House of 
 Commons as infamous. The Saturday Review 
 said of the proclamation, " The bloodiest sav 
 ages could do nothing crueller; the most loath 
 some Yahoo of fiction could do nothing filthier." 
 Seward did well in bringing about the recall of 
 Butler. 
 
 Contrary to the usual custom of historians, we 
 will continue our narrative of the campaign in 
 the West, leaving the contemporary Virginian 
 war for a future chapter. In the mean time, how 
 ever, it is pertinent to ask, How was the war 
 affecting the status of those on whose account it 
 was being fought? It had been believed by the 
 abolitionists that immediately on the breaking 
 out of the war the slaves would make a stampede 
 for freedom. This, however, had not been ful 
 filled. The majority of the slaves had no con 
 ception of what the war was about, nor did they 
 suspect that it had any personal interest for 
 them. They remained faithfully and devotedly 
 on the plantations and in the homes while their 
 masters were fighting against those who would 
 set them free. Many were directly employed in 
 services pertaining to the war, such as body- 
 servants of Southern officers and laborers at 
 work on the fortifications. On the 6th of August, 
 1861, Congress had passed a bill freeing such 
 slaves as were employed for insurrectionary pur 
 poses. On the i6th of April, 1862, another bill 
 was passed abolishing slavery in the District of 
 
THE WAR IN THE WEST 283 
 
 Columbia. On the 6th of March, 1862, President 
 Lincoln sent to Congress a special message, in 
 which he said : 
 
 " I recommend the adoption of a joint resolution by your 
 honorable bodies which shall be substantially as follows : 
 
 "Resolved, That the United States ought to co-operate 
 with any State which may adopt general abolishment of 
 slavery ; etc." 
 
 This Act was passed on the 2d of April. But 
 no slave State claimed the advantage conferred 
 by it; they could not see that for slavery the 
 hour of doom had struck. 
 
 Notwithstanding the strictures to which Grant 
 had been subjected after the battle of Shiloh, the 
 people saw that he was the man of the hour. 
 So great was the dissatisfaction with his super- 
 sedure that, in the early part of July, Halleck 
 was called to Washington to take the chief com 
 mand of the army, thus leaving Grant at the head 
 of the Department of the West. But the prin 
 cipal burden of the offensive operations in that 
 section was cast upon Buell, who was depended 
 upon for the capture of Chattanooga, the prin 
 cipal strategic position of the West. He was 
 outgeneralled, however, by Bragg, who passed 
 to his rear, thus cutting off Buell s line of com 
 munication between Nashville and Louisville, 
 compelling him to retreat to the latter place. 
 Washington became impatient. Halleck said : 
 
 " The President and Secretary of War are greatly dis 
 pleased with the slow movements of General Buell. Unless 
 he does something very soon, I think he will be removed. 
 
284 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 Indeed, it would have been done before if I had not begged 
 to give him a little more time. There must be more energy 
 and activity in Kentucky and Tennessee, and the one who 
 first does something brilliant will get the entire command. 
 . . . The government seems determined to apply the guillo 
 tine to all unsuccessful generals." 
 
 Buell was not able to accomplish anything 
 brilliant. He was defeated at Perryville, Octo 
 ber 8, and was immediately thereupon super 
 seded by General Rosecrans. This change was 
 brought about through the influence of Oliver P. 
 Morton, governor of Indiana, who had a private 
 grudge against Buell. The latter seems to have 
 been an able general, and would have done better 
 probably had he not been hampered by the ad 
 ministration. But he had a faculty for making 
 enemies of those who were on his own side. Lin 
 coln realized the necessity of retaining popular 
 support ; and for it he was willing to see his gen 
 erals officially beheaded. 
 
 Bragg went into winter quarters at Murfrees- 
 borough, Tennessee. On the 26th of December 
 Rosecrans moved to attack him. The san 
 guinary battle of Stone River followed on Janu 
 ary i, 1863. There was a series of engagements 
 around Murfreesborough. The historians of 
 both sides claim the victory. General Bragg, 
 hearing that reinforcements were on the way to 
 Rosecrans, fell back on Tullahoma, carrying with 
 him, it is claimed by the Southern historians, six 
 thousand prisoners and thirty pieces of captured 
 artillery. Nevertheless, the President tele 
 graphed to Rosecrans, " God bless you." The 
 
THE WAR IN THE WEST 285 
 
 North at this period needed to make the most of 
 her victories. 
 
 Grant was now attempting to clear the Mis 
 sissippi. The only remaining obstacle was Vicks- 
 burg. In January, 1863, Grant undertook the 
 expedition against this point. The main diffi 
 culty in the attack was to get possession of the 
 high ground on the east bank of the river, so that 
 the city might be besieged from the rear. In 
 order that he might get his transports past 
 Vicksburg without exposing them to the bat 
 teries of the defence, he labored to construct a 
 canal across the peninsula opposite the city. 
 This, however, was beyond the skill of his engi 
 neers. Two months were spent in ineffective 
 operations, while sickness resulting from the cli 
 mate made great havoc among his men. The 
 North became impatient. Stories were circu 
 lated accusing Grant of indulging at this time 
 in gross intemperance, and these were believed 
 by Halleck. When this charge was repeated to 
 Lincoln, he replied, " If I knew what brand of 
 whiskey he drinks, I would send a barrel or so to 
 some other generals." The fact is that at this 
 time Grant was not drinking at all. Much of 
 the dissatisfaction with Grant resulted from the 
 treachery of McClernand, one of his corps com 
 manders, who was actuated by jealousy. But 
 Grant had the full confidence of Lincoln, who 
 caused a despatch to be sent to him giving him 
 " full and absolute authority to enforce his own 
 commands." 
 
286 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 By April 16 Grant was ready to act on his 
 characteristic policy of going " forward to a de 
 cisive victory." He determined on a complete 
 investiture of Vicksburg. Admiral Porter was 
 in command of the gunboats, and was ready to 
 co-operate heartily in Grant s plan. It was neces 
 sary to move the transports carrying supplies to 
 a point below the cities. This could be done only 
 by running past the batteries. During the night 
 of April 1 6 this project was successfully carried 
 out. Six steamers towing twelve barges started 
 in the darkness to run the gauntlet. But the 
 river was soon illuminated by the burning houses 
 which the Confederates set on fire for that pur 
 pose. The batteries opened fire with shot and 
 shell, which was heartily responded to by the 
 seven ironclad gunboats. All the vessels suc 
 ceeded in getting past with the exception of the 
 " Henry Clay," which was set on fire by the 
 bursting of a shell and was burned to the water s 
 edge. 
 
 Vicksburg was under the command of General 
 Pemberton, who had with him about thirty-one 
 thousand troops. Grant s force, including Sher 
 man s corps, was ultimately about seventy-five 
 thousand. Joe Johnston, however, was at Jack 
 son with some eleven thousand Confederates. 
 Grant turned, met Johnston, and forced him to 
 retreat. On the i6th of May Pemberton was 
 defeated at Champion s Hill, about midway be 
 tween Vicksburg and Jackson. On the I7th he 
 was engaged at Big Black River and again 
 
THE WAR IN THE WEST 287 
 
 beaten. He then retired within the defences at 
 Vicksburg. These operations gave Grant his 
 long-sought opportunity to reach the heights on 
 the north overlooking Vicksburg. On the 22d 
 of May he made an effort to take the city by 
 assault, but failed, suffering a loss of over three 
 thousand. It was evident that Vicksburg could 
 be reduced only by regular siege. 
 
 The inhabitants were now subjected to the 
 horrible experiences of continual bombardment 
 and starvation. Caves were dug in the ground 
 for the protection of the women and children; 
 rats were sold in the butchers stores. The siege 
 continued until the end of June. By that time 
 Pemberton s troops were ready for mutiny. 
 They said, " If you can t feed us, you had 
 better surrender us, horrible as the idea is, 
 than suffer this noble, army to disgrace them 
 selves by desertion." 
 
 On the 4th of July Grant telegraphed : " The 
 enemy surrendered this morning. The only 
 terms allowed is their parole as prisoners of 
 war." The number of prisoners was over thirty 
 thousand. One hundred and seventy-two cannon 
 were captured, and upward of fifty thousand mus 
 kets, which were a welcome addition to the 
 Northern armament, as they were of the im 
 proved pattern and made in Europe. 
 
 Lincoln could how say, " The Father of Waters 
 again goes unvexed to the sea." The joy of the 
 North at this victory was intense, and she was 
 ready to reward the man by whose genius and 
 
288 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 determination it was won. Grant s enemies were 
 silenced. Even Halleck was convinced of his 
 ability; and immediately the commission of a 
 major-general in the regular army was conferred 
 upon him. 
 
 Pollard, arguing on his belief that the destitu 
 tion of the army and inhabitants of Vicksburg 
 was not so great as Pemberton described, says : 
 
 " There appears, then, to have been no immediate occasion 
 for the surrender of Vicksburg other than Pemberton s 
 desire to save the further effusion of blood. The explana 
 tion of his motives for selecting the Fourth of July as the 
 day of surrender implies a singular humiliation of the Con 
 federacy, as he was willing to give this dramatic gratifica 
 tion to the vanity of the enemy in the hope of thus con 
 ciliating the ambition of Grant and soliciting the generosity 
 of the Yankees. He says, If it should be asked why the 
 Fourth of July was selected as the day for the surrender, 
 the answer is obvious : I believed that upon that day I 
 should obtain better terms. Well aware of the vanity of our 
 foes, I knew they would attach vast importance to the 
 entrance, on the Fourth of July, into the stronghold of the 
 great river, and that, to gratify their national vanity, they 
 would yield then what could not be extorted from them at 
 any other time. Such an incident of humiliation was alone 
 wanting to complete the disaster and shame of Vicksburg." 
 
 Success had also attended the Northern arms 
 to the west of the Mississippi, in Missouri and 
 Arkansas. General Price, the Confederate 
 leader, was at Springfield in January, 1862. He 
 was intrenched with ten thousand men, but when 
 General S. R. Curtis moved against him from 
 Rolla with an army of twelve thousand, Price 
 abandoned his works and retreated into Arkan 
 sas. He was there reinforced, and Curtis in turn 
 
THE WAR IN THE WEST 289 
 
 concluded that his own safe course was to retire 
 to the Ozark hills. On the ?th of March the Con 
 federates were endeavoring to cut the Union 
 connection with Springfield. Curtis occupied a 
 position on the ridge between Sugar Creek Val 
 ley and Cross Timber Hollows. Here was fought 
 what is known as the battle of Pea Ridge. The 
 result of the first day s fighting was that the Con 
 federates succeeded in getting between the 
 Union army and Springfield; consequently Cur 
 tis was compelled to cut his way out or accept 
 the only alternative, surrender his army. On 
 the 8th, by a gallant movement in which he suc 
 ceeded in planting his guns on hills from which 
 he could rake the Confederates by cross-firing, 
 he extricated himself from his perilous position, 
 won a decisive victory, and prevented the fur 
 ther invasion of Missouri. 
 
 The battle of Pea Ridge had an extremely un 
 pleasant feature connected with it, the record of 
 which is a blot on the history of the South. One 
 brigade of the Confederate force consisted of In 
 dians. General Curtis, in his report, declares 
 that they tomahawked and scalped his men. It 
 was clearly an employment of savages and meth 
 ods of fighting contrary to the ethics of modern 
 warfare. The only plea and it is a strong one 
 with which the South can answer this accusa 
 tion is that the Indian brigade was organized and 
 commanded by Albert Pike, a Boston man and 
 a graduate of Harvard. But giving that fact all 
 due consideration, the employment of these In- 
 
290 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 dians to a certain degree offsets the complaints 
 which the South made against the arming of the 
 negro by the North. In fact, both expedients 
 were reprehensible, looking at them any way we 
 will. 
 
 After the battle of Stone River Rosecrans 
 seemed to have been taking a leaf out of McClel- 
 lan s book. Six months were spent in recupera 
 tion and organizing. His only success was of an 
 argumentative character, by which he convinced 
 the authorities at Washington of the desirability 
 of leaving him to his own devices. In June, how 
 ever, he began a series of manoeuvres by which 
 he drew Bragg out of middle Tennessee and shut 
 him up in Chattanooga. There he hoped to re 
 peat Grant s exploit of Vicksburg. But Bragg 
 was not the man to be thus handled; he suc 
 ceeded in getting out and moved to the south 
 ward. Rosecrans, in pursuit, so extended his line 
 that Bragg, who was now reinforced, saw his 
 opportunity and turned to strike. This was on 
 the iQth of September. On the following day was 
 fought the battle of Chickamauga, the bloodiest 
 field of the West, and a disastrous one for the 
 Union. The left division of the Federal army 
 was under General Thomas. Rosecrans, owing 
 to the excessive strain to which he had been sub 
 jected for many days previous, was in no condi 
 tion to command. His men agree that he was 
 whipped before he commenced to fight. During 
 the day a mistake was made in withdrawing a 
 brigade from the centre; and Bragg, seeing his 
 
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THE WAR IN THE WEST 291 
 
 chance, poured in his troops, and thus divided 
 the Union army. The right, under the command 
 of Rosecrans, was swept from the field, and fled 
 in precipitation to Chattanooga, whence Charles 
 A. Dana, Assistant Secretary of War, tele 
 graphed to Washington : " Chickamauga is as 
 fatal a name in our history as Bull Run." Gen 
 eral Thomas, " The Rock of Chickamauga/ how 
 ever, had held his ground, and at night returned 
 to Chattanooga, bringing with him five hundred 
 prisoners. 
 
 The tables were now turned. Rosecrans was 
 in Chattanooga, and Bragg was the besieger. 
 Hooker was sent with a detachment from the 
 army of the Potomac; Sherman came through 
 from the Mississippi; and Grant, who had gone 
 to New Orleans, came up to take the command. 
 This last move was essential, as Rosecrans had 
 entirely lost control. Grant replaced Rosecrans 
 by Thomas, putting the latter in command of the 
 Army of the Cumberland, and telegraphing him 
 from Louisville to hold Chattanooga under all 
 circumstances. On the other hand, President 
 Davis, entirely misapprehending Bragg s posi 
 tion, depleted his strength by ordering fifteen 
 thousand of his men to Knoxville to engage 
 Burnside. 
 
 Chattanooga is surrounded by hills. The Con 
 federates lay in a line twelve miles long between 
 Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain. 
 Grant s plan was for Hooker to attack the latter 
 and Sherman the former, believing that this 
 
292 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 would cause Bragg to weaken his centre to help 
 these points, whereupon he himself would strike 
 the Confederate centre with his main army. The 
 plan succeeded even beyond his anticipations, 
 owing to the dash and spirit shown by the men 
 who assaulted the hills. Sherman gained the 
 Ridge on the 23d; Hooker won the battle of 
 Lookout Mountain on the 24th. The storming 
 of Missionary Ridge was one of the most bril 
 liant charges made during the whole war. An 
 account of it is best given in the words of Dana, 
 who was an eye-witness : 
 
 " The storming of the ridge by our troops was one of the 
 greatest miracles in military history. No man who climbs 
 the ascent by any of the roads that wind along its front can 
 believe that eighteen thousand men were moved up its 
 broken and crumbling face unless it was his fortune to 
 witness the deed. It seems as awful as a visible interposition 
 of God. Neither Grant nor Thomas intended it. Their 
 orders were to carry the rifle-pits along the base of the 
 ridge, and capture their occupants ; but when this was ac 
 complished the unaccountable spirit of the troops bore them 
 bodily up those impracticable steeps, over the bristling rifle- 
 pits on the crest, and the thirty cannon enfilading every 
 gully. The order to storm seems to have been given simul 
 taneously by Generals Sheridan and Wood, because the men 
 were not to be held back, dangerous as the attempt appeared 
 to military prudence. Besides, the generals had caught the 
 inspiration of the men, and were ready themselves to under 
 take impossibilities." 
 
 After successes like these, Grant s work on 
 the third day was easy. A terrible enfilading fire 
 to the right and left soon threw the Confederates 
 into a panic. They had inflicted great slaughter 
 on the Federal army; but these points of van- 
 
THE WAR IN THE WEST 293 
 
 tage being gained, Bragg had nothing to do but 
 retreat. Sherman immediately went to the relief 
 of Burnside, who was besieged by Longstreet s 
 corps at Knoxville. The raising of this siege and 
 the victory of Chattanooga put eastern Tennes 
 see in the power of the Union, and opened the 
 way to Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas. 
 
XII 
 
 THE WAR IN VIRGINIA 
 
 AFTER the battle of Bull Run the Confederates 
 moved their outposts from Centreville, Virginia, 
 almost to the banks of the Potomac. Thus their 
 flag was in plain view from Washington. They 
 erected batteries on the Virginia side of the 
 river, and thus effectually blockaded the water- 
 communication of the Federal capital. In view 
 of this state of things, it is a marvel beyond com 
 prehension that the North should have endured 
 McQellan s inactivity for so long a time. The 
 patience of the President and the people, how 
 ever, had a limit. McClellan writes : " About the 
 middle of January, 1862, upon recovering from a 
 severe illness, I found that excessive anxiety for 
 an immediate movement of the Army of the Po 
 tomac had taken possession of the minds of the 
 administration." As we have seen, Lincoln or 
 dered a general movement of all the armies to be 
 made on the 22d of February, 1862. His plan 
 for the Army of the Potomac was that it should 
 move upon Manassas. McClellan had a plan of 
 his own, which for a long time he was very un 
 willing to divulge. In brief, it was to change 
 his base of operations to the lower Chesapeake, 
 and thence to threaten Richmond. It was with 
 
 difficulty that Lincoln could be brought to agree 
 294 
 
THE WAR IN VIRGINIA 295 
 
 to this. He saw that it was more important 
 for the Federal army to protect Washington 
 than it was for that of the Confederate govern 
 ment to protect their capital. Nevertheless, at 
 this time he either had not lost confidence in Mc- 
 Clellan, or he did not feel strong enough to re 
 move him. But it was necessary that the grand 
 army of the Potomac should be put to some 
 active use. Lincoln gave permission for the 
 adoption of McClellan s plan. 
 
 That Lincoln s view was the true one is shown 
 by the fact that on the /th of March, 1862, Gen 
 eral Joseph E. Johnston began to retreat from 
 Manassas, destroying a great quantity of stores 
 which the Confederate government had improvi- 
 dently accumulated at his head-quarters. When 
 the Union army occupied this position they 
 found that the strength which McClellan had 
 feared was nothing but a shadow. Not only was 
 Johnston much weaker than McClellan had be 
 lieved, but, being short of artillery, he had 
 " made rough imitations of guns," and mounted 
 them " near the embrasures in readiness for ex 
 hibition." As Hawthorne said, " It was as if 
 General McClellan had thrust his sword into a 
 gigantic enemy, and, beholding him suddenly 
 collapse, had discovered to himself and the world 
 that he had merely punctured an enormously 
 swollen bladder. . . . The whole business takes 
 on a tinge of the ludicrous. The vast prepara 
 tion of men and warlike material; the majestic 
 patience and docility with which the people 
 
296 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 waited through those weary and dreary months; 
 the martial skill, courage, and caution with 
 which our movement was ultimately made ; and, 
 at last, the tremendous shock with which we were 
 brought up suddenly against nothing at all ! The 
 Southerners show little sense of humor now 
 adays, but I think they must have meant to pro 
 voke a laugh at our expense when they planted 
 those Quaker guns. At all events, no other rebel 
 artillery has played upon us with such over 
 whelming effect." It speaks as unfavorably of 
 the Federal Secret Service as it does of the ca 
 pacity of McClellan. If the latter had obeyed 
 the President s order and had engaged the Con 
 federate army at Manassas on February 22, he 
 must have gained an easy victory and an almost 
 unimpeded march to Richmond. The only con 
 clusion to which one is forced is that McClellan 
 did not wish to fight. He was either a coward 
 or disloyal; that he was the former cannot be 
 established. 
 
 He was compelled to move at last, however; 
 and his own plan was accepted as the most feasi 
 ble, namely, to take Fort Monroe as a base, and 
 move upon Richmond up the Peninsula formed 
 by the James and York Rivers. This plan, at 
 that time, was well devised. But it was carried 
 out neither with promptness nor with ability. 
 McClellan, instead of piercing the Confederate 
 line, as he might have done, sat down to a scien 
 tific siege of Yorktown. This delay gave the 
 Confederates the opportunity to increase their 
 
. K, v A^v **/v/ Zfcz 
 
 LETTER FROM GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE TO GENERAL 
 JAMES LONGSTREET 
 
H^ 
 
THE WAR IN VIRGINIA 297 
 
 army, by warrant of a conscription law which had 
 just been passed, though in the face of bitter 
 resistance, which not seldom resulted in men 
 being dragged to war in chains. Extensive re 
 organization was accomplished and energetic 
 preparations were made for the defence of Rich 
 mond. The Southern force at Yorktown was 
 under the command of Magruder. He had under 
 him less than twelve thousand men, yet with 
 them he managed to hold McClellan at bay for a 
 month, long enough to enable the Confederates 
 to concentrate before Richmond, under the gen 
 eral command of Joseph E. Johnston. 
 
 The latter had left a strong force at Williams- 
 burg, in the centre of the Peninsula, to guard 
 his baggage-train. On the 5th of May this was 
 engaged by the Federal advance under Hooker, 
 and a sharp battle of nine hours ensued. The 
 North claimed a victory. But inasmuch as the 
 enemy fought for no other purpose than that of 
 giving their baggage-train time to get away, and 
 as that was accomplished, the claim does not 
 seem to be well founded. Johnston says he was 
 not pursued, and that he inflicted a loss twice as 
 great as that he suffered. 
 
 But matters looked serious for Richmond. Its 
 people were not so greatly worried over the ap 
 proach of McClellan, for they had long ere this 
 learned to despise his generalship; but the 
 " Monitor," after her successful encounter with 
 the " Merrimac" had opened to the Federal fleet 
 the James River. On May 15 the " Monitor," 
 
298 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 with several gunboats, ascended the river to 
 Drewry s Bluff, eight miles below Richmond. 
 This threw the city, and especially the Con 
 federate executive, into a panic. Congress ad 
 journed, in spite of the appeal of the people 
 that they should continue their session. The 
 city was almost entirely unfortified, the authori 
 ties having failed even to protect the approach 
 by the river, there being on it no obstacle to the 
 enemy except the half-finished fort at Drewry s 
 Bluff, on which there were but four guns in posi 
 tion. 
 
 But the feeling at Richmond was not unani 
 mous. While many of the inhabitants were 
 evincing signs of pusillanimity, and showed dis 
 loyalty to their government, congratulating 
 themselves that they were not so committed as 
 to incur the enemy s resentment; and while the 
 effects of the government were already packed 
 ready for shipment to Columbia, South Caro 
 lina, the majority were determined on resistance 
 to the very uttermost; the Legislature of Vir 
 ginia passed resolutions imploring the Confed 
 erate authorities to hold Richmond at the cost 
 of its destruction rather than to surrender. They 
 desired that " the President be assured that 
 whatever destruction or loss of property of the 
 State or individuals shall thereby result will be 
 cheerfully submitted to." This encouraged the 
 administration. Every effort was now made to 
 block the water approach. The works at 
 Drewry s Bluff were finished and armed. The 
 
THE WAR IN VIRGINIA 299 
 
 river was filled with sunken obstructions ; and just 
 as these latter were completed by the sinking 
 of a schooner the Federal gunboats " Galena" 
 and " Aristook," with the " Monitor," appeared. 
 When the first sounds of the bombardment were 
 heard, a public meeting was being held at the 
 City Hall. The occasion was improved by the 
 delivery of impromptu and enthusiastic addresses 
 from the governor of Virginia and the mayor of 
 Richmond. They pledged their word that rather 
 than surrender the city they would devote it 
 to the flames, and in this they were upheld 
 by the citizens whose homes and property were 
 at stake. Governor Letcher declared that if 
 he were given the alternative to be shelled or 
 surrender, he should reply, " Bombard and be 
 damned." 
 
 During the day of the I5th an artillery duel 
 went on between the Federal gunboats and the 
 fort, with the result that the former were beaten 
 off. Seventeen shots struck the " Galena," kill 
 ing and wounding thirty of her crew. On an 
 other boat seventeen were killed. The fleet was 
 convinced of the impracticability of taking Rich 
 mond by the river. 
 
 During this time McClellan was doing nothing 
 but planning, teasing the administration at 
 Washington for reinforcements, and writing to 
 his wife of successes which had no existence ex 
 cept in his own mind. " I think," he said in one 
 letter, " that the blows the rebels are now re 
 ceiving and have lately received ought to break 
 
300 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 them up." In the mean time Lincoln was urging 
 him to take Richmond, " or give up the job." 
 
 The Federal forces were dotted about in the 
 Shenandoah Valley and in western Virginia, 
 without any pretence of concentration either as 
 to plan or command. In this Stonewall Jack 
 son saw his opportunity. By an expedition into 
 the Shenandoah Valley, thus threatening Wash 
 ington, he might give the Federal government 
 something to think about besides the capture of 
 Richmond. Leaving Ewell at Swift Run Gap to 
 hold in check General Banks, who had an army 
 in the valley, he made a rapid and circuitous 
 march (picking up reinforcements by the way) 
 to McDowell, where Milroy was in command of 
 the Federals. On May 8 Jackson sent this de 
 spatch to Richmond : " God blessed our arms 
 with victory at McDowell yesterday." He now 
 went after Banks, and found him at Winchester 
 on May 25. Owing to egregious mistakes on 
 the part of the War Department at Washington, 
 Banks had not been reinforced, nor had there 
 been any concentration of the armies that might 
 have assisted him. He was defeated by Jackson 
 at Winchester on May 25, and, had not the Po 
 tomac River and means of crossing it been at 
 hand, Banks s whole command would have been 
 destroyed. 
 
 McClellan wrote to his wife at this time : " I 
 have this moment received a despatch from the 
 President, who is terribly scared about Wash 
 ington, and talks about the necessity of my re- 
 
THE WAR IN VIRGINIA 301 
 
 turning in order to save it. Heaven save a coun 
 try governed by such counsels ! Banks has been 
 soundly thrashed, and they are terribly alarmed 
 in Washington. A scare will do them good and 
 may bring them to their senses." Was there 
 ever such fatuitous egotism ! 
 
 Washington was scared. The administration 
 saw visions of Stonewall Jackson swooping down 
 with an immense force. Stanton was panic- 
 stricken, a condition of mind into which he 
 was always easily thrown. On hearing news of 
 the " Merrimac s" exploits in Hampton Roads, 
 he looked out of the windows expecting to be 
 hold the monster already threatening Washing 
 ton. On the present occasion he telegraphed to 
 the governors of the Northern States to imme 
 diately organize and forward all the militia and 
 volunteer force at their command. McDowell s 
 regiments, which were on their way to reinforce 
 McClellan, were recalled. Had it not been for 
 Jackson s brilliant campaign, the Federal army 
 before Richmond would have been strengthened 
 by forty thousand men. With a force of seven 
 teen thousand he confused and deluded sixty 
 thousand Union troops, gave Washington the 
 greatest alarm it ever suffered, won several bat 
 tles, prevented the capture of Richmond, and re 
 turned with a great quantity of spoil and a large 
 number of prisoners. 
 
 Very slowly McClellan advanced, though he 
 encountered no opposition worth speaking of, 
 until, on the 3Oth of May, he was at Fair Oaks, 
 
3 o2 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 about eight miles from Richmond. The object 
 of Northern desire was then almost within his 
 grasp. It now seemed reasonable for the ad 
 ministration to expect that something would 
 happen. Lincoln had in many despatches ex 
 pressed an " excessive anxiety" to hear of some 
 cheering victory. The general had hitherto had 
 nothing to say except to make demands for more 
 troops and excuse his delay by the muddiness of 
 the roads. Lincoln was provoked to say, " Mc- 
 Clellan seemed to think, in defiance of Scripture, 
 that Heaven sent its rain only on the just and not 
 on the unjust." 
 
 In the mean time Johnston had forced McClel- 
 lan to activity. On the 3ist of May, owing to 
 the flooded condition of the rivers, the Union 
 army lay divided into two parts. Seizing the 
 opportunity afforded by this temporary weakness 
 of position, Johnston made an attack on General 
 Casey, who was in command of the troops on the 
 Richmond side of the Chickahominy. This was 
 the battle of Fair Oaks or Seven Pines. Until 
 five o clock in the afternoon the advantage was 
 decidedly with the Confederates, though Kearney 
 saved the Union troops from an utter rout; but 
 at that time Sumner crossed the river on log 
 bridges at the head of two divisions, and after 
 being thus strengthened, the Federals turned 
 defeat into victory, though it was far from a de 
 cisive one. The principal mishap to the Con 
 federates was the disabling of Johnston, who was 
 struck by a piece of bursting shell and borne un- 
 
THE WAR IN VIRGINIA 303 
 
 conscious from the field. McClellan was not on 
 the scene of battle during the whole day; he 
 remained at his head-quarters under the excuse 
 of illness. His indisposition was not such as 
 would have deterred a spirited commander. 
 
 Lee was now in personal command of the Con 
 federate army, taking charge at the end of the 
 second day of fighting. McClellan was still ask 
 ing for reinforcements, and in response General 
 McCall was sent to him. He had at this time 
 one hundred and five thousand troops to Lee s 
 sixty-four thousand. But all discouragement 
 had vanished from the minds of the Confeder 
 ates. They now knew their enemy, and Jeffer 
 son Davis wrote : " With God s help we will beat 
 him as soon as we can get at him." Several 
 minor engagements, with varying results, led to 
 the battle of Gaines Mill, which was fought on 
 June 27. McClellan was in the process of 
 changing his base from the York to the James 
 River. While making this move, Lee attacked 
 his right at Mechanicsville, to the north of Rich 
 mond. This was on June 26. The Confederates 
 were repulsed with considerable loss. General 
 Porter, who was in command of this division, 
 was ordered by McClellan to fall back on Gaines 
 Mill near the bridge across the Chickahominy, 
 which it was necessary to protect, owing to the 
 fact that Jackson was threatening from the 
 north. On the next day Porter sent to request 
 reinforcements, but his messenger failed to 
 reach McClellan. The Federal troops numbered 
 
3 o4 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 twenty-five thousand men; against them were 
 combined Longstreet, Jackson, and the two 
 Hills, with more than twice that strength. While 
 these two armies were engaged, Magruder, with 
 twenty-five thousand men, occupied a position 
 between the Union left wing and Richmond. 
 This was a magnificent opportunity for McClel- 
 lan, who, with an unengaged force nearly double 
 that of Magruder, might easily have overpow 
 ered him and cleared the way to Richmond ; but 
 his habit of magnifying the strength of his oppo 
 nents prevented him. Porter held his position 
 with great courage and discipline; but towards 
 night a general assault from the combined forces 
 of Lee and Jackson overwhelmed the Federals, 
 driving them to the river, where there would 
 have been a panic had it not been for timely help 
 which served only to cover Porter s retreat. Mc- 
 Clellan despatched the news to Washington in 
 the following words : 
 
 " I have lost this battle because my force was too small. 
 ... I feel too earnestly to-night. I have seen too many 
 dead and wounded comrades to feel otherwise than that the 
 government has not sustained this army. If you do not do 
 so now, the game is lost. If I save this army now, I tell 
 you plainly that I owe no thanks to you or to any other 
 persons in Washington. You have done your best to sacri 
 fice this army," 
 
 From now on the story of McClelland Penin 
 sular campaign is that of a retreat. There was 
 fighting continuously for seven days, from June 
 25 to July i. Lee saw that McClellan s plan was 
 
THE WAR IN VIRGINIA 305 
 
 to get back to the James River, whence his 
 retreat down the Peninsula might be covered by 
 Federal gunboats. He sent Magruder around 
 by a line of march which struck the Federal rear ; 
 Hill and Longstreet also attacked them at Fray- 
 ser s Farm ; but owing to the splendid discipline 
 of the Union army these assaults were ineffec 
 tive. It was this discipline, that Lee did not ac 
 curately estimate, which led to his defeat in the 
 general attack at Malvern Hill on July i. The 
 plan of this attack was one of Lee s few mis 
 takes. 
 
 Malvern Hill is a high plateau of oblong shape 
 about a mile and a half in length. At the top 
 it is bare of timber; its front is hollow and rises 
 in terraces. On the slopes of this hollow the 
 Federal troops planted sixty cannon, and the 
 summit was occupied by ten thousand infantry. 
 Lee thought he could take this position and cap 
 ture the Union army. The thing was manifestly 
 impossible. As soon as the Confederate troops 
 began to cross the half-mile of meadow at the 
 foot of the hill, they became exposed to a tre 
 mendous fire of both cannon and artillery, which 
 converged upon them as they approached. And 
 yet charge after charge Lee and Jackson ordered 
 against that impregnable position, only desisting 
 at nightfall. One colonel, on receiving the com 
 mand to advance, protested, " My men will be an 
 nihilated. Nothing in the world can live there." 
 Jackson replied, with a heartlessness and unwis 
 dom not customary with him, " I take care of my 
 
 20 
 
306 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 wounded and bury my dead." The Confederates 
 fell by thousands. Hill said it was not war, but 
 murder. This blunder on the part of Lee and 
 Jackson gave McClellan his only important and 
 decisive victory, though he had taken no part in 
 the battle himself, being at that time on a gun 
 boat on the James River. It would seem as 
 if, with an enemy so weakened and dispirited, 
 McClellan s grand opportunity had arrived. Lee 
 was in no condition to protect Richmond. But 
 the Federal commander said, " To have left 
 our position would have endangered our com 
 munications and removed us from the protection 
 of our gunboats." He determined to continue 
 the retreat. His troops were weary; but General 
 Kearney expressed the sentiment which must 
 have been held by the majority of the officers, 
 when he said, " I, Philip Kearney, an old soldier, 
 enter my solemn protest against this retreat. In 
 full view of the responsibilities of such a declara 
 tion, I say to you that such an order can be 
 prompted only by cowardice or treason." The 
 retreat as a retrograde movement was a great 
 tactical success, but it was a pitiful sequel to the 
 months of preparation; in it McClellan mani 
 fested his superb ability to move an army. It is 
 a remarkable fact that throughout the Penin 
 sular campaign McClellan was not present on 
 the field during any serious engagement. 
 
 When the news of the failure of the Peninsular 
 campaign was known in London, it greatly 
 strengthened the belief of a large and influential 
 
THE WAR IN VIRGINIA 307 
 
 party that the North s conquest of the South 
 was impossible. Gladstone said that if the South 
 were set upon separation, she would gain her 
 end. And he reasoned that the English people 
 should be careful not to alienate the good-will of 
 the cotton-producing section. The Times de 
 clared, " The war can only end in one way. Why 
 not accept the facts and let the South be gone ?" 
 Palmerston s sympathy was wholly with the Con 
 federacy. Nevertheless, the English government 
 maintained its position of neutrality, though not 
 with extreme care. Englishmen were now grow 
 ing to think that the sooner the war was ended 
 by the success of the South the better. 
 
 Changes were now brought about in the offi 
 cering of the Union army. Halleck was made 
 commander-in-chief, and Pope was called from 
 the West to take command of the newly organ 
 ized Army of Virginia, which was created out of 
 the corps of McDowell, Fremont, and Banks. 
 McClellan was still at Harrison s Landing. Much 
 pressure was being brought upon the authorities 
 to have him replaced. This came especially from 
 those who were eager for radical measures in re 
 lation to slavery. McClellan was notably conser 
 vative in regard to this question, a fact which 
 served to strengthen rumors of his disloyalty that 
 were in the air. Chase and Stanton strongly 
 urged the President to place Pope at the head of 
 the army on the James. Lincoln was unwilling 
 to do this, but he did offer the command to Burn- 
 side, by whom it was declined. On August 3 
 
3o8 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 McClellan was ordered to remove his army from 
 the Peninsula to Acquia Creek. Against this the 
 General earnestly protested, and it seems as if 
 his arguments were sound : 
 
 " Here directly in front of this army is the heart of the 
 rebellion. It is here that all our resources should be col 
 lected to strike the blow which will determine the fate of the 
 nation. All points of secondary importance I ll swear should 
 be abandoned, and every available man brought here; a 
 decided victory here and the military strength of the re 
 bellion is crushed. It matters not what partial reverses we 
 may meet with elsewhere. Here is the true defence of 
 Washington. It is here on the banks of the James that the 
 fate of the Union should be decided. I entreat that this 
 order may be rescinded." 
 
 Possibly, if the Army of the Potomac had been 
 strongly reinforced, and a capable and fighting 
 general placed at its head, results might have 
 been different. But at that time the Union au 
 thorities knew of no man on whom they could 
 place such reliance. On the other hand, it is 
 also possible that a concentration of Federal 
 troops before Richmond would have led Lee to 
 abandon that capital to its fate for the sake of 
 the more effective measure of threatening Wash 
 ington. When, two years later, Grant carried 
 out what was practically McClellan s plan, the 
 greatly weakened Southern army under Lee 
 could not help itself by threatening Washington, 
 as that city was well taken care of by an abun 
 dance of Union troops. 
 
 Lee now learned that to Pope s Army of Vir 
 ginia was to be intrusted the advance on Rich- 
 
THE WAR IN VIRGINIA 309 
 
 mond. Pope was now, in the popular estima 
 tion, the rival of McClellan. Unfortunately for 
 himself, he began with a lamentable lack of tact 
 which made him unpopular with his own officers. 
 Said he, in an address to his men : 
 
 " We have always seen our enemies backs in the West ; 
 I come from an army which sought its enemy and beat him 
 when found; whose policy has not been defence, but 
 attack." 
 
 The railroad south to Richmond starts at Gor- 
 donsville. There Pope s army lay, watched by 
 Jackson. Lee determined to proceed thither 
 himself. Before he could do so, however, the bat 
 tle of Cedar Mountain had been fought (August 
 9, 1862.) Jackson s army numbered over twenty- 
 two thousand; Banks had at his command not 
 more than a third of that number. The lat 
 ter, ignorant of the fact that he was faced by 
 such odds (many of Jackson s troops being con 
 cealed in the woods), determined on the attack. 
 Such was the courage of the Federal troops on 
 this occasion that they almost gained the vic 
 tory, notwithstanding the overwhelming odds. 
 At nightfall, though each side had in turn been 
 driven back, the Federals were standing bravely. 
 Banks in this fight atoned for the dismal defeat 
 he had previously suffered under Jackson on the 
 banks of the Potomac. 
 
 When it became known among the Confeder 
 ates that the Army of the Potomac was leaving 
 Harrison s Landing, Lee determined to give his 
 
3 io THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 attention to Pope. He sent Jackson to Pope s 
 rear, and that dashing general started down the 
 Shenandoah Valley with thirty-five regiments 
 and undertook a manoeuvre which entirely sur 
 prised the Federals by its audacity. Turning to 
 the east after reaching Salem, he slipped 
 through Thoroughfare Gap and made a raid on 
 Manassas Junction, where the Federals had large 
 subsistence stores. After allowing his soldiers 
 to help themselves to what they needed (and 
 Confederate troops were always in need), he 
 burned the remainder. When Jackson s where 
 abouts became known to Pope the latter saw 
 that he had his enemy in a trap, and laid every 
 preparation to catch him. That is, he made 
 every preparation except closing the door of the 
 trap. Not that Jackson was exceedingly anxious 
 to get out, but the fact that Pope failed to detail 
 a force to guard Thoroughfare Gap allowed 
 Longstreet to march through. When Jackson 
 saw that he would have to fight Pope, he chose 
 Bull Run, where he previously had done famous 
 service, as the battle-field. He took a position 
 west of the Warrenton Road, where he could be 
 easily met by Longstreet, who was expected in 
 accordance with a prearranged plan. Pope s 
 army appeared on the 27th, and Jackson at 
 tacked him during the afternoon. A battle was 
 fought which lasted until nine o clock, when the 
 Federals gave way. During the next day Jack 
 son s army was so concealed by the wooded and 
 hilly condition of the country that Pope, though 
 
THE WAR IN VIRGINIA 311 
 
 he was anxious to engage Jackson before the 
 latter could be reinforced, was not able to find 
 him. In the mean time Longstreet appeared, and 
 on the morning of the 29th, finding a battle in 
 progress between Jackson and Pope, came upon 
 the field in the latter s rear. Jackson was pro 
 tected in front by an embankment of a railroad 
 which was in process of construction. This the 
 Federals gallantly and repeatedly charged under 
 the command of General Glover. It was a ter 
 rific and bloody fight, and would have succeeded 
 if Glover had been sustained. Kearney charged 
 the other end of the Confederate line, forcing 
 back the enemy until it was reinforced by Long- 
 street s troops. At the end of the day the Fed 
 erals had been compelled to retire, though Pope 
 was under the impression that he had won the 
 battle, and sent a despatch to Washington to that 
 effect. But on the following day Longstreet and 
 Jackson were still retaining their position. The 
 greater part of the day was taken up with skir 
 mishing and an artillery duel. But at three 
 o clock Pope attacked Jackson with his main 
 force. Longstreet was in the best position to 
 assist Jackson, which he did by directing a tre 
 mendous fire upon the Federal support. A gen 
 eral advance, anticipated by Longstreet, drove 
 the Union army from one position to another 
 until, with great slaughter and in confusion, it 
 was forced from the field; and the second great 
 victory for the Confederates was recorded at Bull 
 Run. Pope endeavored to cast the blame for 
 
3 i2 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 this disastrous defeat on Fitzjohn Porter, who 
 was convicted by court-martial, but finally exon 
 erated. He was to have made an attack on the 
 left unless opposed by Longstreet. Instead of 
 engaging, he manoeuvred in the attempt to pre 
 vent Longstreet s attack, which was entirely in 
 accordance with his orders. Pope was now in 
 great need of reinforcements. McClellan, who 
 was at Alexandria, was ordered to send men un 
 der Franklin and Coxe ; but instead of doing this 
 he argued with Halleck, counselling that Pope be 
 left " to get out of his scrape and at once use all 
 our means to make the capital perfectly safe." 
 This caused Lincoln to say, " McClellan has 
 acted badly towards Pope ; he really wanted him 
 to fail." 
 
XIII 
 
 LEE S INVASIONS 
 
 AFTER the whole summer s campaign the situa 
 tion as it concerned the North showed no signs of 
 improvement. It is true that advantages were 
 being gained in the West; there the Confed 
 eracy was being weakened by the work of Grant 
 and Sherman; but the war must be won or lost 
 in Virginia. That was the heart and the head 
 of the Confederacy. And in Virginia matters 
 looked better for the South than they had done 
 at any time since the first battle of Manassas. In 
 Washington there was corresponding discour 
 agement. Indeed, after Pope s defeat the North 
 ern capital was in a condition closely resembling 
 panic. All the employees of the civil depart 
 ments were armed for the defence of Washing 
 ton. The Army of Virginia was called within 
 the fortifications and consolidated with that of 
 the Potomac, McClellan being again placed at 
 the head. 
 
 At the beginning of September Lee was at 
 Chantilli, where the Union army suffered a severe 
 loss in the death of General Philip Kearney. 
 
 The Confederate commander now had it in 
 his power to excite in Washington the gravest 
 alarm. His army, it is true, was poorly equipped. 
 The troops were entirely destitute of stores, 
 
 3 3 
 
314 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 without the means of subsistence, ragged and 
 shoeless. Yet, notwithstanding this, Lee deter 
 mined to cut himself off from the base of sup 
 plies. He could not afford to be idle; to go 
 forward meant the invasion of Maryland. No 
 other plan was so likely to harass and annoy 
 the enemy. Then, too, it was hoped that the 
 natural sympathy which subsisted between Mary 
 land and the South would, in the event of the 
 victorious presence of the Confederate army, 
 lead to an uprising. Lee and Davis thought 
 that a decisive victory on Federal ground would 
 bring the North to a willingness to discuss terms 
 of peace. On the 4th of December General Lee 
 wrote to President Davis from Leesburg : " I 
 shall proceed to make the movement at once, 
 unless you should signify your disapprobation." 
 But he did not wait for a reply. Indeed, he was 
 across the Potomac before the President could 
 have received his despatch. The Confederate 
 army, forty-five thousand strong, marched for 
 ward, singing " Maryland, my Maryland," and 
 on the 6th occupied the city of Frederick. The 
 advance was led by Jackson, and gave the occa 
 sion for Whittiers poem concerning Barbara 
 Frietchie, in which veracity is entirely sub 
 ordinated to the picturesque. Strict search of all 
 records will show that these verses which have 
 been so many times recited in every school- 
 house in the North were not " founded on 
 fact." Stonewall Jackson was not the man to 
 wantonly fire on the Union flag. Later, as he 
 
LEE S INVASIONS 315 
 
 was marching through Middletown on his way 
 to Harper s Ferry, two girls waved miniature 
 Union flags in the sight of his men. Jackson 
 raised his hat and bowed, saying to his staff, 
 :< We evidently have no friends in this town." 
 While at Frederick, Lee issued a proclamation 
 to the people of Maryland, making known the 
 motives and purposes of his invasion of the State. 
 But the people of Maryland did not seem dis 
 posed to rise. In fact, Lee was received by them 
 with remarkable coldness. He was obliged to 
 subsist on the country; but was willing to pay 
 for his supplies. His only money, however, was 
 Confederate paper currency, for which the Mary 
 land farmers would not give up their provisions. 
 Lee was reduced to the necessity of taking pos 
 session of Harper s Ferry, at the head of the 
 Shenandoah Valley, in order to keep open his 
 line of communication. This obliged him to 
 divide his army, sending Jackson to Harper s 
 Ferry, while he continued his march into Mary 
 land. The fact of this division became known 
 at the Federal head-quarters, owing to an order 
 received by D. H. Hill being found in his camp 
 after he had vacated it. McClellan saw the op 
 portunity, and for once made haste to avail him 
 self of it ; not such haste, however, as he might. 
 He overtook Lee s rear at South Mountain, and 
 in an engagement there gained a distinct advan 
 tage. Lee retired to the other side of Antietam 
 Creek, near the town of Sharpesburg. Lee was 
 now in a most precarious position. His army 
 
316 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 being depleted by twenty-five thousand in Jack 
 son s division, everything depended upon the 
 latter general returning in time to take part in 
 the battle which was imminent. Jackson was 
 successful at Harper s Ferry. The garrison was 
 in no position to help itself; and he received 
 the surrender of its twelve thousand five hun 
 dred men and large stores of supplies without a 
 fight. 
 
 If McClellan had engaged Lee on September 
 15, he could have overwhelmed him with his 
 greatly superior force before Jackson s return. 
 He did not commence his movement, however, 
 until the afternoon of the i6th, by which time 
 Lee s army was reunited. At two o clock 
 Hooker crossed the Antietam and engaged the 
 Confederate left. But there was not much done 
 on that day except to give each commander 
 opportunity to find his position for the battle 
 which was to follow. At dawn on the i/th, 
 under cover of their artillery fire, the Federals 
 under Hooker attacked Jackson s division. 
 After an obstinate fight and great loss the latter 
 was compelled to fall back. But being supported 
 by Hood, and afterwards by General Walker, the 
 ground was regained. French and Richardson, 
 with their two divisions of Sumner s corps, at 
 tacked the Confederate centre. At this point 
 occurred the greatest carnage of the battle. 
 Here was " Bloody Lane," a sunken road which 
 was the scene of a terrific struggle. Burnside 
 was ordered to capture the bridge across the 
 
LEE S INVASIONS 317 
 
 Antietam, which has since been called by his 
 name. He was successful only after three hours 
 of severe fighting. This advantage being gained, 
 the village of Sharpsburg, which was the key of 
 Lee s position, would have been carried had it not 
 been for the timely appearance of A. P. Hill s di 
 vision, returning from Harper s Ferry. 
 
 Colonel Taylor, of the Confederate army, gives 
 the following comprehensive account of the sec 
 ond day s battle : 
 
 " When the issue was first joined, on the afternoon of the 
 i6th, General Lee had with him less than eighteen thousand 
 men, consisting of the commands of Longstreet and D. H. 
 Hill, the two divisions of Jackson, and two brigades under 
 Walker. Couriers were sent to the rear to hurry up the 
 divisions of A. P. Hill, Anderson, and McLaws, hastening 
 from Harper s Ferry, and these several commands, as they 
 reached the front at intervals during the day, on the I7th, 
 were immediately deployed and put to work. Every man 
 was engaged. We had no reserve. 
 
 " The fighting was heaviest and most continuous on the 
 Confederate left. It is established by Federal evidence that 
 the three corps of Hooker, Mansfield, and Sumner were 
 completely shattered in the repeated but fruitless efforts to 
 turn this flank, and two of these corps were rendered useless 
 for further aggressive movements. The aggregate strength 
 of the attacking column at this point reached forty thousand 
 men, not counting the two divisions of Franklin s corps, 
 sent at a late hour in the day to rescue the Federal right 
 from the impending danger of being itself destroyed; while 
 the Confederates, from first to last, had less than fourteen 
 thousand men on this flank, consisting of Jackson s two divi 
 sions, McLaws s division, and the two small divisions, of 
 two brigades each, under Hood and Walker, with which to 
 resist their fierce and oft-repeated assaults. The dispropor 
 tion in the centre and on our right was as great as, or even 
 more decided than, on our left." 
 
3 i8 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 The battle of Antietam was indecisive. The 
 Federal loss was twelve thousand four hundred 
 and ten; the Confederate, eleven thousand one 
 hundred and seventy-two. It has been a subject 
 of great controversy as to which side the honor 
 of the battle should be given. Naturally, Mc- 
 Clellan claimed, in writing to his wife, " a great 
 success." But judging it according to " points," 
 and making allowances for the handicap due to 
 Lee on account of his weaker force, he should 
 be given the decision. Nevertheless, in another 
 sense it was a Northern victory. It put an end 
 to the Maryland invasion. Lee was compelled 
 to recross the Potomac into Virginia. Six weeks 
 afterwards he was followed by the Army of the 
 Potomac ; but the pursuit was so dilatory that at 
 last the patience of Lincoln and Stanton was 
 worn out, and McClellan was dismissed. (No 
 vember 5, 1862.) 
 
 Our view of McClellan s character and ability 
 leads us to believe that his removal was justified. 
 He had done great things for the organization 
 of the army, but he had proved conclusively, and 
 at an enormous expense of means and oppor 
 tunity, that he was not able to use the machine 
 he had created. Nevertheless, the plea of his 
 friends that the animus against him at Washing 
 ton was based less on his failures than on his 
 politics is perhaps not possible of refutation. 
 There were men in high position -Lincoln 
 always excepted who were not anxious for de 
 cisive victories at the hands of Democratic gen- 
 
LEE S INVASIONS 319 
 
 erals. There were men who did not want the 
 destruction of the Confederacy to come before 
 the overthrow of slavery. It is our own convic 
 tion that a close and intimate understanding of 
 the effect of Northern administrative politics in 
 the conduct of the war reveals a perfidious 
 betrayal of the lives of men and the welfare of 
 the nation. 
 
 Every one remembers Lee s humorous saying 
 on the occasion, that he regretted parting with 
 McClellan " because we understood each other 
 so well. I fear if they keep on changing gen 
 erals, they may get one that I don t understand." 
 Indirectly, the battle of Antietam meant much 
 for the Union cause. The November elections 
 were close at hand, and it is fairly certain that 
 had Lee won a decisive victory, it would have had 
 such effect on the returns from those elections 
 that the Northern administration would have 
 found great difficulty in continuing the war. 
 
 Moreover, Lincoln had determined that the 
 setting back of the Maryland invasion should be 
 a signal to him for the announcement of his 
 Emancipation Proclamation. For many months 
 this had been a subject of serious questioning in 
 Lincoln s mind. Much pressure was brought to 
 bear upon him from both sides in the North. He 
 was hounded by the radicals, who considered 
 that the war was being fought wholly for the 
 freedom of the negro. He was persuaded by the 
 conservatives, who had respect to the Constitu 
 tion. On April 25, 1862, Major-General Hunter, 
 
320 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 who was commanding at Hilton Head, South 
 Carolina, issued an order declaring the States of 
 Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina under the 
 operation of martial law; and on May 9 he pro 
 claimed " the persons held as slaves in those 
 States to be forever free." Lincoln, however, 
 on May 19, issued a counter-proclamation nulli 
 fying that of Hunter. In this he said : 
 
 " I further make known that, whether it be competent for 
 me as commander-in-chief ot the army and navy to declare 
 the slaves of any State or States free, and whether at any 
 time or in any case it shall have become a necessity indis 
 pensable to the maintenance of the government to examine 
 such supposed power, are questions which, under my respon 
 sibility, I reserve to myself, and which I cannot feel justified 
 in leaving to the decision of commanders in the field." 
 
 In August, 1862, Horace Greeley published a 
 letter addressed to the President, entitled " The 
 Prayer of Twenty Millions." In this he said, 
 " On the face of this wide earth, Mr. President, 
 there is not one disinterested, determined, intel 
 ligent champion of the Union cause who does not 
 feel that all attempts to put down the rebellion 
 and at the same time uphold its inciting cause 
 are preposterous and futile." Lincoln replied to 
 this on August 22. His words are eminently 
 characteristic of the man, of his wisdom, and 
 unity of purpose : 
 
 " If there be those who would not save the Union unless 
 they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree 
 with them. If there be those who would not save the Union 
 unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not 
 agree with them. My paramount object is to save the Union, 
 and not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could 
 
LEE S INVASIONS 321 
 
 save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it. 
 If I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; 
 and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others 
 alone, I would also do that. What I do about slavery and 
 the colored race I do because I believe it helps to save the 
 Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe that what 
 I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever 
 I believe doing more will help the cause." 
 
 But for some time after he had reached the 
 determination that emancipation must come he 
 deferred action, awaiting the opportune moment. 
 On the 22d of September Lincoln summoned his 
 Cabinet. As they assembled they found the 
 President alleviating the stress of his mind by 
 reading Artemus Ward. He finished the chap 
 ter by reading it aloud, all being amused with 
 the exception of Stanton. Then Lincoln s man 
 ner took a graver tone. He said, " When the 
 rebel army was at Frederick, I determined as 
 soon as it should be driven out of Maryland to 
 issue a Proclamation of Emancipation, such as 
 I thought most likely to be useful. I said noth 
 ing to any one, but I made a promise to myself 
 and (hesitating a little) to my Maker. The 
 rebel army is now driven out, and I am going to 
 fulfil that promise. I have got you together 
 to hear what I have written down. I do not wish 
 your advice about the main matter, for that I 
 have determined for myself. This I say without 
 intending anything but respect for any one of 
 you. But I already know the views of each on 
 this question." He then read his proclamation, 
 which was published the following day. It was to 
 
 21 
 
322 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 take effect on the first day of January, one thou 
 sand eight hundred and sixty-three. 
 
 What did Lincoln expect to gain by this meas 
 ure ? That it would weaken the South by stirring 
 up the negroes to seek the realization of their 
 freedom? Its slight result in this respect was 
 owing to the elemental dissimilarity between the 
 mind of the negro and that of the Caucasian, 
 the existence of which the abolitionists would 
 not admit. The proclamation invited the free 
 negroes to take arms in the Union service. 
 Before the end of the year Lincoln could say, 
 " Of those who were slaves at the beginning of 
 the rebellion, full one hundred thousand are 
 now in the United States military service, about 
 one-half of which number actually bear arms in 
 the ranks, thus giving the double advantage of 
 taking so much labor from the insurgent cause 
 and supplying the places which otherwise must 
 be filled with so many white men. So far as 
 tested, it is difficult to say they are not as good 
 soldiers as any." This was a bitter blow to the 
 South. It hurt her pride, as well as her pros 
 pects, to face as free combatants the men who 
 had been her chattels. It must also be confessed 
 that it was not far from bordering on that bar 
 barity which the law of civilized nations dis 
 countenances to arm those who were in many 
 cases not more than a generation removed from 
 the savagery of the African jungle. 
 
 The main purpose of the Emancipation Proc 
 lamation was, however, to affect European sym- 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 From a photograph by Brady 
 
LEE S INVASIONS 323 
 
 pathy, and to revive the enthusiasm of the dis 
 affected radicals of the North. It is worthy of 
 notice, however, that on September 13, only 
 nine days previous to the Cabinet meeting, 
 President Lincoln thus answered the delegation 
 of clergymen from Chicago : 
 
 " What good would a proclamation of emancipation from 
 me do, especially as we are now situated? I do not want 
 to issue a document that the whole world would see must 
 necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope s bull against the 
 comet. Would my word free the slaves, when I cannot even 
 enforce the Constitution in the rebel States? Is there a 
 single court, or magistrate, or individual that would be 
 influenced by it there? And what reason is there to think 
 it would have any greater effect upon the slaves than the 
 late law of Congress which I approved, and which offers 
 protection and freedom to the slaves of rebel masters who 
 come within our lines ? Yet I cannot learn that that law has 
 caused a single slave to come over to us. And suppose they 
 could be induced by a proclamation of freedom from me to 
 throw themselves upon us, what should we do with them? 
 How can we feed and care for such a multitude? . . . 
 
 " If, now, the pressure of the war should call off our 
 forces from New Orleans to defend some other point, what 
 is to prevent the masters from reducing the blacks to slavery 
 again? . . . Now, then, tell me, if you please, what pos 
 sible result of good would follow the issuing of such a 
 proclamation as you desire? I have not decided against 
 a proclamation of liberty to the slaves, but hold the matter 
 under advisement." 
 
 Lincoln proclaimed the emancipation of the 
 slaves by virtue of the war power vested in him 
 as President. The argument for the constitu 
 tionality of the act was based on the idea that 
 the slaves were property, and that it was right 
 to convert the property of the enemy to the ad- 
 
324 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 vantage of the Union. He said, "Armies, the 
 world over, destroy enemies property when they 
 cannot use it; and even destroy their own to 
 keep it from the enemy. Civilized belligerents 
 do all in their power to help themselves or hurt 
 the enemy, except a few things regarded as bar 
 barous or cruel." 
 
 That there was at this time an increasing ele 
 ment of discontent in the North is shown by the 
 returns of the November elections of 1862. 
 New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
 and Wisconsin, States which had in 1860 voted 
 for Lincoln, now gave Democratic majorities. 
 New York City alone recorded its discontent by 
 a change of forty-eight thousand votes, making 
 a Democratic majority of that year of thirty-one 
 thousand. The general result in the North was 
 so markedly unfavorable to the administration 
 that the New York Times claimed it to be equal 
 to a " vote of want of confidence." This, how 
 ever, we believe was brought about not so much 
 by the proclamation as by the lack of success 
 on the battle-field. The people were growing 
 tired of the war. The key-note of the Demo 
 cratic platforms was, " The Constitution as it is, 
 and the Union as it was." The people did not 
 enjoy seeing the Constitution trampled on as it 
 was perhaps unnecessarily in those days. The 
 suspension of the writ of habeas corpus was a 
 usurpation of power on the part of the Executive 
 which came as a shock to liberty-loving Ameri 
 cans. New offences were created, such as the 
 
LEE S INVASIONS 325 
 
 discouraging of enlistment, which seemed like 
 a direct infringement of the freedom of express 
 ing opinion. By virtue of such proceedings 
 many seemingly tyrannical arrests were made. 
 
 After Burnside s supersession of McClellan he 
 at once proceeded to disturb the quiet which, 
 since Antietam, had been maintained on the Po 
 tomac. But Burnside quickly proved that he was 
 not the man which the Northern cause needed. 
 Brave to the highest degree, and successful as a 
 subordinate commander, he was entirely lacking 
 in the capacity to plan a comprehensive strategy 
 and to utilize an army like that of the Poto 
 mac. It is to his credit that he had no desire 
 for the position. 
 
 His plan was to take Fredericksburg as his 
 base for an advance on Richmond. He had hoped 
 to surprise I^ee. But during the several days 
 spent in gathering pontoon bridges for crossing 
 the Rappahannock the Confederate general be 
 came fully aware of Burnside s plan, and arranged 
 his own to counteract it. The Union army was 
 organized into three divisions, under Hooker, 
 Franklin, and Sumner. On the i ith of December 
 Franklin and Sumner effected a landing on the 
 east side of the river under cover of the Federal 
 artillery. Owing to this bombardment, it went 
 hard with the inhabitants of Fredericksburg. 
 They were forced from their homes in search of 
 places of safety; many found no secure shelter, 
 and were exposed to the elements and destitute 
 of food. 
 
326 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 The Confederate army occupied the bluffs be 
 tween which and the river the town lay. Imme 
 diately opposite Fredericksburg is Marye s 
 Heights. This eminence was crowned with ar 
 tillery and lined with infantry fortified with rifle 
 pits and a stone wall. Burnside was determined 
 to take this impregnable position by direct as 
 sault. Division after division was led against 
 it, but before they could get near the foot of 
 the hill the deadly fire would rake them, and 
 their broken columns were forced back. Hooker 
 begged Burnside to desist from this foolish and 
 suicidal attempt, but he obstinately ordered the 
 charge to go on. Humphreys led forty-five 
 thousand men against the position and lost a 
 thousand. It could no longer be endured. The 
 regiments retreated in confusion, and the battle 
 was lost. The dead lay in heaps at the foot of 
 Marye s Heights. There was nothing indecisive 
 about this battle (December 13, 1862). The 
 Federal loss was more than three times that of 
 the Confederate, and Burnside was driven back 
 across the river. He had uselessly sacrificed 
 his men, who had now lost all confidence in him. 
 The army, rank and file, was completely demoral 
 ized. 
 
 Lee here certainly lost an opportunity. Burn- 
 side did not recross the Rappahannock until the 
 day following his defeat. He had nothing to 
 cross on except inadequate pontoon bridges. 
 Had Lee pressed the pursuit, he could have an 
 nihilated the Union army. But he did not know 
 
LEE S INVASIONS 327 
 
 the extent of his success, nor was he ever good 
 at following up a victory. 
 
 The prospects of the North were now at a 
 very low ebb. Her best army was defeated, in 
 deed had never brilliantly won; the confidence 
 of the people was falling away from the adminis 
 tration. Meigs wrote to Burnside : " I begin to 
 doubt the possibility of maintaining the contest 
 beyond this winter unless the popular heart is 
 encouraged by victory on the Rappahannock." 
 There was no unity of purpose among Stanton, 
 Halleck, and Burnside. The general was anxious 
 to repair his loss in another attempt across the 
 river; he also expressed his willingness to retire 
 to private life. He could not place his pontoon 
 bridges, and he blamed his ill success to his divi 
 sion commanders, and wished to replace them. 
 It ended in his own retirement and Hooker being 
 given the chief command. 
 
 In Lincoln s Cabinet affairs at this time were 
 far from satisfactory. Seward was not giving 
 satisfaction to the radical Republicans. They 
 were convinced that he was hampering the Pres 
 ident by his conservatism. In view of this feel 
 ing, Seward resigned in December. Chase also, 
 who had passed open strictures on the Presi 
 dent s policy, resigned on the 2Oth. But Lincoln 
 could not afford to lose these men, and induced 
 them to reconsider. There never was a chief 
 magistrate who was so humble under criticism, 
 and yet so firm in his own purpose. Moreover, 
 it was an axiom with him " not to swop horses 
 
328 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 while crossing the stream." Lincoln s manner 
 and habits were totally misleading. Undoubt 
 edly Richard H. Dana s estimate of him was 
 shared by many at this time. He wrote to 
 Charles F. Adams : 
 
 " As to the politics of Washington, the most striking thing 
 is the absence of personal loyalty to the President. It does 
 not exist. He has no admirers, no enthusiastic supporters, 
 none to bet on his head. If a Republican convention were 
 to be held to-morrow, he would not get the vote of a State. 
 He does not act, or talk, or feel like the ruler of a great 
 empire in a great crisis. This is felt by all, and has got 
 down through all the layers of society. It has a disastrous 
 effect on all departments and classes of officials, as well as 
 on the public. He seems to me to be fonder of details than 
 of principles, of tithing the mint, anise, and cummin of pat 
 ronage, and personal questions, than of the weightier matters 
 of empire. He likes rather to talk and tell stories with all 
 sorts of persons who come to him for all sorts of purposes 
 than to give his mind to the noble and manly duties of his 
 great post. It is difficult to detect that this is the feeling of 
 his Cabinet. He has a kind of shrewdness and common 
 sense, mother wit, and slipshod, low-levelled honesty, that 
 made him a good Western jury lawyer. But he is an un 
 utterable calamity to us where he is. Only the army can 
 save us. Congress is not a council of state. It is a mere 
 district representation of men of district reputations. It 
 has passed some good laws to enable the President to do 
 the work, but the nation does not look up to it for counsel 
 or lead." 
 
 After the bloody reverses of 1862 it became 
 increasingly difficult to replenish the Union ranks 
 by volunteers. As early as April 16, 1862, the 
 Confederate Congress had passed a Conscription 
 Act, including all white males between the ages 
 of eighteen and thirty-five. Those who had 
 
LEE S INVASIONS 329 
 
 already enlisted, though for but one or two years, 
 were held to the service of the Southern govern 
 ment to the end of the war. In March, 1863, the 
 Federal government followed this lead. An Act 
 was passed placing at the disposal of the Execu 
 tive all able-bodied male citizens between the 
 ages of eighteen and forty-five. This included 
 aliens who had declared their intention of be 
 coming citizens. It declared any man drafted 
 and not reporting for service a deserter. Service 
 was to be commuted by the payment of three 
 hundred dollars. This bill was a strict party 
 measure. In the House, the Democrats, forty- 
 nine against one hundred and fifteen, voted 
 against it ; in the Senate it was passed by thirty- 
 five Republicans, opposed by eleven Democrats. 
 At the period of which we are writing, opposi 
 tion to the war was daily increasing. Of course, 
 it was almost entirely confined to the Democrats, 
 though it is very far from the truth to say that 
 all Democrats took this position. Those who 
 desired to see the Union fail in the struggle with 
 the South and they were neither few nor un 
 important became known as " Copperheads." 
 It was considered a term of reproach by the 
 loyal, but of it those to whom it was rightly ap 
 plied were not ashamed. Noteworthy among 
 these was Robert C. Winthrop, of Boston. But 
 the most famous Copperhead was Clement L. 
 Vallandigham, of Ohio, who boldly denounced 
 and resisted the administration in its conduct 
 of the war. On December 5, 1862, he offered a 
 
330 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 series of resolutions in which he declared " that, 
 as the war was originally waged for the purpose 
 of defending and maintaining the supremacy of 
 the Constitution and the preservation of the 
 Union, . . . whosoever should attempt to per 
 vert the same to a war of subjugation, and for 
 overthrowing or interfering with the rights of 
 the States, and to abolish slavery, would be guilty 
 of a crime against the Constitution and the 
 Union." After his term in Congress expired, in 
 March, 1863, he returned to Ohio and organized 
 a political attack on the administration. The 
 idea of Vallandigham, and the many who sided 
 with him, was that the North should stop the 
 fighting and accept foreign mediation; it being 
 then generally understood that France was on 
 the point of offering such mediation. Burnside 
 was at that time commander of the Department 
 of the Ohio. He issued an order declaring that 
 persons within the lines found committing cer 
 tain specified acts calculated to aid and comfort 
 the enemy should be arrested and capitally pun 
 ished. Under this order, on May 4, a company 
 of soldiers broke into Vallandigham s house at 
 half-past two in the morning and arrested him. 
 He was placed in the military prison in Cincin 
 nati. He was tried before a military commission, 
 which found him guilty of " publicly express 
 ing, in violation of General Orders Number 38 
 (Burnside s), sympathy for those in arms against 
 the government of the United States, and de 
 claring disloyal sentiments and opinions, with 
 
NEW ENGLAND F&N11 
 
 In a Speech at Framing-ham, Massachusetts, July 4th, 1863, 
 WENDELL PHTT.TiTPS, now the great Apostle of Aboli 
 tionism, said, 
 
 -Th* I nlnn nlibour tibrrtj tta Ibf nrcrtvn.) i Infold tm-4*j mmrt acaarmid Ikaa tt wm an Ita* 
 kr la.i a..rirr of a rr.mr}. talon with..! liberty I .oil upaa, a* (be JiMJia f M> WOT* aarf 
 4k* of llw nlnrtr<-ath r^mrr.- 
 
 -Hrnn-mlM-r ihiv Ihr yotincrsit of JIMI: Ibnl on ihr rti dnj of Jafy, IHWt, ,OB bMnl > ma wy, 
 th.i ID ihr 11*1.1 of nil hi.ior,, in Tirtnr of rrrrj p Z r h.- r.rr rrud. h.. a, n amxliBraailnaM ( (be 
 ulniu-i ruml. ( Ipnlaaw.) I hnrr no bopc for Ihr fnlurr. a Ihi. rouatr) ha. no part Bad EaraaB 
 ha. n pa-i, HI T U TH4T SI HI.I1K fIIX.I.1^4. OK R *<. WHICH IM GOD S OW 
 nKTIIOII OK < It II.I/.IX. I M) KI.K> iTI5. THf 
 
 The Rev. Dr. TYNG, at a Meeting of the Freedmen s Relief 
 Society, New York, November 9th, 1863, said, 
 
 ->o zradnal emancipation iiov. . ><i roinprowlrd rmanrlpatloa naw. ><r pat Otr ie ta tkr 
 root of th.- tree, nd down wilh it-dot, u with II.- 
 
 -li. ull thul rletate* lli<> human rhi.rarlrr. Mark i.i.-n ami hlurk wamrn hate .down ibrai 
 rxllrd and slori.Ml. u. a.,, tthiu- in. n and while wom.i. in Ih. laud. Th. time ha. roow- 
 
 i l hn"r,, l y ,T r he rouIlriiHBrr "bir h I rr^. r^ /wm ^J l^iaart L u^Tte d- 
 HlM-u Ihr di.liiiriioii |M-I,- blnrk and whltr. a. a dj*tinrlioa af m-laroral rt>a-l aa 
 b,- aw of ilim.- hmeful Ibint- wbkh w<- haTr borled btwalh ibe pyramid oadrr wblrb i 
 
 I. i.Urrre.l till ll rol. for all KTITlllJ.* 
 
 HORACE GREELY, before any State had attempted to go 
 out of the Union, said, 
 
 , uniU dl) and winMstt} , wish lo 
 
 
 In "HELPER S IMPENDING CRISIS," published in I860, 
 a book that was recommended by the present Secretary of 
 State will be found (pages 155-6,) these words: 
 
 ANTI- ABOLITION PLACARD 
 
LEE S INVASIONS 331 
 
 the object and purpose of weakening the power 
 of government in its efforts to suppress an un 
 lawful rebellion." He was sentenced to impris 
 onment during the continuance of the war. This, 
 however, the President commuted to banish 
 ment, and ordered that Vallandigham be sent be 
 yond the military lines into the Southern Con 
 federacy (May 25). This was putting him where 
 it was supposed he belonged. But there can be 
 no question that the whole proceeding was en 
 tirely illegal. This arbitrary creation of political 
 offences, and the many arrests and imprison 
 ments resulting therefrom, was a mistaken policy 
 on the part of Lincoln and his administration, 
 and did much to foster in the North opposition 
 to the government. 
 
 During the summer of 1863 several riots oc 
 curred in different Northern cities when the Fed 
 eral authorities proceeded to enforce the new 
 levy for soldiers called for in the preceding April. 
 The most serious of these popular uprisings was 
 that which in July caused a reign of terror in 
 New York. In the tenement districts opposition 
 to the draft or conscription of men was espe 
 cially serious, as advantage had been taken of 
 Lee s invasion of Pennsylvania to inflame public 
 hatred against the national authorities as well 
 as against the negroes. Incendiary placards, not 
 to mention questionable editorials in one or two 
 Democratic newspapers of the city, brought dis 
 cord to the highest pitch. 
 
 Negroes were attacked and murdered in the 
 
332 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 streets; the Colored Orphan Asylum in Fifth 
 Avenue and Forty-fourth Street was sacked and 
 burned; and the soldiers and police were defied 
 by thousands of foreigners, reinforced by the 
 dangerous element of the native population, who 
 had robbed armories and gun-shops of fire-arms. 
 More than one thousand rioters were killed, to 
 gether with many citizens and soldiers. Among 
 the latter was Colonel Henry J. O Brien, a gal 
 lant member of the Eleventh New York Volun 
 teers. 
 
 There can be little doubt that the rioters, in 
 spite of their excesses, had a real grievance; and 
 had the wise counsel of Horatio Seymour, then 
 governor of the State, to Lincoln been followed, 
 much of the trouble might have been averted. 
 Seymour came in for much undeserved criticism, 
 however, and there was some talk of treating 
 him as Vallandigham, Bright, and other Demo 
 cratic chiefs had been treated. 
 
 Seymour, in his inaugural address, took occa 
 sion to say that while he had sworn to support 
 the Constitution of the United States, he had 
 also sworn to support that of the State of New 
 York. After the riots some correspondence took 
 place between him and Lincoln (Appleton s An 
 nual, 1863), in which Seymour claimed that un 
 der the provision of the Enrolment Act the law 
 required that the quotas should be so assigned 
 as to equalize the number of men among the dis 
 tricts of the several States, allowance being made 
 for those already furnished as well as for the time 
 
LEE S INVASIONS 333 
 
 of service. It was claimed, with apparent jus 
 tice, that New York had hitherto furnished a sur 
 plus, and was entitled to credit, but the state 
 ment of the Federal provost marshal did not 
 agree with the records of the Adjutant-General 
 of the State. Seymour sought to have a com 
 parison made of the records of the two officers, 
 and said it was believed " by at least one-half of 
 the people of the loyal States that the Conscrip 
 tion Act was in itself a violation of the Supreme 
 Constitution." 
 
 Lincoln, while earnestly declaring in reply that 
 the government would interpose " no obstacles 
 to the earliest practical decision upon this point," 
 made it clear that he would not consent to a sus 
 pension of the draft in New York City, because, 
 among other things, time was too important. 
 The President did not object to referring the 
 controversy to the Federal Supreme Court, and 
 Seymour urged that " the action of the admin 
 istration will determine in the minds of more 
 than one-half the people of the loyal States 
 whether this war is waged to put down rebellion 
 at the South or to destroy free institutions at 
 the North." The restoration of authority and 
 the settlement of the difference between the local 
 and national governments prevented further 
 trouble. 
 
 When Hooker took command of the Army of 
 the Potomac, he found it in an extremely demor 
 alized condition. The men had become dis 
 heartened and sulky. Desertions were alarm- 
 
334 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 ingly numerous. Hooker himself testified that 
 " so anxious were parents, wives, brothers, and 
 sisters to relieve their kindred that they filled 
 the express trains to the army with packages of 
 citizen clothing to assist them in escaping." But 
 the new commander s talent for organization cor 
 rected these evils, and by April he had deter 
 mined to take an offensive attitude. 
 
 Lee was at Fredericksburg with sixty thousand 
 troops. Hooker had an available one hundred 
 and thirty thousand. The cry, " On to Rich 
 mond," was again raised. The Union general s 
 plan was that Sedgwick should make a feint at 
 Fredericksburg, while he himself, with the 
 greater part of the army, would cross the Rap- 
 pahannock above Chancellorsville and attack 
 the Confederate rear. This part of the pro 
 gramme was carried out. But instead of making 
 the attack as soon as he reached a favorable po 
 sition Hooker fell back into the Wilderness, a 
 wild country in which the movements of cavalry 
 and artillery were seriously retarded. Lee was 
 not outwitted. He turned to face Hooker, and 
 in the mean time sent Jackson noted for his 
 wonderful celerity in flank movements to make 
 a fifteen-mile detour with twenty thousand men 
 who were to fall on Hooker s rear, while Lee 
 made the attack in front. Jackson was success 
 ful in this movement, and surprised the Federals 
 while at supper. His troops were seen while on 
 the march, but the Federals supposed they were 
 retreating. The consequence was a complete 
 
LEE S INVASIONS 335 
 
 rout of the Eleventh Corps of Hooker s army. 
 But this victory was won at the cost of Jackson s 
 life, and the Confederates might far better have 
 lost the battle. While reconnoitring in the dark 
 ness, Jackson was fired on and wounded by his 
 own men. Pneumonia setting in, he died eight 
 days afterwards, with these last words on his 
 lips : " Let us cross over the river, and rest un 
 der the shade of the trees." 
 
 In the mean time Sedgwick had taken Freder- 
 icksburg and was marching on Lee s rear. The 
 latter turned quickly and beat him back across 
 the Rappahannock. Here was Hooker s oppor 
 tunity, but he did not realize it. By the time his 
 army emerged from the Wilderness, on May i, 
 Lee was back and ready to face him. After a 
 short engagement the Federal general ordered 
 his regiments to fall back, much to the disgust 
 of his commanders. They had reached an open 
 country in which fighting was possible. " My 
 God !" exclaimed Meade ; " if we can t hold the 
 top of the hill, we certainly cannot hold the bot 
 tom of it." This mistake and Jackson s success 
 in flanking settled the battle of Chancellorsville. 
 Jackson s command devolved upon Stuart, the 
 famous Confederate cavalry officer. With his 
 men uttering, for a war-cry, " Remember Jack 
 son," he seized Hazel Grove, which permitted a 
 concentration of the whole Confederate force in 
 attack. Generals Sickles and Slocum bore the 
 whole brunt of this, while over thirty thousand 
 troops remained idle, a fact which in itself indi- 
 
336 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 cates that the battle of Chancellorsville was lost 
 entirely through bad generalship. On the morn 
 ing of May 6 the entire army of the Potomac had 
 recrossed the Rappahannock. The Federal loss 
 in this battle was over seventeen thousand ; that 
 of the South was twelve thousand five hundred. 
 
 After Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville the 
 South was led to think that her cause was nearly 
 won. There was great elation among the Con 
 federates. The authorities thought that a suc 
 cessful offensive movement would quickly bring 
 the North to terms. Lee, though not entirely 
 convinced of the wisdom of the plan proposed, 
 yielded to the pressure. He had made a requi 
 sition for rations. The South could supply en 
 thusiasm, and at this time volunteers and drafted 
 men in fair numbers were forthcoming; but 
 sustenance was a different matter. The country 
 was drained of supplies. The commissary-gen 
 eral at Richmond wrote on Lee s letter, " If 
 General Lee wishes rations, let him seek them 
 in Pennsylvania." Lee reorganized his army 
 into three corps, Longstreet keeping the com 
 mand of his old division; Ewell succeeded Jack 
 son; and A. P. Hill was appointed to the com 
 mand of the third. On the 3d of June this army 
 of eighty thousand seasoned and well-armed 
 troops began the march to the northward. 
 Reconnoissances in the direction of Culpeper 
 brought on several cavalry engagements. The 
 chief of these, and what was probably the 
 greatest cavalry fight of the war, occurred at 
 
APPROACHING ! 
 
 I MUSTKELYUPOPi THE PEOPLE FOR THE 
 
 VM) HAVE 
 
 CALLED THE MILITIA 
 
 KH< Til IT I l KPOSE. 
 
 the term of service wiU only be while the danger to the State 
 ia imminent l 
 
 ^ Send forward Companies 
 
 AS SOON AS POSSIBLE 
 
 G. CVRT1N. 
 
 PLACARD ISSUED BY GOVERNOR CURTIN, OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
 
 CALLING FOR VOLUNTEERS FOR THE DEFENCE 
 
 OF THE STATE, JUNE, 1863 
 
LEE S INVASIONS 337 
 
 Brandy Station on the 8th. In this the Confed 
 erates were successful, and the principal result 
 was the effective screening of Lee s movements 
 from Federal knowledge. ^ 
 
 On the 1 3th General Ewell marched on Win 
 chester, and, on the following day, captured the 
 town with its fortifications in brilliant fashion. 
 Lee s line was now drawn out to a length of one 
 hundred miles. Lincoln, by this time, had 
 learned enough of the trade of war to see the 
 opportunity. He wrote to Hooker, " If the head 
 of Lee s army is at Martinsburg, and the tail of 
 it on the plank road between Fredericksburg and 
 Chancellorsville, the animal must be very slim 
 somewhere. Could you not break him?" But 
 instead, Hooker went off towards Manassas. 
 With Stuart and his cavalry guarding the passes 
 of the Blue Ridge, Lee continued his advance, 
 Hooker following, but to the east, in order to 
 guard Washington. 
 
 On the 27th Lee was at Chambersburg with 
 Longstreet and Hill s corps, while Swell s divi 
 sion was yet farther north at Carlisle. From this 
 latter place Ewell sent Early to capture York. 
 The town was formally surrendered by its au 
 thorities, and the Confederates used their ad 
 vantage to clothe themselves at the merchants 
 expense. 
 
 At this time Halleck and Hooker were acri 
 moniously disputing. Hooker complained that 
 the commanding general at Washington paid no 
 attention to his requisitions; and Halleck was 
 
338 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 angry because Hooker complained over his 
 head. There is no question that the general in 
 the field was most seriously hampered by Hal- 
 leek s interference. 
 
 On the 28th of June General Hooker wished 
 to operate against Lee s rear by means of the 
 garrison at Harper s Ferry reinforced by Slo- 
 cum s corps. But Halleck refused to allow him 
 to take the troops from Harper s Ferry. There 
 upon the general wrote that if he were not al 
 lowed to manage the campaign in his own way 
 he preferred to be relieved from the command 
 of the army. He was relieved, and his place 
 filled by Major-General George G. Meade. At 
 the same date Lee discovered that his commu 
 nication with Richmond was threatened by the 
 Union army at his rear. For the purpose of di 
 verting his enemy, Lee proceeded to threaten 
 Baltimore, and inaugurated this strategy by 
 moving his entire army on Gettysburg. 
 
 The battle of Gettysburg (July i to 3, 1863) 
 was not premeditated. Neither Meade nor Lee 
 was looking for a general engagement. But 
 while the former s cavalry, under Buford, were 
 reconnoitring on July i, they came in contact 
 with Hill s advance corps just west of the town. 
 The Federals were forced back, and it was here 
 that General Reynolds, who came to the support 
 of Buford, was killed. When this preliminary 
 fighting ceased at nightfall the advantage was 
 with the Confederates. During the night each 
 side brought up its rear forces and marshalled 
 
LEE S INVASIONS 339 
 
 them by the light of the moon. Lee should have 
 begun the fighting on the 2d at sunrise, but for 
 some reason, too much controverted to be clear, 
 it was delayed until the afternoon. By this time 
 the Federal forces had taken their position on 
 Round Top, from which they wrought the 
 greatest devastation on the Confederates. 
 
 The armies now facing each other lay along 
 two ranges of hills to the south of the town of 
 Gettysburg, the Federals on Cemetery Ridge, 
 and the Confederates on Seminary Ridge. The 
 former is a convex and the latter a concave line, 
 giving the Union army a much better vantage 
 of defence. 
 
 Lee began the attack on the afternoon of the 
 2d. His work lay directly before him; it was 
 to carry Round Top and plant his artillery so that 
 it would rake the crest of Cemetery Ridge. The 
 Confederates gained some ground; but night 
 came, ending a tremendous slaughter, and Meade 
 still held his position intact. 
 
 On the third day of the battle Lee again de 
 termined to charge the Federal centre, though 
 much against Longstreet s advice. Meade s First 
 and Eleventh Corps had been badly used up on 
 the previous day, and the Federal generals were 
 by no means confident, though determined " to 
 stay and fight it out." Stuart s cavalry were now 
 on the field, and Lee sent them around to attack 
 the Union rear. He prepared for the main 
 attack, under Longstreet, by ordering forward 
 the two divisions led by Pickett and Pettigrew. 
 
340 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 One hundred and thirty-five cannon were to play 
 on the Federal centre. Stuart, however, was 
 met by Union cavalry under Gregg and by a 
 brigade under Custer, and accomplished noth 
 ing. Pickett s charge was a magnificent exam 
 ple of desperate determination. The Union bat 
 teries swept the ground over which he charged 
 with terrible effect, but his men went on. They 
 came within musketry range. Hancock was in 
 command of the Union forces at this position. 
 His infantry met the charging masses with a 
 tempest of musketry fire. They were encour 
 aged by the brave Hancock, and made splendid 
 resistance. But the Confederate advance was ir 
 resistible. Pickett s troops gained the ridge and 
 captured the guns. Kemper and Armistead 
 planted their banners on the crest. But Petti- 
 grew had not been able to lead his men to Pick 
 ett s support, no other reinforcements were avail 
 able, and the latter was soon overwhelmed by 
 numbers and compelled to retreat. This lost the 
 battle for Lee. It also ended the invasion. 
 
XIV 
 SHERMAN S MARCH 
 
 LINCOLN S message to Congress in December, 
 1863, was characterized by a hopeful and confi 
 dent tone which would hardly have found a har 
 monious response in the heart of the North the 
 year before. While no very marked progress 
 had been made in forcing the recalcitrant States 
 to obedience, it was apparent that the North 
 could and would continue the war until the South 
 had passed beneath the yoke. Her great re 
 sources stood by her in sufficient stead, and the 
 South was being worn out. It was like a battle 
 between a giant and a more active, perhaps more 
 scientific, but weaker antagonist. Unless the 
 smaller combatant could early deal a blow that 
 would reach a vital spot, his chances of victory 
 were slight. Lee had failed to strike such a blow. 
 His invasion of the North resulted in failure. 
 While so far the South had waged the more 
 brilliant warfare and had earned the greater 
 honors, she was becoming exhausted, and the 
 North was still hammering her army with un 
 abated vigor. 
 
 Lincoln said : 
 
 " When Congress assembled a year ago, the war had 
 already lasted nearly twenty months, and there had been 
 many conflicts on both land and sea with varying results. 
 
342 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 The rebellion had been pressed back into reduced limits; 
 yet the tone of public feeling and opinion, at home and 
 abroad, was not satisfactory. With other signs, the popular 
 elections, then just passed, indicated uneasiness among our 
 selves, while amid much that was cold and menacing, the 
 kindest words coming from Europe were uttered in accents 
 of pity that we were too blind to surrender a hopeless 
 cause. . . . The preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, 
 issued in September, was running its assigned period to the 
 beginning of the new year. A month later the final procla 
 mation came, including the announcement that colored men 
 of suitable condition would be received into the war service. 
 The policy of emancipation and of employing black soldiers 
 gave to the future a new aspect, about which hope and fear 
 and doubt contended in uncertain conflict. Eleven months 
 having now passed, we are permitted to take another review. 
 The rebel borders are pressed still farther back, and, by the 
 complete opening of the Mississippi, the country dominated 
 by the rebellion is divided into distinct parts, with no prac 
 tical communication between them. Tennessee and Arkansas 
 have been substantially cleared of insurgent control. . . . 
 Of those States not included in the Emancipation Proclama 
 tion, Maryland and Missouri, neither of which, three years 
 ago, would tolerate any restraint upon the extension of 
 slavery into new Territories, only dispute now as to the 
 best mode of removing it within their own limits. . . . The 
 crisis which threatened to divide the friends of the Union 
 is past." 
 
 Antislavery feeling had made an immense gain 
 in the North. The abolitionists had won. At the 
 firing on Sumter Lincoln could not have raised 
 an army worth considering, if the war had had 
 as its avowed object the extinction of slavery. 
 Now the opinion was general that for the sake 
 of ending the war it was expedient to destroy the 
 institution. It cannot, however, be argued that 
 there was any growing love of the negro. His 
 
SHERMAN S MARCH 343 
 
 emancipation was accepted by the majority as 
 an expedient, right in itself, but of questionable 
 constitutionality. 
 
 On the other hand, a situation of affairs for 
 gotten by, if not unknown to, the present 
 generation, must be noted. The United States 
 prisons were full of political prisoners. For 
 the expression of opinions condemnatory of the 
 action of the United States government, men 
 were being arrested without judicial warrant and 
 incarcerated without trial by jury. Free speech 
 was prohibited. Freedom of thought was de 
 barred of expression. Even the right of being 
 represented by counsel, which is guaranteed by 
 the Constitution, was denied these " political 
 prisoners." The Habeas Corpus Act was in op 
 eration. The North was in the hands of the 
 despotism of expediency. 
 
 Yet the whole heart of the North was very far 
 from being with the administration. The minor 
 ity was becoming more active and insistent, de 
 spite repression and persecution. This fact is 
 substantiated by the continued falling off of the 
 supply of volunteers. Enthusiasm for military 
 service became less and less. It had been most 
 fearfully demonstrated that war was an unhealth- 
 ful business. Moreover, the supplying of the 
 needs of the army and the depletion of the ranks 
 of industry by the thousands who were enlisted 
 gave unusual opportunities for gain to those 
 who remained at home. Even the conscription, 
 of itself, was not sufficient to bring out the 
 
344 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 requisite number of men. Experience had de 
 monstrated the hatred of the people towards the 
 expedient, and therefore it was not deemed ad 
 visable to enforce it with overmuch rigor, for fear 
 that opposition and agitation might reduce Re 
 publican majorities. The expedient of bounties 
 was resorted to. The government, the State, 
 and the country, offered bounties ; the aggregate 
 obtainable by a bounty man was frequently six 
 or seven hundred dollars, sometimes much more. 
 This, of course, was a bonus in addition to the 
 regular soldier s pay. The system had a vicious 
 effect. It created a new criminal industry, 
 namely, that of " bounty jumping." It attracted, 
 from the lowest moral strata, men who would 
 enlist to obtain the bounty, take the first oppor 
 tunity to desert, and forthwith repeat the per 
 formance in some other part of the country. One 
 man confessed to jumping the bounty thirty-two 
 times. There were also brokers who made a 
 lucrative business of supplying such recruits, and 
 also substitutes for drafted men unwilling to go 
 to war and able to escape service by purchasing 
 exemption through a man engaged to take their 
 place. 
 
 Nevertheless, the efficiency of the Northern 
 army was greatly improved. The veterans had 
 received the best possible training. The lesson 
 had been learned that the war could not be won 
 with officers whose chief qualifications consisted 
 in their political connections. Gradually there 
 had come to the fore a set of generals who were 
 
SHERMAN S MARCH 345 
 
 not only skilled in the science of warfare, but 
 whose achievements warranted the trust reposed 
 in them. The administration ceased to interfere 
 with them. This was true of both sides. Grant 
 was opposed by Lee; Sherman was matched by 
 Johnston, who had succeeded Bragg. Sheridan, 
 in command of the army in the Shenandoah, had 
 his rival in Early. 
 
 At last the right man had been found to take 
 supreme command of the Union forces. On Feb 
 ruary 29, 1864, Congress revived the rank of 
 lieutenant-general; and the President, who had 
 been empowered to confer that rank on whom 
 he would and during his pleasure, at once 
 named Grant. The conqueror of Vicksburg 
 was thought to be the only man who could save 
 the Union cause. Lincoln said to him : 
 
 " The nation s appreciation of what you have done, and 
 its reliance upon you for what remains to be done in the 
 existing great struggle, are now presented, with this com 
 mission constituting you lieutenant-general in the army of 
 the United States. With this high honor devolves upon you 
 also a corresponding responsibility. As the country herein 
 trusts you, so, under God, it will sustain you. I scarcely 
 need to add that with what I here speak for the nation goes 
 my own hearty personal concurrence." 
 
 It was a plain, honest, able man calling to 
 his side a man equally unostentatious, able, and 
 sincere. With Grant there were no brass and 
 feathers. He cared nothing whatever for the 
 dignity of office. His whole thought was for the 
 best way of doing the work before him. He is 
 described at the time as having " rather the look 
 
346 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 of a man who did, or once did, take a little too 
 much to drink. But the ordinary, scrubby-look 
 ing man, with the slightly seedy look, as if he was 
 out of office and on half-pay, and nothing to do 
 but hang round the entry of Willard s, cigar in 
 mouth, had a clear blue eye and a look of resolu 
 tion, as if he could not be trifled with, and an 
 entire indifference to the crowd about him." 
 
 It is a remarkable fact that at this time the 
 unassuming lieutenant-general had much more 
 of the confidence of the people than had the 
 President who appointed him. But then many 
 men had discovered by experience that it was a 
 terrific task to command the armies, but every 
 one still had liberty to think he could better fill 
 the Presidency than did Lincoln. Chase was 
 seeking, by every means, to undermine his chief s 
 prospects in order that his own might be secured. 
 He coveted the highest magisterial office of the 
 Union. When Lincoln was compelled so to act 
 that certain persons were disappointed or of 
 fended, the Secretary of the Treasury took pains 
 to let it be known that he would have done other 
 wise. He had an influential following, and con 
 sented to allow his name to be presented to the 
 people. The people, however, had no use for it. 
 Nothing more strikingly shows the patriotic 
 magnanimity of Lincoln than the way in which 
 he endured Chase s thwartings and annoyances, 
 simply because the President thought that the 
 Secretary of the Treasury was the best available 
 man for the office. 
 
SHERMAN S MARCH 347 
 
 If Lincoln, at the beginning of the fourth year 
 of the war, saw reasons for hope and confidence, 
 the South also was no less encouraged. Her 
 people, despite the fearful drain upon her re 
 sources and the terrific punishment she had re 
 ceived, still believed in the certainty of establish 
 ing their independence. The late successes had 
 been mostly in favor of the Confederacy. The 
 Union arms had in reality achieved but little ex 
 cept in the way of wearing out the South in a test 
 of endurance. Banks had proposed the conquest 
 of the Trans-Mississippi; it had resulted in the 
 Red River campaigns, in which the Confederacy 
 gained the distinct advantage. Sherman had 
 said of his army, with which he had expected to 
 do great things in the Southwest, half " went to 
 Memphis and half went to hell." The Mississippi 
 was not secure to the Federalists with Forrest 
 and his Confederate troops ravaging its shores. 
 The opinion at Richmond was that this would be 
 the last year of the war. If the Confederacy 
 could withstand the grand attack now to be 
 made, it was believed that the North would be 
 forced by the intervention of Europe to desist in 
 her attempt to coerce, if not through sheer in 
 ability to maintain the offensive. 
 
 Grant s campaign, destined completely to 
 overthrow the hope of the South, was planned 
 with the extreme simplicity which pertained to 
 the man. Lee s army was between him and 
 Richmond, the front of the rebellion. He would 
 attack Richmond, and either capture or demolish 
 
348 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 it. In the mean time a fatal stroke might be 
 given the enemy by an expedition led by Sher 
 man to Atlanta and the Southern seaboard. In 
 this would be encountered Johnston s army, 
 which Sherman must either capture or destroy. 
 By May 5, 1864, the Army of the Potomac had 
 crossed the Rapidan and was encamped in the 
 Wilderness. Its site was of evil augury to the 
 North, since Hooker had met his disaster there. 
 Grant did not desire to risk an engagement here ; 
 but Lee, knowing the ground to be extremely 
 unfavorable for defence, decided on pushing the 
 attack. Grant saw that it would be necessary to 
 fight his way out of this perilous position. Lee 
 began the attack in the morning, and the battle 
 raged all day. There were times when each side 
 seemed inclined to take panic and run. But at 
 night, when the struggle was ended, it was found 
 that the Union army had suffered by far the 
 greater loss in men and had gained no advan 
 tage ; in fact, the honors of the day, though both 
 sides had fought with great vigor and bravery, 
 rested with the Confederates. A correspondent 
 of the London Herald wrote from the scene : 
 
 " The results to the enemy in some parts of the field 
 cannot be described by any word less forcible than mas 
 sacre." 
 
 He estimated that the Federal killed could be 
 positively shown to be not less than three thou 
 sand. Probably Grant lost in the Wilderness, in 
 killed, wounded, prisoners, and missing, not far 
 from thirty thousand men. 
 
SHERMAN S MARCH 349 
 
 Grant now turned towards Richmond by way 
 of Spottsylvania, where Lee, with his usual saga 
 city, anticipated him. Desultory fighting con 
 tinued for several days. It was at this time in 
 fact, May 1 1 that Grant wrote to Halleck : " I 
 propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all 
 summer." It was an expensive line, and one 
 Grant was unable to follow directly, but it was 
 the only course to decisive victory. It meant 
 defeat by attrition, and the Union army was 
 able to last the longer and thus conquer in the 
 end. 
 
 On the 1 7th the principal battle of the ten 
 days fighting in the Wilderness, that of Spottsyl 
 vania, was waged. The Federals attacked an 
 angle of earthworks held by the Confederates. 
 It was a surprise, and resulted in the capture of 
 the works and nearly the whole of a division 
 commanded by General Johnson. It was here 
 that General Lee gave such a marked exhibition 
 of his devotion as well as personal courage. 
 When the Confederates were on the point of 
 suffering a complete disaster, Lee rode in front 
 of the line, and there, in the midst of the battle, 
 sat bareheaded on his horse, an example of 
 dauntlessness to the troops. These shouted, 
 " Go back, General Lee ; go back !" and as his 
 horse was being led to the rear, they went to 
 the charge with courage that could not be with 
 stood. 
 
 With Grant now started on that wholesale life- 
 sacrificing campaign which was to end at Appo- 
 
3So THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 mattox, and which we will study in a later chap 
 ter, we will turn to Sherman, who was getting 
 his army in shape for his memorable expedition 
 through Georgia. Sherman s task was no less 
 difficult than that of Grant. It required that he 
 swing away from his base and practically aban 
 don any attempt at keeping open a line of com 
 munication. Moreover, it was necessary that he 
 traverse a wild country which was admirably 
 adapted to the concealment and protection of the 
 enemy. Before entering upon this decisive cam 
 paign, however, Sherman made an expedition 
 against Meridian in Mississippi and Selma in Ala 
 bama, in order to destroy the means of transpor 
 tation in the centre of the Confederacy. Here 
 Polk was in command of about twenty thousand 
 troops, the cavalry being under the command of 
 Forrest. Meridian was destroyed, in accordance 
 with Sherman s programme, with little resist 
 ance. Forrest then, after an unsuccessful inva 
 sion of Kentucky, made an attack upon Fort 
 Pillow. This was defended by Majors Booth and 
 Bradford and about five hundred men, half of 
 whom were negroes. Forrest demanded a sur 
 render, which was refused. He then carried the 
 fort by storm. No quarter was given. The 
 slaughter approached a massacre. A few of the 
 garrison escaped to the Federal gunboats in the 
 Mississippi. 
 
 After sending Generals Banks and A. J. Smith 
 to the west of the lower Mississippi on an expe 
 dition which ended disastrously, they being de- 
 
SHERMAN S MARCH 351 
 
 feated by Generals Kirby Smith and Richard 
 Taylor with an inferior force, Sherman set about 
 the great Georgian campaign. His army of 
 nearly ninety-nine thousand men was thus organ 
 ized: The Army of the Cumberland, under 
 Major-General Thomas ; the Army of Tennessee, 
 commanded by McPherson; the Army of the 
 Ohio, under Schofield. Against this invasion 
 Johnston could muster thirty-six thousand infan 
 try and artillery and less than seven thousand 
 cavalry. The disproportion was great, but was 
 in a measure counterbalanced by the fact that the 
 Southern force was upon the defensive. 
 Sherman telegraphed : 
 
 " We intend to fight Joseph Johnston until he is satisfied, 
 and I hope he will not attempt to escape. If he does, my 
 bridges are down and we will be after him." 
 
 Johnston had no intention of attempting to 
 escape ; he was there to dispute every inch of the 
 way. But he did not, like Lee, court a general 
 engagement. The Confederate army was in 
 trenched at Dalton, but, rinding that Sherman 
 was seeking to turn his position by marching on 
 Resaca, Johnston evacuated Dalton on the I2th. 
 The Confederate commander had a wholesome 
 respect for Northern soldiers. He had had ex 
 periences with them, both as their leader and as 
 their enemy; and, as he himself declares, the 
 estimation in which they were held by Southern 
 editors and political speakers was not sufficiently 
 well founded for the purpose of forming a judg- 
 
352 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 ment as to how and when it would be well to 
 give battle. He therefore confined his operations 
 to skirmishing and protecting his communica 
 tions. On May 20 Sherman held a line of ad 
 vance which extended through Rome, Kingston, 
 and Cassville, running east and west. Johnston 
 was disposed to hazard an engagement, believing 
 that a favorable opportunity was presented. But 
 Generals Polk and Hood expressing their convic 
 tion that neither of them could hold his position, 
 Johnston, knowing that this discouragement 
 would communicate itself to the men, abandoned 
 the project. He later confessed his error in 
 giving way to the judgment of his generals. 
 
 Sherman was now within fifty miles of Atlanta. 
 So long as he could keep the enemy before him, 
 he was secure. He wrote : 
 
 " The long and single line of railroad to my rear is the 
 delicate point of my game, as also the fact that all of Geor 
 gia, except the cleared bottoms, is densely wooded, with 
 few roads, and at any point an enterprising enemy can, in 
 a few hours, with axes and spades, make across our path 
 formidable works, whilst his sharp-shooters, spies, and 
 scouts, in the guise of peaceable farmers, can hang around 
 us and kill our wagon men, messengers, and couriers. It 
 is a big Indian war; still thus far I have won four strong 
 positions, advanced a hundred miles, and am in possession 
 of a large wheat-growing region and all the iron-mines and 
 works of Georgia." 
 
 On May 25 Sherman left the line of railroad, 
 not desiring to contend the strong position at 
 Allatoona Pass. He bore to the east, and Hook 
 er s division came in contact with the Confed 
 erates the two following days. But Sherman 
 
SHERMAN S MARCH 353 
 
 made the detour and again reached the railroad 
 at Allatoona. Johnston did no more than re 
 tard the Federal movement; though he made 
 a gallant resistance, Sherman slowly but surely 
 pressed on. A detailed history of these manoeu 
 vres for position is of interest only to the military 
 strategist and those who still wish to refresh 
 their memories of personal experiences. 
 
 On the 1 3th of June occurred one event which 
 was a great loss to the Confederate cause. This 
 was the death of Lieutenant-General Polk, who 
 combined the qualities (rarely related in modern 
 times) of an eminent bishop and a gallant soldier. 
 This happened at Pine Hill, where he had gone 
 with a small reconnoitring party. As they stood 
 together, a good mark was presented for a Fed 
 eral battery distant some six or seven hundred 
 yards. The third shot passed through General 
 Folk s chest. 
 
 Sherman s despatch of June 23 gives a good 
 idea of the nature of the fighting which was 
 going on. 
 
 " Our lines are now in close contact, and the fighting in 
 cessant, with a good deal of artillery. As fast as we gain 
 one position the enemy has another all ready, but I think 
 he will soon have to let go Kenesaw, which is the key to the 
 whole country. The weather is now better, and the roads 
 are drying up fast. Our losses are light, and, notwithstand 
 ing the repeated breaks of the road in our rear, supplies are 
 ample." 
 
 It was a continual sparring, with Johnston con 
 stantly but with dogged slowness falling back. 
 
 23 
 
354 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 Sherman s policy was not to risk a general en 
 gagement. He preferred saving his men by 
 a slow, zigzag progress, to risking the direct 
 attack. He departed from his method, however, 
 at Kenesaw Mountain, and thereby proved the 
 wisdom of the other course. He ordered the 
 attack on the morning of June 27. It was re 
 pulsed at every part of the Confederate line. 
 The Federal troops held to the assault with cour 
 age and tenacity, and in consequence suffered 
 great and disproportionate loss. Many were 
 found dead, lying against the Confederate breast 
 works, thus showing the spirit in which the as 
 sault had been made. Reports show that while 
 the Southerners lost only eight hundred, Sher 
 man s loss was not far from three thousand. 
 Sherman, confessing it was a failure, said, " I yet 
 claim it produced good fruits, as it demonstrated 
 to General Johnston that I would assault, and 
 that boldly." 
 
 General Thomas, however, did not consider 
 such game as this worth playing. When asked 
 by his chief, " Are you willing to risk the move 
 on Dalton, cutting loose from our railroad?" he 
 replied, " If with the greater part of the army, 
 I think it decidedly better than butting against 
 breastworks twelve feet thick and strongly 
 abatised." 
 
 Sherman had no great opinion of the Army 
 of the Cumberland. He complained of it as 
 being too slow, and that Thomas did not seem 
 to realize that the work of the Federal army 
 
SHERMAN S MARCH 355 
 
 was offensive rather than defensive. He said 
 of Thomas s division : " A fresh furrow in a 
 ploughed field will stop the whole column, and all 
 begin to intrench." After the defeat at Kenesaw, 
 he again resorted to manoeuvring, and, turning 
 to the right, took possession of the Chattahoo- 
 chee River. He was now within eight miles of 
 Atlanta. 
 
 The South was greatly disappointed at John 
 ston s falling back to Atlanta and thus surren 
 dering a large and rich part of Georgia. But, 
 though constantly on the retreat, the Confeder 
 ates had not waged an unsuccessful warfare. It 
 had been, in fact, a brilliant example of general 
 ship, providing it be conceded that Johnston s 
 policy of not giving a general engagement was 
 the true one. He had inflicted great losses on 
 his enemy, probably five times as many as his 
 own. He thus justifies his policy: 
 
 " At Dalton the great numerical superiority of the enemy 
 made the chances of battle much against us ; and, even if 
 beaten, they had a safe refuge behind the fortified pass 
 of Ringgold and in the fortress of Chattanooga. Our refuge, 
 in case of defeat, was in Atlanta, one hundred miles off, 
 with three rivers intervening. Therefore, victory for us 
 could have been indecisive, while defeat would have been 
 utterly disastrous. Between Dalton and the Chattahoochee 
 we could have given battle only by attacking the enemy 
 intrenched, or so near intrenchments that the only result of 
 success to us would have been his falling into them ; while 
 defeat would have been our ruin." 
 
 There was now a lull in the campaigns, both 
 that which we have been following and Grant s 
 
356 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 in Virginia. The interest in the North was 
 largely taken with the approaching Presidential 
 election. The question of the hour was : Had the 
 people enough confidence in the Illinois " rail- 
 splitter" to continue him in his position of tre 
 mendous responsibility? Opinions differed. 
 James Russell Lowell asked what would have 
 been the condition of affairs had a weak or un 
 wise man been elected in his stead. Yet there 
 were many men of influence who, perhaps con 
 scientiously, hoped to defeat Lincoln s nomi 
 nation. There was a scheme to postpone the 
 convention. Greeley was distinctly opposed to 
 Lincoln. He thought that Fremont, Butler, or 
 Grant would do as well. Much was made by him 
 and others of the custom, which had for years 
 prevailed, of restricting the Presidency to one 
 term. At this late date, the idea of preferring 
 Fremont or Butler to Lincoln seems too ridicu 
 lous to be possible. But a man is never judged 
 as a whole in his own time. He is estimated by 
 the last happening which may be laid to his re 
 sponsibility. The Union arms had not given the 
 satisfaction which the North had anticipated, and 
 the failures were laid at Lincoln s door. Said an 
 editor to Thaddeus Stevens, " Introduce me to 
 some member of Congress friendly to Mr. Lin 
 coln s renomination." Stevens went to Arnold, 
 of Chicago, a close friend of the President, and 
 said, " Here is a -man who wants to find a Lincoln 
 member of Congress. You are the only one I 
 know, and I have come over to introduce my 
 
SHERMAN S MARCH 357 
 
 friend to you." This was, of course, an exag 
 geration; but the fact that such a thing could 
 happen indicates the strength of the opposition 
 to Lincoln. 
 
 A convention consisting of a few hundred men 
 gathered at Cleveland, May 31, 1864, an< 3 nomi 
 nated Fremont for the Presidency, and John 
 Cochrane, of New York, for the Vice-Presidency. 
 Lincoln turned the whole proceedings to ridicule, 
 and furnished a new political metaphor by read 
 ing from the Bible to his friends the following 
 incident from the life of David : 
 
 " And every one that was in distress, and every one that 
 was discontented, gathered themselves unto him ; and he 
 became a captain over them : and there were with him about 
 four hundred men." 
 
 At this time the mind of the North was not 
 decided as to whether her arms were meeting 
 success or defeat. True, Grant was winning bat 
 tles ; but at what cost ! Chase said : 
 
 "The people are crazy, or I am. I don t see the recent 
 military successes. Most earnestly do I pray that we may 
 see them hereafter. All, under God, depends on Grant. So 
 far he has achieved very little, and that little has cost beyond 
 computation. Still, my hope is in him. He seems the ablest 
 and most persistent man we have. Sherman has done well 
 and apparently more than Grant," 
 
 Serious as were the trials of the North at this 
 time, there were those who were willing to take 
 advantage of public depression for stock-jobbing 
 exploits. On May 18 a bogus proclamation was 
 published which caused great, though brief, con- 
 
358 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 sternation. It was a clever forgery which pur 
 ported to come from Lincoln, and appointed a 
 day for humiliation, fasting, and prayer, an ac 
 knowledgment, on the part of the administration, 
 of Grant s failure. It was published in two Dem 
 ocratic papers, the Journal of Commerce and the 
 New York World. Though, on discovering the 
 fact that it was a canard, the editors endeavored 
 to rectify their mistake, by order of the President 
 they were arrested and their journals suppressed 
 under military authority. 
 
 In the mean time some efforts were being put 
 forth to bring about an understanding as to the 
 basis upon which negotiations for peace might 
 be carried on. Early in the summer a manifesto 
 was published by the Confederate Congress, set 
 ting forth the demands of the Confederacy. It 
 had not receded from its position held before the 
 war, except that now there was no express men 
 tion of slavery in the Territories. Immunity 
 from internal interference must be insured. 
 
 " Let them forbear aggressions upon us, and the war is at 
 an end. If there be questions which require adjustment by 
 negotiations, we have ever been willing, and are still willing, 
 to enter into communication with our adversaries in a spirit 
 of peace, of equity, and manly frankness." 
 
 In 1863 Vice-President Stephens offered his 
 services as a commissioner, and attempted to 
 make the journey to Washington; but the au 
 thorities there refused to allow him to pass their 
 lines or to hold any sort of communication with 
 them. In July, 1864, Messrs. C. C. Clay and 
 
SHERMAN S MARCH 359 
 
 Jacob Thompson were at Niagara Falls, whence 
 they sent a letter to Horace Greeley, soliciting a 
 safe-conduct to Washington, where, as Southern 
 commissioners, they were to endeavor to ascer 
 tain on what basis, if any, peace could be nego 
 tiated. Lincoln contented himself with replying 
 " to whom it may concern" that the Union and 
 the complete abolition of slavery were the sine 
 qua non of peace. It is said that Lee cloaked 
 any interest he might have had in this letter with 
 the remark that it concerned no one. Many 
 Northern newspapers were discussing the possi 
 bility of ending the war by an agreement, and 
 many held that it could and ought to be done. 
 The Tribune said : 
 
 "We feel certain that two-thirds of the American people 
 on either side of the dividing line anxiously, absorbingly, 
 desire peace, and are ready to make all needful sacrifices to 
 secure it. Then why shall it be long withheld? Let us 
 know, as soon as may be, the most that the rebel chiefs will 
 do to secure peace ; let us know what is the ultimatum 
 on our side. We have no sympathy with the shuddering 
 dread that our government may, by listening to propositions 
 from the rebels, virtually acknowledge their independence. 
 Etiquette is the disease of little minds, great souls are never 
 troubled by it." 
 
 But the Union authorities never could bring 
 themselves to treat with the Confederacy openly 
 and above board, although the Jaquess-Gilmore 
 Peace Mission was tacitly though unofficially 
 recognized by the Federal administration. 
 
 On the 2Qth of August the Democratic Con 
 vention met at Chicago. August Belmont, in 
 
360 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 calling the Convention to order, said that " four 
 years of misrule by a sectional, fanatical, and cor 
 rupt party had brought our country to the verge 
 of ruin. The past and present are sufficient 
 warnings of the disastrous consequence which 
 would befall us if Mr. Lincoln s re-election should 
 be made possible by our want of patriotism and 
 unity." Horatio Seymour, governor of New 
 York, and the permanent chairman of the con 
 vention, said : 
 
 " They [the party in power] were animated by intolerance 
 and fanaticism, and blinded by an ignorance of the spirit of 
 our institutions, the character of our people, and the condi 
 tion of our land. Step by step they have marched on to 
 results from which at the onset they would have shrunk with 
 horror; and even now, when war has desolated our land, 
 has laid its heavy burden upon labor, and when bankruptcy 
 and ruin overhang us, they will not have the Union restored 
 unless upon conditions unknown to the Constitution. . . . 
 They will not even listen to a proposal for peace which does 
 not offer what this government has no right to ask." 
 
 The platform adopted was similar in its pur 
 port. Seymour would have been the nominee 
 had he not emphatically refused to allow his 
 name to be used. The choice fell on George B. 
 McClellan, who met with little opposition. 
 
 The Republican Convention had met at Balti 
 more, June 7. Lincoln, whose nomination had 
 for some time been practically certain, explained 
 the confidence of his party thus : 
 
 " I do not allow myself to suppose that either the conven 
 tion or the league have concluded to decide that I am either 
 the greatest or best man in America, but rather they have 
 
SHERMAN S MARCH 361 
 
 concluded it is not best to swop horses while crossing the 
 river, and have further concluded that I am not so poor a 
 horse that they might not make a botch of it in trying to 
 swop." 
 
 Andrew Johnson was nominated for the Vice- 
 Presidency by the Republican party, though he 
 was a Democrat and a Southerner, because, like 
 many others in East Tennessee, he supported the 
 Union and had a peculiar and strong following 
 whose support was earnestly desired by the man 
 agers of the Republican campaign. 
 
 Farragut s brilliant victory in Mobile Bay con 
 tributed immensely to the restored confidence of 
 the people in the present administration. It was 
 a direct contradiction of the popular abbreviation 
 of the Democratic platform : " Resolved, the war 
 is a failure." From the beginning Mobile had 
 been a source of trouble to the Federal govern 
 ment, in that it afforded especially favorable 
 facilities for blockade-runners. The Confederate 
 authorities knew that sooner or later it would be 
 made the point of a determined attack, therefore 
 they brought the defences up to the highest pos 
 sible state of perfection. 
 
 It was on August 5, 1864, that Farragut de 
 termined to run the gauntlet of the fortress and 
 enter the torpedo-protected harbor. In a letter 
 written just before the battle he said, " I am 
 going into Mobile Bay in the morning if God 
 is my leader/ as I hope he is." It was a terrific 
 fight. The ironclad " Tecumseh" went ahead to 
 grapple with the formidable ram " Tennessee," 
 
362 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 but before the duel had fairly begun the Union 
 men saw their best ship throw her stern out of 
 the water and plunge bow foremost to the bot 
 tom. She had been blown up by a torpedo. For 
 a while the fate of the battle hung in the balance. 
 The Federal ships were huddled before Fort 
 Morgan and were being raked with deadly effect. 
 The flagship " Hartford" could not go on 
 because the " Brooklyn" lay in her way. " Tell 
 the admiral there is a heavy line of torpedoes 
 ahead," signalled the latter. " Damn the tor 
 pedoes!" shouted Farragut from the rigging. 
 " Go ahead, Captain Drayton ! Four bells." The 
 "Hartford" steered to the West and crossed 
 the line in safety. Such " lofty courage and stern 
 determination plucked victory out of the very 
 jaws of defeat; the battle of Mobile Bay was to 
 the career of Farragut what the battle of Copen 
 hagen was to that of Nelson." 
 
 We return now to Georgia, where we left the 
 contesting parties before Atlanta. Pollard at 
 tributes the capture of that city by Sherman to 
 the unaccountable replacement of Johnston by 
 Hood, saying that, though the latter had a heart 
 like a lion, his head was a block of wood. The 
 reason given for the supersession of Johnston 
 was his failure to check the advance of the enemy 
 and also because he expressed " no confidence 
 that he could defeat or expel him." The latter 
 reason is singular. To it Johnston simply replied, 
 " Confident language by a military commander is 
 not usually regarded as evidence of competence." 
 
SHERMAN S MARCH 363 
 
 Davis never had any love for Johnston, and, 
 while obliged to use him, on more than one occa 
 sion took the opportunity to humiliate him. 
 
 Hood took the command with the understand 
 ing that his government wished to see some 
 fighting. He satisfied that desire. On the 2Oth 
 of July he attacked Sherman s right at Peach- 
 tree Creek. Though some prisoners were taken 
 and the retreat was made in good order, yet it 
 was a repulse. On the 22d occurred another 
 battle near the same spot; and on this occasion 
 the Confederates captured two thousand prison 
 ers and six pieces of artillery. Hood made 
 another attack on the 23d. He came out of At 
 lanta by the Bell s Ferry road. He had, however, 
 made a miscalculation which cost him fifteen hun 
 dred men, according to his own statement. 
 
 Sherman was now regularly besieging Atlanta. 
 Bombardment did not seem to effect much, and 
 for weeks the Union general waited his oppor 
 tunity. On the 3 ist of August he found the Con 
 federate army divided into two parts, twenty-two 
 miles away from each other. Hood had also 
 sent his cavalry under Wheeler to intercept Sher 
 man s line oT communication. On this, the Fed 
 erals moved to a commanding position near 
 Jonesboro, from which Hood was unable to dis 
 lodge them. On the ist of September Hardee s 
 Corps was defeated with great loss. Hood now 
 found himself outflanked, cut off from his sup 
 plies, and his army divided, cut in two by the 
 Federals. Thereupon, he determined that At- 
 
364 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 lanta was no longer tenable. He destroyed his 
 supplies, which it was found impossible to re 
 move, blew up the magazines, and marched out. 
 Just at the moment when the weary North was 
 beginning to look with consideration on the Chi 
 cago platform, the news came from Sherman : 
 " Atlanta is ours, and fairly won. Since the 5th 
 of May we have been in one continual battle or 
 skirmish, and need rest." 
 
 The administration of the North needed such 
 news as this. It came just in the nick of time. 
 The people were almost ready to vote the affirm 
 ative on " Resolved, the war is a failure." But 
 now came successes. Farragut had achieved his 
 victory in Mobile Bay. Sheridan also had de 
 feated Early at Winchester and Fisher s Hill. 
 These victories, to use Seward s language, 
 " knocked the bottom out of the Chicago nomi 
 nations." By October, Chase, who in the interval 
 had been dropped from the Cabinet and, after 
 much sullenness, had been reconciled to Lincoln, 
 could write : 
 
 "There is not, now, the slightest uncertainty about the 
 re-election of Mr. Lincoln. The only question is by what 
 popular and what electoral majority. God grant that both 
 may be so decisive as to turn every hope of rebellion to 
 despair." 
 
 Atlanta was formally surrendered to Sherman 
 by the mayor of the city. The former promised 
 that the lives and property of non-combatants 
 should be respected. He did not keep his prom 
 ise. Before his occupation he had ordered all 
 
SHERMAN S MARCH 365 
 
 civilians, male and female, to leave the city within 
 five days. When Hood endeavored to intercede 
 for the city he could not protect, the answer 
 he received from the Federal commander was, 
 " Talk thus to the marines, and not to me." To 
 the mayor he replied, " I give full credit to your 
 statements of the distress that will be occasioned 
 by it, and yet shall not revoke my order, because 
 my orders are not designed to meet the humani 
 ties of the case." 
 
 There was a movement on foot at this time 
 to have Georgia withdraw from the Confederacy 
 and treat with the North for peace. It was felt 
 that the State had not received the consideration 
 and protection due from the authorities at Rich 
 mond. But to overtures of this nature Governor 
 Brown replied : 
 
 " Whatever may be the opinion of her people as to the 
 injustice done her by the Confederate administration, Geor 
 gia will triumph with her Confederate sisters, or she will 
 sink with them in common ruin." 
 
 The Confederate administration and generals 
 were now apprehensive and uncertain as to Sher 
 man s next move. Hood finally determined to 
 fall back towards Tennessee on the Federal line 
 of communication, with the hope that he could 
 thus draw Sherman out of Georgia. But Thomas 
 was in Tennessee, and, having received rein 
 forcements, he was competent to take care of 
 Hood. Sherman, now left with no effective op 
 position, determined on his famous " march to 
 
366 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 the sea." Thus the two armies which had been 
 engaged in so many weeks of continual fighting 
 were now marching away from each other. 
 
 Before leaving Atlanta, Sherman crowned his 
 relentless methods by destroying the city by fire. 
 This destruction of the property of non-comba 
 tants, the means of subsistence of women and 
 children, may have been an effective method of 
 causing the people to tire of rebellion, but it was 
 not consistent with the principles of civilized 
 warfare. 
 
 On November 16 Sherman divided his army 
 into two bodies and marched out of Atlanta. 
 One division took a route which led through 
 central Georgia and Milledgeville ; the other fol 
 lowed the railroad in the direction of Augusta. 
 There was no opposition, except from Wheeler s 
 cavalry and a home-guard militia. The people 
 did their best to remove all provisions out of the 
 Federal way, a precaution which was necessary 
 not only on the ground of ill-will, but for the 
 saving of their property. The Federal troops 
 had a great respect for the goods of the people 
 whose homes they invaded. They preserved 
 everything they could carry with them. It must 
 be confessed that in this respect the Federal 
 soldiers, not excluding officers, showed a van 
 dalism far from creditable to an army that was 
 fighting for a great moral purpose. 
 
 While speaking of Northern barbarities such 
 as these, we are reminded of the question of the 
 treatment of prisoners. The sympathies of 
 
SHERMAN S MARCH 367 
 
 Northern people have never ceased to be affected 
 by the stories of suffering in Andersonville and 
 Libby Prisons. But it ought to be remembered 
 that up to July, 1863, the South had captured the 
 more prisoners and was at her wits end to pro 
 vide for them, despite great efforts to do so. 
 After the balance of prisoners shifted the North, 
 always unwilling to abide by its cartel of ex 
 change, became yet more averse to doing so. 
 It is a fact that the men who pined and died of 
 hunger and disease in Southern prisons were 
 abandoned by their government, which refused 
 to make adequate arrangements for the ex 
 change of prisoners. Many were exchanged 
 under a plan by which the Federal government 
 could pretend to know nothing about it, and 
 thus avoid a recognition of the belligerent status 
 of the Confederacy; but the Confederate au 
 thorities were prepared to exchange man for 
 man, to the fullest extent. One excuse which 
 the North made for its failure to exchange 
 prisoners was the fact that the South objected 
 to giving up their recaptured slaves for their 
 white soldiers, a very natural objection, con 
 sidering the grounds on which they were right 
 ing. But in November, 1864, Colonel Ould, the 
 Southern commissioner on exchange, wrote to 
 his Secretary of War : 
 
 " My own firm conviction is that, even if we were to 
 agree to the unjust demands of the enemy in this respect, 
 we would not secure a general exchange. ... I think it very 
 doubtful whether they would agree to a general exchange 
 
368 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 even if we consented to treat recaptured slaves as prisoners 
 of war, and delivered those whose term of service had not 
 expired. I am satisfied their course is the result of a con 
 viction forced upon them by the events of the war, that a 
 Confederate soldier is more valuable than a Federal." 
 
 This is a pardonable supposition; but it is 
 more likely that the Northern authorities consid 
 ered their prisoners more valuable because their 
 places could not be filled from the drained 
 Southern population. They chose to allow 
 their own men to languish in prison rather 
 than return soldiers to the thinning ranks of 
 the Confederacy. 
 
 By the loth of December, 1864, Sherman was 
 at Savannah. As soon as the consequent bom 
 bardment began, Hardee, knowing he could not 
 successfully defend the city, formally surrendered 
 it on the 2ist of December, after destroying the 
 navy-yard and a great store of ammunition. 
 Sherman wrote to President Lincoln : 
 
 " I beg to present you, as a Christmas-gift, the city of 
 Savannah, with one hundred and fifty guns and plenty of 
 ammunition, and also about twenty-five thousand bales of 
 cotton." 
 
 Thus ended Sherman s memorable Georgian ex 
 pedition. 
 
 Late in January, 1865, Sherman s army, sing 
 ing " John Brown s Body," crossed the Savannah 
 River and entered South Carolina, filled with the 
 desire to wreak vengeance on the State that had 
 first taken the step to withdraw from the Union. 
 
SHERMAN S MARCH 369 
 
 The South Carolinians soon learned that the 
 soul of the border ruffian was indeed march 
 ing forward. Along the path of the invading 
 hosts, churches, private residences, and personal 
 property were destroyed with utter disregard of 
 the rules of war; and what was not burned was 
 often wantonly injured. Not since the days of 
 "Bloody Bill" Cunningham, the Tory leader 
 during the Revolutionary War, had Sherman s 
 equal been known. 
 
 According to Sherman s theory, the Southern 
 people had " lost all title to property, and can 
 lose nothing not already forfeited." (" Conduct 
 of the War," Supplement, Part 7, p. 350.) It is 
 true, he went through the farcical proceeding of 
 notifying his subordinates that while they had a 
 right to forage on the enemy, wanton waste and 
 pillage should be discouraged " for the sake of 
 discipline." The crowning infamy of the famous 
 march was the burning of Columbia, February 
 17. Sherman at first endeavored to fasten the 
 blame on Wade Hampton, the Southern cavalry 
 leader, but subsequently admitted that he had 
 lied in order to weaken Hampton s influence in 
 the State. 
 
 And while it can never be proved that Sher 
 man directly ordered the destruction of the city, 
 perhaps he never did, its annihilation was un 
 questionably due to a lack of discipline on the 
 part of his men, for which he was entirely respon 
 sible. His whole conduct was that of a braggart. 
 Before crossing the Savannah he wrote Grant, 
 
 24 
 
370 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 " If you can hold Lee, and if Thomas can con 
 tinue as he did on the i8th, I could go on and 
 smash South Carolina all to pieces." (Ibid., 
 286.) Then again, in a communication to Hal- 
 leek, Chief of Staff at Washington, he declared, 
 December 24, 1864, " The truth is, the whole 
 army is burning with an insatiable desire to 
 wreak vengeance upon South Carolina. I almost 
 tremble at her fate, but feel that she deserves 
 all that is in store for her." (Ibid., 291.) 
 
 Charleston held a prominence in the Confed 
 eracy second only to that of Richmond. It was 
 the birthplace of secession. Sherman made a 
 feint against it. Hardee knew that the effort to 
 protect the city was not worth the sacrifice, which 
 must certainly in the end be useless. He evac 
 uated the city, after destroying all property 
 which could be of use to the Federal army led by 
 General Gillmore. An accidental explosion of 
 gunpowder, destroying much life and starting a 
 devastating conflagration, gave a peculiar horror 
 to the fall of Charleston. 
 
 After the burning of Columbia, Sherman con 
 tinued his march northward, the army despoil 
 ing and burning as it went. Sherman s march 
 through the Carolinas was marked by a trail of 
 ruin. His troops plundered and abused the in 
 habitants without let or hinderance. Jewelry was 
 even taken forcibly from the persons of women. 
 If the soldiers left anything, it was cleaned up by 
 " Sherman s bummers," the prisoners of war who 
 had escaped from the various prisons. By the 
 
SHERMAN S MARCH 37 i 
 
 20th of March, 1865, Sherman was at Goldsboro, 
 North Carolina, where he was again in close com 
 munication with Grant, who was but one hundred 
 and fifty miles away. The noose was now ready 
 to be drawn which would strangle the last hopes 
 of the Southern Confederacy. 
 
XV 
 
 GRANT ENDS THE STRUGGLE 
 
 THE most important of the several attempts 
 made during the course of the war to institute 
 negotiations for the suspension of hostilities was 
 that of F. P. Blair. He obtained, in December, 
 1864, a card from President Lincoln with the 
 words, " Allow the bearer, F. P. Blair, Sr., to 
 pass our lines, go South, and return." He went 
 South and proposed to Jefferson Davis that he 
 suspend hostilities on the plea that Louis Na 
 poleon s schemes in Mexico should be frustrated 
 by an immediate declaration of war with that 
 country. The result was that unofficially, and 
 through the medium of Blair, a commission, con 
 sisting of A. H. Stephens, John A. Campbell, 
 and R. M. T. Hunter, was met by Lincoln and 
 Seward on February 3, 1865, on board a steamer 
 at Hampton Roads. A four hours discussion 
 ensued. This was resultless, as the commissioners 
 from the Confederate States were unable to con 
 cede the conditions imposed by Lincoln as prece 
 dent to peace. These included the restoration of 
 the Union, the abolishment of slavery, and the 
 disarming of the South. 
 
 We left Grant in Eastern Virginia immediately 
 after his costly and indecisive fight at Spottsyl- 
 vania, when in May he found Lee immovably 
 372 
 
GRANT ENDS THE STRUGGLE 373 
 
 barring his way to Richmond. Butler was on the 
 James River, and was able to creep up to City 
 Point and Bermuda Hundred. He had there a 
 capital opportunity to operate with probable suc 
 cess against Richmond, or, at least, Petersburg. 
 But Butler was never brilliant in generalship, and 
 Beauregard soon had his army, to borrow 
 Grant s language, completely bottled up. 
 
 In the mean time Grant, owing to Lee s ill 
 ness, had made such progress southward 
 though he had to fight for it all the way that 
 by the 2d of June he was on the ground occupied 
 by McClellan in June, 1862. He was near Gaines 
 Mill. Lee was intrenched at Cold Harbor. Here 
 Grant s direct method got him into trouble, and 
 illustrated the fact that good generalship in 
 cludes manoeuvring to get around an enemy that 
 holds an impregnable position. The Federal 
 army was ordered to assault Lee s position in 
 front, a hopeless effort, as every officer and 
 man well knew. Many of the former, knowing 
 overnight the work that was cut out for them 
 on the morrow, wrote their names and addresses 
 on paper, which they pinned to the backs of their 
 coats, so that their dead bodies might be iden 
 tified and the news of their death sent to their 
 friends. The Federal army, however, went 
 bravely to the assault on the morning of the 3d. 
 The charges were characterized by stupendous 
 exhibitions of courage on the part of the attack 
 ing columns and the defenders alike. But it was 
 quickly decided that the position could not be 
 
374 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 taken. The waste of life was terrific; the 
 slaughter was wholesale; it was not war, but 
 murder. The losses of the Union army are 
 estimated at seven thousand. It was an awful 
 mistake on the part of Grant. The battle of 
 Cold Harbor more than any other exemplifies 
 Grant s utter lack of feeling in regard to the sac 
 rifice of human life. He never studied to save 
 men. His policy was to bear on the enemy with 
 such obstinate and continuous force that the 
 enemy must sooner or later be broken. So long 
 as this end was achieved, it mattered little what 
 damage resulted to his own side. He was calm 
 in the confidence that he could stand it longest. 
 This won in the end; but it was an indefensible 
 policy at Cold Harbor. This Grant himself after 
 wards acknowledged. He was now compelled to 
 move his army south of the James River. 
 
 Petersburg was now in the way. If Butler had 
 performed his part in the programme arranged 
 by Grant, this city would soon have been in Fed 
 eral possession. But Butler delayed, and Beau- 
 regard made good use of the time to scrape to 
 gether an army for the defence of this gateway 
 to Richmond. By the i6th of June the Confed 
 erate commander was ready to receive the Fed 
 eral advance. During that day and the two fol 
 lowing, determined assaults on the front were 
 made by the Union army, but they resulted only 
 in a loss of nearly ten thousand men. While the 
 main army was resting, detachments were sent to 
 the southward to raid the Weldon Railroad; but 
 
GRANT ENDS THE STRUGGLE 375 
 
 these were defeated, leaving many prisoners and 
 large quantities of supplies in the hands of the 
 Confederates. Sheridan also, who was to close 
 in on Richmond from the west, was not having 
 better success, having come in contact with 
 General Morgan. 
 
 Matters again looked exceedingly gloomy for 
 the North. She had an enormous army in the 
 field, commanded by the ablest general who had 
 hitherto appeared. He had attempted what was 
 unquestionably his best; and yet the stronghold 
 of the Confederacy still laughed at Federal as 
 saults. There is a hint that even Grant s stout 
 heart was discouraged. But a study of the war 
 leads one to believe that he never lost confidence 
 in the result if allowed to persist in his own way. 
 One serious drawback with which he now had 
 to contend was the character of his troops. 
 Many were " bounty men," many were of the 
 lowest order morally and physically. Doubtless, 
 if Grant at this time had had the army com 
 manded by McClellan in 1862, he would have 
 made short work of his task. One supposed 
 proof of his depression is the probable fact that 
 he was again drinking. But the main thing we 
 see in him is the grim determination to hold on. 
 If he had any misgiving, it could only have been 
 that the North might rebel against his costly 
 methods and that he would be thwarted or even 
 superseded. This probably explains the strange 
 episode in relation to Butler. The Massachusetts 
 general was no soldier; he was only a politician. 
 
376 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 But he retained his position in the army, incom 
 petent as he proved himself, by means of some 
 hold which he had upon Grant. The latter asked 
 for Butler s removal for the good of the cause. 
 Halleck wrote Grant a letter recognizing But 
 ler s " total unfitness to command in the field." 
 But for political reasons it was necessary to take 
 care of him. Grant suggested that he be given 
 local command of a department. This was 
 agreed to in Washington, and an order was sent 
 to Grant to this effect, and transferring Butler s 
 command to " Baldy" Smith. Thereupon Grant 
 was visited by Butler, and on the following day 
 he telegraphed to Washington that he had sus 
 pended the order for which he had expressly 
 asked. Smith was relieved of his command and 
 sent to New York. Evidently Butler had some 
 means by which he was enabled to make Grant 
 " back down." 
 
 While the campaigns were going on in Vir 
 ginia and Georgia, the Confederates were en 
 deavoring to disturb these plans by certain offen 
 sive operations, particularly the invasion of 
 Maryland by Early. In June this general started 
 up the valley on an expedition which gave to the 
 authorities at Washington a serious time for a 
 while. The lower valley had been occupied by 
 Sigel. He had been defeated in May by Breck- 
 enridge and Imboden, and was therefore super 
 seded by General Hunter with a larger force. 
 Hunter proceeded to a campaign on property. 
 He turned the Valley of Virginia, his native 
 
GRANT ENDS THE STRUGGLE 377 
 
 State, into a wilderness. Nothing was spared, 
 neither public buildings nor private residences. 
 Hunter and Early arrived at Lynchburg together 
 on the 1 7th. When the Confederates were ex 
 pecting the former to attack he was preparing 
 a retreat, in which he was followed until driven 
 beyond the field upon which he could hinder 
 Early s plans. 
 
 On July 2 Early was at Winchester. He 
 crossed the Potomac on the 6th, and, deter 
 mined that the expedition should at least pay its 
 own expenses, collected from Hagerstown and 
 Frederick City two hundred and twenty thou 
 sand dollars. On the 9th Lew Wallace made an 
 attempt to stay the Confederate progress at Mo- 
 nocacy Bridge. A brief but severe engagement 
 followed. Though it lasted but two hours, the 
 Confederates lost from six to seven hundred 
 men, and the Union army more than twice that 
 number and also seven hundred prisoners. Wal 
 lace was defeated; but the fact that he had de 
 layed Early probably saved Washington from 
 assault. 
 
 The Northern capital was never in greater 
 peril than at this time. The news that it had 
 been taken was even spread through the Union. 
 Baltimore and Washington were not too well 
 defended. For the sake of the latter Lincoln 
 was compelled to refuse urgently requested aid 
 to the former. His words, " I hope neither Bal 
 timore nor Washington will be taken," are good 
 evidence of the seriousness of the situation. 
 
378 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 It seems that a part of the plan arranged be 
 tween Lee and Early for the capture of Wash 
 ington was that the latter should reinforce him 
 self by the release of the Confederate prisoners 
 at Point Lookout. A detachment of cavalry was 
 sent for this purpose. Early proceeded to the 
 fortifications by the Seventh Street road on the 
 i ith. It seems likely that a prompt and vigorous 
 attack would have put him in possession of the 
 city, for it was defended principally by invalids 
 and one hundred days men, with no one of 
 any ability in command. But the Confederate 
 general was unaware of the real situation, and 
 delayed, thus giving time for reinforcements to 
 arrive. 
 
 The opportunity was again lost by the usual 
 inability of the Southern commanders to reap 
 the fruits of their prowess. By the middle of 
 July Early was recrossing the Potomac, having 
 accomplished nothing but to scare the North, 
 capture an immense quantity of supplies, cattle, 
 etc., and hinder Grant s projects by diverting 
 from him portions of his army before Richmond. 
 Grant might have put himself at the head of the 
 forces which followed Early out of Maryland; 
 but he neglected to do so, and consequently the 
 Confederate had things all his own way. 
 
 Grant, however, proceeded to compensate for 
 this error of judgment by sending Sheridan to 
 the Shenandoah Valley. This commander fur 
 nished successes which were sorely needed to stir 
 the flagging Union zeal and enable the North to 
 
GRANT ENDS THE STRUGGLE 379 
 
 believe that her vast armies were worth sup 
 porting. On the iQth Sheridan won a well- 
 earned victory over Early at Winchester. In his 
 despatch he says, " After a most stubborn and 
 sanguinary engagement, which lasted from early 
 in the morning until five o clock in the evening, 
 I completely defeated him, and, driving him 
 through Winchester, captured about two thou 
 sand five hundred prisoners, five pieces of artil 
 lery, nine army flags, and most of their 
 wounded." Then followed the battle of Fisher s 
 Hill. At this place the Confederates were 
 strongly intrenched; but Sheridan succeeded in 
 flanking them, and Early s army, being thus con 
 fused, was easily defeated. This was on the 23d 
 of September. From that time to the i8th of 
 October, when the battle of Cedar Creek finished 
 Early s Shenandoah career, Sheridan employed 
 his army in laying waste the country. The har 
 vests were stored in the barns and mills. These 
 were burned in every direction, and the country 
 was so completely cleared of the means of sub 
 sistence that, " if a crow should fly over it, he 
 would have to take his provender with him." 
 
 The battle of Cedar Creek was one of those 
 picturesque events which historians always suffi 
 ciently dwell upon. Early surprised the two 
 corps of Sheridan s army at Cedar Creek in 
 their camp on the i8th of October. It was a 
 complete rout, and would have ended as a most 
 disastrous defeat for the Northern arms had not 
 the Confederates stopped to plunder the camp. 
 
380 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 The Federal leaders succeeded in rallying their 
 fleeing corps and driving them back to their 
 duty, and, the Confederate ranks having been 
 thinned by the absence of the plunderers, the 
 reorganized Union men quickly turned what had 
 been a decisive defeat into a victory which ended 
 the campaign, After the overthrow of Early 
 in the Shenandoah Valley all important move 
 ments in that portion of Virginia were at an 
 end, and both sides concentrated their attention 
 on Petersburg and Richmond. 
 
 If the successes of Sherman and Sheridan did 
 not wholly secure the re-election of President 
 Lincoln, at least to them must be accounted his 
 tremendous majorities. The people of the North 
 and the South were now fast drifting to exactly 
 opposite states of mind. The latter were begin 
 ning to lose all confidence in the success of their 
 cause. They were thinking, " If a disastrous end 
 is to come, it had better come quickly." They 
 had no faith in their Executive. Davis s predic 
 tions of sweeping the enemy off the Southern 
 soil could no longer delude them. There was 
 neither sympathy nor co-operation between the 
 President and his Cabinet and Congress. Davis 
 was stigmatized in the Southern Senate as " an 
 amalgam of malice and mediocrity." On the 
 other hand, the Northern people had come to see 
 that victory was well-nigh in the hands of Lin 
 coln. He had gained their complete confidence. 
 They had, however, done all they wished to do 
 for the Union. There were no more volunteers. 
 
GRANT ENDS THE STRUGGLE 381 
 
 They were weary of the war, and yearned in 
 expressibly for its close. But there was now 
 little of the " peace-at-any-price" sentiment. 
 The Union was winning. Lincoln was winning. 
 He now had the right generals, at least as good 
 as there were. He was re-elected by twenty- 
 two States out of twenty-five, receiving two 
 hundred and thirteen votes to McClellan s 
 twenty-one. The States that voted for Mr. 
 Lincoln in 1864 and gave him a majority of 
 494,567, in 1860 cast a popular vote against him 
 of one hundred thousand. Since the election of 
 1860 three States had been admitted to the 
 Union, which raised the number to thirty-six, 
 but eleven claimed to have seceded from the 
 Union. Accordingly, the Electoral College 
 represented only twenty-five, or a little more 
 than two-thirds of the States. 
 
 It was a vote that the war must go on. Early 
 in the summer there had been plenty in the 
 North who would have sacrificed the Union for 
 peace. Now it must be a fight to the finish ; the 
 South must be subjected. This, however, con 
 sidered solely in relation to natural conditions, 
 was still an almost impossible task. At its ad 
 journment in the spring of 1865 its last ad 
 journment the Confederate Congress published 
 an address to the people. Among other things it 
 set forth the practical impossibility of subjuga 
 tion. Its reasoning was sound. 
 
 After Hood s repulse at Atlanta he withdrew 
 his forces from that section and, early in Novem- 
 
382 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 ber, 1864, marched into Tennessee for the pur 
 pose of capturing Sherman s base of supplies. 
 But the Confederates were righting a losing bat 
 tle now in the West. The Mississippi River, as 
 well as a large part of Kentucky, Tennessee, and 
 neighboring States, had passed out of their hands 
 forever. On November 30 Hood attacked Scho- 
 field about twenty miles out of Nashville, but was 
 defeated, notwithstanding his superior numerical 
 strength, and allowed Schofield to join Thomas 
 in Nashville. Two weeks later came the battle 
 of Nashville, one of the most disastrous for the 
 South during the war, when Hood s army was 
 almost destroyed and its remnants pursued for 
 several hundred miles. 
 
 The Confederacy had already received its 
 death-blow. Still, however, the struggle was 
 kept up, partly by reason of the obstinacy of 
 Davis, partly because of the alluring hope of gain 
 ing recognition abroad, and, lastly, the fight 
 was prolonged through the pride and indomi 
 table will of the Southern people. But, note 
 worthy enough, this prolongation of the conflict 
 only served to intensify the bitterness at the 
 North, which bore ill fruit during the period of 
 reconstruction. 
 
 The successful operation of the general Fed 
 eral plan was now almost completed. The Con 
 federacy had been surrounded by a band of fire. 
 Her ports were wrested from her, thus prevent 
 ing what traffic had been carried on notwith 
 standing the blockade. Her Western outposts 
 
GRANT ENDS THE STRUGGLE 383 
 
 had been constantly driven in, all approach ex 
 cept inimical to her territory being cut off by 
 the Federal possession of the great Western 
 water-way. Sherman had dealt a deadly blow 
 in his destructive march through Georgia and 
 the Carolinas. Sheridan had raided the rich Vir 
 ginia Valley time and again. Grant was now 
 hammering at the gate of the capital with a force 
 and persistency which must ultimately break 
 through. Should Richmond be taken the Con 
 federacy might yet live; but it would be under 
 a fugitive government which could no longer 
 pretend to a dignified place among the nations 
 of men. Moreover, the people had neither the 
 cause which impels to win or the spirit to uphold 
 a guerilla warfare. It was a foregone conclu 
 sion, though not publicly admitted by the author 
 ities or the generals, that with the fall of Rich 
 mond the war would be ended. 
 
 But the siege of the Southern capital was a 
 long and weary affair. Through a whole sum 
 mer and a winter the Army of the Potomac 
 waited, manoeuvring and skirmishing around 
 Petersburg and Richmond. Grant tried every 
 possible avenue of approach; but Lee s army 
 was ever before him and so intrenched that even 
 Grant s recklessness of blood and life at last 
 flinched at the assault. Every expedient was 
 tried; but the Confederates repulsed the be 
 siegers. Other armies harassed the country and 
 menaced important points ; but Lee could not be 
 induced to leave his charge. Nor was he drawn 
 
384 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 into a pitched battle; his army was far too in 
 ferior in numbers and equipment. 
 
 Throughout the winter the two armies did lit 
 tle but watch and " feel" each other. Two or 
 three undecisive engagements occurred, such as 
 that of Hatcher s Run, on February 6, 1865, and 
 Hare s Hill, on March 25. The latter was an 
 attack by Lee, under the immediate command of 
 General Gordon, on Grant s works south of the 
 Appomattox. To capture these would have 
 given him the command of Grant s military 
 road. Though the Federals were surprised, 
 the success was short-lived and the Confeder 
 ates were repulsed with much loss to them 
 selves, though they made many prisoners and 
 captured some artillery, which they spiked and 
 left on the ground. 
 
 On the 29th of March Grant again took the 
 offensive with vigor and determination. Sheri 
 dan, with his own and Crook s cavalry, went to 
 Dinwiddie Court-House, two corps of infantry 
 following on a parallel road. The object was the 
 possession of the Weldon Railroad. But this 
 movement was met and repulsed by Generals 
 Fitzhugh Lee and Pickett. Grant immediately 
 moved forward reinforcements, and Sheridan s 
 brilliant battle of Five Forks ensued on March 31, 
 in which Lee s right was turned and several thou 
 sand Confederates taken prisoners. It was this 
 battle that made Appomattox possible, and it 
 required the dash and skill of a Sheridan. 
 
 Grant was now in a position where he could 
 
GRANT ENDS THE STRUGGLE 385 
 
 strike effectively the thin Confederate lines be 
 fore Petersburg. He did this, and pierced Lee s 
 line in three places; but the Southern troops 
 forded the river and fell back within the inner 
 intrenchments of the city. Among their losses 
 was General A. P. Hill, who had done conspicu 
 ous service for the Confederate cause around 
 Richmond during the campaign of McClellan in 
 1862. 
 
 This battle was practically the ending of the 
 war. On the 2d of April, which fell on a Sunday, 
 President Davis received a telegram from Lee 
 stating that his lines had been broken, and ad 
 vising the evacuation of Richmond that night, 
 providing he could not regain his position. The 
 evacuation took place. The gallant defender of 
 the Confederacy could do no more ; the persist 
 ent courage of his able antagonist, aided by 
 overpowering numbers, had won. Richmond, so 
 long planned for, fought for, hoped for by the 
 North, was now her prize. It fell into Federal 
 hands with all the traditional confusion and ter 
 ror which accompany the taking of a city. The 
 military authorities before the evacuation or 
 dered the burning of the great tobacco ware 
 house. This came near involving the whole city 
 in a general conflagration. Everybody tried to 
 flee. The streets were blocked by the inhabi 
 tants seeking to escape with their belongings. 
 The commissary depot was thrown open in order 
 that the inhabitants might help themselves to 
 the supplies, and retain them if they could. 
 
 25 
 
3 86 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 On the morning of April 3 the Stars and 
 Stripes were waving over the Capitol. Weitzel, 
 with a small force, had been left within the lines 
 of the North side. He was instructed to make 
 as much noise as possible, so as to make a show 
 of numbers. This he did, but at midnight, hear 
 ing explosions in the city, he rightly judged that 
 Richmond was being evacuated. At the earliest 
 dawn his troops marched into the city and went 
 into the Capitol, over which they placed the 
 Union flag. The city was an awful spectacle. 
 Buildings were on fire in every direction. The 
 people were fleeing in terror inspired equally by 
 the conflagration and the Northern soldiers. 
 The city was at once placed under martial law, 
 and the troops were forbidden to annoy the in 
 habitants or molest their property. On the fol 
 lowing day there was rejoicing in every Northern 
 city, town, and hamlet. 
 
 How would the fall of Richmond affect the 
 Confederacy? was the question asked in the 
 South. The war could of course go on. Lee 
 rightly claimed that in the mountains of Virginia 
 he could continue fighting for twenty years ; but 
 with the fall of Richmond there was nothing left 
 to fight for. The Richmond Examiner took the 
 only intelligent view of the situation when it 
 said: 
 
 "Each contestant in the war had made Richmond the 
 
 central object of all its plans and all its exertions. It has 
 
 become the symbol of the Confederacy. Its loss would be 
 
 -aterial ruin to the cause, and, in a moral point of view, 
 
GRANT ENDS THE STRUGGLE 387 
 
 absolutely destructive, crushing the heart and extinguishing 
 the last hope of the country. Our armies would lose the 
 incentive inspired by a great and worthy object of defence. 
 Our military policy would be totally at sea; we should be 
 without a hope or an object; without civil or military 
 organization ; without a treasury or a commissariat ; with 
 out the means of keeping alive a wholesome and active 
 public sentiment ; without any of the appliances for support 
 ing a cause depending upon a popular faith and enthusiasm ; 
 without the emblems or the semblance of nationality." 
 
 When this view of the matter came to be real 
 ized, the commanders of the South were wise 
 and broad-minded enough to acquiesce in the 
 cessation of hostilities for the sake of prevent 
 ing further and unavailing bloodshed. It is 
 true, Lee pushed up the Appomattox, which 
 he crossed on the night of April 2. He de 
 sired to hold himself in such a position that he 
 could take time for consideration of the outlook. 
 Sheridan followed him, cutting off such troops 
 as were delayed in getting away from Richmond. 
 By the 5th of April Lee was at Amelia Court- 
 House, thirty-six miles from Richmond. Meade 
 was at his rear and also on his right flank. Sheri 
 dan was in front of him, and Ord to the south. 
 The Army of Northern Virginia, what remained 
 of it, was entirely surrounded. Lee s position 
 made battle hopeless, the demoralization of his 
 army made it impossible. The men were desert 
 ing in squads and the Confederate line of march 
 was strewn with abandoned arms and equipment. 
 The belief was prevalent in the army that the 
 surrender was to be made. Grant wrote to Lee, 
 
388 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 April 7, suggesting the good policy of giving up 
 the struggle in order to prevent further and 
 useless effusion of blood. Several letters passed 
 between the commanders. Grant declined to 
 meet Lee in conference except on the under 
 standing that their coming together should be 
 for the purpose of surrender. Nine letters in 
 all were written on the 7th, 8th, and Qth of 
 April. On the last-named date the two generals 
 met in a house owned by Wilmer McLean at 
 Appomattox, and with the least possible for 
 mality agreed on terms. It was a meeting 
 between two brave, honest, sincere Americans, 
 each respecting the other. The story that Lee 
 tendered Grant his sword, which the latter de 
 clined to receive, is without foundation. No 
 such offer was made. It is probable that Lee s 
 army, as surrendered, did not consist of over 
 ten thousand men, the rest having absented 
 themselves without leave as soon as it became 
 known that surrender was likely to occur. The 
 soldiers were paroled, the officers were allowed 
 to retain their side-arms, horses, and personal 
 effects, but all other arms were to be handed 
 over to the Federal government. 
 
 With the news that the articles of surrender 
 had been signed, which meant that the war was 
 over, the North went into a paroxysm of joy. 
 Stanton uttered the prevalent sentiment when 
 he telegraphed Grant : " Thanks be to Almighty 
 God for the great victory with which He has this 
 day crowned you and the gallant armies under 
 
GRANT ENDS THE STRUGGLE 389 
 
 your command. The thanks of this Department, 
 and of the government, and of the United States 
 their reverence and honor have been deserved 
 will be rendered to you and the brave and 
 gallant officers and soldiers of your army for 
 all time." A salute of two hundred guns was 
 ordered fired from every arsenal and fort. The 
 nation was mad for joy. In the South there was 
 corresponding depression. The feelings there, 
 indeed, were mingled. With the humiliation 
 naturally consequent on defeat, the sorrow over 
 a lost cause, doubt and fear as to the future, 
 there was a sigh of relief in knowing that the 
 strife was ended. 
 
 Lee s farewell address to his army is simple 
 and characteristic of this taciturn man; and yet 
 it shows between the lines a world of pathos. 
 He wrote: 
 
 " GENERAL ORDER No. 9. 
 
 " HEAD-QUARTERS ARMY NORTHERN VIRGINIA, 
 
 " April 10, 1865. 
 
 "After four years of arduous service, marked by unsur 
 passed courage and fortitude, the Army of Northern Vir 
 ginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers 
 and resources. 
 
 " I need not tell the survivors of so many hard-fought 
 battles, who have remained steadfast to the last, that I have 
 consented to this result from no distrust of them ; but, 
 feeling that valor and devotion could accomplish nothing 
 that could compensate for the loss that would have attended 
 the continuation of the contest, I have determined to avoid 
 the useless sacrifice of those whose past services have en 
 deared them to their countrymen. 
 
 " By the terms of agreement, officers and men can return 
 to their homes and remain there until exchanged. 
 
390 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 " You will take with you the satisfaction that proceeds 
 from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed ; and 
 I earnestly pray that a merciful God will extend to you his 
 blessing and protection. 
 
 " With an unceasing admiration of your constancy and 
 devotion to your country, and a grateful remembrance of 
 your kind and generous consideration of myself, I bid you 
 an affectionate farewell. 
 
 " R. E. LEE, 
 
 " General." 
 
 This is very different from the proclamation 
 issued on the 5th of April by Jefferson Davis : 
 
 " Animated by that confidence in your spirit and fortitude 
 which never yet failed me, I announce to you, fellow-coun 
 trymen, that it is my purpose to maintain your cause with 
 my whole heart and soul ; that I will never consent to 
 abandon to the enemy one foot of the soil of any of the 
 States of the Confederacy; that Virginia noble State, 
 whose ancient renown has been eclipsed by her still more 
 glorious recent history ; whose bosom has been bared to 
 receive the main shock of this war; whose sons and daugh 
 ters have exhibited heroism so sublime as to render her 
 illustrious in all time to come that Virginia, with the help 
 of the people and by the blessing of Providence, shall be 
 held and defended, and no peace ever be made with the 
 infamous invaders of her territory." ("Rise and Fall," 
 vol. ii. p. 677.) 
 
 Davis was of the opinion that Johnston, who 
 was in North Carolina closely watched by Sher 
 man, needed not to have surrendered, even after 
 Lee was compelled to do so. But as early as the 
 23d of February, when Johnston was reinstated 
 in command of the Army of the Tennessee, the 
 cause of the Confederacy appeared to him hope 
 less, and he saw no good in continuing the fight- 
 
GRANT ENDS THE STRUGGLE 391 
 
 ing except for the sake of obtaining better terms 
 of peace. He was directed by General Lee to 
 drive back Sherman, an order admirable in its 
 comprehensiveness, but sorely lacking in prac 
 ticability owing to the small number and scat 
 tered condition of Johnston s available troops. 
 After much marching and two or three unim 
 portant engagements, the Army of the Tennes 
 see was concentrated near Bentonville on the 
 i8th of March. On the iQth, 2Oth, and 2ist an 
 engagement occurred at this place, in which the 
 Confederates, though they had the advantage, 
 were not able to prevent Sherman from uniting 
 with Schofield. On the 22d Johnston moved to 
 wards Raleigh. April n he heard of the sur 
 render of Lee, and immediately decided that 
 further resistance on his part was useless. He 
 met President Davis, by appointment, at Greens 
 boro on the 1 2th. Mr. Davis argued for the 
 continuance of the war, for he believed that a 
 brave stand would recall the soldiers who had 
 deserted and arouse the spirit of the country. 
 Finding no support, he finally persuaded John 
 ston to send Sherman a letter asking for an 
 armistice. The contents of this letter were as 
 follows : 
 
 " The results of the recent campaigns in Virginia have 
 changed the relative military condition of the belligerents. 
 I am therefore induced to address you, in this form, the 
 inquiry whether, in order to stop the further effusion of 
 blood and devastation of property, you are willing to make 
 a temporary suspension of active operations, and to com 
 municate to Lieutenant-General Grant, commanding the 
 
392 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 armies of the United States, the request that he will take 
 like action in regard to other armies, the object being to 
 permit the civil authorities to enter into the needful arrange 
 ments to terminate the existing war." 
 
 General Sherman assented to a meeting, which 
 took place on the following day at a house on 
 the Raleigh road. The first thing Sherman did 
 was to show Johnston a telegram announcing 
 the assassination of President Lincoln. This 
 elicited from the Confederate general the dec 
 laration that " the event was the greatest possi 
 ble calamity to the South." 
 
 General Sherman stated that an armistice 
 giving opportunity for the civil powers to nego 
 tiate terms of peace was out of the question ; for 
 Washington would never consent to the recogni 
 tion of any civil capacity on the part of the lead 
 ers of the Confederacy. Johnston suggested 
 that, as generals had been known to arrange 
 the terms of a permanent peace, so they might. 
 After considerable discussion, and much argu 
 ment as to whether the Confederate President 
 and his Cabinet should be included in the general 
 amnesty, a Basis of Agreement was signed by 
 both generals. 
 
 This was rejected by the government of the 
 United States. Thereupon General Johnston 
 asked for another meeting. An agreement of 
 surrender was then made which was similar in 
 effect to that between Grant and Lee. 
 
 The acceptation by the United States govern 
 ment of the first basis of agreement would have 
 
GRANT ENDS THE STRUGGLE 393 
 
 produced instant peace throughout the country. 
 But in signing it Sherman was going outside his 
 authority; and as there was no mention of 
 slavery or the recent legislation on slavery, its 
 adoption might have resulted in hardly less con 
 fusion than that which in reality ensued. 
 
 The smaller armies of the Confederacy sur 
 rendered in due time, that of Taylor, in Ala 
 bama, on May 8, and that of Kirby Smith, on May 
 26, at Baton Rouge. The ships of the South had, 
 with the sole exception of the " Shenandoah," 
 been swept from the seas, and she, after destroy 
 ing the American whaling fleet and sundry craft 
 captured on the Pacific Ocean, surrendered in 
 August, 1865, a date whose delay can hardly be 
 accounted for by the allegation of Waddell, her 
 commander, that prior to it he had not received 
 trustworthy information of the close of the war. 
 
 No better evidence of the good faith of the 
 South could be furnished than the fact that after 
 the surrender not a gun was fired against the 
 supporters of the Federal government. 
 
XVI 
 
 RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 THE assassination of President Lincoln was a 
 greater calamity to the South than it was to the 
 North. Jefferson Davis says he made a declara 
 tion to this effect immediately on hearing the 
 news of that sad event, though he admits that the 
 Confederates then standing around him cheered 
 the announcement of the death of the man whom 
 they regarded as their arch-enemy. Lincoln 
 strained the Constitution beyond its limit to meet 
 the emergencies occasioned by the Civil War; 
 but his intention was ever to be governed by the 
 strict letter of that instrument. His proclama 
 tion and message of December 8, 1863, which 
 must be accepted as the plan of reconstruction to 
 which he consistently adhered, promised all per 
 sons who took sides with the Confederacy, ex 
 cept certain described classes, amnesty and res 
 toration of property upon their taking an oath 
 of allegiance to the Union, provided they also 
 agreed to support the slavery legislation enacted 
 during the war, unless repealed by Congress or 
 annulled by the Supreme Court. No mention 
 was made of any purpose of conferring the suf 
 frage upon emancipated slaves, though as 
 surances of permanent freedom were given to 
 them. It was the universal opinion during the 
 394 
 
RECONSTRUCTION 395 
 
 early period of the war that when it should cease 
 the seceding States might resume their original 
 status in the Union. Many, however, adhered 
 to the view that as States they had committed 
 suicide, and that they should be simply regarded 
 as Territories. Stevens held that they should be 
 regarded as conquered provinces. 
 
 The coming strife between the executive and 
 legislative branches of the government over the 
 relations of the confederated States to those of 
 the Union had been foreshadowed during Lin 
 coln s administration when he undertook to carry 
 out his liberal policy of " restoration" as opposed 
 to the fanatical " root and branch vagaries" of 
 the majority in Congress. The latter, under the 
 guidance of men like Thaddeus Stevens and 
 Charles Sumner, were bent on " reconstruction." 
 The difficulties of the situation were increased, 
 moreover, by several factions which forced on 
 the government the problems never before thrust 
 on a nation at the close of a mighty struggle. In 
 the first place, unfortunately for both North and 
 South, no treaty was possible at the close of hos 
 tilities. Then, again, the Federal character of 
 the government increased rather than diminished 
 the gravity of the situation. Both individuals 
 and States had to be dealt with. To the large- 
 minded Lincoln the solution was easy enough. 
 While the State governments that had existed 
 under the protection of the Confederacy had been 
 destroyed, the States themselves survived, and 
 needed merely to be restored to their former 
 
396 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 position in the Union, which was the view that 
 in the end prevailed. If individuals were to be 
 punished, well and good, but a State could not 
 be blotted out. 
 
 Seward was heartily in favor of this plan. His 
 doctrine was one of reconciliation, and to secure 
 it he was willing, if necessary, to go to the extent 
 of a declaration of war against France over the 
 Mexican question, so as to get the veterans 
 of both sides under a common banner again. 
 Thirty-five years were to elapse before, in the 
 Spanish-American War, Seward s hope was to be 
 realized. Finally, there was presented to the 
 government the negro problem. What was to be 
 the status of those millions of blacks who had 
 never enjoyed the rights of marriage, of holding 
 property, making contracts, appearing in courts 
 of justice, to say nothing of performing civic 
 duties? Lincoln s overshadowing personality 
 had warded off an open breach with Congress, 
 and there was a disposition to allow him to try 
 his magnanimous policy, but how was it to fare 
 with his successor, who on April 15, 1865, came 
 into the Presidency and for the next four years 
 occupied the White House? All eyes were now 
 turned on him, and committee after committee 
 eagerly sought to obtain some indication of his 
 policy. 
 
 Johnson was unable at first to give adequate 
 expression to his utter detestation of all the lead 
 ers of the ill-starred Confederacy. " Treason 
 must be made odious," was his favorite text. 
 
BOOTH. Tra.*KHar> 
 
 War Department, Washington, April 20, (865 
 
 AMI! 
 
 I 
 
 TIE MURDERER 
 
 Of our late beloved President, Abraham Lincoln, 
 
 IS STILL AT LARGE. 
 
 50,000 REWARD 
 
 Will be paid by this Deportment for his apprehension, in addition to any reward offered by 
 Municipal Authorities or State Executives. 
 
 $25,000 REWARD 
 
 7M be paid for the apprehension of JOHN H SOBBAT, one of Booth s Accomplices. 
 
 $25,000 REWARD 
 
 Will be paid for the apprehension 
 
 of David C. Harold, another of Booth s accomplice*. 
 
 I hf IVIIIIIK.H 
 
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 POSTER ANNOUNCING THE REWARD FOR THE APPREHENSION OF 
 PRESIDENT LINCOLN S ASSASSIN 
 
RECONSTRUCTION 39 7 
 
 A " poor white" of the South, he had, by sheer 
 force of his great natural abilities, risen to the 
 highest office both in Tennessee and in the re 
 public; but he had not forgotten many real as 
 well as many imaginary injuries he had experi 
 enced at the hands of those who regarded them 
 selves as his social superiors, the defeated chief 
 tains of the South. His language in reference 
 to them was now coarse, harsh, and vindictive. 
 Even the Northern radicals, in the intoxication of 
 victory, felt some alarm, and counselled modera 
 tion. Soon, however, there was a complete 
 change in the attitude of the President. What 
 caused it? There were some who said that 
 Seward, the diplomatic, sagacious Secretary of 
 State, obtained the mastery and persuaded John 
 son that Lincoln s policy was the only wise and 
 safe one. Others maintained that Johnson was 
 cajoled by the Southern leaders, whose blandish 
 ments were irresistible, that he wished to gain 
 their favor. Then again there were not a few 
 who were inclined to see in his opposition to 
 negro enfranchisement and reconstruction the 
 hereditary views of a Southerner. Possibly there 
 was truth in all these claims. But none of them 
 does justice to Johnson s ability. He saw clearly 
 in time the true state of things, and history has 
 justified his course. To his credit be it said, he 
 bravely adhered to it through every sort of per 
 secution. 
 
 Andrew Johnson sought to give actuality to 
 the policy of re-establishment held by his prede- 
 
398 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 cessor. He agreed with Lincoln that as soon as 
 " rebellion" ceased the insurgent States, under 
 the Constitution, necessarily resumed their posi 
 tion, privileges, and responsibilities in the Union, 
 that the amnesty reinstated the voters. But, un 
 fortunately, Johnson had not Lincoln s savoir 
 faire. He was a stubborn, aggressive, tactless 
 man, absolutely incapable of accommodating 
 himself in any way to those who differed with 
 him. His sympathies were wholly with the 
 South, except upon the one point of the Union. 
 Being a Democrat, he was naturally an object of 
 extreme jealousy on the part of Congress. It 
 was predisposed to view his acts with suspicion. 
 His manner and disposition did not in the least 
 tend to alleviate this attitude. 
 
 On May 29, 1865, Johnson issued this procla 
 mation : 
 
 " To the end, therefore, that the authority of the govern 
 ment of the United States may be restored, and that peace, 
 order, and freedom may be re-established, I, Andrew John 
 son, President of the United States, do proclaim and declare 
 that I hereby grant to all persons who have directly or indi 
 rectly participated in the existing rebellion, except as herein 
 after excepted, amnesty and pardon, with restoration of all 
 rights of property, except as to slaves, and except in cases 
 where legal proceedings under the laws of the United States 
 providing for the confiscation of property of persons engaged 
 in the rebellion have been instituted; but on the condition, 
 nevertheless, that every such person shall take and subscribe 
 the following oath or affirmation, and thenceforward keep 
 and maintain said oath inviolate; and which oath shall be 
 registered for permanent preservation, and shall be of the 
 tenor and effect following, to wit: 
 
 " I, , do solemnly swear (or affirm), in 
 
RECONSTRUCTION 399 
 
 presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully 
 support and defend the Constitution of the United States 
 and the Union thereunder, and that I will, in like manner, 
 abide by and faithfully support all laws and proclamations 
 which have been made during the existing rebellion with 
 reference to the emancipation of slaves, so help me God. " 
 
 In obedience to Johnson s proclamation and in 
 conformity with Lincoln s policy of restoration, 
 the properly qualified classes of white citizens 
 met in conventions throughout the Southern 
 States directly after the war and erected " pro 
 visional governments," composed for the most 
 part of reputable citizens who had taken the oath 
 of allegiance required by law. The single excep 
 tion perhaps was Tennessee, whose " Lincoln 
 government" was kept up. The continuation of 
 these provisional governments depended on the 
 temper of the North and the South. General 
 Grant, who made a short visit to the Southern 
 States soon after the war, made a most favor 
 able report to the President regarding the con 
 dition of affairs there. Shortly afterwards, 
 however, Carl Schurz, after a more protracted 
 stay in the defeated section, gave a most dis 
 couraging account not only of the sentiments of 
 the South towards the negro, but towards the 
 Federal government itself. It was this report, 
 more than anything else, that brought about the 
 extreme measures of the reconstruction era 
 which were in force until nullified by the political 
 revolution of 1876. 
 
 On February i, 1865, Congress had proposed 
 
400 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 to the States the Thirteenth Amendment to the 
 Constitution, prohibiting slavery. Under the 
 Constitution the ratification of three-fourths of 
 the States was necessary to render this valid. 
 Delaware and Kentucky refused to ratify. Flor 
 ida and Mississippi did not act upon the amend 
 ment at this time. Texas had not reorganized. 
 The Amendment consequently was ratified by 
 sixteen free and eleven formerly slave-holding 
 States. Thus the Amendment was accepted by 
 exactly the necessary three-fourths. A dilemma 
 was here rendered unavoidable : either the for 
 mer Confederate States were in possession of 
 valid and legitimate governments, or the Amend 
 ment was not constitutionally ratified. The 
 Southern States which voted had reorganized in 
 accordance with the President s proclamation. 
 
 These Southern States had in all good faith 
 accepted the conditions laid upon them by the 
 results of the war. They also received Federal 
 garrisons in all the large towns. They proceeded 
 to legislate in regard to the emancipated negroes 
 in a spirit which after events have since proved 
 to have been wise and necessary to domestic 
 well-being; but, however desirable the measures, 
 they were ill-timed. The Southern Legislatures 
 could not but view with the most serious appre 
 hension the advent to unaccustomed and unre 
 strained freedom of the vast horde of negroes 
 suddenly released from the patriarchal restraints 
 customarily imposed on them. These people 
 were without houses and without means of sub- 
 
RECONSTRUCTION 401 
 
 sistence except labor under entirely new condi 
 tions. Enactments which bore particularly upon 
 the negroes were made in regard to labor con 
 tracts and vagrancy. Offences of a minor degree 
 were made punishable by compulsory labor, to 
 which the culprit was hired out by judicial pro 
 cess. In some States it was made requisite that 
 the freedman should obtain written contracts or 
 licenses to work. The man not able to show such 
 a license was subject to arrest for vagrancy and 
 to consequent compulsory labor. Minors were to 
 serve an apprenticeship until they came to a cer 
 tain age. It was indeed a system by which the 
 negro would be gradually initiated into the full 
 rights of his freedom, and the white population 
 in the mean time safeguarded against the mani 
 fest dangers which the emancipation of the slaves 
 entailed. But all this seemed to the people of the 
 North like an attempt to evade the effects of 
 abolition. It was another instance of setting an 
 incontrovertible theory over against an irrecon 
 cilable condition. 
 
 Strenuous and successful effort was made by 
 the Republican legislators to thwart and invali 
 date the process of reinstatement which was 
 going on in the South under the proclamation of 
 the President. An act had been passed in March, 
 1863, creating in the War Department a " Bu 
 reau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned 
 Lands." This was to be the legal guardian of 
 the negro. 
 
 The best friends of this institution admit that 
 26 
 
402 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 it deteriorated into an abuse. Its real history is 
 one of official corruption and tyranny the like of 
 which can be paralleled in no other civilized coun 
 try. It was made an engine by which Northern 
 adventurers enriched themselves and Republican 
 majorities were heaped up by enforced or cajoled 
 negro votes. A faithful stirring of the history of 
 the Freedmen s Bureau cannot fail to make mani 
 fest an exceedingly bad odor. It was the pet 
 instrument of the detestable " carpet-bagger," a 
 Northern adventurer, or the pliant tool of the 
 " scalawag," a Southern renegade. 
 
 Congress was all the more disposed to arbi 
 trary measures in relation to the defeated South 
 ern States by reason of the fact that President 
 Johnson had forestalled it by reinstating those 
 Commonwealths. The North was determined 
 to be governed in her action towards the pros 
 trate South by a spirit which was denoted 
 by the watchword " Thorough." It meant a 
 thorough adjustment of the condition of the 
 negro in accordance with a radical view of his 
 rights; it had in view a complete subjugation of 
 the recalcitrant States in order that the State 
 rights theory should never again lift its head in 
 opposition to the central government. Congress 
 proceeded to legislate under the assumption 
 that all Federal law had been suspended, by their 
 act of rebellion, in the States which had partici 
 pated in the Confederacy, and that such law 
 could not be revived except by the declaration 
 of Congress. Thus Congress assumed the right 
 
RECONSTRUCTION 403 
 
 to reconstruct the Southern States in any way it 
 should see fit; for it was maintained that even 
 the State governments themselves at the South, 
 except those like the Pierpont machine in Vir 
 ginia, and similar creatures of the Northern gov 
 ernment in Louisiana, Tennessee, and Arkansas, 
 necessarily fell with the Confederacy. 
 
 In accordance with this view, when Congress 
 reassembled in 1865 the seceding States were 
 omitted from the roll-call. A resolution passed 
 both houses to the effect that neither Senators 
 nor Representatives should be received from the 
 seceding States until Congress had readmitted 
 those States to the Union, although, in accord 
 ance with the suggestions of the President, 
 Southern Representatives, duly elected, were 
 ready to take their seats. The troops were still 
 in the South; it was martial law de facto; the 
 transition to de jure was scarcely necessary. 
 
 Now began a strife between the President and 
 Congress, which forms the least respectable 
 phase of American history. 
 
 On March 2, 1867, radical measures were 
 adopted in relation to the Southern States. The 
 preamble of the first act, though it can scarcely 
 be substantiated in fact, expressed the purpose 
 of these measures. 
 
 " WHEREAS, No legal State governments, or adequate pro 
 tection for life or property, now exist in the rebel States of 
 Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, 
 Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and Arkansas; and 
 whereas, it is necessary that peace and good order should 
 
404 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 be enforced in said States, until loyal and republican State 
 governments can be legally established; therefore, be it 
 enacted," etc. 
 
 The bill was passed over the President s veto. 
 By it the South was divided into five military dis 
 tricts, each under a general officer of the Union 
 army. The President, in his message vetoing 
 the bill, said, 
 
 " Thus, over all these ten States, this military government 
 is now declared to have unlimited authority. It is no longer 
 confined to the preservation of the public peace, the admin 
 istration of criminal law, the registration of voters, and the 
 superintendence of elections ; but, in all respects/ is as 
 serted to be paramount to the existing civil government. It 
 is impossible to conceive any state of society more intolerable 
 than this, and yet it is to this condition that twelve millions 
 of American citizens are reduced by the Congress of the 
 United States. Over every part of the immense territory 
 occupied by these American citizens the Constitution of the 
 United States is theoretically in full operation. It binds 
 all the people, then, and should protect them; yet they are 
 denied every one of its sacred guarantees. Of what avail 
 will it be to any one of these Southern people, when seized 
 by a file of soldiers, to ask for the cause of arrest, or for 
 the production of the warrant? Of what avail to ask for the 
 privilege of bail when in military custody, which knows no 
 such thing as bail ? Of what avail to demand a trial by 
 jury, process for witnesses, a copy of the indictment, the 
 privilege of counsel, or that greater privilege, the writ of 
 habeas corpus?" 
 
 But the President s own reasoning was equally 
 unavailing. An absolutely partisan Congress 
 was perfectly able, and more than willing, to pass 
 its measures over his veto. 
 
 In June, 1866, Congress proposed to the 
 States the Fourteenth Amendment to the Con- 
 
GENERAL LEE ON "TRAVELLER 1 
 
RECONSTRUCTION 405 
 
 stitution. The purpose of this was to incorpo 
 rate the provisions of the above-mentioned bill 
 in the fundamental law. It stated that " all per 
 sons born or naturalized in the United States and 
 subject to the jurisdiction thereof" should be ac 
 knowledged as citizens of the United States. By 
 December, 1866, when the new Congress came 
 together, many of the Southern States had re 
 jected this Amendment. Thereupon measures 
 were taken by which reconstruction along the 
 lines laid down by the triumphant party might 
 be enforced. Preparatory to this, universal suf 
 frage was established in the District of Columbia 
 and in the Territories in spite of a veto ; General 
 Grant was put in charge of the whole military 
 arm of the government, and his position was 
 rendered almost independent of the President; 
 the Tenure of Office Act, an unwarranted meas 
 ure, was passed, designedly to subject the Presi 
 dent s appointments to and removals from office 
 to the approval of the Senate. It was this last 
 which ostensibly resulted in the impeachment of 
 President Johnson. He demanded the resigna 
 tion of Secretary Stanton ; the latter, refusing to 
 resign, was superseded by the President in ac 
 cordance with the terms of the Act. Congress, 
 on reassembling in December, 1867, refused to 
 permit Stanton s removal. President Johnson 
 determined to ignore the Tenure of Office Act, 
 and again removed Stanton. Thereupon, in Feb 
 ruary, 1868, the House voted to impeach the 
 President for high crimes and misdemeanors. 
 
406 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 The Senate closed the trial on May 16, when the 
 vote stood thirty-five for conviction and nine 
 teen for acquittal; a two-thirds majority being 
 required for conviction, the President was ac 
 quitted by one vote, and Stanton resigned his 
 office. 
 
 It is said that a conviction of Johnson was 
 never intended; that the Senate secretly decided 
 to come within one vote of the fatal act. The 
 whole trial was a farce from beginning to end. 
 The President was impeached for one thing, but 
 tried for another, and the decisions of the Chief 
 Justice in matters of evidence were again and 
 again overruled by the " rump" Congress. As 
 was cleverly said at the time, Johnson was tried 
 for declaring that the Southern States were in 
 the Union, and at the same time Jefferson Davis 
 was languishing in prison because he said they 
 were not in the Union. 
 
 When Jefferson Davis fled from Richmond the 
 Northern government offered a reward of one 
 hundred thousand dollars for his arrest, and on 
 May 10, 1865, he was captured in Georgia. The 
 conduct of the Federal authorities towards the 
 fallen chieftain was vulgar and inexcusable from 
 beginning to end. First came the cowardly story 
 that he was attired in woman s apparel when 
 apprehended, which was proved to be a delib 
 erate fabrication. Then came his imprisonment 
 in Fortress Monroe, where he was treated with 
 a cruelty and insolence that seem almost in 
 credible. He was never brought to trial. There 
 
RECONSTRUCTION 407 
 
 was much cheap blustering about the necessity 
 of executing him as well as other Southern 
 leaders; but fortunately, Philip drunk was over 
 ruled by Philip sober, and the danger of outrage 
 and death passed from the chiefs of the Lost 
 Cause. The trial of Davis would have involved, 
 as of course, the whole question of secession, a 
 cause decided by the sword, with the bare possi 
 bility that the Supreme Court might have re 
 versed the decision. 
 
 On March 2, 1867, Congress passed the " Re 
 construction Act." An election was to be held 
 in each State for delegates to a State Conven 
 tion. The military commanders were to enroll 
 in each State all legal voters, in accordance with 
 the terms of the Fourteenth Amendment. This 
 enrolment included the negroes, and excluded 
 the great majority of the intelligent Southern 
 men who had taken part in the war, therefore the 
 conventions were not difficult to handle. The 
 conventions were instructed to frame constitu 
 tions in which the franchise was extended to all 
 classes of citizens in accordance with the Amend 
 ment. To these same voters the constitutions 
 were to be submitted and then sent to Congress. 
 Each State was to be readmitted to representa 
 tion as soon as the Legislature convened under 
 these new constitutions should ratify the Four 
 teenth Amendment. 
 
 By means of this process, which can hardly 
 be called popular, the two Carolinas, Georgia, 
 Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and Arkansas were 
 
408 THE TRUE CIVIL WAR 
 
 prepared for readmission by the end of June, 
 1868. Mississippi, Virginia, and Texas were de 
 layed by the difficulty with which, through the 
 manipulation of the voters, majorities could be 
 obtained for the constitutions framed by the 
 reconstructing conventions. Georgia was not 
 readmitted until January 30, 1871, on account 
 of the fact that her laws had declared negroes 
 ineligible to hold office. Tennessee s old Union 
 government was maintained, although it repre 
 sented the Lincoln plan of restoration rather 
 than the Congressional theory of reconstruc 
 tion. For eight years the new governments, 
 propped up by Federal bayonets, plundered the 
 South and kept that section in a state of anarchy 
 that beggars description. The rancor and bit 
 terness that the South subsequently displayed, 
 and in not a few instances yet holds, was not 
 caused so much by the losses sustained during 
 the Civil War as by the treatment she after 
 wards received at the hands of the North. The 
 former were regarded as the inevitable incidents 
 of war, and accepted as such ; the latter was the 
 outcome of the desire for revenge and plunder 
 made possible by the illogical theories of in 
 competent Congressmen backed by demagogues 
 and a rabidly sectional press. But, in spite of all 
 adversities and opposition, the South has gained 
 the confidence of the financial interests of the 
 United States, and her material advancement, in 
 which her own sons have taken the chief part, has 
 been rapid and noteworthy. She has, too, by the 
 
RECONSTRUCTION 409 
 
 political revolution of 1876, begun the move 
 ment that has to-day given her the mastery of 
 her own peculiar circumstances; and, withal, she 
 has convinced the country that she is a loyal 
 section of a Union of which she is justly proud. 
 
Index 
 
 A 
 
 Abolition, sentiment not at first sectional, 18; grows in 
 North, 19, 36; becomes sectional, 20; movement origi 
 nated in Massachusetts, 34; development of movement, 
 52; stages of movement, 65, 81 ; societies, 65, 68; jour 
 nals, 66; campaign, 67; arrest and mobbing of advocates 
 of, in North, 69, 70; churches indifferent towards, 73; 
 Clay s resolutions against, 74; its advocates and the poli 
 ticians, 82; Webster denounces advocates of, 85; Sew- 
 ard s higher law, 88; movement aided by Fugitive Slave 
 law, 91 ; " Dred Scott decision" strengthens, 128 ; lead 
 ers implication in Harper s Ferry raid, 132, 144; advo 
 cates of, faithless to Union, 161, 162; acute stage of, 247; 
 partially declared, 282, 283; Greeley advocates, 320; Lin 
 coln s indecision as to, 323 
 
 Adams, Charles Francis, 260 
 J. H., 155 
 John Q., 76 
 
 " Alabama," 196, 258 
 claims, 198, 199 
 
 Alabama secedes, 171 
 
 Amnesty proclaimed, 398 
 
 Andersonville prison, 367 
 
 Antietam, battle of, 316-318 
 
 Appomattox, surrender at, 388 
 
 Atlanta campaign, 362-364 
 given to the flames, 366 
 
 B 
 
 Ball s Bluff, battle at, 250 
 
 Banks, General, 300, 350 
 
 Barnwell, R. W., 155 
 
 Beauregard, General P. G. T., 187, 275 
 
 Beecher, Henry Ward, 114 
 
 "Beecher s Bible," 115 
 
 411 
 
412 INDEX 
 
 Belmont, battle at, 250 
 
 Bentonville, battle at, 391 
 
 Beverly, surrender at, 202 
 
 Big Black River, battle of, 286 
 
 " Bill of Abominations," 63 
 
 " Black Law" in Connecticut, 71 
 
 Blair, F. P., 372 
 
 Blockade, 191, 219, 252 
 
 " Bounty jumping," 344 
 
 Bragg, General, 275, 290-293 
 
 Brandy Station, battle at, 336, 337 
 
 Breckenridge, John C, 152, 376 
 
 Brooke, Lieutenant, 254 
 
 Brown, Governor of Georgia, 365 
 
 John, 118, 132, 134, 142 
 Buchanan, Captain, 254 
 
 James, 122, 155, 162, 168, 172 
 Buckner, General, 269 
 Buell, General, 275, 284 
 Bull Run, battle of, 203, 311 
 " Bureau of Refugees," 401 
 Burney, James G., 70 
 Burns, the fugitive slave, 92 
 Burnside, General, 293, 307, 316, 325-327, 330 
 Butler, General, 195, 281, 374 
 
 C 
 
 Cabinet dissensions, 327 
 Calhoun, 64, 79, 84 
 
 California admitted to Union, 86; attitude of, during con 
 flict, 218 
 
 Cameron, Secretary, 266 
 Cape Hatteras, engagement at, 253 
 ^Carrick s Ford, battle at, 202 
 Carthage, battle at, 244 
 
 Causes of conflict, n, 13, 56, 103, 104, 107, 109 
 Cedar Creek, battle of, 379 
 Cedar Mountain, battle of, 309 
 Champion Hill, battle of, 286 
 Chancellorsville, battle of, 335 
 Chantilli, battle of, 313 
 
INDEX 413 
 
 Charleston, fire at, 370 
 Chase, Secretary Salmon P., 346 
 Chattanooga, battle of, 293 
 Chickamauga, battle of, 290 
 Churches attitude towards abolition, 73 
 Clay s Compromise, 65, 83 
 Cold Harbor, battle at, 373 
 Colonization, influence of on sectionalism, 15 
 Columbia, burning of, 369 
 Compromise Bill, 89, 102 
 Confederacy, limits of, 217 
 
 Confederate Constitution, 171, 177; Cabinet, 177; Congress, 
 178; leaders, 235; government established, 273 ; terms 
 of peace proposed, 358 
 States readmitted, 408 
 Confiscation measures, 234, 246 
 Congress, 210, 284, 285, 403 
 Conscription Acts, 328, 329, 335; riots, 331 
 " Copperheads," 329 
 
 D 
 Dana, Charles A., 292 
 
 Richard H., 328 
 Davis, Jefferson, 129, 135, 137, 138, 146, 273, 380, 382, 390, 
 
 391, 406 
 
 Democratic party, 93, 130, 179, 329, 359 
 Democratic-Republican party, 107 
 Desertions, 333 
 " Doughfaces," 60 
 Douglas, Stephen A., 95, 99, 127, 136, 137, 139, 141, 144, 147, 
 
 152, 153 
 
 
 
 Early, General, 376-380 
 Ellsworth, Colonel, 199 
 Emigrant Aid Society, 118 
 England resents seizure of Southern Commissioners, 260, 
 
 261 
 
 Enlistment bounties, 344 
 
 Emancipation Proclamation, 321 ; a war measure, 323 
 Ericsson, John, 255 
 Ewell, General, 336, 337 
 Exchange of prisoners, 367 
 
414 INDEX 
 
 P 
 
 Fair Oaks, battle of, 302 
 
 Farragut, Admiral, 277, 361 
 
 Federal party, 107 
 
 Fillmore, Millard, 86, 88, 123 
 
 Fisher s Hill, battle at, 379 
 
 Five Forks, battle of, 384 
 
 " Florida," the, 196, 259 
 
 Florida secedes, 171 ; emancipation proclamation, 320 
 
 Floyd, John B., 168, 170, 180, 222, 268, 270 
 
 Foote, Commander A. H., 268, 277 
 
 Foreign powers, attitude of, 179-184 
 
 Fort Donelson taken, 268 
 
 Fort Henry taken, 268 
 
 Fort Moultrie, 169, 170 
 
 Fort Pillow, 350 
 
 Fort Sumter, 185-188 
 
 Fourteenth Amendment, 404 
 
 France, attitude of, 263 
 
 Fredericksburg, battle of, 335 
 
 Fremont, John C, 123, 246, 248, 357 
 
 Fugitive Slave law, 86, 89, 91, 102 
 
 O 
 
 Gaines Mill, battle of, 303 
 
 Galveston bombarded, 253 
 
 Garrison, W. L., 65, 69, 100, 160 
 
 Georgia secedes, 171; emancipation proclamation, 320; pil 
 lage in, 366; Sherman s campaign in, 351 
 
 Gettysburg, battle of, 338-340 
 
 Gillmore, General, 370 
 
 Gordon, General, 384 
 
 Grant, General, 267, 271, 272, 275-277, 283, 285, 287, 288, 313, 
 345, 346, 405 
 
 Grant s campaigns, 347~35O, 372-388 
 
 Greeley, Horace, 125, 152, 159, 320, 359 
 
 H 
 
 Habeas Corpus, suspension of writ of, 211, 324 
 Halleck, General, 277, 307, 337 
 Hamilton, Alexander, 156 
 
INDEX 415 
 
 Hampton, General Wade, 369 
 
 Hampton Roads, Federal fleet sails from, 252 
 
 Hardee, General, 368 
 
 Harper s Ferry, 316 
 
 Hartford Convention, 100 
 
 Helper, Hinton R., 141, 146 
 
 Hill, General A. P., 317, 336, 385 
 
 Hood, General, 362, 381, 382 
 
 Hooker, General, 292, 316, 327, 333-338 
 
 Houston, Sam, 75 
 
 Hunter, General, 319, 376 
 
 I 
 
 Imboden, General, 376 
 Indians in Confederate army, 289 
 Industrial developments, 102 
 
 J 
 
 Jackson, Andrew, 362 
 
 General (Stonewall), 300, 301, 335 
 Johnson, Andrew, 396-406 
 Johnston, General A. S., 267, 273, 274 
 
 General Joseph E., 302, 351-355, 362, 39O~3Q2 
 
 Kansas, 112 et seq. 
 Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 98, 100, 102 
 Kearney, General Philip, 306, 313 
 Kenesaw Mountain, battle of, 354 
 Kentucky saved to the Union, 250 
 Knoxville relieved, 293 
 
 L 
 
 Lecompte, Judge, 115 
 Lee, General Fitzhugh, 384 
 
 Robert E., 132, 192, 303-306, 34O, 349, 383, 3^5, 3 
 Letters of marque, 191, 195 
 Lexington, battle of, 248 
 Libby prison, 367 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham, 135, 136, 138-141, 147, 151-153, 
 213, 247, 320, 356, 372, 381, 392, 394 
 
4i 6 INDEX 
 
 Longstreet, General, 312, 339 
 Lookout Mountain gained, 292 
 Louisiana, 96, 171 
 purchase, 102 
 
 Lovejoy, abolitionist editor, assassinated, 70 
 Lower Mississippi expedition, 350 
 Lundy, Benjamin, father of abolitionism, 65 
 Lyon, Major-General, 244 
 
 X 
 
 Malvern Hill, battle of, 305 
 Manassas (Bull Run), battle of, 203, 311 
 " March to the Sea," 365-368 
 Martial law, 320, 330, 404 
 Marye s Heights, battle of, 326 
 Maryland, invasion of, 314-318, 376 
 Mason, George, 158 
 Mason s seizure on " Trent," 179, 260 
 May, Samuel J., 69, 71, 72 
 McClellan, General, 216, 252, 294-319, 360 
 McDowell, engagement at, 300 
 
 General, 216 
 
 McPherson, General, 351 
 Meade, General G. G., 338 
 " Merrimac," 253-256 
 Mexican War, 78, 102 
 Mexico, slavery abolished in, 75 
 Mill Springs, battle at, 267 
 Minnesota admitted to statehood, 131 
 Missionary Ridge gained, 292 
 Mississippi secedes, 171 
 
 operations on the, 279, 285 
 Missouri, campaign in, 244 
 
 question, 55, 60, 61, 96, 99, 102, 127 
 Mobile Bay, victory in, 361 
 " Monitor," 255, 256, 297 
 Monocacy Bridge, battle at, 377 
 Morris, Lieutenant, 255 
 
 N 
 
 Nashville, battle at, 382 
 National Antislavery Society, 68 
 
INDEX 417 
 
 Navy, Union, 219, 225, 226, 252-256, 278, 286 
 
 Confederate, 228, 252-254, 393 
 Nebraska, 96 
 
 Negro educators attacked in Connecticut and New Hamp 
 shire, 71 
 
 Negroes in Union army, 322 ; condition after war, 401 
 New England Antislavery Society, 68 
 New Mexico, 102 
 New Orleans bombarded, 279 
 
 taken, 281 
 
 North, resources of, 214 
 Northern excesses, 370 
 
 farmers sell slaves, 17 
 
 officers in Confederate service, 193 
 Nullification, 63, 109 
 
 
 
 O Brien, Colonel Henry J., 332 
 Oregon admitted to statehood, 131 
 Orr, James L., 155 
 
 Parker, Theodore, 86, 92, 143 
 Pea Ridge, battle of, 289 
 Peace Congress, 173 
 
 Commissioners, 359, 372 
 Peach-tree Creek, battles at, 363 
 Pegram surrenders at Beverly, 202 
 Pemberton, General, 286, 287 
 Pensacola bombarded, 253 
 Perryville, battle at, 284 
 " Personal Liberty" laws, 49 
 Petersburg, battle of, 374, 385 
 Phillips, Wendell, 92, 152, 161 
 Pickens, F. W., 167, 185 
 Pierce, Franklin, 93, 95 
 Political crimes, 331 
 
 parties, no, 123 
 
 prisoners, 343 
 Politics in the war, 319 
 Polk, General, 353 
 
 27 
 
418 INDEX 
 
 Pope, General, 279, 307-312 
 
 Popular (or squatter) sovereignty, 99, 148 
 
 Porter, Admiral D. B., 280, 286 
 
 General Fitzjohn, 306, 312 
 Port Royal gained, 253 
 Privateering, 191, 196-198, 256 
 
 a 
 
 Quincy, Josiah, on secession, 77 
 
 B, 
 
 Readmission of Confederate States, 408 
 
 Reconstruction, 394-409 
 
 Republican party, 54, in, 124, 143, 361 
 
 Reynolds, General, 338 
 
 Richmond attacked by Union fleet, 299 ; siege of, 383 ; fall 
 
 of, 385 
 
 Rich Mountain, battle of, 201 
 Riots in New York, 331 
 Rosecrans, General, 284, 290 
 
 " San Jacinto," 179, 260 
 Santa Anna, 75 
 Savannah surrendered, 368 
 Schofield, General, 351 
 Schurz, Carl, 60, 399 
 Scott, Dred, 126, 131 
 
 Winfield, 94 
 Secession, 78, 83, 100, 113, 135, 146, 149, 154, I59~i6i, 163, 
 
 1 66, 170-172 
 
 Secessionist leaders, 163 
 
 Sectionalism, development of, 21 ; causes of, 102 
 Sedgwick, General, 335 
 Semmes, Captain, 258 
 Seward, W. H., 150, 185, 396 
 Seymour, Horatio, 332, 360 
 Shenandoah Valley, 378-380 
 
 Sheridan, General Philip H., 347, 364, 375, 379, 383, 384 
 Sherman, General, 292, 315, 341, 351-355, 363~366, 368-371, 
 
 390-393 
 
INDEX 419 
 
 " Sherman s bummers," 370 
 expedition, 350 
 
 Shiloh, battle of, 274, 275 
 
 Sigel, General, 376 
 
 Slavery, result of economic conditions, 17; institution of, 
 in Virginia, 24; favored in South Carolina, 24; disap 
 proved of in Georgia, 26; Whitefield on the justice of, 
 27; clergy interested in, 27; first statute establishing, in 
 Massachusetts, 28; practised in New England, 28; sys 
 tem short-lived in Massachusetts, 32 ; opposed by Quakers, 
 34, practically ceases in New England, 37; status of, in 
 New England States, 37, 38; of whites, 38; denounced 
 by Jefferson, 39; John Adams s views on, 40; Congres 
 sional measures concerning, 41, 42, 44, 49; Virginia, first 
 State prohibiting, 43 ; Georgia first Constitutional pro 
 hibition of, 43; legality of, upheld, 50; sentiment against, 
 in Georgia, 50; influence of cotton on, 51 ; a political issue, 
 53, 102; its bearing on the war, 54; Missouri Compro 
 mise limits, 55, 60; abolished in Mexico, 75; Northern 
 attitude towards, 68; Calhoun forces the issue, 79; the 
 " Underground Railway," 82 ; a " property" question, 101, 
 130; disrupts religious bodies, 106; Kansas the battle-field 
 of, 114; John Brown s fanaticism as to, 119; national 
 ized, 131; Giddings s speech on, 144; contention of South 
 as to, 147; Buchanan s message concerning, 156; Critten- 
 den compromise as to, 172; Lincoln s views on, 175, 320, 
 321 ; limited abolition of, 282, 283 ; Thirteenth Amend 
 ment prohibits, 400 
 
 Slaves, rearing of, in Massachusetts, 32; fugitive, surren 
 der of, 42, 48 ; Constitutional provision as to, 93 ; " not 
 citizens," 126 ; freed under martial law, 320 
 
 Slave trade in North, 29, 45; English influence favors, 34; 
 in South Carolina, 44 ; declaration against in Vienna Con 
 gress, 45 ; African, 102 
 
 Slidell, John, 179, 260 
 
 Smith, General A. J., 350 
 General Kirby, 351, 393 
 Gerrit, 143 
 
 South, united by Harper s Ferry raid, 143; resources of, 
 219, 228, 232, 239 
 
 South Carolina, secession of, 167; emancipation proclama 
 tion, 320; Sherman enters, 368 
 
420 INDEX 
 
 "Southern Annexationists," 102 
 
 armies surrender, 388, 392, 393 
 
 Confederacy, 177 
 
 dissensions, 380 
 
 domination, 57 
 
 men in Federal service, 193, 225 
 
 Rights" manifesto, 165 
 
 States refuse to aid Federal Government, 189, 190 
 
 seize government property, 230-232 
 South Mountain, engagement at, 315 
 Spottsylvania, battle of, 349 
 Stanton, E. M., 266, 301, 388, 405 
 
 H. B., 69 
 
 " Star of the West" fired on, 170 
 State sovereignty, 56, 79 
 Status of seceded States after war, 395, 403 
 Stephens, Alexander H., 164, 171, 178, 358 
 Stevens, Thaddeus, 89, 149, 395 
 Stone River, battle of, 284 
 Storrs, Rev. G., 69 
 Stowe, Mrs. Harriet Beecher, 52 
 Summer, Charles, 121, 395 
 
 General, 302 
 
 T 
 
 Taney, Chief Justice, 126, 177 
 Tariff, 62, 65, 108, 109, 150 
 Tenure of Office Act, 405 
 Texas, independence declared, 75 ; admission of, objected 
 
 to, 81 ; annexation of, 102 ; secession resolved, 171 
 Thirteenth Amendment, 400 
 Thomas, General George H., 291, 351 
 Thompson, George, 69 
 Toombs, Robert, 83, 163 
 Toucey, Isaac, 225 
 " Trent" incident, 179, 260 
 Tyler, John, 145 
 
 U 
 
 " Underground Railway," 82 
 Union Humane Society, 65, 73 
 Universal suffrage established, 405 
 Utah, 102 
 
INDEX 421 
 
 V 
 
 Vallandigham, Clement L., 329-331 
 
 Vandalism, 366, 370 
 
 Vicksburg, surrender of, 287 
 
 Virginia secedes, 172; operations in, 199, 294, 372 
 
 Volunteers, Confederate, 235 
 
 Union, 189, 191, 209, 211, 343 
 
 W 
 
 Wallace, General Lew, 268, 269, 377 
 
 Washington, alarm at Confederate successes, 301, 313, 377 
 
 Webster, Daniel, 63, 84, 100 
 
 Weldon Railroad, raid on, 374 
 
 West Virginia an independent State, 200 
 
 Wheeler, General Joseph, 363 
 
 Whig party, 94, 109, no 
 
 Wilderness, battle of the, 348 
 
 Wilkes, Captain, 260 
 
 Wilmot " Proviso," 78, 83 
 
 Wilson s Creek, battle at, 245 
 
 Williamsburg, engagement at, 297 
 
 Winchester, battle at, 300, 337, 364, 379 
 
 Winthrop, Robert C, 329 
 
 Yancey, W. L., 148, 163 
 York, surrender of, 339 
 Yorktown, siege of, 296 
 
 Zollicoffer, General, 267 
 
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