THE LIFE OF WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM THE WAR GOVERNOR OF CONNECTICUT WITH A REVIEW OF His PUBLIC ACTS, AND ESPECIALLY THE DISTINGUISHED SERVICES HE RENDERED His COUNTRY DURING THE WAR OF THE REBELLION WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED A CONDENSED ACCOUNT OF THE MORE IMPORTANT CAMPAIGNS OF THE WAR, AND INFORMATION FROM PRIVATE SOURCES AND FAMILY AND OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. BY REV. SAMUEL G. BUCKINGHAM, D.D. SPRINGFIELD, MASS. THE W. F. ADAMS COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 1894. COPYRIGHTED, 1894. CLARK W. BRYAN COMPANY PRINTERS, ELECTROTYPRRS, BINDERS SPRINGFIELD, MASS. " To tenure such high pul>U<- interest a, the State of Connecticut will hi ml her destinies more doxely t<> those of the G-eneral Government, ami in adopting the measures su</i/ested, xhc will unreservedly pledge all her pecuniary and physical resources and all her -moral powers" 250236 DEDICATED TO THE PEOPLE OF CONNECTICUT BY ONE OF HER SONS AS A TRIBUTE TO ANOTHER. CONTENTS. THE BUCKINGHAM FAMILY, GOVERNOR BUCKINGHAM S HOME AND TRAINING, 4 CHAPTER 1. THE COUNTRY BEFORE THE WAR, - 17 How Slavery was at First Regarded The Expectation that it Would at Last Cease to Exist Agreements for Its Restriction Broken The Missouri Compromise, Fugitive Slave Law and Kansas Question Birth of the Republican Party. CHAPTER II. MR. BUCKINGHAM S ELECTION IN 1858, 31 Financial and Social Troubles of the Time Events of the Next Two Years, Lead ing to the Election of Mr. Lincoln and the Outbreak of the War Governor Buckingham s Messages During the Period and His Recognition of the Real Situation. CHAPTER III. THE NOMINATION OF MR. LINCOLN, 43 The Election in Connecticut in the Spring of 1860 Its Importance to the Nation The Frauds by which Democratic Politicians Sought to Carry the State Gover nor Buckingham s Re-election Lincoln s Campaign His Acquaintance with Governor Buckingham and Its Effect The Presidential Election of 1860. CHAPTER IV. THE SECESSION MOVEMENT, 63 Its Growth Traced from the Nullification Days Breaking Up of Mr. Buchanan s Cabinet His Own Partial Change of Opinion How and Why South Carolina Forced Secession Most of the Slave States Averse to It. Vlll CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. PEACE CONVENTION, 74 The Connecticut Delegation in the Washington Convention Governor Bucking ham s Letter of Instructions Connecticut s Proposition for a Convention on Amendment of the Constitution The Attitude of Virginia arid the Report in Congress. CHAPTER VI. MR. LINCOLN INAUGURATED, - 93 His Speeches on the Journey to Washington, and the Light they Throw on His Character The Plot to Kill Him on the Way The Inauguration Mr. Bu chanan s Character. CHAPTER VII. THE BREAKING OUT OF THE WAH, 109 Mr. Lincoln s Cabinet and the Views Held by its Members and by Him The Bom bardment of Fort Sumter The Purpose of South Carolina Accomplished. CHAPTER VIII. THE UPRISING OF THE PEOPLE, 118 How the News of the Fall of Sumter was Received at the North The Call for 75,000 Men Southern States, Not in Secession. Refuse to Obev It The Demon stration of Patriotism at the North How Arms had been Traitorously Secured by the South. CHAPTER IX. THE CALL TO ARMS IN CONNECTICUT, - 128 Oovernor Buckingham Calls for Troops and Pledges his Private Fortune to Equip Them The People and the Legislature Respond with Equal Patriotism Camps of Enlisted Men at Hartford. New Haven and Norwich Washington Cut Off Governor Buckingham s Message to the President and How it was Sent and Re ceivedThe Early Volunteers Governor Buckingham s Understanding of the Situation Count de Gasparin s " Uprising of a Great People." CHAPTER X. THE SESSION OF THE LEGISLATURE, 1861, 154 The Outbreak of the War Governor Buckingham s Prompt and Vigorous Support of the Government His Pledge that no State Should Furnish More or Better Troops His Correspondence with the War Department, and Sympathy with Their Embarrassments His Remarkable Letter to the President and Recom mendations in Regard to the Extra Session of Congress Just Called His Just Estimate of the Conflict and Counsel to Make Greater Preparations for It He Binds the Destinies of the State to Those of the General Government, and Pledges all Her Resources to Sustain the Latter The President s Call for More Troops Based on the Application of the Loyal Governors And he Gets Them The Governor Recommends that the State Loan its Credit to the General Government, Which is Done to the Extent of Two Million of Dollars Extra Session of Congress, July 4, 18til Battle of Bull Run. CONTENTS. IX CHAPTER XI. AFTER THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN, - -177 Governor Buckingham Authorized to Raise More Troops Volunteering Checked by Distrust of the Conduct of the War anil the Influence of the "Peace Demo crats" The Magnificent Troops that Volunteered in Spite of all such Influence Character and Destination of the Regiments The First Heavy Artillery and the First Light Battery. CHAPTER XII. THE YEAR 1862, - 202 Review of the Situation up to 1862 Progress of the War in the West and on the ( oast Governor Buckingham s Re-election A Patriotic Legislature The Peace Party in Connecticut Demands that the Army of the Potomac Move. CHAPTER XIII. THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN, 223 The Magnificent Army of the Potomac Its Movement on Richmond by Way of the Peninsula The Ketreat Across the Chickahominy The Week of Battles Mal- vern Hill. CHAPTER XIV. FURTHER CALLS FOR VOLUNTEERS, 247 Two Requisitions for 300.000 Men Each in the Summer of 1862 Governor Bucking ham s Proclamation The Patriotic. Response of the Men of Connecticut Mr. Lincoln s Views as to Emancipation Value of the Slaves Tho Emancipation Proclamation Foreshadowed. CHAPTER XV. THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION, 1862, - 256 The President s Decision in Regard to Emancipation His Plan of Buying Off the Northern Slave Srates and Paying Them for Tbeir few Slaves The Failure His Correspondence with Mr. Bancroft Hi* Decision to Issue such Proclamation as soon as the Government Should Have Gained Some Important Victory It was Done after the Battle of Antietam. CHAPTER XVI. A TURNING POINT IN THE WAR, 270 Effect of the Baitles of Vicksburg ard Gettysburg New Development of the Peace Party at This Very Time The Draft Riots Governor Buckingham s Vindica tion for Lending Arms to K>ep the Peace The Several Calls for Troops Con necticut s Record No Draft in the Stat-. X CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVII. CONNECTICUT SOLDIERS, ._._._ 289 Why Many Officers were Chosen from Civil Life Their Honorable Reccrd iu the Service The H ork of Equipping Enlisted Raiments Training Camps-Gover nor Buckingham s P rsonal Care tor Soldiers in tne Field, and the Respect he Paid to Men who Fought for the Union CHAPTER XVIII. THE FIRST NATIONAL THANKSGIVING, - - - - 307 It was Brightened by News from Chattanooga Relative Condition of the Northern and Southern > rmi^s at fiis Time President, Lincoln *t the Gettysburg Ceme tery Popular Feeling The Battle Hymn of the Reformation. CHAPTER XIX. GENERAL GRANT AT THE HEAD OF THE ARMIES, - 325 The Change in Methods When the Armv Came Under His C, mmand Tue Series of Flank Movements on Richmond The Only Battle Grant " Would Not Fight Again "A Pause After the Terrible Losses on Each Side. CHAPTER XX. SHERMAN S CAMPAIGN IN GEORGIA, - - - 342 The Capture of Atlanta and Removal of the Inhabitants Preparing for the March to the Sea Capture of Savannah. CHAPTER XXI. THE ELECTIONS IN 1864, - - - - 360 Governor Buckingham Again Re-elected The Voting of Soldiers in the Field Gov- erno- Buckingham s Words on Shivery in His Message Adoption of the Thir teenth Amendment Mr. Lincoln Re-elected. CHAPTER XXII. THE LAST YEAR OF THE WAR, 370 Review of the Situation Fight in Mobile Bay Sherman in Georgia Grant s In vestment of Petersburg Evacuation of Richmond Decisive Battle at Sailor s Creek. CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIII. 387 Surrender of the Two Principal Confederate Armies Negotiations for Surrender- Difficulties in the Way Made Unconditional Magnanimity of the Union Com mandersIts Appreciation by the Confederates No More Fighting The Relief of the South The Joy of the North. CHAPTER XXIV. ASSASSINATION OF MH. LINCOLN. 403 The Co/.spirators and Crime Their Trial aud Punishment Effect Upon the Nation Testimonials of Respect and Giief The Funeral Procession to His Burial Place Strange Tribute from the World s Great caricaturist. CHAPTER XXV. THE WAR OVER, - -ii4 The Cost of the War Measures Taken to Stop the Expenses Grand Review aud Disband ment of the Army Difference Between Eastern and Western Troops- Equal Tributes Paid to Both by their Two Great Commanders. CHAPTER XXVI. A VISIT TO RICHMOND, 420 Personal Observations in the City Soon After its Evacuation The Temper of the People The Disposition to Accept the Result of the War and Cultivate Friendship. CHAPTER XXVII. GOVERNOR BUCKINGHAM S RE-ELECTION IN 1865, 430 Close of the War -V hat Connecticut Had Done The Loyal Governors Recon struction Begun in Congress and in the States The Adoption of the Xlllth Amendment by Connecticut Acquiescence in it by the South Testimony of a Southern Bishop. CHAPTER XXVIII. GREAT BRITAIN CALLED TO ACCOUNT FOR BUILDING CONFEDERATE CRUISERS, 439 The Alabama Our Claims for Damages The Geneva Award" Howl Ran iuto the Builder of the Alabama "Napoleon Ill s Latin Kingdom in Mexico Disposed of by Our "Monroe Doctrine." CHAPTER XXIX. UNITED STATES SENATOR, 452 Governor Buckingham s Term in the Senate-His Share in Maintaining What Had Been Gained by the War Some of His Work His Death Shortly Before the Ex- piration of His Term of Office. Xll CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXX. ESTIMATES OF CHARACTER AND SERVICE, - - - 462 Ext- acts from the Newspaper Articles Drawn out by Governor Buckingham s Death Eulogies in Congress The Funeral Services. CHAPTER XXXI. PERSONAL TRAITS OF CHARACTER, - 494 Governor Buckingham s Connection with Christian and Benevolent Associations The Fh>t Triennial Congregational Council His Ability as its Moderator His. Style of \Vriting an-1 Address Photograph Copv of His Letter to the President in Transmitting tneir Papei on the "SUte of the Country." CHAPTER XXXII. BUCKINGHAM DAY, - - 508 Unveiling of the Statue How Ordered and How Dedicated Gathering of Old Soldiers Ceremonies and Addresses statue Placed Among the Battle Flags. CHAPTER XXXIII. To THE PEOPLE OF CONNECTICUT, 521 A. Reminder of What They Have Been What Made Them What They are The Character They Have to Maintain. INDEX, - 533 THE BUCKINGHAM FAMILY. Thomas Buckingham, the first of the name in this coun try, was one of the colony that settled New Haven, CL The company came over during the summer of 1637, passed the winter in Boston, and sailed around to Quinnipick, the Indian name of their future home, the next spring. This, as the historian Trumbull says, was the most opulent com pany which came into New England. Mr. Eaton and Mr. Hopkins had been merchants in London, possessed great estates, and were men of eminence for abilities and integrity. They had with them for their clergyman Mr. Davenport, a famous minister in the city of London. And the fame of Mr. Davenport, the reputation and good estates of the principal gentlemen of the company, made the people of Massachusetts, says the historian, desirous of their settle ment in that Commonwealth. It appears from the original records, that Thomas Buckingham, as one of the colonists, received his allotment of land near the corner of College and Crown streets, New Haven, not far from the spot where the large spreading oak stood, under which Mr. Davenport preached his first sermon on the temptations of the wil derness, and where Dr. Lyman Beecher was afterwards born. But new settlements were to be made, and as the colony possessed another minister, the next spring another church was organized, and Mr. Pruden settled over it, and this com pany removed to Milford, ten miles west. Their mode of organizing a church was this: Seven men of Christian faith and exemplary life were chosen, who covenanted to gether, and with God, to walk in all the ways and ordi- Z WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. nances of the Lord blameless. These men were styled " The Seven Pillars," and to these the other members were added. Among these Seven Pillars is found the name of Thomas Buckingham, and among the first to be joined to them, is Hannah his wife. Opposite his name, is entered upon the Church Records in the hand writing of the second minister, " dyed in Boston." * It seems that some seven teen years after his removal to Milford, upon the death of his pastor, he was sent to the Bay to secure another minis ter, where he died in 1657. He left a family of six children, two of them born in England. The youngest of them, Thomas, the direct ancestor of the Governor, was born at Milford in 1646, and became pastor of the church in Saybrook, Ct. This " Min ister Buckingham," as he was called, held an honorable and useful position in the Connecticut colonies. He was one of the ten ministers who founded Yale College, and had under his supervision and instruction a portion of the students, and for the eighteen years the college was located at Saybrook, and the commencements held there. He was also one of the moderators of the synod that framed the " Saybrook Platform," the system of faith and government upon which the churches of Connecticut were organized. He was like wise the faithful friend of the Indians of Connecticut, and one in whom they confided. One of the sons of Uncas, the Mohigan Sachem, made Minister Buckingham an executor of his will and guardian of his children, and desired that his sons should receive an English education, and that he liimself should be buried at Saybrook, in a coffin, after the manner of the English. Here this good pastor died in 1709, at the age of sixty-three, after a ministry of forty- four years, leaving behind him a large and estimable family. His family consisted of nine children, who all lived to grow up, and were married and settled in the town, and where most of them remained for several generations. Indeed, it * Records of the First Church, Milford, Ct. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 3 was not until the beginning of this century, that the father of the Governor left there and settled in Lebanon. Deacon Samuel Buckingham, the Governor s father, the fifth (5) in descent from the "minister," and sixth from the first settler, was born at Saybrook in 1770, where he lived until after his marriage and the birth of his eldest daughter, when he removed to Lebanon in 1803. Here William Alfred Buckingham, " The War Governor " as he was termed, was born May 28, 1804. GOV. BUCKINGHAM S HOME AND TRAINING. Lebanon, Ct., which lies on the old stage road from Nor wich to Hartford, eleven miles from the former to the Brick Meeting House in Lebanon, is a typical New England town. The township is large, some six miles by eight in territory, and entirely devoted to farming. Its soil, a moist black loam, considerably stony, with plenty of mud in the spring, very green in the summer, and never so fresh as when there is drought elsewhere, makes it a good agricultural region. The principal street stretches along a ridge five or six miles, with the farms running down on each side into the valleys, and showing a substantial and thrifty popu lation. The inhabitants arc almost entirely of New Eng land stock, proud of their town and of its history, and not unmindful of the number and character of the Governors they have furnished to the State, and their long term of service. This is no empty boast, for they have given the State five Governors, the three Trumbulls, Governor Bissell and Governor Buckingham together holding that office for a third of a century. The town never had a population of quite 4,000 ; still a century ago, when Hartford had barely 5,000, and Farmington, which was larger, had only 6,000, the leading characters of the State were quite as likely to be found in such a community as elsewhere. For such towns were pretty sure to have an able ministry, good schools and good society. Dr. Solomon Williams, " among the most prominent of the New England clergy," was pastor there for fifty-four WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 5 years (1722-1776). He was a graduate of Harvard College, a student as well as a pastor, accustomed to read in con nection with his family devotions and translate from either the Greek or Hebrew Scriptures, and doing much to provide for the town the means of a higher education. For a long course of years Lebanon was distinguished for the best grammar school in any country town in Connecticut the one taught by Mr. Nathan Tisdale, a Harvard graduate. This school was established chiefly by the efforts of Dr. Williams, and the consequence was that for many years the town was not only remarkable for its intelligence, but furnished more ministers of the Gospel than perhaps any other town of its size in the State. And not alone minis ters were educated here, but men for every profession and pursuit in life, and " this school was so extensively and favorably known that it numbered among its pupils youth from almost every part of the country." Such intellectual and religious influences created a public sentiment there, and gave a character to society which has never been lost. The town can show a list of one hundred and fifty liberally educated men who were born there, and mostly educated at Yale College. To this day the town is not regarded as keep ing up to its standard, unless two or three of its sons are in that university. Here was the home of the Trumbull family, who not only honored the gubernatorial office, but filled so many public positions with distinguished credit and usefulness. The father, " the War Governor of the Revolution," who held that office fifteen years, was Washington s " Brother Jona than," his friend and counselor ; his son Joseph, commissary general of Washington s army ; Jonathan, Jr., paymaster in Washington s army, Speaker of the House of Representa tives in Congress, Senator in Congress and for eleven years Governor of the State ; David, assistant commissary general and father of Governor Joseph ; and John, the painter, 6 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. whose historical works enrich our national capitol ; his daughter Faith, the wife of General Jedediah Huntington of the Revolutionary army, and his daughter Mary, the wife of William Williams, "signer of the Declaration of Independence." This last was a son of the old minister, and as true a patriot as the country saw. He sleeps with the rest in that " Trumbull tomb," in the old burying ground at Lebanon, which we venture to say contains as much patriotic and sacred dust as is garnered in any other. The place, too, had its history. Events have occurred there important enough to inspire the noblest thoughts and prompt to heroic lives, while mixed with them was romance enough to stir the dullest natures. There is the governor s " War Office," still preserved, and in charge of the " Con necticut Sons of the American Revolution," where the State Committee of Safety held its meetings all through the war, ten or fifteen hundred of them, and where Washington came to consult with the governor, and where our statesmen and officers of the army and the commanders of the French troops and fleet planned with him some of the important expeditions of the war, like that of Yorktown, which ended the war, and secured to us our independence. Here is where a squadron of French cavalry, under Count de Lauzun, en camped for the winter and held their levees at the head quarters of their gay commander, and where Washington reviewed five regiments of Count Rochambeau s army before they set out on their last and most distinguished campaign. Such things have their influence upon a community, and the subject of this memoir must have felt it. Indeed, we cannot help thinking, when he stood with the rest of us boys before that tomb in the old burying ground, where the dust of the Trumbulls and the Williamses was resting so quietly, that he was drinking in his best lessons of patriotism and noble living. And sure we are, that next to the fear of God. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 7 and anxiety to please him, Connecticut s last " War Gov ernor " was trying to be to the state and to the nation some thing like the first u War Governor." It was in such a community and amid such surroundings that Governor Buckingham had his birth and early training. The Governor was born into a pleasant home and came under good influences. The house is one that his father- built, and is among the best in the town, standing under lofty shade trees, with a plenty of fruit trees about it, and a good farm attached. Just beyond is " the Brick Meeting House," a remarkably fine country church, with its beautiful spire and noble, recessed entrance, the design having been furnished, it is said, by Trumbull, the painter. It is located at the south end of a common, a mile long and more than one-eighth of a mile wide, with a street and well-shaded houses on each side of it. It is not cleared of stone and graded, except at the two ends, and particularly about the church, for such a work completed was too much for the means of such a population. But such a building in such a setting is a striking feature in the landscape. After seeing it, and remembering the attractions and advantages which such a place would hold out to settlers, we are not surprised that his parents located there, for they appreciated good society, valued the means of education, and prized religious privileges. As the father said in giving his reasons for his selection : " I wanted a good farm, and then to be near the church, near the school, near the mill, and near the doctor." " Captain " Buckingham, as he was called in early life, having commanded a military company, or " Deacon" Buck ingham, by which title he was known in after life, was an enterprising and thrifty farmer. He had one source of income, however, besides his farm, for when a young man, and before he left Say brook, he and two or three others built the first two fishing piers at the mouth of the Connecticut to take shad, and retained all his life his interest in these 8 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. fisheries, which were worth as much to him as his farm. But he was a careful and successful farmer, living comfort ably, having the means of educating his children and of being public-spirited and benevolent, making his house the liome of hospitality, and leaving behind him for those days a snug little property. He was fond of the cultivation of fruit, and before nurseries and grafted trees were common, raised fruit in abundance and of the choicest varieties. His buildings were always kept in good repair and painted as white as fresh paint could make them, so that his well- shaded and pleasant residence became a striking feature in the landscape, and gave a good idea of what the best New England homes were. He was active and liberal in maintaining good schools. After " Master Tisdale " died, and his school was given up, a select school was maintained under some college graduate for both sexes, but sometimes it became a school for young ladies under superior instruction. Here his own children were educated until they needed better advantages, when they were all sent away to enjoy them. The church also, in which he was for many years a deacon, and of which he was such a revered and beloved member, found in him one of its best friends. To secure a good minister when he was needed ; to provide well for his support ; to build a parson age, and then make his pastor s residence in it as comfort able as possible; in everything of this kind he naturally took a leading part, while his life exemplified the Gospel, and gave new force to preaching. He had a peculiar regard for ministers, prized their society, and loved to entertain them : so that his house was familiarly called " The Minis ters Tavern." He loved good people and good things, and any good cause was likely to find in him a firm supporter and true friend. When the temperance reform commenced, he was the first to adopt its principles and carry them out in the management of his farm. Though told that he never WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. could hire men to work for him, without furnishing them with ardent spirits in haying time at least, his reply was : " I think I can by giving them more wages." And he not only succeeded in banishing New England rum from the farm, but New England cider also, when every comfortable farmer was expected to put into his cellar from ten to thirty barrels of it, to be drank up in the course of the year. lie was too conscientious and benevolent to maintain a custom so dangerous to individuals, and so injurious to the com munity, when such easy protection could be furnished against its dangers. Thus his son was taught those strict temperance principles to which he scrupulously adhered all his life. In any delineation of the father s character, prominence should be given to his rare good judgment. He would not pretend to judge of subjects of which he had little or no knowledge, but upon matters with which he was acquainted, his opinions were definite and eminently wise. His habits of business were careful and exact, while his industry and thoroughness, combined with his good judgment, were quite sure to render his business plans successful. He was lib eral toward public improvements, religious institutions, Christian missions and the poor about him, regarding him self in all such matters as the steward of the Lord, who would be found faithful to his trust. In his own family he was full of tenderness and affection, while his ideas of duty and propriety were distinct and carefully insisted upon, nothing rude or unkind even in speech being permitted there, any more than what was vulgar and wicked any where. The Governor might have been called " Bill " by his companions on the playground, but never in his father s house. He was himself a gentleman not only in speech and manners, but in his sentiments, and the courtesy and sincerity with which he entertained his guests were quite remarkable. He admired public men of ability and integ- }0 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. rity had great respect for honest folk, however humble they might be he loved all Christian people wherever ho found them, and character always weighed more with him than wealth or rank or talent. He profoundly revered his Maker and had supreme faith in Jesus Christ his son, and like his Puritan ancestry, tried to " serve his generation according to the will of God, and having done so fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers ," at the ripe old age of eighty, leaving to his family their best inheritance in the principles he taught them, the example he set them, and the name he honored. His wife was Joanna Matson of Lyme, Ct., whose brothers- were prominent men in the town, one of them a venerable deacon in the Old Church there, while her sister was the mother of the late Chief Justice Waite of Connecticut, and grandmother of Chief Justice Waite of the United States Supreme Court. While the Governor resembled his father most in personal appearance, and possessed hi& father s rare business qualities, he inherited his mother s temperament, her alertness of mind, her capacity for in tense and unwearied activity, as well as her affectionate nature, tender sympathies and free-handed benevolence. She was a person of unaffected modesty, and all womanly delicacy, yet with great executive ability and such good judg ment that her husband always consulted her in business- matters, and said after her death that he never succeeded well in any enterprise of which she did not fully approve. She was resolute of purpose, quick to provide for an emer gency, and with fortitude equal to any crisis. Her brothers, who were fond of horses, used to say : " Annie can ride any horse that we can ride." And in those times when t much of traveling was done on horseback, this was not a mere accomplishment for a lady, but a necessary part of her education, so that every well-conditioned bride received, on her marriage, as she did, her own riding horse, and side- WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 11 saddle and pillion, as much as her bridal dress, and family linen. As showing her courage and prompt energy, when the Governor was a child, she once missed him, and flying to the well, thought the bright spot reflected from the sides, was the head of her child upon the surface of the water. Without a moment s hesitation, she climbed down the wet and slippery sides of that well, thirty feet deep, till she could see to the bottom, and relieve her anxieties. In the spring time, when the farm required the most attention, and her husband was obliged to spend six weeks at Saybrook, look ing after his fisheries, she managed the farm. With all that was delicate and womanly, she possessed this capacity for anything that needed to be done, and when it was done, it was with the propriety and grace with which only a woman can do every thing. But this was not her best sphere. In her family, with her husband and children, among her neighbors, with her guests, in the chamber of sickness, at the bedside of the suffering, there she was most at home and best beloved. Nothing could exceed the depth and tenderness of her domestic love, or the anxiety she felt about the habits, principles and religious character of her family. She used to plan wisely and comprehensively for her children, and was exceedingly desirous that they should be something and do something in the world, but her ambition was held in subordination to her piety, and she would always add to her encouragement and hopes : " Well, whatever else you are, I want you to be Christians." With such a character, and such an influence, is it any wonder that she has left behind her a memory enshrined in the hearts of her children, somewhat like The Madonna s among good Roman Catholics ? Perhaps no better idea of her character, or fitter tribute to her memory, can be given than was heard from her pastor years after her death, when he had removed to another town, where in age and infirmity he occasionally 12 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. occupied the pulpit. A friend of the family happening to pass a Sabbath there, was gratified to hear this reference to her as an illustration of the minister s subject : " When I became pastor of the church, to which for many years I ministered, I was struck wherever I went with the love and gratitude which all found out at the mention of one individual That individual was the mother of our present crood Governor a noble son of a noble mother. Beneath every roof her name was most affectionately mentioned, as her memory no\v is sacredly cherished. I wondered how she had thus endeared herself to the hearts of that people. But when I saw her at the bedside of the sick and dying, ministering like an angel from above to their relief when I saw her gifts scattered wherever they were needed when I saw how little she spent upon herself and how cheerfully she gave to others ; I understood the secret. Others beside our Maker love such a spirit, and weep when it is withdrawn from the scenes of earth." Into such a home this child was born ; and there never was a warmer or safer nest, where with four other chil dren two sisters, and two brothers lie was trained for his life work. As a boy the Governor had as much mischief, daring, recklessness, as most boys, and rather more. " There," said an old man who had been one of the companions of his boyhood, pointing to the roof of a neighboring house which hung high above a lower roof, and both too high to fall from without risking life, " William was once up there, and I was below, and I heard him cry : Catch me ! catch me ! I m falling ! when down he came on that lower roof, and 1 caught him before he fell any further. And if 1 had not," he added, " I don t see how Connecticut could ever have had him for Governor." Connecticut s future "War Governor" was no doubt being raised up, and his very nerve, and courage, and dar- WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 13 ing, which he would need so much, were being developed by the habits of his boyhood. He loved to climb the tallest tree, skate on the thinnest ice, and ride the wildest colt, here is where he acquired his fine horsemanship, so notice able when he rode with his staff on parade Election Day, the day of the Governor s Inauguration, or when he had occasion to review his State troops. Every old veteran, whom he sent off in his regiments, or welcomed back, will recall his appearance on horseback. In this connection, it may be mentioned that the only acquaintance he ever had with military affairs, was as a member of a company or cavalry in his native town. He enlisted before he left home, and as he was required to do military duty somewhere, he preferred to do it there among his old comrades, and so for years after his residence was in Norwich, the first Monday in May, and the first Monday in September, always found him in their ranks. Those Troopers were a famous set of boys in those times and in those parts. Their uniform was gorgeous scarlet coats, white pantaloons, heavy, black bear skin cap, with white plume feathers and red tip, the saddle with its holsters and valise, and horse with curbed bit and double reins, and showy housings. Then the horses, not well trained, to be sure, but each the pride of some young farmer, when in line making such a show, and in motion as they trotted off and especially on a full gallop, so formidable to our boyish eyes before any of us knew anything of real war, these gave us our ideas of Cromwell s " Ironsides that were never conquered," and Napoleon s legions which thundered over Europe. And what made this thundering part so real was their heavy cavalry pistol loaded to the muzzel, which they were always firing. This leads me to refer to the most serious, and what came near being the most to be regretted rashness of the Governor s youth. He and his company were on their way to a regimental review, and riding up to 14 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. the Tavern, a squad of them, as was their habit, gave the inmates and the neighborhood a rousing salute. The tavern keeper, as he came to the door, received their dis charge full in his face, and the Governor s charge went straight through his hat. Of course it was a matter of deep regret and ample apology. But the pleasant result of it was, that the one who was treated so roughly, was over after one of the Governor s good friends, and we ven ture to say that, whatever might have been his politics, if he lived to have the opportunity, he alwavs voted for him. At any rate he never came to Norwich without calling upon the Governor, and once a year the Governor gave him a new hat. But whatever may have been the pranks of the Governor s boyhood, or the indiscretions of his youth, he kept his heart true and noble, and his morals pure. He was frank to acknowledge his faults and would take more than his share of the blame, and you could not make him tell a lie, while his sincere regret for his misconduct made you love the child, as his readiness to right the wrongs he might have done, secured respect and inspired confi dence in the man. Governor Buckingham acquired most of his education in his native town. He was for a while in the Family School of a neighboring clergyman, then sent to the Bacon Acad emy at Colchester, and as he wished to become a land sur veyor, a profession which at that time had some of the attractions of civil engineering now, and also had some State patronage, he was put into the field in charge of one of that profession. His love of mathematics, as well as his energetic physical nature, prompted him in that direc tion. But after trying it for a while, and then teaching successfully for a winter a common district school, he came home and worked for three years upon the farm. He always claimed that he did as much work as any of the hired men, and pointed in proof of it to the solid stone wall WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 15 lie laid, and which must stand there yet, to show that he was always good for any hard work that he was set to do. It was decided, however, that he should go into his uncle s dry-goods store at Norwich, where he remained two years, and after spending a short time in a wholesale store in New York, he returned to Norwich, to begin business for himself. This began at Norwich in 1826. In 1830 he added to his dry- goods trade the manufacture of ingrain carpeting. In 1848, having furnished a friend with means to carry on the manufacture of rubber boots and shoes, a business then in its infancy, he relinquished all his other business, to organize the Hay ward Rubber Company, of which he was the principal business manager, until he went into public life, and its treasurer as long as he lived. He was a stockholder also in a number of other manufacturing com panies, to several of which he devoted special attention. Indeed it was a general business principal with him, not to invest his money where he could not have an oversight of it, and wherever he was a director, and especially if he was a trustee, he felt bound to look after it more carefully than if it was his own property that was concerned. His business ideas and habits were most exact and rigid. He could give away money cheerfully, and meet losses with equanimity, but failure to meet business engagements, or neglect of responsibilities that he had allowed to be put upon him, were not to be thought of. While conducting business on a large scale for thirty years, which included periods of serious financial disturbance in the country, like that of 1837, he constantly maintained his credit, paid his obligations and passed safely through the crises which wrecked or crippled so many men who were both able and industrious in their business. Such a business character and habits proved of great service when the war came on, and he was obliged to appeal to individuals and monied 16 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. institutions for the means of raising and equipping troops for the field, and also in keeping the accounts of the State promptly and easily squared up with the General Govern ment. His business ability and habits made him successful in each of the kinds of business in which he engaged, so that he acquired a handsome property for the times which preceded the war, when no such fortunes were rapidly accumulated as have been made since ; so that he had the means, as well as the disposition, to be public spirited and charitable, as well as give to his State the benefits of his personal credit and private fortune. He was so long in public life that, with his ideas of official duty, he was obliged to neglect his own business, and suffer losses, of which he never complained, only playfully remarking, as he did to a friend in Washington when he was senator : " If one comes here and makes any money while he is in Congress, he has been robbing the Government ; but if lie has lost any, he is irregular in his habits, which last must be the case with me." CHAPTER I. THE COUNTRY BEFORE THE WAR. How Slavery was at First Regarded The Expectation that it Would at Last Cease to Exist Agreements for Its Restriction Broken The Missouri Compromise, Fugitive Slave Law and Kansas Ques tionBirth of the Republican Party. In every respect, save one, nothing seemed so unlikely as secession and civil war. The South and the North had essentially the same English origin. They were united by kinship, acquaintance and business. They had struggled together through the War of Independ ence, and no two of our original colonies, who now found themselves most at variance on the subject of slavery, were more united and determined in behalf of freedom than Virginia and Massachusetts. They had been considerate of each other s convictions and wishes, and made all needful concessions in the organization of the General Government, and to secure the adop tion of the Constitution. And since its adoption, we had enjoyed together for three-quarters of a century, as we boastfully, but not untruthfully, said, more free dom and prosperity than ever fell to the lot of any other people on the globe. We were strong in our unity ; so strong that the most powerful nations were reluctant to pick a quarrel with us, we were so sure to stand by one another if they did. And when we were so well aware that union was our safety, and disunion our destruction, as to have adopted it as a political maxim, "United we stand, divided we fall," 18 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. it did seem as if nothing but insane madness, or judi cial blindness, could have driven us into a civil war. And even in regard to the subject of slavery, the North and the South were for a long time virtually agreed. Slaves were introduced here by the British Govern ment while we were colonies, and landed in Virginia before Massachusetts had any settlers. Virginia had petitioned George III. to prohibit their importation, instead of which His Majesty gave peremptory orders to the Royal Governor, "not to assent to any law of the Colonial Legislature by which the importation of slaves should in any respect be prohibited or ob structed." The institution had always been regarded by most people as something wrong, unchristian, in human ; by the ablest statesmen as an unwise policy, and a violation of the most fundamental of human rights ; while Christian people could hardly fail to see that it was not " doing to others as we would have others do to us," to enslave them. And though such a system had been imposed upon us, and transmitted by inheritance, it was regarded as a natural and necessary duty to alleviate and remove it. It was hoped and expected that under the influ ence of advancing civilization, and increasing regard for human rights, and stronger Christian sentiment, slavery would be done away. Especially under our new Republic, where all were to be free and equal, it was to be assumed that such oppression could not long continue. With this idea, the- framers of the Constitution refused to admit the word " slave " into that sacred instrument, but used the paraphrase " per sons held to service," to describe slaves, which would be unmeaning when such a class ceased to exist. Such was the hope and endeavor not only of Northern statesmen like John Adams, but of Thomas Jefferson, WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. . 19 a Virginian, as well. And that State, be it forever remembered to her honor, in order to found such a Republic and secure the adoption of the Federal Con stitution, not only gave the nation the Great North west Territory, out of which those five prosperous States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin have been formed, but allowed it to be exclusively and forever dedicated to Freedom. For such was understood to be, and was undoubtedly meant to be, the force of that brief but significant clause in the Ordinance of 1787, for the government of that Territory: " There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said Territory." The attempt to break down that barrier against slavery in the North, and the repeated and suc cessful attempts to modify and finally to do away with the " Missouri Compromise " by the South, have been the cause of nearly all our sectional strife. In the meantime cotton had become one of the great staples of the world, and as few countries could raise it, and the blacks were best able to bear the hot climate that produced it, slave labor was at a premium. The value to which such labor attained seems incredible, yet we have it on good authority that the slaves of the South were worth in the market two thousand mil lions of dollars. Happily the North had no such motive to justify and extend slavery, while the South unfortu nately fell under its influence, and urged on a course of measures which brought the nation to the verge of ruin, where it was only saved, under Providence, when the institution itself was swept away. These measures began with the admission of Missouri into the Union. The great Louisiana Territory, out of which the States of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Oregon 20 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. and the Indian Territory, have already been organized, had been purchased of France in 1803. The way in which it came to us reads more like romance than history. Napoleon I. was in his greatest straits, and expecting that England would fit out a naval expedition where he was the weakest and take possession of this valuable province of France. He suddenly decided, in order to keep it out of the hands of his great enemy, to sell it to us, which was done for fifteen millions of dollars. The securing of it at this, or almost any price, when it was " held by the greatest military power of Europe, and coveted by the greatest naval power of the world," is a high tribute to the wisdom and statesmanship of Mr. Jefferson, who was then Pres ident. Though stoutly opposed and bitterly denounced for it by the partisans of that day, his wise and com prehensive statesmanship in this matter, not only gave us our broad and continental Republic, but also pre vented our being hemmed in on three sides by British territory, and confronted on the other by England s formidable navy. Then again, no such motive as has influenced presidential administrations since that time could be fairly attributed to him who was, if we mis take not, uniformly and consistently opposed to the per petuation and extension of slavery. Louisiana was admitted into the Union in 1812, and with slavery, because it was south of the line which was under stood to limit it on the north. There was opposition made to it, from the natural reluctance of the free States to have a system extended and invigorated, which it was hoped would die out eventually. But as it was only an extension of the system at the South where it already existed, it was acquiesced in. But when Missouri applied for admission, with her great territory larger in area than all New Eng land, and lying almost wholly north of the line of the Ohio WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 21 river, which was to be the perpetual limit of slavery on that side of the Mississippi the discussion of the whole sub ject came up anew and agitated the entire country. That line was understood to be, and was certainly meant to be, the established division line between Freedom and Slaverv. The North had confidence in the superiority of Freedom over Slavery to develop the population, wealth, intelligence and virtue of a community, and with time in their favor, they were patiently awaiting the result. And this measure was regarded as a deliberate attempt to break down the established barrier against all the evils of the worst institu tion in the land. After three years of discussion and delay, Missouri was admitted as a slave state, but at the same time an ordinance was enacted that, from all the remainder of that territory lying west of the Mississippi, and north of the parallel of 86 30, or the southern boundary of the new State, slavery should be forever excluded, as from all north of the same parallel on the other side of the river. And though this was to be a slave state, and lay north of the established line between Freedom and Slavery, it was ac quiesced in for the sake of peace, and with the expectation that this would be the final settlement of the whole matter. Nobody proposed then to break up that whole arrangement, agreed upon so early and acted upon so often ; certainly no one could have dreamed that this whole plan would ever be repudiated, and pronounced unconstitutional, and madly swept away to extend slavery. This was the famous u Mis souri Compromise," upon the basis of which the matter was adjusted in 1820. It was a hard compromise for the North. This is where disunion virtually commenced, and went on until it terminated in secession and the war. In the meantime the admission of Texas as a slave state into the Union (a revolted province of Mexico, where by the laws of Mexico slavery was prohibited), and the war with Mexico into which we were led to acquire more, slave 22 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. territory, were still more disturbing to the North. These things showed that slavery was no longer to be any mere local institution, and subject only to State laws, but was to be .fostered, extended, and perpetuated by the whole power of the general government. They proved how groundless were the philanthropic and seemingly reasonable expecta tions of the earlier statesmen of the Republic, that an in stitution thus restricted by the Constitution, the ordinances and the legislation of the first half-century of the govern ment, would ever die out, if such a perversion of power was allowed for its support. No wonder the country was in tensely agitated, or that members of both political parties, and some even from the slave states, should protest against it. Hence came the " Wilmot Proviso of 1846," a proviso moved by Mr. Wilmot of Pennsylvania, of the Plouse of Representatives in Congress, to be attached to a bill appropriating two millions for the acquisition of Mexi can territory, which declared it to be " an express and fun damental condition to the acquisition of any territory from Mexico, that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist therein." Mr. Wilmot is said to have been an intense partisan of the Democratic school, a firm supporter of the administration in its general policy, and to have rep resented a strong administration district, and still he did not hesitate to assert that this money was wanted to secure more slave territory, and that he was resolved then and there to make a stand in favor of u Free Soil." The bill was long and ably debated, and though the House was democratic, and the bill supported by the whole power of the administration, it could not be carried through that body without this proviso. This was the rallying point, and the rallying cry of the " Free Soil " movement that fol lowed, which drew to its ranks so many from all parties, and ultimately won its victory in the election of Mr. Lincoln to the presidency. It shows the sober sense and sturdy priu- WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 23 ciple of the country, which no sophistry could mislead nor party bonds enslave, nor even victories in war and acquisi tions of territory satisfy, that the Mexican war was never- popular. The party and the administration which origi nated it and carried it on successfully, were all the while losing the confidence and support of the country. The House elected in the ensuing autumn had a decided ma jority against the administration. And this, as has been said, " was the first and only time in our political history when a party conducting a war victorious at every step, steadily lost ground in the country." In regard to our little respect for freedom and human rights, even as com pared with Mexico, it is humiliating to read that : "Every acre of the nine hundred thousand square miles of this acquisition was free territory under the rule of Mexico, and the com missioners of that government were extremely anxious that the United States should give a guaranty that its character in this respect should not be changed. They urged that to see slavery recognized upon soil once owned by Mexico would be as abhorrent to that gov ernment as it would be to the United States to see the Spanish In quisition established upon it. Mr. Nicholas P. Trist, our American commissioner, gave a reply which a free republic reads with increas ing amazement. He declared that if the territory proposed to be ceded to us, were ten fold as valuable, and in addition to that was covered a foot thick with pure gold, on the single condition that slavery should be forever excluded, he would not entertain the offer for a moment, nor even think of sending it to his government. No American President would dare submit such a treaty to the Senate." Mr. Elaine s " Twenty Yearn of Congress," vol. /, p. 74. Another concession made to the South was the infamous Fugitive Slave Law, a law which denied to the fugitive any trial by jury, aright granted to every citizen for a claim of more than twenty dollars, left his personal liberty to be decided peremptorily by a United States Commissioner without appeal, provided no penalty for perjury, but did subject to heavy penalties those who sheltered a fugitive, or ventured to protect him from injustice and violence. " By this law, the body, the life, the very soul of a man, posoibly 24 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. a freeborn citizen, might be consigned to perpetual en slavement on the fallible judgment of a single official." Even the paltry bribe was held out to such official that if he remanded the alleged fugitive to slavery he should receive a fee of ten dollars, but if he adjudged him free, it should only be five. Then as if to make it as humiliating and insulting as possible to the Free States, whose citizens abhorred slavery, and had forever prohibited it within their own borders so far as it could be done by their own laws and judicial decisions, this law demanded of them acquies cence, approval, assistance in this business. When Chris tianity puts the question which admits of but one answer : " How much is a man better than a sheep ? " when Juda ism that had to deal with a rude people, according to the imperfect ideas of that age, commanded " Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped," and when every instinct of humanity and justice forbid our helping to enslave again one who has secured his own free dom, what infatuation to expect that a nation of freemen were going to help enforce a law like that ! Then came the Dred Scott Decision of the Supreme Court, which President Buchanan made such use of in his attempt to fasten slavery upon Kansas. Though the case to be decided was only ti question of personal liberty, this court took occasion to go further and decide that slavery was not a local institution, and the creature of local laws, as had hitherto been supposed and acted upon in all our state and general legislation, but had a right to exist everywhere and in spite of local laws ; that the act of Congress prohibiting slavery in the territories north of 36 30 was unconstitu tional, and the Missouri Compromise justly repealed it ; that slave property was as much entitled to protection in the national domain as any other property ; that Congress had no right to shut it out from the District of Columbia, or any of the territories of the United States ; and in short, WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 25 that the hlacks, so far from being included in the " all men " wiih certain " incalculable rights," referred to in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, were re garded at the time as " so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect." It was a bitter disappointment to the people of the North to find that after all their patient waiting in hopes of removing slavery by demonstrating the superiority of freedom, this institution was to be forever imposed upon them, and that it had been read into the Constitution by a sympathizing bench of judges, from which instrument it had been so con scientiously excluded. They saw the very barriers which Virginia and Mr. Jefferson had helped to rear against slavery, torn down by Southern hands, and by men of Mr. Jefferson s political principles. They were indignant as well as disappointed, and became satisfied that more deter mined steps must be taken for the protection of their own rights and the rights of others, if any liberty was to be left to anybody in our boasted Republic. As showing how this decision was regarded at the North, the New York Legisla ture immediately enacted that neither color nor African descent should disqualify from citizenship ; that every slave brought by his master into the State should become free ; that any attempt to retain such persons as slaves should be punished by from two to ten years imprisonment. It passed a resolution also declaring that the Supreme Court had lost the confidence and respect of the people. Then came the Kansas troubles. The territory of Kan sas was open to settlement, and the slave state of Missouri on the east was determined that it should not become a free state. The first settlers of Lawrence, while still living in tents, were visited by a band of two hundred and fifty armed Missourians, and ordered to leave the territory. They were expecting this, and were themselves armed, and so they did not leave. The town, however, was afterwards 26 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. twice beseiged and burned, while other towns were repeat edly raided upon, and some of them partially destroyed. The free-state men were not allowed to vote, but the polls were either broken up by armed Missourians, or such men did the voting. The Territorial Legislature was disturbed, and on one pretence and another its officers and members were arrested and imprisoned. And on one occasion when a delegate was to be elected to Congress, the Missourians poured over the borders and returned three thousand votes for their pro-slavery candidate when there were not half that number of voters in the whole territory. Successive Con stitutions for the organization of a State were voted upon, and submitted to Congress, but they were either so favor able to freedom, or the voting was so flagrantly fraudulent, that even pro-slavery Congress dared not impose them on the State without submitting them to the people again, where a Slave Constitution was sure to be rejected. The Lecompton Constitution, the worst of all, and the most fraudulent in its conception and pretended adoption was drawn up by a convention never authorized by the people, forbade free blacks to live in the^ State, allowed slavery, prohibited emancipation, conferred on slaveholders all the immunities of the worst slave codes, and declared these provisions of the Constitution inviolable, and that no change whatever should be made in it for a number of years. Then the question of slavery was not fairly submitted to the people, for they must vote for the Constitution with slavery and all these objectionable provisions, or else have no state organization. Nor was this all ; a bribe was offered of a large land grant made to depend upon the adoption of this particular Constitution. The people had already decided the question of slavery, by the most peaceful and undisputed election they ever held, and the free-state men, by a majority of two to one, had carried both houses of the Legislature in favor of freedom, yet this victory was WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 27 snatched from them by fraudulent returns. From a single precinct of only eleven houses a return was sent in, and accepted, with the names of 1,624 persons, copied in alpha betical order from the Cincinnati directory. One of the facetious and truthful representations of that election was the affidavit of Horace Greeley, denying with all the for mality and solemnity of such an instrument, that he ever voted at Kickapoo, where his name was found recorded by the side of James Buchanan, William H. Seward and others. And yet in spite of this remonstrance on the part of the people, and such fraudulent returns of their voting, and so many objectionable provisions in the Constitution itself, it was transmitted to Congress, accompanied by a message from President Buchanan recommending the prompt admis sion of the State. The Lecompton Bill passed the Senate, but it could not pass the House without modifications, and without having the Constitution submitted once more to the people, where it was rejected, land grant and all, by a majority of more than ten thousand. " The whole contriv ance," as Mr. Blaine has characterized it," was fraudulent, wicked, and in retrospect incredible. It is not possible, without using language that would seem immoderate, to describe the enormity of the whole transaction. That Con stitution no more represented the will or the wishes of the people of Kansas, than the people of Ohio or Vermont." But this action of Congress divided and broke down the Democratic party. It united the North in opposition to slavery as nothing else could have done. It organized the Republican party, and drew all the elements of opposition to the extension of slavery into that party. " This effort to make Kansas a slave state resulted in not only making it free, but the most tenacious Republican state in the Union." It secured the election of Mr. Lincoln as the next President. Thus the iinal struggle of slavery for the control of the 28 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. government and the extension of its system brought its own undoing. The free states at last stood together in opposi tion to the extension of slavery in defiance of every compro mise and arrangement to save the institution. They ap pealed to the nation, resorted to the polls, elected a different President, and changed the administration of the government. This ought to have settled the matter, and secured a change of national policy, as it always had done. But these were differences as fundamental, as essen tially opposed to each other, as light and darkness, truth and falsehood, right and wrong, where no adjustments and compromises can be permanent, since " nothing is settled until it is settled right." Here is where Mr. Seward s " irrepressible conflict " was taking place, and what Mr. Lincoln styled " a house divided against itself," which could not stand. These were the convictions which such men were so much censured for uttering, as if they wanted to bring about the catastrophe they were only anxious to avert. But they knew what the result of such differences had been and foresaw what they must be until, as Mr. Lincoln ex plained himself, " The nation must become all one thing t 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 until it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as South." It is easy to say that such a violent settlement of the matter might have been avoided, which is true if the slave states would have adhered honestly to their original con tract with the free states, and let freedom fairly gain the ascendency as it was doing, and bless the slave states as it had their neighbors. Or it might have been accomplished if the slaves had all been purchased and emancipated by the General Government, as Mr. Lincoln attempted to buy WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 29 off the border slave states from the Confederacy. What if it had cost th* four hundred millions at which they were valued, or even twice that sum ; how cheap compared with the mere money cost of the war. But this was not to be, and without doubt the means resorted to were the only ones that could effectually prevent all new disputes and com promises, and after punishing us sufficiently for our conniv ance with such a system of oppression and degradation, assuredly prevent all desire from any quarter to have the system back again. Certain it is that it brought into striking and humiliating contrast our claim to be a free and independent Republic, where all are entitled to " life, liberty and pursuit of happiness," as compared with an actual enslavement of so many millions capable like our selves of intellectual and moral ennoblement, but scarcely allowed any one of these " inalienable rights." Besides such " times of ignorance as God winked at," when it was deemed right to sell into slavery, and even put to death every captive taken in war, and when only two centuries before Christian England did not scruple to carry on the African Slave Trade : these times had passed away, and God was " commanding all men everywhere to repent." And in the light of a purer Christianity, and a higher civi lization, and a greater regard for human rights, our con sciences were more sensitive to such a crime, and we could not fail to hear ringing in our ears as the voice of God " Let my people go." The question at issue had ceased to be merely a political one; it was fearfully moral, as we were compelled to feel when we were all so scourged for our con nection with it. This religious conviction and moral senti ment were the reliance of the free states when the crisis came, and this moral sentiment buoyed us up when the struggle was severest and the times darkest. It was such principles that, overlooking the interests of trade, the con sideration of friendship, party connections, and all else as 30 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. compared with the claims of duty, justice, humanity, Chris tianity, neither fainted nor faultered till the work was accomplished. Such was the state of things, and such the appeal made to the country by the end of the first year of President Buchanan s administration ; so that the next three years 1858-59-60 were the period of deepest interest, greatest excitement, most earnest discussion, and determined energy in public affairs, that the country ever witnessed. These were the years which immediately preceded Mr. Lincoln s election, and which were to be followed so soon by the breaking out of our Civil War. CHAPTER II. MR. BUCKINGHAM S ELECTION IN 1858. Financial and Social Troubles of the Time Events of the Next Two Years, Leading to the Election of Mr. Lincoln and the Outbreak of the War Governor Buckingham s Messages During the Period and His Recognition of the Real Situation. In the spring of 1858, the political outlook of the coun try was most threatening and its financial affairs seemed in the worst possible condition. The currency was in a very bad state. Instead of our present banking system, for which we are indebted to President Lincoln s admin istration, and particularly to Mr. Chase, his Secretary of the Treasury, every State had its own system of banking. The bills of one State might not pass current elsewhere, or if they did it might be at a discount, in stead of being as they now are current and of their face value everywhere. Then there had been a suspension of specie payment throughout the country. There was great business embarrassment everywhere, and the fail ure of the Life & Trust Company of New York city, the largest institution of the kind in the country, caused a panic which brought on the worst financial crisis we have ever passed through, unless it was the one in 1837. A convention of banking and business men had been called in Connecticut, of which Mr. Buckingham was a member, where it is said his knowledge of such sub jects so favorably impressed that body, as to make his nomination most acceptable to the business interests of the State. That it might well have done so, is evident from the attention he gave to those matters when he 32 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. became Governor. His first message to the Legislature de voted a considerable space to considerations and recommen dations upon the subject of banking and the currency, though the improvements soon made in the national banking sys tem must have removed the necessity for State action upon most of them. The threatening aspect of public affairs also called for a wise and reliable man at the head of the State, even if he was not an experienced statesman, and certainly demanded something more than any mere politician, how ever able. Then one was needed who, in the breaking up and readjustment of parties, should claim the respect and confidence of all parties, and around whom, in case the determination to nationalize slavery should continue and lead to civil war, all patriots and lovers of liberty could rally, as they so nobly did. The Springfield Republican, then as now an independent and able paper, and watching from an adjoining State the course of things in Connecticut, thus puts the matter at the opening of the year, and com mends the nomination made for governor : "Such a money panic was never witnessed before, and has not stopped in this country, but has swept over Europe uproDting all our theories and affecting all monetary systems alike, coming and going like a scourge sent for a purpose from heaven. There is no comfort in the contemplation of the serious changes of the last year, save in the belief of an overwhelming providence, and faith in the world s progress. "Mr. William A. Buckingham, who is nominated for governor by the Republicans, is a leading, liberal citizen, and wealthy manufac turer of Norwich. He has intelligence, integrity, and practical ability, which is creditable to the party to have recognized in his nomination, and his election will be an honor to the State. The proportion of such men in our politics is only too small. Mr. Buckingham was a Whig, and passed from that organization, upon its death, to the Republicans without turning aside from the straight path to dally with American ism." (January 15, 1858.) He was elected Governor by a fair majority where parties were so evenly divided. His majority at this first election was 2,449, and his plurality 2,753, a larger plurality and WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 33 majority than had been concentrated upon one candidate in opposition to the Democratic party since 1849. The Legislature also by this election became largely Republican in both branches. His inauguration took place at New Haven. The State then had two capitals, one at New Haven and the other at Hartford, growing out of the fact that the State was made up of the two original colonies of New Haven arid Connecticut. The election of State officers and members of the Legislature took place in April, and the Governor was inaugurated the first Wednesday in May. Occurring at this pleasant season of the year, the occasion became a State holiday, and the capitals vied with each other in making the pageant beautiful and imposing. Each city had its company of the Governor s Horse Guard and Foot Guard, dating back in their organization to colonial times, the First (Hartford) Company of the Foot Guards wearing the English Grenadier uniform of that period. More or less volunteer companies and State troops took part in the parade, and during the war, when regiments were being organized and sent into the field, and when some of them were returning, these were used to increase the display, so that no native of the State, who ever witnessed one of those parades, can fail to remember it pleasantly and with a thrill of patriotism. The Governor on horse back, in his citizen s suit of black, and distinguished by this- and the simple rosette upon his hat, amid his well-mounted and brilliant military staff ; the General also of the State troops with his own brilliant staff ; the civil authorities and guests of the occasion in carriages ; the long procession in motion with glittering arms and nodding plumes and in spiring music ; the streets lined with people ; the dooryards r steps, windows and every available place for observation, flut tering with flags and handkerchiefs, and the procession cheering as it passed, and all amid ringing bells and booming cannon ; was a scene never to be forgotten by any Connec- 34 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. ticut born man or woman. However far he might move away and settle, the mere mention of u Election Day " in Connecticut, would light up his face and warm his heart toward the State that bore him, and encourage him to help build up a " New Connecticut" elsewhere, whether on the shores of Lake Erie, or still further west. For with years and reflection, that " Election Day " would mean more than a mere gala day. It would represent the result of a popu lar election of the highest officers and legislators of the State, and the ready acquiescence of both parties and all parties in it. It would represent the military power as sub ordinate to the civil, and in the person of that citizen Governor, see soldiery recognizing in him their command- er-in-chief, and never dreaming of aught but obedience. And it would represent also a state of society, and of pub lic sentiment, where the people govern themselves, and look after all the great interests of the community, as well as stand ready to put down insurrection or sedition, and defend the general government in time of foreign or civil war. After the parade was over, and the Legislature was organized, the two bodies met in convention to receive the Governor s Message. This message we give in part, as showing what he regarded as the great interests of the State, and also his attitude in regard to the great question which was then agitating the country, and was so soon to involve us in all the horrors of civil war. MR. PRESIDENT: MR. SPEAKER AND GENTLEMEN OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY: The Constitution of our State and the suffrages of our fellow citizens, have made it my duty to inform you of " the state of our Government, and to recommend to your consideration such measures as I shall deem expedient." This duty I shall now attempt toper- form with proper brevity. Legislation should be such as will tend to check crime; bring to speedy justice the violators of law; preserve the purity of the WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 35 ballot-box; place in a desirable position public institutions; lead citizens to feel a stronger attachment to the National Union; give the greatest liberty under the restraints of law; and lead to the enactments of such statutes only as are based upon the Divine Law. Such legislation for our State will lead us to respect ourselves, entitle us to the esteem of the good, and give us an influence such as a people under our institutions and laws ought to exert. After showing the condition of " public finances," recom mending that they be controlled by the principles of " rigid economy, without parsimony," he treats of the common schools and the school fund ; the State Normal school and the State Reform school ; the condition and maintenance of the militia system ; the provision that should be made for the idiotic, the insane, the blind, and the deaf and dumb. He next makes recommendations in regard to joint stock companies and railroad companies ; and then, as has been said, considers quite at length the condition of the banks and their currency, and proposes a number of specific enact ments which he deems necessary for the safety of these institutions and the security of the public. Then coining to national affairs, and the critical position in which the country stands, he takes his own stand, and where he would rally the State around him, as follows : The question of slavery extension still agitates the mind and dis turbs the peace of the nation, threatens the rights of the States and the best interests of the Union. This agitation has been renewed with every effort to extend the institution into the territories, or to shield it there under the constitution of our confederacy. The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the effort to bring the people of Kansas under the government of a constitution which they have never approved, I regard as the immediate cause of the present agitation. The chief executive officer of our national government has declared that : slavery existed in Kansas at the time of the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, under the Constitution of the United States, and that Kansas is at this moment as much a slave state as Georgia or South Carolina. Take these declarations in connection with the use which the administration has made of the array of the United WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. States; with the disregard of the pledges of popular sovereignty, and to submit the question of slavery to the decision of the people of Kansas without any restriction or qualification, and in connection with the efforts which the administration has made to have that ter ritory admitted into the Union as a State under the Lecompton Con stitution, and we are not surprised that the minds of our citizens are filled with apprehension for the future peace and welfare of the nation. If the course which the administration has pursued on these subjects shall be regarded as a precedent for the future, it may cause questions to arise between the States and the national government, which will still more seriously disturb our tranquillity; questions having reference to the rights of the States and the powers of the government. We look in vain to find a clause in the Constitution recognizing slavery in the territories. It exists in the States because it is the creature of local laws. If we go back to the formation of the general government, we find that the convention that framed the Constitution, and Congress, were in session at the same time. Questions which related to slavery perplexed and retarded the action of both bodies. But they acted in concert, and it was well understood that the pro vision in the Constitution for delivering up on claim persons held to service in one State and escaping into another, was made for the pur pose of satisfying those States which were not then in favor of taking measures to abolish slavery, and that in consideration of such pro visions they conceded to the government the right to prohibit slavery in the common territories. At the very time the ordinance of 1787 was. adopted by Congress, prohibiting involuntary servitude except for crime, in all the territories which belonged to the general govern ment. This was regarded by all as a solemn compact which was to remain forever inviolable. For sixty years after that time the legisla tion of Congress recognized the existence of full constitutional powers to prohibit this institution in the territories. The doctrine that power to prohibit slavery carries with it the power to establish it, is of recent date, and in conflict with the views of those who partic ipated in the formation of the Federal government. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and the effort made to establish slavery north of that line, in a territory which had been devoted to freedom, has opened the question of extending freedom south of that line, in a territory which had been devoted to slavery. The struggle now is to determine whether the Constitution which was ordained to establish liberty shall be perverted to establish slavery. The agitation which this subject has caused is deeply to be regretted ; but I do not believe it will cease until we shall " allow the States to regulate their own domestic institutions in their own way," cease to WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 37 use our federal powers to establish and extend the system of human bondage; return to and be governed by the principles upon which the government was founded. Then, and not till then, will the American people cease to agitate this subject, and peace be restored to our whole country. I have endeavored to present these subjects without party prejudice. Parties rise and fall, and are forgotten, but principles involving our business and our civil liberty, rest not upon the changing foundation of political party. They are as enduring as eternal right. If the government of our State shall be administered upon these principles, it will secure the temporal prosperity of our people and lead them to appreciate more highly our common Christianity as the medium of our blessings and the foundation of our hopes. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. JVeio Haven, May 5, 1858. Governor Buckingham was re-elected in 1859. The ad ministration of his office had made the people better acquainted with him, and seems to have increased their respect and confidence in him, so that when the State con vention came together in January, he was readily renomi- nated and in April elected. As showing the state of polit ical parties, and where the strength of the Governor lay, the Springfield Republican says of the last State election : " The cities and large towns of Connecticut are generally against the Republicans, except Norwich and New London. Hartford and New Haven are both Democratic, so are Middletown and Water- bury. New London and Windham counties constitute the Eepublican strongholds, and can give one thousand Republican majority. Litch- lield county, eminently the agricultural region, with hills and iron -ore, and the birthplace of the Beechers, comes next with five hundred Republican majority. The nominal Republican supremacy in the government is not so great as heretofore, but it never was held so firmly, with greater moral and intellectual strength than now. The severity and closeness of the struggle in the recent election, and the very intestine troubles which accompanied it, have consolidated the party, and confirmed its power beyond all ordinary dispute here after. Mischievous elements, both of individuals and of factions, have been crushed out, and with new and abler representative men, and broader and more popular principles, it has placed itself on a vantage ground that it never before occupied. 38 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. The Governor s message this year shows his attitude and that of the State toward the great issue then before the country: The President, in his late message to Congress, urges the purchase or, if necessary, the conquest of Cuba with a zeal worthy of an object as high and as noble as the abolition of the slave trade, and the civili zation and Christianization of benighted Africa. He argues that the geographical position of that island is such, that so long as it remains in possession of a foreign power, our commerce will be exposed to per petual injury and annoyance in time of peace, and to destruction in war; and he asks that an appropriation of money be made, and power placed in his hands to negotiate for its purchase. The President also asks for authority to employ, at his discretion, the land and naval forces of the United States for the protection of American citizens in traveling through foreign countries, and sustains his application by examples drawn from the executive departments of France and other imperial governments possessing the war-making power. Kindred in character to the foregoing, is the recommenda tion of the President that the government assume a protectorate and establish military posts within the limits of a weak but independent nation. These views carried out would place our army and navy under the orders of the President, in all parts of the world; and yielding to others the same rights we claim for ourselves, would open our country to the armies of every other nation. The conclusion which the mind would naturally and rapidly reach from this view of the subject is, whenever we judge any country or colony, either now or prospectively, endangers our commerce, we may negotiate for its purchase, and if unsuccessful, be justified in taking possession by force, in accordance with the despotic maxim that " might makes right/ This struggle for the concentration of power in the President, or the central power, is seriously agitating the minds of the American people. They believe that it is to have, and is intended to have, a controlling influence in the all-absorbing question of slavery. On the one hand they are advocating and on the other opposing it, with a zeal and energy which show how deep is the interest they feel in the iinal issue. The citizens of Connecticut regard slavery as a system that para lyzes industry, dries up the sources of prosperity, obstructs the wheels of progress in the cause of education, civilization and Chris tianity, and conflicts irreconcilably with the principles of human liberty.. They regard it as the creature of local laws, having no rightful existence beyond State boundaries; and while they will WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 9 counteract no interference with it, as it exists within the limits of our sister States, they will never acquiesce in its extension by the general government, without entering their solemn protest against the exercise of powers so maintained by the Constitution, and so hazardous to the tranquility of the Union. Here is clearly and temperately stated the great question at issue between the free States and the slave States, and the position assumed by one of the former, just as the country was about to be plunged into all the perplexities of disunion, and the horrors of a fearful war. Whatever dif ferences of opinion there were about the right position then there are none now. And all honor to the State that could so early comprehend the real issues of that controversy, and so nobly stood by the principles of freedom and righteous ness to the end ! These last two years of 1858 and 1859 had been years of intense interest and earnest discussion throughout the country. Ever since the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in 1854, and the Dred-Scott Decision which justified it in 1857, and the attempt of President Buchanan s administra tion, as soon as he was inaugurated, to bring Kansas into the Union under the Lecompton Constitution, the subject of slavery had become the great question at issue, and there could have been none other of such fundamental and per manent importance. So when early in the year 1858, the President sent in his message to Congress, treating the population of Kansas (for voting against slavery) as in rebellion against lawful authority, and recognizing the invaders from Missouri as rightfully entitled to impose a slave-holding constitution upon a neighboring territory ; when he declared that by the Dred-Scott Decision, " slavery exists in Kansas by virtue of the Constitution of the United States, and it is at this moment as much a slave State as Georgia or South Carolina ;" and when he and his admin istration undertook to justify such a stupendous fraud, and 40 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. reverse the whole historic policy of the government upon this subject and rob the Constitution of its two noblest characteristics, equal rights and self-government; was it any wonder that the political canvass began early, and was carried on vigorously with reference to the next presi dential election, or that it did not cease until the matter was settled, so far as it could be settled by the popular vote of the nation? To be sure the South threatened secession and armed rebellion if they were not allowed to carry out their pro-slavery policy. But few believed that they would ever resort to such violent measures, when the question at issue was once settled by a national election, as every other great issue had been peacefully settled in this way, and so both sections of the country and all parties set about earnestly and anxiously preparing for the coming presi dential election. This was to be the national election of 1860, when Mr. Lincoln came into office and such important results followed. These two preceding years were not only a period of intense excitement and earnest debate everywhere, but of changes of position on the part of public men, the breaking up and readjustment of parties, and threats of unheard-of measures to be resorted to if one party was defeated at the polls. The Whig party had come to be regarded as too yielding to the South in supporting all the compromise measures of the last decade, and especially in acquiescing in the Fugitive Slave Law, and this party was broken up to be combined with the Free Soil, American, and all anti- slavery elements, into the Republican party. The Demo cratic party, then in power, had no sooner elected Mr. Buchanan by the aid of the South, than they found that they could not carry out the measures which the South demanded of them. The North would not acquiesce in the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, nor accept the Dred- Scott Decision, nor carry out the Fugitive Slave Law, WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 41 nor allow that slavery might be carried into the free States, or imposed upon the territories against the wishes of the inhabitants. This the President soon found to his cost, for he could not control Congress, though it was Democratic in both branches. It would not impose the Lecompton Constitution upon Kansas without submitting it to the people ; neither would it favor his Cuban scheme of annexation, or allow him to make war upon the Central American States, or put the control of the army into his hands, or make appropriations for any such purpose. Indeed, the President had scarcely finished half his term of office before his administration had completely broken down. The House of Representatives had become Repub lican. Senator Douglas, the ablest man of his party, and the most prominent Democratic candidate for the next presidency, was opposing his policy. General Cass, his Secretary of State, who acquiesced at first in the measures he proposed, finally resigned his place in the cabinet. Attorney General Black, who sanctioned, if he did not draw up some of the President s most objectionable mes sages, found at last that he must retire from the cabinet. Then came the State elections which were to sanction or condemn Mr. Buchanan s pro-slavery policy, and of the great States which had helped to elect him, New York and Pennsylvania gave their majorities against him, until every Northern State, save one, had withdrawn from him its sup port. And when at last this "Old Public Functionary," as he styles himself in his final message, finds that in trying to obey that Dred-Scott Decision and serve the party that elected him, he has broken up his party and encountered the reprobation of all lovers of freedom, whether at the North or in the South, and discovers that he has only been the tool of the South in cutting away the very foundations of the Union, which he really desired to preserve, and was making so many concessions to preserve, he becomes one 42 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. of the most pathetic figures in political history. Had he been a wiser and stronger man he might still have retrieved his reputation. He might even at that late hour have made such a change in policy as, firmly carried out, would have placed him in the list of great Presidents. But he was not of such material. Thus the year 1859 closed, to be followed by the ever- memorable presidential canvass of 1860. CHAPTER III. THE NOMINATION OP MR. LINCOLN. The Election in Connecticut in the Spring of 1860 Its Importance to the Nation The Frauds by which Democratic Politicians Sought to Carry the State Governor Buckingham s Re-election Lin coln s Campaign His Acquaintance with Governor Buckingham and Its Effect The Presidential Election of 1860. The year 1859 closed with important political changes, with a startling and most disturbing occurrence in Virginia, and with such bitter discussion and threats of secession in Congress as might well have alarmed all sober-minded people at the South, as well as at the North. The administration had lost its control of the country. The few State elections that took place in the spring of 1859, as in New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, were in favor of the Republican candidates, though New Hampshire had always been a reliably Democratic State, and Connecticut was just as likely to vote the one way as the other. But when the other State elections came, which were generally in the autumn, Massachusetts was Republican by 23,000 plurality, and the State of New York by 25,000, and Pennsylvania, for the first time, by over 26,000. It began to look as if the coming presidential election might be carried by the Republicans, and the administration of the general government in regard to the subject of slavery be completely revolutionized. Thus the Norwich Bulletin says in the autumn of 1859: "The first session of the next Congress, which will commence on the first Monday of December, will make the next President of the United States, and will doubtless unmake several presidential 44 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. aspirants. Mr. Buchanan was barely elected in 1856, and since his election his administration has been constantly weakening the party that elected him. The results of the congressional elections in the several States during the past year, point unmistakably to a Republican administra tion in 1860, and were the presidential election to come off next November, instead of a year hence, no Democratic candidate could carry a single Northern State." And the Springfield Republican says : " When the Whig and Demo cratic parties divided the country, at occasional intervals a Democratic State was carrried by the Whigs on the strength of some local question, or by the force of some great excitement. But the succeeding election was pretty sure to restore to the Democrats their ascendency. The Republican party, starting out with a fixed idea and a con sistent national policy, has relied upon the progress of individual conviction, and has made steady gains of town after town, county after county, State after State, until its ascendency is established in nearly all the free States. Thus it has conquered one Democratic State after another, and what it takes it holds. New Hampshire and Maine are now as fixedly Republican as they once were Democratic." Such was the political aspect of the times when Congress came together at the close of the year 1859. The adminis tration had lost control of the House of Representatives, many of whom had just been elected, though the Senate was still Democratic, since its members were elected for a longer term of service. The House could not elect a speaker, and it was two months before they had succeeded and were organized. The President had waited three weeks for this before sending in his message, though the country was impatient to learn what he was to recommend in that critical state of affairs. When it was published, he was found to have in no respect modified his pro-slavery policy, but to be more completely under the control of the Southern members WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 45 of his cabinet than ever. He still asked that more of the war-making power which belongs to Congress, and partic ularly the Senate, be put into his hands, to be used with reference to Mexico and the Spanish American States. He recommended the organization of a military force on pur pose to interfere with Mexican politics, and place the Juarez party in power, and seize such portions of territory as we may consider proper indemnity for our old claims, and as furnishing security for the future. Then began in Congress those long and bitter and trea sonable debates, which were enough to inflame any people into madness, especially after all that had gone before. John Brown s raid and execution had just taken place, and one of the first things done in the House, when Con gress came together, was to raise a committee of inquiry into that matter, with the expectation of implicating in it some of the Republican leaders, who seemed to have been just as much surprised by it as others. Then Helper s book, "The Impending Crisis," a vigorous arraignment of the system of slavery, especially in its social and economic bearing, which had been recommended by some of our public men and considerably circulated in some of the border slave States, was used with terrible earnestness to blast the prospects of certain politicians at the North. In the Senate, too, Jefferson Davis had introduced the ulti matum of the South : The rebuke of all slavery agitators, the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law and repeal of the personal liberty laws, and the recognition of property in slaves as an indefeasible right of territorial settlers, and entitled to congressional protection ; which was made the text of all manner of provoking debate and treasonable talk. It seems incredible now, that men in other respects dignified and honorable ; honorable and dignified enough to represent the States in the Congress of the nation, and to be entrusted with the declaration of war and peace, and 46 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. the maintenance of the Union, should have so trifled with such interests and courted ruin. Hear such language as this from Mr. Singleton of Mississippi, in the House: " We will have expansion of slavery in the Union, or outside of it if we must. I say the sooner we get out of the Union the better, for the longer we stay in it the worse for us. The South have made up their minds to sustain slavery. We don t intend to be prescribed by present limits, and it will not be in the power of the North to coerce the 3,000,000 of freemen at the South with arms in their hands, and prevent their going into the surrounding territories. Gentlemen must remember that gallant son of the South, Jefferson Davis, led our forces in Mexico and that, thank God, he still lives, perhaps to lead a Southern army." And Mr. Davis himself, in the Senate, whatever gallantry he may have shown in the field, had no more courtesy nor dis cretion than to use such language as this toward a fellow senator : " To say that the labor of the two sections is con flicting and irreconcilable, is a declaration of war, and hence the South is alarmed and must look to her defence. Seward is a traitor, and deserves the gallows. Virginia has hung John Brown, and if they get hold of Seward they will hang him." Another presidential election was at hand. Mr. Buchanan had no prospect of a re-election. The questions at issue were well understood. The discussions over the Fugitive Slave Law, the Dred-Scott Decision, and the admission of Kansas as a slave State, had enlightened the nation. It was plain that the South would never be satisfied with anything short of the establishment of slavery everywhere and its protection and encouragement by the general government. It was evident, also, that if this was not done, some of the Southern States were preparing to secede from the Union, and no concessions or compromises could prevent it. The party conventions to nominate candidates for the presidency WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 47 were about to be held, the Democratic convention afe Charleston, S. C., and when divided, a second one at Balti more, Md. ; and still later the Republican convention which nominated Mr. Lincoln at Chicago, 111. In such a state of general interest and intense anxiety throughout the country, the election of a single State, though no larger than Con necticut, attracted unusual attention. Then this State, as has been said, had been just about as likely to be Demo cratic as Republican, and her election would be a good index of the drift of political opinion at the North. Besides, this was one of the few States whose election came in the spring, while the others did not take place until the autumn. Under such circumstances the political canvass of 1860 became the most vigorous the State ever knew. The Repub lican convention which renominated Governor Bucking ham was held at Hartford in January. The Democratic convention which nominated Thomas H. Seymour was also held at Hartford in February. Mr. Seymour was an agree able and popular citizen of Hartford, an upright and honor able man, much esteemed by his neighbors and friends. He was an officer in the New England regiment of volunteers in the Mexican war, and in command of it took a distin guished part in the capture of Mexico. He was four times elected governor of the State. He was for six years our Minister to Russia, appointed by President Pierce. When he returned, as the secession movement was coming on, "his sympathies were largely with the South, and he con tinued his opposition to the war until its close, as the leader of the Connecticut peace Democrats." And as four years before, Mr. Buchanan had just returned from his ministry at the Court of St. James, and had been found to be a more desirable candidate for the presidency, because he had not been at home to take any public position upon the questions raised during his absence, so Mr. Seymour was deemed in the present critical state of politics, a peculiarly desirable 48 WJLLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. candidate for the chief magistracy of Connecticut, if not to> succeed Mr. Buchanan as President. Then began the struggle for this seemingly small prize. With a population of less than half a million, how little her vote would weigh numerically against such States as New York, or Penn sylvania, or some of the larger Western States ! Little to- be sure, except as indicative of the purpose of the North to consent neither to the extension of slavery nor to secession from the Union, and to be an example to the other States. But small as the prize might seem, it was deemed valuable enough for other States not only to watch the result, but also to take a pretty vigorous hand in the game. As showing that this was not an overestimate of the importance of that coming election, we refer to an article that appeared in the Springfield Republican (March 26th) T a few days before, and is characteristic of Mr. Bowles, its sagacious editor : "The Connecticut election next Monday is only a presidential election in miniature. Such a fierce struggle was never known there before. The Democrats of the country feel that upon their success in Connecticut depends their chance of making a successful contest for the presidency. If they cannot make a break anywhere in the reaf firmed front of Republican free States before the great campaign opens, they will start under an oppressive sense of weakness and apprehension of defeat, scattering doubt and dismay through all their ranks. Connecticut is chosen as the weakest point for a demonstration that will restore their prestige of power and victory. The little com monwealth is therefore beleaguered and beset in all its borders with Democratic workers, Democratic orators, and Democratic money. Their purpose, as well as their hope, was expressed by Fernando Wood, who has entered actively into the canvass, when he said that if money could buy Connecticut he would purchase the whole of it. Not only here as well as everywhere, have the office-holders been made to contribute to the fund wherewith the voice of Connecticut is to be purchased and perverted, but the pro-slavery merchants of New York have come down with $100 and $500 subscriptions. No less than $5,000 has been raised in Massachusetts, and was taken to Connecticut last week for the purchase of votes for the Democratic ticket. Never WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 49 was weakness more tempted, never strength more tried. The Repub licans are meeting the onslaught with courage, firmness and work. They probahly have not got so much money, but they have the real majority of the votes, and the real strength of the argument. They are fighting the great fight of 1860, and apparently fighting it well. It is like the two commanders of hostile armies stepping out to decide the war in a single combat. The whole country looks on with in terest and anxiety. The little State rocks with the excitement of the contest, and for a week the thought and action of the people will be centered in the election. Bribery, corruption, and fraud will do their worst to prevent ballots, which properly cast and counted would show not less than 3,000 Republican majority, but we have faith that these desperate instruments cannot do their appointed work." Mr. Lincoln, who was hardly thought of then as a can didate for the presidency, was introduced into Connecticut and made half a dozen campaign speeches during the month that preceded their State election. He was the guest of Governor Buckingham, by whom he was introduced to his audiences, and here began that personal acquaintance which afterwards secured to the Governor so much of the Presi dent s confidence and allowed the Governor to make his suggestions, and gain for them such consideration. Nor was the Democratic party without its representatives and able speakers in that State campaign. Such men as Caleb Cushing of Massachusetts, Mr. Prescott of Missouri, and Fernando Wood of New York, represented their own party from abroad, while the Republicans had General Wilson, Thomas Corwin, and Cassius M. Clay, to say nothing of the domestic speakers on both sides, some of whom visited every town and village, not to speak of the large gather ings at the great centers, until every part of the State was reached, and every night occupied with able discussions of the great issues of the canvass. Nor were the ordinary modes of political organization, or means of creating pop ular enthusiasm during an election, neglected. At Hart ford each party had its own " wigwam " or " camp " of rough timber and boards, which would hold three thousand 60 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. people. Each also had its own organization of " clubs " throughout the State; "the Seymour clubs," and the "Wide Awakes. This last was only started as a torch light company, made up of young men who volunteered to do escort duty, and with their glazed caps and capes that showed well under torchlight, they became a striking feature in all the gatherings. We remember to have wit nessed the display the night the two carnps were dedicated at Hartford, where we heard all the above speakers discuss the questions of the hour, and we cannot recall their fervid eloquence or great arguments, so distinctly or with such thrilling recollections as those two enthusiastic processions winding up over and around the park, one of which carried by actual count 1,960 torches. Some of the young captains of these Wide Awakes, like Colonel Bissell, afterwards made good commanders in the army. He in particular possessed such power of command and ability to inspire enthusiasm, that it was said of him that when he was unable to attend a political gathering with his Wide Awakes, it was deemed sufficient if he only sent along his "white hat." It was under such circumstances, and in such a state of public sentiment that the Connecticut State election took place April 2, 1860. Here is the view taken by a journal outside of the State, but near it and well informed as to the situation. On the day before the election it said: "The great contest in Connecticut to-day is awaited with interest and anxiety all over the country." The next day, in announcing the result, it said : There is no drawback in the Republican victory in Connecticut. It is complete, decisive, and the Union stands. On the matter of slavery extension, and the perpetuation of the reign of the slave power in national affairs, New England is a unit. Money was poured into the State for the purpose of buying voters, and every gain that the Demo crats have made has been made with money. They have bought up the foreign population of the large towns. But they have made no WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 51 converts, thank God, among Americans, who know their rights and their wrongs, and who have been educated to liberty and liberal ideas. There is not money enough in the hands of the Democratic party to buy Connecticut. That State is Republican to-day simply because it is a State in which education, intelligence and Christian morality have the ascendency over ignorance, vice, and political cor ruption. It is doubtful whether in any previous election in New England, the tactics of such political scoundrels as Fernando Wood have been so shamelessly resorted to as in this. There are enough facts already patent to show that voters were imported like cattle, and were "put through" by the most wholesale perjury. This is- new business for Connecticut and for New England, and we trust that the Republican Legislature now elected will so alter the laws as hereafter to render such abuses impossible. The Republican victory in Connecticut on Monday last, is the eighth in succesion which her political records exhibit, but none of the seven previous so proved her faith, so tried her virtue, so fixed her political char acter as has this. Beset on every side but not cast down, Connecticut can no longer be regarded as a doubtful or fickle State in politics. [ Springfie Id Republican, April *~(th. The existence of such fraud in that election was of course denied, but the evidence in support of it, though not ab solutely direct, was sufficient to leave no reasonable doubt in the minds of intelligent observers. It is unnecessary to go into the question at length. The verdict has been pronounced, and is not likely to be reversed. We know, however, that the aggregate vote of Connecticut in that election was 88,395, or 9,599 larger than the year before, and 8,060 larger than in the presidential election of 1858. Governor Buckingham s plurality was only 541. Indeed, the election was so close that when the first returns came into New Haven, and that city and Hartford, and Middle- town and Bridgeport places so closely connected by steamboats with New York were found to have given Mr. Seymour their votes by good majorities, those who were prominent upon that ticket were called out and congrat ulated upon their election; and their modest acknowl edgments had only commenced, when " Buckingham !" " Buckingham !" came telegraphed over the lines from the 62 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. eastern part of the State, and from most of the smaller and inland towns, which entirely changed the result. And that name borne on the night air over the anxious crowd, and in at every listening window, was the one which for the next years of struggle and conflict was to rally the State to its heroic work, and is now breathed tenderly in so many of her homes. This re-election secured to the Republicans a good working majority in both branches of the Legislature, and secured the return of Lafayette S. Foster to the United States Senate, where he was President of the Senate when President Lincoln was assassinated, and where he must have succeeded him in that office, had the plans of the conspirators proved successful, and the Vice-President also been put out of the way. The Governor was inaugurated at New Haven, Wednes day, May 1860, with the usual parade and ceremonies. His message was a plain, business-like document, devoted to the affairs of the State, with the exception of the fol lowing reference to the great issues before the country, and the demands of the Southern States which the people of Connecticut repudiated : Entertaining these opinions, they feel called upon by the mag nitude of the interests already involved; interests which are aug mented year by year as this nation presses on toward maturity; to enter their solemn protest against the assumption and exercise of powers by the General Government for the protection of slavery in the common territories, or for perpetuating the system; and they feel justified in adopting all constitutional measures to prevent the extension of an institution which can only be sustained by the censor ship of the press, by interrupting the legal channels of intelligence, and by enacting laws which are in conflict with the natural rights of men, and in violation of those principles of eternal justice which are of universal application, and which read back of, and are anterior to, any human code. They are, and ever have been, devotedly attached to the Federal Union, but believe that loyalty to the General Govern ment cannot be maintained in any section of our country, unless the people can freely, fully, and fearlessly discuss the principles upon which it is founded, and on which it must be sustained. They will WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 53 vindicate themselves before the world, in embracing every offered opportunity to influence the administration of the Federal Govern ment so as to accomplish the mission which God designed this nation to fulfill, the establishment and extension of the blessings of freedom, civilization and Christianity. [Message of 1860. The Governor also called attention to some of the election laws under which so much fraud had been practiced, and recommended their repeal, which was immediately done. The law especially referred to was the one which allowed a voter in one town to vote on certificate in any other ; a law proper enough in itself but easily perverted, as it had been to such an extent, and with such peril to the State and to the nation. The existence of such fraud was dis puted, but when the charge was so publicly made and gen erally believed that these certificates were filled in with the names of dead or missing Democratic voters, and sent down to New York and put into the hands of men who were to take the boats Monday night, and deposit them unchal lenged the next day at the polls in Connecticut; when respectable papers estimated them at not less than 2,700, and congratulated the State that a considerable portion of these "sham Democratic voters" would be missing at the coming presidential election because they would be needed at home then ; and when the Legislature were so well con vinced of the fraud that they hastened to prevent the repetition of it ; there can be little doubt that such a fraud was practiced. And what if it had been successful ? Con necticut would have lost her vote and her proper repre sentative at home and in the next Congress. Her example would have been lost upon the nation, and her true position misrepresented in that great struggle to preserve the Union and check the encroachments of slavery. Her true place in history would have been falsified, and the stigma fixed upon a neighboring State of having wronged her thus, and wronged the nation, without being herself a slave State, or having the miserable motive to save an institution of her 54 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. own and the great pecuniary value of it. It was the same crime attempted against Kansas, whose fraudulent Lecomp- ton Constitution was to be accepted, because it had been ". duly certified " by the proper authorities, although repudi ated by the country, and which Congress dared not adopt, though the South demanded it, and the President recom mended it, and so many of the administrative party at the North favored it. Such a crime looks strangely now, whether accomplished or attempted, and will look still worse in the clearer light of history, and every one must be thankful that in neither case could it be effected. In the meantime the country was unconsciously prepar ing for the election of Mr. Lincoln. As yet he was little known to the country. He had often been a member of the Illinois Legislature, and in 1847-8 represented the State in Congress, in the House. This was during the Mexican war, and he showed himself opposed to the extension of slavery. Still his position was not extensively known, certainly not his abilities as afterwards developed. And it was not until ten years after, when the struggle over Kansas was going on, and Senator Douglas was a candidate for re-election, that Abraham Lincoln was declared to be "the first and only choice of the Republicans of Illinois for the United States Senate as the successor of Stephen A. Douglas." It was this canvass of 1858, and the speeches which he then made that brought him into general notice, and while his views represented well the general sentiment of the North on the slavery questions, he showed himself able to encounter successfully his opponent, the ablest political leader in the country for such was Senator Douglas. A graphic and justly discriminating characteri zation of the two men is given by Mr. Elaine : Mr. Douglas was everywhere known as a debater of singular skill. His mind was fertile in resources. He was master of logic. No man perceived more quickly than he the strength or the weakness of an WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 55 argument, and no one excelled him in the use of sophistry and fallacy. Where he could not elucidate a point to his own advantage, he would fatally becloud it for his opponent. In that peculiar style of debate which, in its intensity resembles a physical combat, he had no equal. He spoke with extraordinary readiness. There was no halting in his phrase. He used good English, terse, vigorous, pointed. He disregarded the adornments of rhetoric, rarely used a simile. He was utterly destitute of humor, and had slight appreciation of wit. He never cited historical precedents except from the domain of American politics. Inside of that field his knowledge was compre hensive, minute, critical. Beyond it his learning was limited. He was not a reader. His recreations were not in literature. In the whole range of his voluminous speaking it would be difficult to find either a line of poetry or a classical allusion. But he was by nature an orator, by long practice a debater. He could lead a crowd almost irresistibly to his own conclusions. He could, if he wished, incite a mob to desperate deeds. He was, in short, an able, audacious, almost unconquerable opponent in public debate. It would have been impossible to find any man of the same type able to meet him before the people of Illinois. Whoever attempted it would probably have been destroyed in the first encounter. But the man who was chosen to meet him, who challenged him to the combat, was radically dif ferent in every phase of character. Scarcely could two men be more unlike, in mental and moral constitution, than Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. Mr. Lincoln was calm and philosophical. He loved the truth for the truth s sake. He would not argue from a false premise, or be deceived himself or deceive others by a false con clusion. He had pondered deeply on the issues which aroused him to action. He had given anxious thought to the problems of free government, and to the destiny of the Republic. He had for himself marked out a path of duty, and he walked in it fearlessly. His mental processes were slower but more profound than those of Douglas. He did not seek to say merely the thing that was best for that day s debate, but the thing which would stand the test of time and square with eternal justice. He wished nothing to appear white unless it was white. His logic was severe and faultless. He did not resort to fallacy, and could detect it in his opponent, and expose it with merciless directness. He had an abounding sense of humor, and always employed it in illustration of his argument, never for the mere sake of provoking merriment. In this respect he had the wonderful aptness of Franklin. He often taught a great truth with the felicitous brevity of an ^Esop fable. His words did not flow in an impetuous torrent, as did those of Douglas, but they were always well chosen, deliberate, and conclusive. [" Twenty Years in Con gress," VoL I., p. 144. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. In the struggle over the Lecompton Constitution, the country had reached this point: the South was determined to impose slavery upon Kansas without her consent (since the people were opposed to it), and here was where the administration was unable to carry such a measure through Congress, while the North had such respect for the popular vote, and regarded it as so fundamental in our form of government, that they never would allow it to be over ridden, especially when it was to be done to perpetuate and extend slavery. Mr. Douglas s political course could never have been satisfactory to the South, had he not aided them in their great purpose. He was the author of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and approved of the i) red- Scott Decision, and the Fugitive Slave Laws, and so he might properly expect the support of the South in his aspirations after the presidency, for which his prospects were the fairest of any member of the Democratic party. But how about the North, and the party in his own State ? Would they indorse such positions, and especially force slavery upon a people that repudiated it ? At another time they might have suffered it, but not then, after the fierce dis cussions and dangerous measures resorted to, to accomplish such a purpose, for the last ten years. So while his public record made him popular at the South, it was going to em barrass him, if not defeat his re-election to the Senate, proud as his party at home were of his ability and ready to follow his leadership. So here he made much of his opposition to the Lecompton Constitution because it had been repu diated by the people. It was a brave and noble thing in him, in spite of his record, and in opposition to the Pres ident and almost the whole Democratic party in Congress, to take and maintain as he did such a distinctively Northern position. True, it removed him from the leadership of his party, and robbed him of the presidency, or at least of a favorable nomination for it and a probable election. The WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 57 President and his party in Congress turned bitterly against him, and when his claims were urged upon the Presidential Convention at Charleston, the convention was divided and broken up, and when it reassembled at Baltimore, his defeat was only made sure. But it was only this that secured his re-election to the Senate in 1858, from Illinois. He planted himself squarely upon "State Sovereignty," a happy phrase of his own coining, and which was popularly translated into " Squatter Sovereignty," or the sovereignty which the first settlers, or " squatters," acquire over the land they settle, and made such use of it as seemingly to meet all the demands of a liberty-loving people in respect to this fundamental and all-important popular right. But how was this to satisfy the South and their expectations from the next President, especially when he invented another phrase, " unfriendly legislation," as unfortunate for him at the South as the other had been fortunate at the North ? By this was meant that, while the people had the right to vote slavery out, or vote it into their State, they might still by police regulations and " unfriendly legisla tion" prevent its existence there, as some of the free States were doing by their Personal Liberty Bills, virtually defeating the Fugitive Slave Law. And if this could satisfy the liberty-loving North, what so fitted to awaken the sus picions and bitterest hostility of the slave-holding South as such jugglery, admitting what the law requires and then teaching how to break it. Thus, in those great debates between Mr. Douglas and Mr. Lincoln, so ably conducted and long continued over the whole State, the former found himself in a dangerous dilemma, of which the latter could not fail to avail himself. Indeed, Mr. Lincoln perceived at once the weak point in all his defenses, and resolved to press him there. So in the course of these debates, when they were allowed to ask each other questions and were required to answer them. Mr. 58 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Lincoln proposed four, three of them harmless enough, but the other interpolated among the rest, was this : " Can the people of a United States Territory, in any lawful way, against the wish of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from its own limits prior to the formation of a State Constitution ?" The meaning of it was : What right has a State to legislate slavery out, where by the Constitution and the repeal of the Missouri Compromise and the D red-Scott Decision, it has a right to go in? Mr. Douglas s answer was : " It matters not what way the Supreme Court may hereafter decide as to the abstract question, whether slavery may or may not go into a ter ritory under the Constitution ; the people have the lawful means to introduce or exclude it, as they please, for the reason that slavery cannot exist a day or an hour anywhere unless it is supported by local police regulations. Those police regulations can only be established by the local Legislature, or if the people are opposed to slavery, they will elect representatives to that body who will, by un friendly legislation, effectually prevent the introduction of it into their midst." Such a transparent sophism, that a thing " may be lawfully driven away from a place where it has a lawful right to go," his opponent did not fail to expose and hold up to popular ridicule, which, while it did not rob Douglas of the support of his party to whom he was an ideal leader, did blast his prospects for the presidency elsewhere. Indeed, Mr. Lincoln seems to have correctly forecast the results of that political canvass from the first, for he told his friends that his opponent must impale him self upon one horn or the other of that dilemma. If he says, " Yes," he loses his Southern support, and if he says, " No," he loses the support of the North. He said, "Yes," and carried his State and secured his senatorship, but he lost the country and the presidency, while Mr. Lincoln went home with neither a senatorship nor at this time any WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 59 prospect of the presidency. His position, however, was the right one, and he showed such ability and trustworthiness and moral earnestness this last the very quality in which Mr. Douglas was most deficient that he soon came to be appreciated, and when the time called for such a man he was put in nomination and triumphantly elected to the pres idency. As some one has justly characterized these men: " The difference in this respect between the two men is well illus trated in their discussions of the subject of slavery. The former never treats slavery as if it had anything right or wrong in it, any thing objectionable in it any more than freedom, and if the Constitu tion and the laws allowed its restriction or prohibition, he had no more objection to its being voted into a State or Territory than to its being voted out, if the people wanted it. He cared not whether it was voted up or voted down, as he said, while Mr. Lincoln made this the real issue, the eternal struggle between these two principles, right and wrong. As for Mr. Douglas, the position he had taken cost him the regular nomination. All the Southern elements of his party turned against him, and a section of his party at the North. The President and his cabinet bitterly resented his opposition to their favorite measure of forcing slavery upon Kansas without regard to the wishes of the people. So when he was returned to the Senate he found himself deposed from the chairmanship of the committee on ter ritories, the position which he had long held, and where he had framed and advocated some of the most objectionable measures of the administration in respect to slavery in Kansas. And when the Democratic National Convention assembled in April at Charleston, S. C., instead of finding his claims to the presidency generally admitted, as they might have been before his Illinois campaign, they were so strenuously and bitterly opposed, that the delegations from several of the Southern States withdrew and utterly refused to have anything to do with the nomination of such a can didate. Finally, after fifty-seven ballots, in which it was 60 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. impossible to secure Mr. Douglas s nomination, though he always led his competitors, the convention adjourned to re assemble in Baltimore in June. Here in a convention where eight of the Southern States were not represented^ he was nominated, and the ticket thus presented to the people read: Hon. Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, Pres ident, Hon. Herschell Y. Johnson of Georgia, Vice-President. This ticket represented that portion of the Democratic party who held that slavery was not to be imposed upon the people of any territory without their consent, though they accepted, with Air. Douglas, the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the Dred-Scott Decision, and the Fugitive Slave Law. The Seceders Convention, which met first at Richmond, the same month, and then adjourned to Baltimore, agreed upon this ticket : Hon. John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky,, President, and Gen. Joseph Lane of Oregon, Vice-President. They held that a slaveholder might take his slaves into any territory or free State, and that the government was bound to protect his right to such property there, in spite of the votes and laws of such a State or territory. When the Republican Convention came together at Chicago in May, Mr. Lincoln was not regarded as so likely to secure their nomination as some others, particularly Mr. Seward of New York. The latter was sure to carry his own State, with her great vote of seventy delegates, while his ability and public record were altogether in his favor, and on the first ballot he led all others. But upon the third ballot Mr. Lincoln was found to have received the requisite majority, which the New York delegation, through Mr. William M. Evarts, generously proposed to make unan imous, and this was done with great heartiness. Hon. Hannibal Hamlin was put upon the same ticket, so that it stood : Hon. Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, President, and Hon. Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, Vice-President. And WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 61 this represented slavery as a local and not a national institution, which Congress had no power to establish in any territory, without the consent of the inhabitants, or to legalize in any free State. The "Constitutional Union" party had also their ticket, which bore the names of Hon. John Bell of Tennessee for President, and Hon. Edward Everett for Vice-President. This was chiefly meant to be a conservative ticket, and pledged simply to uphold " the Constitution of the country, the union of the States, and the enforcement of the laws," without going into any particulars as to the application of the Constitution and the laws, to the questions that had -arisen in respect to slavery. On these various issues, and in this critical state of the -country, the several parties went into the presidential can vass. Never had there been such intense interest felt in uny presidential election before. Never had there been any such reason for it, when the success of one party was to revolutionize the principles of the government, so far as it recognized "all men as free and equal" before the law and possessed of "certain unalienable rights," and was to change entirely in this respect the future policy of the gov ernment, and when the success of another party threatened to break up the Union. It is needless to say that the struggle was a fierce one, engaging the ability, the principle, the passion of the whole land, and attracting the attention from other lands of those who wished well to our free government, or feared the influence of its success upon other forms of government. The result of this presidential election of November 6, 1860, was that Mr. Lincoln carried 17 of the 33 States, and received 180 out of the 303 electoral votes, and out of the popular vote of more than four million and a half (4,645,390), he had a plurality over Mr. Douglas of half a million (566,036). 62 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Here opens a new period in our history, more important, than any other, unless it was the framing of our Constitu tion and the organization of the government. And while that required such wisdom and regard for human rights, and fair adjustment of all conflicting interests, as will make it forever memorable in the framing of human institutions; this new period is to require different and more heroic qualities than even those, if, in the language of Mr. Lincoln, 44 this nation, under God, was to have a new birth of free dom, and that the government of the people, by the people, and for the people, should not perish from off the earth." CHAPTER IV. THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. Its Growth Traced from the Nullification Days Breaking Up of Mr. Buchanan s Cabinet His Own Partial Change of Opinion How and Why South Carolina Forced Secession Most of the Slave States Averse to It. Secession began thirty years before the outbreak of the war, when South Carolina undertook to nullify the revenue laws under the old tariff, and would have resorted to violence had it not have been for Mr. Webster in the Senate, and General Jackson in the presidency. The one carried the nation with him in his argument to prove the unconstitutionality of such a measure, or the safety of any such mode of redressing wrongs, and the other on some great occasion swore his solemn oath that " the Union must and shall be preserved." But no such man was at the head of the government now. Mr. Buchanan, after the election of Mr. Lincoln, and of the new members to Congress, had shown that the people had repudiated his pro-slavery schemes, still insisted upon their adoption. When Congress came together in December, 1860, he sent in that "mischievous and deplor able message," as it has been justly termed, which encour aged the South to push on their secession and war measures, until they were compelled to fight the government. Most likely they would have done it in any case, but it is to be regretted that they had such encouragement to think they could do it with impunity. In this message he attributed the threatened dissolution of the Union to the " violent and incessant agitation of the slavery questions throughout the 64 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. North for the last quarter of a century," apparently uncon scious of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the Fugitive Slave Law, and the attempt to force slavery upon Kansas, or that these measures were a sufficient cause for such agitation and discussion. He held that while the election of a President by one class of citizens, who is objec tionable to another class, "does not afford just cause for dissolving the Union," there may be such a cause, and refers as such a cause to "the palpable violations of con stitutional duty by different State legislatures to defeat the execution of the Fugitive Slave Law." He denies the right of secession, and makes a good argument against it, but neutralizes it all, and worse than neutralizes it, by telling the South that if they do secede the government has no right to use force to prevent it. " Congress possesses many means for preserving the Union by conciliation, but the sword was not placed in its hands to preserve it by force." He justifies revolution, though not secession, saying : " The right of resistance on the part of the governed against the oppression of their governments cannot be denied." So that the South had only to call their secession, revolution, as they virtually did, to justify it, and feel safe from any serious interference from an administration that conceived it had no right to use force to prevent it. The remedy pro posed by the President was an explanatory amendment of the Constitution, which there was no prospect of ever securing, so that this message brought no relief to the North, and only left the South to call their proposed seces sion a revolution, and prosecute it with vigor as long as this administration should last, knowing that they were to expect no serious hindrance from this quarter, whatever might be feared from the incoming administration. This position, however, could not long be maintained. Indeed, Mr. Buchanan s message indicated the division in his own cabinet, where the Secessionists had carried their WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 65 point, but where the Union sentiment of the country was beginning to be felt and was bound to express itself. General Cass, Mr. Buchanan s Secretary of State, had become satisfied that such a position was abetting treason, and would only end in breaking up the government. He was a life-long Democrat, an able and honored leader of his party, deserving of an honorable place in the history of the government, and now in his old age to be mixed up with treason, and implicated in what threatened to be the dis solution of the Union, was more than he could bear. When he found that the President would not insist upon the col lection of the national revenue in South Carolina, or upon strengthening the forts in Charleston harbor, he resigned. Judge Black, a younger and more brilliant man, in the prime of his political manhood and ambition, who was Mr. Buchanan s Attorney-General, and had been in a large degree responsible for the President s pro-slavery positions, succeeded General Cass at the head of the State depart ment. Startled by the retreat of his predecessor, and by the gulf that yawned before him, and satisfied that his position was a wrong one and that he had been misleading the President, he nobly resolved to retrace his steps and save the administration if possible, but at any rate to save the Union and the government. The cabinet was a nest of conspiracy, where such men as Cobb, Floyd, and Thompson were disarming the North and robbing the treasury, and where Davis, Toombs, Benjamin, and Slidell of the Senate, had a controlling influence. But the President, who always had great respect for Judge Black, and had been guided by his counsels, became convinced that he was ruining his administration, if not breaking up the government. So his secretary, together with Mr. Holt, a Southern man, but a loyal one, and Edwin M. Stanton who soon became such a pillar of strength to the government, and who had just become Attorney-General, were allowed to frame an answer 66 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. to the mischievous message already sent in to Congress. In this new message of January 8, 1861, the President qual ifies the former one as well as he is able, though without much success, but here takes one advanced and just position, where, without any reference to his fatal admission that the government could use no force to prevent secession, he now claims that a as the chief executive under the Constitution of the United States," he has no alternative but "to collect the public revenues, and to protect the public property, so far as this might be practicable under existing laws." And he declares it as his own conviction that "the right and duty to use military force defensively against those who resist the Federal officers in the execution of their legal functions, and against thuse who assail the property of the Federal government, are clear and undeniable." Even this admission gave hope to the North, and roused the South to deeper indignation than ever. But what did most to inspire such sentiments was the indication it gave that the con spirators had been driven out of the cabinet, and that the chief movers in secession had lost control of the President. It was well received at the North, and in the spirit of con ciliation the people were disposed to abstain from all that was needlessly irritating, and to make any reasonable adjustments for the sake of peace. Some of the Legis latures were repealing their personal liberty laws, the most objectionable and perhaps the most illegal of any. But secession was making rapid progress, and the leaders in the movement, particularly in South Carolina, without waiting to see what would be the disposition of the new administration, and what position Mr. Lincoln would take in regard to the questions at issue, were bent on precip itating a conflict of force between that State and the general government. The governor of the Stale, in his message to the State Legislature, dated the day before the presidential election took place, says: WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 67 In view of the threatened aspect of affairs, and the strong probability of the election to the presidency of a sectional candidate, by a party committed to the support of measures which, if carried out, will inevitably destroy our equality in the Union, and ultimately reduce the Southern States to mere provinces of a consolidated despotism, to be governed by a fixed majority in Congress hostile to our institutions and fatally bent upon our ruin, I would respect fully suggest that the Legislature remain in session, and take such action as will prepare the State for any emergency that may arise. I would earnestly recommend that in the event of Abraham Lincoln s election to the presidency, a convention of the people be imme diately called, to consider and determine for themselves the mode and measure of redress. I am constrained to say that the only alternative left, in my judgment, is the secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union. The State has with great unanimity declared that she has the right peaceably to secede, and no power on earth can rightfully prevent it. If in the exercise of arbitrary power and for- getfulness of the lessons of history, the government of the United States should attempt coercion, it will become our solemn duty to meet force by force. [Governor Gist s Message, November 5, 18GO. So he recommends that "the services of ten thousand volunteers be immediately accepted, that they be organized and drilled by officers chosen by themselves, and hold them selves in readiness to be called on upon the shortest notice." Hon. James Chestnut, Jr., one of their senators in Con gress, at the same time gave such counsel as this to the people: "The question was, Should the South submit to a black Republican President and a black Republican Con gress ? For myself, I would unfurl the palmetto flag, fling it to the breeze, and, with the spirit of a brave man, determine to live and die as became our glorious ancestors." Hon. William W. Boyce, then a leading representative of that State in Congress, thus counsels them : " I think the only policy for us is to arm as soon as we receive authentic intelligence of the election of Lincoln." Such counsel and such measures were proposed, it should be observed, before Mr. Lincoln had been elected, or before the news of it had been received at Charleston. And when the news came, it seems to have been a source of general satisfaction, instead 68 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. of regret, judging from the Charleston papers and the reporters for other papers who were there. The people thronged the streets, talking, laughing, cheering, and con gratulating one another, as if the State could now be urged on into violent resistance of the general government, and the other slave States be compelled to stand by them in defence of the position they had taken. As the people were told at the time : " The first drop of blood spilled on the soil of South Carolina will bring Virginia and every Southern State with them." So the secession of the State was pushed on with unseemly haste, as if it required neither wisdom, nor prudence, nor harmonious support from the other States that were finally dragged into it. As has been said: "The unnatural and unprecedented haste of this action, by which South Carolina proceeded, is more easily comprehended by recalling the difficult mode provided in every State for a change in its Constitution. In not a single State of the American Union can an organic law be changed in less than a year, or without ample opportunity for serious consideration by the people. At that very moment the people of South Carolina were forbidden to make the slightest alteration in their own Constitution, except by slow and conservative processes, which gave time for deliberation and reflection. In determining a question momentous beyond all calculation to themselves and to their posterity, they were hurried into the election of del egates, and the delegates were hurried into convention, and the convention was hurried into secession, by a terror of public opinion that would endure no resistance, or would not listen to reason." The rashness and mad haste which characterized their proceedings are shown in the fact that within a week after the election of Mr. Lincoln was known, the Legislature of South Carolina had enacted a bill for the election of delegates to a secession convention and the election was to take place within a month, and that conven- WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 69 tion was held, and had taken the State out of the Union, all within fifty days. The presidential election took place November 6th: the bill for the election of delegates was passed the 12th; the election took place the 6th of December; the secession convention met the 17th; and four days after, South Carolina had enacted her solemn "ordinance of secession" without a single dissenting vote. Its title was : " An ordinance to dissolve the union between the State of South Carolina and the other States united with her under the compact entitled the Constitution of the United States of America. * Nor did they seem to consider it necessary to give any particular and justifying reasons for their secession or rebellion, call it which we may, or con sider how they would appear to the rest of the world, and in coming history. Our fathers, when they drew up and published to the world their Declaration of Independence, thought "a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation." And they recite twenty or thirty distinct charges of oppression and tyranny on the part of the mother country, as contrary to the fundamental laws of the realm, if not a violation of the natural and inalienable rights of humanity, which justify them in undertaking a better system of self-government. In the secession ordi nance no reasons are given for it, and in the organization of the Confederate government, which took place a little later, little justification of it is offered more than that the North would not accept slavery, and they were afraid it would be hemmed in within its established and constitu tional limits, which was certainly quite as much of a justifi cation of the course of the free States as of the slave States. Nor did they seem to have any definite plan of a government for themselves when they should have with drawn from the Union, except that it should be Republican in form, like the old one, but should chiefly protect and 70 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. foster their favorite institution, instead of freedom, and be at liberty to annex foreign territory for its extension, and reopen the African slave trade to furnish cheaper slave labor. They did not even wait before they seceded, till they were sure of the support of the other slave States. North Carolina when consulted positively refused to take any hasty steps. Louisiana, knowing her dependence upon the trade of the Mississippi river, expressed an utter disin clination to separate from the Northwest. Georgia would agree to some retaliatory legislation, but was not ready to resist the general government.* And in her secession con vention, called on purpose to take her out of the Union, it was only accomplished by a vote of 165 to 130 against it. Thus when the Confederate government was organized, it was made up of only seven States of the fifteen slave States and the District of Columbia, with no prospect whatever that any one of the eighteen free States would ever join them. As has been said: "After the conspiracy had had complete possession of the public mind for three months, with the Southern members of the cabinet, nearly all the Federal officers, most of the governors, and other State functionaries, and seven-eighths of the prominent and active politicians, pushing it on, and no force exerted to resist it, a majority of the slave States, with two-thirds of the free population of the entire slaveholding region, was openly or positively averse to it, either because they regarded the alleged grievances of the South as exaggerated if not unreal, or because they believed that those wrongs would rather be aggravated than cured by disunion " whatever fearlessness and disregard of consequences were exhibited, and might have been justified in a better cause, * During the session of the convention, the president announced an address from a portion of the Legislature of Georgia, which he thought should not, be made public, and it was not, but was afterwards understood to be an appeal from fifty-two of the members of that body for delay and consultation among the slave States [Greeley, Vol. I, p. 345. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 71 where truth and righteousness and freedom demanded any risk and every sacrifice, the cause which inspired such reckless courage commands no respect whatever, and such an undertaking must stand in history as a warning rather than any encouragement to the friends of freedom and popular government. The truth is the Confederate government was never adopted hy the people. It was never submitted to them for adoption, but soon became a military despotism. The question at once arises : How could such a state of things have been brought about ? And why was South Carolina so willing to lead off in such a reckless enter prise ? She was not only interested with the other slave States in preserving slavery, and annoyed like the rest that the free States should think that system wrong, and pro voked beyond measure that the free States would not allow them to take such property into free territory and hold it there as they would in slave territory, but South Carolina, that proud and sensitive people, had always been mortified by the failure of her attempt to nullify the revenue laws of the general government. She had had many able men in the public service, and been almost as much as Virginia the mother of statesmen. Unfortunately one of her ablest, Mr. Calhoun, had adopted a theory of state rights, which Mr. Webster so plainly showed was inconsistent with any general government. And when Southern men like General Jackson were convinced of it, and men of both sections and all parties joined in asserting such a political heresy, and this State had to submit, and rest under the implication of treason toward the government, she never could forget it, or fail to watch for an opportunity to feed her revenge. Knowing also that the South was not likely to deliberately go into any such movement again, it was determined to take advantage of the long and bitter contest over the extension of slavery, to get out of the Union at any cost, 72 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. even conflict and civil war. She hardly thought, and found reason for it in the President s last message and the posi tion of the Administration party, that the North would never really go to war to save the Union. And if she resorted to violence, and became involved in a struggle for her own rights, and for their common institution which was in peril, the other slave States must come to her help. So her great endeavor was to alarm and inflame the South. She was more than half glad that Mr. Lincoln had been elected. Now was the time if ever to avenge her wrongs and get out of the Union. She was almost afraid the North would not fight : " We must throw blood in their faces to make them." So they set to work, through the Secession members of the President s cabinet, to strip the Northern arsenals, scatter our army and navy, seize upon the national forts, navy yards and public property, expecting to carry out their plans successfully, if not with impunity. It was a plan, a long-laid plan, a conspiracy, a treason able plot to accomplish this very end, and by violence and war if necessary. Thus Mr. Rhett of Charleston, eminent in the public service of the State, declared in their Secession convention : " The secession of South Carolina is not an event of a day. It is not anything produced by Mr. Lin coln s election, or by the non-execution of the Fugitive Slave Law. It is a matter which has been gathering head for thirty years." And Mr. Parker, another member of the convention, said : "It is no spasmodic effort that has come suddenly upon us ; it has been gradually culminating for a long period of thirty years. At last it has come to that point where we may say the matter is entirely ripe." This means that ever since their nullification scheme failed they had been planning another secession or rebellion, and that the opportunity for which they had so long been wait ing had come and should be seized upon gladly. On this point Mr. Greeley says: WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 73 A convention of Southern governors was held at Raleigh, N. C., at the invitation of Governor Wise of Virginia, in 1856. This gathering was kept secret at the time, but it was afterwards proclaimed by Governor Wise that had Fremont been elected he would have marched at the head of twenty thousand men to Washington, and taken possession of the Capitol, and prevented Fremont s inauguration there by force. In the same spirit a meeting of the prominent politicians of South Carolina was held at the residence of Senator Hammond, near Augusta, in October, 1860. Governor Gist, ex-Gov ernor Adams, ex-Speaker Orr, and the entire delegation to Congress, except Mr. Miles who was kept away by sickness, were present with many other men of rank. By this cabal it was unanimously agreed, that South Carolina should secede from the Union in the event of Mr. Lincoln s then almost certain election. Similar meetings of kindred spirits were held simultaneously, or soon after, in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and probably other slave States. By these meetings, and by the incessant interchange of messages, let ters, and visits, the entire slaveholding region had been prepared, so far as possible, for disunion in the event of a Republican, if not also a Douglas triumph. [Greeley s American Conflict, Vol. I. p. 329. The instigators and leaders in it were Howel Cobb, Presi dent Buchanan s Secretary of the Treasury, who bankrupted the treasury and then resigned ; John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, who disarmed the North to arm the South before he resigned; Jacob Thompson, Secretary of the Interior, in whose department a defalcation of nearly a million of dollars was discovered when he surrendered his office to Jefferson Davis, senator from Mississippi, who became President of the Confederacy ; Robert Toombs, senator from Georgia, the most insolent of all in his treason ; Judah P. Benjamin, senator from Louisiana, the most astute and brilliant of that body of men, and John Slidell. the Cataline of the conspiracy. Such were the men at whose instigation and under whose leadership this fearful step was taken, and Charleston was the spot where such counsel was carried out to its awful results. So that it might have been said at the outset, with almost prophetic exactness : " The rebel lion which begins where Charleston is shall end where Charleston was." CHAPTER V. PEACE CONVENTION. The Connecticut Delegation in the Washington Convention Governor Buckingham s Letter of Instructions Connecticut s Proposition for a Convention on Amendment of the Constitution The Atti tude of Virginia and the Report in Congress. Ever since Mr. Lincoln s election was assured, and the South showed such a determination not to submit to it, the North had taken special pains to placate them. And it was not merely the Democratic party, who with the South had lost the election, nor was it the business portion of the North only, who had great pecuniary interests at stake. The Northern people as a mass, and their statesmen and the leaders of the Republican party, were wonderfully con ciliatory. To be sure it was attributed to self-interest and fear, and the South was led to think that we could never prosper without them, and were certainly too base minded and craven hearted to fight for any principles, however much we might profess to value them. Nor was it strange, perhaps, though it was inexpressibly sad, that in their mad ness and insane purpose to break up the Union, they should have had such encouragement to- do so from the President s first message, from the " peace meetings " held at the North, from some of the party conventions, and from por tions of the Northern press. The President found at first no power in the Constitution to repress secession, or even hold by force the fortifications and public property in the seceding States. At one of the largest and most imposing of the " peace meetings," held in Philadelphia at the close of 1860, and called by the city government, the following resolutions were adopted : WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 75 " Resolved, That the people of Philadelphia pledge themselves to the citizens of the other States, that the statute books of Pennsyl vania shall be carefully searched at the approaching session of the Legislature, and that every statute, if any such there be, which in the slightest degree, invades the constitutional rights of citizens of a sister State, will be at once repealed; and that Pennsylvania, ever loyal to the Union and liberal in construing her obligations to it, will be faithful always in her obedience to its requirements. " Resolved, That we recognize the obligations of the Act of Con gress of 1850, commonly known as the Fugitive Slave Law, and submit cheerfully to its faithful enforcement; and that we point with pride and satisfaction to the recent conviction and punishment iu this city of Philadelphia of those who had broken its provisions by aiding in the attempted rescue of a slave as proof that Philadelphia is faithful in her obedience to the law; and furthermore, we recommend to the Legislature of our own State, the passage of a law which shall give compensation, in case of the rescue of a captured slave, by the county in which such capture occurs, precisely as is now done by existing laws in case of destruction of property by violence of mobs. " Resolved, That as to the question of the recognition of slaves as property, and as to the question of the rights of slaveholders in the territories of the United States, the people of Philadelphia submit themselves obediently and cheerfully to the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, whether now made or hereafter to be made, and they pledge themselves faithfully to observe the Constitu tion in these respects, as the same has been or may be expounded by that august tribunal. And further, they recommend that whatever points of doubt exist touching these subjects be, in some lawful and amicable way, forthwith submitted to the consideration of said court, and that its opinion be accepted as the final and authoritative solution of all doubts as to the meaning of the Constitution on controverted points. " Resolved, That all denunciations of slavery as existing in the United States, and of our fellow citizens who maintain that institu tion, and who hold slaves under it, are inconsistent with the spirit of brotherhood and kindness which ought to animate all who live under and profess to support the Constitution of the American Union." It is hardly strange that the Secessionists should have thought Philadelphia approved of their course, and had more sympathy with them than with the anti-slavery senti ment of the North in the struggle between freedom and slavery. And if, as has been said, General Lee never would have invaded Pennsylvania and been compelled to fijrht the 76 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. battle of Gettysburg had he not expected to find sympathy enough there to effect some compromise and compel a peace, it were not surprising. 1 Nor were the political peace conventions any wiser or more successful. As the former were too much influenced by business considerations, these paid too great regard, in what they said and did, to its effect upon their party. The most noticeable of these was the Democratic State Conven tion, assembled in Tweddle Hall, Albany, the last day of January, 1861, remarkable for the number of its members who had been members of Congress, governors or candi dates for that office, judges, an ex-chancellor, state officers and members of the Legislature. The object of the con vention, as stated by its chairman, was the peaceful settle ment of the questions which have led to disunion, and seemingly without much regard to the terms of settlement. The people of this State demand the peaceful settlement of the questions that have led to disunion. They have a right to insist that there shall be conciliation, concession, compromise." What the difficulties were supposed to be in the way of such a settlement, and what concessions and compromises were recommended, are learned from the speakers who followed. Gov. Horatio Seymour seemed, like President Buchanan, to attribute secession mainly to the agitation of the subject of slavery at the North, and to well-nigh justify it on that ground, forgetful of the attempt of the South, with the aid of Northern partisans, to impose slavery upon Kansas by fraud, and to extend it by the Dred- Scott Decision and the Fugitive Slave Law, where by the Constitution and by solemn compacts it had been for ever excluded. " The agitation of the question of slavery," he says, " has thus far brought greater social, moral, and legislative evils upon the people of the free States than it has upon the institutions of those against whom it has been excited. The wisdom of Franklin stamped upon the WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. first coin issued by the government, the wise motto, < Mind your business. The violation of this homely proverb, which lies at the foundation of the doctrines of local rights, has thus far proved more hurtful to the meddlers in t affairs of others, than to those against whom this pragmatic action is directed." He allows the government no powei of coercion to prevent secession, and says that coercic if successfully used by the North, would be as revolu tionary as successful secession by the South." it an " act of folly and madness in entering upon this contest to underrate our opponents and thus subject our selves to the disgrace of defeat in an inglorious warfare. The only thing we can do in his estimation, is to compro mise, and compromise upon any .terms. < The question i simply this : Shall we have compromise after war, or c promise without war?" There was one member of the convention, however, Judge Clinton, who insisted upon i that there was " no such thing as legal secession ;" was " rebellion," neither more nor less. And when inter rupted by cries from the audience : " No ! No ! Revolution ! he nobly replied : " It is rebellion ; rebellion against the noblest government that man ever framed for his own benefit and for the benefit of the world." And he went to add : " I for one have venerated Andrew Jackson, and my blood boiled in old time when that brave patriot and soldier of democracy said : < The Union, it must and shall be preserved. Preserve it! Preserve it! Why should we preserve it, if it would be the thing that these gentle men would make it? Why should we love a government that has no dignity and no power ? Admit the doctrine, and we have a government that no man who is a freeman ought to be content to live under. Admit it, and any State of its own sovereign will may retire from the Union. And when you would say we cannot use force to protect the property of the United States, to retain it in our possession, 78 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. or to collect our revenue for the common benefit and the payment of the common debt, I am not prepared to thus humble the general government at the feet of the seceding States. I am unwilling to say to the government : You must abandon your property; you must cease to collect the revenues because you are threatened. " Such was not the spirit of the convention, but the sentiment of their resolutions was, that government had no right to use coer cion to prevent secession ; that this could only be accom plished by concessions and compromises, and that " it would be monstrous to refuse them," without any seeming regard to what they might be, even to the granting of the highest demands of the South for the extension and encour agement of slavery. The influence of such a position of the Democratic party in that great and influential State at such a critical time was most encouraging to the seceding States, and equally discouraging to the incoming adminis tration. It was a position which the State refused to hold and nobly redeemed her loyalty to the government. The most important convention of this kind, however, was the " peace convention " at Washington. It came together on the 4th of February, 1861, just a month before Mr. Lincoln s inauguration, and was dissolved only a few days before that event. It was composed of one hundred and thirty-three commissioners, and twenty-one of the States were represented. The seven States that had seceded were not represented, neither were Michigan, Wisconsin, Minne sota, California nor Oregon. The conference was invited by the Legislature of Virginia, the invitation and plan of adjustment proposed by Virginia being telegraphed to the governors of the several States. It was composed of able men, many of whom were already eminent in public life and others who became so, and the governors and Legisla tures had evidently appreciated the gravity of the crisis, and taken pains to be properly represented. Ex-President WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 79 Tyler headed the Virginia delegation and presided over the convention. As the Legislature of Connecticut was not in session, Governor Buckingham had selected for this service Roger S. Baldwin, Chauncey F. Cleveland, Charles J. McCurdy, James T. Pratt, Bobbins Battell and Amos S. Treat. Two of them, ex-Governor Cleveland and General Pratt, had been leading members of the Democratic party, and Judge McCurdy was Chief Justice of the State, while Roger Sher man Baldwin had shown himself in Congress and elsewhere worthy of the historic name he bore. The important part which these last two members bore in this convention we shall have occasion to speak of presently. The following brief but suggestive letter of instructions was addressed to them by Governor Buckingham : Gov. R. S. BALDWIN, CHAIRMAN OF THE CONVENTION COMMITTEE, WASHINGTON : DEAR SIR: I would not embarrass the action of yourself and associates by any instructions as to your duty as members of the convantion. You fitly represent the love for the Union which beats so fully in the hearts of the people of this Commonwealth, and with them earnestly desire to reconcile those differences which have alien ated the different sections of our nation, disturbed its peace, and which now threaten us with all the evils of revolution and civil war. I have entire confidence that you will look at any questions which may be presented either by yourselves or others for the consideration of the convention, in the spirit of true patriotism, that you will make any concessions that will restore harmony and avert the evils which threaten us which are not inconsistent with principles vital to a free government and the prosperity of the whole people. At the same time I would suggest as of primary importance that you have special regard to the measures which tend to maintain the dignity and authority of the government, so that any citizen shall feel that it is, and is to be, a shield to protect him in every proper and lawful pursuit, as well as in his property and in his person ; also that no sanction shall be given to measures which shall bind the government to new guarantees for the protection of property in men, a principle subversive of a free government. I am, dear sir, with sentiments of high consideration, your obe dient servant, W. A. BUCKINGHAM. 80 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. This forecast of what would be the unyielding demand of the South, new guarantees for slavery, before they would consent to any adjustment of difficulties, and the just judg ment which decided that any such arrangement would only convert our free republic into one slave empire and make our ruin sure, characterizes these instructions. It was this view of the subject, confirmed by the subsequent action of that convention, which led Governor Buckingham soon after, when President Lincoln made his first call for 75,000 troops, to write him that if he had appreciated the spirit and resources of the South, he would have called for many more if he expected to put down that rebellion. The proceedings of the peace convention were conducted in secret, but the injunction of secrecy was removed at the close of the sessions, and Mr. Chittenden, one of the dele gates from Vermont, published a full and trustworthy report of its discussions and doings, making a volume of six hundred pages, full of information and interest to those who would understand the position and disposition of the North and the South when the war broke out. Virginia, in her invitation to the other States to come together for such a conference, urged it in the interests of peace and to prevent war, and laid down the terms upon which, and upon which alone, the South would agree to adjust their differences with the North. Nor from these did she, or the other South ern States represented, ever recede. They demanded new guarantees for slavery. Defeated at the polls by the elec tion of Mr. Lincoln, and in their struggle over the Missouri Compromise, the Dred-Scott Decision, the Fugitive Slave Law, and the admission of Kansas as a slave State ; defeated in Congress by the rejection of President Buchanan s pro- slavery policy, and the House of Representatives having become Republican, though the Senate, whose members were elected for a longer term of office, was still disposed to acquiesce in that policy ;^ the following seven States had WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 81 withdrawn from the Union, South Carolina, Georgia, Ala bama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida and Texas. The remaining seven slave States were represented in the con vention : Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri. These, instead of accepting peaceably the results of a fair election and the change in the public sentiment of the country upon the slavery issues, still demanded new concessions to slavery. And it is sad to think that so many of the free States in. that convention, and some of the largest and most influen tial of them, should have been misled by their desire for peace to accede to such unreasonable demands, when the ^States making such demands would neither promise if they were granted not to secede themselves, nor to support the government in maintaining the Union, or in collecting its revenue and holding its forts and navy yards. The issue was distinctly made that without such pledges, and new protection and encouragement given to the institution of slavery, such as was not found in the Constitution or in any of the ordinances and solemn compacts made originally between the slave and the free States, there must be a per manent breaking up of the Union, and if any resistance was made to this there certainly would be civil war. Such was the attitude in which the free States and the slave States delegates found themselves towards each other. The mode in which these guarantees were to be given, as proposed by Virginia and not essentially changed by the convention, was in the form of an additional amendment to the Constitution, composed of seven sections. The first section restores the " Missouri Compromise," which had been repealed; or again prohibits slavery north of 36 30 and allows it south of that parallel. This would seem a generous concession to the North were it not that all the territory south of that line had been already organized into slave States, and the Southern delegates refused to make it 82 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. applicable to any future territory, when they had just been urging the purchase of Cuba, the setting up of a protect orate in Mexico and holding territory there to satisfy what ever claims we might make upon that government, and when, too, the South was already dreaming of eventually annexing all South America. The fifth section forever prohibits the " foreign slave trade," the disinterestedness of which might well be ques tioned, since this trade would come into competition with the domestic slave trade, of which Virginia held the monopoly.* The fourth and seventh sections provide for the arrest and delivery of " fugitive slaves," or for payment from the national treasury for all such whose recapture is prevented by violence. At the same time the Southern delegates refused to have slaves thus paid for emancipated. And they also refused to let the government compensate citizens of the free States for what they should suffer in person or property by violence or intimidation in the slave States. The third section takes away from Congress all power to abolish or interfere with slavery in the District of Columbia, except upon almost impossible conditions ; or to abolish or interfere with slavery where the general government has exclusive control, as in its forts and navy yards; or to pre vent the bringing, keeping, and taking away of slaves from the District of Columbia, though it does forbid slave depots and the slave trade being carried on there. As if the gen- * Afterwards, when the Confederate government was organized, this was used as an inducement and a threat to bring Virginia into the Confederacy. She was to have the chief benefit of such trade, and be deprived of it altogether if she refused. These two articles were put into the Constitution : " The importation of African negroes from any foreign country other than the slaveholding States is hereby for bidden, and Congress is required to pass such laws as shall effectually prevent the same; "also, "Congress shall have power to prohibit the introduction of slaves from any State not a member of this Confederacy." This, and the removal of the Confederate capital from Montgomery, Ala., to Richmond, evidently had their influence. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 83 eral government might not properly legislate in favor of freedom, where it has supreme control, just as the States may within their own territory, whenever the welfare or the moral sentiment of the nation shall demand it ! The second section provides that no further acquisition of territory shall be made without the consent of a majority of all the senators from the slaveholding States and a majority of all the senators from the free States, when the acquisition of the Louisiana ( territory, Florida, and Texas -had been effected without any such majority. The sixth section, the most important of these changes in the Constitution, requires that this provision " shall not be amended or abolished without the consent of all the States," a provision not required for the adoption of the original Constitution, nor demanded at any time for the preservation of freedom, but now for the first time insisted upon to fasten slavery irremovably upon our republic, where from the beginning it had been hoped and expected that the time would come when the slave States would be glad to rid themselves of the system, and, if a majority should desire it, this would remove it forever. But the most astonishing and seemingly adroit proposi tion of Virginia was to change by a constitutional provision the very nature of the common law the protection of freedom, and under which some of our Northern States had freed their slaves and make it the defence of slavery, which no future legislation could change. Judge McCurdy of the Connecticut delegation, a former Chief Justice of that State, put this matter in a strong light, as follows : I believe under this article the institution of slavery is to be pro tected by a most ingenious contrivance the common law, adminis tered according to the pro-slavery view, is to be called in for its protection. The common law, as we understand it, is the law of freedom, not of slavery. By the common law a slave is a man still, a person, and not a personal chattel. He may owe service, as a child to a parent, an apprentice to his master, but he Is still a person owing 84 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. service. He is all the time recognized as a man. As such he may own and hold property, take it by inheritance and dispose of it at pleasure, by will or by contract. All these rights, all the principles upon which they are founded, are in direct antagonism to slavery. By the slave law all this is reversed. The master owns the body of the slave, may sell or otherwise dispose of him, or make him the sub ject of inheritance. The slave loses all the attributes of a person as much as the horse or the ox that feeds at his master s crib. These, in a condition of slavery, are the rights of the master over the slave. These rights the common law, under this proposition, is to recognize, protect and enforce. I believe I am not mistaken in this. What other construction can you give the article ? It is a distinct proposal to engraft slavery upon the common law; to declare in the Constitu- t on that slavery is recognized and protected by the common law. Now the North has always protested against this. She will not con sent to it. For then slavery goes wherever the common law goes. It makes slavery national ; freedom sectional. This new kind of common law is to be substituted for the old. The latter has been understood for centuries almost; its principles have been discussed and settled. It is a system founded by experience and adapted to the wants of the people subject to it. Its very name implies that it was not created by legislative authority. A strange common law that would be which is created by the Constitution. [Proceedings of the Peace Conven tion, p. 159. The " common law," as generally understood, means the natural principles of justice upon which laws should be made and administered. They may violate these principles, as slavery does, and may make that system legal, but not according to natural justice and common law. As used in our courts of justice, it refers to those unwritten principles of English law which we have adopted in this country, as a part of our system of jurisprudence. According to this common law, therefore, slavery is an unnatural and unjusti fiable condition, which can only be made legal by positive statute, and where there is no such statute, as in our free States and in Great Britain, slaves became free, of course. On this point, Lord Mansfield s famous decision in the Somerset case in England, and the decisions of the English courts, that it was not a crime for a slave when captured to kill his master, were always quoted in our courts as of WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 85 highest authority. And upon this principle and with such authority, the last of the slaves in some of our Northern States had been set free, without any legislation upon the subject. So that the common law has come to be under stood as the law of freedom, and now it was to be made to justify and enforce slavery. Here is where Judge McCurdy, w^io was the Chief Justice of Connecticut, and whose au thority on such subjects entitled his opinions to respect, did good service in calling attention to this subject, and suc ceeded, though only by the vote of a single State in the convention, in having this proposition defeated. Judge McCurdy also detected, as he thought, another provision in those Virginia articles, by which the African slave trade might have been carried on from the port of New York. And by an amendment, which was adopted by a majority of only a single State, such a possibility was defeated. " I wish," he said, " to prohibit any transactions concerning the purchase or sale of slaves, either within the free States, or the navigable waters connected therewith, or under free State jurisdiction. If there were no such prohibition, a cargo of slaves might be brought from the coast of Africa into the port of New York, and transferred there to parties residing in the slave States. The free States have a right to direct what shall, and what shall not, be a subject of commerce within their limits. I presume it is not intended that the Constitution shall prohibit the exercise of this right. I desire not to leave this open to construction, but to make the section declare that no such intention exists." Such were the concessions required of the North and these the guarantees" demanded for slavery, and the demand backed up by menace. Mr. Morrill of Maine put the matter in this form to Mr. Seddon, the leading member of the Virginia delegation : " I wish to ask the gentleman from Virginia a plain. question, and I wish to receive a frank answer. If this conference agrees to the amend- 86 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. merits proposed by the majority of the committee, will Vir ginia sustain the government and maintain its integrity while the people are considering and acting on the new proposals of amendment to the Constitution ? " To this he answered : I can let Virginia speak for herself. She has spoken for herself in most emphatic language. She has told you what will satisfy her, in the resolutions under which this body is convened. I have no right whatever to suppose that she will accept less. She is solemnly pledged to resist coercion." He had previously said, u Virginia will not permit coercion." Mr. Morrill replied : " I thought I did not misunderstand the position of Virginia. She is armed to the teeth, and she now proposes to step between the government and the States. I understand her attitude. It is an attitude of menace. It gives aid and comfort to those who trample upon the laws and defy the authority of this government." And the venerable and recognized scholar in the Depart ment of Government, David Dudley Field of New York, who codified the civil and criminal laws of that State, and whose improved systpm has been adopted by so many other- States, said : " I would sacrifice all I have, lay down my life for the Union, but I will not give these guarantees to slavery. If the Union cannot be preserved without them, it cannot long be preserved with them. Let me ask you if you will recommend to the people of the Southern States, in case these guarantees are conceded, to accept them and abide by their obligations to the Union. You answer, Yes/ Do you suppose you can induce the seceded States to return ? You answer, < We do not know ! What will you yourselves do if, after all, they refuse? Your answer is, We will go with them. We are to understand, then, that this is the language of the slave States, which have not seceded, toward the free States : If you will support our amendments, we will try to induce the seceded WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 87 States to return to the Union. We rather think we can induce them to return ; but if we cannot, then we will go with them. What is to be done by the government of the United States while you are trying this experiment ? The secedejj States are organizing a government with all its departments. They are levying taxes, raising military forces, and engaging in commerce with foreign nations, in plain violation of the provisions of the Constitution. If this condition of affairs lasts six months longer, France and England will recognize theirs as a government de facto. Do you suppose that we will submit to this ; that we can submit to it ? I speak only for myself. I undertake to commit no one but myself ; but here I assert that an admin istration which fails to assert by force its authority over the whole country will be a disgrace to the nation. There is no middle ground ; we must keep the country unbroken, or we give it up to ruin ! We are told that one State has an hundred thousand men ready for the field, and that if we do not assent to these propositions she will fight us. If I believed this to be true, I would not consent to treat on any terms." It should be said in this connection that, considering the irritated and critical condition of the country, the proceed ings of this convention were characterized by remarkable self-control and courtesy on both sides. The proceedings of the convention were private, but the publication of them was authorized at the close, so that no one need misunder stand what was the object of that convention and of Virginia, who originated it. She laid down the conditions upon which alone secession could be prevented, to which she would never pledge herself to abide, and which were that slavery was to be protected everywhere and in every way ; to have all the rights in the free States that it had in the slave States ; to change the Constitution so as to have it recognized there, whence it had been so carefully excluded ; WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. that Virginia should have the monopoly of the slave trade, and even he at liberty to carry it on through Northern ports; and that it should he rendered virtually impossible to make any changes in favor of freedom, so long as a single State should object. Such were the propositions which the South made in the interests of peace and to pre vent secession and civil war, and even then she would not engage to abide by them, if the North would. That decided the position of the North, as well it might. Henceforth there could he no further compromises and guarantees to slavery. And though the interests of trade and of politics led many to expect relief from this quarter even to the last, the abandonment of such hope, and the determination to maintain the Union and support our republic, led us to put down secession and crush out slavery with it, to the general satisfaction of the whole country. Ex-Governor Baldwin of Connecticut, who was the repre sentative of this State on the committee to whom the reso lutions of Virginia and her proposed amendments to the Constitution were referred, made a minority report recom mending a general convention, as proposed by Kentucky, He argued that the Constitution provided only two modes for its own amendment one by Congress, whenever two- thirds of both Houses shall deem such amendment neces sary, and the other, hy the same body, upon the application of two-thirds of the States calling a convention to propose amendments neither of which conditions were complied with in this convention. All the States were not repre sented, not even all who might wish to he represented. Then the delegates did not equally represent their States, for while some of them were chosen by their Legislatures, others were only the appointments of their governors. There was also too little time for the transaction of such important business. Congress must adjourn in. fifteen or sixteen days, and the convention must have time to Consider WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 89 and agree upon the amendments to be proposed to Con gress, and there must be time for them to consider and agree upon them also before adjournment. Besides, this organization of a government, or the reorganization of one, is such a delicate and responsible work that it was intended it should not be done rashly, and so the Constitution had prescribed only these two slow and complicated modes of doing it. And here he referred to Washington s farewell address, in which he warns the nation against any rash and unauthorized change of the Constitution, saying: "If in the opinion of the people the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation, for though this in one instance may be instrumental of good, it is the custom ary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield." After referring also to the preamble of the Constitution, as showing that the first great purpose of that instrument was " to form a more perfect Union," he quoted with peculiar significancy at that juncture, that other declaration of Washington s : " All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associa tions, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive to this fundamental rule, and of fatal tendency." This counsel of that "illustrious American, I will not say Virginian, for Washington belonged to his whole country," he commended as worthy to be cherished in the heart of every patriot. Governor Baldwin s character, ability and broad treatment of the subject commanded the high respect of the convention, though it could hardly have been expected to control so many bent on securing greater privileges for 90 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. slavery, and so many others anxious to maintain the ascend ency of their party by concessions to the South. Still he was sustained in his position by all the Connecticut delega tion save one, and by the approval of Governor Bucking ham, as his report to the governor and the governor s reply show : NEW HAVEN, March 4, 1861. SIR: In behalf of the Commissioners appointed by your Excellency to attend the Conference Convention at Washington on the invitation of the Legislature of Virginia, I have to report, that the convention, having assembled on the 4th of February continued its sessions until the 27th of that month, when after the adoption of certain resolutions proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States, in which a majority of the States represented concurred, it adjourned without day. The intercourse of its members during the entire session of the convention, was characterized by a pervading spirit of courtesy and conciliation, as well as of loyalty to the Union. It soon became apparent, however, that the Commissioners from some of the border States, in their anxiety to bring back to their allegiance that portion of the people of the United States who are now in rebellion against the government, and to prevent the further contagion of their example, would expect from us concessions inconsistent alike with the opinions expressed by your Excellency, the resolutions of the General Assembly in which all political parties have concurred, and our own sense of duty. Under these circumstances, and in view as well of the fact that only a portion of the States were represented in the convention, as of the grave doubts that existed in regard to the propriety of any other course, the Connecticut Commissioners, with but one exception, were desirous that the convention should avail itself of the movement already indi cated by Kentucky, and recommended to the States to apply to Con gress to call a general convention in accordance with 5th article of the Constitution. A resolution for that purpose was offered as a substitute for specific amendments to the Constitution which had been prepared and reported to the convention by a majority of the committee, to whose consideration the different plans of adjustment had been submitted ; after a long discussion the substitute reported by the undersigned, (of which with the accompanying remarks in its support a printed copy was yesterday transmitted to your Excellency) was lost by a vote of eight States in its favor to eleven States against its acceptance. As the amendments recommended by the convention have been WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 91 made public by Jiieir presentation to Congress, it is unnecessary that I should more particularly refer to them in this communication. The journal of the convention has not yet been completed, though a committee was appointed to superintend its publication. I shall transmit to your Excellency a copy when received, which will more particularly indicate the course of proceedings and the action of the Connecticut Commissioners in the various propositions submitted to the consideration of the convention. I have the honor to be, sir, with great consideration and respect, your Excellency s obedient servant, ROGER S. BALDWIN. His Excellency William A. Buckingham, Norwich. To the above the following reply was returned : \ STATE OF CONNECTICUT, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. { NORWICH, March 8, 1861. SIR: Your favor of the 4th inst. was duly received, by which you report the action of the Connecticut Commissioners on measures presented to their consideration before the Conference Convention recently held in Washington on the invitation of the Legislature of Virginia. In reply I would assure the commissioners that the course pursued by them to harmonize conflicting interests and adjust those questions which are alienating the people from each other, and from the general government, upon a just and permanent basis, and especially their efforts to secure the call of a general convention for the purpose of considering amendments to that instrument, meets the cordial approval of this department. I am, dear sir, yours with high consideration, WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Gov t Roger S. Baldwin, Chairman of Connecticut Commissioners. It only remains to be stated that the measures proposed by this peace convention when presented to the United States Senate found little favor there. Indeed, the severest criticism they received was from the Virginia senators, Messrs. Mason and Hunter, and upon the point most objected to by Judge McCurdy and the Connecticut delegation. They feared to attempt to put slavery under the protection of the " common law," and frankly admitted that it would make their position a worse one than under the Dred-Scott Decision of the Supreme Court. These propositions, we 92 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. believe, never reached the House of Representatives, which were still less likely to consider them favorably, or if they did, they were left to sleep there forever by the new admin istration, and amid the anxieties of actual war, which neither these nor any other possible adjustment at that time could have prevented. All those peace measures at the time were simply mischievous. They only made the North put off preparations for a struggle that must come if the government was not to be overthrown. And they misled the South, and made her believe that the North, rather than lose her trade, and that the party in power, rather than lose her political support, would consent to any concessions and compromises, even the unlimited extension of slavery. It is hardly to be supposed that General Lee would ever have invaded Pennsylvania and fought the deci sive battle of the war there, leaving the bulk of the Union army in his rear, had he not supposed that the South had too many political friends and business friends at the North to allow such a war to be carried on any longer. It was unfortunate for our cause that from the first, and so far into the war, so much of the commercial spirit, and of party spirit in politics, had been manifested at the North. All such considerations were early lost sight of at the South. It was certainly to be regretted that in the peace convention the two great States of Pennsylvania and New York were so divided in their delegations, and these States so often carried for the extreme demands of the South, though they were soon staunch enough and patriotic enough in support of the government. It is certainly to the credit of Connecticut that from the first she discerned the true issue, and that her delegation, her Legislature, and her governor were one in their determination to meet the crisis whatever it might be. CHAPTER VI. MR. LINCOLN INAUGURATED. His Speeches on the Journey to Washington, and the Light they Throw on His Character The Plot to Kill Him on the Way The Inauguration Mr. Buchanan s Character. Such was the state of things when President Buchanan s administration was ending, and Mr. Lincoln was about to be inaugurated. Although there was so much disloyalty at the national capital, and such vindictive feeling in the border slave States though none of them as yet had seceded it was hardly to be believed that any forcible resistance would be made to Mr. Lincoln s inauguration. To be sure it has been discovered since, that when Mr. Fremont was a candidate for the presidency, a plot was laid, had he been elected, to have A r irginia seize the arms at Harper s Ferry and take possession of Washington, and prevent his ever entering upon that office. Still, as the time approached, rumors thickened, and trustworthy information showed that such an attempt would be made now. Marshal Kennedy of New York, though born in a slave. State, was a true man, who, before the war broke out, had his suspicions aroused by the purchase of so many arms for the South that he finally seized them and refused to give them up in spite of threats. He sent two sets of detectives to Balti more, and finally went there himself, where he was at home and well acquainted with Marshal Kane, who frankly told him that Mr. Lincoln was not to be allowed to pass through the city, and how it was to be prevented. Only twelve men were to be put on guard for his protection there, when he should pass through the city, while 1,400 were to be detailed 94 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. for that duty in New York. Mr. Feltori, president of one of the railroads from Philadelphia to Baltimore, was also so impressed by the danger, that he employed Pinkerton and his detectives to find out the truth of the matter, which was reported to be this : That there were military organizations drilling along the road, pretending to be Union men, and offering their services to guard the road, but purposing to "burn the bridges, break up the road, and murder Mr. Lincoln on his way to Washington, if it turned out that he went there before troops were called out ; but if the troops were first called out, then the bridges were to be destroyed, and Washington cut off and taken possession of by the South." General Scott also shared in these anxieties, so that he gathered in Washington, for the occasion, the few companies of United States troops at his command, and called out the volunteer companies of cavalry and riflemen of the district ; the former to guard Mr. Lincoln s carriage, and the latter to be posted where they could watch the windows from which he might be fired upon as he passed ; and when the time came he put himself personally in com mand, so that when asked why he " was not on the east portico to grace the ceremonial," replied that he " was where he belonged at such a time of danger." All this has been fully and carefully confirmed, as well as graphically narrated in its particulars in the late " History of Mr. Lincoln " by Messrs. Nicolay and Hay. The existence of such plots was proved at the time, so far as it could be proved by circumstantial evidence, while they were soon confirmed by the burning of the bridges and tearing up of the railroads at Baltimore, and all proved too true in the subsequent barbarities of the war and the final assassination of Mr. Lincoln. The manner in which Mr. Lincoln reached Washington, is an oft-told and thrilling story, but it sheds such light on the state of the times, and upon the character of this new WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 95 and comparatively unknown man, to whom such great interests were to be entrusted at such a critical time, that it must be referred to. Mr. Lincoln, his family and suit, left his home in Springfield, 111., for Washington, the llth of February, to be a fortnight on their journey, and arrive there some ten days before the inauguration. He had received many invitations from governors and State legisla tures, mayors and city governments, committees of towns and associations, tendering receptions without party dis tinction, and while obliged to decline many of them, like that from Massachusetts, for lack of time, he did visit the capitals of Indiana, Ohio, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, besides Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburg, Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia. At the capitals he was received by the legislatures, and replied to their addresses. In the large cities, like New York, the com mercial capital of the country, and Philadelphia with its Independence hall, he was impressed by the great interests about to be committed to his charge, and stirred by motives that had inspired others to great achievements who were as human as himself. In his addresses he had a hard task before him, especially for one who was characterized by frankness, and trained to logical argument rather than to felicitous and complimentary speech. He must address those who were politically opposed to him and had voted against him, as well as those of his own party. On the borders of a slave State, as at Cincinnati, he must speak to those who were born in the midst of slavery, and had sym pathy with those who upheld it, while they bitterly hated such as were trying to extend the system. And then, under the circumstances, he was not at liberty to announce fully what his own policy and that of his administration was to be, which all the country was chiefly anxious to find out. He must listen till the last moment to every sugges tion and criticism of both friends and foes, and then in his 96 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. inaugural announce to an anxious world the principles and policy to which he and his administration were to be pledged. Sometimes he expressed little more than thanks for the courtesies shown him, and shown not to him per sonally, but as chosen to represent and carry out the will of the people in the administration of the government. Sometimes, as at Indianapolis, he did little else than ques tion his audience as to the meaning of "coercion" and "invasion," and when they might be justifiable, and closed saying: "Fellow citizens, I am not asserting anything, I am merely asking questions for you to consider." At another time, in Cincinnati, he expressed his kind feelings towards the people of Kentucky, who must have been well represented, both as citizens and as visitors, and hoped that "for centuries to come there might be seen, once every four years, what they saw, the people, without distinction of party, giving such a reception to the constitutionally elected Presi dent of the whole United States." He told them, in answer to the question which they would be asking : " How they were to be treated," "We mean to treat you as near as we possibly can, as Washington, and Jefferson, and Madison treated you. We mean to recognize and bear -in mind always that you have as good hearts in your bosoms as other people, and as good as we claim to have, and treat you accordingly." And then touched with the remembrance that this was his native State, he closes with this appeal to them : " Fellow citizens of Kentucky, friends, brethren : May I call you such? In my new position I see no occasion and feel no inclination to retract a word of this. If it shall not be made good, be assured that the fault shall not be mine." At the capital of New Jersey, in addressing the Legislature, he said : " I learn that this body is composed of a majority of gentlemen who, in the exercise of their best judgment in the choice of a chief magistrate, did not think that I was the man. I understand, nevertheless, that they VVK.LIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 97 came forward to greet me as the constitutionally elected President of the United States ; as citizens of the United States, to meet the man who for the time being is the repre sentative of the majority of the nation ; united by the single purpose to perpetuate the Constitution, the Union, and the liberties of the people. As such I accept this reception more gratefully than I could do did I believe it were ten dered to me as an individual." And here he added : " I shall do all that may be in my power to promote a peaceful settlement of all our difficulties. The man does not live who is more devoted to peace than I am, none who would do more to preserve it; but it may be necessary to put the foot down firmly. [Here the audience broke into cheers so loud and long, that for some moments it was impossible to hear Mr. Lincoln s voice.] And if I do my duty and do right, you will sustain me, will you not?" In his last speech in Independence hall, Philadelphia, after expressing the emotions excited by "the wisdom, patriotism, and devotion to principle" once gathered there, and "the senti ments embodied in that Declaration of Independence which gave liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but hope to all the world, for all future time," he gave utter ance to a thought and a sentiment which the audience could not understand at the time, but which received its fearful meaning to all of us afterwards, when it became known what communications he had received the night before. It was there, and in that connection, speaking of the Declara tion of Independence as giving equal rights to all, that he said : " If this country cannot be saved without giving up that principle, I was about to say I would rather be assas sinated on the spot than surrender it." The day before, Mr. Felton, the railroad president, at Baltimore, Mr. Pinkerton, the head of the detectives employed there, and Mr. Judd of Chicago, one of Mr. Lin coln s personal and political friends, had all arrived in Phila- 98 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. delphia to consult with him as to his danger. What had been rumors before, had now been confirmed by enough circumstantial evidence to put him and his friends on their guard. The plot was to burn the bridges, destroy the railroad, and murder Mr. Lincoln. The evening, and a con siderable part of the night, had been spent in considering the matter before they retired. And the morning had hardly dawned, when Mr. Lincoln was roused from sleep by one at the door demanding admittance, which was reluc tantly granted, until it proved to be Mr. Frederick W. Seward, whom his father had sent with the following letter : - [SECRETARY SEWARD TO PRESIDENT LINCOLN.] WASHINGTON, February 21, 1861. MY DEAR SIR: My son goes express to you. He will show you a report made by our detective to General Scott, and by him communi cated to me this morning. I deem it so important that I dispatch my son to meet you wherever he may find you. I concur with General Scott in thinking it best for you to reconsider your arrangements. No one here but General Scott and myself and the bearer is aware of this communication. I should have gone with it myself, but for the peculiar sensitiveness about my attendance at the Senate at this crisis. Very truly yours, WILLIAM H. SEWARD. He brought with him the following communications made to his father by General Scott through his aid, Colonel Stone : [GENERAL SCOTT TO MR. SEWARD.] February 21, 1861. MY DEAR SIR: Please receive my friend, Colonel Stone, chief of General Wightman s staff, and a distinguished young officer with me in Mexico. He has an important communication to make. Yours truly, WINFIELD SCOTT. [COLONEL STONE S REPORT.] February 21, 1861. A New York detective officer who has been on duty in Baltimore for three weeks reports this morning that there is serious danger of violence to, and the assassination of Mr. Lincoln in his passage WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 99 tbrough that city, should the time of that passage be known. He states that there are banded rowdies holding secret meetings, and that he has heard threats of mobbing and violence, and has him self heard men declare that if Mr. Lincoln was to be assassinated they would like to be the men. He states further that it is only within the past few days that he has considered that there was any danger, but now he deems it imminent. He deems the danger one which the authorities and people in Baltimore cannot guard against. All risk might easily be avoided by a change in the travel ing arrangements which would bring Mr. Lincoln and a por tion of his party through Baltimore by a night train without pre vious notice. No one of ordinary wisdom with such information before him, would have been justified in not guarding against the danger whatever others without that information might think of it. So Mr. Lincoln and his friends decided to change their plans. The original plan was, that after Mr. Lincoln s address at Philadelphia, in Independence hall, he should go the same day, Friday the 22d of February, Washington s birthday, to Harrisburg to meet the assem bled Legislature of Pennsylvania, and remaining over night, go from there the next morning to Washington, passing through Baltimore at noon. Mr. Judd and Mr. Pinkerton had called to their aid Mr. Franciscus, the general manager of the Pennsylvania railroad, and Mr. Henry Sanford, representing Colonel E. S. Sanford, presi dent of the American Telegraph Company. It was de cided that Mr. Lincoln and a single companion should go, on that night, by the way of Philadelphia. So in the evening, Mr. Lincoln was called from the table, went to his room, changed his dinner dress for a traveling suit, and came down with his shawl on his arm, and a soft hat sticking out of his pocket, which was all the " Scotch plaid cap, and long military cloak " he assumed for diguise. A carriage drew up at the side door of the hotel, into which he stepped with his single escort, Colonel Lamon, a devoted personal friend from Illinois, " young, active, and almost of 100 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. herculean frame and strength," and they were driven rapidly to the depot, where a special train of a baggage car and a single passenger car awaited them. The track between the two cities was to be kept clear of everything, and the eleven o clock Baltimore train was to be detained for them. Mr. Felton was there to see that this was done, while Mr. Pinkerton had a carriage ready to convey them through Philadelphia from one depot to the other, and Mr. Sanford saw that the telegraph wires were disconnected that no intelligence of their departure could be given in advance of them. " So at midnight they took their berths in the sleeping car of the regular train from New York, passing through Baltimore unrecognized and undisturbed, and arriving in Washington at six o clock in the morning of February 23. Here they were met by Mr. Seward and Mr. Washburn, member of Congress from Illinois, and con ducted to Willard s Hotel. The family and the suite made the journey direct from Harrisburg to Baltimore, according to the previously published program, arriving in Washington late that evening." It was at once telegraphed to Balti more that Mr. Lincoln had already reached Washington, so that all motive to harm his family and friends was taken away and they passed through undisturbed. Mr. Lincoln now had a single week in which to confer with his friends, and learn the opinions and spirit of his oppo nents, and receive the criticisms of his proposed policy from everybody, which he particularly courted. In this respect nobody was so free as Mr. Seward, who was to hold the most responsible position in his cabinet, in his suggestions and recommendations as to the inaugural address. It is full of interest and instruction to read the omissions, and modifications, and additions he proposed, and see what were accepted, and what rejected, as showing the peculiar char acteristics of the men, and the special lines of policy which each preferred. Never had a man such a difficult task in WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 101 statesmanship before him, as Mr. Lincoln. No wonder he felt, as he so often expressed it in his addresses, that he was "a very humble instrument" in the hands of God and of the nation, that he was called to "a task which did not rest even upon the Father of his Country, and so feeling I can not but turn and look for that support without which it will be impossible for me to perform that great task, and turn then and look to the American people, and to that God who has never forsaken them." This trust in God, and con fidence in the people, which he always expressed, and we soon found was so sincere, was the ground of that confidence which the nation soon came to repose in him, and caused them to accept his guidance and carry out his measures in the darkest periods of the war. Those simple and pathetic words which he addressed to his neighbors, as he left them to assume the duties of president at such a critical time, will always hold a hallowed place in the hearts of true Americans. My friends, no one not in my position can appreciate the sadness I feel at this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have lived more than a quarter of a century. Here my children were born, and here one of them is buried. I know not how soon I shall see you again. A duty devolves upon me which is greater perhaps than that which has devolved upon any other man since the days of Washington. He never would have succeeded except for the aid of Divine Prov idence, upon which he at all times relied. I feel that 1 cannot succeed without the same divine aid which sustained him, and in the same Almighty Being I place my reliance for support; and I hope you, my friends, will pray that I may receive that divine assistance without which I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain. Again I bid you all an affectionate farewell. [Holland, p. 254. The 4th of March had come, when the inaugural, the great ceremonial of the nation, was to take place. In some respects it was more imposing than the crowning of a mon arch, for Mr. Lincoln was the choice of the people ; they conferred upon him all the power he could possess, and 102 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. they could take it from him and bestow it upon another if they found it necessary. Then the world was looking on with peculiar interest, to see what kind of a chief magis trate we had chosen, and whether he would be able to carry us through such a crisis in our history, or there was to be an end of the only successful experiment of self-govern ment on a great scale. There was an intense and universal anxiety to know what Mr. Lincoln s position and that of the new administration was to be in regard to slavery and secession. Would he make the concessions demanded by the former, or permit under any circumstances the latter ? He listened to everybody and seemed to give candid consid eration to every suggestion, but strenuously refused to decide finally upon his policy until he had taken counsel with those who were to make up his cabinet, and then he would announce the result to the country in his inaugural address. The day of inauguration came this year on Mon day, and opened bright and balmy like one of our Northern spring days two months later. The city was crowded with visitors, as it always is on such an occasion, only it was noticeable that there were fewer from the South and more from the North, especially from the West. Pennsylvania avenue in all its breadth, and for the mile between the President s house and the Capitol, was a mass of people, and so was every street leading into it from which a view of the procession could be obtained. There was as little show as possible of troops and military preparation against disorder and violence, and less than 700 national troops were in the city. The volunteer military companies of the city and of the district were there, where they were natur ally in place, like so manjr other organizations of various kinds, to make the pageant more imposing. But the police had been carefully posted, the small force of regular cavalry was to guard the intersection of every street with the avenue, and squads of riflemen occupied the tops of some of the WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 103 houses. A battalion of District of Columbia troops guarded the steps of the Capitol, and riflemen occupied the windows of the wings of the Capitol. Nor was this all, for, as the latest and most exact history of this period informs us, " On the brow of the hill, not far from the north entrance to the Capitol, commanding both the approach up the avenue and the broad plateau of the east front, where people were massed to see the new President inducted into office, a battery of flying artillery was stationed, in the immediate vicinity of which General Scott remained a careful observer of the scene during the entire ceremonies, ready to take personal command and direction should any untoward occurrence render it necessary." * As Congress must adjourn at noon, President Buchanan was detained at the Capitol until that hour, when he was driven rapidly down the avenue to take up the new Presi dent and escort him, as the custom was, back to the east portico of the Capitol, where his inauguration would take place. The procession was made up of these two person ages in a modest carriage drawn by two horses, preceded by a company of sappers and miners, followed by the infantry and riflemen of the District of Columbia, and flanked on either side by double files of a squadron of dis trict cavalry. Then came that innumerable company, made up of the members of the cabinet and of Congress, officers of the army and the navy, foreign ministers and the diplo matic corps, the judiciary and the clergy, the corporate authorities of Washington and Georgetown, political and military associations from all parts of the country, and finally the citizens of the District of Columbia and of every State and territory. These as they took their line of march up that broad and crowded avenue, which has been styled * The number of Government troops was only 653, exclusive of marines always stationed at the navy yard. This is given in President Buchanan s Special Message to the House in answer to their inquiry why he was assembling such an unusual number of troops at Washington. 104 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. the " Via Sacra leading to the Capitoline Hill of our Republic," cheered on by bands of music, and welcomed as they advanced by countless voices, would have seemed another Roman triumph to one who could not understand that our war was just beginning, of which no mortal man could tell the issue. When the procession reached the Capitol, the Senate chamber was found densely packed with officials and civilians, and here a new procession was formed, consisting of the President, the President-elect and his family, the Chief Justice in his robe, the Clerk of the Court with the Bible, who escorted Mr. Lincoln to the east portico, where in a group around him, and in the presence of that vast multitude below and beyond him, he was inducted with solemn ceremony into his high office. It was, as has been said, a remarkable group that confronted each other there, in those four historic personages who were the central figures. Senator Douglas, the author of the repeal of the Missouri Com promise, representing the legislative power of the American Govern ment; Chief Justice Taney, author of the Dred-Scott Decision, representing the influence of the Judiciary; and President Buchanan, who by his Lecompton measures and messages had used the whole executive power and patronage to intensify and perpetuate the mis chiefs born of the repeal, and the dictum. Fourth in the group stood Abraham Lincoln, President-elect, illustrating the vital political truth announced in that sentence of his Cincinnati speech in which he declared: "The people of these United States are the rightful masters of both congresses and courts, not to overthrow the Con stitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution." When the cheers which greeted his appearance had somewhat abated, Senator Baker of Oregon rose and introduced Mr. Lincoln to the audience, and stepping forward, the President-elect, in a firm, clear voice, thoroughly practiced in addressing the huge open-air assem blages of the West, read his inaugural, to which every ear listened with the most intense eagerness. [Nicolay and Hay s History, p. 277, and Dr. Holland s Life of Lincoln, p. 278. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 105 It was a remarkable address, considering the man and his antecedents, the times so critical, the clear and fair statement of the great question at issue, over which the South and the North had been struggling for half a century, and upon which they were about to rush into a fratricidal war, the wise and least irritating way in which the subject was discussed, the firm yet reluctant way in which the new President took his position, and indicated what the nation might expect the policy of his administration to be. These characteristics of it, together with that appeal to his "dis satisfied fellow-countrymen," and touching reference to the mystic ties which bind every heart in the land to its history, will cause it to be read with undiminished interest, so long as anybody shall take any interest in our history. In the introduction, the President corrects a misappre hension that existed in regard to his position on the great question at issue between the North and the South: " Apprehensions seem to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican administration, their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection. It is found in. nearly all the public speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. 1 believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so." After discussing the right of seces sion and showing that the Constitution makes no provision for any such event, and that it is inconsistent with the very object for which the Constitution was ordained and estab lished, "to form a more perfect Union," he adds: "I therefore consider that in view of the Constitution and the 106 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 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." Then after considering the decision of the supreme court upon the subject of slavery, and admit ting its binding force upon the parties to a suit under it, he shows that its sphere and power must be limited by the power and sphere of the other departments of a popular government, otherwise "the people will have ceased to be their own rulers and have practically resigned their govern ment into the hands of that eminent tribunal." And finally, after counseling the people, "one and all, to think calmly and well upon this whole subject," before they break down their government, or essentially modify its Constitution, and have confidence in the intelligence, patriotism, and Christianity of the people, and in God who has never yet forsaken this favored land, to adjust in the best way all their present difficulties, the President closes as follows : In your hands, ray dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you; you can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect, and defend it. I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature. When the cheering had subsided, the Chief Justice arose, the clerk presented the open Bible, and upon it the Pres ident-elect deliberately pronounced the oath of office : " I, Abraham Lincoln, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 107 will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." Amid the shouts of the people, the booming of cannon, and the inspiration of bands of music, " Citizen Buchanan and President Lincoln" returned to their carriage, and were escorted back as they came to the executive mansion, where they bade each other good-by with mutual good wishes and hopes for the country ; the one to enter upon his presidential term of unequaled perplexities and perils, and to be cut off prematurely by martyrdom, leaving him the most peculiar and one of the noblest personages of our his tory ; while the other, spurned by his Southern friends after they had betrayed him and made a tool of him as long as they could, and neglected by his partisans of the North as soon as they found that he could no longer hold their party together, found a temporary asylum with his friend, Mr. Quid,* soon to become a Confederate officer, until the former could return to his home in Pennsylvania, there to pass wholly out of public life, and almost out of public notice, for the few years that remained to him. Mr. Buchanan was neither an unpatriotic or an unprincipled man. But he was not equal to the emergency, when placed at the head of the government. At the dictation of the South, he introduced into his cabinet several of the leading secessionists, who controlled his policy and tied his hands until that movement was almost too strong ever to be checked. He was, as he designated himself in one of his public documents, an "Old Public Functionary," trained to administer public affairs simply by rule and precedent, even though the rules were wrong and the precedents bad. He lived, too, in the most corrupt period of politics, when such maxims as, "All is fair in politics," were not only * Mr. Ould was United States District Attorney, made such by Mr. Buchanan, and who, though a native of Maryland, soon fled to Richmond, and entered the military service of the Confederacy, and was made their commissioner for the exchange of prisoners. 108 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. acted upon but avowed, and, " To the victors belong the spoils," and before the civil service reform was undertaken, or that better maxim had been announced in an inaugural, that, " He who serves his country best, best serves his party." And trained and practiced in such a school up to his old age, perhaps it was too much to expect that he could ever change his principles and habits to meet any emer gency however dangerous. And so this one of our Pres idents retired from public life the object of charitable judg ment and almost of pity from the country, rather than of high honor or grateful remembrance. CHAPTER VII. THE BREAKING OUT OF THE WAR. Mr. Lincoln s Cabinet and the Views Held by its Members and by Him The Bombardment of Fort Sumter The Purpose of South Carolina Accomplished. Mr. Lincoln appointed the following cabinet officers : William H. Seward of New York, Secretary of State. Salmon P Chase of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury. Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania, Secretary of War. Gideon Welles of Connecticut, Secretary of the Navy. Caleb B. Smith of Indiana, Secretary of the Interior. Edward Bates of Missouri, Attorney General. Montgomery Blair of Maryland, Postmaster General. It will be noticed that Mr. Lincoln selected Mr. Seward, his chief rival in the Republican convention which nomi nated him for the presidency, for the most important posi tion in his cabinet, and the three next appointments were the three who received the next largest votes for the same position. This was not only magnanimous, but fitted to secure the confidence of the North in the new administra tion, though some of its members were distrusted on the slavery question, and it was feared that some of the others would compromise matters without settling that question properly. But it was an able and trustworthy cabinet, especially after Mr. Stanton went into it a little later. The exact position of the President and his cabinet was not at first understood. When Mr. Buchanan was asked what he thought of the inaugural address, he is said to have replied : " I cannot say what he means until I have read it. I cannot understand the secret meaning of the 110 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. document, which has been simply read to me." * Senator Douglas replied to a similar inquiry : " Well, I hardly know what he means. Every point in the address is susceptible of a double construction." It is not strange, perhaps, that the secessionists hardly knew what to expect from the new administration, when the President stated its position and policy in such guarded terms and with such evident reluc tance to resort to force. True, he claimed for the govern ment the right of coercion, but he might never exercise it any more than Mr. Buchanan did, who, though he gave up the right of coercion with reference to the secession of a State, did make it a duty " to collect the public revenues and to protect the public property," and claimed the right " to use military force " for such a purpose, but he never exercised that right nor discharged that duty. Under the shelter of such impunity, South Carolina had already declared itself out of the Union, seized the Federal arsenal in Charleston and was collecting forces and constructing batteries with which to subdue Fort Sumter, one of the fortifications of the general government and held by a Fed eral force. And Mr. Lincoln, while he claimed such a right and admitted such a duty, might be afraid to under take, or find himself unable to accomplish, such a difficult task any more than his predecessor. The truth was that no other administration had ever come into power beset by such obstacles and perplexities as this must encounter. Looking back upon that period, and understanding better than any one could at the time, what agencies were plotting the overthrow of the government, and what influences were at work at the North, as well as at the South, to allow * For the numerous and remarkable suggestions made by Mr. Seward in respect to that paper, and as to such as were rejected, or adopted, or modified, ic is worth while to refer to them as given in full and compared by Nicolay & Hay iu their history of Mr. Lincoln. Acd not the least interesting of them is the close of that address, as suggested by the one and wrought out by the peculiar genius and glowing patriotism of the other. The Century, Dec. 1887, p. 278. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Hi them to become successful, it does seem as if the prospect was about as dark and threatening as it could be. Let one ask himself now, what should have been done, or could have been done better than was done, and he will find him self unable to furnish any satisfactory answer. Seven of the fifteen slave States had already seceded and organized a government of their own. What if all the rest should join them, as Virginia was preparing to do? Would the North be united in sustaining a vigorous and coercive policy, even though it brought on war? What would the business interests of Pennsylvania say to it, or the democ racy of Connecticut and of the country, whose long ascend ency in the national government had depended on the united support of the South? And, amid the divisions of the North, what would that portion of the public press think of it which was willing to let these "erring sisters" go, sure that they would soon be glad enough to come back ? or the leaders of the old Abolition party, who were distinctively peace men, and would not approve of war in any case ? Then again, if the South were united and the North were not, could the rebellion be put down ? and if it was, what kind of citizens would the Southerners make as conquered subjects ? Such was the position of the new administration. And if ever men needed the rarest wisdom, the firmest principle, the kindest and most reasonable disposition, such as Mr. Lincoln possessed, and "that Divine assistance without which we cannot succeed, and with which success is certain," which he besought his neighbors to pray might be given him, as he left them to enter upon the presidency, that administration required it. For just then the nation- one part of it insane in its passion for slavery and dream of building upon such a basis a permanent and prosperous empire, and the other part incredulous that it would ever be attempted and utterly unprepared to prevent it was suddenly struck by that dark thunder squall of war which 112 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. proved to be the prelude to such a long and terrible storm. The crisis came in this way. Mr. Lincoln and his cabinet, while asserting the right of the government to use force to prevent secession, and retain its forts arid public property, were naturally reluctant to resort to this. So they delayed, used only careful and conciliatory language, were ready to make any adjustments that would not give up free territory to slavery, and do away with the spirit of the Constitution, and the provisions of solemn ordinances, which made slavery an allowed local institution, while freedom was to be the characteristic of our republic, and rule wherever slavery had not been permitted. Then the struggle which had been going on over this subject ever since the govern ment was fairly established, and especially over every accession of new territory, had finally been fairly settled by the election of Mr. Lincoln, and ought to have remained so. Still the new administration, and the party behind it, were well disposed towards any reasonable concessions that would conciliate the South and prevent war. Secretary Seward, abolitionist as he was, was ready, we believe, to let the Fugitive Slave Law, the most objectionable of all meas ures put upon the free States, stand, if the fugitives might only have a trial by jury. Secretary Chase, as pronounced an anti-slavery man as Mr. Seward, advised the free States to repeal their Personal Liberty Bills, which were most offensive to the slave States, and as to which there was doubt about their constitutionality. The President, for his part, was extremely anxious to have the government pur chase and emancipate the slaves of Virginia to prevent her joining the Confederacy, and leading off the other border States in the same direction. But nothing could be done to avert the issue. South Carolina was provoking an attack. She had fired upon and driven off the " Star of the West," an unarmed steamer sent with supplies to one of the forts in Charleston harbor. General Bragg, in command of the WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Confederate troops, had forbidden the furnishing of " fuel, water, and provisions, to the armed vessels and forts of the United States." These were acts of war, and positive enough. But both parties were reluctant to strike the first blow, that the blame of it might be thrown upon the other. And South Carolina, impatient of longer delay, did it with the results that followed.* The government had several forts in Charleston harbor r of which Fort Sumter was the strongest. So when Major Anderson, who occupied Fort Moult rie with a small force, found himself likely to be attacked and at a disadvantage, he removed his men and supplies to Fort Sumter. It is a modern structure, built of brick and solid masonry from eight to twelve feet thick, sixty feet high, and pierced by two tiers of portholes from bombproof casements, with a row of unprotected guns upon the parapet above. It lies upon the very surface of the water, about two miles and a half from the city, upon an artificial foundation made by sinking shiploads of granite chips from northern quarries, at a cost to the government of half a million of dollars and ten years of time. It was hardly finished when Major Anderson took possession of it, and it had only seventy -five cannon, though built for 140. He took possession of it with only 109 men, fifteen of whom were musicians, and thirty more common laborers, while 600 troops was its proper garrison. Then again, it was not built for defense against Charleston, but to protect Charleston. So when Major Anderson found himself exposed to a dozen or more well-manned and powerful batteries in his rear and on his * For one reason and another there was a disposition on the part of many, to give almost any indulgence or make almost any concession for the sake of peace, without considering very closely the rightfulness or the danger of it. As the Pres ident illustrated it to his cabinet by one of his v little stories :" "My little boy once complained to me that his brother had his knife, and would not give it to him. The truth was Ted had sold it to his brother for candy and eaten that up. So I said, O Bob, give him his knife, if only to keep him quiet. Yes, he said, but I want it to keep me quiet. 1 " 114 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. sides, and from 6,000 to 8,000 Confederate troops to assail him at every vulnerable point, and when a fleet that had come to his relief lay off the harbor, and communicated with him, but dared not encounter these batteries, it is not to be supposed that he expected to successfully resist such an attack. But though a Southerner himself, unlike so many others who betrayed their trust with no pretense of resistance, he held out to the last and surrendered only when further resistance was impossible and further delay useless. The attack was fierce, and while it lasted the scenes within that lort were terrible. At 3.30 Friday morning, April 12, Major Anderson was summoned to surrender, to which he replied, that u his sense of honor and his obligations to the government would prevent his compli ance." An hour later the attack was commenced by a simultaneous and concentrated fire from all the forts, bat teries and an ironclad raining solid shot, hot shot and shells upon that devoted spot and little garrison. Within the bombproof chambers the men were comparatively safe, but whenever they attempted to use their unsheltered guns upon the parapet, which were most manageable, they were found inferior to the improved guns of their assailants, and the men were soon driven back to their shelter. Abbott -says of the bombardment: It is difficult for one not familiar with war to imagine the power of the missiles which modern science has constructed. Solid walls of brick were crumhled down like powder; cannons weighing thou sands of pounds were thrown from their carriages by the explosion of shells. Red-hot shot and bursting shells soon set the wooden bar racks of the soldiers on fire and nearly the whole interior of the fort blazed like a furnace. For thirty-six hours this terrific bombardment continued all day and all night, with but occasional lulls, from the early dawn of Friday morning till near the close of Saturday after noon. An eyewitness thus describes the scene: The fire surrounded us on all sides. Fearful that the walls might crack and the shells pierce and prostrate them, we commenced taking the powder out of WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 115 the magazine and throwing it into the sea, which we did to the amount of ninety-six barrels. Owing to a lack of cartridges we kept live men inside the magazine, sewing them up in our shirts, sheets, blankets, and using up everything of this kind in the fort. When we were finally obliged to close the magazine, and our material for cartridges was exhausted, we were left destitute of any moans to continue the contest. We had eaten our last biscuit thirty- six hours before. We came very near being stifled with the dense smoke from the burning buildings. Many of the men lay prostrate on the ground, with wet handkerchiefs over their mouths and eyes, gasping for breath. It was a moment of imminent peril. If an eddy of wind had not ensued, we all probably should have been suffocated. The crash ing of the shot, the bursting of the shells, the falling of walls, and the roar of the flames, made a pandemonium of the fort. We neverthe less kept up a steady lire as long as possible. [Abbott, Vol. I, p. 89. But the end had come. Their bread was gone, and even their rice had become mixed with glass from the shattered windows, while their powder was almost exhausted, much of it having been thrown into the sea, as above mentioned, and the magazines permanently closed for fear of the spreading conflagration. The flagstaff was repeatedly struck and finally shot away half way up, and then the flag was nailed to the staff. But it must be lowered now and a white flag rim up, which was done soon after noon on Sat urday, the 13th of April. The terms of surrender were soon arranged. The fort was to be evacuated, the garrison to retain their arms, with personal and company property, and march out with the honors of war and be transferred to some government vessel outside of the harbor. So the next morning, the morning of a peaceful Sabbath after all the thunder of battle that preceded it, at nine o clock the flag was lowered with a salute of fifty guns, the band played " Yankee Doodle " and " Hail Columbia," and the garrison marched out of the main gate, with the Stars and Stripes waving over them, and went on board of the transport Isabel, to be taken to the United States ship Baltic in the outer harbor, which carried them to New York. " Strike a blow. The very moment that blood is shed, 116 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Virginia will make common cause with her sisters of the South." " Sprinkle blood in the faces of the people of Alabama, or else they will be back in the Union in less than ten days." Such counsel, given by the instigators of the war, shows that the mass of the Southern people loved the Union, and were reluctant to resort to arms even to secure greater privileges for their favorite institution, which was undoubtedly true. And this urging them into violence, by the assurance of impunity and the promise of success in such a conflict, until they were all involved to gether in the guilt and punishment of treason, shows the desperate character of their leaders. Of course South Carolina, the champion of State sovereignty, who once attempted to carry it out in nullification, and was now resolved to do it by secession, was exultant. With her there had been a long season of earnest preparation, impa tient waiting, anxious hope, and when the reduction of Sumter had been accomplished, there was a corresponding relief, and exultation and confidence for the future. Per haps it is not strange that on that Saturday afternoon, when the firing had ceased and it was known that the fort had surrendered, the bells of the city were chimed, guns fired r and the whole population in the streets congratulated each other on their wonderful victory, or that the governor of the State, in his address to the citizens in the evening, should have exultingly said : " We have humbled the flag of the United States. It is the first time in the history of the country that the Stars and Stripes have been humbled. We have defeated twenty millions ; we have brought down in humility the flag that has triumphed for seventy years. But to-day, on this thirteenth day of April, it has been humbled, and humbled before the glorious little State of South Carolina." Even the ministers of religion reckoned their success as the seal of Divine approval. The Roman Catholic bishop on Sunday celebrated the victory with a WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 117 Te Deum and congratulatory address, while the good old Episcopal bishop, blind and feeble, said it was his strong persuasion, confirmed by travel through every section of the State, that the movement in which the people were engaged was begun by them in the deepest conviction of duty to God, and God had signally blessed their dependence on him. But we are poor interpreters of God s plans when we are engaged in unrighteous business, or blinded by interest and passion. The wise man long ago observed that " the end of a thing is better than the beginning," and so it was here, though the way lay beyond great fields of battle and years of doubtful and desperate struggle. CHAPTER VIII. THE UPRISING OP THE PEOPLE. How the News of the Fall of Sumter was Received at the North The Call for 75,000 Men Southern States, Not in Secession, Refuse to Obey It The Demonstration of Patriotism at the North How Arms had been Traitorously Secured by the South. Although the attack upon Fort Sumter was feared and expected, it seemed as if it could hardly be, and in some way would be prevented. It was known that several vessels of war had gone to its relief, and in fact they lay at the entrance of the harbor and communicated by signals with the fort during the bombardment, but could not expose themselves to such a fire. It had been said that the gov ernment by some understanding with South Carolina might be allowed to provision the fort if nothing more, and both wait for further developments. It hardly seemed possible that war should be resorted to, to maintain slavery, and to break up an administration opposed to its extension, when such differences had always been allowed in regard to it, and some twenty presidential elections taken place and been acquiesced in, in spite of all sectional and party differences. It was incredible that any party or any section should attempt to pull down their own house upon their own heads, where for generations they had dwelt as one family in peace and prosperity, or that the rest of the country should ever allow it to be done. No definite intelligence had been received for several days from Charleston, and when the attack on Sumter began, all communication what ever with the North was prevented. So when, after those two days of intense suspense, it was flashed over the wires, WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 119 "Sumter has fallen," almost before the reverberations of those besieging guns had ceased and the smoke cleared away, the news was announced on the bulletin boards of every city and large town to a shifting crowd ; the papers were issuing their extras to carry it on the next train as far and as swiftly as steam could carry them ; from every station the news was spread to every village, hamlet, and manufacturing establishment, and somehow the birds of the air seemed to carry it to each country store, black smith s shop, and remote dwelling, until that event the surrender of Sumter so insignificant in a military point of view, but so all-important in its effect upon the country, which took place at half-past one on Saturday that four teenth of April, was known over the length and breadth of the land before the sun could set and the peace of the Sab bath steal into the hearts of the people. The effect of this intelligence upon the North can hardly be described. It thrilled every soul. It brought the soberest reflection, and forecast the future with a soundness of judg ment, a firmness of principle, and confidence in the final result, that time has justified and will forever honor. The newspapers, as a rule, answered nobly to the demands of the occasion, and spoke patriotically and wisely. Wit ness a single extract which must stand for many more, not all so well expressed or so far-seeing, but yet showing com prehension of the facts and their meaning : The end of the first outbreak of war has come soon, and the flag of the country has ceased to wave above Fort Sumter. In the first con flict the rebels have triumphed, and civil war has been inaugurated. What the end will be, no human eye can foresee, but all eyes can see that we are in the midst either of a revolution or a gigantic rebellion. Force must now be met by force, and the strength of the government must be tested. It is evident that nothing less is aimed at now by the rebels than the revolution of the government. They boldly proclaim their determination to march upon and capture Washington and become the possessors of the archives of the nation. 120 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. The reception of the news in Springfield on Saturday was accom panied by the most profound interest and excitement. The streets were thronged with men, universally gathered into knots where the news was discussed. There was only here and there one among the crowd who manifested any sympathy with the rebels, but from men of all parties the assurance came that the government must be sup ported. If the feeling here is an index of the general feeling of the North, a spirit has been aroused which will spare neither men nir money for wiping out the rebellion, and expunging the mock and mob government that has consented to head it. All feel that the government has now no choice but to go forward and compel respect for itself by force. One hundred thousand men and one hundred millions of money could be placed at the disposal of the government in a fortnight, and men enough poured into Washington in twenty- four hours to meet any force that could be brought against it in a month. We cannot doubt that the administration will fulfill the expectations and respond to the voice of the people. Civil war has been begun by the rebels, and an important question arises as to the relations which the party in the North, politically opposed to the present administration, will assume toward the gov ernment. Is partisanship to be subordinate now, and patriotism dominant ? or are we to be treated to caviling and poorly marked or openly avowed sympathy with the traitors ? Are there men in any Northern State whose blood is so acrid and so thin that they can take delight in the humiliation of the national flag, and are willing to aid -directly or indirectly the traitors ? We hope not. We hope to hear- on every side the expressions of devotion to the Union, and the deter mination to stand by the administration until this question is settled. And we may as well declare here our conviction touching the state of feeling which is rapidly developing at the North. The time is coming, and that very speedily, when traitorous words will not be tolerated ; when men who sympathize with rebellion will not dare to open their mouths or show their heads. There has been, in one part of our country, a "reign of terror" for patriots; there will come a "reign of terror " for traitors. Curses be upon him who will not stand by his country and his flag in their hour of peril. [Springfield Repub lican, April 15, 1861. * * The service done to the country at this crisis ?nd all through the war by the Northern press should never fail to be appreciated. Has y as its utterances neces sarily must be, partisan as they must also be, in the sense of holding to sorre par ticular policy of government and anxious to have certain men elected to office to administer that policy, and tempted to give way in the heat of a canvas* to preju dice, personality and misrepresentation; i-till how few of its utterances breath d disloyalty to the government, or wou d discourage volunteering to uphold the government ! How soon every such discordant note was drowned in the loud WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 121 Sunday, the day after the surrender of Sumter, was an anxious and busy one with the President and his cabinet. They were deciding upon that call for troops which was issued the next morning, and summoning to their aid all who could help them, regardless of party connections or personal animosities. Among others, Senator Douglas s support was secured. Partisan as he was, and a relentless opponent as he was regarded, it is interesting to see what a patriot he could be, and by what gentle influences he could be controlled. Dr. Holland, in his "Life of Lincoln," tells how this was brought about : Hon. George Aslirmm of Massachusetts, who was personally on the most friendly terms with Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Douglas, called on the latter to obtain from him some public declaration that should help the government in its extremity. lie found the Senator sur rounded by political friends, who were soon dismissed, and then for an hour the two men discussed the relations of Mr. Douglas to the administration. The first impulse of the Senator was against Mr. Ashmun s wishes, who desired him to go to the President at once and tell him he would sustain him in all the needful measures which the exigency demanded. His reply was: "Mr. Lincoln has dealt hardly with me in removing some of my friends from office, and I don t know as he wants my advice or aid. Mr. Ashmun remarked that lie had probably followed democratic precedents in making removals, but that the present question was above party, and that it was now in the power of Mr. Douglas to render such a service to his country as would not only give him a title to its lasting gratitude, but would show that in the hour of his country s need he could trample all party considerations and resentments under foot. At this juncture Mrs. Douglas came in, and gave the whole weight of her affectionate influence in the direction in which Mr. Ashmun was endeavoring to lead him. He could not withstand the influence of his friend, his wife, and that better nature to which they appealed. He gave up all demand that all the men and money that were needed should be furnished at once. Even in the State of New York, where the " peace party " was strongest and coer cion was not believed in, and settlement upon any terms was regarded as our only relief, the press as well as the people responded heartily to the President s call for troops. There is a public sentiment in the press which corrects its own mistakes, and controls by its abler, and wiser, and more patriotic utterances those who would differ from them. So that our free press needed no government censorship, as in other countries, but helped to carry us through the war as much as our army and navy. 122 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. his enmity and resentment, and casting every unworthy sentiment and selfish feeling behind him, declared his willingness to go at once to Mr. Lincoln and offer him his earnest and hearty support. It was nearly dark when the two gentlemen started for the President s house. Mr. Lincoln was alone, and on learning of their errand gave them a most cordial welcome. For once the lifelong antagonists were united in heart and purpose. Mr. Lincoln took up the proclamation, calling for 75,000 troops, which he had determined to issue the next day, and read it. When he had read it, Mr. Douglas rose from his chair and said: " Mr. President, I cordially concur in every word of that document, except that instead of a call for 75,000 men I would make it 200,000. You do not know the dishonest purposes of those men as well as I do." This was telegraphed north at once with the proclama tion, and caused immediately the beginning of that notable breaking down of party lines in support of the government. Within a week the senator from Illinois was on his way home, and making speeches by the way in behalf of the government. He had scarcely reached home when he was taken sick and died, leaving behind him, in one of the last letters he ever wrote, this testimony to his real patriotism : " We should never forget that a man cannot be a democrat, unless he is a loyal patriot." The call for 75,000 men was prepared that night, telegraphed over the country, and pub lished in the papers the next morning. It read: Whereas, the laws of the United States have been for some time past and now are opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of political proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals bylaw: Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call for the militia of the several States of the Union to the aggregate number of 75,000, in order to suppress such combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed. The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the State authorities through the War Department. I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and existence of our National Union and the perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already long enough WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 123 endured. I deem it proper to say, that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth, will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union ; and in every event the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or interference with property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens of any part of the country; and I hereby command the per sons composing the combinations aforesaid, to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes, within twenty days from this date. Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents an extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution, convene both Houses of Congress. The Senators and Representatives are therefore summoned to assemble in their respective chambers at twelve o clock, noon, on Thursday, the Fourth of July next, then and there to consider and determine such measures as in their wisdom the public safety and interests may seem to demand. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, and in the independence of the United States the eighty-fifth. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By the President. WM. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. The border slave States which were yet in the Union, refused to furnish any troops at the call of the President, and even Kentucky, which professed such love for the Union, replied by her governor: "Your dispatch is received. In answer I say emphatically, that Kentucky will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern States." The governor of Virginia replied: "I have only to say, that the militia of Virginia will not be furnished for any such purpose ; " and Governor Harris replied: "Tennessee will not furnish a single man for coercion, but 50,000, it necessary, for the defense of our rights and those of our brethren." But the response of the North and West was entirely different. Governor Curtin wrote at once to the President, that Pennsylvania would 124 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. send 100,000 men to Washington within forty-eight hours, if desired. The New York Legislature, on the eve of its adjournment, and the very day Sumter surrendered, voted half a million of dollars to arm and equip her militia and meet the demands of the government, and Governor Morgan issued at once his call for 25,000 men. Governor Sprague of Rhode Island offered the services of the Marine Artillery of Providence, and a regiment of infantry, arid to go himself in command of them, as he did. Such was the prompt and hearty response for troops all along the line of the free States, that the prediction of the Springfield Republican, that " one hundred thousand men, and one hundred millions of money could be placed at the disposal of the government in a fortnight," was no extravagance of enthusiasm, but only a just appreciation of the spirit of the people. Then began the raising and forwarding of troops. If the States had been in possession of arms and equipment for their men, they would have poured them into Washing ton as fast as the railroads could have carried them. But we had needed no troops for many years, arid had almost ome to think that we never should need them any more. There was an enrollment of men fit for military service between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, and there were a few armed and equipped volunteer companies for escort duty on public occasions, and to support the civil authorities in case of a riot. But the mass of the militia had neither arms nor uniforms. Even the arms manufactured by the government and distributed among the States had, under the Buchanan administration, when John B. Floyd was Secretary of War, been principally sent to the South, so that our arsenals had been fairly stripped to replenish theirs. This was a part of the plot of the Secessionists, and carried out by the treason in Mr. Buchanan s cabinet. And with what success, let Mr. Pollard, who had been in WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 125 government employ at Washington and was one of the original Secessionists, say, as he does in his " Southern (Confederate) History of the War," p. 40 : It had been supposed that the Southern people, poor in manufac tures as they were, and in the haste for the mighty contest that was to ensue, would find themselves but illy provided with arms to con tend with an enemy rich in the means and munitions of war. This disadvantage had been provided against by the timely act of one man. Mr. Floyd of Virginia, when Secretary of War under Mr. Buchanan s administration, had by a single order effected the transfer of 115,000 improved muskets and rifles from the Springfield Armory and Water- vliet Arsenal to the different arsenals of the South. Adding to these the number of arms distributed by the Federal government to the States in preceding years of our history, and those purchased by the States and citizens, it was safely estimated that the South entered upon the war with 150,000 small arms of the most approved modern pattern and the best in the world. As showing how far treason had gone in betraying its trusts and robbing the nation of its arms and all means of defense, we have only to refer to facts like these : Secretary Floyd, of whom Mr. Pollard speaks so respectfully, was under indictment when he left, by the grand jury at Wash ington, for malfeasance in office and conspiring to defraud the government. Secretary Thompson of the Department of the Interior left behind him a defalcation of nearly a million of dollars in that department. Mr. Howell Cobb, Secretary of the Treasury, resigned, leaving his department and the government without credit. Georgia took military possession of the Federal arsenal at Augusta, and also of Forts Pulaski and Jackson, commanding the approaches by sea to Savannah. The governor of North Carolina seized the United States arsenal at Fayetteville, with Fort Macon and other fortifications commanding the approaches to Beaufort and Wilmington. The governor of Alabama seized the Federal arsenal at Mobile, and also Fort Morgan, commanding the approaches to Mobile. In Louisiana, the Federal arsenal at Baton Rouge was also seized by order of 126 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. the governor, and the two forts commanding the mouth of the Mississippi and access to New Orleans, and finally the Federal mint and custom house at New Orleans. The navy yard at Pensacola was also taken possession of by Florida and Alabama forces, and Fort Pickens was only saved by the patriotism and intrepidity of Lieutenant Slemmer. But the grossest betrayal of trust, and of greatest imme diate peril to the government, was that of General Twiggs, in command of the department of Texas. He had distin guished himself in the Mexican war, and received a pres entation sword from the government in honor of his services. Yet he turned over his entire army, with all the ports, fortifications and property of that department, to the Secessionists, and by that single act robbed the government of one-half of its military force and its ability to defend its Mexican borders, and more than a million and a half of property. The defensive fortifications located within the seceding States were some thirty in number, mounting over 3,000 guns, and having cost at least twenty millions of dollars. Nearly all of these had been seized and appropriated by the Confederates before Mr. Lincoln s inaugura tion, with the exception of Fortress Monroe, Ya., Fort Sumter, S. C., Fort Pickens, Fla., and the fortresses on Key West and the Tortugas, off the coast of Florida. [Greeley s " American Conflict," Vol. /, p. 413. * Following an administration that had allowed such things to be done with impunity, and without even asserting the right to prevent it, the new administration found itself on the eve of a formidable civil war, without any army or navy worth mentioning, its fortifications occupied by the enemy, its very arms wrenched out of its own hands, with a bankrupt treasury, and not even credit enough upon which to make a decent loan. It was weak in everything except its right position, its able and patriotic President * The same might be said with almost equal truth of our navy. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 127 and cabinet, the intelligence and principle of the people and their devotion to the Union. And the people, instead of waiting to have the government save them, were deter mined to save the government. Had it been any other people, or any other form of government, it is not too much to say this government would never have been saved. But accustomed to do everything themselves in both church and state ; to elect their own religious teachers and magis trates and support them ; to administer the affairs of the parish, the school district, the town, the state ; they were at no loss to know what to do or how to do it, whether it was to raise an army, or to furnish the government with the loan it needed, and, when this was done, to fight, suffer, and die, rather than have this best government yet organized, overthrown, as was shown by the response which the Pres ident s appeal to the people met with. CHAPTER IX. THE CALL TO ARMS IN CONNECTICUT. Governor Buckingham Calls for Troops and Pledges his Private For tune to Equip Them The People and the Legislature Respond with Equal Patriotism Camps of Enlisted Men at Hartford, New Haven and Norwich Washington Cut Off Governor Bucking ham s Message to the President and How it was Sent and Received The Early Volunteers Governor Buckingham s Understanding of the Situation Count de Gasparin s " Uprising of a Great People." Governor Buckingham had just been elected governor for the fourth time. The newly-elected Legislature was also Republican in both branches. It would not assemble for a fortnight, but time was precious, and the Governor did not hesitate to assume the responsibilities of such a crisis, and relying upon the intelligence and patriotism of the people to sustain him in it, responded at once to the Pres ident s call for troops. This call for 75,000 men was made on Monday, April 15, two days after the fall of Sumter, and was telegraphed over the country to meet every man at his breakfast table or place of business that morning, summoning him to his duty in this matter. The Governor s order was issued the next day, as follows : Whereas, the President of the United States, by proclamation, declares that the laws are now opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, and has called for the militia of the several States to the aggregate number of 75,000 men; And, whereas, the Secretary of War has made a call upon the Executive of this State for one regiment of militia for immediate service; WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 129 Therefore, I, William A. Buckingham, commander-in-chief of the militia of the State of Connecticut, call upon the patriotic citizens of this State to volunteer their services and rendezvous immediately at the city of Hartford, reporting themselves to the adjutant general. The very next day he issued another call for another regiment to rendezvous at New Haven, " having reason to believe that the arsenal at Harper s Ferry and other public property has been seized by the revolutionists, and there is immediate danger of subverting the government." Harper s Ferry was seized by Virginia two days later, but the arsenal and workshops were blown up by the officer in charge at the last moment, though more or less of the machinery was saved and removed to Richmond, where it was used to manufacture arms for the Confederacy. A much more serious loss overtook the government at this time, in the loss of the Norfolk navy yard. Virginia was expected to take possession of this navy yard and Harper s Ferry, as well as capture Washington. Had she succeeded in secur ing the ships of war at Norfolk, the heavy guns (so many of them splendid Dahlgrens), and the immense store of ammunition and material for ships and forts, it would have gone far towards supplying the Confederacy with a naval force, as Harper s Ferry would have armed their land forces. Fortunately, though at immense loss and hindrance to the government, these ships were fired and sunk, and everything else blown up, and thus kept out of the hands of the rebels. It was this peril which led the Gov ernor to call for a second regiment before any order came for them. He had already decided, the moment the President s first order came, to apply to the Thames bank of Norwich, of which he was a director, for a loan of $50,000 on his own personal security, for war purposes. Just then he received a telegram from Mr. E. C. Scranton, president of the Elm City bank, New Haven, tendering a loan to the State of 130 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. the same amount. The Thames bank immediately offered him 1100,000 instead of $50,000. Then came, one after another, tenders of $20,000 from the Fairfield County bank, $20,000 from Rockville bank, $25,000 from the Mechanics bank, New Haven ; $50,000 from the Citizens bank, Norwich ; $500,000 from the several banks of Hart ford (one-tenth of their capital), and the New Haven banks soon after voted a loan of the same proportions, so that the Governor soon had at his command more than a million of dollars, freely proffered to the State, with no other security for its repayment than confidence in their Governor, and in the intelligence and principle of their fellow-citizens. As showing that this confidence was not misplaced, it should be noticed that when the Legislature came together one of the first things done was to provide for such obligations, and it was voted without a dissenting voice to put $2,000,000 into the hands of the Governor, with which to arm and equip 10,000 men. The above is by no means a complete account of the funds voluntarily furnished to arm and equip troops before any State appropriation was made. The thousands and hundreds of thousands contributed at the same time, to give bounties for enlistment and to provide for the families of those who volunteered, to say nothing of what went during the war to the Sanitary Commission, and the Christian Commission, and directly to favorite regiments and com panies and individuals, would make an amount simply incredible. It should be noticed in regard to the loans made to the State, that the Governor s drafts upon the banks were in this form : " Sir This will be presented by - - through whom I propose to avail myself of your patriotic offer of money to aid the State amid the present national calamities. Honor such drafts as he may draw on you and charge the same to the State, for the final payment of which 1 hold myself personally respon- WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 131 sible" thus pledging his private fortune and personal credit for all they were both worth. The newspapers of the time and later records are full of information showing how troops were raised ; how readily the people understood what to do, and how to do it, though neither the general government nor the State government could render them much assistance ; how every city, town and village undertook the work and suc cessfully accomplished it. Governor Buckingham had been very apprehensive of a more serious state of things in prospect than was generally supposed. This conviction was deepened especially by the result of the Peace Con vention, when he became satisfied that the South would secede, and would fight, and fight fiercely, unless they could secure new guarantees for slavery, which they failed to secure. His letter to the President somewhat later, in regard to the extra session of Congress about to be held, suggesting legislation which he deemed necessary, and es pecially his urgent recommendation to raise a much larger army than was proposed, if we ever expected to put down such a rebellion, shows how well he apprehended both the spirit and the resources of the South. In his opinion it was to be no u sixty-days " affair, nor to be finished up by " three-months volunteers," nor by 75,000 men. Hence his recommendation of a force that seemed extravagant at the time showed his just appreciation of the present state of things, and his rare forecast of the future. In prospect of such a state of things, the Governor, as early as January, had issued an order, as commander-in-chief of the militia of the State, calling attention to the " impor tance of filling up their ranks by enlistments, of a careful inspection of their arms and equipments, and being ready for such service as any emergency might demand." When the crisis came, and even before his call for troops was issued, on Sunday, the very day after Sumter fell, and 132 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. before any call for volunteers from either the President or the Governor could reach them, the people of Wiusted had been invited from their pulpits to meet that evening in their largest hall, " to consider the duties of patriots in the pres ent emergency." They were all actuated by the same loyalty to the government and love for the Union, and guided by the same good sense. For when a gentleman of prominence and political influence offered a resolution in favor of withdrawing the United States troops from the forts within the seceded States, the proposition was received only with scorn and indignation. Instead of this, they prepared and signed an address to the Governor, requesting him to " adopt such measures as would give him an oppor tunity to place the resources of the State at the disposal of the general government," and with it went a list of one hundred young men, volunteering to go to the war. When the company came into camp, as it soon did, there was found, as a private in its ranks, Hon. John Boyd, a graduate of Yale College in 1821, the historian of his town and late Secretary of State, with his minister, Rev. Hiram Eddy, who became chaplain of the regiment. * The next day a similar meeting was held in New Britain, where the people pledged themselves to support the constitutional govern ment, and offered their services to the Governor, and * It is said of this "white-haired John Boyd," who remained with his company and lived in the barracks until the regiment was sent into the field, that he was importunate to go with them but " no one could be induced to pronounce him young enough for military duty, and he went reluctantly home." Rev. John Pier- pont, however, the distinguished Unitarian minister and poet of Boston, a native of Connecticut, and graduate of Yale in 1804, was allowed to go, and marched into Virginia, at the age of seventy-six, as chaplain of the Massachusetts Twenty-second. As showing how all classes and ages breathed the same spirit : " The first to enlist in that Winsted company, and the youngest, was Samuel B. Home, a private, seventeen years old, who was quite small of his age, and would have been rejected had it not been for his importunity. He served faithfully during t e three-months service, re-enlisted and bore a musket as private for eighteen months and was then promoted to a captaincy. He was in twenty-five battles, and was wounded three times, and served at the close of the war as provost marshal of the Eighteenth Army Corps. Two of his uncles were officers in the English army, one of them on Wellington s staff at Waterloo. "-[" Connecticut in the War: 1 pp. 46 and 76. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 133 through him to the President of the United States, " for the maintenance of our beloved government," with a list of seventy-eight volunteers. In Danbury the citizens assem bled at the court-house in large numbers and resolved that " the administration must be supported in suppressing the rebellion." And here, probably, the first town provision was made for the support of the families of volunteers, a plan that so soon became well-nigh if not quite universal. Here an excellent company, the " Worcester Guards," Cap tain Wildman, offered its services to the governor two days in advance of his call. Nelson L. White, a prominent lawyer of Danbury, entered the ranks as a private, though he was soon promoted to be major of one regiment and then lieutenant-colonel of another. Waterbury promptly recruited her company of city guards, under Colonel Chat- field, and sent them into camp, while the Irish Roman Catholics assembled and fifty of them voted to volunteer. Bridgeport sent one company composed wholly of Germans, while almost every company in camp contained more or less soldiers of foreign birth. Hartford, which had been so prompt and generous in providing funds for the war, was no less so in furnishing men. And this was the intro duction of so many prominently and honorably into mili tary life that it is worth while to recall the development of some of them : Upon the reception of the Governor s first proclamation, Joseph R. Hawley, a Republican, Albert W. Drake, a Democrat, and Joseph Per kins, met in the office of the Hartford Press, of which Hawley was editor, and after discussion of the situation signed an informal enlist ment paper as volunteers in the First Regiment, and issued a call in tlie morning paper for men to join in a rifle company. Before sunset the minimum had enlisted, and at a great meeting in the evening, presided over by Lieutenant-Governor Catlin, the company was filled. In this company was only one man who had ever seen service on any field, and only two who had ever been in the militia. The command of the company was offered to and accepted by George H. Burnham, lieutenant-colonel of the First Connecticut Militia. Hawley became 134 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. first lieutenant and Drake second lieutenant, Perkins going into the ranks as a private. Captain Burnham soon became colonel of the First, and afterwards of the Twenty-second. Lieutenant Hawley, ultimately brigadier, and brevet-major-general, and afterward gov ernor of the State, and then senator in Congress. Lieutenant Drake, colonel of the Tenth, died in service, and Private Perkins became colonel of a United States colored regiment. [" Connecticut in the War." Another Hartford company, fck the City Guard," immediately volunteered and filled up its ranks, while a third was organ ized and soon went into camp. Colonel Samuel Colt also offered to raise a regiment and arm it with revolving breech rifles of his own manufacture. His purpose was .to have every man some six feet high and a good shot, a regiment of sharpshooters. But on account of some disagreement as to the use of such irregular arms in the service, and other reasons, the regiment, numbering nearly 700 men of this class, was disbanded, though many of them were afterwards incorporated into other companies, particularly those that went to make up the Fifth Regiment, under the command of Col. Orris S. Ferry, who afterwards became Governor Buckingham s associate senator in Congress. Nor were the other cities and towns of the States behind Hartford in their proportionate liberality and promptness to respond to the call for troops. The first war meeting in Norwich, the home of the Governor, was held as soon as a single day s notice could be given of it, when the people came together as a mass, at 10 o clock in the morning, and after subscribing a fund of $20,000, set about raising troops. The very next day Frank S. Chester, bookkeeper in the Thames bank commenced a company, and enlisted sixty-five men before night, who took the name of the " Buckingham Rifles." The following account of Captain Chester and his company as they left for the front, is given in the newspapers of the day: "One of the companies comprising the Second Regiment of the Connecticut troops which have just left for the seat of war, is the Buckingham WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 135 Rifles, of Norwich. Captain Chester, who is the son of Rev. Dr. Chester of Buffalo, was a clerk in one of the banks in Norwich, and having been educated in a military school, set out to raise a company. It was Friday morning after the surrender of Sumter, and before night he had raised one. He put them under drill at once and drilled them through Saturday and Sunday and Monday, when at night he fainted and fell upon the floor of the drill-room. They were to leave for New Haven the next day, when some one said to him: Why, Chester, you can t go to-morrow you mustn t go. I shall go if I am carried, was his reply. And the next day he marched to the cars at the head of his company, pale and weak, lean ing on the arm of the Governor, followed by the hearts and prayers of the whole city. This incident may be worth remembering till we hear again from Captain Chester and his Rifles." From this time volunteering never faltered, and the re- suit showed the quality of the men who offered their ser vices to the government. * New London promptly raised her $10,000, and her " City Guards " filled up their ranks " to be ready to march at a minute s notice." Mystic, a flourishing little shipbuilding village in that vicinity, raised funds generously and sent twenty-four young volun teers to the Fourth Regiment ; while the ." Mallory Boys," sons of one of the principal shipbuilders, offered their yacht of a hundred tons burden to the government free of expense during the war, and she was accepted. " Old Windham county," the papers say, " has not been so much aroused since Putnam left his plow in the furrow and de parted for Lexington in 1775," and at a mass meeting held at the shire town of the county and presided over by ex- Governor Cleveland, an old Democrat, 15 ,600 was subscribed for war purposes and sixty men raised in thirty minutes. The neighboring towns all partook of the same spirit and sent their quotas into camp. * The Governor may have been thought to have bestowed his commissions pretty liberally upon the citizens of his own town. But this list of names will in dicate the wisJom of his selection: Brig. Gen. Daniel Tyler; Brev. Brig. Gen. Henry W. Birge; Brig. Gen. Harland ; Brev. Gen. William G. Ely ; Brev. Brig. Gen. Alfred P. Rockwell ; the last four of them, out of five, having entered the service from civil life ; not to speak of others who filled with equal ability and fidelity the lower positions assigned them. 136 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. There were three camps of equipment and instruction established in the State: "Camp Buckingham." at Hart ford ; " Camp Aiken," at Norwich, and " Camp Brewster," at New Haven. The men of the region were not neces sarily sent to the nearest camp, but to the one where a regiment was being filled up, so that the first regiment to be mustered in, and the first to go to the front being that so vigorously started at Hartford, was equipped and drilled in the camp at New Haven. New Haven also afforded certain facilities for the drilling of troops which the Gov ernor had not been slow to avail himself of. General Russell, a graduate of Yale in 1833, had built up there a large and successful classical and military institution, which fur nished any number of drill masters. It was amusing to see these mere boys putting those stalwart men, college students and professors, through their exacting and weari some drill. But it was so valued that it was willingly submitted to, and by many who could never expect to be called into actual, service. Daily contact with soldiers and the daily sight of the vacant places of undergraduates, tended to make the Yale students restless and uneasy. "We must be ready for the next call," they said. Each class became a military company with frequent drills and creditable dis cipline. The same feeling prompted the organization of the " Gradu ate s Guard," students of theology, law, medicine and philosophy, with the learned professors of the college, who became all at once obedient and patient students in the school of the soldier. These drills were far from fruitless. The older members one by one dropped out, but the rest drilled regularly and with good progress. The next call was made, and we sent to the front our full quota. Another call came, and a third. We gave our sturdiest and best, until nearly one-half of the graduate s guard were soldiers of the Republic." [" Connecticut in the War," p. 76. And what was true of this college was also true of the other two colleges of the State. In the Fourth Regiment, afterwards organized and encamped at Hartford, was almost an entire company known as the " Wesley." n Guards," WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 137 and mostly made up of students in Wesleyan University, while the students of Trinity College were found scattered through the different regiments. As New Haven was the first to offer the Governor funds with which to raise troops, she immediately set about fur nishing men and equipping them, and providing for their families. As soon as the call for troops came, a mass meeting was held, the mayor presiding, and all parties par ticipating, at which it was recommended that the Common Council appropriate 110,000 for the families of volunteers, which was done, only the amount was doubled. Of private benefactors, one of the earliest and most thoughtful was Mr. Thomas II. Trowbridge of this city, who, before a company was formed, offered $500 for the support of the families of volunteers during their absence, which at the outset was to be for only three months, thus beginning a course of unstinted liberality, which he continued throughout the struggle, and initiated that great patriotic charity which, continued by private individuals, and finally adopted by towns and states, extended help to all the families of absent soldiers. Mr. David Clark of Hartford rose in the first war meeting there, and offered to support one hundred families of volunteers dur ing the war. This work was virtually taken off his hands by a vote of the town soon after, but his patriotism and benevolence found no check, until directly and indirectly he had given the sum of $t>0,000 to the work of prosecuting the war. [" Connecticut in the War." Mr. James Brewster was another eminently patriotic and benevolent citizen of New Haven, after whom their camp was named. He uniformed and equipped throughout one of the companies of the city, the " Brewster Rifles, " besides being an important adviser and helper in the whole work of raising troops. Upon the arrival of the first volunteers at New Haven, they had to be quartered in public and private buildings, and their officers and friends were obliged to provide for them until the State could do it. Happily, they found such friends as we have spoken of, in all their places of encamp ment, and these, with their fellow-townsmen and friends 138 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. at home, furnished them with comforts, and even luxuries,, such as soldiers never had before. They came from all parts of the State. They came as companies, some of them organized and with well-filled ranks; more in squads, repre senting the contribution of some town, or village, or neigh borhood, but all anxious to get into the field. They came here especially because the First Regiment was to be fitted out here, and as this was the only regiment then called for, they were afraid they might never be wanted. They hoped that they might at least get the places of such as were rejected, or induce some who had been accepted to let them become their substitutes. So universal was this spirit in sup port of the Union that within one week after the call for a single regiment was made, three regiments were in camp, and within three weeks fifty-four companies had tendered their services to the Governor, being five times the quota of the State under the President s call for 75,000 troops. Such was the response of the State, and from every part of it, to the call for volunteers and their equipment for the field. It certainly was not for the compensation that so many enlisted, when the pay of a soldier was only twelve dollars or so a month, with perhaps one hundred or two hundred dollars bounty. So strong and so pure was the patriotism of our people, that other considerations were generally lost sight of. War was not popular. The War of the Revolution we honored and the men engaged in it, because we had a right to such independence, and secured self-government, and were teaching the world how it could be safely administered. But the war of 1812 was regarded as less necessary, while the Mexican war was an abomina tion to the North because waged in the interest of slavery. It was even difficult to keep up a few military companies for public display and escort duty, and to support the police in case of a mob. Many felt that such " fuss and feathers " seemed childish in full-grown and sober men. But here WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 139 was a necessity which nothing but military organization could cope with. The government was in danger, and if it was a good government and worth preserving, what else could an intelligent and conscientious people do, but defend it, and fight for its defence when it had become absolutely necessary ? What a pity the South could not have under stood us a little better, and instead of regarding us as only mean spirited and money loving, could not have conceived of us also as having ordinary good sense, and some con science, and a little liberality when great expenditures were demanded ! Where was their sagacity and statesmanship that did not even suspect us as possessed of such qualities, before they encountered them so recklessly? At any rate, from this old New England State, with its history of the Revolution, and its Puritan Governor, and traditional love of liberty, and devotion to free institutions in both State and church, what else could have been expected, than such an " uprising of the people" in such an emergency? It was this tide of liberty and loyalty sweeping over the North, so high and resistlessly, that filled up the Grand Army of the Republic. Even New York city, which appeared so badly in the " Peace Convention," where every concession was to be made to Virginia, and additional guarantees given to slavery ; even she was swept from her feet before such a spirit, and forgot the interests of trade, and the confisca tion of her dues at the South, to proffer her troops and wealth and business ability to the government, as freely as any of us.* * Rev. Dr. Morgan Dix, in his memoirs of his father, General John A. Dix, gives a strik ng illustration of this, when describing the effect upon the city of the arrival of the Massachusetts Sixth Regiment, the first troops sent from the North for the relief of Washington : Never to my dying day shall I forget a scene witnessed on Thursday Apt il 19, three days after the President s first call for troops. A regiment had arrived from Massachusetts on its way to Washington v.a Baltimore. They came at night, and it was understood that after breakfasting at the Astor House, the march would be lesumed. By nine in the morning an immense crowd had assembled about t -e hotel. Broadway, from Barclay to Fulton street, and the lower end of Park How were occupied by a dense mas-s of human beings all, 1-40 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. The equipment of troops was a difficult matter at the outset of the war. Massachusetts had become the envy of the other States, because at the recommendation of Gov ernor Andrew she had armed and thoroughly equipped two of her regiments in anticipation of such need of them, as soon came, and one of them, the famous Sixth, had been of immense service in pushing its way through Baltimore, when Pennsylvania troops were compelled to turn back. They had no arms, and it was unwise to encounter such an infuriated and well-prepared mob as well-armed troops could scarcely resist. So every effort had to be made in Connecticut to supply such deficiencies. The Governor on watching: the front entrance, at which the regiment was to file out. From side to side, from wall to wall, extended that innumerable host, silent as the grave, expect ant, something unspeakable in their faces. It was the dead, deep hush before the thunderstorm. At last a low murmur was heard ; it sounded somewhat like a gasp of men in suspense, and the cause was that the soldiers had appeared, their leading files descending the steps. By the twinkle of their bayonets about the heads of the crowd, their course could be traced out into the open street in front. Formed at last in column they stood, the band at the head, and the word was given, March ! Still dead silence prevailed. The drums rolled out the time ; the regi ment was in motion And when the band, bursting into full volume, struck up what other tune could the Massachusetts men have chosen? Yankee Doodle ! I caught about two bars and a half of the old music, not more, for instantly there arose a sound such as many a man never heard in all his life, and never will hear . such as is never heard more than once in a lifetime. Not more awful is the thunder of heaven, as with sudden peal it smites into silence all lesser sounds, and rolling through the vault above us fills earth and sky with the shock of its terrible voice. One terrific roar burst from the multitude, leaving nothing audible save its own reverberation. We saw the heads of armed men, the gleam of their weapons, the regimental colors, all moving on, pageant-like ; but naught could we hear save that hoarse, heavy surge, one general acclaim, one wild shout of joy and hope, one end less cheer, rolling up and down, from side to side, above, below, to right, to left, the voice of approval, of consent, of unity in act and wi l. No one v*ho saw or heard cou d doubt how New York was going. The North was rising, and the ques tion was often asked by those who were watching events, How will New York go ? There were sinister hopes in certain quarters of a strong sympathy with seces sion movements ; dreams that New York mk>ht decide to cut herself off from the rest of the country and become a free city. These hopes and dreams vanished in a day. The reply to the question How will New York go ? was given with a hearti ness and energy altogether worthy of her." If any other answer to that question was needed, it was given again the next day with the same unanimity and deter mination, when the Seventh New York Regiment the pet of th -i city, the best representative of its culture, wealth, business energy, noble character, marched down the same Broadway, through just as great a crowd, and with as many and sincere expressions of devotion to the government. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 141 his own responsibility had purchased knapsacks, cartridges, boxes and bayonets for one or two regiments, but the State had on hand only 1,020 United States muskets of the latest pattern, together with about 2,000 more that were not very serviceable. Reluctant to send any of his troops into the field with such imperfect arms as these last, he set about procuring better from any and every quarter. Finding a lot of 800 Sharp s rifles, manufactured for the Egyptian government, and not paid for, he and Lieutenant-Governor Catlin advanced the money and bought them. In connec tion with Governor Andrew he sent an agent to Europe, where a few thousand muskets of poor quality, and at a high price, were obtained. It was only, however, as they could be manufactured here, that the army came to be sup plied with such as were satisfactory. The United States armory at Springfield came to turn out daily, before the war was over, 1,000 breech-loading rifled muskets of the best pattern, enough to arm a fresh regiment every night. The country, however, could not wait for this, and so the first troops were many of them armed with Sharp s, Maynard s and Colt s rifles, the best of any, only it was objectionable to have such irregular arms in use, where uniform ammuni tion was so necessary. It was not long allowed ; only the flank companies of some of these regiments were permitted to retain their rifles, which sometimes proved greatly to their advantage. Furthermore everything had to be collected, much of it manufactured, and even the soldiers uniforms were got up in hot haste, by liberal citizens who offered the cloth, and patriotic tailors who cut it, and women equally patriotic and generous who made it up into gar ments From Rockville the news comes that their " com pany will leave and go into camp in a day or two, and that all the cloth has been purchased, and all the tailors are cutting it, and the ladies with sewing machines and needles are making up the uniforms. " " The ladies of New Haven 142 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. have resolved to supply all deficiencies in uniforms, and worked by scores so diligently, that within ten days they have finished and distributed more than 500 full sets. " At Hartford, the committee in charge of such supplies acknowledge the receipt of " two hundred pairs of panta loons, " and say they need " one hundred and fifty more ns soon as possible, and the quartermaster general acknowl edges the receipt of one hundred and eighty shirts made by the ladies of Hartford. " Such business, even in a peace- loving and Christian community, was deemed a " work of necessity and mercy, " fit for the Sabbath. The Monday paper says : " Yesterday, all the churches sang the patri otic tune America, the ministers preached patriotic ser mons, while one hundred and fifty ladies worked on haver sacks for the troops. " Some kinds of equipments were so difficult to be obtained that the papers contained this advertisement : " There is such a scarcity of swords and epaulets, that those who are in possession of such articles are requested to sell or loan them to meet the pressing exi gency. " But everything was provided, and if the Con necticut troops did not reach Washington as soon as some others, they were more fully equipped than most of them. Indeed, General Scott s exclamation when the First Con necticut Volunteers arrived, was : " Thank God, here is one regiment ready for the field ! " In such a spirit and under such disadvantages was the work of furnishing troops to the general government car ried on, and with such success. Before the First Regi ment was sent forward, two more were ready to take its place if needed, for the first three were only allowed to enlist for three months. After that the government allowed them to be enlisted for three years, or during the war. During that early period little else was done or thought of except to furnish all the troops that might be needed to put down secession and save the government. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 143 So general, and almost universal was this disposition, that political differences and party feeling were well-nigh swallowed up in the general patriotism. Though party lines and political principles were not distinctly renounced any more than by Senator Douglas when he pledged his support to President Lincoln in putting down the rebellion, there were many " war Democrats " and a number of Democratic papers in the State, who sustained the Gov ernor and his party in their war measures as earnestly as if it were their own party that had adopted them. True, there was a " Peace Party " at first that threatened trouble, and there were a few indiscreet politicians and papers that made utterances which were little less than treasonable. But this so grossly belied the position and sentiments of the people at large that it could not be long kept up. The single fact that, as soon as the Legislature came together, and it was proposed to sanction all that the Governor had done to raise troops for the war, and to put $2,000,000 into his hands with which to raise 10,000 men, no oppo sition whatever was made to it, shows how patriotism had risen above all partisanship. Ex-Governor Seymour did indeed refuse to accept command of one of the regi ments offered him, but General Doming accepted it, though of the Democratic party, and of equal prominence in it. So, too, General Deming declined to preside at the first war meeting in Hartford, while Mr. James E. English, who was afterwards Democratic Governor of the State, addressed the war meeting in Nev Haven, saying that, " all party lines were to be obliterated, and all Northeners should be Unionists, heart and hand." It was the unanimity of this principle and sentiment, as well as the fervor of such patriotism, which made volunteering so brisk, and con tributions to the equipment of troops so unstinted. These were stirring times in Connecticut, the last two weeks in April which followed the fall of Sumter, and not 144 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. merely in her activities, but in her anxieties also. The Massachusetts Sixth Regiment had just passed through the State, where thousands flocked to the depots in the night to see the first troops going to the war, and through New York city to awaken unbounded enthusiasm there. Then came the news of the attack upon that regiment in Balti more, and how they were obliged to fight their way through the city.* Then the railroad bridges in Maryland were burned, and all communication cut off from Washing ton, so that there was no knowing for a few days whether the capital had not been taken and burned ; nor on its part what was being done at the North for its relief. In this state of things Governor Buckingham regarded it as absolutely necessary that such communication should be reopened, and was the first to find that the capital was safe, though threatened, and to give the President the joyful intelligence that the North was thoroughly roused, and would soon send him relief. Monday morning, April 22, two days after the attack upon the Massachusetts troops, the Governor sent his son-in-law, General William * The Sixth Regiment of the Massachusetts Militia gained its distinction by the promptness with which it responded to the first call for troops, and its good disci pline an I humane conduct under the provocations of the mob at Baltimore. The President s call was issued the Monday after Sumter fell, the governor s followed the same afternoon, and Tuesday morning found the companies from the neigh boring towns mustering on Boston Common. The captain of one of them sum moned at the last moment to fill up the regiment, did not receive his summons until Wednesday morning, when it found him in bed, and to the question, " When can you and your company report at headquarters : " answered, " At eleven o clock this morning." And they were all there at the time, a thousand strong, and the whole regiment were armed and equipped that day, and left at eight o clock in the evening. It was at midnight or soon after that such crowds welcomed them at Springfield, Hartford and New Haven, and the next morning that New York was so fired by their patriotism as they passed through the city. The morning after, the morning . f that fatal Friday, they had left Philadelphia before daylight fur Baltimore, and before noon were fighting their way through that infuriated mob, where two of their number were shot dead and thirty-six more were wounded. And the same afternoon at five o clock they reached Washington, to be welcomed by 5,000 people, who escorted them to the Capitol, where they were quartered in the senate chamber. As an indication of the spirit of the North, r.o wonder it .^ent a thrill of patriotism throughout the nation, and caused a chill of despondency if not of fear to the South, that the capital was to be relieved br fore they could capture it, or carry out WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 145 A. Aiken, with instructions to reach Washington if pos sible with official dispatches, and bring back the orders of Government. As nothing could furnish a better idea of the state of things there, and of the helpless and de spondent condition of the government, we give General Aiken s account of the matter Finding a gentleman in Philadelphia undertaking the same journey, they pushed on together until they reached the Susquehanna river, where communications were interrupted. Here they found that General Butler had just seized steam ferryboats, and taken his own Massachusetts troops and the New York Seventh Regiment around Baltimore to Annapolis. Here they crossed over in an old flatboat to Havre de Grace and hired a man to carry them in his wagon to the city. Spies and traitors were plenty, imprecating curses upon all Yankees. Here the narrative goes on to say : The brilliantly illuminated streets of Baltimore were alive with people, some in uniform and generally wearing the rebel badge upon their coats. On arriving at a hotel, we retired almost immediately to our rooms, and there remained till morning. What I saw and heard in the crowded halls convinced me that no avowed Union man could be safe there for a moment. some of the other important parts of their programme. This regiment also had in other respects an honorable record, for it re-enlisted when its three-months term of service was over, and served faithfully to the end of the war. And when Balti more had to be taken possession of by the general government and put under martial law, though this was a part of the force stationed there, no one ever heard of any relaxation of their good discipline, nor manifestation of resentment toward a community by whom they had been so badly treated. The truth was Maryland was more than half a Secession State, and Baltimore had an irresolute mayor, a large " plug-ugly " element, and a treasonable city marshal, who soon joined the Confederacy, while the positions taken by both the authorities of the city and the State had been simply ridiculous if they had not been so treasonable. These troops must not go through the city, and they must not land in the State. They were State troops called into the service of the government, and if a State asserts its right to rob the government of its ultimate means of support and defence, there is no other way to deal with it but to apply martial law. This is what General Butler fell back upon when he landed at Annapolis in spite of the protests of the governor And this was the position Mr. Lincoln so reluctantly took after being harassed by so many Baltimore and Maryland committees. General Butler was sent with some Massachusetts troops, and among them a detachment of the same regiment that had been assaulted in the streets of Baltimore, to encamp upon Federal Hill, where tney had the city completely under command. 146 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Through the politeness of the proprietor, we were enabled to obtain passes, signed by General Winder, and countersigned by Marshall Kane, both bitter rebels, permitting us to pass out of the city limits. By paying $50 we engaged a carriage to convey us to Washington, our number having been increased by three. We might not have been so fortunate about the passes had it not been that the proprietor was a personal friend of my companion, and also a sympathizer with the distinguished officials wielding temporary power. The travelers stopped to bait their horses half way between Baltimore and Washington, and this furnished an opportunity to a lot of Secessionists to insult and threaten them. The narrative then proceeds : AVe arrived at Washington at 10 p. M. on Wednesday the 24th. The unbroken silence of its hotels and apparent desolation of its streets, brought vividly to mind the contrasting scenes of the evening pre vious. Half a dozen persons crowded around me in the hall to ask questions about the North, and I then realized the complete isolation of the city. I hastened to the headquarters of General Scott to deliver a dispatch. It was 11 o clock at night. I found the general attended only by two members of his personal staff. After reading the Governor s paper, he rose, and said excitedly: "Sir, you are the first man I have seen with a written dispatch for three days. I have sent out men every day to get intelligence of the Northern troops. Where are the troops?" His excited manner and the number and rapidity of the questions that followed, impressed me fully with the critical nature of the situation. I afterwards went to the house of Mr. Cameron, secretary of war, who at once admitted me to an audience in his bedchamber. His inquiries were of the same nature, and conveyed a sense of great inse curity. The situation was indeed alarming. The district was sur rounded by hostile territory, the spirit of rebellion being during these few days as rampant in Maryland as in Virginia or South Carolina. A friend in the treasury department advised very strongly against my return by the same route, as my arrival was already marked, and the general nature of my business suspected by the rebel spies that lurked in every street, hotel and department. At 10 o clock next morning, I called upon the President, and saw him for the first time in my life; an interview I can never forget. No office seekers were besieging his presence that day. I met no delay. Mr. Lincoln was alone, seated in his business room up stairs, looking towards Arlington Heights through a wide-open window. Against the casement stood a very long spyglass or telescope, which he had WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 1 47 obviously just been using. I gave him all the information I could from what I had seen and heard on my journey. He seemed depressed be yond measure, as he asked slowly and with marked emphasis: " What is the North about? Do they know our condition?" "No," lanswered, " they certainly did not when I left " He spoke of the non-arrival of the troops under General Butler, and of having had no intelligence from him for two or three days. Having delivered my dispatch and the Governor s words of encouragement, and having enjoyed an interview protracted by the desire of the President beyond ordinary length, I took leave. The sense of the insecurity of the capital, and of that good man s life, has never again come over my spirit with such weight as then. From the President s words and looks I saw what a moment of golden oppor tunity that was to the conspirators. Only a handful of regulars, a regiment of volunteers, and Clay s band of brave men these were all the loyal forces at hand. Foes were without, and their descent from Arlington over Long Bridge was the probability of any moment. Foes were within equally bitter, jostling the friends of the govern ment on every pavement and in every office. Mutual confidence seemed dead and suspicion had usurped its place. I have referred to the entire separation of the city from the North. In no one of many ways was it brought home more practically to my mind than in this: the funds in my possession were in New York city bank notes, yet their value had suddenly departed. They were worth their weight in paper, no more. During the interview with the President my financial dilemma was referred to. I remarked that I hadn t a cent, though my pocket was full. He instantly understood me, and kindly put me in possession of such an amount of specie as I desired. Reimbursement was made on my return, with many thanks. Proceeding to the State Department I was informed that the ex pected troops were heard from and would soon be in the city. A white flag on the Capitol was to be the signal of their arrival. A few minutes afterwards it was run up, and such a stampede of humanity, loyal and rebel, as was witnessed at that hour toward the Baltimore depot, can be appreciated only by one, who like myself took part in it. One glance at the grey jackets of the New York Seventh restored hope and confidence. On Thursday the 25th, I started northward with a small party thither bound. We traveled on an unfrequented route and crossed the Pennsylvania line southeast of Gettysburg, once more in the region of telegraphs, railroads and loyalty. Only on the Capitol at Washington had I seen the stars and stripes since entering Maryland. The successful accomplishment of my journey was to me a matter of more than ordinary satisfaction, for I believe there has been no hour since, when messages of sympathy, encouragement and aid from 148 WILLIAM A. 1 KICKING HAM. the loyal Governor of a loyal State were more truly needed, or more effective in the mind of our late President, than those I had the honor to deliver.*" Connecticut in the War," p. 831). Such a state of things shows how helpless and almost hopeless the condition of the general government had become at this time. To say that the authorities at Wash ington were " demoralized," using the term in its military sense, as when an army is described as having lost its dis cipline and courage, would only describe them properly, f * A mong the numb r of those all over the State who he d their services at the disposal of the Governor, and whose services were so valuable, and to a large extent gratuitously furnished, -was Colonel George L. Peikins of Norwich, who lived to be the venerable and honored centenarian of the city. He was sent to Washington immediately afttr C olonel Aiken, and left Washington for Baltimore on the first train that ran over the reconstructed road, after it had been broken up by the rebels. General Butler with his troops, and the New York Seventh Regiment, had pushed around Baltimore, by the way of Annapolis, to the Relay House, in the rear of the city, and from that j oint had rebuilt the road in an incredibly short time, and under untold difficulties. The torn-up rails must be found and relaid, if they had to be fished up from the bottom of some pond. It was one of the relieving pleasantries of the New England troops to see how well that genteel city regiment did it. But that was not the worst of it, for in that hos tile region and embittered state of the people, no train could be run over the road except at the risk of every life on board. Colonel Perkins returned by the first train that left ths capital. And he and his friends stood over the engineer with pistols, prepared to shoot him down if he betrayed them. General Cass, that sturdy and honest old man, who had recently resigned his seat in Buchanan s cabinet, rather than risk that danger, walked by night the whole distance from Washington to the Relay House, some twenty miles. Colonel Perkins, with his commanding presence, calm courage and tact in any emergency, was well fitted for such a mission, and likely to succeed in it if it was not utterly desperate. t That this is no overstatement of the matter appears not only from General Aiken s impressions, derived from his interview with the President, but from the later and most carefully prepared life of Mr. Lincoln, by Messrs. Nicolay & Hay : "Lincoln, by nature and habit so calm, so equable, so undemonstrative, neverthe less passed this period of interrupted communication and isolation from the North in a state of nervous tension which put all his great pow r ers of mental and physical endurance to their severest trial. General Scott s reports, though invariably expressing his confidence in successful defense, frankly admitted the evident danger, and the President, with his acuteness of observation and his rapidity and Correctness of inference, lost no single one of the external indications of doubt and apprehension. Day after day prediction failed and hope was deferred ; troops did not come, ships did not arrive, railroads remained broken, messengers failed to reach their destination. That one of the successors of Washington should find himself even in this degree in the hands of his enemies was personally humiliating, but that the majesty of a great nation should be thus insulted and its visible sym bols of authority be placed in jeopardy ; above all, that the hitherto glorious example of the Republic to other nations should stand in this peril of surprise and possible sudden collapse, the Constitution be scoffed and jeered, and human free- WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 149 General Scott had lost control of even the little army that was left to him. The secretary of the navy hardly knew where to look for a ship of war whose commander he could trust. President Lincoln, sweeping the heights of George town with his glass, liable at any moment to see cannon planted there to play upon the White House and demolish the city, was not lacking in patient courage, but he was about giving up all hope. But for the loyal governors and the patriotic North behind them, their fears had been fully realized. Still, that confidence was not misplaced, for every one, governors and States, each without waiting for the other, was vying to see who could furnish swiftest and most abundant relief. That assault on Sumter, that attack upon Federal troops at Baltimore, that refusal of the au thorities of Maryland to let government troops cross her borders for the relief of the national capitol, that attempt of Virginia to capture Harper s Ferry and the navy yard at Norfolk, compelling their destruction, had set the North ablaze with more lurid flames and a more sweeping confla gration, than those government works, and ships of war, and material for shipbuilding and ammunition awful as those fires are said to have been could fairly typify. For what was going on in Connecticut, was going on everywhere. Men were enlisting faster than they could be equipped and mustered in. Money was contributed more liberally than it could be used for war purposes. More regiments wcre- dom become once more a by-word and reproach ; this must have begot in him ai> anxiety approaching torture. In the eyes of his countrymen and of the world he- was holding the scales of national destiny ; he alone knew that for the moment the forces which made the beam vibrate with such uncertainty, were beyond his control. In others society he gave no sign of these inner emotions. But once, on the afternoon of the 23d (the day before General Aiken arrived with news from the North), the business of the day being over, the executive office deserted, after walking the floor alone in silent thought for half an hour, he stopped and gazed long and wistfully out of the window down the Potomac in the direction of the expected ships, and, unconscious of any presence in the room, at length broke out with irrepressible anguish in the repeated exclamation : Why don t they come ! why don t they come! " ["Abraham Lincoln A History" Cfittun,, April. p. 920. 150 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. offered to the government and urged upon its acceptance, than the war department was willing to receive. Those signal fires once lighted up along the hills of Scot land to summon the clans against invasion, were slow and dull compared with the electric flash that set whole cities ablaze with light in an instant, and thrilled the whole North with patriotism and summoned to the aid of the government more defenders than she could use. Men of all ranks and conditions and nationalities volunteered for the service. They willingly entered the ranks when they were not needed as officers. Fathers sent their sons when they were too old to go themselves, and mothers, when they gave up a boy to such a necessary and noble service, sometimes wished they had more to give. Sunday-school teachers and the young men in their classes would enlist together, and it was not uncommon to find a minister and his parishioners being drilled together in the same company. The truth is, there never was such an uprising of the people, one so uni versal, so in earnest, so intelligent as to the issues involved, or with such a conscientious determination that the inter ests at stake should not suffer. Then it was on the part of a people who had no knowledge of war and no taste for fighting, but who did know that they had a good govern ment and that for three-quarters of a century they had enjoyed under it more civil and religious freedom than any other people had ever enjoyed, and that the world ought not to lose such a successful experiment in self-government. They remembered at what cost this government and society had been founded. And in the spirit of the old Puritans this Puritan commonwealth, with its Puritan Governor, whom the people had selected for their leader, met this crisis of a terrible war. That was a remarkable little book published in France at the very outbreak of our war, entitled "The Upris ing of a Great People." Its understanding of the real WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 151 nature of the conflict, and its almost prophetic foresight of the final result, based especially upon moral causes, were its wonderful characteristics. It was written by Count de Gasparin, once one of Louis Philippe s cabinet, and a member of the Chamber of Deputies, who was compelled to leave France when Napoleon III came into power, and take up his residence in Switzerland, whence he could look out upon the world and watch the course of nations. Statesman as he was, he was quick to discern the signifi cance of Mr. Lincoln s election, and saw in it the ultimate if not speedy overthrow of slavery. As a philosopher, too, he understood the power of righteousness and freedom when matched against oppression and wrong, and where there was so much liberty of thought and speech and action 4 as in this country, he could not doubt which would conquer. But more than all, as a Christian he had weighed the moral forces of the universe, and calculated " the power without ourselves that makes for righteous ness," and estimated the course of Providence, and the favor and power of the God of heaven, and the influence of the spirit of Christianity upon the earth, with reference to the final result. And while he makes no pretension to read the future, he does attempt to make " a distinction be tween what may happen and what must endure." He sees in Mr. Lincoln s election "emancipation by no means decreed ; it will not be for a long time perhaps, yet the principle of emancipation is established, irrevocably estab lished in the sight of all." " It may be that this struggle will end in the adoption of some blamable compromise, but whatever may be inscribed in it, the election of Mr. Lin coln has just written in the margin a note that will annul the text. The time for certain concessions is past, and the South has no more doubts of it than the North. It may be that the slave States will succeed iu founding their de plorable confederacy, but it is impossible that they should 152 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM succeed in making it live; they will perceive that it is easier to adopt a compact or to elect a president than to create in truth, and in the face of the Nineteenth Century, the nationality of slavery. I have therefore the right to affirm that whatever may be the appearances and incidents of the moment, one fact has been accomplished and will subsist: the United States were perishing and are saved." And while he accepts the testimony of his countryman, M. de Tocqueville, who had written so justly of our democracy, that "America is the place of all others where the Christian religion has preserved the most power over souls," he cannot admit with him that the whites and the blacks can never live together free, without the one oppressing the other, or the other being exterminated. He expects that the Gospel will solve even this " problem of the coexistence of races," as it has already done in some of the West India Islands. " I hope that the Gospel, ac customed to work miracles, will also work this." " This power is the one to be found at the base of all lasting reforms. In that country where the idea of authority has little force, there is one authority, that of the Bible, before which the majority bow, and which is of the more impor tance, inasmuch as it alone commands respect and obedi ence." u Thanks to the Gospel, it is upon this I fall back to solve the problem of the coexistence of races." Then like a Hebrew prophet, he leads us and our friends abroad, to expect a long and desperate struggle, but assures us of Divine protection and ultimate victory : " Let Mr. Lin coln assure himself, and let the European adversaries of slavery remember as well, that it will be necessary to fight, and to persist in fighting. * " Never was a more obstinate and more colossal strife commenced on earth." " But he whom God guards, is well guarded." "It is a fixed fact that the Nineteenth Century will see the end of slavery in all its- forms, and woe to him who opposes the inarch of such WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 153 a progress!" The writer then goes on to say: "If you wish to know what the presidency of Mr. Lincoln will be in the end, see in what manner and under what auspices it was inaugurated. Listen to the words that fell from the lips of the new President as he quitted his native town : The task that devolves upon me is greater perhaps than that which devolved on any other man since the days of Wash ington. I hope that you, my friends, will pray that I may receive that assistance from on high, without which 1 can not succeed, but w r ith which success is certain. v At the end, De Gasparin shouts to us from the heights of Switzerland, across the ocean, in words that embody the truest statesmanship, and the sublimest faith in a Divine government as administered over this world in the interest of righteousness : " Courage, Mr. Lincoln ! The friends of freedom and of America are with you. Courage ! You hold in your hands the destinies of a great principle and a great people. Courage ! Your role, as you have said, may be inferior to no other, not even to that of Washington. To raise up the United States will not be less glorious than to have founded them." Pie saw clearer from a distance than many of us could here, but we had faith, if sight were clouded, and the event has justified all who refused to be lieve, that a free people would give up the work they had undertaken, and so far perfected, until it should be fully accomplished. CHAPTER X. THE SESSION OF THE LEGISLATURE, 1861. The Outbreak of the War Governor Buckingham s Prompt and Vigorous Support of the Government His Pledge that no State Should Furnish More or Better Troops His Correspondence with the War Department, and Sympathy with Their Embar rassmentsHis Remarkable Letter to the President and Recom mendations in Regard to the Extra Session of Congress Just Called His Just Estimate of the Conflict and Counsel to Make Greater Preparations for it He Binds the Destinies of the State to Those of the General Government, and Pledges all Her Re sources to Sustain the Latter The President s Call for More Troops Based on the Application of the Loyal Governors And he Gets Them The Governor Recommends that the State Loan its Credit to the General Government, Which is Done to the Extent of Two Million of Dollars Extra Session of Congress, July 4, 1861 Battle of Bull Run. The election of state officers and members of the Legisla ture took place on the first Monday in April, and the Legis lature was convened, and the Governor inaugurated, the first Wednesday in May. The Governor in his message treated as briefly as possible of state affairs, but dwelt at length upon the peril threatening the nation, and the duties of the state in such an emergency. This part of the message is as follows : " When the President of the United States made requisitions for troops to suppress combinations against laws, the Executive found himself without legal authority to obey the requisition. We had no enrollment as required by the laws of the general government, and the state had neglected to point out the mode of designating our quota of troops. Under these circumstances no alternative was left but to convene the General Assembly, or to appeal to the patriotism of the WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 155 people for volunteers. The former course would have involved so much delay that I had no hesitation in adopting the latter. "The threatened seizure of the city of Washington by men organ ized in armed rebellion; the authoritative announcement that the President of the revolted states was about to issue letters of marque against the citizens of loyal states; and the infuriated and murderous attack upon Massachusetts troops while passing through the city of Baltimore to the defence of the national capital, created an emer gency which evidently called for prompt and energetic action. I therefore at once issued a call for a larger number of troops than was named in the requisition of the President. The response given from every section of the state, of offers of men as well as of money, showed that the fires of true patriotism were kindled in the hearts of the people, that they were fully aroused to a sense of the impending danger and determined to defend their liberties at every cost or at any hazard. "I have already accepted the services of forty companies, am organ izing them into regiments, appointing their regimental officers, and ordering the purchase of whatever appears to be requisite to guard our sons from hardships incidental to the life of a soldier, and to render them efficient in the service of their country. They were with out uniforms and camp equipage, for which I have incurred large responsiblities. In doing this, I have received the hearty co-opera tion of our citizens, including ladies, who have labored with patriotic zeal to make clothing for the troops and to supply them with other necessaries. "While communication with the national capital was interrupted, I despatched special messengers to the President and Secretary of War, for the purpose of giving information respecting the conditions of our troops, offering the services of the volunteers, as well as to receive such directions as were needful for efficient co-operation with the government. "I have given orders for the troops to be in readiness to move, but have waited for instructions from the War Department before direct ing their march. It is manifestly far better for the cause that our troops remain as they are until their services are required at some point where they will occupy their true position in the general plan, rather than move without a definite object, when by so doing they will be in danger of embarrassing the government, and may fail of taking an active part in the conflict. Recent information from the War Department justifies this position. "I ask your early attention to the course which I have pursued during this emergency, believing that any right or necessary act will receive your sanction." 156 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. This matter certainly received the " early attention " of the Legislature, for while their attention was called to it on the first day of their session, on the third day the subject had heen referred to a committee, a bill perfected, reported,, and unanimously adopted, not only approving of the course pursued by the Governor, biiu putting $2,000,000 at his dis posal for the purpose of raising troops, and authorizing him to enlist 10,000 men. This was all prompt work. To have raised forty companies in fifteen days, when only ten were- called for from the state, and to have collected funds enough from voluntary contributions and the appropriations of towns to have them in camp, well-nigh armed and eqiupped, and under drill, awaiting the call of the general government a new business for New England people to be- engaged in ; and to have done it so harmoniously, where party lines were not effaced nor party politics extinct was a remarkable achievement. The explanation is, that a people unused to war and devoted to peaceful pursuits, were compelled to fight if they would save their government and liberties, in which they had been so blessed, and without which there would be little left of public value. The ruin which threatened them was a common one, which must be averted before they could consult their political differences. and preferences. When a town is burning up, neighborhood quarrels are forgotten. The leading Democrats of Con necticut, to a greater extent than in some other states, had become " War Democrats," and were co-operating cordially and vigorously with their political opponents in maintaining the government and the Union. On the other hand, the Governor and his party meant to be as fair and conciliatory toward them as possible. Several of them had been ap pointed by the Governor delegates to the late Peace Conven tion at Washington. They were offered commissions in the regiments, especially when they had any peculiar qualifica tions, or experience in military affairs, like ex-Governor WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 157 Seymour, who had served in the Mexican war, but declined the command of a regiment, which Colonel Henry C. Dem- ming subsequently accepted and performed honorable ser vice at New Orleans, after having been a leading and useful member of the then Legislature. The state of mutual con sideration and co-operation in that body is well exhibited in its action upon the death of Senator Stephen A. Douglas, which occurred during its session. The Republican Speaker of the House, Hon. Augustus Brandegee, announced the death of Senator Douglas, and paying him a just tribute of respect, declared " the loss of such a man, at such a crisis, to be an unspeakable calamity." To this Colonel Demming responded in a set of resolutions and a glowing tribute of his own to the great Democratic leader, ending as follows: " I cannot close, Mr. Speaker, without expressing the thanks of my mourning comrades and myself for the generous and magnanimous manner in which you have initiated these solemnities. Long and late may it be, sir, in these days when the mighty are falling, pillars of state tottering on their base, the temple of liberty almost crumbling in the <lust, long may it be, before your banner is dropped and the coronach wailed over any chieftain of your clan. Long may it be ere we are called upon to imitate your spirit, and reciprocate your kindness on the present occasion." There were, to be sure, at this time indiscreet and dis loyal utterances from individuals and the press, and the Governor had felt obliged to call attention to the proper limits of individual opinion and disloyal and dangerous speech, while two years later, in the most discouraging period of the war, there came to be more of it, and more efficient means had to be taken to check the mischiefs of it. But in this early stage of the war there was surprising harmony in the Legislature and among the inhabitants of the state in raising troops and funds for the support of the general government. That first act of the Legislature, WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. against which not a single vote was cast in either house, was the noblest tribute that could be paid to the patriotism of the state, and both parties are entitled to their full share of it. As was said by the Hartford " Courant " when the bill was adopted, and seemed to express the general senti ment of the state : " This bill authorizes the enlistment of 10,000 men liable at all times to be turned over to the service of the United States on the order of the government, fixes the mode and term of their payment, legalizes- appropriations from towns and cities, and appropriates $2,000,000 to their support. It passed the Legislature without a dissenting vote. In the house, Messrs. Burrall of Salsbury, Demming of Hartford and Gallagher of New Haven spoke in favor of it on the Democratic side, while Messrs. Carpenter of Killingly, Wooster of Derby and Thomp son of Suffield made explanatory and patriotic speeches in its favor. The bill reposes much confidence in the Governor, and relieves from heavy responsibilities incurred without express law, but from the best of motives. It indicates respect for the man, and is a practical com pliment which a Connecticut Legislature rarely pays. The whole bill is a departure from ordinary policy, warranted only by the solemn exigency of the occasion. It indicates unmistakably that Connecticut is ready to do her utmost to uphold the government and preserve the Union." No wonder the Governor wrote at once to the President, informing him of the action of the state, and of the determi nation of her citizens to fulfill the pledges he had made to the government in their behalf : ( "STATE OF CONNECTICUT, EXKCUTIVE DEPARTMENT, "I HARTFORD, May 3, 1861. " DEAR SIR: The General Assembly of the state has placed $2,000,- 000 at my disposal for the purpose of organizing, equipping and arm ing the militia of the state, and for mustering them into the service of the United States. Allow me to say that this appropriation was made by the unanimous vote of both houses, and indicates the senti ment of the citizens of this state, and their determination in the strongest and most positive position which you will assume in defence of the authority of the government. I am, dear sir, " Yours with high consideration, " WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. "To ABRAHAM LINCOLN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES." WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 159 The dangerous condition of Baltimore and the disloyal position which Maryland seemed likely to assume led the Governor to send one of his aides soon after with the follow ing communication to the President : ( " STATE OF CONNECTICUT, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, ( HARTFORD, May 13, 1861. " DEAR SIR: The disloyal spirit which still exists in Baltimore, and the unsettled condition of public sentiment in Maryland respecting the present aspect of affairs, leads the citizens of this state to appre hend increasing danger to our national Union unless the military force be augmented so as to take complete possession of Baltimore and every avenue leading to that city. For this purpose, as well as for the purpose of strengthening the power of the government, ena bling it to overcome every enemy to its rightful authority, this state is desirous of placing a still larger military force at your disposal. I will therefore be obliged if you will advise me through the bearer, Colonel Aiken, of the number of regiments which you will receive from the state for your service, or of any other way in which we can aid the general government in this trying emergency. " I am, dear sir, with high regard, " Your obedient servant, "WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM." The Governor s correspondence and communications with the departments at Washington throughout all this period show the hesitation, embarrassment and perplexity which prevailed there, while the loyal governors and states were doing their utmost to relieve them and encourage them to call for more troops and larger loans from the people. And perhaps nothing can give a better idea of the state of things both here and there than some of this correspondence. It was impossible at the beginning for anybody to believe that such a war was upon us as came. The South never will be so foolish as to risk all upon such an issue, we said. And the North never will fight; they love money too well, and will put up with anything rather than interrupt business ; besides they are a mean, craven-hearted people, was said of us. And when the war was begun, we said : 160 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Yes, South Carolina has been rash enough to defy the gen eral government and resort to arms. But will the other slave states join her in it, particularly Kentucky and Ten nessee, who have such love for the Union, or even Georgia, which seems so reluctant to join the Confederacy ? Besides we have always compromised such matters, and always must. A three-months war is all we need to provide for, and by that time things will have adjusted themselves. In the meantime the Confederacy had been organized, Fort Sumter had been taken, Harper s Ferry and the Norfolk navy yard had been destroyed to save them from capture, and Virginia was preparing to capture if not to destroy Washington. Then there was neither army nor navy of any consequence. Both had been intentionally crippled and scattered beyond reach when needed, by Southern influence under previous administrations. The national treasury had also been depleted by those in charge of it, and the national credit so impaired that a government loan could only be effected, if at all, upon usurious terms. Then troops, if raised in any great numbers, could not be armed, either by the states or the general government. Massa chusetts had indeed two regiments ready for the field when the first call came, and one of them forced its way through Baltimore, when Pennsylvania troops were obliged to fall back and return the way they came because they had no arms whatever. And how could the general government furnish them when the Northern arsenals had been stripped and the arms sent South, where they had been secured for the Confederacy which had also occupied many of our great forts and arsenals, thus robbing the government of so much of its heavy artillery and most important munitions of war. No wonder there was embarrassment and more or less con fusion at headquarters. Besides, there seemed to be three heads to the army the President, the Secretary and Gen eral Scott and arrangements made with one were liable to WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. be set aside by the others. The general government cer tainly was slow to understand either the spirit or the re sources of the Rebellion, and it was not until our humili ating defeat at Bull Ran that the Executive, and Congress and the whole North realized the greatness of their under taking and rose with becoming spirit to meet the emergency. When Mr. Lincoln found himself encouraged by the loyal states to take his more positive and advanced positions, and that there was to be no lack of men or money to maintain the government, we know how he rose to the level of his high responsibility, and to his prudence added the rarest statesmanship, the calmest courage, and supreme devotion to the truest interest of the nation. The following letter was addressed to the Secretary of War, when the state sent her first regiment into the field. Though not forwarded so soon as others, unlike most others it was completely equipped and ready for actual service. Its condition in this respect was what called forth General Scott s remark upon its arrival : " Thank God ! here is one regiment all ready for the field ! " And for a while after it reached Washington, its army wagons were kept busy in hauling supplies for the troops that had no means of trans portation. The four regiments first sent into the field, even when it was so difficult to obtain arms, equipments, and supplies, were well provided with them. Each regiment had its twenty-four baggage wagons and ambulances, be sides horses for most of the line officers. One regiment was armed with Minie rifle muskets, another with Sharps rifles, and the other two with the regulation musket, except the two flank companies, which had the Sharpe rifle. There were, of course, objections to having such different arms iii the service, but it was a necessity then. The wisdom of arming the flank companies with repeating rifles was shown by the effective use of them on more than one occasion, as in the repulse of the Confederates at Plymouth, N. C. 162 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. ("STATE OF CONNECTICUT, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, I HARTFORD, May 10, 1861. "SiR: I have the honor of informing you that the First Regiment of Connecticut Volunteers, commanded by Colonel Daniel Tyler, s.ailed last night in the steamer Bienville. The regiment is well fur nished with tents, baggage wagons and camp equipage, and is ready for encampment. " I am, dear sir, with high consideration, " Your obedient servant, " WM. A. BUCKINGHAM. " HON. SIMON CAMERON, SECRETARY OF WAR." The next letter to Secretary Cameron shows that some misunderstanding had occurred in regard to the number and character of troops that would be accepted by that de partment. The Governor was anxious to send three-years men, instead of those enlisted for only three months, con fident that they would be needed for a longer period. To obviate the difficulties belonging to such a short term of service, he had recommended to the Legislature and re ceived authority to go on organizing three-months regi ments, and keeping them in camp under drill, to be put into the field, one after another, as they should be needed, be sides asking permission to enlist them for three years, or the war. He also had the opportunity, as he supposed, by the generous offer of Colonel Samuel Colt, of putting into the regular army a regiment of accomplished riflemen, armed with the most effective modern rifles, though the plan failed on account of dissatisfaction in the regiment with the terms upon which only it could be effected. Then, again, he could always raise more troops than would be accepted, and refusal to accept them discouraged volunteer ing. Finally, it would seem, that when arrangements were made with one department of the government, they were liable to be understood differently by another department or some one else in the same department, and hence embarrass ment. Not that there was necessarily friction and bad feel ing engendered by it, but it shows how imperfectly organized WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 163 this department of the government then was, and the per plexities and embarrassments liable to grow out of it. STATE OF CONNECTICUT, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, HARTFORD, May 18, 1861. HON. SIMOK CAMERON, SECRETARY OF WAR: DEAR SIR: Your favor of the 16th is at hand, in which you say, " One regiment is assigned to your State, in addition to the two regi ments of three months." You also add: " Let me also earnestly recom mend to you, therefore, to call for no more than three regiments, of which one only is to be sent for three years, or during the war, and if more are already called for, to reduce the number by discharge." Allow me to say that this communication presents the subject in a different light from that in which I had been acting. The position of matters stands in this manner with me: You first made a call for one regiment for three months. I called that, and, independently of your action, organized two others for three months, and tendered their services to the War Department. I then went to Washington and stated my position, first to General Scott, as I first saw him, and he said the department could use the three-months men to advantage, but wanted men for three years. I told him that if he would accept the two regiments already organized, I would organize two more to take their places when their time should expire. He said under the circumstances, and with such assurances, the department would accept them. I called on your Excellency the next day, and merely stated in a very brief manner my business, and understood your Excellency to say that you had decided the previous day to meet my wishes in the matter. I did not enter upon any explanation at length, but, as your decision had been based upon the arrangement made with General Scott, I felt that I could not be mistaken in regard to the number of regiments to be raised. I accordingly returned to send forward, as soon as they could be made ready, the two additional regiments for three months, and the two others for three years. I was also desirous of tendering the government a third regiment, enlisted for the war, to be furnished with and drilled in the use of Colt s breach-revolving rifle, with the further idea that the same would eventually be incor porated into the regular army. My design, in communication with Colonel Colt, who tenders and offers to arm the regiment, without expense to the government, is to make that regiment the best and most complete of any offered by any State, and to drill them at the expense of this State, until they shall be thoroughly prepared for actual service. For this purpose I dispatched Colonel W. A. Aiken to inquire whether you would accept such a regiment in addition to 164 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. the two for three years. The verbal message brought by Colonel Aiken was that the department would accept the regiment of rillemen on the above conditions. I have therefore acted in accordance with the above understanding, arid the third regiment for three months embarked to-day for Wash ington on board of the Cahawba. The fourth regiment, or the first for three years, has rendezvoused in this city, and is ready to be mus tered into service. And I trust your Excellency will direct Colonel Loomis to perform this service. The regiment of riflemen is also rendezvoused, and we are now drilling the men by companies, but do not propose to have them mustered into service for fifty or sixty days. I need not say that if in my desire to render essential service I have been the means of embarrassing the government, it will cause me deep regret. My desire is to have this State cooperate with your department in the most thorough and efficient manner. With this statement I only beg to confirm the views herein expressed to your Excellency with the assurance that no State, large or small, shall send you better troops, or stand by you in all your embarrass ments and perplexities more firmly than this Commonwealth.* I am, dear sir, with high consideration, Your obedient servant, WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Somewhat later another letter is addressed to the Sec retary of War, asking permission to raise still more troops,, with only the assurance that they will be accepted if raised, and a little later a still more earnest communication through General Tyler is made to him, which shows how discour aging it was to volunteering, to have men enlist and then not be able to get into the field. STATE OF CONNECTICUT, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, I HARTFORD, July 26, 1861. ( HON. SIMON CAMERON, SECRETARY OF WAR: DEAR SIR: It is the earnest desire of the citizens of Connecticut to * This misunderstanding having occurred between the Governor and the Secre tary of War, as to the number of troops he might send forward, lest Secretary Cameron should feel annoyed or hurt, the Governor appreciates his perplexities* and assures him that, " If in my desire to render essential service, I have been the means of embarrassing the government, it will cause me deep regret. My desire is to have this State cooperate with your department in the most thorough and efficient manner. 11 Then came that noble pledge which follows a pledge in behalf of himself and his State that must have been so welcome to the govern ment at such a crisis ! How well it was redeemed by both, let the history of the war testify ! WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 165 aid and sustain the government in this emergency. I am anxious to raise one or two more regiments for the war, but am disinclined to issue the necessary orders without previous assurance from the War Department of the acceptance of the troops, by reason of the uncertainty which has hitherto existed as to whether the regiments which Connecticut has raised were to be accepted. I should be glad to be informed whether your department would accept one, two, or three regiments from Connecticut for three years, and upon informa tion will be prepared to comply with your suggestions. Connecticut does not intend to be behind any of her sister States in active exertions for the cause of her country. I am very respectfully yours, WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. To GENERAL DANIEL TYLKK, FIRST BRIGADE, CONNECTICUT MILITIA, WASHINGTON, D. C. NORWICH, August 7, 1861. SIR: I have just received an order from the War Department to raise one regiment for the three now discharged and about to be dis charged. Will you see the Secretary of War at once and obtain an additional order for three more, making four new regiments, and urge upon him the following considerations: First. It will be easier to raise four, or more, than one. The chance that new companies will be accepted under a call for one is so small that men will not make efforts to organize themselves and run that hazard. But if I was willing to raise from six to ten, the whole State would be actively engaged. Second. A large proportion of the men who are now being mus tered out of the service will be ready to return to the war. Third. Many of our citizens are leaving the State and joining com panies in the other States. One company in this city, accepted by me two months ago, has become discouraged in waiting for a call from the War Department, and last week between thirty and forty enlisted in a New York regiment. Fourth. Public opinion favors a large additional force from the State, and if the services of our citizens are not accepted, then there will be danger of a change of sentiment so great that when future calls shall be made it will be difficult to respond without resort to conscription. Fifth. Our citizens desire and earnestly solicit the privilege of furnishing their quota of troops at such a crisis as this, and if we should send in proportion to the call made upon New York, Illinois, and some other States, I think our quota would not be less thau eight or ten regiments. I beg you to assure Secretary Cameron that in the performance of 166 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. his duties he has my hearty sympathy, and my earnest desire to cooperate with him in the best and most effective manner for the restoration of the government and the Union. I am, dear sir, Yours with high esteem, WIL.L.IAM A. BUCKINGHAM. An extra session of Congress had been called for the 4th of July. The President had filled up the standing army to its complement of 25,000, when it had been re duced to half that number ; had enlisted 16,000 sailors for the extemporized blockading squadron, and called for 75,000 of the State militia as the nucleus of a new army. He did not feel at liberty to go further, without the sanction and co-operation of the representatives of the people. Nor was he sure how far the North would respond to such calls for troops and loans. He depended upon representative men, particularly the loyal governors, for information and advice, and courted their counsel and suggestions. Governor Buckingham had known Mr. Lincoln since 1858, when the latter rendered such im portant service in the State canvass of that year, which was his first, and in reality his only introduction to New England. With this acquaintance, and the readiness with which he received and the frequency with which he sought his advice, the Governor was justified in expressing his opinions as positively as he did, even to the extent of expostulating with the administration for not rising to a higher conception of the perils of the hour, and doing justice to the loyalty of the free States by calling upon them more freely for whatever was needed to put down promptly and effectually that rebellion. Thus he wrote to the President as follows : STATK OF CONNECTICUT, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, ) HARTFORD, June 25, 1861. f To ABRAHAM LINCOLN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: SIR. The condition of our country is so critical that the people of this State are looking with deep interest to the measures which you WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 167 may recommend to Congress, and to the course which that body may pursue, when it shall convene on the 4th of July next. You will not therefore think me presuming if I present for your consideration the views which I believe are entertained by a majority of our citizens, especially when I assure you that if they are not approved by your judgment, I shall regard it as evidence that their importance is overestimated. There are to-day probably more than 300,000 organized, armed men in rebellion against the general government. Millions of other citizens who have been protected by its power, now deny its authority and refuse obedience to its laws. Multitudes of others, who prize the business they have secured under its policy, are so- overawed by the manifestations of passionate violence which sur round them, that their personal security is to be found in suppressing their opinions, and in floating with the current into the abyss of anarchy. The persons and property and liberty of every citizen is. in peril. This is no ordinary rebellion: It is a mob on an organized scale, and should be met and suppressed by a power corresponding with its. magnitude. The obligations of the government to sustain its dignity and to protect the loyal, and the principles of equity and justice; the claims of humanity, civilization and religion unite in demanding a force sufficient to drive out the rebels from every rendezvous; to influence them to return to their homes and their lawful em ployments; to seize their leaders and bring them before the proper tribunals for trial, and to inflict upon them the punishment fairly due for their crimes. I trust you will ask for authority to organize a force of 400,000 or 500,000 men, for the purpose of quelling the rebellion, and for an appropriation from the public treasury sufficient for their support. Let legislation upon every other subject be regarded as out of time and place, and the one object of suppressing this rebellion be pre sented by the administration with vigor and firmness without taking counsel of our fears, and without listening to any proposition or suggestion which may emanate from the rebels, or their representa tives, until the authority of the government shall be respected, its laws enforced, and its supremacy acknowledged in every section of the country. I trust you will also assure the country that it is no part of the duty of the administration, nor is it your design to interfere with the domestic institutions of the States, but on the contrary any con stitutional right, whether it comes from the institution of slavery or not, shall receive the protection of the general government under your administration. To secure such high public interests, the State of Connecticut will 168 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. bind her destinies more closely to those of the general government, and in adopting the measures suggested, she would renewedly pledge all her pecuniary and physical resources, and all her moral power. I am, dear sir, Yours with high regard, WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. One* passage from the President s message to the extra session of Congress, shows how he accepted and followed out such counsel. He says : Having been convened on an extraordinary occasion, as authorized by the Constitution, your attention is not called to any other subject of legislation. It is now recommended that you give the legal means to make this contest a short and decisive one; that you place at the control of the government for the work at least 400,000 men and $400,000,000. This was promptly done, only the President was author ized by Congress to call out 600,000 men, the highest number Governor Buckingham recommended, and 100.000 more than the President dared ask for. The truth was the President and the War Department and the Treasury Department were for a long time afraid to call for the men and money they needed, fearing the people would not finally honor their frequent and vast demands. But their fears were needless, as some of the heaviest calls for troops showed. One of our Northern governors, who had the means of knowing the exact state of things at the North, and with the departments at Washington, which continued essentially the same for the next year, furnishes us with the following information : Immediately after the battle of Antietam, September 16, 1862, several of the governors of loyal States felt deeply the need of more troops in the field and were getting quite restive under the apparent, lack of sufficient numbers in the Union army to meet successfully the rebel forces. This weak side of our cause was so apparent to some of us who were governors of the loyal States, much in earnest WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 169 to have everything possible done to crush the rebel cause, that we ivere led to frequent correspondence about it. I wrote with serious earnestness and expostulation to the President, representing that the government was just there lagging behind the intense zeal and deter mination of the loyal people of the country, and that in my opinion we ought to have double the number of troops in the field that the Tlnion armies could then muster, and that the people would hail with approval an immediate call for a very large accession of troops, a.nd that, so far as our State was concerned, if the question of funds to arm and equip the new volunteers was a cause of embarrassment and delay to the general government knowing that this did trouble the authorities at Washington oftentimes greatly in those days we would put our quota of a new call into the field, armed and equipped for immediate service, at the expense of the State, and wait on the gov ernment for reimbursement till such times as it was in funds. 1 knew full well that I was but expressing the views and wishes of your good brother, Governor Andrew, and several others of my con temporaries in office. Mr. Lincoln was glad to get my letter just at that time, as he said the authorities at Washington hardly knew how the loyal States would receive a fresh call for volunteers, being, as they were, advised so many different ways by those hanging around in Washington, many of whom were border State men, or u peace-at- any-price men," or men too timid to meet the exigencies of the times, and so the authorities were pondering over the thing with more or less hesitation how to act. But the President at once dispatched Provost-General Simeon Draper to see and talk with me, and have a letter to the President drawn up, such as the loyal gov ernors would be willing to sign, recommending an immediate call for new volunteers, and which letter General Draper was to take with him, calling upon your brother, Governor Andrew, Governor Morgan, and two or three others on his way back to Washington, and then obtaining the assent of all other governors, whom he could not call upon, by telegraphic communication. A call for 300,000 volunteers soon followed, a letter recommending the same, and signed by all the loyal governors, being published as part of the President s call. It happened that matters of urgency in my own State prevented me from attending the meeting of the governors at Altoona, though I knew and highly approved of the object of the meeting. The gov ernors of the loyal States were a harmonious family of officials then, one common and great cause making us brothers in feeling. We all had great respect for and confidence in President Lincoln, but some times grew a little restive under what we felt was too great caution and delay on his part. But perhaps he was the wiser of the lot. At any rate, take him for all in all, he was a great, unique and wonderful .man. He thought a good deal of getting letters and suggestions 170 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. from us touching the interests of the Union, and always urged us ta write to him at any and all times when we had suggestions to- offer, and he always replied promptly to the same with grateful acknowledgment. Thus it will be seen, that the service of the loyal gov ernors during the war, was not merely in raising troops with which to prosecute the war, but also in suggesting, advising, and encouraging the general government in respect to its policy and plans. These governors understood one another, and were well agreed as to what ought to be done, and might be done, and it was no small part of their work to induce the general government to adopt certain measures, as well as pledge their States to help carry out those measures. By meetings and correspondence this was- done to a greater extent than the public were aware of. Knowing that they could not publicly assemble without having their plans known or suspected, and made known to the enemy as well as to friends, they quietly secured such conferences as they could. Once there was a meeting of the Western governors in one of the Western cities. At another time, several of them met at Providence, at the commencement of Brown University. Still later with more distinct and decided purpose quite a number of them were found going in opposite directions upon the Pennsyl vania Central railroad, and dropping off over night at Altoona on the summit of the Alleghenies. They had met to urge Mr. Lincoln to issue his emancipation proclamation, which he had promised to his friends. He seemingly sus pecting their purpose, headed it off by issuing his procla mation to meet them there the next morning. But there were no cross purposes between them, only mutual con fidence and co-operation. Happily there was no crank among these governors, for those were sober times, and they had been chosen for their patriotism, sound judgment and sturdy principles. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 171 One of the important services which these governors were able to render the general government at the outset of the war, was not only to raise means for the organiza tion of their own troops, when the government had neither arms, funds nor credit, to any great extent, but by means of State loans, to improve the credit of the general govern ment. At the session of the Connecticut Legislature in May, the Governor addressed to them a special message upon this subject. Fortunately the State had no debt of any account, and the Governor had just stated that the debt of 170,000 which he found when he came into office, had been paid, with the exception of a balance of $7,000. The State, too, had good credit, and could make loans on better terms than the general government. For who could be sure that the general government would survive the war, any more than the Confederacy did, though the States might ; or that when the war debt of the general govern ment was being rolled up at such a rate, it would be any better able to pay its loans than the Confederacy was ? The Governor recommended raising by direct tax what ever was needed for " the organization and equipment of a volunteer militia for the public defense." But for other expenditures which must be made, and for which they would "be reimbursed by the general government," he advises a State loan, and that the bonds of the State be exchanged with the Treasury Department of the United States for their stocks or bonds at par. This would give the general government the benefit of the better credit of the State, as well as furnish it at once with the funds so much needed, besides identifying irreparably the interests of the States with the general government, and those of the general government with the States. The reasons for such a recommendation are given in his special message of May 21, 1861. 172 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. The market for public stocks furnishes evidence that immediate payment for necessary expenses cannot be made without serious loss to the general government, a share of which must eventually be borne by the citizens of this State. Such loss can in a measure be prevented by manifestations of confidence in and fidelity to the general government, and especially by a pledge of credit by loyal States to and in maintaining its authority. This will not require pecuniary sacrifices, or hazard any public interest, for it is evident that if the general government cannot be maintained, the value of private securities and almost every description of property will be greatly depressed. I would therefore recommend your honorable body to authorize bonds of the State to be issued to an amount even larger than the sum which will be due from the government for ex penditures to which I have referred, and that you direct the proceeds to be exchanged with the Treasury Department of the United States for their stock or bonds at par. Such a measure would elevate public credit, and assist the government in negotiating further loans, and bind us more closely to the Federal Union. This recommendation was adopted, and was one of those helps which any of the States, the smallest as well as the larger, could render the nation in her greatest emergency, and aided in carrying her successfully through the con flicts of that fierce war. It makes one think of Admiral Farragut s device in his capture of Mobile, by which ho made fast each ship of war to some ordinary steamboat, that if the former was disabled the latter might at least tow it into the fight. The extra session of Congress which had been called came together on the 4th of July, and very soon occurred the disastrous battle of Bull Run. As the first important battle of the war, and the first for which any comprehensive plan and considerable preparation had been made, it was a great victory to the Confederacy and a sad humiliation to the North. Still the Count of Paris, a most intelligent and impartial military critic, in his history of the war, styles it " a misfortune, and not a disgrace to the Federal arms." The nearly equal numbers engaged on each side, and the nearly equal losses, show that the battle was bravely fought, WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 173 while the capture and defense of Washington, which was the gage of battle, was not won by the South. Had the Union forces inflicted a crushing defeat upon the Confed erates, a truce probably would have been brought about, and some more compromises agreed upon, to have put off the final settlement of the great issue for another genera tion or two, and then with what hope of getting rid of slavery and at the same time of preserving the Union. As it was, it made the South more self-confident and arrogant than ever, and no arrangement was to be thought of which did not give slavery all the privileges of freedom every where, and change this from a free republic to a slave republic. Then the idea of so many at the North, that " in three months or sooner," the conflict would end, was shown to be a delusion, while the South were made so confi dent of their final success, the North found that if their republic was to be preserved it must be by a patriotism and by sacrifices such as they had not yet dreamed of. We can see now that we were all under higher tutelage than our own wisdom, or any human statesmanship, and that God was leading us in this dreary way to the land of peace- permanent peace. The extra Congress was in session when the battle of Bull Run was fought. And this body, instead of taking counsel of their fears, or of the fears of others, rose with heroic spirit and wonderful unanimity to the height of their great enterprise, and led the way which proved to be the right one, and which the nation bravely followed. Though the Secession States were no longer represented, there were enough left who sympathized with the South, or were opposed to coercion, or were afraid that slavery would be harmed, to throw every obstruction in the way of any vigorous prosecution of the war. 174 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. The resolution in the Senate expelling from that body Messrs. Mason, Clingman, Wigfall and others, who were openly attempting the overthrow of the government, was vigorously resisted. An attempt was made to attach to the Army Appropriation bill the pro viso, "that no part of the money hereby appropriated shall be employed in subjugating or holding as a conquered province any sovereign State now or lately one of the United States, nor in abolish ing or interfering with African slavery in any of the States." Reso lutions were offered condemning as unconstitutional the increase of the army, the blockade of the Southern ports, the seizure of tele graphic dispatches, the arrest of persons suspected of treason. As had been the case in the House in the instance just referred to, so in the Senate on the occasion of the bill for the reorganization of the army, an amendment was proposed " that the army and navy should not be employed for the purpose of subjugating any State, or reducing it to the condition of a territory or province, or to abolish slavery therein." This was by Mr. Breckinridge, recently vice-president of the United States, and shortly to be a general in the Confederate service. When the bill freeing slaves who had been used in aid of the insurrection was before the Senate, it met with earnest opposition because " it will inflame suspicions which have had much to do with producing our present evils; it will disturb those who are now calm and quiet, inflame those who are restless, irritate numbers who would not be exasperated by anything else, and will in all probability have no other effect than this. It is therefore useless, unnecessary, irritating, unwise." Draper s " Civil War," Vol. II, p. 184. In spite of all such obstructionists, and as putting an end forever to all further attempts to give rebels the rights and privileges of loyal citizens, Mr. McClernand, a Democrat of Illinois, offered this resolution in the House of Repre sentatives : i This House hereby pledges itself to vote for any amount of money and any number of men which may be necessary to insure a speedy and effectual suppression of the rebellion, and the permanent restoration of the Federal authority everywhere within the limits and juris diction of the United States," which was passed by a vote of 121 to five. The spirit of the Senate was rep resented by Senator Baker, the patriotic and brilliant representative of California, who fell a few weeks later at Ball s Bluff, when he said : " I propose to put the whole WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 175 power of this country, arms, men and money, into the hands of the President. He has asked for $400,000,000 ; we will give him 8500,000,000. He has asked for 400,- 000 men ; we will give him 500,000 " which was done. The work of the special sessions is thus summed up in " Draper s History of Our Civil War " : After a session of thirty-three days Congress had accomplished its work. It had approved and legalized the acts and orders of the President; it had authorized him to accept half a million of volun teers; it had added eleven regiments to the regular army; it had raised the pay of the soldier to thirteen dollars a month, with a bounty of one hundred acres of land at the close of the war ; it had authorized the building and arming of as many ships as might be found requisite ; it had appointed a committee to take charge of the construction of ironclads and floating batteries ; it had facilitated the importing of arms from abroad by the loyal States; voted $10,000,000 for the purchase of arms, and undertaken to indemnify the States for all expenses they might incur in raising, paying, sub sisting and transporting troops; it had authorized the President to close the ports of entry at his discretion; to declare any community to be in a state of insurrection and to prohibit commercial inter course with it; it had provided that, after proclamation by him, all property used or intended to be used in aid of the insurrection should be seized and confiscated, and especially if the owner of any slave should require or permit such slave to be in any way employed in military or naval service against the United States, all claim to him or his services should be forfeited by such owner; it had appro priated $227,938,000 for the army and $42,938,000 for the navy, and it had made provision for these appropriations by imports and tax ation, and authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to borrow $250,000,000. With a firmness which recalls the action of the Koman senate, on the day after the disastrous battle of Bull Run, while the demoralized wreck of the national army was filling the streets of Washington, and the victorious Confederate troops were momentarily expected, the House of Representatives resolved "that the maintenance of the Constitution, the preservation of the Union, and the enforcement of the laws are sacred trusts which must be executed ; that no disaster shall discourage us from the most ample performance of this high duty; and that we pledge to the country and the world the employ ment of every resource, national and individual, for the suppression, overthrow and punishment of rebels in arms. A few days later (July 29) the Senate passed a resolution to the same effect. 176 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. This must always seem the noblest position a people ever took, or could have taken under the circumstances. With the general government so nearly broken down, and so many, even at the North, opposed to using force to uphold it and prevent secession ; with the preparation of the South to secede if Mr. Lincoln were elected, as he was, upon an anti-slavery platform ; with the North stripped of arms, the treasury robbed, the fortifications and munitions of war and navy yards either seized or destroyed, our army reduced to next to nothing, the best part of our navy scattered over the world where it could not be used when needed ; when the war was inaugurated and Sumter assaulted and taken, and the first well-organized battle proved a disastrous defeat, and the very capital of the nation was in danger of destruction ; then to have sat in that Capitol building, as Congress did for a month, within hearing as it were of the enemy s cannon, and inhaling the very smoke of the battle field, and resolving as a body, come what might, to maintain the government and the Union, and laying out such wise and broad legislation to effect this object, was more than Roman firmness, noble as that was, in merely sitting still to face the inevitable. CHAPTER XI. AFTER THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN. Governor Buckingham Authorized to Raise More TroopsVolun teering Checked by Distrust of the Conduct of the War and the Influence of the "Peace Democrats" The Magnificent Troops that Volunteered in Spite of all such Influence Character and Destination of the Regiments The First Heavy Artillery and the First Light Battery. The battle of Bull Run put a new aspect upon the war, both at the North and at the South. It put an end at the North to the idea that the war would be over in sixty or ninety days; it put a stop to the senseless cry, "On to Richmond ! " before we had any properly organized army, or suitable commander. It satisfied the North that the South meant not only to threaten but to fight, and had long been preparing for it, and was in possession of resources which, in addition to the sympathy they had at the North, and the co-operation they might expect from abroad, threatened no ordinary war. The effect also upon the South of success in their first battle, was to give them exaggerated ideas of their own martial qualities, disparage the principle, spirit, and resources of the North, and make them strongly con fident of success in such a desperate undertaking. They would capture Washington ; they would invade the North ern States ; foreign nations would now recognize the Confederacy ; the blockade would be broken ; their new slave empire would be established with unlimited de velopment toward Mexico and South America; so the dream of the South for more than a generation would be realized. Such was the influence of that battle. But 178 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. had the result been different and the North gained an overwhelming victory, we of the North would have been for patching up some new peace, and for the sake of uniting all parties at the North, giving the South new con cessions and compromises for slavery. Even Mr. Lincoln, at this time, had not decided to make emancipation a condition of peace. If the government could be main tained and the Union restored without that, he promised to attempt no more. But when he found, as he did within a year, that emancipation was an absolute necessity (and the North was satisfied even sooner), that the only possi bility of saving either the government or the Union was by sweeping away utterly the only enemy to either, and the President under the urgency of the Northern governors committed himself to that position, the crisis of the war was reached. The North knew what to do, and the South what to expect, and, under that good Providence which watches over a nation s destiny, as well as the sparrow s fall, things moved rapidly on toward their prearranged result. Such a struggle between moral forces like these was not likely to go wrong in the end, any more than Christianity was to be swept away by Jewish unbelief and pagan power, so long as apostles and martyrs maintained it, and the Providence that raised them up continued to keep the succession good. Ours was a history of the triumph of righteousness over oppression, religious and civil liberty over tyranny of the soul and the body, and in spite of ages of struggle and countless defeats, we had established self-government in both church and state, and were making a success of it which made us the admi ration if not the envy of the world. We had enough of the intelligence of our fathers, and of their spirit, to say that this successful experiment should not fail, cost what it might. Then came one great crisis of the war. Another and WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 179 perhaps a greater came a year later, when the Peninsular Campaign had failed, and the Northern States were threat ened with invasion. But now should we falter even in our disorganization and defeat ? The action of the Connecticut Legislature, as a sample of the rest, shows the spirit of the North, and forecasts the result. The Governor had called a special session of the Legislature in the autumn of that year, and his message shows what had already been accomplished, and what more the people were proposing to have done. The calls made for volunteers for the national defense have met with a hearty response, and but for the hesitancy on the part of the general government to accept more troops, we might have had 12,000 or 15,000 men in the field to-day. We have, however, organized, equipped, sent into the field, and have now ready, nine regiments of infantry. Their camp equipage was complete, and considering the want of preparation and the haste with which they were mustered, their appointments were highly respectable. About 5,000 Sharps and Enfield rifles have been purchased, and contracts made for an equal number of the latter arms, which have not yet been delivered. Arrangements have also been made to arm, uniform, and furnish complete equipments for two other regiments now rendezvousing,. and for one not yet organized. The Governor had been authorized to organize and turn over to the general government 10,000 troops. But the President had since been authorized to accept the services of 500,000 volunteers. And if 12,000, the quota of the State, should be called for, the Governor asked for authority to furnish them, and in the following language appealed to the patriotism of the people to respond to such a call : Congress, at its recent session, authorized the President to accept the services of 500,000 volunteers, for the purpose of suppressing insurrection and enforcing the laws, and required that the numbers furnished by the several States should be equalized, as far as prac ticable, according to federal population. Let this number be appor tioned among the truly loyal States, and the quota for Connecticut would be 12,000. From the knowledge we then had of the rebellion, that law met every conceivable necessity, and may be justly regarded as one of the most patriotic and liberal acts of legislation in history. 180 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. But now the most important question which I have to present for the consideration of your honorable body, relates to the removal of this restriction, and to such further devotion of our resources to the use of the general government as shall add to its strength, power and permanency. Connecticut has not yet furnished her quota of 500,000 troops. If she had, would it be right to cease our efforts? If a father s dwelling is on fire, shall a son, deciding that he has done as much to extinguish the flames as any one of his brethren, stand with self-complacency and see the home of his childhood consumed ? After we shall have raised our full quota of troops, shall we see these States separated one from another, this national Union broken up, and make no further efforts for public safety? Instead of inquiring how much we have done, shall we not inquire what more can we do? Fears may well be entertained that we are not aroused to our danger. The establishment of a Confederacy claiming unlimited sovereignty within our boundaries, the abandonment of the ordinary business and pursuits of life by large numbers of our fellow-citizens in the Southern States, the consecration of all their energies in mil itary organization to subvert this government and to establish another upon its ruins, having human slavery for its chief corner stone, pre sents a crisis in our national affairs upon which the continuance of our political existence depends. But it is a privilege to live in a day like this; to take a bold and energetic part in the conflict which is now raging between law and anarchy, and during this revolution, which in the onward progress of events is to accomplish the wise designs of an overruling Providence, exert an influence which shall aid in advancing this nation to such a position of strength and moral power, that every citizen may safely, fully, and speedily enjoy the blessings of freedom. Let us, as a people, comprehend the magnitude of the interests at hazard, despise the opinions and discard the policy of those who cry peace in the ears of our enemies, rise above party ties and sectional interests, and give our property, our voices, our hands and our hearts to the suppression of this gigantic, this groundless, this criminal rebellion against a government established both by human and divine authority. This is a high honor within our reach, a rich privilege which we may enjoy, and a solemn duty which God calls upon us to perform. The Legislature responded to the recommendation of the Governor by legislation, authorizing him to " enlist, organize and equip according to his discretion an unlimited number of volunteers, and directing the treasurer to issue additional bonds of the State to the amount of 12,000,000 to meet WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 181 whatever expense might be incurred." " This liberal action," as has been justly said, "in appropriating $4,000,000 in a single year, and intrusting its disbursement to a single man, evinced an incalculable patriotism, and a confidence in the judgment and fidelity of the executive almost without parallel." During this session of the Legislature, there occurred one of those noble instances of the triumph of patriotism over the love of party and political ambition, which so char acterized the war. The administration had proposed to General Benjamin F. Butler, to give them the benefit of his popularity with the Democratic party for the enlistment of additional troops in New England. This force was to be for a special and secret expedition under his command, which proved to be the capture and holding of New Orleans, when Farragut had forced the passage of the river. General Butler came to Connecticut to confer with the Governor and prominent citizens, among whom was his old Demo cratic friend, Hon. Henry C. Deming, then speaker of the House of Representatives, and elected by acclamation in a body largely Republican. Mr. Deming accepted a commis sion as colonel of a regiment to be raised for this service to be called u The Charter Oak Regiment," but afterwards known as " The Twelfth Connecticut." As showing the spirit and position of this gentleman, in his farewell address to the House, he calls their attention to the magnitude of the rebellion before them, and what it was threatening to- all the great interests of the nation. He then makes this personal appeal to his fellow legislators and citizens, and with peculiar modesty and pathos announces the decision to which he has come for himself : How, gentlemen, is this monstrous rebellion to be met? It can only be met by evincing the. same earnestness and determination of spirit which the anarchs of the South display in upholding conspiracy and treason. It can only be met by making every man in this Northern 182 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. land a soldier. It therefore becomes a serious question, whether the patriot who has evinced capacity in peaceful pursuits, should not turn the full flood and current of that capacity upon the military pro fession; whether all of us should not at once sit down as humble pupils in the school of the soldier, school of the company, school of the battalion, and adapt ourselves to the emergencies of the military era which is before us. Moved by these considerations, I have to-day accepted a commission from the hands of your governor, and intend to devote myself with singleness of purpose and with entire abandonment to the responsible position which I have assumed. I shall commence to-morrow to organize a regiment, and if I can master the theory and practice of the military art, and if my part of physical training and discipline shall be equal to its hardships, I shall lead the Twelfth Connecticut Volunteers forth to the field of battle. If I fail in either of these respects, I shall at least have the courage to resign and thus impose no invalid or incompetent officer upon the government. General Butler s expedition was not fully organized until the close of the year 1861, when the Ninth Con necticut, under Colonel Cahill, and the Twenty-sixth Massachusetts, with a single battery were sent forward to take possession of Ship Island, in the Gulf. Colonel Dem- ing s regiment, the Twelfth, was a special favorite with the young war Democrats, and though 10,000 men had already gone from the State within six months, this regiment was soon filled up, and reached Ship Island early in March, where within a month sixteen regiments were assembled for the capture of New Orleans. This took place early in May, 1862, when Colonel Cahill s regiment was landed to take possession of the forts which the fleet liad silenced, while Colonel Deming s regiment landed in the city with General Butler, and for the first night bivouacked upon the wharf, but afterwards were quartered in Lafayette Square. Colonel Birge s Thirteenth Con necticut Regiment soon attracted General Butler s atten tion, and was assigned the post of honor at the Custom House, the army headquarters. In that enraged and in solent city, where the most trustworthy regiments and WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 183 discreet commanders were required for a moment s security, it was an honor to the State to have had such confidence reposed in her troops. The Thirteenth was also the regi ment (to say nothing of its after history, and the honor to which its commander attained) to which General Butler refers in proof of his success in shutting out the yellow fever from New Orleans and making it the healthiest city in the country, although within ten years one quarter of the unacclimated had died in three months. " Up to this date there have been no malignant or epidemic or virulent fevers or diseases in New Orleans, and its mortality returns show it to be the most healthy city in the United States. In one regiment, the Thirteenth Connecticut, 1,000 strong, quartered in the Custom House since the 15th of May, but one man was lost in July and August." This was cer tainly a striking tribute to the sanitary measures of the commander in chief, but quite as much so to the habits and morals of these troops. Governor Buckingham having received from the Legisla ture at its extra session in October, authority to raise more troops, and being furnished with an additional appropriation for this purpose, set about this work with his usual energy and success. The Secretary of War also had signified his readiness to accept additional cavalry and artillery over and above the State s quota. But the times in some respects were unfavorable to volunteering. The battle of Bull Run had been discouraging. Not that our losses had been so great, nor that it had developed such strength on the part of the Confederacy that we needed to despair of final success, for in later times the strength of the Confed erates at Antietam and Gettysburg, and our losses at Fred erick sburg and in the Wilderness, only showed how much greater sacrifices must be made if the government was to be maintained, and then the response was as prompt and magnificent as could have been desired. Now, how- 184 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. ever, there was a prevalent distrust of the management of the war; a question whether the Army of the Potomac had any suitable commander, and whether its movements were not too much controlled by civilians and politicians. There was also in Connecticut, where political parties were nearly equal and party spirit always intense, a considerable amount of what was called " Peace Democracy." This element took occasion to show itself opposed to the whole struggle. At the May session of the Legislature, resolu tions were offered in favor of the Crittenden Compromises, virtually a settlement of the strife upon any terms, assum ing that the rebellion never could be put down, and that disunion was already accomplished. Such measures were advocated in language like this: "There seems to be a radical mistake on the part of many people. They appear to think that the South can be conquered. Sir, this is impossible. You may destroy their habitations, devastate their fields and shed the blood of their people, but you cannot conquer them." At that time, however, and in that body, such sentiments found little sympathy ; for in a body of more than 200 members there were only eighteen to vote for such resolutions. But when the first serious reverse came, "peace meetings" began to be held. Disloyal sentiments were uttered, volunteering was discouraged, and there were marked signs of violence and riot. In this state of things, the Governor issued the following proclamation, defining the duties of the State and the rights of individuals, and also setting forth the perils to both from unauthorized speech and reckless conduct : BY HIS EXCELLENCY, WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM, ) GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT. ) A PROCLAMATION. Eleven States of this Union are now armed and in open rebellion against federal authority; they have paralyzed the business of the nation, have involved us in civil war, and are now exerting their com bined energies to rob us of the blessings of free government. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 185 The greatness of their crime has no parallel in the history of human governments. At this critical juncture, our liberties are still further imperiled by the utterance of seditious language by a traitorous press, which excuses or justifies the rebellion, by secret organizations, which propose to resist the laws of the State by force, by the public exhibitions of "peace flags" falsely so-called, and by an effort to redress grievances regardless of the forms and offices of law. The very existence of government, the future prosperity of this entire nation, and the hopes of universal freedom demand that these outrages be suppressed. The Constitution guarantees liberty of speech and of the press, but holds the person and the press responsible for the evils which result from this liberty. It guarantees the protection of property, but it regards no property as sacred which is used to subvert governmental authority. It guarantees the person from unreasonable seizure, but it protects no individual from arrest and punishment who gives aid and comfort to the enemies of our country. It provides by law for the punishment of offenses, but allows no grievance to be redressed by violence. I therefore call upon the citizens of this State, to sup port and uphold the authority and dignity of the government, and to abstain from any act which can tend to encourage and strengthen this conspiracy. And I call upon the officers of the law to be active, diligent and fearless in arresting and in instituting legal proceedings for the punishment of those who are guilty of sedition and treason, and of those who are embraced in combinations to obstruct the execution of the laws; so peace may again be restored to our distracted country, and the liberties of the people be preserved. Given under my hand and the seal of the State, at Hartford, this thirty-first day of August, A.D., 1861. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. By his Excellency s command, J. HAMMOND TRUMBULL, Secretary of State. These disturbances were soon quieted, and volunteerino: became brisker than ever. The first three regiments sent to the front were three-months men, and their term of enlistment having expired they had just returned and been dismissed. But as showing the material of which they were composed, "the men of these regiments re-enlisted almost without an exception ; ? while, as showing what a few months of thorough drill and service in the field could do for them, it should be added that "500 of them after- 186 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. wards held commissions in the army," including among them Major-General Alfred H. Terry and Brevet Major- General Joseph R. Hawley. The Governor, with authority from the State to raise more than her quota of troops, and the promise from the War Department that they should be accepted, with the funds at his disposal, the State out of debt, and the credit of the State such that her loans could be made at par (or a little over), when the general govern ment could only effect them on less advantageous terms, entered upon the work with his usual vigor and success. He appealed to the people, showing what the exigency demanded if government was to be upheld and the Union preserved. He reminded them of the part the State had taken in securing our original independence, and the honor able share her sons had borne in the organization and administration of the Republic. The people responded to his summons as never before. The young men from the farms, the shops, the counting- rooms, the schools, the colleges, the theological seminaries, as by a common impulse of patriotism and chivalry, enlisted. Nor did men of business, and those well-nigh past the age of military service, excuse themselves at such a crisis, but offered their services the more freely as defeats and losses showed that they were needed. In fact, the real character of the North was never known, not even to themselves, until the darkest periods of the war came, and natural timidity and party spirit took advantage of them to insist upon a settlement upon any terms. Then intelligent and conscientious conviction, combined with old Cromwellian courage, multiplied Roundheads faster than they could fall in battle or die in the camp. Of this, Iowa, that young Western State with so many Eastern characteristics, furnished a good illustra tion when she raised a volunteer regiment of men past military age, called the " Graybeard Regiment," who served WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 187 through the war and did heroic service.* Such at once became the spirit of Connecticut, and much was done to foster it. Most of the daily press, with every item of news that had reference to the war, was enforcing some lesson of patriotic duty. The pulpit could no more keep silent when our republic was in peril, and civil and religious liberty at stake, and the " year of jubilee " coming to the slave, than in the Protestant wars of Europe, or in the times of the English Commonwealth, or in our own Revo lutionary struggle. Then came the endless work of mustering, equipping and drilling recruits, before they could be sent into the field. Camps were established at Hartford, New Haven, Norwich and Meriden. Every city government and the selectmen of every town were enlisting men, and stimulat ing enlistment by generous bounties and promising to take care of the families that were left behind, engage ments that were well kept. Everything was to be pro vided. The State seldom had arms enough to arm a regiment in advance of its enlistment. Though it had an agent in Europe to purchase them, and was on the lookout for such as were manufactured here, and the Governor and his friends were buying up on their own responsibility such as were thrown upon the market,-- still this was for the first year at least a constant source of anxiety and hin drance. As for clothing and equipments, while the women were no longer obliged to make up the uniforms of the men as at first, it was long before everything could be manufactured and provided for a military encampment. In fact the organization of such an encampment, keeping * This " Graybeard Regiment " was made up of men over forty-five years of age and under no legal obligation to take upon themselves the duties of soldiers. They were generally about fifty years of age, and some over sixty. They had already sent to the war a good proportion of their sons and grandsons, and iu 1863, the most discouraging period of the war, these enlisted for garrison duty, and served in this capacity till the war was over. 188 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. everything in order there, not merely policing properly such a community, providing comfortably and regularly for so many men and animals, but seeing that every one was at his post and attending faithfully to his duties, and looking after every expenditure and keeping all accounts properly adjusted, both with the State and with the general government, was for civilians no easy work. This, however, was the time when everybody in the State seemed to be engaged in the service of the State, not as a salaried agent, but as a generous friend, only anxious to find out how to render the most and the best service. The best man was selected to look after this or that State contract Such an one was to engage steamboat transportation for the troops as they were to be sent South. Another was to see that they were properly provisioned until the general gov ernment could take care of them. Still others must be looking up suitable horses for the cavalry and artillery that was being organized. This was the time when the Governor was so often met hurrying to and from Washington, to confer with Mr. Lincoln, and make arrangements with some of the departments, or if not doing this personally, sending one of his staff, or some one peculiarly fitted for a difficult errand. There was plenty of such work then, and some of it encountered difficulties, such as securing Lieutenant Robert 0. Tyler, who had just graduated at West Point, to take command of one of the Connecticut regiments, and then changing it from an infantry to a heavy artillery regiment, at the earnest desire of the young colonel. Much of this service was gratuitously done, like Captain Daniel Tyler s, the only professional soldier in the first three regiments, who prepared the Connecticut troops so well for the field, and led them well in that Bull Run retreat. He accepted his appointment on his own stipulation, that he should receive no compensation from the State. His service was suffi ciently recognized afterwards by his promotion in the army. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 189 But those were times of pure patriotism, and disinter ested devotion to the public service, and when the State could summon to its aid all manner of ability, and devotion, and self-sacrifice, from the noblest motives. Then the people of the North, moved by a common purpose and inspired by a divine impulse, roused themselves to their calling, and no cost was too great for the attainment of their purpose. It was at this period the last of 1861 that we began to show what was meant by the "Uprising of a Great People." A few weeks before, unable to believe such a war possible, incredulous as to any such desperate spirit, or well- organized preparations, or sufficient resources on the part of the South, and with only 75,000 troops called for and these three-months men, our response was not perhaps so remarkable. But when it began to appear how much more must be done if we expected to save the Republic, what a length of line was to be held across the very continent, and crowded down until no rebel port could maintain itself to the south of it, and this, too, with our insignificant army ; what a seacoast on both sides of the continent was to be effectually blockaded when we virtually had no navy ; when we were imperiled by the disposition of foreign nations to acknowledge the nationality of the South, and the Trent affair nearly involved us in immediate war with Great Britain; and when we were at a loss to know how our credit was to bear the strain of even such expenditures, then came the uprising of the people, the pouring in of volunteers, the crowding of Northern camps with organized troops all ready for the field, which the government was unable to either use or support. This was a sight for the world to behold. Not a mere popular insurrection, nor wild rushing into some foreign war, nor a vast government con scription, nor rash incurring of war expenditures with no hope of ever meeting them ; but the people, urging them selves upon the acceptance of the government, and pro- 190 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Tiding themselves for all military expenses, and this not to> conquer anybody, much less enslave anybody, but to pre serve the national government, and maintain self-govern ment and the equal rights of all, and before high heaven and in the sight of the world, pledging themselves not to let this only example of such government perish from among men, and to stand by this pledge till it was redeemed to the satisfaction of everybody, even those who were struggling to defeat them. This is what the world saw, and what we achieved for the world. As showing how the loyal governors and their States kept in advance of the general government, and were always raising more troops than the government would accept, look at the condition of things in several of them at this time. Governor Morton of Indiana, whose State was naturally Democratic and had a considerable element of its population from the South, writes to Washington : " Though this State has furnished its quota of thirty-seven regiments, we can give the nation one hundred regiments just as well." Governor Morgan of New York sent two members of his staff to the Secretary of War, with the offer of thirty regiments already raised. Seventeen were ac cepted and the rest refused. These gentlemen were urging the acceptance of the whole number on the ground that all were likely to be needed, and that it seriously discouraged enlistments to have any of them rejected. Being unsuc cessful with the War Department, they went to the Presi dent with their case, who said : " Yes, that is true ; it will seriously discourage future enlistments to have any of them kept back ; I will see about it," and he did. New York, before the year ended, had in service, or ready to engage in it, ninety regiments of infantry, ten of cavalry and five regiments or battalions of artillery and engineers, amounting nearly if not quite to 100,000 men. At the same time Governor Dennison of Ohio allows ten days for WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 191 the completion of his regiments in camp, and says that "within that time, the State will have contributed 35,000 more of her troops to the grand column that is on its march to New Orleans by the way of Nashville." Massa chusetts had seventeen regiments in the field and was organizing ten more, with no assurance that they would all be accepted. And so with Connecticut. When only a single regiment was the State s quota under the first call, she raised and equipped three others, and kept them in camp under drill, to take the place of the three-months men who should not re-enlist, or in case more should be needed. In the fol lowing autumn, the Governor s message to the extra session of the Legislature says : " The calls made for volunteers for the national defense have met with a hearty response, and but for the hesitancy on the part of the general govern ment to accept more troops, we might have 12,000 or 15,000 men in the field to-day." As it was, however, the State then had nine regiments, with camp equipage complete, already in the field, or ready to go at a few days notice. This was the time when the* three regiments of three- months men, who had conducted themselves so well at Bull Run, had re-enlisted. It was then that such troops as these, and under such commanders, were forwarded to the general government, and others incorporated with them to do good service in other battles and campaigns. These troops had not only fought well there, for fresh troops, but kept up their organization when so many other commands were completely broken up in that wild rout. They were the rear guard of the retreating army, and other States were indebted to them for the protection of their dis organized forces, and the saving of their camp property. "The Connecticut Brigade," says the New York World y " was the last to leave the field, and by hard fighting had to defend itself and to protect our scattered thousands for 192 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. several miles of the retreat." They not only occupied their own camping ground the night after the battle, but when ordered to leave for Washington they took with them not only their own baggage, but the tents and equipments of two Ohio regiments and the Second New York, which had been deserted. General Tyler, their commander, might well say with pride: "At 7 o clock Tuesday morn ing, I saw the three Connecticut regiments, with 2,000 bayonets,. march under the guns of Fort Corcoran, after- having saved us not only a large amount of public property, but the mortification of having our standing camps fall into the hands of the enemy." This was the time when the Fifth Connecticut Regiment, spoken of as "a splendid body of men and ably officered," left for the seat of war, within a month after our repulse at Bull Run, a regiment that behaved well in the battle and defeat of Winchester, in the fiercer fight with Jackson at Cedar Mountain, and shared faithfully the fortunes of Sher man in his march through Georgia to the sea. This regi ment was under the command of Colonel Orris S. Ferry, who afterwards became brigadier general, and still later represented the State in the United States Senate as the colleague of Governor Buckingham. This regiment was followed by the Sixth and Seventh ; the former commanded by Colonel Chatfield, who died of wounds received in storming Fort Wagner, and Lieu tenant Colonel William G. Ely, who came out of the war a brevet brigadier general ; the latter by Colonel Alfred H. Terry, " The Hero of Fort Fisher," made a major general in the regular army, and Lieutenant Colonel Joseph R. Hawley, who was brevetted major general, and is now serving his third term as United States Senator. These troops were attached to General Sherman s successful ex pedition against South Carolina, and after Commodore Dupont with his fleet had reduced the forts that defended WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 193- Port Royal, they were selected to land first. This they seem to have done without much regard to order or pre cedence, for when their steamer ran aground, they sprang into the water and formed upon the beach. This was a matter of pride to them and to their State, which the Governor expressed in a proclamation congratulating the State and her soldiers, that " the two regiments from Con necticut were the first to land on the hostile shore, and after the stars and the stripes, the flag of Connecticut was the first to wave above the traitorous soil of South Caro lina." These regiments were both concerned in the capture of Morris Island in Charleston harbor, and the brave though unsuccessful assault upon FortWaener; in the tedious reduction of Petersburg and the movements that secured the evacuation of Richmond, and in the capture of Fort Fisher, which had been unsuccessfully attempted before, but now was accomplished by the fleet under Admiral Porter, and the land forces under General Terry. It had become a necessity to reduce this fort to put a stop to the immense amount of blockade running into the port of Wilmington. It must be attempted again and taken by storm if possible ; if not, by siege. General Grant knew that he had in Admiral Porter ai.d his fleet what he wanted for the naval part of the expedi tion, and his wisdom put the land forces in charge of that blue-eyed, light-haired, modest young officer who came from Connecticut at the head of a single regiment, at the out break of the war, with no military knowledge except what he could have acquired in the State militia. He was given some of his old State troops, and especially his own regi ment, and furnished also with a portion of the First Con necticut Heavy Artillery under Colonel Abbot, with a sufficient siege train, if the fort could not be carried with out a siege. The fleet began the attack, and for eight honro nhoti u,nd shell were poured upon that devoted forti- 194 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. fication at the rate of more than 300 a minute. Then came the assault, on one side from the naval column, which was repulsed, and on the other by the land forces, led by Generals Terry and Ames. The fighting was at close quarters, The carnage was terrible. The leader of each brigade and the commanders of half the regiments went down in the storm. The Pennsylvania regiments were first in the fort. At five o clock, after the most desperate fighting, foot by foot, we had possession of half the land front. Terry sent for Abbot s brigade, with the Sixth Connecticut, and his old regiment the Seventh. He springs to the head of the column, leads it through the fort in pursuit of the retreating rebels, and compels instant and unconditional surrender. The result was a capture of the garrison of 2,000 men, 160 guns, and seven valuable blockade runners. [" Con necticut in the War," p. 689. So Fort Fisher fell, the last great shelter of blockade run ners, and possessing works almost impregnable. Admiral Porter telegraphed : " I was in Fort Malakoff a few days after its surrender to the French and the British. The combined armies of those two nations were many months capturing that stronghold. And it did not compare in size or strength with Fort Fisher." These troops were followed by the Eighth, Tenth, and Eleventh Regiments to join the Burnside expedition for Hatteras Inlet. After encountering a terrible storm off the cape, which lasted three weeks, and wrecked one-third of the fleet before it could get over the bar, the rebel works on Roanoke Island were subdued, and Newborn taken after many difficulties and severe fighting, in which these troops bore a conspicuous part. The position won, however, im portant as it might have seemed, was never worth the valor and loss it cost; it was so far inland, and so easily over whelmed by a concentrated force of the enemy, that it had to be relinquished before the close of the war, when Ply mouth was recaptured, and so many noble fellows were carried off to starve in Southern prisons. The "gallant WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 195 Eighth," as it was called, under Colonel Edward Harland, proved itself a good regiment everywhere, whether in hold ing its position and reorganizing the disorganized troops at Antietam, or in leading the way over the ramparts of Fort Harrison in front of Petersburg. For such leadership their commander attained, as he well deserved, the rank of brigadier general. The Tenth, under Colonel Russell, had shared faithfully with the Eighth and the Eleventh in the reduction of the works on Roanoke Island, and in the capture of Newbern, and had not its noble young colonel fallen so early in the war, he too might have attained to equal honor. The Eleventh gallantly stormed the bridge at Antietam, where it lost its commander, Colonel T. H. C. Kingsbury, and Captain John Griswold, " two of its choicest men," and there with those other Con necticut regiments, particularly the Sixteenth, contributed so liberally to the grave, the hospitals, and tiie rebel prisons. This Eleventh regiment did important service at Cold Harbor, in a brigade commanded by their own Colonel Stedman, who says : " We left the woods with 2,000 men ; in five minutes we returned, six hundred less," and at the assault upon the works of Petersburg when the mine was exploded, they lost their second colonel just as he had been bre vetted brigadier general. The recruiting of these regiments was immediately fol lowed by that of three others for General Butler s expedi tion against New Orleans. These were the Ninth under Colonel Cahill, the Twelfth under Colonel Deming, and the Thirteenth under Colonel Birge, which have already been spoken of and characterized. Only one of them left the State during that autumn, but the other two were then recruited and reorganized, and left early in 1862. In the meantime the First Connecticut Heavy Artillery was organized and equipped, that unequaled contribution to our army, which had no other organization of the kind, 196 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. save the Second Heavy Artillery, which was also furnished by Connecticut. This was originally an infantry regiment, but when its young colonel, Robert 0. Tyler, just graduated at West Point as a lieutenant in the engineer corps, took command, its organization was changed, and instead of a regiment of ten companies of 100 men each, it was com posed of twelve companies of 150, or 1,800 men all told. These were trained both as infantry and as artillerists, and in service might be found leaving their heavy guns behind them, and using their muskets as effectively as their ram rods and sponges. It was a splendid body of troops, as the writer saw them reviewed by the Governor, just before they left Virginia to join McClellan in his Peninsular cam paign ; 1,600 of them in line, young, bright, clear-faced, carrying with them the principles and morals of their New England homes; and with their accomplished commander and his promising staff officers, it was not strange that they accomplished all that was expected of them, and received the highest commendation of the army officers, and the government, and foreign military critics. We remember at the dinner table, after the review, when the first troops from the neighboring camps were being sent down the Potomac, some one said to their colonel : " Colonel, our boys feel badly that these troops are going off on this expe- tion, and we must lie here in our camp." u Nonsense," was his reply, worthy of the wisdom and self-control of some old veteran ; " our business is to have a good regi ment, and if we have one we shall be wanted." We soon read that they were to join the expedition, and take with them a large siege train, a train, as it proved, of " seventy- one heavy guns, from 200-pounder Parrotts to thirteen-inch sea-service mortars, exceeding in weight by fifty per cent, any guns that had ever before been placed in siege bat teries." To have transported them safely through the swamps of the Chickahominy, and not left one of them WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 197 there; to have used them so effectively at Malvern Hill and saved our army in its utter rout, and to have held so pertinaciously the siege of Petersburg until Richmond was evacuated and Lee was forced to surrender, this is achieve ment enough, and honor enough for any commander, espe cially for a young engineer, and for troops that would have been deemed raw recruits in most armies when they were accomplishing this. Well did they deserve all the honor that has been given them, and the promotion of brevet major general bestowed upon their commander. Nor was this all, for during that autumn was raised and drilled, though not sent into the field until some time in the winter, the State s First Light Battery, and the First Regiment of Cavalry. This battery consisted of four bronze six-pounder James rifled guns, 156 men and the proper number of horses, ammunition wagons, forage wagons, a forge and everything necessary for immediate service. It created a sensation in a quiet Connecticut town like East Meriden, to witness their drill and hear them thundering over their fields and hills in so much of the reality of war; and when they left we are not surprised that it was with the high respect of the community who not only looked upon them as heroes from the first, but esteemed them personally, and followed their fortunes with deep interest. There is in the State Capitol at Hartford, by the side of the State flags and near the statue of the "War Governor," a wheel of one of the guns of this battery, which is more descriptive of its services than any ordinary history of it could be. It is a wheel that has been disabled by a round shot cleanly cutting its way through its immensely thick tire and solid oak felly, carrying away half the hub, leaving the wheel in ether respects as compact and solid as ever. Upon it are in scribed the name of its captain, Alfred P. Rockwell, and the more important engagements in which it had been 198 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. concerned, such as: "James Island, S. C., June, 62; * 44 Bermuda Hundred, Va., May and June, 64;" "before Petersburgh, August and September, 64 ;" "before Rich mond, from October, 64, to April, 65," and "struck in action at Proctor s Creek, Va., May 15, 65." There are more than twenty of these inscriptions, representing a full three years of service in the war. It should be said also that their young captain who led them to the war, returned a brevet brigadier general. The First Connecticut Cavalry was also recruited and equipped at the same time. Previous to this a squadron was enlisted, but when the War Department declined to receive any more troops from the State, it entered the "Ira Harris" Cavalry Regiment of New York. But this cavalry battalion of 846 men, recruited from almost every town in the State, and said to have been made up as a rule of men of superior intelligence and character, was raised without difficulty, and sent to West Virginia, where it began at once that hard and desperate work, which belongs to this branch of military service, and which was never intermitted until it had helped to finish the war around Richmond and Petersburg, and witnessed the surrender of Lee. When it left the State it was only a battalion of about 350, but the hardships of the service, both upon men and horses, were so severe that it required a constant recruiting of both to keep them up to even this standard. And their services were so valuable that after a time they were recruited up to a full cavalry regiment of 675 mounted men. Their recruits came both from the North and from the South, for on one occasion they enlisted 120 veterans, who were Confederate prisoners and deserters from the Confederate army men who had been impressed into that service from North Carolina and Tennessee. They were also supplied at one time with 500 horses, and so many of them being raw recruits and of a miscellaneous character, they were sent WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 199 to Annapolis, Aid., and put in charge of their old com mander, Major Blakeslee, who subjected them to hard drill and rigid discipline, and brought them to an admirable condition, when they were ordered to join the Army of the Potomac, and share heavily in the hardships and losses of the battles of the Wilderness. The following is a description of them as they left for the front: The old camp was broken up and abandoned, rations cooked and distributed, horses fed and groomed, small packs made up, and G75 mounted men were drawn up, mounted in close column of squadrons, every man in place, sabres shining, flags flying, and guidons flashing in the wind; a magnificent array. Major Blakeslee, young and almost beardless, might well be proud of his command, and the bugler sounded the officers call. The line officers rode to the front, and received directions to permit no straggling nor foraging, and to keep the ranks well filled up. The bugler sounded the "Forward!" and away they rode to the year of deadly conflict, to toil and vigilance, heat, cold and hunger, death, wounds, and glory. [" Connecticut in the TFar," p. 49G. The history of this single regiment has enough of hard ship, heroism and romance in it to fascinate and impress a nation with the noblest qualities of manhood and patriotism, even if we had not so much more of the same in the whole army and in every branch of the service. Take some of the work of this regiment in Western Virginia. Harry Gilmore, the "Rebel Raider," had been making some of his audacious and successful forays across the borders of the Northern States, and had swept into Maryland, cutting the railroad between Baltimore and Washington, and capturing a major general and a number of officers on the train. Major Whitaker of this cavalry was ordered by Sheridan s chief of staff to take 300 picked men and pursue this bold rider any distance and at any risk, until he was cap tured and handed over to the Federal authorities. These troopers pushed up all day and all night over the Alleghenies for seventy miles, thirty of which were within the enemy s- lines, making a march of 140 miles in a little over forty- 200 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. eight hours, secured Gilmore and handed him over to the authorities to bo imprisoned as a spy in Fort McHenrv. A still more daring and successful personal adventure is told of Major Blakeslee, their " young and almost beardless" commander. It occurred in that desperate fighting between Grant and Lee for the capture and defense of Richmond. The men had been dismounted and put upon the skirmish line, where they had remained for eighteen hours without relief or food, when word came from their brigade com mander : " I must have a regiment that I can trust, and the First Connecticut must stay all night." They were to advance at dawn the next morning, but being out of ammunition and delayed in securing it, they fell behind, when suddenly the enemy charged upon their rear with such fury, that there was a perfect stampede of pack animals and drivers, frightened horses and mules, mounted servants and soldiers, with ail military order lost, and even brave men swept away in the panic-stricken crowd. Major Blakeslee on a powerful horse forced his passage to the rear, and opening his command to the right and left, let the fugitives go through, when he found himself and his command face to face with a full brigade of rebel cavalry. Major Blakeslee tells, in a private letter, of this encounter in the charge with a rebel horseman : I was somewhat in advance of my men, when the sudden dash of our horses had somehow I have no distinct idea how brought this horseman and myself side by side. He was a little in advance of his men, and we met about midway between the opposing troops. He was so near that I could have laid my hand upon his shoulder, when he thrust the muzzle of his pistol within three or four inches of my right side and snapped the cap. It missed. As quick as thought I raised my pistol to his left side and fired. He fell from his horse and died instantly. I saw his pistol drop from his grasp to the ground, and I did, what in a cooler moment I should not have done; in the midst of bullets I leaped from my horse, snatched the pistol, sprang on again, and led his horse to my men, and gave it to Sergeant Ilinman, who fighting near me had had his horse shot under him, and he kept the revolver as a trophy. The whole occupied but a few seconds. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 201 This record, which is in itself such a tribute of praise to the State and its governor, is none the less so because many other States showed similar patriotism, and other governors wrought with similar zeal and fidelity in the work of saving the nation. In this first year of the war and time of hesitancy as to what should be done, and what the North was ready to do, when there were such divided counsels as to the management of the war, and who should be put at the head of our armies, and when our armies were to be raised and the whole art of war was to be learned by us ; such a bare record of what had to be done, and was done, by one of these loyal States, is illuminating. It shows, too, what its governor meant when he was urging the government to prosecute the war with more vigor, and gave the Secretary of War this pledge in behalf of himself and State : " With this statement I only beg to confirm the views herein expressed to your Excellency, with the assurance that no State, large or small, shall send you better troops, or stand by you in all your embarrassments and perplexities mure firmly, than this Commonwealth." CHAPTER XII. THE YEAR 1862. Review of the Situation up to 1862 Progress of the War in the West and on the Coast Governor Buckingham s Re-election A Patri otic Legislature The Peace Party in Connecticut Demands that the Army of the Potomac Move. The second year of the war, 1862, opened with some important gains to the Federal government, though the preceding year had been one of fearful perils, and not a few heavy losses. Several of the Southern States had been kept from joining the Confederacy, and Missouri, the most hostile and dangerous of the border States, had been pretty well subdued, thanks to the prompt action and vigorous campaigns of General Lyon. Our military line of occupation from the Cumberland Mountains across Kentucky to the mouth of the Ohio, had been pushed down into Tennessee, and the upper Miss issippi had been opened as far down as Memphis. The blockade of the Southern ports had been made so effectual that no foreign nation ventured to treat it as a "paper blockade," except at the risk of forfeiting every ship and cargo engaged in blockade running, and though the coast-line to be guarded was more than 3,000 miles, and required 600 vessels, most of them steamers, to do it effectually, more than half this number had been provided and were engaged in this business within nine months after the war broke out. Our navy, too, which was comparatively nothing at first, soon became formidable enough to fear no rebel cruiser, and to recover the more important of our government fortifications, or to seal up the ports where they were situated. This n ivy was collected and created out of every craft that could be strengthened to carry a rifled cannon, or sustain a mortar, until we had a fleet of war and transport steamers, of ironclads and rams and monitors, which soon took possession of Hatteras Inlet and Newbern, the refuge of blockade runners, recap tured Fort Pulaski, the defense of Savannah, and sweeping away the defenses of New Orleans, brought that important city, and more important river, under Federal control. There was another peculiar part of our navy called into existence at that time; the stout, swift, side-wheel steamboats of our Western rivers, with no armor, only altered for the better protection of their machinery, and carrying WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 208 several rifled guns; the powerful steamers of 5,000 tons burden, heavily armored, and each carrying a dozen heavy guns; and those smaller but still more powerful steamers, heavily armored, with slanting casemates, a plating of two and a half inches, carrying thirteen guns and steaming nine miles an hour, together with the "tinclads," which were only musket-proof. These all went to make up Commodore Foote s gunboat fleet on our Western waters, with which he soon cleared the upper Mississippi of the enemy s fleet and obstructions, reducing "Island No. 10," its strong hold, and keeping the river open until our fleet was met at Memphis by Farragut s fleet from the mouth of the river, and that great prize, the free navigation of the Mississippi, was won for the West. It was this fleet, under this commander, which reduced Forts Henry and Donelson on the Ten nessee and Cumberland rivers, and made it possible for General Grant to win that all-important battle of Corinth, or Pittsburg Land ing, and clear his passage for the investment of Vicksburg, and open the way afterwards for General Sherman to set out on his " march to the sea." Then our army which was so insignificantly small at the breaking out of the war was reported by the Secretary of War as having within nine months been increased by voluntary enlistments to 600,000 men. Even the Army of the Potomac, only one of the half-dozen of our Northern armies, had upon its muster rolls, January 1, 1802, 219,707 men. And this was the rate at which enlistments had to be kept up to make good the losses of the service, until probably 2,000,000 of Union men had been in the field before the war closed. One million and fifty thousand were on the rolls and drawing pay when the war ended. Draper s " Civil War," Chaps. 44 and 45, Vol. II. Thus the military and naval strength of the Federal government was steadily and rapidly increasing when the new year opened, and this was to be soon followed by some important successes. Fort Pickens, one of the strongest of our fortifications, the key to the Gulf of Mex ico, had just been saved to the Union by the " fidelity and prompt energy of Lieutenant Slemmer, its com mander," when most of the Southern forts, with immense military stores, had been taken possession of by the seceding States. About this time also a military and naval expedi tion had been planned and successfully executed by Com modore Dupont and General Sherman against Port Royal, S. C. Tli is is a fine port between Charleston and Savannah, 204 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. from which expeditions could be fitted out against either of these places, as was done when Fort Pulaski, the defense of Savannah, was taken and held, and whence a position was secured on the neighboring islands of Charleston to operate against that city. A land and sea expedition under General Butler and Commodore Stringham had also been successfully carried out against Hatteras Inlet, which sealed up that part of the coast against blockade runners, and allowed General Burnside and Admiral Goldsborough, a few months later, to capture Roanoke Island, and all the approaches to Newborn, and take possession of the city itself, a position quite inland, important both with reference to North and South Carolina. Such had been our substantial gains and brightening prospects as the year was closing, when we were suddenly brought into the most critical relations with Great Britain by the u Trent affair." The case was this : Messrs. Mason and Slidell, Confederate commissioners to foreign govern ments, had run the blockade to the West Indies, and taken the English mail steamer Trent for England. Captain Wilkes, in command of one of our war steamers, the San Jacinto, learning of this, overhauled the British steamer, demanded and took possession of these commissioners as contrabands of war, and delivered them up to the Federal authorities. Instead of asking for an explanation in the usual form and through the ordinary channels of diplo matic intercourse, and giving us an opportunity to disavow the act and apologize for it, as we might have been expected to do, if it was as illegal and indefensible as was repre sented, a peremptory and threatening demand was imme diately made out for the surrender of the prisoners, and, without any communication with Mr. A darns, our minister at the British court, was forwarded directly to Washington by a private messenger, together with a letter from Earl Rus sell to Lord Lyons, saying that "the British government WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 205 would not allow such an affront to her national honor to pass without full reparation." The London Times also told us in advance that there was no door left open for explana tion or negotiation, and that no possible delay of decision would be allowed. Preparations also were immediately begun for war, and large shipments made of troops and arms for Canada, as if we were to be driven into war and no way left open for any peaceful settlement of the diffi culty. Indeed, if the tone of the press, the spirit of diplo matic correspondence, the preparation for war on the part of the British government, were an indication of the temper of that per pie, it seemed as if they desired war, and would provoke us into it if possible. And what was this astonishing violation of the neutrality laws of nations and gross insult to national honor which England complained of so confidently and resented so keenly ? As it appeared to us at the time, it seemed as if we had enough in the exigencies of our condition ; in the true meaning and spirit of neutrality law; in the prin ciples and practice of Great Britain, and in the character of the prisoners taken as our own subjects, engaged in a plot to overthrow the government, and enlist foreign nations in aid of such a conspiracy ; to justify our procedure. Therefore it was not strange that the act was generally commended by the press and rejoiced over by the people, so that Captain Wilkes, as soon as he reached Boston and had seen his prisoners safely shut up in Fort Warren, accepted a public reception in Faneuil Hall, and was judged worthy to be made an admiral.* He had taken from the ship of a neutral nation, which had no right to help our enemies carry on war against us, " officers and dis patches " of the enemy which were as much " contraband * Though the government could not properly bestow upon him such promotion when he had neglected to have his act justified by an admiralty court, or out of the proper order of promotion, he was soon after made commodore for distin guished service, and several years later, when upon the retired list, a rear admiral. 206 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. of war " as " arms, military stores and materials " of war. They had all been included together in the Queen s procla mation of neutrality between the United States and the Confederates, upon the breaking out of the war : Her Majesty s " loving subjects and all persons whatsoever entitled to her protection," were forbidden and warned against " entering into the military service of either of the said contending parties;" against "fitting out, arming or equipping any ship or vessel, to be employed as a ship of war, or privateer, or transport, by either of the contend ing parties;" also against "carrying officers, soldiers, dispatches, arms, military stores or materials, or any articles considered and deemed to be contraband of war, according to the law or modern usage of nations, for the use or service of either of the contending parties: and all persons so offending will incur and be liable to the several penalties and penal consequences by the said statute, or by the law of nations, in that behalf imposed or denounced. Then we were only following the example and adopting the principles of Great Britain in this matter. She had claimed the right to take her seamen from our vessels wherever she found them, and had often exercised it against our remonstrances. Indeed, this was one of the causes of our war of 1812, and the war was ended without our secur ing the relinquishment of that claim.* Yet in spite of such justification of our course, our gov ernment repudiated the act of Captain Wilkes, surrendered his prisoners, and congratulated itself that it had settled at last a dangerous principle of international law, from which we had suffered and were liable at any time to suffer more. The state paper which disposed of the matter may indeed be considered as able and just a treatment of the subject, as * As showing how captious the British government was at this time, and how forgetful of her own principles of action in similar circumstances, it will be remem bered that she arraigned us sharply, and seemed disposed to pick a quarrel, on the ground of our violating the laws of nations and freedom of the seas, because we had attempted to block up the harbor of Charleston, S- C., until we gave them the assurance that such obstructions would be removed when the war was over. And yet Scott, in his " Life of Napoleon I," says she "attempted to destroy the harbor of Boulogne by sinking in the roads ships loaded with stone." [ Vol. 11, p. 85, 7/ar- 1827- WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 207 it was skillfully drawn to soothe the irritated feelings of our people and satisfy them that this was the only right course to be pursued under any circumstances. Mr. Sew- ard, our Secretary of State, who drew up the paper, took the ground that our act was not justified, because the ship and the prisoners were not taken into port and the case tried by some admiralty court, and declared justifiable ; and also because the arrest and search of a foreign vessel, and the disregard of the protecting power of another flag, were too great an exercise of authority, without the revision and sanction of some court of law, to be entrusted to any ship captain, or naval officer, or even cabinet minister. Mr. Seward, in this paper, after maintaining the inde pendent sovereignty of a nation, and the protecting power of its flag, and its right even to protect what is contraband of war until some court of admiralty has declared it contra band and justified its seizure, says : I have not been unaware that in examining this question, I have fallen into an argument from what appears to be the British side of the case against my own country. But I am relieved from all embarrassment on that subject. I had hardly fallen into that line of argument when I discovered that I was really defending and main taining, not an exclusive British interest, but an old, honored and cherished cause; not upon British authorities, but upon principles that constitute a large portion of the distinctive policy by which the United States have developed the resources of a continent, and thus becoming a considerable maritime power, has won the respect and confidence of many nations. Then, after showing that these principles were laid down by this government as early as Mr. Jefferson s adminis tration, in instructions to Mr. Monroe, at that time our minister to England, and had been persistently maintained ever since, he goes on to say : If I decide this case in favor of my own government, I must disallow its most cherished principles, and reverse and forever abandon its essential policy. The country cannot afford it. If I maintain those principles and adhere to that policy, 1 must, surrender the case 208 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. itself. It will be seen, therefore, that this government cannot deny the justice of the claim presented. We are asked to do to the British nation just what we have always insisted all nations should do to us. Then referring to the justification of our act in its neces sity for the salvation of our government, he says : If the safety of the Union required the detention of the captured persons, it would be the right and the duty of this government to detain them. But the effectual check and waning proportions of the existing insurrection, as well as the comparative unimportance of the captured persons themselves, when dispassionately weighed, happily forbid me from resorting to that defense. Nor have I been tempted at all by suggestions that cases might be found in history where Great Britain refused to yield to other nations, even to ourselves, claims like that which is now before us. It would tell little for our claims to the character of a just and magnanimous people, if we would so far con sent to be guided by the law of retaliation, as to lift up buried injuries from their graves, to oppose against what national consistency, and the national conscience, compel us to regard as a claim intrinsically right. Pushing behind me all suggestions of this kind, I prefer to express my satisfaction that by the adjustment of the present case upon principles confessedly American, and yet as I, trust mutually satisfactory to both of the nations concerned, a question is finally and rightly settled between them, which heretofore exhausted not only all forms of peaceful discussion, but also the arbitrament of war itself, and for more than half a century alienated the two countries from each other, and perplexed with fears and apprehension all other nations. So this black war cloud, which might have swept away our Union, and with it our bright prospects and so many of the hopes of the world, was mercifully dissipated, and England, whose glory has been her persistent and success ful opposition to slavery, was spared the infamy of helping to establish a slaveholding confederacy after such a record.* * Mr. Russell of the London Times professed to be under the impression that the government could not give up Mason and Slidell ; that the people would not allow it. Well, Mason and Slidell are given up, and no tumults succeed. Indeed, we think there is a very general sense of relief in consequence. Moreover, it was supposed that these and traitors could not be relinquished at the demand of Great Britain, without the fact and the sense of the national humiliation on our part. The thing has been done, and it will not be a week before we shall perceive that we have performed one of the proudest deeds of our history ; that there was WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 209 In the State canvass this year, Governor Buckingham was elected for the fifth time, and by a handsome majority. The Legislature also was largely Republican in both branches; the Senate wholly so, and the House having 181 Republicans to 56 Democrats. The Democratic party was always strong and well organized in the State, and for the most part they sustained the general administration in the prosecution of the war; like Colonel Doming, who, though a Democratic leader, was elected Speaker of the last Republican House of Representatives, and had just gone to the front at the head of a regiment. There were, however, a considerable number of " Peace Democrats," who became a peculiarly obstructive and dangerous element at that time when the government was taxed to the utmost in raising troops, which this class discouraged. Still they encouraged " peace meetings, 11 gathered under a white flag, or under our national flag with fourteen of its stars blotted out, to represent the number of the seceding States. Resolutions were passed that " the American Union is forever destroyed," and the towns were called upon to take ground " against a further continuance of this bloody spectacle," and some of their papers were saying: "We are opposed to this war. It has already driven the border States out of the Union ; it can never bring them back; it is crushing out the lifeblood of really nothing that we could have done so masterly in its effect upon the rebellion and upon foreign opinion. The release of the rebel commissioners, purely on the authority of American precedent, supporting American theory, binding England to the support of a doctrine which she has always practically opposed, even in her dealings with this country, will be accounted by foreign governments as one of the cleverest jobs ever done in diplomacy. It is so clever we almost suspect it to be a trick ; yet we have only to reperuse Mr. Seward s masterly paper, to find that wi- have the argument, and that he has really left nothing to be said. The subject is exhausted. There it is in all its length, breadth, and thickness, and in all its bearings and relations. America states its own argument, and saves the British government the trouble of doing it. Then she tosses back into British protection the men whom it is not the slightest object for her to keep, and washes her hands of the whole affair before the nations [Springfield Republican January 6 and 9, 1863. 210 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. New England." This element took advantage of our de feats, as at Bull Run, to show the hopelessness of the struggle, and to discourage enlistments, when a draft had to be levied after <jthe losses of 1863. It was responsible for the riots at New York and at Boston, and almost pro voked one in Connecticut. It was one of the helpful and hopeful features of the State, that at this time when its military and financial resources were to be taxed so heavily, there was such perfect unanimity on this subject, on the part of the Governor and both branches of the Legislature. The Legislature adjourned upon the close of General McClellan s disastrous Peninsular campaign, having re mained in session to know the worst and to provide for it. When this was known, laying aside every other sub ject of legislation except the state of the country, both branches of the Legislature adopted unanimously, on the last day of the session, the following resolution: That the State of Connecticut will stand by the old flag, and will furnish all the men and money that are required of her, to put down this infamous rebellion. It was a legislature of universal ability, and well repre sented both the wisdom and the patriotism of the State, and from this time forth the State assumed, with new confi dence and vigor, the heavy responsibilities that had fallen upon her. Happily when this Legislature came together in May, it found the financial resources and credit of the State in as good a condition as its patriotism. The London Times, which was disposed to be captious about most of our doings, was already saying that, at the end of this first year of the war, we seemed to have accomplished little except to spend an unconscionable amount of money. The war, to be sure, was far from an end, and the expendi tures of the war nobody had begun to conceive. But we WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 211 intended to be honest, and pay even our war debt, instead of leaving it as a consolidated fund, paying only interest, and suffering it to remain a tax forever. The general government, under Secretary Chase v had adopted its admirable system of banking and loans which carried us successfully through the war, and made us strong, just where the Confederacy utterly broke down. And the loyal States, co-operating with the general government to make its financial system a success, and lending their credit, as Connecticut did, to maintain the federal credit, furnished a combination of financial wisdom and strength, which must be memorable in history. This, bo it re membered, was accomplished without any reckless confis cation of private property, or misappropriation of public funds, or neglect of all the other interests of a State except such as pertained to war. Governor Buckingham s message to the Legislature this year shows what financial ability and fidelity were manag ing the affairs of Connecticut to furnish such a satisfactory exhibit in such perplexing circumstances. Within a year he had turned over to the service of the United States 13,576 troops, infantry, cavalry and artillery, all com pletely armed and equipped for service. He had expended in such service for the general government $1,516,505 and had secured an interest-bearing certificate of indebtedness from the United States treasury for $600,000, expended in behalf of the general government. He had made an arrangement with the government to have the direct war taxes levied upon the State, assumed by the State, and collected by the officers of the State, rather than by officers of the general government, as more " in accordance with the views, usages and business interests of her citizens * as well as at less cost to the general government. He commends the new internal revenue scheme, and though likely to "make still larger demands upon the pecuniary 212 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. resources of the State," he assured his fellow-citizens of "their abundant ability to meet such claims, and out of the profits of their industry, supply the public treasury with ample means to prosecute the war, and furnish a good foundation for public credit. Sound policy dictates that you should avail yourselves of this self-sacrificing patriotism by making liberal provision to meet our existing obligations." Nor were these the only interests of the State looked after, and carefully managed. The State prison was about made to pay its own expenses ; the Reform School for juvenile offenders received the same appropriation as ever, as did the Retreat for the Insane and the Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb. The same pro vision was made for the blind and for imbeciles, and for the sick in the State Hospital, while nothing could exceed the liberality and tender care bestowed both by public appropriations and by private charities upon the sufferers by the war. While Secession States were entirely neglect ing their educational institutions, if not sinking their funds for such purposes in the abyss of their rebellion, this State was carefully increasing such investments, and taxing herself more freely than ever for such purposes. The Leg islature of Missouri, though the State never succeeded in getting out of the Union, sunk all her handsome school fund in a vain attempt to do so, while the Governor of Connecticut was reporting that her school fund, which for sixty years had been kept intact and steadily aug mented, was as useful as ever, and that with all the burdens of war, "the sum raised for the support of public schools by voluntary taxation had been more than doubled during the year." No wonder this message secured the confidence of the people in the leadership of the Governor, for it not only showed him to be patriotic, but wise and prudent ; as able in his financial management, as success ful in raising troops; as mindful of all the interests of the WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 213 Commonwealth, as of its liberties and the necessity of the Union; as well aware of the perils of our condition and apprehensive of what we might be cabled to suffer, as he was confident of what ought to be done, and what we might expect to accomplish in a cause so righteous. While he summons the people to his side in such clarion tones, it is with no concealment of the battle scenes that lie before them, where if they do not fall themselves, they will bury together in common grief and glory, their dear est sons and noblest heroes. "To press this contest to a final settlement, more prolonged and vigorous efforts may be required, and more costly sacrifices demanded. Other years of anxiety, and labor, and pecuniary embarrassment may intervene; the burdens of taxation may still be heavier; the battles of Roanoke Island, Donelson and Pittsburg Landing may be again fought on the mountains of Virginia and in the valleys of the Mississippi; blood, which has ever been the price of liberty, may flow more copiously in new fields of strife and carnage; the lives of other sons, even the life of Benjamin, may be required on the altar of our common country; these penalties so severe, these sacrifices so heart-rending; the results of this unholy rebellion against constitutional liberty, are monuments established by the providence of God, as a warning to all coming generations against the repetition of the damning crime. By such efforts and such sacrifices, the sword, under Divine guidance, will render a just decision, and re turn to its scabbard." By April of this year, within twelve months after the rebellion broke out, the cause of the Union had gained such strength and made such progress that the Northern States were greatly encouraged, and began to expect that another year would end the struggle. The blockade had pretty well sealed up the Southern ports, and with the diffi culty of importing supplies for the people at home and of 214 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. exporting cotton to sustain the credit of the Confederacy abroad, the financial prospects of the South were becoming dark. The Federal government had also taken possession of Hatteras Inlet, and the country stretching back for 150 miles into North Carolina. It was occupying the fine harbor of Fort Royal, just in the rear of both Charleston and Savannah. It had possessed itself of Fort Pulaski, which commanded the port of Savannah. Admiral Farra- gut was just forcing his way past the defenses of New Orleans, and within a few days General Butler s land forces would be holding secure possession of that bitterly hostile city. Commodore Foote had organized his invulnerable gunboat fleet on the Upper Mississippi, with which he had cleared the way for General Grant to take Forts Henry and Donelson and win that desperate victory at Pittsburgh Landing, and with which he himself had reduced those formidable works on Island No. 10, scattered everything before him in his attack upon Memphis, and virtually anni hilated the whole Confederate navy above Vicksburg. Finally the construction and arrival of the Monitor at For tress Monroe, to forever deliver us from the fear of Con federate ironclads, and save us from the loss of that bay and connecting waters, was an event of such importance in the history of the war, as greatly to brighten our prospects. It was not strange, therefore, that the ^North heartily responded to the recommendation of the President and the loyal governors to observe a day of public thanksgiving to Almighty God for the advance of their cause and the flat tering prospects of the Union. And yet at this very time the Army of the Potomac was about to meet with its worst defeat, and this to be succeeded by the invasion of the free States and the battle of Antietam, which though not a defeat was barely a victory, and to be followed by three years more of such taxation, volunteering, fighting, sacrifice of human life, and mourning all over the WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 215 North as well as at the South, as had never been conceived of. But by this time the free States, like Connecticut, had made up their minds that, cost what it might, the sacrifice must be made, and there was 110 drawing back. General McClellan had succeeded General Scott as com- rnander-in-chief of the army. He was a native of Pennsyl vania, though of Connecticut stock, being a great-grandson of Captain McClellan, who represented Connecticut in the battle of Bunker Hill. He had been educated at West Point, where Generals Burnside and Reno on the Union side, and General Stonewall Jackson among the Confed erates, were his classmates, and where he led his class in mathematics. He had also been sent as a member of a military commission to report on the condition of the armies of Europe, and observe the operations of both sides in the Crimean war, and his report of the "Armies of Europe " is regarded as " a model of fullness, accuracy, and system." At the head of the Ohio volunteers he was so successful after a brief campaign in driving the Con federate forces out of Western Virginia, that, with his accomplishments, brief experience and remarkable suc cess, his promotion to the head of the army was received with general approval, and not a little enthusiasm. No doubt more was expected of him than it was in the power of any man to accomplish, but he had qualities, attainments and a character which justified the highest expectations. He was also a man of pure morals, deeply religious, win ning in his manners, sincere in his friendships, and devoted to the welfare of his soldiers. He was the idol of his officers and men, who would obey him when all other control had failed. lt ln the opinion of many, however," it is added, "he was unduly careful of his troops, so that his power to organize was neutralized by his caution in the field." [Appleton s Bioyrapttical Dictionary. 216 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. When General McClellan was summoned to Washington, just after the battle of Bull Run, and put in command of all the Union armies, it was to take personal command of the Army of the Potomac and reorganize it, and also to provide a suitable system of fortifications for the defense of the national capital. For this he was well qualified ; better qualified probably than any other officer of the army, and in both these respects he accomplished his work with the greatest dispatch. As yet the national capital had been provided with no suitable defenses, and for a consider able time the city could have been bombarded from the Georgetown Heights, and all its public buildings laid in ruins. This was a matter of the highest importance for what it implied, and for the use that would have been made of it, rather than for the intrinsic importance of the pos session of the city, for it had been burned in the war of 1812, without changing at all the result of that war. But such an achievement by the Confederates would have been likely to secure the acknowledgment of the Confederacy abroad, as an established power, and to open the Southern ports to foreign commerce. The satisfactory completion of this work, therefore, so in accordance with the starting point of the administration in all its military operations, that the safety of the capital must be first assured, served to increase the reputation of the new general, and raise still higher the hopes of the nation in regard to him. Besides he had thoroughly reorganized and put a new spirit into his army. Its condition as he found it was any thing but hopeful and inspiring. " I was suddenly called to Washington," he says, " on the day suc ceeding the battle of Bull Run, and found myself assigned to the command of that city, and of the troops gathered around it. All was chaos and despondency, the city was filled with intoxicated stragglers, and an attack was expected. The troops numbered less than 50,000, many of whom were so demoralized and undisciplined that they could not be relied upon even for defensive purposes. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 217 Moreover, the term of service of a large part had already expired, or was on the point of doing so." [Century Company s " War Book " Vol. II, p. 160. And yet within three months he had collected a force of 134,255 men and nearly 300 guns, and was furnishing the men with every possible equipment and drilling them thoroughly in the best tactics of modern military schools. Within six months after he took the army in charge or February 1, 1862 not long before he set out on his Peninsular cam paign, he was at the head of a well-organized body of 222,196 troops, 190,000 of them present for duty. Though these were not veterans, they were probably as good mate rial, as well drilled, better equipped and more generously supplied with all they could need in a campaign, than any other army of the size that ever went into the field. Every thing had been done to aid the young commander in this work. He was the favorite of General Scott, whom he succeeded. He was the hope of Mr. Lincoln, after all his perplexities and disappointments in selecting commanders for his armies. Mr. Stanton, who had succeeded Mr. Cameron as Secretary of War, gave him the benefit of his great strength and determination, and furnished him with recruits ad libitum. The North, having given up the idea of a short war and nine-months men, was going in for the war, however long it might last, and enlisting as never before. And when General McClellan marched this superb army out toward the enemy s lines at Manassas, as he did in the spring of 1862, it seemed as if he might have pushed right on to Richmond, for there was certainly no such army before him to prevent it, or fortifications to check it. But now came that sad period of hesitancy and delay and differences of opinion among the officers of the army and the members of the Cabinet, as to the plan of the cam paign. The Army of the Potomac had been doing nothing font recruiting for the last six months, which was perhaps 218 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. all that it could do, and was certainly the best thing under the circumstances. But our military and naval successes elsewhere were not sufficient, so long as the Confederate army was confronting us, and threatening to invade the Northern States, if not to obtain possession of Washington. The enlistment also of so many able-bodied men, was not only a heavy draft upon the patriotism, as well as the industry of the people, but the war expenses were rolling up a debt which threatened to break down our national credit, if not to become a tax upon the country forever, as had been the case with other governments.* In such a state of things it had become a necessity that this fine army should be put to some use. The people were expect ing it; the press was demanding it; the President and his cabinet were endeavoring to effect it. But General Mc- Clellan and the government with its military advisers, could not agree upon the plan of the campaign. He wanted to move upon Richmond by the way of the Peninsula. They, for the most part, preferred an ad vance from the neighborhood of Washington, across the North and South Anna rivers, the route which General Grant afterwards took. President Lincoln was anxious to conform to the judgment and gratify the wishes of the promising commander whom he had placed in this position. And after stating his objections, and suggesting plans which seemed preferable to himself and to others, with the distinct stipulation that Washington should never be left uncovered, but always protected by the 30,000 or 40,000 troops required to properly man the fortifications already erected, he gave his assent to General McClellan s * The cost of conducting the war, after it was fully inaugurated, was scarcely at any time less than $30,000,000 a month. At many times it far exceeded that amount. Sometimes it was not less than $90.000,000 a month ; and the average expenses of the war, from its inception to its conclusion, may be said to have been about $2,000,000 each day. The public debt reached its maximum on August 31, 18C5, on which day it amounted to $2,845,907,626.56 [./ Q. Knox,* United State* WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 219 plan. Then he set about urging on and helping to carry out this plan, as earnestly as if it had been the one of his own choice. General McClellan must have all the troops he wanted, and he must have all the supplies he needed ; but he must take the field. While the Western armies, and our armies in the South, and our navy, had all been doing their work well, this Army of the Potomac had accomplished nothing, and indeed had attempted nothing since its defeat at Bull Run. No longer could in action be tolerated, especially with the army in its enlarged and improved condition, and with its able and popular commander. Here the correspondence between General McClellan and the government, which is so abundant, sheds the fullest light upon the whole campaign, and discloses, as nothing else could, the character of the principal men conducting it, particularly the President and his Commander-in-chief. When autumn came and before winter set in, there was a general expectation that the Potomac army would take the field, and General McClellan expresses this as his coufident intention, and with high expectations of inflicting "a crushing defeat upon the rebel army at Manassas, not to be postponed beyond the 25th of November, if possible to avoid it." But when the autumn had passed, with beautiful weather for campaigning, and winter had set in and was passing too, with nothing more than the camp drill of the army and imposing reviews, and spring had fairly arrived and the government was becoming more and more anxious as to how long the country would bear such a draft of men, or the treasury could endure such war expenses, Mr. Lin coln determined to get the army into the field and at work, if possible. He counseled it ; he urged it as a necessity ; he commanded it. He wrote private letters to General McClellan, full of useful suggestions and encouragement. He let him have his own way in regard to plans which he 220 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. never approved of, and engaged to furnish him with all the troops he asked for, and was only prevented from furnish ing any of them by the dangers that threatened elsewhere.* But move, that army must, as the President orders, through the Secretary of War, March 8, 1862. 1. Leave such force at Manassas Junction as shall make it entirely certain that the enemy shall not repossess himself of that position and line of communication. 2. Leave Washington entirely secure. 3. Move the remainder of the force down the Potomac, choosing a new base at Fortress Monroe, or anywhere between here and there or at all events, move such remainder of the army at once in pursuit of the enemy by some route. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War. In a personal letter to General McClellan a little later, when he was encamped before Yorktown, the President writes : And once more let me tell you, it is indispensable to you thnt you strike a blow. I am powerless to help this. You will do me the jus tice to remember, I always insisted that going down the bay in search of a field, instead of fighting at or near Manassas, was only shifting and not surmounting a difficulty; that we would find the same enemy, and the same or equal entrenchments, at either place. The country will not fail to note, is noting now, that the present hesitation to move upon an entrenched enemy, is but the story of Manassas repeated. [Letter of April 9. The Army of the Potomac was at last to move; it was to move upon Richmond by the way of the Peninsula between the James and York rivers. Norfolk and its navy yard were then in possession of the Confederates, with the formidable "Merrimac," which had inflicted such injury upon our navy, (though the one was blown up, and the other burned soon after,) so that the York river had to be * This refers to General McClellan s complaint to the President that he had not furnished him with all the troops he promised, meaning General McDowell s corps of 30,000 men, detached from the forces in the Valley of the Shenandoah, which had to be detained for the defense of Washington, though a considerable portion of them reached the Potomac army before that campaign was over, and were of essential! service in its operations. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 221 depended upon for the transportation of army supplies^ which were afterwards transferred to the James. The expedition was to set out from Fortress Monroe, at the foot of the Peninsula, and everything to be collected about this point, and sent up the York river to the White House, which became our base of supplies until the James was opened, and this base was changed to Harri son s Landing. When the army set out, it was composed of not less than 70,000 or 80,000 troops, and as officially reported within a month afterwards, as it lay before Yorktown, its numbers had been swollen to 130,000, of whom 112,000 were present, fit for duty. There were veterans enough among them; whole divisions and corps who had served in the Valley of the Shenandoah and elsewhere, and under such commanders as Fitz John Porter, Hooker, Sumner and others like them, who were not likely to give a poor account of themselves in any emergency. They had at least one arm of the service at their command, which never had its equal; a train of sixty heavy siege guns, which saved the army from annihilation at Malvern Hill, and afterwards proved our make-weight in more than one crisis of the war. * Such a collection of men and animals, artillery and wagons, baggage and forage, and supplies of every description, was never brought together for any other expedition, f It required a whole fleet of vessels and weeks of time to collect all these troops and supplies from every quarter, and land them on the Peninsula, nearest the army. And when moved by land, we do not wonder that their long * We refer to the siege train furnished for this expedition by the First Connecti cut Heavy Artillery, which the Count de Paris, as a military critic, commends so highly for its organization and effectiveness. tW T hen the movement by Fortress Monroe was determined upon, there were chartered 113 steamers, 188 schooners and 88 barges, with which in thirty -seven days there were transported to Fortress Monroe 121,500 men, 14,592 animals, 1,150 wagons, 44 batteries and 74 ambulances, besides a vast quantity of equipage. 1 Draper s " Civil War," Vol. 2. p. 378. 222 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. trains sometimes stretched thirty or forty miles on those single roads, and seriously interfered with the most im portant military movements. And yet we are surprised, when we come to read of the fabulous amount of sup plies destroyed on our retreat, to save them from the enemy ; of whole freight trains run into the river; of a complete ammunition train driven into a burning bridge to destroy the ammunition; and of arms enough left be hind to arm whole regiments of the enemy. It really seems as if our wealth of supplies was the hindrance to our advance, and that if we had not waited for them all we might have reached Richmond sooner. CHAPTER XIII. PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. The Magnificent Army of the Potomac Its Movement on Richmond by Way of the Peninsula The Retreat Across the Chickahominy The Week of Battles Malvern Hill. It was the 4th of April, 1862, when General McClellan with his grand army set out for Richmond. As so much was expected from this expedition the capture of Richmond, and most likely the closing up of the war and as the Eastern States had been recruiting this army, and Connec ticut and her Governor had taken a noble part in it, its operations assumed the deepest importance to them, as they soon did to all. For the next three months the anxi ety and anguish caused by this campaign absorbed the in terest of the country, and Richmond no less than Washing ton, and the South equally with New England, thrilled with every telegraphic dispatch, until it seemed as if that last " week of battles," with each succeeding day of fiercer light ing and deadlier loss, would break the nation s heart. The distance from Fortress Monroe to Richmond was seventy miles in a direct line. Two or three days brought the army to Yorktown, where the British army surrendered to the combined troops of France and the Colonies, and our war of the Revolution was closed. The old fortifi cations remained, and these enlarged and strengthened would have commanded the Peninsula pretty well, if the Confederate force had been sufficient to man them prop erly. But General Magruder had not more than eight thousand troops for that purpose, and he had been ordered to withdraw them as our army approached. He, bow- 224 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. ever, was determined to maintain his position if possible,, knowing that his disobedience would be pardoned if suc cessful. So by his incessant activity and bold show of resistance, General McClellan was deterred from an assault, and deliberately sat down before the place to reduce it by a regular siege. An entire month was occu pied in this, when the success of the expedition depended upon dispatch. Richmond was in no proper state of defense. The Confederacy was particularly exhausted of troops and funds, and discouraged by the Union successes. Then some of her best troops and commanders had been ordered elsewhere, like Stonewall Jackson to the Shenan- doah valley, to draw away more of our force from Wash ington.* General McClellan s chief engineer through the campaign, reports to his commander at the close, that it was a mistake not to have assaulted those works at once, instead of subjecting the army to such hardships and toil in the trenches, and such malarial sickness in those swamps, and allowing the enemy so much time to re cover their courage, gather their forces arid commanders from a distance, and even pass and enforce a conscrip tion law within this and the following month. These siege works were completed, and on the 6th of May were to have opened upon the enemy, when it was found that he had quietly withdrawn. * At the time the Army of the Potomac landed on the Peninsula, the Rebel cause was at its lowest ebb ; its armies were demoralized by the defeats of Port Royal, Mill Spring, Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Roanoke Island and Pea Kid<*e and reduced by sickness, loss in battle, expirations of period of service, etc. ; while the conscription law was not yet even passed. It seemed as if it needed but one vigorous gripe to end forever this rebellion, so nearly throttled. How then happened it, that the day of the initiation of the campaign of this magnificent Army of the Potomac, was the day of the resuscitation of the Rebel cause which seemed to gro w pari passu, with the slow progress of its operations? Our troops toiled a month in the trenches, or lay in the swamps of Warwick we lost few men by the siege; but disease took a fearful hold of the army; and toil and hardship unredeemed by the excitement of combat, impaired their moral,. We did not carry with us from Yorktown so good an army as we took there Of the bitter fruits of that month gained by the enemy, we have tasted to our heart -* contet. Gen.ralJohn O. Barnard s Report" Oreetey, 1 Vol. 2, p. 122. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 225 The army then moved on to Williamsburg, where it encountered more serious opposition. The Confederate army, under General Joseph E. Johnston, was being vigor ously re-enforced with Longstreet s division of their main army and Jackson s veterans from the valley of the Shen- andoah, and several of the best of their commanders. When General Johnston was severely wounded soon after at Fair Oaks, General Robert E. Lee took command, and he gathered about him the best military advisers of the Confederacy. At times President Davis was upon the field, if he did not personally command in some of the battles. At any rate, our army had no sooner approached Williams- burg, than they found themselves confronted by Longstreet, occupying a formidable series of redoubts, from which we, without any knowledge of the position or the force holding it, undertook to dislodge them, with heavy loss. General "McClellan was not at hand, having remained behind to for ward the army. Of the corps commanders, General Stone- man of the cavalry, suffering from the fire of the redoubts, and obliged to leave one of his guns stuck immovably in the swamp, had retired a little to wait for the infantry, when General Sumner, whose rank gave him the command, hearing the battle, pushed on, and was all ready to take part in it, when " darkness shut him in, and he was obliged to wait for the morning. Insisting upon reconnoitering the enemy s position in person, he fell among their pickets, was fired upon at short range, became lost in a swamp from which he was unable to extricate himself, and passed the entire night at the foot of a tree between the two hos tile lines." But General Hooker was at hand the next morning, and though he could obtain no orders he began his work early, and sustained the fight alone for nine long hours, and until he had been obliged to engage his very last men and supply them with ammunition from their fallen comrades. Fortunately, toward the middle of 226 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. the afternoon, General Kearney appeared with his division and pressed to the front, allowing General Hooker s thinned regiments to withdraw and be held as a reserve, while he at this point, and General Hancock on his right, by desperate fighting held the Confederates back until the next morning, when they had abandoned their position. This first check, however, had been attended with fearful loss, particularly to General Hooker s division, who reports it at 1,575 killed, wounded and missing. General McClellan makes the total loss that day 2,228. It was now two months since the Potomac army set out for Richmond, but it was only halfway there, and had only fought its first battle, and was about to plunge into the swamps of the Chickahominy, which seem an unheard- of place for campaigning with siege trains and batteries of heavy artillery. This stream, which comes within four or. five miles of Richmond and runs off toward the southeast, is at its ordinary stage not more than fifty feet wide, fringed with a dense growth of forest trees, and bordered by low, marshy lands, varying from half a mile to a mile in width. It is subject to sudden and great freshets, and a violent storm, however brief, swells the stream and over flows those bottom lands, until it is impassable except by long and strong bridges. The whole surrounding country will be more or less under water, and woe to troops that get caught at a disadvantage in trying to push their col umns, especially with their baggage trains and heavy bat teries, through the pitfalls of such a region. At the time of this advance on Richmond the cause of the Confed eracy was at a low ebb. Norfolk had been taken and burned, and nothing but the works at Drury s Bluff prevented the James river from being open up to the city. The danger then was felt to be so great that the archives were shipped to Columbia, S. C., and the Public treasures were kept on cars ready for removal. The city was Lot fortified, and there were few troops there. Before McClellan WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 2^7 was near the city, troops had been assembled in large numbers and fortifications thrown up on the side that was threatened. "War Book," Vol. II, p. 263. The Confederacy put its army under General Joseph E. Johnston, one of their ablest generals, to be succeeded by General Lee. It called to their aid such men as Stonewall Jackson, Longstreet, Ewell and the Hills. And they brought with them large numbers of veteran troops, as well as raw conscripts. Jackson brought with him 30,000 of such veterans. The Confederates were for a long time perplexed to divine McClellan s plans, and when they did, had he not changed them, it seems as ii they would have involved the loss of his whole army. He set out to go to Richmond along the north side of the Chick ahominy, and at one time his advance was within four miles of the city. But in doing so, he had allowed his army to be divided by the river. He had posted two-thirds of his army on the north side of the Chickahominy and left the other third on the south side, between which there could be no communication except across that uncertain stream and those unstable bridges; even then they must march a dozen miles to make any connection, while the Confederates in front of Richmond had only to march four or five miles to support any of their movements. Johnston was quick to take advantage of this situation. Leaving only six brigades to hold in check the bulk of our army on the north side of the river, he launched the other twenty-eight brigades of his army upon the two corps of Heintzelman and Keyes on the south side, enough to crush them with mere weight of numbers, had it not been for the prompt and magnanimous succor they received from General Sum- ner. He had been ordered to render them assistance should they need it, but without waiting until they did need it, he prepared to furnish it. He built two bridges 228 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. across the swollen river, one of which was at once car ried away, and the other was almost submerged. But he was already upon it with his troops and batteries, holding it down by their very weight until his support was demanded, when, plunging into the mud beyond, where his heavier artillery stuck fast, only to be extri cated and sent forward by morning, he pushed on with his infantry in the direction of the firing to encounter the last Confederate charge, in which our troops, after a day of hard fighting, had been driven back a mile and a half, and but for which we had lost that all-important battle. As show ing the severity of the fighting, as well as its influence upon the campaign, it is enough to know that on the Confederate side General Pettigrew was wounded, supposed to be mor tally, and taken prisoner, and General Hatton killed at his side ; also General Hampton was severely wounded, while General Johnston, chief in command, and conducting the whole campaign, was twice wounded and taken from the field, no more to resume command ; while on our side, out of Keyes corps of 12,000 men, 4,000 were dead or wounded three hours after the first day s fight began. This check led to the abandonment of the object of the expedition the capture of Richmond and finally forced upon us that disastrous retreat which almost annihilated our magnifi cent army. Here the campaign reached its crisis. The plans of both commanders had failed. That adopted by General Johns ton, and to have been carried out by General Lee, was, when they found our army divided by the river, to hold one portion of it in check by an inferior force, and with a superior force herd and drive the other portion down the Chickahominy, cut them off from their base of supplies on the York river, and capture them all at their leisure. The plan barely failed of success. As it was, on the second day our troops reoccupied the ground they had lost, and WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 229 after a little fighting under General Lee the battle died away by the gradual retirement of the Confederates. But General McClellan made no movement in advance upon Richmond. This has been thought to have been his great opportunity. Jackson was still in the valley of the Shenandoah, detaching from Lee an army of 16,000 men. The enemy had thrown almost his whole force against McClellan s left wing and had received more injury than he inflicted. Our right wing was intact, the material for bridging the upper Chickahominy had been ready for three days, tho Confederate army was streaming back to Richmond in discourage ment and disorder. [Nicolay & Hay, in " The Century" of October 1888, p. 933. And the Prince do Joinville, McClellan s ardent friend, is quoted as saying that he had missed " an unique oppor tunity of striking a blow." General Barnard, General McClellan s chief engineer, was also of the same opinion.* It was three weeks before General McClellan advanced, and then he continued on the south side of the river, only to find that General Lee had used the time to fortify Rich mond and collect an army almost equal to his own. Then came the " week of battles," terrible in loss on both sides, and fruitless of results. The " week of battles " has been conveniently arranged for reference by Draper, as follows : The First Day Thursday, 26th of June Mechanics ville or Beaver Dam. The Second Day Friday, 27th of June The Chickahominy, Games Mill, or Cold Harbor. The Third Day Saturday, 28th of June The retreat. The Fourth Day Sunday, 29th of June Savage Station. The Fifth Day Monday, 30th of June Frazier s Farm. * The repulse of the rebels at Fair Oaks should have been taken advantage of. It was one of those "occasions" which, if not seized, do not repeat themselves, We now know the state of disorganization and dismay in which the rebel army retreated. We now know that it could have been followed into Richmond. Had it been so, there would have been no resistance to overcome to bring over our right wing. [" Century." November. 1888, p. 933. 230 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. The Sixth Day Tuesday, 1st of July Malvern Hill. The Seventh Day Wednesday, 2d of July Reached Harrison s Landing and the shelter of the gunboats. The first of these battles was fought Thursday, the 26th of June, at Mechanicsville, or Beaver Dam, twelve or fifteen miles out of Richmond. According to General Webb s estimate, than whom there is no better authority, Lee had at this time 80,762 men, and McClellan 92,500, and each army was of the best material the country afforded. General Lee was about to launch almost his entire army against General McClellan s right wing, on the north side of the Chickahominy, where the greater part of McClellan s army lay, and from the support of which his two corps on the south side were likely to be cut off. For General Lee was already holding them there by 25,000 troops thrown between them and Richmond, while he began his operations on the other side of the river, at Beaver Dam and Games Mill, with 60,000 of his best troops, under such commanders as Longstreet, the two Hills, Whiting, Hood and Ewell. Besides Stone wall Jackson had arrived with his veterans, and was being pushed down the Peninsula, to cut off the Union army from their base of supplies on the York river, and to cut them up generally in their expected retreat. It was a bold plan, if not a reckless one, when the Union army was somewhat superior to the Confederates in num bers, and quite superior in its heavy artillery, and when the strength of its commander lay in selecting and forti fying good positions, which he might be expected to hold tenaciously. We must think that General Lee had the same " confidence in McClellan s want of enterprise," that General Johnston says he possessed. Beaver Dam was naturally a strong position just across a little stream that ran into the Chickahominy. It was held by Fitz. John Porter s corps of 27,000 men, and the brunt of WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 231 the battle was to fall upon General McCall s Pennsyl vania Reserves, which had just been sent as reinforce ments, and had never been in action. The attack was made by the three Confederate corps of Longstreet and of the two Hills, and to be met by General Porter, ably supported by Seymour, Meade and Reynolds, of the last two of whom it has been said: "The one gained an undying fame, and the other a glorious death at Gettys burg." The heaviest and most persistent blows fell upon these fresh reserves, who showed such enthusiasm and endurance, that when they had held the center of the position from 3 o clock in the afternoon until after sunset, had exhausted their ammunition, and were to have been withdrawn, they only asked for more ammu nition, and to be allowed to remain, where they held their ground until the last charge was made, and the whole rebel host had fallen back. They were a part of that "perfectly appointed division of ten thousand men and five batteries of artillery" from Pennsylvania, under General McCall, with which, General McClellan had just telegraphed the government : I shall be in perfect readiness to move forward and take Richmond the moment McCall reaches here, and the ground will admit of the passage of artillery. ["Century," Vol. II, p. 134. The whole battle was a series of desperate charges; masses of brave and well-led men launched against a strong position, and numerous and heavy batteries, the Confederates charging them first in front, and then at tempting to turn them on the one side, and then on the other, to be repulsed at every point, and this repeated through all that intensely hot summer afternoon, and until the shades of night had settled down over a terribly bloody field. General D. H. Hill on the Confederate side. who held an important command in that engagement, has thus described it: 232 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. The enemy had entrenchments of great strength and development on the other side of the creek, and had lined the banks with his magnificent artillery. The approach was over an open plain exposed to a murderous fire of all arms, and across an almost impassahle stream. The result was, as might have been expected, a bloody and disastrous repulse. Nearly every field officer in the brigade of my division which led the way was killed or wounded. We were lavish of blood in those clays, and it was thought to be a great thing to charge a battery of artillery, or an earth-work lined with infantry. "It is magnificent, but it is not war," was the sarcastic remark of the French general, as he looked on at the British cavalry charge at Balaklava. The attacks on the Beaver Dam entrenchments, on the heights of Malvern Hill, at Gettysburg, etc., were all grand, but of exactly the kind of grandness which the South could not afford. " War Book," Vol. II, p. 352. General Porter, encouraged by his success in holding his position so firmly, and with no more loss, urged General McClellan, his personal friend, to seize the opportunity and " let him hold his own at the Beaver Dam line, while he (Mc Clellan) moved the main body of his army upon Richmond." General McClellan hesitated as to what he would do, and when he left General Porter at 10 o clock that night, was undecided, but between 3 and 4 o clock in the morning sent him orders to fall back six miles to Games Mill famous thereafter as the battlefield of that name, as it is called by Southern writers a battle that was to take place the next day. The position selected was along a creek running through boggy swamps and tangled brush, where the higher land back of it was covered with a dense forest, which served to conceal in a measure the troops posted there, and where, through openings occupied by numerous and heavy bat teries that swept every approach, assaults, however fierce and well supported, were almost sure to fail. Though General Porter was expected to hold the position " with hardly more than one-third of the host which was march ing by every road on the west and north to destroy him," and though his calls for re-enforcements were unanswered, WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 233 except that General Slocum s division was sent him near the close of the day and rendered important service, he made with his troops such a magnificent fight that -the Century s " History of Abraham Lincoln " expresses its regret that, " in spite of his subsequent history, he had not commanded the entire Army of the Potomac that day." There were the best generals of the South, and among them the redoubtable Jackson, whose corps, though marching with less than its usual celerity, had turned Beaver Dam the night before, and had now arrived at the post assigned them opposite Porter s right. General Lee commanded on the field in person, and Jefferson Davis contributed whatever his presence was worth. [" Century," November, 1888, p. 139. The battle began at nocn, and at evening, after seven hours of constant fighting, the Union line had been broken and was being driven back, when the last of their re-enforce ments arrived, and the enemy, thinking it larger than it was, withdrew for the night. It was not, however, until Porter had lost 4,000 in killed and wounded one-sixth of his force and Lee had suffered in still greater proportion. But he had failed of his object; he had not dislodged the Union army from its position and driven it down the Chicka- hominy. Such was the second day of that week of battles, Friday, the 27th. Here was reached the crisis of this campaign on both sides. The campaign of the Potomac army against Rich mond, for which such vast preparations had been made, and in the success of which the North had such confidence, was abandoned.* The most that could be hoped for was to save the army. In his dispatches to the War Depart ment that night, after this battle at Games Mill, and before the result was fully known, General McClellan says : * General Franklin states that, the Prince de Joinville, who was just leaving the army with the two French princes, who had been upon General MoClellan s staff ever since he left Fortress Monroe, said to him with great emphasis at parting: "General, advise General McClellan to concentrate his army at this point and fight a battle to-day ; if he does, he will be in Richmond to-morrow." WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 44 The loss on both sides is terrible. I believe it will prove to be the most desperate battle of the war. . . . Had I 20,000 or even 10,000 fresh troops to use to-morrow! But I have not a man in reserve, and I shall be glad to cover my retreat and save the material and personnel of the army. If we have lost the day, we have yet preserved our honor, antl no one need blush for the Army of the Potomac." And then, in his disappointment and vexation, he pet tishly throws the blame of it upon the government: "I have lost this battle because my force was too small. I again repeat that I am not responsible for this. I still hope to retrieve our fortunes, but to do this the government must view the matter in the same earnest light that I do. You must send me very large re-enforce rnents, and send them at once. ... I only wish to say to the President, that I think that he is wrong in regarding me as ungenerous, when I said that my force was too weak. As it is, the government must not and cannot hold me responsible for the result. I feel too earnestly to-night. I have seen too many dead and wounded comrades to feel otherwise than that the government has not sus tained 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 person in Washington. You have done your best to sacrifice this army." [Greeley, p. 158. And this after the unheard-of exertions of the President, and the War Department, and the governors of the Northern States, and all loyal people to furnish that superb army, and the difficulty the government had to induce him to make any use of it. At this very time, in fact, Secretary Stanton telegraphed, assuring him that there had never been a moment when it was not his desire to aid him with his " whole heart, mind, and strength." The President s response to the dispatches addressed to him, is kind and magnanimous beyond conception. After all his patience with his young general s exorbitant de mands, and exaggerated fears of the strength of his enemy, and complaints that Washington is not left exposed to strengthen him, Mr. Lincoln replies: "Your three dis patches of yesterday, ending with the statement that you WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 235 completely succeeded in making your point, are very grati- i ying. The later one, suggesting the probability of your being overwhelmed by 200,000 men, and talking of to whom the responsibility will belong, pains me much. I give you all I can, and act on the presumption that you will do the best you can with what you have ; while you continue ungenerously, I think to assume that I could give you more if I would. 1 have omitted, I shall omit no opportunity to send you re-enforcements whenever I can." To this he adds: "Save your army at all events. Will send re-enforcements as fast as we can. Of course they cannot reach you to-day, to-morrow, or next day. I have not said you were ungenerous for saying you needed re en forcements. I thought you were ungenerous in assuming that I did not send them as fast as I could. I feel any misfortune to you and your army quite as keenly as you feel it yourself. If you have had a drawn battle or repulse, it is the price we pay for the enemy not being in Washing ton. We protected Washington, and the enemy concen trated on you. Had we stripped Washington, he would have been upon us, before the troops sent could have got to you. Less than a week ago you notified us that reinforce ments were leaving Richmond to come in front of us. It is the nature of the case, and it is neither you nor the govern ment that is to blame." This battle to which General McClellan refers in his dis patch of the 28th, and which he speaks of as " likely to prove the most desperate battle of the war," was that of " Games Mill," which was fought the day before. "Out of 35,000 men engaged, the Federals had nearly 7,000 killed and wounded. The assailants had suffered even more, but they had achieved a signal victory," says the Count of Paris. [" History of Our Civil War," Vol. II, p. 104. General McClellan, finding himself opposed by an equal or superior force, deprived of support from one-third of his 236 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. army which was held on the other side of the Chicka- hominy by the enemy, and knowing that he was liable to be cut off from his base of supplies on the York river, de cided to retreat if possible to the James, across White Oak swamp. The undertaking was a prodigious one. Not that the distance was great, for it was only a dozen or fifteen miles to Harbison s Landing, where the army would be under the protection of the fleet, and find a new base of supplies in direct connection with Fortress Monroe and the whole Atlantic coast. But that swamp White Oak than which there could have been no worse country for military operations, unless it was the bayous of Louisiana; that White Oak creek, which ran for miles between the two rivers and needed fco be bridged for crossing, and was affected by every rain ; that region was to be crossed by an army of nearly 100,000 men, with all their supplies and artillery, and this, too, in the presence of a watchful enemy of almost equal strength, and exulting in victory. Then there was only one road for this immense army train; or rather there was but one until another overgrown and un used one was discovered, which allowed a parallel column of march, while these two poor roads were intersected by half a dozen better ones to and from Richmond, through which at any time the whole Confederate army might be concentrated upon them, entangled among such swamps, ravines and forests. But when the retreat was decided upon, it was wisely planned and vigorously executed. On the afternoon (Friday, June 27th) of General McClellan s defeat at Games Mill, he withdrew a portion of hia troops across to the south side of the Chickahominy, whence they could be easily recalled if needed. He also collected an additional force of troops and batteries at the north end of the bridge, upon the protection of which de pended the passage of those army corps, which for the last two days had bnen fighting such severe battles. That night WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 237 the retreat was decided on, and at 10 o clock the next morning, Saturday, the 28th, his troops had all been with drawn from the north side of the river, and the bridge burned behind them. He removed his headquarters to the neighborhood of Savage s Station, not far from White Oak bridge, the key to the whole movement in that retreat. He sent his orders and a map of the general movement to each of the commanders before noon of that day. He ordered General Keyes to press on at once across White Oak swamp with his corps, and select and occupy positions on the other side, and then push on to Malvern Hill, which proved to be the last and impregnable stronghold of the campaign, and which he reached with all his artillery and trains early on the morning of the 30th, the very day of the battle of Malvern Hill. General Porter was to follow him, and he pushed on to the river, where the trains, as they arrived, were massed at HaxalPs Landing, under cover of the gunboats. Sumner, Heintzelrnan and Smith were to guard the rear, while Hooker, Slocum, Kearny and others were always at hand to do their appointed work, and con tribute to the success of that critical movement. While such plans and movements were going on, General Lee seems to have been strangely oblivious to what was taking place in the Army of the Potomac. This whole army seems to have been across the Chickahominy and well started for the James before he knew anything about it. He certainly did nothing for the first twenty-four hours to hinder it. Instead of taking advantage of our defeat the day before and pushing his advantage, the next morning had come, the morning of Saturday, the 28th, and he did not find out whether General McClellan was moving upon Richmond, or had set out for the James river, or might be expected to recross the Chickahominy and push down the York river again, as he had hitherto attempted. General Lee was misled by his confidence in his own plans. He WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. felt sure that when his troops had all arrived and he could concentrate an army of 80,000 men against McClellan, he should be able to sweep that whole army as a disorganized mob down the Peninsula, cutting them off from their base of supplies and capture them and their supply trains at his leisure. He presumed, as his friends say he always did, upon McClellan s hesitancy and reluctance to risk a battle outside his own fortifications, and did not believe he would risk the passage of White Oak swamp with his great army and heavy train of stores. And here he allowed General Mc Clellan a start of twenty-four hours, which resulted in the latter gaining the key to the position White Oak bridge. Then, of course, he moved his troops in force and with vigor, around by the way of Richmond, under Longstreet and Hill, and from the opposite direction under Jackson. In the meantime, General McClellan s plans were carried out to the letter. One of the necessities imposed upon him was to transport his immense army supplies across that swamp, besides destroying what could not be carried, and leaving behind him his sick and wounded. Three days rations for 100,000 soldiers and 20,000 non-combatants, five days forage for 40,000 horses, 350 pieces of artillery, and a herd of 2,500 driven cattle made a formidable train to get through such a country. Then we are told of the burning of a " mountain of coffee, rice, biscuit, and hams as a sort of holocaust offered to the god of war," and of a railroad train of shells and ammunition set on fire, driven through a burning bridge, to be plunged into the river, and of a well-appointed hospital of 2,500 sick and wounded, with surgeons and nurses left behind at Savage Station, and commended to the humanity of the Confederates. And still that army, with all the munitions of war and supplies enough for that campaign, and even those heavy siege guns, which it seemed foolish to take upon such an expedition, and which yet proved the make- weight in the WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 239 final battle, were transported safely over those two bad roads in spite of all that was done to break them up. The troops by day pushed on to seize and hold defensible posi tions, while the baggage trains and rear guard moved up by night to reach these positions, and this process was repeated, the troops fighting by day and the trains march ing by night, until they had fought victoriously their last battle, and were resting securely under the guns of the fleet on the James river. On the 28th, the first day of the retreat, there was less fighting than on any other day of that bloody week. The Confederate army was virtually idle, and whatever fighting was done was mostly with artillery, and at a distance. On Sunday, the 29th, General Lee sent Longstreet and A. P. Hill around by the way of Richmond, and Jackson from the opposite direction, to assail McClellan s line of retreat. It was too late, and at the close of this second day of the retreat, the 29th, General McClellan had taken successfully the first and most difficult step of this movement. He had succeeded " in placing White Oak swamp between his army and the main body of his adversaries, and in surmounting this serious obstacle without losing either a cannon or a vehicle." It was not, however, without desperate resolution and hard fighting that this day s work was accomplished. The next day, Monday the 30th, came the battle of Glendale, more severe and critical than any of this cam paign, except that of Malvern Hill, and in that we did not suffer so much as in this. The Count of Paris speaks of it as " remarkable for its fierceness among all those that have drenched the American forests in blood." Richmond was in extremity, as well as the Potomac army. It has been thought by many that General McClellan could have better taken Richmond than attempted that retreat. General Lee thought his opponent had made a fatal mistake, when lie attempted to get his army across that swmnp. At any WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. rate this was his opportunity, and now if ever he must fall upon his adversary, while entangled in those defiles and morasses, and encumbered by army trains and siege guns. Presuming upon McClellan s timidity and slowness, he made here, as at Beaver Dam and at Malvern Hill, the great mistakes of his campaign, and sacrificed his troops uselessly, as some of his ablest commanders admit, wherein the Confederacy needed to be the most frugal.* General Lee was certainly a very able commander, but when his friends claim that he showed a " remarkable discernment of his adversary s plans, through the study of his charac ter," referring to General McClellan s disposition to move slowly, and fortify himself as he went, it is evident that neither General Lee nor his friends appreciated McClellan s engineering abilities, and the danger of attacking him " in position," as it is called, that is, when he had carefully selected his point of defense. This was shown at Beaver Dam, and again at White Oak creek, where Stonewall Jackson was held all day within hearing of the fight at Glendale, unable to reach it, and would have changed the result had he been there. It was shown still more strik ingly at Malvern Hill. At Glendale, General McClellan, after sending on force enough to occupy Malvern Hill, and putting himself into connection with the fleet on the James, and giving Franklin troops enough to hold at all hazards the pass of White Oak swamp, so located the rest of his troops in the rear of his retreating trains, that they never could be reached and broken up. General Lee had brought up all his troops; Jackson had arrived with his four superb * General D. H. Hill says : " The blood shed by the Southern troops at Beaver Dam was wasted in vain, and worse than in vain, for that fight had a most dis piriting effect upon our troops." [" War Book," Vol. 77, p. 361. And General Long- street says : "Next to Malvern Hill, the sacrifice at Beaver Dam was unequaled in demoralization during the entire summer. "["(7#n< wry," JVo^m&er, 1888, j?. 138. And of the repeated chargea which he made upon our lines at Malvern Hill, he also says : "We were repulsed at all points with fearful slaughter, losing 6,000 men and accomplishing nothing." [" War TfrwX:," Vol. II, p. 403. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 241 divisions of 36,000 men and eighteen or twenty batteries, while Franklin had but half that number. The two mag nificent divisions also of Longstreet and A. P. Hill were upon the field, and they were so lavish of their valor that when the battle was over not a man was left in reserve. They encountered such Federal commanders as Sumner and Heintzelman, Hooker and Meade, McCall, Slocum and Kearny. And while the whole afternoon was spent in the fiercest charges, and the sturdiest repulses, losing ground here and retaking it there, capturing prisoners and cannon and recapturing them, and the field was covered with al most as much of the carnage of war as ever stained God s green earth; the line of retreat was never broken up, but those army trains were protected and moved forward until they were safely encamped under the guns of our fleet. Neither side won the victory that day, though each deserved it by brave and persistent fighting. General McClellan, intent upon secur ing a defensive position for his army upon the James, left the field before the fighting began, while Longstreet, Lee, and Jefferson Davis himself, were under the lire of the Union guns during the afternoon. When darkness put an end to the fighting, the Federal generals, left to their discretion, had accomplished their purpose. The enemy had been held in check, the trains and artillery had gone safely forward by the road which the battle had protected, and on the next morning, Tuesday, July 1, the Army of the Potomac was awaiting its enemy in its natural fortress of Malvern Hill. It was at this place that General Lee s contempt for his enemy was to meet its last and severest chastisement. [Nicolay & Hay s "Lincoln," " Century," November, 1888, p. 141. Malvern Hill had been selected by General McClellan as the last stronghold in his retreat. If it had been created for his purpose, it could not have been better. The country was such a swamp and forest that between the Chicka- hominy and the James there were only three open and cleared spaces where such battles could have been fought. These were Savage s Station, Frazier s farm or Glendale Junction, and Malvern Hill. This last was an " elevated 242 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. plateau, cleared of timber, about a mile and a half long by three-quarters of a mile wide, with several converging roads running over it. In front were numerous defensible ravines, the ground sloping gradually toward the woodland, giving clear ranges for artillery in those directions." It commanded the roads coming from Richmond and also from White Oak swamp, and here our troops were massed, especially General McClellan s prodigious force of batteries and heavy siege guns. The commanders on both sides attribute the result of this battle and the successful termi nation of that retreat especially to his perfection and strength in this branch of the service. In this battle he had a reserve of more than a hundred cannon, some of them the heaviest siege guns. It seemed folly to drag such guns through such a country and burden a retreating army with such impediments. And yet, in spite of their weight and the many dangers to which they were exposed, only a single one was lost, vindicating the judgment of the Com mander-in-chief, and repaying him at last for what it cost him. The last thing General McClellan did on the morning of the battle, before going down the James to decide upon the final encampment of his army, was to locate these guns in the form of a semicircle upon the hill, and cover with their converging fire every point of his line, so that the heaviest of them would sweep over his own troops and command every slope that gave access to their position. This is what made the position so secure, and rendered the repeated and desperate assaults upon it such madness and the result such slaughter. The only way of assaulting such a position with any hope of success was the one adopted. It was to plant batteries in the most sheltered places to play upon our lines, and having organized infantry forces in the shelter of the forest, to dash forward upon the lines wherever they were broken, and by sheer numbers and WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 243 desperate courage sweep away infantry and batteries, cost what it might. The battle lasted from 4 o clock in the afternoon until 9 o clock in the evening ; the valor shown was heroic and the losses terrible. General D. H. Hill draws this picture of one episode : I never saw anything more grandly heroic than the advance, after sunset, of the nine brigades under Magruder s orders. Unfortunately they did not move together and were beaten in detail. As each brigade emerged from the woods, from fifty to one hundred guns opened upon it, tearing great gaps in its ranks, but the heroes reeled on, and were shot down by the reserves at the guns, which a few squads readied. Most of them had an open field, half a mile wide, to cross, under the fire of field artillery in front and the fire of the heavy ordnance of the gunboats in their rear. It was not war; it was murder. ["War Book," Vol. II, p. 394. Lee s belief that a success now would not only relieve Richmond, but save the Confederacy, accounts for the des perate effort he made, against the advice of his generals. Of the fighting on both sides General McClellan says: "I doubt whether in the annals of war there was ever a more persistent and gallant attack, or a more cool and effective resistance." Within two hours of the close of the battle, orders were given to fall back to Harrison s Landing, on the James river, and the next day the army arrived there in safety with all its trains. Their march of six or seven miles was made through a heavy rain, and proved some what demoralizing to men exhausted by seven days fight ing. The troops were safe under the guns of the fleet, the retreat had been skillfully conducted, and the campaign was over. Now that the war is over, and we obtain accounts of it from those engaged in it on both sides, it is instructive to get their judgment of movements and results, and especially their estimate of their opponents. Thus General Hill, who had led so gallantly the desperate charge, and lost so 244 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. heavily says : " The battle, with all its melancholy results, proved, however, that the Confederate infantry, and Federal artillery, side by side on the same field, need fear no foe on earth. Both commanders had shown great ability; Mc- Clellan, if not always great in advance, was masterly in re treat, and was unquestionably the greatest of Americans as an organizer of an army. Lee s plans were perfect, and had not his dispositions for a decisive battle at Frazier s farm miscarried, through no fault of his own, he would have won a most complete victory. It was not the least part of his greatness that he did not complain of his disap pointment, and that he at no time sought a scapegoat upon which to lay a failure. As reunited Americans, we have reason to be proud of both commanders. As to the character and conduct of our own troops in this severe campaign, General Franklin, one of our generals, says of them: I cannot finish without a word as to the conduct of the men. My experience during the period generally known as " the Seven Days" was with the Sixth and Seventh corps. During the whole time between June 26 and July 2 there was not a night in which the men did not march almost continually, nor a day on which there was not a fight. I never saw a skulker during the whole time, nor heard one insubordinate word. Some men fell by the wayside exhausted, and were captured, but their misfortune was due to physical inability to go on. They had no food but that which was carried in their haver sacks, and the hot weather soon rendered that uneatable. Sleep was out of the question, and the only rest obtained was while lying down awaiting an attack, or sheltering themselves from shot and shell. No murmur was heard, everything was accepted as the work for which they had enlisted. They had been soldiers less than a year, yet their conduct could not have been more soldierly had they seen ten years of service. No such material for soldiers was ever in the field before, and their behavior in this movement foreshadowed their success as veterans at Appomattox. [" War Book," Vol. I/, p. 182. So ended this campaign, for the army was soon with drawn from the Peninsula, and General McClellan was relieved of his command as cominander-in-chief of all the WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 245 Union armies, and put in charge of the defenses of Wash ington, when he was called upon to resist Lee s invasion of Maryland, and successfully fought the battle of Antietam- The results of the campaign were sad and disappointing in the highest degree. The losses on both sides were simply enormous. General McClellan estimates them, during those last seven days of fighting, as 15,849 killed, wounded and missing; and the losses of the Confederate army during the same period he puts at 19,749, both of which are substan tially correct according to the latest revision of the reports on both sides. On our side it was almost the destruction of the largest and best equipped army of the war. When it set out from Fortress Monroe, after that long cry of "On to Richmond ! " though we had no suitable army for such an enterprise, we followed this one with its accomplished and popular commander, almost sure of success. But when three weary months had worn away and our troops were only approaching the city, and we heard from them as fighting daily battles, and every boat and train from the front came loaded with their wounded and sick, and finally the news came that they were in full retreat through those swamps of the Chickahominy, and fighting such battles as "Beaver Dam," "Games Mill," Savage s Station," Glen- dale," and "Malvern Hill," and as we learned more of the particulars of this wrecked expedition, who that did not experience it can appreciate the disappointment, the per sonal anguish, and public sorrow that spread over all the Northern States ? And if anything could have discouraged us, in such a war for the preservation of the Union and the maintenance of the Republic, it would have been this. For it looked as if the failure of this grand expedition might lead to the acknowledgment of the Confederacy by foreign powers, while the "peace party" at home were disposed & to adjust matters upon any terms, even new compromises with slavery, which would have left us worse off than ever, and 246 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. robbed the world of the only successful experiment in self- government and equal rights. But instead of discourage ment, and giving over the attempt to maintain the Republic, such reverses only showed that we were not appreciating our danger, and had not begun to do enough to escape it. And the Northern States were wise enough and patriotic enough to understand it, and push forward their enlistments and multiply their contributions to the war until the object of the war was secured. The repeated and vast levies tor troops made by the government and the enthusiasm for enlistment which followed, and this before either the battle of Gettysburg had been won or Vicksburg had fallen, showed what was meant by the u Uprising of a Great People," and as distinctly forecast the final result as though some prophet had foretold it. CHAPTER XIY. FURTHER CALLS FOR VOLUNTEERS. Two Requisitions for 300,000 Men Each in the Summer of 1802 Gov ernor Buckingham s Proclamation The Patriotic Response of the Men of Connecticut Mr. Lincoln s Views as to Emancipa tion Value of the Slaves The Emancipation Proclamation Foreshadowed. In one of Mr. Lincoln s dispatches to General McClellan, when he was in his greatest perplexity and distress, he said : Maintain your ground if you can, but save the army at all events, even if you fall back to Fortress Monroe. We still have strength enough in the country and will bring it out. Save the army, material and personnel, and I will strengthen it for the offensive again as fast as I can. The governors of eighteen States offer me a new levy of 300,000 men, which I accept." ["Century," October, 1838, p. 145. Governor Buckingham was of course one of this number, and with his patriotic State behind him, sure to follow where he led the way, he might well counsel, as he always had done, the raising of more troops. His letter to the President, a few months after he issued his call for 75,000 men, counseling him to raise 400,000 or 500,000 if he would cope successfully with the Confederate forces al ready in the field, has previously been referred to. (It can be found in full on pp. 1*66-168.) Again and again he had filled his quota, and had regiments on hand which he begged in vain to have taken into the service. The State had also at his suggestion offered to put its troops into the field at its own expense and await the convenience of the government for repayment. 248 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. In April of this year the President called for 300,000 troops, and in August for 300,000 more. At this tune business was good in every department. The withdrawal of a large number of men from productive labor, and the preparation of the immense supplies required for the army in the field, kept every hand busy and every wheel in motion. The daily expenses of the government, chiefly for war purposes, were nearly $2,000,000. But before making these heavy demands the President hesitated. He might well have thought at first that the troops called for were sufficient to put down the rebellion of South Carolina and a few other States, and have hoped, as so many predicted, that "the war would be over in six months/ Nor could he tell how far the Union States would respond to his calls for men and money. So he ascertained from the loyal governors how far he could draw upon their States in any emergency. Thus he writes to the Secretary of War when McClellan s army was in its perilous condition : Then let the country give us 100.000 new troops in the shortest possible time, which, added to McClellan directly or indirectly, will take Richmond without endangering any other place which we now hold, and will substantially end the war. 1 expect to maintain this contest until successful, or till I die, or am conquered, or my term expires, or Congress or the country forsake me. And I would pub licly appeal to the country for this new force, were it not that I fear a general panic and stampede would follow, so hard is it to have a thing understood as it really is. I think the new force should be all, or nearly all, infantry, principally because such can be raised most cheaply and quickly. [ Unpublished MS. in 4< The Century," December, 1888, p. 289. In pursuance of this plan, Secretary Seward went to New York city to confer with Governors Morgan of New York and Curtin of Pennsylvania, and replies : The governors respond and the Union committee approve earnestly and unanimously. Let the President make the order, and let both papers come out in to-morrow morning s papers, if possible. The WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 249 number of troops to be called is left to the President to lix. No one proposes less than 200,000. Make it 300,000 if you wish. They say it may be 500,000 if the President desires. [" Century," p. 290. Accordingly there appeared at once in the newspapers, a formal correspondence purporting to be the voluntary re quest of eighteen governors of loyal States, for such a call, and it was fixed at 300.000. Then for the first time the successful prosecution of the war seemed to have become the great business, if not the only business, of the North. In Massachusetts, Governor Andrew issued an order, recommending that throughout the Commonwealth, and especially in the cities and larger towns, business should be suspended during the coming week, and that the time and influence of every citizen be given to encouraging enlistments, by the example of his own enrollment, if within the prescribed limits of age and health, and if not, by stimulating the patriotism of his neighbors. Governor Buckingham issued this order to the people of his State, before the last of the wagons of Mc- Clellan s retreating army had fairly reached their shelter at Harrison s Landing : CITIZENS OF CONNECTICUT: You are again called upon to rally to the support of the govern ment. In the name of our common country, I call upon you to enroll your names for the immediate formation of six or more regiments of infantry to be used in suppressing the rebellion. Our troops may be held in check, and our sons may die on the battlefield, but the cause of civil liberty must be advanced; the supremacy of the government must be maintained. Prompt and decisive action will be economy in men and money. By our delay the safety of our armies, even of the nation, may be imperiled. The rebellion, contending with the des peration of a hopeless and wicked cause, must be met with equal energy. Close your manufactories and workshops, turn aside from your farms and your business, leave for awhile your families and homes, meet face to face the enemies of your liberties! Haste, and you will rescue many noble men now struggling against superior numbers, and speedily secure the blessings of peace and good government. 250 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Given under my hand and the seal of the State, at New Haven, this 3d of July, in the year of our Lord 1862. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. By his Excellency s command, J. H. TKUMBULL, Secretary of State. Then came the war meetings in every town, and espe cially the cities. A great and spirited one was held in New Haven within ten days after the battle of Malvern Hill, where Commodore Foote presided, fresh from his suc cess in helping Grant capture Fort Henry on the Tennessee river, and in opening the Upper Mississippi. Speeches were made by the Governor, Senator Dixon, Rev. Dr. Bacon and others, representing every class and the strongest influences of the State. The matter of enlistments was put into the hands of an able committee, who first resolved to "postpone absolutely for the present all topics of dis pute," and proceeded to raise " the Lyon regiment," named after General Lyon, one of the sons of Connecticut who fell early in the war, and whom the State has never ceased to honor. This regiment was full and left the State within a month. A similar meeting was held at Hartford, where 5,000 people were gathered, and a similar regiment was raised and on its way to the war before the month ended. And so the work went on in every county and town, under the President s first call for enlistments, until within forty-five days the State s quota ot 8,066 men had been volunteered and organized into eight full regiments, and one light battery, with a surplus of almost another thou sand. This was scarcely accomplished, when another call came from the government for 300,000 nine-months men, to be filled by a draft if not furnished by enlistment. Things looked discouraging for the Union cause. We had had no great military successes of late, while the complete breaking down of the Peninsular campaign against Rich mond was the great disappointment of the war to the North. The Confederacy, encouraged thereby, was putting WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 25 1 forth prodigious efforts to take advantage of the disorgan ization of that army, and proposing even to invade the free States. This was only a few weeks before the battle of Antietam, which took place the 17th of September, and in anticipation of which the government made its second and almost frantic call for still more troops. It was for 300,- 000 more, only these were to be nine-months men, and they must be furnished by draft, if they did not offer them selves for enlistment. Connecticut had already furnished 21,702 troops ; her new quota would be 7,145 ; the number of her population fit for military service had been heavily drawn upon; the number who had enlisted, from mere patriotism and a sense of duty, left fewer of this class to appeal to, so it was not strange that the heavy bounties and sordid substitutes that helped to fill up this last draft, proved poor stuff compared with the better material that composed the first regiments. Yet as showing what kind of men were entering the service at this very time when " bounty-jumpers" and "de serters" were most numerous, we might refer to the Six teenth regiment, under Colonel Beach, the first to be raised and the soonest in the field, under that July call. It was a Hartford county regiment, and a three-years regiment, enlisted from that city, arid the substantial towns of that vicinity; mustered into the service, and off to the front within two months after they were called for, and with a thousand men in their ranks beside the officers. They were hurried into the field at Antietam, almost as soon as they had received their arms, where they maintained their posi tion, and behaved themselves like veterans in the bloody " Battle of the Cornfield," and where they left so many dead. This was the most unfortunate regiment that left the State, being taken prisoners within a year after (all but one com pany), in North Carolina, and sent to Andersonville, where they patiently endured for another year more than the hard- 252 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. ships of a score of ordinary campaigns, and were subjected to tortures which only (iends could inflict.* A touching sequel to their story was, that when captured they tore their blue State flag into scraps to be distributed among the men and concealed about their persons Years after, when the war flags were removed with great pomp and ceremony from the State arsenal to the new capitol, and few of them could be unfurled they were so tattered and bullet-riddled, this regiment what was left of it bore a fresh, yellow satin flag floating proudly on the breeze, as if they were just going to the war. But upon it might be seen a blue shield, not bigger than your hand, made up of the bits of the State flag distributed when they were captured, and preserved like holy relics through humilia tion, torture, and all but the anguish of crucifixion. And when these veterans came marching by, the shouts that greeted them, expressive of mingled pity and praise, as this strange symbol of heroism and suffering came to be under stood, were enough to make a hero of anybody, and a martyr, too ! As showing the high and noble spirit that generally pre vailed, when the meanest recruits were going into the army for the sake of the high bounties, another instance might be mentioned of another Hartford regiment, in which com mander and men were alike distinguished for earnest patri otism. Colonel George P. Bissell was at the head of a large banking house in Hartford, and had taken an active * As an exhibition of their spirit, a petition to President Lincoln for exchange was at this time circulated, but the men of the Sixteenth generally refused to sign it on the ground that it might embarrass the government in its dealings with the rebellion, and that the loyal authorities were already doubtless doing what they could. There were now 30,000 or them in the stockade. A rebel contractor came in to induce them to desert, and promised them good rations and pay if they would go out and make shoes for the Confederacy, but the starving patriots refused such service, aud the recruiting cobbler was hooted and jeered out of the stockade. It was now August 1 and the distress had become very great. In the stockade and hospital 3,000 died during that month, and 13,000 during the summer. Of the 400 enlisted men who entered those portals of death, less than 200 ever lived to tell the story of their starvation and nameless tortures. [ %k Connecticut in the War." WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 253 part in the first election of Mr. Lincoln, and in the encour agement of enlistments into the three-months regiments first sent out. But it was not until the second year of the war that he felt called upon to enlist himself. He had been West and into Kentucky on business, and realizing the occasion, concluded that he must not only encourage others to go to the war, but go himself. He proposed it to his father-in-law, who was as patriotic as himself, and took a leading part in all the efforts of the city to raise funds and troops. He was told that he could not advise it. He could not be spared. He might send twenty substitutes, but he must not think of it. The answer was that he had the most profound respect for his judgment, and would in almost anything defer to his wishes, but this was a matter of conscience with him. He was satisfied that the crisis required it of him and other business men, and he must go and set them an example. He stepped across the street from his banking house to the State House, where he told Governor Buckingham of his purpose, and added that if he could give him a lieutenancy or some such humble official posi tion it would gratify him. The Governor jumped up and, seiz ing both his hands, said : " I ll make you a colonel, and you may take your choice of the four regiments now enlisting and gathering at the camp, and I will put you in charge of the camp as post commander, for you are the man of all others needed there." He went directly to the camp, and for a month never passed a night at his own house, until he had put things in order there. His regiment was soon in the field, and served honorably and efficiently in the Depart ment of the Gulf, under General Banks, and nobly bore its part of hardship and loss in the capture of Port Hudson and the severe fight at Irish Bend.* This regiment was * Here is where the Twenty-fifth went into battle for the first time, and not only encountered a severe musketry fire, but became also the mark of a battery on one side and the guns of a rebel gunboat on the other. " Here they were kept under fire eleven hours and suffered fearfully. But the men stood up to their work nobly, 254 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. characterized by its fine discipline and its reverence for sacred things, which it carried with it from home and pre served amid the corruptions of war and in that rude region of the Southwest. It is told that a visitor in the camp, who was surprised at the character of the men in this respect, said : " Colonel, I don t hear any swearing in your camp." " Don t have any," was the reply. " Don t have any? You needn t tell me that, when there are no officers around." " 1 tell you we don t have any. I ll give you five dollars for any oath you pick up in my camp." And it is said that he never made any money by it. So these heavy calls upon the State for troops were met, and no draft was made, though it would have come if en listments had not proved sufficient. Every city and town was expected to look after its own quota, and by personal and united effort, the offer of bounties, and the application of the overplus number from one town to the deficit of another, the requisite number of soldiers was raised. The aggregate of those who dishonestly sought exemption, was of course very small, when compared with the whole number liable to military duty. The people generally were ready to stand the draft, and some calmly awaited the result as the decision of Providence upon their duty to go or stay. Still there was a decided repugnance to a draft, however equitable, and all, with Connecticut ideas of free dom, wished to see the ranks filled by volunteers. ["Connecticut in the War," p. 243. There was some hot haste required at last to do it. Many towns had not filled their quotas until the last day. At New Haven several thousand people were gathered at the north portico of the State House early that day, where a citizens meeting was organized, addresses made, bids offered for substitutes, and additional bounties to enlist ments, until 4 o clock, when the draft was to begin to incited by the example of their gallant colonel, Bissell, who, regardless of his own safety, passed from end to end of the line, encouraging them to deeds of bravery." [" Connecticut in the War," p. 405. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 255 supply the deficiency. The number was nearly full, and the draft was delayed for half an hour, when it was an nounced that the number was completed. More than a hundred had enlisted since 9 o clock in the morning; some of the towns even then had not furnished their quota, but others had an excess of men, and these were enough to sup-" ply the deficiencies. So that these two heavy calls for troops were both met, and within three months the men were in the field. They were there to resist the invasion of Maryland, which took place in September ; they did good service, and some of them suffered terribly. The battle of Antietam has been called " the bloodiest day of the war." General McClellan makes his entire loss in this battle over 12,000, and General Lee s was not less. As it was not decisive, and no particular advantage was taken of it, so but that the free States were invaded again the next year, when the more decisive battle of Gettysburg was fought, it was felt to be a great expenditure of means for no more important results. It was this which removed General McClellan from the command of the army, and from the army itself. CHAPTER XV. THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION, 1862. The President s Decision in Regard to Emancipation His Plan of Buying Off the Northern Slave States and Paying them for Their few Slaves The Failure His Correspondence with Mr. Bancroft His Decision to Issue such Proclamation as soon as the Govern ment Should Have Gained Some Important Victory It was Done after the Battle of Antietam. From the beginning of the war, the government and the people of the North had been perplexed to know how to treat slavery. The reason and manner of its toleration in hope of a gradual and peaceful extinction of slavery have been described, as well as the violation of agreements by the South arid the successive acts of aggression which cul minated in secession and war, all the direct result of the Southern determination to perpetuate and extend slavery. In these circumstances, it might have been expected when the war came that the government would at once attack slavery, the most vulnerable point of the Confederacy. As it was, however, the President had a plan of his own to induce the border slave States, where there were the fewest slaves, to emancipate them and let the government pay for them, and so prevent these States from joining the Confed eracy. Delaware had only 1,800 slaves, and Congress had already passed a joint resolution, "That the United States ought to co operate with any State which may adopt gradual abolition of slavery, giving to such State pecuniary aid." Maryland had more slaves, but her interests were all in the direction of free labor, and to get rid of her slave system as soon as possible, and be on an equal business footing WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 257 with the other Northern States. So had Kentucky and Missouri, with their greater territory and rich resources, a strong inducement to free themselves from their hampering slave system. For a time the President seemed confident that by fair treatment and compensation for their slaves, he could induce them to abolish slavery and keep out of the Confederacy. He pressed it personally upon their representatives in Congress. He recommended it in his messages, and presented in all its detail the feasibility and wisdom of such a plan, while carefully avoiding everything that could wound their keen sensibilities upon this subject. He took unwearied pains to relieve every difficulty and sug gest every feasible method, and put the matter into their own hands, so as to have them feel that it was not forced upon them by the government. He appealed to these States in his most candid and kindest manner, and urged them by every consideration of wisdom and duty not to be blind to the signs of the times, and neglect a great providential opportunity, and have cause forever to lament that they threw away such a priceless boon once offered to the slave, and to the nation. Nor was this all. Several months after the President and Congress had sanctioned this policy of compensated emancipation in the border slave States, he gathered their delegations about him at the White House, and read to them a second carefully prepared paper upon the subject. He urges his plan as the surest and quickest to end the war; as one which the government can carry out and make compensation for their slaves, which it may never be able to do after the country is impoverished by a destruc tive war ; he also reminds them, that if the war continues long, as it must, if the object is not soon attained, the in stitution of their States will be extinguished by the mere friction and abrasion ; the mere incidents and necessities of war ; he tells them they know what the power of the 258 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. larger slave States over them is, and adjures them to break that rod of their oppression, and be forever free; and he ends with this personal and constraining appeal : u Most of you have treated me with kindness and consideration, and I trust you will not now think I improperly touch what is exclusively your own, when for the sake of the whole country, I ask : Can you, for your States, do better than to take the course I urge?" But it never had any effect upon any one of those States, and not much with the Northern States even in the great business centers, where commercial ideas of profit and loss are supposed to be the most correctly calculated, this eco nomic feature of the plan never seemed to have attracted any favorable attention. One of the New York papers, The Times, having expressed the opinion that this plan of the President s, " though well intentioned, must fail on the score of expense" the President wrote to the editor as follows : I am grateful to the New York journals, and not less so to The Times than to others, for their kind notices of the late special mes sage to Congress. Your paper, however, intimates that the proposi tion, though well intentioned, must fail on the score of expense. I do hope you will reconsider this. Have you noticed the facts that less than one-half day s cost of this war would pay for all the slaves in Delaware at $400 per head; that eighty-seven days cost of this war would pay for all in Delaware, Maryland, District of Colum bia, Kentucky and Missouri at the same price? Were those States to take the steps, do you doubt that it would shorten the war more than eighty-seven days, and thus be an actual saving of expense? Please look at these things and consider whether there should not be another article in The Times. [ Unpublished MS. Again, the President wrote privately to one of the sena tors (McDougall) who opposed the scheme, as follows : As to the expensiveness of the plan of gradual emancipation with compensation, proposed in the late message, please allow me one or two brief suggestions. Less than one-half day s cost of the war would pay for all the slaves in Delaware at $400 per head. Thus: WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 259 All the slaves in Delaware by census of 1860 are . 1,798 $400 Cost of slaves, ... , $719,200 One day s cost of the war, 2,000,000 Again, less than eighty-seven days cost of this war would, at the same price, pay for all in Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Kentucky and Missouri. Thus: Slaves in Delaware, 1,798 Slaves in Maryland, 87,188 Slaves in District of Columbia, .... 3,181 Slaves in Kentucky, 225,490 Slaves in Missouri, ...... 114,90i> 432,566 $400 Cost of slaves, $173,020,400 Eighty-seven days cost of war, . . 174,000,000 [Nicolay & Hay s "Lincoln," " The Century," December, 1888, p. 278. As the war was running on past the middle of its second year, and so many complications were arising out of its connection with slavery, and Mr. Lincoln had proclaimed no emancipation of the slaves, or purpose to use them as soldiers, it was supposed by many that he was inclined to deal leniently with the whole system, and might end the war without destroying or impairing the slaveholder s title to such property. The Northern people were slowly but surely losing their respect for that sort of title. But Mr. Lincoln had never lost sight of this result, which he foresaw must come, and devoutly prayed might come. Emancipation by purchase might well come first, if it could be brought about, and if successful in the border States, it would follow elsewhere. Still no such rash act as stirring up a slave insurrection, or foolish one as to pro claim an emancipation without power to execute it, was to be thought of. He wisely refrained from all threats of emancipation, as fatal to his first project, until that had been thoroughly attempted. He did, however, continually intimate that emancipation must be the result of the war, 260 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. if the war was allowed to go on ; he took positions in his messages, one after another, which would lead to emanci pation, only he would be in no haste to resort to "radical and extreme measures, by which the loyal might suffer as well as the disloyal." The war was already setting free many slaves, and he recommends that " Congress provide for accepting such persons, and they be at once deemed free." And while he would not " hastily adopt extreme and radical measures, the Union must be preserved, and all indispensable means must be employed for that purpose." He gave fair warning as to what he meant, and how much was implied, if his first plan did not succeed, and the war went on. In the meantime, the people of the North were wondering if the title to slave property was so pre-emi nently sacred, that it could not be meddled with even in war, and if only slaveholders must be left in undisturbed possession of such a contraband of war. The generals in the field, and their troops too, felt themselves hampered, and felt demeaned, by being obliged to respect such claims. There was beginning to be talk about enlisting colored troops, and letting them help fight out their own emanci pation, instead of leaving it all to white men. And as the war went on, and so many more troops were called for, it \vas favored and demanded. The governors of the free States, supported by their constituency, were urging the President to some such course of measures, as the require ment of duty, and the voice of Providence. Early in the war, George Bancroft, "the veteran Democratic politician and national historian, who as a member of President Folk s cabinet had rendered signal and lasting service in national administration," had said while presiding at a meeting in New York to raise funds for the suffering loyal ists of North Carolina : " If slavery and the Union are in compatible, listen to the words which come to you from the tomb of Andrew Jackson The Union must be preserved WliLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 261 at all hazards/ ... If any one claims the compro mises of the Constitution, let him begin by placing the Con stitution in power by respecting it and upholding it." In a letter transmitting these remarks and the resolutions of the meeting to Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Bancroft added: "Your administration has fallen upon times which will be re membered as long as human events find a record. I sin cerely wish to you the glory of perfect success. Civil war is the instrument of Divine Providence to root out social slavery; posterity will not be satisfied with the result, un less the consequences of war shall effect an increase of free States. This is the universal expectation and hope of men of all parties." To this Mr. Lincoln replied : "I esteem it a high honor to have received a note from Mr. Bancroft, indorsing the report of proceedings of a New York meeting taking measures for the relief of Union people of North Carolina. I thank you and all others participating for this benevolent and patriotic movement. The main thought in the closing paragraph of your letter is one which does not escape my attention, and with which I must deal in all due caution, and with the best judgment I can bring to it." The utterance of Mr. Bancroft, caught up in the great metropolis of the nation, and echoing back from all the North, satisfied Mr. Lincoln that public sentiment would sustain him in it, and was demanding it of him. It only remained for him to decide when emancipation should be proclaimed, and under what circumstances it had best be done. This brings to mind an incident of that period, and shows the position of Governor Buckingham on the sub ject. A delegation from Connecticut visited Washington to petition the President to issue such a proclamation, and was presented by the Governor. In reply to the Governor s address, Mr. Lincoln, anxious enough himself about this 262 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. subject, and pressed on every side by those who were urging him on to emancipation, or who would dissuade him from it, said abruptly, and as if irritated by the subject: " Gov- erior, 1 suppose what your people want is more nigger." The Governor, surprised by an impatience unusual with him, and quite as much by such language, probably showed that he was disturbed by it, when Mr. Lincoln changed in an instant his mode of address to one of intensest earnest ness, saying in substance, that if anybody supposed he was not interested in this subject, deeply interested, intensely anxious about it, it was a great mistake. He had been doing his utmost to remove this chief cause of the war, and rid our Republic of this shame and curse. And when ever the time should come that he could proclaim emanci pation, and the people would sustain him in it, it would be the satisfaction of his life. Indeed, he virtually acknowl edged, as he was afterwards free to confess, that he had al ready registered a vow in heaven to free every slave under the necessities of war, as soon as God should give our arms success enough to make such a proclamation accomplish it. Governor Buckingham s opinions and convictions upon this subject may be learned from one of his executive let ters addressed to the President when he announced by proclamation that he would emancipate the slaves in all the rebel States which continued in rebellion after the first day of January, 1863. These preliminary announcements were issued in September, 1862, soon after the battle of Antietam, in which Providence had given us the victory for which Mr. Lincoln had been waiting. This letter may be regarded as expressive of the views and convictions of the people of Connecticut, as of their Governor : STATE OF CONNECTICUT, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, I HARTFORD, September 2(5, 1802. ( DBAR SIR: While my views of your proclamations issued on the 22d and 24th instants may be of little or no importance, yet you will WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 263 permit me to congratulate you and the country that you have so clearly presented the policy which you will hereafter pursue in sup pressing the rebellion, and to assure you that it meets my cordial approval and shall have my unconditional support. Not that I think your declaration of freedom will of itself bring liberty to the slave, or restore peace to the nation, but I rejoice that your administration will not be prevented by the clamors of men in sympathy with rebels from using such measures as you indicate to overpower the rebellion, even if it interferes with and overthrows their much-loved system of slavery. Have .we not too long deluded ourselves with the idea that mild and conciliatory measures would influence them to return to their allegiance ? They have appealed to the arbitrament of the sword; why should we hesitate to use the sword, and press the cause to a decision ? Have we not undervalued their resources, disbelieved in their deep hatred of our government and its free institutions, and, influenced by erroneous ideas of the principles of humanity and mercy, criminally sent our brave sons down to the grave by thou sands, without giving them the coveted honor of falling on the battle field, and without having changed in the least the purpose of our enemies ? This little State has already sent into the army and has now at the rendezvous more than one-half of her able-bodied men between the ages of eighteen and forty-live years, and has more to offer, if wanted, to contend in battle against the enemies of our government. I trust we shall press with increased energy and power every war measure, as the most economical, humane and Christian policy which can be adopted to save our national Union, as well as to secure per manent peace to those who shall succeed us. With sympathy with you in your responsible position and renewed assurance of my cordial support, believe me with high regard, Your obedient servant, WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. To PRESIDENT LINCOLN, Washington, D. C. The loyal governors were becoming impatient of the Presi dent s delay, to deal a blow at the Confederacy through the vulnerability of their slave system. They were satisfied that, under the laws of war, they might confiscate not only the cotton of the South by which the war was carried on, but the slaves who raised it. Mr. Lincoln was not sure that the time had come when he could depend on the sup port of the people. To issue such a proclamation, with no 264 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. more power to enforce it, might seem, as he expressed it, too much like "the Pope s bull against a comet. He would wait until the Union government had gained some impor tant victory. Then it was, just after the battle of Antietam, that an informal meeting of the loyal governors was sug gested and arranged for at Altoona, Pa., by Governor Andrew, of Massachusetts. This was when they held the almost surreptitious meeting to which allusion has already been made. They met for the purpose of urging this measure on the President. Learning of the meeting, and suspecting the object of it, he issued the proclamation at once, and it met them there, so that he forestalled their consultations. Not that he was ordinarily impatient at the suggestions, and freest advice of his friends, which he courted and generally considered with them at length. But in this case, his long-cherished plan, reasonable as it was, found no favor either North or South, and he was an noyed by the importunity of his friends, as when that Con necticut delegation addressed him. Who shall say that the sober and Christian view which these people took of this subject, and to which the whole nation, the South as well as the North, came at last, was not the only just and satisfactory one ? The South insisted from the first that their institution was justifiable, and that there was no moral element concerned in their conflict. The North tried to think that they were not responsible for its existence, certainly not for its perpetuation, but that they had washed their hands of it, as Pilate did, when they threw the responsibility of it upon the South in the com promises of the Constitution, and the South said: "Let this blood be upon us and upon our children." Both took into account only the armies they could bring into the field, and the credit they could maintain on the exchange. But the result did not follow these laws of force and of finance. What became of the chivalrous spirit of the South, and WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 265 what; of the financial resources of the North? Why were those sad months and years of war dragging on, with no more decisive and better results? Why those repeated calls for 300,000 men on one side, and such relentless conscrip tions on the other? What but that -the stars in their courses were fighting against Sisera," which the people of that rude age were wise enough to discover, even while we in the bright light of Christianity were unable to discern this law of natural religion. As well ignore the law of gravi tation, as be blind to the connection between sin and suffering, crime and punishment, the oppression of weak nations, and the overthrow of the haughtiest oppressions. And why wonder at our reverses, and that we made no more progress toward the right issue, until we dealt right eously with the real cause of the war? "Let mv people go!" was the voice which came down from heaven, which we could not hear, though spoken in the thunders of Sinai, when the poor slave heard and understood it, and it fell as softly and sweetly upon his ears, as the carol of the angels came to those listening shepherds of Judca. Perhaps no man at the outset would have been less sus pected of being under the influence of such a faith than General Butler, of whom his biographer says : Those who lived in intimate relations with him, while in command of Xew Orleans, remarked his growing abhorrence of slavery. Dur ing the first weeks of the occupancy of tho city, he was occasionally capable, in the hurry of endorsing a package of letters, of spelling " negro " with two g s. Not so in the later months, when he organized three regiments and two batteries of free negroes for the defense of the city, and they made good soldiers. Afterwards he recognized emancipation as a necessity and sure to come, and said, "God Al mighty is doing it. No man can stay it. It is no other than the Omnipotent God who has taken this mode of destroying slavery. We are but instruments in his hand. We could not prevent it if we would. And let us strive as we might, the judicial blindness of the rebels would do the work of God without our aid, and in spite of all our endeavors against it." [Parton s " Life of /Sutler," p. 550. 266 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Mr. Lincoln, like others, shared in this enlightenment,, only he always regarded himself as more of an instrument, than most would have done, in the hand of God, to relieve the. land in some w*ay of slavery. Into this conviction he had been growing from the first, until in his second inau gural (March 4, 1865) he could speak with such prophetic insight and confidence, as follows : The Almighty has his own purposes. " Woe unto the world be cause of offenses. For it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses, which in the providence of God must needs come, but which having continued through his appointed time, he now wills to remove, and that he gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from the Divine attribute which the believers in a living God always ascribe to him ? If God wills that it shall continue until all the wealth piled up by the bondsman s 250 years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword; as was said 3,000 years ago, so still it must be said: "The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." And at this period of the war, in an interview with a delegation from Chicago, who came to urge emancipation, in explaining his position and the difficulties attending it, he said : " Do not misunderstand me because I have men tioned these objections. They indicate the difficulties that have thus far prevented my action in some such way as you desire. I have not decided against a proclamation of liberty to the slaves, but hold the matter under advisement. And I can assure you that the subject is upon my mind, by day and by night, more than any other. Whatever shall appear to be God s will, that will 1 do." But when he had proposed to the border States the plan of compensated emancipation, the most convincing and satisfactory, as it seems to us, that was ever rejected by any who were not smitten by judicial blindness, and which ought to have WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 267 been just as satisfactory to the free States from an eco nomical point of view, if from no other, had not similar blindness fallen upon them ; and when he saw McClellan s well-appointed army, the best put into the field during the war, wasted and utterly defeated ; and found the two levies of 300,000 each, furnished by the eighteen loyal governors, soon after hardly able to hold back an invading army at Antietam, he became satisfied that we were contending with Providence in an unequal strife, not likely to be ended until on both sides we were ready to give up that " wedge of gold " which made all Israel sin. " Then it was," says Mr. Lincoln, " I made a solemn vow before God, that if General Lee was driven back from Maryland, J would crown the result by a declaration of freedom to the slaves." The battle was fought on the 17th of September, and on the night of the 19th, that army retreated across the Poto mac into Virginia. On the 22d, the President issued his proclamation of warning, that upon the first day of January next, every slave should be set free, in any State or portion of a State then found in rebellion. And when that day arrived, that decree went forth, and "the year of jubilee" had come. Not that the morning broke cloudless and bright, for " the wealth of 250 years of unrequited toil had not been sunk, nor the blood drawn by the lash paid by that drawn with the sword." But the blood was being paid, and the wealth sunk, until we were glad enough, if the nation might be spared, to bow in penitence together before the Judgment seat, and put away forever the accursed thing which had so long made us sin. During the next year, the Union cause met with many hindrances and some severe reverses. The autumn had scarcely passed away before we had lost 13,000 of our Northern troops in an unsuccessful assault on Fredericks- burg, and 17,000 more at Chancellorville. And though Mc Clellan s army had been recruited and reorganized, it was 268 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. scarcely able to protect Washington, and did not prevent another invasion of the Northern States the next summer. Immense forces were gathered and put into the field on both sides, and there was great activity and vigor displayed, particularly in the Southwest, and with varying success, until the midsummer of 1863, when the "peace party at the North began to say, that the war should never have been undertaken, and that the South could never be con quered, and was discouraging enlistments and fairly com promising itself with treason, when the great improvement to the Union cause began. General Grant was coming into notice, and was soon to take command of all our armies and bring the struggle to its proper issue. With the indomitable West behind him, and such generals as Sherman, Thomas, Rosecrans and Logan around him, and with Commodore Foote s fleet in advance opening the Ten nessee and the Upper Mississippi, he had possessed himself of one important position after another, and driven the Confederates before him until he had invested \ r icksburg, and was slowly but steadily reducing it by starvation. All efforts to relieve it had been useless, and both South and North were watching the struggle there, as likely to decide the possession of the great Southwest. It was in this state of things, when the bells and cannon of the North were ushering in the Fourth of July, 1863, tnat the telegraph announced the fall of Vicksburg, and redoubled every patriot s hope. Then, too, it was announced that the battle of Gettysburg was won, a battle that was to this land what Waterloo was to Europe, which had engaged two armies of 60,000 men, one-third of each of whom were to be reported killed, wounded, or missing ; a battle over which the whole nation had hung for three days, hoping and fearing, until news came that victory had been granted to freedom, union, and the perpetuity of our Republic. This was the meaning of it, which both North and South more than sus- WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 269 pected then, though we could not fully understand it as we do now, when all of us may rejoice together over it as what was meant for our salvation even more than as the punish ment of our sins. It meant that slavery was forever dis posed of upon this continent. It meant that the African slave trade, which was introduced into Virginia the very year the Pilgrim Fathers landed upon our New England shores, and was one of the complaints of the Colonies against the Mother Country, when our Declaration of Inde pendence was declared, and was only admitted into the Constitution under restrictions which it was hoped would eventually remove it, and without which our Constitution could not have been adopted ; after a continuance here of two centuries and a half, and with a growth in the slave States equal to that of the white population, and an encroachment all the while upon free territory and the threatening of new conquests for the building up of a vast slave republic, whatever that might have proved to be ; the overthrow of this whole system came, and came through the struggles and necessities of war. And when all human strength was weak, and our wisdom folly, we were led to acknowledge that there is " a power, not ourselves, that makes for righteousness," and a God above who established and enforces such a law, and we bow before Him, with our wise and devout President, saying, "The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." CHAPTER XVI. A TURNING POINT IN THE WAR. Effect of the Battles of Vicksburg and Gettysburg New Develop ment of the Peace Party at This Very Time The Draft Riots- Governor Buckingham s Vindication for Lending Arms to Keep the Peace The Several Calls for Troops Connecticut s Record No Draft in the State. The effect of the fall of Vicksburg, July 4, 1863, and of the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863, soon began to show itself upon both the Union and the Con federate cause. There had been a great amount of difficult and useful work accomplished by the Union government during the last year, but since the defeat of our Peninsular army up to these successes, no great achievements had encouraged the North. We had built up a good navy, retaken almost all the forts seized by the South at the beginning of the war, and nearly broken up blockade running. The export of cotton could no longer do much to keep up the credit of the Confederacy, while we were constantly seizing and confiscating the swiftest English steamers, loaded with arms, supplies of all kinds, and British gold. Missouri had been held in the Union, and our frontier army had pushed on beyond and was operating in Arkansas. The frontier line of the Confederacy, which at first included within it Kentucky and Tennessee, stretch ing west to the Mississippi, had been steadily pushed back to Cumberland Gap, and then to Nashville and to Chatta nooga, until at this time it had reached Vicksburg. Admiral Foote had opened the upper Mississippi, and Parragut the WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 271 mouth, while Butler was holding New Orleans in his iron grasp until Port Hudson fell, as it did just after Vicksburg, and that grand river which penetrated so many States each an empire in itself was once more opened to com merce. (It is deemed worthy of historic record, that "July 16th, 1863, the steamer Imperial arrived at New Orleans from St. Louis, the first boat through in two years.") Then the conscription laws of the Confederacy had been made so rigid extending the age of military service and so ruthlessly enforced, that some portions of the South, like East Tennessee, were in absolute rebellion, and some of the State governments, like North Carolina, were protesting against having their troops sent out of the State. There was no possibility of recruiting her armies again up to the size of Lee s when he invaded Pennsylvania, or of those which stood in the way of Grant when he was investing Vicksburg. Unable to get her cotton out of the country, but obliged to burn it to keep it out of the hands of the Union forces, and with few other means of purchas ing supplies abroad, and little assurance that they could be delivered, as blockade running was becoming too danger ous with gold within the Confederacy worth eleven hun dred per cent, premium the end might have been foreseen as not far distant. This was so well understood in the money market, that gold in New York, which in the spring of 1863 stood at $145, was within a week after the battle of Gettysburg and the fall of Vicksburg down to $125. The Richmond Examiner, early in that year, and before the Confederacy had met with the reverses that overtook them that summer, had taken this despondent view of their prospect : It is not altogether an empty boast on the part of the Yankees, that they hold all they have ever held; and that another year or two of such progress as they have already made, will find them masters of the Southern Confederacy. The pledge, once deemed foolish by the South, that they would "hold, occupy and possess all the forts be- 272 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. longing to the United States government," has been redeemed almost to the letter, by Lincoln. Forts Sumter and Morgan we still retain, but with these exceptions, all the strongholds on the seaboard, from Fortress Monroe to the Rio Grande, are in the hands of the enemy; and the onward march of Hosecrans toward Alabama, the presence of Grant in North Mississippi, and of Curtis in Middle Arkansas, to say nothing of the presence of Banks at New Orleans and Baton Rouge, set at rest the silly dream that a thin strip of seacoast only is in pos session of our foes. [January 20, 1863. Of this period of the war, and the effect of the Confed erate defeat at Vicksburg, General E. W. Law of the Con federate army, who held an important command in that battle, writes in his paper in the " War Book : " Gettysburg was the turning point in the great struggle, together with the fall of Vicksburg, which occurred simultaneously with the retreat of Lee s army toward the Potomac, it inspired the armies and people of the North with fresh courage, and stimulated anew the hopes of ultimate success, which were visibly flagging under an al most uninterrupted series of reverses to the Federal arms in Virginia, extending over a period of nearly two years. On the other hand, it was at Gettysburg that the right arm of the South was broken. [" War Book, 1 Vol. Ill, p. 319. And yet this very time of greatest hope and promise to the Union cause became the most critical one to that cause during the whole war. It had always been a matter of regret to some of the leaders of the Democratic party, as to Senator Douglas and to General Butler, that Secession should have been allowed to gain such an ascendency under President Pierce s administration, and be left all ready to break out into war when President Buchanan retired from office. And so, while they retained their political prin ciples, they were patriotic enough to fight for the Union. But there was another and larger class, who had more par tisanship than patriotism, and whose party the South had sustained, and who had gone into the war because Mr. Lin coln s administration had supplanted theirs ; these were ready to take advantage of mismanagement and defeats in WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 273 our military operations, and now opposed the war altogether and discouraged enlistments to the verge of treasonable conduct. Of this class, though an extreme specimen, was Mr. Vallandingham, a member of Congress, whose course and utterances were such in Ohio that General Burnside, in whose military district he was, arrested him for " afford ing aid and comfort to the enemy/ He was tried by court martial, convicted and sentenced to confinement during the war, a sentence which the President changed to a banish ment across the lines, thus properly sending him to " his own place." Not liking his reception by the leaders of the Confederacy, to whom he had given the assurance that they would succeed if their armies could only hold out till another election, when the Democrats would sweep the Republicans out of power, and make peace, Mr. Vallan dingham made his way to Bermuda, and thence to Canada, where he remained for some time. While in exile, he was nominated for gov ernor by the Democratic party in Ohio, but was defeated, his rival, John Brough, having a majority of more than 100,000. The govern ment made no objection to his return to Ohio, and he was a member of the Democratic national convention at Chicago in 1864, and brought about the nomination of George B. McClellan for the presidency in opposition to Mr. Lincoln s re-election. ["Appleton s Biographical Dictionary." These principles and positions of Mr. Vallandingham, which showed themselves earlier in the obstructions made to war measures by the " peace party " in the Legislatures of some of the Northern States, had gained strength the last year. The " peace movement " in Connecticut in 1862, when popular meetings were called to put a stop to the war, and were accompanied with such violent speeches and dangerous proceedings as threatened riot and bloodshed, originated with ex-Governor Seymour of that State, who introduced into the Legislature a resolution adopting the " Crittenden Compromise," which assumed that disunion was a fixed fact. 274 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. He said: * There seems to be a radical mistake on the part of many people. They appear to think that the South can be conquered. Sir, this is impossible. You may devastate their fields, and shed the blood of their people, but you cannot conquer them." [" Connecticut in the War," p. 103. The resolution was rejected in the House by 173 to 18. It was this Legislature which was congratulated at its close by one of its members, as not having in either branch a single disloyal member. This was said in regard to a reso lution just introduced with reference to the " white flag," used by peace men in disparagement of the national flag, and unanimously adopted by both branches of the Legisla ture : " Resolved, that the State of Connecticut will stand by the old flag, and furnish all the men and money that are required of her to put down this infamous rebellion." It should be said of this patriotic member. Hon. C. S. Bush- nell of New Haven, that under the severest conditions from the government, he furnished the fund with which Ericsson built the " Monitor," which had just then made our navy resistless, and roused the envy if not the fear of the great nations of the world. It was a year after the middle of 1863 a year after the sad ending of the Peninsular campaign, after heavy losses at Chancellorville and Murfreesboro, and just before Vicks- burg had fallen and the field of Gettysburg had been won, that the "peace party" started up with new encourage ment and with bolder leadership. Assuming that the war had failed, and that the South could not be conquered, great Democratic mass meetings were held at Concord, N. H., Columbus, 0., and Albany, N. Y., to protest against the suspension of the right of habeas corpus, even in the stress of such a war, against the drafting of men for the army, when volunteering should prove insufficient, against resort to emancipation as one of the necessities of war, and against all resort to force. Ex-President Pierce, in his ad dress, speaks of Mr. Vallandingbam as the "noble martyr WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 275 of free speech," and asks if "we do not all know that the cause of ail our calamities has been the vicious intermed dling of too many of the citizens of the Northern States with the constitutional rights of the Southern States, co operating with the discontents of the people of those States," by which we suppose he means, too much free speech at the North about slavery and its encroachments. He says: "From the beginning of this struggle to the present moment, my hope has been in moral power. I repeat then, my judgment impels me to rely upon moral force, and not upon any of the coercive instrumentalities of military power," and this when a Confederate army was already on its way to sack Philadelphia and lay tribute upon New York ! He adds : " We have seen in our ex perience of the last two years, how futile are all efforts to maintain the Union by force of arms," when the news was already flashing over the wires that Vicksburg had fallen, and Lee s army was flying from Gettysburg, and the last attempt had failed which would ever be made to invade the free States. Hon. Horatio Seymour, the uncle of ex-Governor Seymour of Connecticut, was at this time governor of New York ; a man of great personal worth and much influence in the Democratic party throughout the country. Though he was opposed to the election of Mr. Lincoln to the presidency, and did not believe that a Republican administration could save the Union when the war came on, he considered him self "bound in honor and patriotism to send immediate relief to the troops in the field," and was particularly prompt and efficient in furnishing them when Pennsyl vania was invaded, for which he was specially thanked, both by the President and the Secretary of War. Still, when the Emancipation Proclamation was issued and the draft came, he committed himself with all his influence against the war arid against the administration. In his " New 276 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. York Academy of Music address," before a vast audience, he represented Vallandingham s arrest as a lawless outrage,* and the impending draft as a usurpation of the general government which the States might properly resist, and which his audience understood him to mean would justify popular insurrection, saying : Remember that the bloody, treasonable and revolutionary doctrine of public necessity can be proclaimed by a mob as well as by a gov ernment. [Draper s " Civil War," Vol. Ill, p. 44. At any rate it was under the influence of such impressions, and such utterances of some of the New York papers, that within a fortnight the New York riots broke out. These u Draft Riots," as they were called, began on Saturday, July 11, 1863, and as the drafting was suspended on Sunday, they subsided for that time, but only to be resumed on Monday with greater violence, raging like a city fire with increasing fury, until subdued by military force, and at not a little loss of life to the rioters as well as to peaceable citizens. In such a city there would, of course, be found a large number who would not go into the army except as drafted, and others who were bitterly opposed politically to the present administration, and more still who looked upon the negroes as the cause of the war, and were jealous of their competition as laborers when so many slaves should be set free ; so that with all the support the govern ment found there, it still contained elements enough to sack and burn the city when inflamed by unscrupulous poli- * If there were ever "treasonable utterances" and "acts dangerous in time of war," it were his, in that military district of Ohio, where there was danger of imme diate invasion, and where a conspiracy was organized to release the Confederate prisoners collected there. And the President s mitigation of his punishment was generous in releasing him from prison and sending him to his own friends, while the action of the government in afterwards allowing him to return to Ohio without molestation was magnanimous indeed, unless it had confidence enough in its own wisdom to foretell the result. For he was nominated for governor by the Dem ocrats in the spring of 1863, and was defeated by John Brough, a war Democrat, with a majority of more than 100.000. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM, 277 ticians and reckless newspapers. The city itself was mag nificently loyal, as was shown in the troops she furnished, and the wealth she poured out to strengthen the govern ment and make the troops in the field comfortahle. Then again, the military force of the city and of the State was all at the front, the invasion of Pennsylvania by Lee just at this time requiring every military organization that could be obtained to be there. In this state of things, when the disturbances recommenced Monday morning with the draft ing, there was nothing but the police to restrain them, and no police could have done themselves more honor than these did under such leadership as that of John A. Kennedy, their chief, and Thomas C. Acton, one of the Police Commis sioners, the former of whom was almost killed by the mob, and the latter, who for three consecutive days and nights never left the police headquarters for a moment, where by telegraph he carried on that desperate struggle to the end. At first the mob assailed every colored person that could be caught upon the street, whether man, woman or child. They were hanged at the lamp-posts, set on fire by their clothing after they were hanged, and run off the docks. A colored orphan asylum, where two hundred orphans were supported and taught, under the patronage and care of a society of philanthropic ladies, was sacked and burned. The enrolling office, where the drafting was going on, was demolished, and the block of stores filled with valuable goods, of which the office was a part, was rifled, set on fire and burned to the ground. This work continued with such ferocity and terror from Monday until Thursday, before the mob was brought under any control. A few regulars were sent from the neighboring forts arid a few artillerists, and while the former fired upon those who were hurling missiles from the tops of the houses, the latter were arresting the inmates, and the progress of these riots was checked for the time. But it required severer punishment to the rioters, .278 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. and more serious intimidation to. that class of characters, before the city could be deemed safe. Rev. Morgan Dix, in the memoirs of his father. General Dix, as an eye- witness of those scenes, says : At a dozen different points throughout the city battles -were in progress, and never was greater valor displayed than by the police, who threw themselves lion-like upon the wild beasts, in proportion generally of 100 to 5,000, taking no prisoners, and strewing the streets with dead and wounded wherever their swift and terrible blows fell. Thus the days wore on, with dust and smoke, with fire and flame, with sack of private dwellings and burning of charitable institutions, armories and draft stations; with blood and wounds and every imag inable instance of atrocity on the part of the maddened mob, till regiments hurriedly withdrawn from the front came speedily back to the city, and we saw the grim batteries and weather-stained and dusty soldiers tramping into our leading streets, as if into a town just taken by siege. There was some terrific fighting between the regu lars and the insurgents streets were swept again and again by grape, houses were stormed at the point of the bayonet, rioters were picked off by sharpshooters as they fired on the troops from the housetops, men were hurled dying and dead in the streets by the thoroughly enraged soldiery until at last, sullen and cowed and thoroughly whipped and beaten, the miserable wretches gave way at every point and confessed the power of the law. It has never been known how many perished in those awful days. According to the lowest esti mate, some 1,200 of the rioters must have been killed and five or six times that number wounded, but they hid their losses as far as pos sible, and disposed of their dead in silence and darkness. It was to such rioters that Governor Seymour addressed himself from the steps of the City Hall, in terms by which they understood him to mean that he thought them in the right, and sympathized with them rather than with the gov ernment, and told them that he had sent to Washington to have the drafting stopped. In his communications with the government, he claimed not only that the drafting was un reasonable, but unconstitutional, and should be suspended until that point was decided by the courts. To this the President in reply, not only argued the lawfulness and ne cessity of it, but that the necessities of the case would not WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. . . 279 allow of any such delay. Thus the administration was obliged to commit itself, unless it gave up its right to draft men for the army anywhere, against the Governor of New York, and that great State itself, so far as he represented it. How unfairly the Governor represented the State was soon shown, for at the next election his previous majority of over 10,000 was reversed by one of nearly 30,000 for the Republican State ticket. As it was, the State had to suffer the odium of his administration, and its influence had been such upon New York city, that in the presidential election of the next year, the general government felt obliged to put the city under martial law for fear of the riots allowed- there in connection with the draft. War vessels and trans ports, loaded with troops under General Butler, were drawn up before the city and secured a quiet election. This was the only time during the war when freemen at the North needed soldiers to protect them at the polls.* It was during the riots in New York that similar dis turbances took place elsewhere, and were threatened in Connecticut. The "white flag" meetings of 1862 were re peated as the " peace meetings " of 1863. In the Demo cratic State convention this year, while the resolutions denounce " the heresy of Secession as unwarranted by the Constitution," they affirm that the time has come when all true lovers of the Constitution are ready to abandon the monstrous fallacy, that the Union can be restored by the armed hand." The influence of such sentiments, and the position of such a party, was particularly unfortunate, when the State was being called upon for more troops, and these * The following incident is a suggestive reminiscence of that period of the war. General B. F. Butler was a member of the House of Representatives in Congress from Massachusetts, and from the Gloucester District. Mr. Fernando Wood was also a member from New York city, where he had been mayor. In the course of debate he referred to General Butler as the "Duke of Gloucester, 1 to which he replied that while " I am too modest to accept that noble appellation, if the hon orable gentleman had styled me the Duke of York, I would have gratefully accepted that title, for T did give New York one honest election." 280 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. calls were constantly repeated, and a draft was threatened if volunteering did not furnish them. Prominent citi zens of the State, and business men with large property exposed to such a peril, were appealing to the governor for protection, or for arms with which to protect them selves. Even the mayor of New York was calling upon him for some of his troops to help quell the riots there.* In this state of things Governor Buckingham called for the organization of two battallions of volunteer infantry, for the State volunteers were all in the field, and the State militia had been hurried away to the defense of Pennsylvania. He also put in charge of trustworthy indi viduals in different parts of the State a certain number of arms and rounds of ammunition, with which to keep the peace in their own neighborhood, and protect their own property. Union Leagues also were organized in almost every town, which were resolutely loyal, both to the Union and to good order at home, and with their aid and the general public sentiment of an old New England popula tion, so different from the mixed and largely foreign popu lation, there was no serious outbreak, or open resistance to the draft. Indeed no draft was actually enforced there, as the State filled her quota by volunteering. So that season of anxiety, and of peril too, passed over safely, and the Governor in his Thanksgiving proclamation that year refers to it as something for which special thanks were due to the Most High ; that " He has preserved us from those outbursts of passion which in other communities have dis regarded lawful restraints and violated the public peace/ * It was during these riots that Mayor Opdyke and General Worth telegraphed to Governor Buckingham to let them have one of his regiments a regiment just returning from the front to help them keep the peace in New York. It had reached home and been disbanded. A peace man asked a friend of the Governor, "Would he have done it?" and the answer came back, "Of course he would. Didn t New York send Connecticut more than two regiments to vote against his re-election in 1860? " That had been swift and righteous retribution, but, fortunately it was not needed. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 281 as well as " inspired us with increased faith in His designs to overcome every obstacle to the ultimate triumph of jus tice and equity, and to subordinate every sentiment to the advancement of truth and righteousness." At the next session of the Legislature, however, which was held in the autumn of 1863, the Governor was called to account for those measures taken to preserve the peace of the State, judicious and successful as they proved. A reso lution was adopted, setting forth a belief that rifles, mus kets and pistols had been taken illegally " from their proper places of deposit, and delivered to individuals, or organized bodies of men not recognized by the military law of the State," and calling upon the Governor for information. His Excellency replied in a message, of which the following is an extract: In July last a large number of men in the city of New York, under the influence of leaders hostile to the National Union, and in sym pathy with rebellion, banded together to resist the draft ordered by the President of the United States under congressional authority. They at once became an infuriated mob; they compelled men to leave their labors and close their places of business; they went from house to house, and from street to street, overpowering whatever obstacles impeded their progress. Arson, pillage and robbery were unrestrained. Innocent citizens were beaten, shot and hung. The rioters became a power so formidable that they could not, even by the most solemn pledges that their alleged grievances should be redressed, be persuaded to desist from their hellish work. They held the city, with its untold wealth and millions of people, for days in the terrors of anarchy. At the same time riotous demonstrations were made in different parts of the country, and without concert of action, gentlemen resid ing in various sections of this State, whose opinions and judgment are entitled to high consideration, represented the danger in their respective localities in the following language: " Those who oppose the draft are making every effort to unite themselves together for resistance." " There is no doubt of an organization here to resist the draft. 1 " Threats of resistance are loud and frequent in our midst." "Notices have been posted, threatening those who aid the draft." 44 Men have pledged themselves to break the boxes which contain the names of men enrolled for the draft." "Secret meetings have been 282 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. held, at which it had been determined to commence open resistance on the night of a given day, but for some reason it was postponed." " I want a sufficient number of men to guard my property from the mob which is likely to arise to pillage and burn." " I do not take counsel of my fears when I assure you that I anticipate an outbreak in this place." " These disturbances throughout the country are the result of a combination of traitors both North and South." In this critical and alarming condition of public affairs, men of true and well-known patriotism, belonging to both the Republican and Democratic parties, offered their services to preserve public order, and made requisition upon the Executive for arms. In exam ining the statutes, I found authority to furnish the active militia and the enrolled militia when ordered into active service, with arms, and nothing to prohibit the use of them by others whenever public necessity requires. Also that no place is designated for the deposit of arms purchased by the State, and not in the hands of the militia, and that the commander-in-chief may issue such orders as he shall judge expedient to carry into execution the intents of an act relating to the militia, which act is especially intended to give him full power and authority to use both the active and inactive militia to prevent rebellion and insurrection. Considering our perilous condition, and the fact that the active militia of the State, including the Governor s Guards, was composed of less than 1,000 men, orders were issued from this department for the transmission of arms to the following persons, residing in the towns herein named, upon the execution of proper bonds for their safe keeping and return: 1868. .July 14, William T. Miner, Stamford, - 65 muskets and sets of accoutrements. " 15, Dexter R. Wright. Meriden. - 200 " 18, Joshua Kendall, Derby, - - 60 " 18, D. W. Plumb, Derby, - - - 40 " 20, Elisha Carpenter, Danielsonville, 80 " 20, Thomas Guyer, Norwalk, - - 60 " 21, Major F. W. Russell, Portland, 40 " 21, Gilbert W. Phillips, Putnam, - 80 11 21, Captain A. Seeley, Stamford, - 50 " 24, Rufus Smith. Litchfield, - - 40 Total. - 715 Prior to the assembling of your honorable body, 400 of the above, described muskets and as many sets of accoutrements were returned to the State arsenal or transferred to military companies newly organized in the town, where the arms were sent. Exceptions might be taken to the language of the resolution, which, assuming that the Executive has acted without legal authority, call* WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 283 upon him for proof, but I prefer to have every public act of mine, together with all the circumstances connected with it, fully known, and most cheerfully submit to your deliberate judgment, and to the impartial decision of your constituents, whether such Executive action has put in jeopardy the rights or the person of any law-abidin : citizen, and whether the Executive would not, under the circumstance s by which he was surrounded, have proved faithless to the high trust - committed to him by a confiding people, if he had not placed the urm^ of the State where they could have been used to maintain the supremacy of law and preserve public tranquillity. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. This explanation was, of course, satisfactory. In the meantime the draft had never been enforced in Connecticut. For though there had been an enrollment of all capable of military service, the quota of the State had always been supplied by volunteers. True, bounties were paid, and by the middle of the war they becamo large and generous. But labor was in great demand and wages high, and few could afford to enlist for three years for any bounty. Then those who were chiefly influenced by such a consideration, and were known in the army as " hired substitutes v and " bounty jumpers," were comparatively few. The substi tutes were largely foreigners, and many had seen service in other armies. Some of these names were found in every rank of the army, from the lowest to the highest, and not a few attained to distinguished promotion.* The rivalry of towns in offering high bounties did at one time threaten * Surgeon Mayer, of one of the Connecticut regiments, writes of them from the field : "The conscripts themselves, or rather the substitutes, for there is hardly a drafted man among them, truly comprise all sorts and conditions of men. We Have Ellsworth s and Hawkins 1 Zouaves, as well as Billy Wilson s. Full half of the consignment have served before in our own, or in European armies. We have quite a number of English, Irish and German regulars, who came to this country for the purpose of enlisting. They have taken the substitute money and entered the army at better wages than they over received before. They esteem their bar gain a good one, and intend to do good service. I have talked with many of this class, as well as my limited knowledge of German would admit, and find them ap parently reliable and honorable men. They express themselves much better pleased with our service than with that of the European armies. Many of them save their money, a,nd thousands of dollars have been sent to New York and else where by them since their arrival. \" Conufctieut in the War. 1 p. 462. 284 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. them with perplexity and seemed likely to involve them in lawsuits and insolvency, so that the Governor called a special session of the Legislature to consider the matter, and it was prohibited. Bounties were still paid by the general government, the State government, and individuals. Patriotic men, who could not go into the service, were glad to send a substitute. The general government could afford to offer any bounty that was necessary to secure men, while the State would gladly supplement it to prevent a draft. But the main dependence for the prosecution of the war and the increase of our armies, was generally felt to be, in the necessities of the case and the patriotism of the people. The expectation of finishing the war speedily, and with little cost of life and money, had been abandoned. Governor Buckingham, from the first, had been urging upon the government the enlist ment of more men, and for three years, or the war, instead of nine months or a year. Somewhat earlier than this, he had written to the War Department, when inquired of as to what progress he was making in raising troops : " I have not for a year favored enlistments for nine or twelve months, and all troops enlisted from this State are for three years. It will be time enough to raise volunteers for one year when they cannot be secured for a longer period." And to the President, who inquires, " What progress is making in recruiting for old regiments in your State ?" he telegraphs back, " Recruiting for old regiments goes slowly: for new, everything looks promising. Four more regiments will be forwarded within a month or six weeks." The attempt to embarrass the administration by discourag ing enlistments, the demand that the war should st;>p and be settled by compromises, had signally failed, and after our important successes at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, where the real resources of the South and of the North had been thoroughly tested, and we gained all the encourage- WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 285 ment which they lost, the great crisis of the war proved to have been passed, in this midsummer of 1863. Now came the calls for the filling up of our armies. They were to be recruited up to their highest standard of numbers, which had been sadly depleted by our reverses on the Peninsula, and also by our very successes in the Maryland and Pennsylvania campaigns, and the campaign about Vicksburg. We had suffered much from our short terms of enlistment and from sending raw troops into the most critical battles, as at Antietam. This point of inferi ority was to be remedied, before we could expect to meet our opponents with any uniform success. In this respect the Confederates for a long time had the advantage of us, as those who once entered the service were kept there to the end, and acquired that perfect discipline but for which such a charge as " Pickett s last charge " never could have been made. With troops enlisted for only nine months or a year, and their term of enlistment expiring perhaps on the very eve of a battle, what campaign like Grant s in Mississippi, or Sherman s march to the sea, could ever have been undertaken ? But with the offer of the loyal Germans to meet any requisitions made upon them, and with the power given by Congress to the President to make any demands that the preservation of the Union should require, we shall see, in the present exigencies of the war and determination of the people, what was done. See what calls were made for troops and upon one of the smaller States, which at that time had a population of less than half a million (460,000), not one-fifth that of Ohio, and less than one-eighth of New York. The Count of Paris, in his military history of our war which is considered exact and impartial states that during the first nine months of the war, as reported to Congress at its session in December, 1861, the Union government had enlisted 680,000 men, 640,000 of them in our volunteer 286 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. army, 20,000 in the regular army, and as many more in the navy. When it is remembered that the demand for troops was all the while increasing rather than diminishing for the next three years, we get some idea of what was accom plished when we find that the loyal States had furnished 2,778.304 troops before the end was reached. A summary of the calls for troops may be of interest here. The first was for 75,000; immediately after the de feat at Bull Run, 500,000 more were called for, and 400,000 immediately put into the field. The next year, after the Peninsular campaign, came a call for 300,000 three-years men, and 300,000 nine-months men. Tne invasion of Pennsylvania came soon after and made a heavy draft on the militia of that State.* In the summer of 1863 came another call for 100,000 men, and in October for 300,000, besides 50,000 Pennsylvania militia and thirty regiments from New York ; in February, 1864, came a call for 500,000, to be raised by draft, if volunteering was insufficient ; in March for 200,000, and in July for 500,000, these last to make good the places of men about to be mustered out of the service. All these demands upon the North were willingly accepted for the sake of the cause. These two million or more, of every class, and condition, and culture, who were found capable of military service, submitted to the hardships and bared their bosoms to the shot of battle to save the Republic. Yet every State furnished its quota, and some of them, like Connecticut, never submitted to a draft. True, high bounties were offered, but with the * Governor I urtin responded so vigorously to the first call for troops, that when General Patterson, who was in command in Pennsylvania, asked for 25,000 more, they were immediately furnished. General Patterson s requisition was afterwards revoked by the Secretary of War, on the ground that the troops were not needed ; but Goveinor Curtin, instead of disbanding them, obtained authority from the Legislature to equip them at the State s expense, and hold them subject to the call of the national government. This body of men became known as the Penn sylvania Reserves," and was accepted by the authorities at Washington a few weeks later. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 287 high prices paid at that time for labor, skill and character, there were few who could not do better in the ordinary industries of life than to enlist into the army. And the promptness of spirit with which these heavy and repeated demands made upon them for troops was met, is also almost as creditable to them as the number they furnished. This State had already put 20,000 organized and well- equipped troops into the field. The government having discontinued the recruiting service in every State not long before, and justified the impression that the army was strong- enough for any probable contingency, the people were de voting themselves diligently and profitably to their business, and had to be roused to their duties to their country and the perils of the hour. War meetings were held in every town, and in some of them every day. The selectmen of the towns were appealed to by the Adjutant- General of the State to hold such meetings, and " set forth to the people the exigencies of the present hour ; " " to pledge private means to assist volunteers, or their families," and to appoint men " of energetic habits and patriotic impulses to act as recruiting officers." It was recommended that each county should raise a regiment of its own and every town supply its own quota, and where there was any deficiency it should be supplied out of the excess of other places, which was carried out. Among the large and spirited meetings held, as soon as Governor Buckingham had issued his appeal for volunteers, and which may be regarded as a specimen of the rest, was the one at New Haven, where Commodore Foote, fresh from his services in the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, and in opening the Upper Mississippi, presided, and ad dresses made by the Governor, Senator Dixon, Rev. Dr. Bacon and others. The places for volunteering were con stantly frequented, and at New Haven on the morning of the day when the draft was to have been made if the quota 288 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. had not been filled, we are told that " an immense crowd, estimated at from three to five thousand, gathered at the north portico of the State House. At noon fifty-two men had volunteered ; at 3.45 P. M. twenty-five men were needed to fill the quota. The selectmen gave notice that the draft would begin at 4 o clock. They delayed half an hour more, when it was announced that the quota of New Haven was full, and there would be no draft. Similar scenes were enacted, on a smaller scale, in other towns, and within a few weeks the entire quota was furnished and the regiments were full." The result is thus told in " Connecti cut in theWar," page 254 : Again Connecticut had achieved a giant s work. In two months, from a condition of apathy and over-confidence, she had roused to an enthusiastic war-spirit, and had raised, equipped, and sent to the field, fifteen full regiments, or an average of about a hundred able- bodied men from every town. She was probably not the first to fill her quota, as The Tribune and some other newspapers at the time an nounced; for the response of Iowa appears to have preceded ours; but Connecticut answered the requisition before any other Eastern State, and elicited from the Boston Traveller the comment: "Con necticut has behaved splendidly from the beginning of the war, and means to persevere in well-doing to the end. She does not brag so much as some other States, but she does much useful work. She worships the Union and believes that work is worship." CHAPTER XVTI. CONNECTICUT SOLDIERS. Why Many Officers were Chosen from Civil Life Their Honorable Record in the Service The Work of Equipping Enlisted Regi ments Training Camps Governor Buckingham s Personal Care for Soldiers in the Field, and the Respect he Paid to Men who Fought for the Union. Lest it should be thought that the work of the States in supplying the general government with troops was finished, when their several quotas were furnished, it should be said that it had only begun. These fresh volunteers were to be put into camp, equipped, armed, drilled, the cavalry mounted, the batteries supplied with guns and horses, and the whole furnished with ambulances and army wagons, and whatever else was needful for a campaign, before they were transferred to the government. This was all to be done at the expense of the States, to be repaid by the gov ernment, to be sure, if the government should be main tained ; otherwise such claims would have been as worth less as those of the Confederacy proved to be. This was one of the patriotic features of the struggle on the part of the Northern States. Their credit was often better than that of the government, and they allowed the government to have the benefit of it and become indebted to them, on such favorable terms, to an almost incredible extent. Con necticut at this very time was negotiating loans, and making expenditures, at the rate of $4,000,000 a year, and this was chiefly for the maintenance of the army. To begin with, camps had to be established and maintained in every State 290 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. where recruits were to be organized and prepared for the field. Here they were retained for months, if not till the end of the war, awaiting the government s requisition. And even then they were to be transported, infantry, cavalry and artillery, at the expense of the State, to any point designated by the government. The " Pennsylvania Reserve," as it was called, which furnished so many valu able troops in an emergency, was only a large body of her militia, kept in camp and under constant drill, so that when veterans were wanted, the nearest equivalent to them might be found there. 80 Connecticut had her camps, one at Hartford, another at New Haven, and still others at Nor wich and Middletown. These camps at home were scenes of intensest activity, where troops were mustering and being drilled, and where all the equipments of war were being collected, and whence were going forth with each de parting regiment as much of noble and tender sympathy as human souls are capable of. The Governor of Connecticut was favored in having at this time the assistance of Captain Daniel Tyler, a resident of Norwich, a native of the State, a graduate of West Point, and the only professional soldier in the first three regiments furnished. He was at once offered the position of brigadier of the State militia, and accepted it on con dition that all its duties should be "performed without remuneration for services rendered or expenses incurred." He was put in command of the first Connecticut regiment that was sent forward, and was the first that arrived in Washington from any State, thoroughly equipped, being furnished not only with tents, but with a complete baggage train, which the government was obliged to borrow the next day to distribute rations to other troops. This was the first regiment to come up the Potomac, where they were met down the river by President Lincoln and his Cabinet and cordially welcomed. They were provided with 50,000 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 291 rounds of ammunition, and rations and forage for twenty days. At the recommendation of General Scott, their commander was at once made brigadier general of volun teers. This First Connecticut Regiment was taken for a model of equipment by other States, and before its depar ture, agents from New York, Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont had visited New Haven to examine and copy it.* The difficulty of finding professional soldiers, or those who had any military training whatever, to put in charge of these new regiments, was, as has been intimated, one which beset all our Northern governors. They would naturally look for officers and commanders to those who had such positions in the State militia, but holiday training was seen to be a very different thing from the service of actual war. Then they turned to those who had seen service in the Mexican war, the only war known to that generation, and there were so few at the North who took any part in that war, that it did little to supply the immediate necessity. Thus the State executives were compelled to exercise their best judgment, and commission men mostly from civil life. It was probably thought at the time, that Governor Buck ingham was running great risks in committing such im portant trusts to so many young men, and to such as had no military training whatever. But the list of those who held such positions under his commission, vindicates his judgment by the promotions conferred upon such by the general government, as well as upon those who had a mili tary education, and the honor they all conferred upon the nation by distinguished services. All the governors must have experienced the same difficulty, and must have been * General Tyler and the Connecticut troops took an important part in the first and most disastrous battle of Bull Run, where he had command of the first and largest division, consisting of 12,000 men. And while he has been charged with rashness in making the first attack, he should certainly be credited with holding his troops to their formations in the midst of such a disorderly retreat, and for protecting such a mass of fugitives and bringing off such an amount of property as would otherwise have been captured. 292 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. able to furnish much the same evidence of their fidelity to this important trust. THE GENERALS OF CONNECTICUT. The following is a list of natives or citizens of Connecticut, or officers of Connecticut regiments, who became general officers during the war. Other eminent generals were sons or grandsons of Connec ticut men, as Grant, Sherman, McClellan, Pope and Wadsworth. The town of which the name is appended is either birthplace or resi dence. Where two towns are named, the first indicates the birth place; the second, subsequent residence. Where a brevet is men tioned, the officer held the full rank below, except where other wise mentioned: Abbott, Henry L., colonel and brevet-major general, Beverly, Mass. Benham, Henry W., major-general, Meriden. Birge, Henry W., brevet-major-general, Norwich. Bradley, Luther P., brigadier-general, New Haven. Blakeslee, Erastus, brevet-brigadier-general, Plymouth-New Haven, Carrington, Henry B., brigadier-general, Wallingford. Clark, William T., brigadier- general, Norwalk. Couch, Darius N., major-general, Danbury-New Haven. Ely, William G., brevet-brigadier-general, Norwich. Ellis, Theodore G., brevet-brigadier-general, Hartford. Ferry, Orris S , brigadier-general, Bethel-Norwalk. Goodyear, E. D. S., lieutenant-colonel and brevet-brigadier-general, North Haven. Greeley, Edwin S., brevet-brigadier-geueral. New Haven. Harland, Edward, brigadier-general, Norwich Hawley, Joseph R., brevet-major-general, Hartford. tlubbard, James, brevet-brigadier-general, Salisbury. Ives, Brayton, brevet-brigadier-general, New Haven. Judd, Henry M., brigadier-general, Westport. Ketchum, William S., brigadier-genera!, Norfolk. Lyon, Nathaniel, brigadier-general, Eastford. Lee, Edward M., brevet-brigadier-general, Guilford. Loomis. Gustavus, brevet-brigadier-^eneral, Stratford. Loomis, John, brevet-brigadier-general, Windsor. Mansfield, Joseph K. F., major-general, Middletown. Mower, Joseph A., major-general, New London. Mackenzie, Ronald S., brigadier-general (Second Artillery). Newton, John, major-general, Norfolk, Va. Noble, William H., brevet-brigadier-general, Bridgeport. Otis, John L., brevet-brigadier-general, Manchester. Perkins, Joseph G., brevet-brigadier-general. New London Pierson, William S.. brevet-brigadier general, Windsor Ripley, Jarnes W., brigadier- general, Windham. Roberts, Benjamin S., brigadier general, New Haven. Rockwell, Alfred P., brevet brigadier-general, Norwich. Ross, Samuel, brevet-brigadier-general (Twentieth). Sedgwick, John, major-general, Cornwall. Seymour, Truman, brigadier-general, Burlington, Vt. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 293 Stedman, Griffin A., brevet-brigadier-general, Hartford. Steinwehr, A. Von, brigadier-general, Wallingford. Shaler, Alexander, brevet-major-general, Haddam. Terry, Alfred H., major-general. New Haven. Tyler, Daniel, brigadier-general, Norwich. Terry, H. D., brigadier-general, Hartford. Totten, Joseph G. , brevet-major-general, New London . Tourtellotte, John E., brevet-brigadier-general, Thompson. Tyler, Robert O., brevet-major-general, Hartford. Wessells, Henry W., brevet-major-general, Litchfield. Wright, Horatio G., major-general, Orange-Clinton. Williams, A. S., brevet-major-general, Saybrook. Whitaker, Edward W., lieutenant-colonel and brevet-brigadier-general, Ashford. Whittlesey, Henry M., brevet-brigadier-general, (Retired from service on the field May, 62,) born in New York. Ward, Henry C., brevet-brigadier-general, Hartford. [" Connecticut in the War," p. 850. Another form in which the States cared for their troops was by the faithful and unremitted attention of the gover nors to their wants all through the service. Governor Buckingham s devotion to their welfare will furnish a good illustration of what was done by the State executives all over the North for the comfort of the army, which, supple mented by the unstinted liberality and unswerving patriot ism of the people, did so much more than was ever done before to mitigate the sufferings of war. It has been said of him : He made it a matter of duty to visit every regiment organized in the State, and address to the officers words of affectionate counsel re specting their duties, rights and responsibilities. " I remember their substance well," says an officer (Chaplain J. H. Bradford). "After telling us what a noble band of men we had the honor to command, and of the high motives which had actuated them to leave their homes for scenes so full of hazzard and suffering, he told us that we could do much to promote their usefulness and to relieve their priva tions. Remember, said he, that the government, though sorely pressed, makes ample provision for its defenders. Study well the regulations; in them you will find your duties and your privileges clearly defined. Whatever the government provides, that your men are entitled to receive. See that they are thus provided. If, through the carelessness of officers on the higher staffs, such provision is not made, do not hesitate to make your complaints until the grievance is remedied. If you cannot get redress otherwise, then write me the 294 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. facts fully, and I will apply to the highest power in the land for you." Then after an earnest appeal to us to seek divine guidance and pro tection, he bade us farewell. I saw, during my connection with the regiment, frequent evidences that the words of His Excellency were warmly remembered by many of the officers. f" Connecticut in the War," p. 144. That these pledges to redress their wrongs, and if neces sary to appeal to " the highest power in the land " to ac complish it, were no careless promises of the Governor to his troops, will be seen from his subsequent correspondence with the government upon such subjects. This corre spondence shows at the same time that he appreciated the difficulties with which the several departments of the gov ernment had to contend, and that he never meant to be un reasonable in his demands upon them. At one time he complains to the War Department, of the clothing and sup plies issued to his troops ; of " shoes worn through in less than a week, and soldiers under the necessity of drawing four, five and six pairs before the year is one-half or three- quarters gone," and yet gives the department credit for the excellence of their system of inspection and supply, while at times such miserable failures happen in it. If the issues had always been of the quality contemplated, no just com plaint could be made, but the many agencies employed in securing the clothing, the haste with which the supplies were gathered, and the impossibility of extending the ex cellent system adopted by the Quartermaster s Department, so as to bring under its just and positive rules, all who are em ployed in supplying the army, there would have been no occa sion for such complaint." In another case, when one of his regiments had been hurried into the fight of Antictam, and required to leave all their personal baggage arid most need ful supplies behind, the Governor sends on a trusted friend to look after them, and makes the following communica tion to the War Department: WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 295 Connecticut will never^bject to being placed in any post of danger, nor to perform any duty which may be demanded in this hour of peril to the country, but the loss of health and life occasioned by six weeks of unnecessary deprivation of tents, clothing and blankets, which they were ordered to leave in Washington, as they went to the battlefield of Antietam, and which, if permission was given, and the ordinary facilities granted, might be secured in a few hours, will not increase the patriotism of their fellow-citizens at home, nor stimulate further enlistments. [ * Executive Journal." At the suggestion of the Governor, the State also pro vided for a commission of physicians, to visit the field hos pitals of the army wherever they might be, and with the consent of the government, they were authorized to send home every Connecticut soldier who was found there, and could bear the journey. The Governor selected two well- known and properly qualified medical practitioners of the State, Doctors William H. Coggswell and William M. White, who sent home, or to the hospital at New Haven, every such soldier wherever he was found, greatly to the relief of their friends, and to the recovery of many who were sure to die where they were. Digging in the trenches before Yorktown, or campaigning among the swamps of Louis iana, is as fatal to life as severe fighting, and what must have been the change to these dispirited and home sick boys from the North ? A breath of Northern air, and above all the sunshine of home, breathed hope and health and life into many a noble soul who still lives to love his friends, and serve his country. One other arrangement was made for the benefit of the Connecticut troops, and especially for their families at home, which, though it implied an immense quantity of de tailed work, was of great value. Arrangements were made by which the soldiers, whenever they were paid off, could send any part of their pay, whether large or small, to their friends, so that it was not uncommon for a man to retain no more than six dollars of his monthly pay, and forward the 296 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. rest to his family. We are told that after a pay day, some times $25,000 would be sent to soldiers families. We re member after the war was over, at some soldiers gathering, the Governor, upon being complimented upon the success of his administration, replied that whatever success he had was due in no small measure to the faithful aid rendered him by the several members of his staff, and, referring to each of them in turn, he spoke of Paymaster General Fitch of New Haven, who had the above matter in charge, and worked it out with complete success, as having received and remitted, in this and the various services of his office, so many " mil lions without error or loss," a brief testimonial to both the ability and fidelity of such an officer, and certainly as high a one as could have been desired. The Governor was also accustomed, like other governors who were near enough to a battlefield to render such service, to send forward surgeons for temporary service whenever they were needed. Thus he writes to the Secretary of War, early in the Peninsular campaign : " If during the siege or anticipated battle of Yorktown, or at any other point, the army should require additional surgical aid,! will be pleased to send forward good, experienced surgeons for temporary service, on receiving notice by telegraph." He not only sent surgeons, but agents of selected ability and trust worthiness, with such instructions as these : " You will find many privations incident to the camp and a state of war, which cannot be relieved. But when you discover grievances that can be redressed, you will give your efforts to accomplish that object, through proper officials and benevolent associations which are organized for that pur pose." With such authority and with such assistance at hand, we can readily understand what relief would be furnished to the sick, the wounded and the dying, even in the confusion and carnage of a battle, and how many could be relieved from suffering and from impending death. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 297 With the resources of the " Sanitary Commission " at com mand, and also those of the " Christian Commission," with the chaplains, and nurses, and surgeons, and comforts which each furnished to both body and soul, and the hearts of friends, and which kept step with the march of our armies almost wherever they went, (for they were recognized by the government as virtually a part of our armies, and had protection and free transportation, and all the facilities that could be given them in their humane and Christian mission,) the world never before saw two such great, well-appointed and efficient organizations, working together so enthusi astically as these, and in such harmony with the order of the army. In the " Crimean war " such outside work, jven for such a purpose, was not looked upon with favor, under the apprehension that it might interfere with the discipline and efficiency of the armies ; and our government at first labored under the same apprehension. But the hearts of the people demanded it, and freed the government from the expense of it, and poured out from their wealth and their poverty to sustain it, and sent their noblest men and most refined and cultured women to carry it on. " The Sanitary Commission soon had an independent trans portation of its own. It had hospital transports, wagons, ambulances, railway ambulances and cars. Ingenious men devised for it inventions of better litters, better stretchers, better ambulances. It secured comfortable transportation for the wounded soldier from the battlefield to the hospital. On the railroad it soon had its hospital cars, with kitchen, dispensary, and a surgeon s car in the midst." It had its department of sanitary inspection and a corps of medical inspectors, who thoroughly examined troops in the field, and reported their condition and needs to their officers and to the government, and others who visited the three hundred general hospitals of the army and made confidential reports to the Surgeon General. They established in the large 298 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. towns depots for the supplies furnished, each of which had its hundred or a thousand associations engaged in collecting such supplies. One of them, the Women s Central Associ ation, collected stores to the value of over a million dollars ; another, the Northwestern, at Chicago, furnished more than a quarter of a million. There was also a department of special relief, which took under its charge soldiers not yet under or just out of the care of the government, men on sick leave or found in the streets or left by their regiments. For such it furnished " homes." It also had " homes for wives, mothers and children of soldiers," where those visit ing the sick and wounded might find protection, defense, food, and shelter. It had its " feeding stations," its " sani tary steamers " on the chief rivers ; and its established " agencies " to see that no injustice was done to any soldier ; where his widow or his orphans could obtain pensions, back pay, bounties, or whatever money was due ; where any error in his papers could be corrected, and especially where no sharper could take advantage of him. It instituted Hospital Directories also, where the friends of a soldier could obtain information without cost as to his place and con dition, if within a year he had been the inmate of any hospital, and where there could be found a record of not less than 900,000 names. Its Field Relief stood ready to minister to the wounded on the field of battle, and give assistance to the surgeons, and supply deficiencies in the field hospitals, while its Relief Corps " waited on the sick and wounded, wrote letters for them, gave them stationery, postage stamps, newspapers, and helped them while away the heavy hours of suffering by reading magazines and books to them." The Christian Commission was only another similar organization. It aided the surgeon, helped the chaplain, followed the armies in their marches, went into the trenches, and along the picket line. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 299 Wherever there was a sick, a wounded, a dying man, an agent of the Christian Commission was near by. It gave Christian burial wherever possible, and marked the graves of the dead. It had its religious services, its little extemporized chapels, its prayer meetings. The American Bible Society gave it Bibles and Testaments, the Tract Society its publications. The government furnished its agents and supplies free transportation, it had the use of its telegraph for its purposes, steamboat and railroad companies furthered its objects with all their ability. It distributed nearly $5,000,000 in money and supplies. [Draper s " Civil War," Vol. Ill, p, 515. The sources of such supplies were the personal gifts, great and small, of all classes, and the " Soldiers Aid Societies " all over the land kept their treasuries full and enabled them, with the favor of military officers and the facilities furnished by the government, to befriend so many, and befriend them when their hold on life was the weakest, their hearts most discouraged, and their friends most dis tressed. " What country ?" it might well be asked, " what age of the world can show such a splendid example of 4 organized mercy ? Dr. Draper, in his " History of Our Civil War," Vol. Ill, page 515, from which we have quoted so freely, has given a just and striking representation of the work done by the United States Sanitary Commission, under the presi dency of Rev. Dr. Henry W. Bellows of New York, and also of the United States " Christian Commission," at the head of which was that philanthropist, George II. Stuart of Phila delphia, who twice declined a seat in President Grant s Cabinet, but consented to serve on the first board of Indian Commissioners. The nature of the work of each is given, and, somewhat, the combined results of both. But the countless " Soldiers Aid Societies " spread all over the North, doing a similar work, or auxiliary to these already men tioned ; the " Soldiers Rests " established on every great thoroughfare where departing and returning troops were needing refreshment, if not temporary care and nursing; 300 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. the " State agents " stationed at such important points as New York and Philadelphia, on purpose to look after the welfare of every soldier of the State, as Governor Buck ingham kept Colonel Almy at New York all through the war, where 200,000 soldiers of Connecticut and other States, and 60,000 sick and wounded, received such atten tion as they were passing to and from the war ; these all show how numerous and complete these organizations were, and what Christian humanity there was in so many hearts while this death struggle was going on to save the Union. We remember accompanying Governor Buckingham on a visit across the Potomac, to see his superb regiment of heavy artillery just organized. It had been recruited up to 1,800 men, and they were as well drilled in the use of the musket as in the management of their heavy cannon, and when we saw them reviewed by the Governor, there must have been 1,400 or 1,500 in line as fine young fellows in manners and morals, and as faultless in equipments and drill, as new recruits could well be. It was largely a Hart ford county regiment, and many of their officers, like their commander, Colonel Tyler, natives of Hartford. General McClellan was just setting out on his Peninsular campaign, and the first troops sent down the Potomac were being embarked that very day. At dinner, one of the young officers said to his commander : " Colonel, our boys are feeling badly that other regiments should be sent off on this expedition while we must be kept here guarding this old fort." And we remember with peculiar satisfaction the Colonel s answer, who, though a young man himself, showed his reflection and a proper comprehension of their chief duty : " Nonsense ; our first duty is to have a good regi ment, and if we have one we shall be wanted." The papers soon announced that the First Connecticut Heavy Artillery were to join McClellan s army, taking with them as they did a heavier siege train than was used by either WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 801 the French or the English against Sebastopol, and, indeed, " exceeding in weight by fifty per cent, any guns that had ever before been placed in siege batteries." Some of them weighed sixteen or seventeen thousand pounds, and in a train of seventy-two pieces, the greatest wonder is that every piece, save one, should have been safely transported through the swamps of the Chickahominy and used success fully to save our army from threatening annihilation in its last battle at Malvern Hill. It was to ascertain the condition of that regiment, and confer with its commander about the proposed expedition, that Governor Buckingham visited them, and to do what ever else was necessary to secure their highest efficiency. He loved to visit his troops, and he could hardly see them without finding something more to be done for their com fort, if not for their efficiency. Thus, upon leaving one of their camps, he asked: "Well, boys, is there anything else 1 can do for you ? " u If you can hurry up the pay master we shall be obliged to you, for it is a long time since we have seen him," was the answer. " Certainly, I ll see what I can do about it," were his parting words, and they found that before he left he had drawn his personal check for the amount due them. As to providing transportation for those who would seek their sick or wounded friends in the field, or bring home their dead, or furnish those in prison with some comforts, or only give the boys in camp some pleasant remembrances of home lite and the Thanks giving delicacies they used to enjoy there, in all such work the Governor took the liveliest interest, and spared neither trouble nor expense to aid in it.* * As an illustration of it in the last particular : " On Thanksgiving Day, 1864, with final victory close at hand, the United States Sanitary Commission sent to the sol diers in the field a dinner, consisting among other things of 600 tons of turkeys, in number about 200,000, and Connecticut furnished her full share of these. For one day at least, in camp and field and hospital, the quiet bird which plain Ben Frank lin wished to see inscribed upon our armorial field, stood forth supreme, and effeo tually superseded the proud * bird of freedom. 1 " [" Connecticut in the War," p 17 J. 302 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Finally, Governor Buckingham was accustomed to show honor to Connecticut s fallen heroes, and as sincerely to the humblest of them as to the highest. We are sure that he could not have attended the burial of one of his com manders, with more respect or tender sympathy with the relatives, than when he dropped in upon the funeral of some faithful private, and spoke with the neighbors and the widow and orphaned children. " It is a noticeable fact that Con necticut furnished the first four martyrs of the war of the rank of general, colonel, major, and captain Lyon, Ells worth, Winthrop and Ward the first four men also whose heroic deaths gave a marked impulse and momentum to the war spirit of the North." When the war broke out, General Nathaniel Lyon, then a captain in the regular army, was in charge of the arsenal at St. Louis. Secession was sweeping over the State, and " St. Louis became a furnace of rage and riotous tumult." A Secession mob had gathered about the arsenal to strip it of its arms and ammunition, when he decoyed them away, loaded all that was valuable upon a steamer by night and transported it to Illinois. A rebel camp was organized under the rebel governor, just outside the city and several thousand half-armed and raw troops were gathered there under a Confederate general, to seize the arsenal. General Lyon anticipated their attack. He surrounded their camp so suddenly, and attacked them with such vigor, that he captured them all in thirty minutes. Then came the in vasion of the State by the Confederate troops from Arkan sas, when he recruited a volunteer force, which, though quite inferior to the enemy, he led across the State with such rapidity, and used with such courage and skill, that he soon placed himself in command of the entire State, except the southwest corner. From that quarter danger was always threatening. When, some two months after, the Confederate generals, Price and McCullock, had united their forces in WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 308 the neighborhood of Springfield, he huiTied thither to en counter them. He knew their force was quadruple his own, but considering a retreat more hazardous than a battle, he attacked them in camp at daybreak, on Wilson s creek. It was a bloody battle. "Of the 5,000 national troops, 1,300 were killed, wounded, or taken prisoners, while of the Confederates, who were 10,000 strong, 1,200 were killed or wounded." The national forces fell back on Springfield and Rolla, where they were not pursued. General Lyon s movement, though it resulted in defeat, enabled the Union men in Missouri to organize a government, and array the power of the State on the national side. In that battle General Lyon fell. Bringing all his men to the front for a final effort, his horse was killed, and he was wounded in the head and leg, but mounting another horse, he dashed to the front to rally his wavering line, and was shot through the breast. " In the confusion of the retreat, his remains were left behind. Mrs. Phelps, wife of Colonel John S. Phelps, member of Congress for the district, a Unionist. caused the body to be incased in a coffin hermetically sealed, and then concealed it under some straw in an old cellar. Fearing it would be disturbed by the rebel soldiers, she had it taken out and buried in the night, and delivered to his friends when they arrived. These remains were brought to Connecticut to be interred in his native town, and all the way thither they were met by tearful multitudes strewing the choicest flowers on the brave man s coffin. At St. Louis, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, New York and Hartford, the body lay in state." At Eastford, his home, it was estimated that his funeral was attended by 10,000 people. The services were held in the Congregational church, ex- Governor Cleve land presiding. Judge Carpenter delivered an historical address, and Hon. Galusha A. Grow of Pennsylvania, (both natives of Eastford,) an oration. Remarks were also made by Governor Buckingham, Governor Sprague, Senator Pos- 304 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. ter, Major General Casey, Major Deming of Hartford, and others, and his remains were reverently committed to the earth, with military honors. General Lyon bequeathed $30,- 000, almost his entire property, to the government, to aid in the preservation of the Union, and to the State his sword. Another of the fallen heroes of Connecticut was thus honored by the Governor. It was Major General Sedgwick of the regular army, of an old and illustrious family, which had marched under the banner of Oliver Cromwell and acquired distinction there, and also in our Revolutionary war, where his father was a major and one of the officers grouped about Washington at Valley Forge. He was graduated at West Point, the second in his class, and among his classmates were General Joseph Hooker and the Confederate Generals Braxton Bragg and Jubal A. Early. He distinguished himself in the Mexican war, had an important part in the Peninsular campaign, and was in command of the Sixth Army Corps which carried Mary s Heights so magnificently in the Chancellorsville campaign, and reached the field of Gettysburg on the second day of the battle, after one of the most extraordinary forced marches on record, and contributed to the result by his steady courage and the confidence which his presence among troops always inspired. He was twice wounded in leading a charge at Antietam, and while placing his artillery in posi tion at Spottsylvania courthouse was shot in the head by a sharpshooter, and instantly killed. " As a soldier, he was a man of few words, but of great deeds. Quiet, unobtru sive, unambitious, he excited little envy, while all were ready to do homage to his virtues and his genius. Twice he was offered the command of the Army of the Potomac, and twice he refused it." With such a nature, and a peculiar affection for his friends, and home, and ancestral acres, we are not surprised to hear him say, as he surveys the landscape: "Is there another spot on earth so beautiful WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 306 as Cornwall Hollow ! " Thither he was tenderly borne, escorted by Governor Buckingham, the State delegation in Congress, and many others, there to meet thousands from the surrounding towns. The Legislature proposed a public funeral, but this not being in accord with the character of the man or the feelings of his friends, an appropriate sermon was preached in the village church by the pastor. His body was enshrouded in the American flag. t; No military salute was fired above his grave, but as the body was lowered to its last resting place, a peal of thunder, like the roar of distant artillery, reverberated along the heavens, sounding the requiem. And the tired soldier rested." Governor Buckingham s appreciation of whatever was noble and faithful to duty in any soldier of any rank, and his personal sympathy with him and his friends in both his successes and in his defeats, is noticeable in the reception he gave to his returning regiment. Aware of the danger to which ho was sending them, and knowing that it must be a deadly strife, with the anxiety of a parent for his own sons, he gave them his best counsel, resolved to sustain them by all that his official position could do for them, sent them special relief when they needed it, secured their pro motion as they deserved it, pitied their premature fall, and comforted their friends in having given them up to so necessary and noble a duty. Of this, his reception of two of his regiments at Hartford, after their term of enlist ment had expired and they had re- enlisted for the war, will furnish an illustration. He had commissioned their officers and given them his counsel, and put their flags into their hands, and sent them off with his benediction and the prayers of neighbors and kindred. And as they come home with diminished ranks, and the laurel is put upon so many heads, and they meet so many wearing mourning for those who went out with them and have not returned, the Governor voices the feelings of the crowd in both their joy 306 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. and grief. The Hartford Press thus speaks of one of these receptions : " The veterans were greeted all along the line of march by crowds of people with cheers, hurrahs, and wav ing handkerchiefs. When the line arrived in front of the State House it halted, and the veterans were received by the Governor, State officers and both Houses of the Legislature. Governor Buckingham made a brief, but most eloquent and cordial address of welcome. He said in substance : " General Harland, officers and men of the Eighth and Eleventh Regiment : " In behalf of the Legislature and the people of Connecticut, I greet you with a hearty welcome. Not as prodigals returning home, but as having performed a most honorable and hazardous duty. " When the rebel States insulted our nation s flag, turned their gun* upon the nation s forts, and attacked the government, you stepped out bravely to protect them. I have watched you with friendly interest through all your honorable career. I remember when you went out with the gallant Burnside, encountered perils at Hatteras, and won a victory at Roanoke. I remember you at Newbern, at Fort Macon and at South Mountain. 4 And God grant that we shall never forget that fatal struggle at Antietam, where your first colonel, the noble Kingsbury, fell; where the intrepid Griswold led his company across that bloody stream, and gave up his life gladly ; where Lieutenant Wait would not go back when wounded, but cheered on his men till a fatal bullet laid him low in death. There sixty-nine of your number learned * how sweet it is to die for one s country. "We owe you a debt of gratitude we can never repay. We would have your names inscribed on the granite and marble. They will be written in the history of your country. Your banners came back tattered and torn, but covered with honor and inscribed with such glorious names as Roanoke and Antietam, where you fought in defense of the principles of liberty. " Your re-enlisttncut is a pledge that you first enlisted from motives of patriotism, and that you, too, stand ready to give your lives, if need be, in defense of your country. So long as our hearts continue to beat, they shall beat in gratitude to the members of the Eighth and Eleventh Regiments." In this spirit, and with .such uncalculating devotion to the safety of the Republic, did Connecticut and her Gov ernor gird themselves anew for the most critical and san guinary part of the war. CHAPTER XVIIL THE FIRST NATIONAL THANKSGIVING. It was Brightened by i\ews from Chattanooga Relative Condition of the Northern and Southern Armies at this Time President Lincoln at the Gettysburg Cemetery Popular Feeling The Battle Hymn of the Reformation. After the fall of Vicksburg and the battle of Gettysburg, which took place in July of 1863, no very important mili tary movements were made by the Army of the Potomac, or by General Lee s army, until the spring O f 1864. Both these armies by their brave fighting on the Peninsula, at Antietam and at Gettysburg, had been sadly depleted and must be recruited and reorganized. The Army of the Potomac had not yet found its commander, nor the several Union armies their commander-iii-chief. The term of enlistment of the nine-months men and of those who had re-enlisted for two years had expired, and with the reduction of the army by such severe campaigns, and such a sacrifice of all the material of war, nothing could be done so important for the next nine months as to stimulate enlistments, enforce drafts where necessary, organize and drill troops, manufacture arms and clothing, and collect all the varied supplies for the armies in the field. Hence the President s large and repeated calls for volunteers, and the encouragement of the Northern governors to make them large and frequent enough to finish the war. Then became apparent the comparative resources of the two sections of the country. The South had been preparing and husband ing her resources for this very conflict, and at the first was 308 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. stronger in the field than we were. Her rigid conscription brought every man capable of military service into the army, and they were kept there till the war was ended. But when she had lost her 20,000 in the Peninsular cam paign, and 30,000 at Gettysburg, and twice the whole number at Vicksburg, though we had lost perhaps as many, how was she to replace that loss as we could ? Besides this, blockade running had been so checked that she could neither import arms or supplies freely, nor export cotton to be the basis of her credit abroad. Gold was worth 1.100 per cent, premium in the Confederate capital. General Lee, as well as General Grant, has been criti cised for his wasteful expenditure of men in the war. It seems awful in either case, to talk deliberately about the expenditure of so many human lives to win .a battle. And the only justification can be that some things, like human liberty, and good government, and true religion, are worth even more than life itself, and may be exchanged the one for the other. And even the severities of war are somewhat palliated by the sharpness that makes it shorter. It is, however, rather on the ground of lack of wisdom than of inhumanity that General Lee is censured. That he should have been so prodigal of his brave and well-disciplined troops as to require two of his commanders, Hill and Magruder, to sacrifice 5,000 of their u effective men" in crossing the Chickahominy , and of Longstreet 6,000 more at Malvern Hill, accomplishing nothing as their commander says, and insisting upon Pickett s " last charge" at Gettys burg, when " more than 2,000 were killed and wounded to no effect in scarcely thirty minutes," as the corps com mander admits,* when it might have been known as well then as afterwards that the Confederacy never could replace * (See " War Book, Vol. Ill, pp. 345-7). Confederate Central Longstreet s article : "It was thus I felt when Pickett, 1 etc., 345. "More than 2,000 in about thirty minutes," 347. " I do not think there was any necessity for giving battle at Gettys burg," etc., 850. I felt our last hope was gone," 351. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 309 that splendid army, does seem to imply that he under valued the military qualities of his opponents, or sadly overestimated his own. With General Grant it was different. His losses could be replaced. The resources and spirit of the North had only begun to be drawn upon, and when the spirit behind these resources was thoroughly roused, as it was by the invasion of the free States, he might well expect that new armies would be furnished if the old ones were swept away, and that the vast stores of warlike material so carefully collected, and so quickly destroyed, would all be supplied again. With him the war had come to be essentially a question of endurance and exhaustion, and the result vindi cated his judgment. Notwithstanding the prodigious losses of the Army of the Potomac during the first two years of the war, and the 25,000 more needlessly thrown away at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, and the little accom plished toward ending the war, except weakening the enemy to an equal extent, when Vicksburg fell and Gettys burg was fought, the Confederacy ought to have read its doom and arranged for the best terms of adjustment, before Sherman had made his devastating march through the South, and Grant had decimated its army in the Wilderness and accepted the surrender of the remnant of it on the sacred soil of Virginia. As the Count of Paris has justly said, in his account of that battle, General Lee, as a soldier, at the close of that third day s fight at Gettysburg, " must have foreseen Appomattox." In the meantime General Grant was clearing the Missis sippi valley, opening the river to navigation, and doing some of his most vigorous campaigning, before he was called East to be put in command of all our armies, and take charge of the Potomac army in particular. It was hard and expensive work, particularly costly in men, and all the material and facilities of war. The destruction and 310 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. rebuilding of railroads, which had come to play such an im portant part in campaigning, especially in a country so vast as this, was an item of almost the first consideration. Here was the Ohio and Mobile railroad, running hundreds of miles from Ohio to Mobile Bay, Ala., upon which both armies were almost equally dependent, and which it was the con stant struggle of each to hold and keep in repair, or to destroy if they could not hold it, and to recover it again and then rebuild it. As showing this kind of work, take Sherman s Meridian expedition, undertaken about this time (February, 1864). His force was not large, and his loss small, yet he marched 400 miles during the shortest month of the year, and destroyed, we are told, " 150 miles of rail road, 67 bridges, 700 trestles, 20 locomotives, 28 cars, several thousand bales of cotton, several steam mills, and over two million bushels of corn." At Meridian, it is said, that "for five days 10,000 men worked hard with axes, sledges, crowbars, drawbars, and fire, and the town with its depots, storehouses, arsenals, offices, hospitals and canton ments was totally destroyed. Nothing was spared except the inhabited houses." One of his commanders reported " the destruction of sixty miles of railroad ties, and iron burnt and bent, and fifty miles of road thus ruined," be sides bridges, locomotives and cars. As the object of the expedition was to destroy the resources of the enemy for the continuance of the war, it is easy to see that, awful as it makes war in such a form, it was fast accomplishing its purpose. These were resources without which no army could be transported over such great States, or maintained in the field. And when these were seriously impaired, the war was coming to an end. The same was true of the ma terial for an army. The Confederacy was fast using up its men who were fit for military duty, however rigid its con scription might be. Here is where the North always had an immense advantage over the South. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 311 The populous and resolute Northwest poured her troops into the Mississippi valley as fast as her armies there were depleted, while New England and the Northern States recruited the Army of the Potomac faster than the battles of the Wilderness and the siege of Petersburg could reduce it. If the Confederacy could have done this, they never would have let Chattanooga fall or Sherman reach Atlanta and Savannah, much less march from there almost unop posed to the sea. That was their weak point from the beginning, lack of men for their armies. Some of the Southern States, also, like North Carolina and Tennessee, felt it to have been a sad mistake to follow the lead of South Carolina and secede from the Union.* They suffered heavily in the capture of their blockade runners, whose cargoes of gold, arms and army supplies went into our treasury, while the swift vessels which had carried them were put into our service,! and by the time the war was half * As showing the Union sentiment of those States and disaffection toward the Confederation, such items as these were a part of the news of the day: August 5, 1863" Large numbers of refugees from East Tennessee arrived at Lexington, Ky. A body of 300 of them had a fight in Powell s valley, near the Cumberland moun tains, with 400 rebel cavalry and defeated them, after having lost sixty-five of their number taken prisoners." October 26. 1863 A party of North Carolina and Georgia refugees, about 500 strong, making their way to East Tennessee, was attacked at Warm Springs, N. C., by a detachment of the Twenty-fifth North Caro lina regiment. The rebels lest six killed and thirty wounded. The Unionists finally joined the Union forces in East Tennessee." If we mistake not, there were 100,000 or more Union men in our armies from Tennessee. t So rigid had this blockade become, as early as the beginning of 1863, that it is amusing to see how much importance was attached by the Confederates, to a tem porary interruption of it at Charleston, and the successful attempt of one of these vessels with a valuable cargo to get out of the harbor, and which found no imita tors. The following circular was immediately issued : HEADQUARTERS OP THE LAND AND NAVAL FORCKS, I CHARLESTON, S. C., January 31. f "At about 5 o clock this morning, the Confederate States naval force on this station attacked the U. S. blockading fleet off the harbor, and sunk, dispersed and drove off and out of sight for the time, the entire hostile fleet. Therefore, we, the undersigned commanders, respectively of the Confederate States naval and land forces in this quarter, do hereby formally declare the blockade by the U. S., of the said city of Charleston, S. C., to be raised by a superior force of the Confederate States, from and after this 31st day of January, A. D. 186:-?. G. T. BEAUREGARD, General Commanding-. D. N. INWRAHAM, Flag Officer Commanding Naval Forces in S. C." 812 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. over some of their wisest military commanders and states men felt that the inability to raise troops in sufficient numbers must make the struggle hopeless. It was during October and November of this year that one of the great operations of the war which hastened the end, the capture of Chattanooga was successfully accomplished. The town of Chattanooga lies on the south side of the Tennessee river, 300 miles or more from its mouth. At this point it flows through the mountains with a deep and strong current. It is at the northern end of a valley five or six miles in width, with Missionary Kidge on the east rising from 500 to 800 feet above the valley, and and with Lookout mountnin, 2,200 feet above tidewater, a little to the southwest. This mountain pushes up abruptly to the river, leaving scarcely room between it and the river for the Ohio and Mobile rail road and others, which connect the Northern lakes with the Mexican Gulf, with room for the town lying a little farther north. At its northern end and nearest to the town, the mountain rises almost per pendicularly, then breaks off in a gentle slope of cultivated fields to near the summit, where it ends in a palisade thirty or forty feet in height. On this gently sloping ground, between the upper and lower palisades, there is a single farmhouse, which is reached by a wagon road from the valley to the east. ["War Book" Vol. Ill, p. 685. General Grant s account of the state of affairs when he took command, shows that at that time Rosecrans was practically besieged, and was short of ammunition and of medical supplies. The state of things was deemed so critical at Washington, that Mr. Stanton, the Secretary of War, had been sent to Louisville to meet General Grant and put him in command of the whole military division of the Mississippi. One of his first orders telegraphed to General Thomas was, that Chattanooga must be held at all hazards, and informing him at the same time that he would be at the front as soon as possible; to which Thomas replied : " We will hold the town till we starve. Burn- The foreign consuls in the Confederacy were officially notified of the alleged fact, in a circular from .). P. Benjamin, Confederate Secretary of State, "for the infor mation of such vessels of your nation as may choose to carry on commerce with the now open port of Charleston." WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 813 side was in command at Knoxville, and in about as desperate condition as Uosecrans, only he was not yet besieged. The government at Washington was distressed about him, and constantly telegraphing to Grant to relieve him it possible. The Confederacy also were known to be dispatching Long- street s superior corps of 15,000 troops, besides Wheeler s 5,000 cavalry, to recover Knoxville, knowing that if they were ever to regain those States so fast drifting away from the Lost Cause, it must be done then, when Burnside was so beset and Rosecrans could do nothing for his own relief. General Sherman was engaged in repairing roads and rebuilding railroads from Memphis towards Chatta nooga to bring up supplies, though the railroads were destroyed behind him as fast as they were built. Sherman was ordered to abandon that work, intercept a rebel force entering East Tennessee, and push on with the utmost dispatch to Chattanooga, which he did. There was another re-enforcement also which was hastening to their relief. It was Hooker s superb Eleventh and Twelfth corps of the Army of the Potomac, consisting of 20,000 troops, trans ferred from the shores of the Atlantic almost in a night to the sides of Lookout mountain in the valley of the Missis sippi. The origin of that movement, as given by Mr. Draper in his history of the war, reads more like romance than history, and yet the reality and results of it changed the whole complexion of our military operations in the Southwest. The government was filled with apprehension lest Rosecrans should abandon Chattanooga and attempt a retreat, which could only end disastrously. At a consultation, Lincoln seemed to be almost in despair. "I advise," said Stauton, that a powerful detachment should be sent from the Army of the Potomac to open the road." Lincoln smiled incredulously. Halleck considered such an attempt impractical. " I do not," said the Secretary of War, "offer this opinion without having first thoroughly informed myself of all the details. I will undertake to move 20,000 men from the army on the Rapidan, and place them on the Tennessee near Chattanooga, within nine days." Not without reluctance did Lincoln give his const-tit 314 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. that the Eleventh aud Twelfth corps should be so moved; his impres sion was that they were not more than 15,000 or 16,000 strong, for since the Peninsular campaign it had been the habit of officers to underestimate their strength. The measure once determined upon, the energetic Secretary had everything cleared off the roads, and soon an almost continuous line of cars was transporting the troops. They were fed as they went along; not a moment s delay was permitted. In this surprising movement, but a single man was lost. With so much celerity and accuracy was it conducted, that the Confederates knew nothing whatever of it until Hooker was in their front. Hooker s troops were kept along the railroad, that it might not aggra vate the suffering at Chattanooga. The strength of these two corps was 23,000, and thus with their artillery trains, baggage and animals they were transferred from the Rapidan in Virginia to Stevenson in Alabama in seven days, a distance of 1,192 miles, twice crossing the Ohio river. [Draper s " Civil War," Vol. Ill, p. 77. General Bragg, in command of the Confederate forces at this point, and with his extensive and advantageous fortifi cations, might well have felt secure of a bloodless victory. He had only to wait for famine to do its work, while he wasted neither men nor ammunition in hastening the re sult. He had also a force of some 60,000, while ours might have been at least 80,000, but was in a disadvantageous position. The Confederacy saw an opportunity to recover Kentucky and Tennessee, and General Longstreet had been ordered to operate against Burnside at Knoxville, while Bragg was to hold Rosecrans. The government at Wash ington was telegraphing Grant to relieve Burnside if possi ble. The struggle, however, was made at Chattanooga. Grant brought to his aid Sherman, with a portion of the Army of the Tennessee, Sheridan with his cavalry, General W. F. Smith s engineers, General Thomas with part of the Army of the Cumberland, and also a portion of the Army of the Potomac, under Generals Hooker, Howard, Slocum and Granger. Without waiting for better roads or better weather, he ordered the assault of the enemy s works on November 23. General Smith, the chief engineer of his army, had built WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 315 pontoon boats, and with troops in them floated them down the river in the darkness of the night, and with such suc cess as to capture the sentries at the landing, and had also thrown two bridges across the river over which Sherman with his large force and good quantity of supplies, crossed safely and reached Chattanooga without much fighting, adding greatly to the courage and hope of the Union forces. Grant had his headquarters at Fort Wood, a well- fortified position just east of the town, and which com manded a view of Missionary Ridge on the left, and Lookout mountain on the right, and indeed brought every position and movement of the enemy within range. When he moved forward to Orchard Knob, where Thomas was form ing his resistless line of assault, whence Sherman seized and held possession of those strongly fortified heights of Missionary Ridge, where General Bragg and the bulk of his army lay entrenched ; it became certainly the most " pic turesque," if not the most skillfully fought battle of the war. And especially when Hooker climbed that Lookout mountain, and in the mists and smoke could be followed up the high ascent, until his columns and their flags were seen above the clouds. This scene has well become in painting and poetry, as well as in history, the " Battle Above the Clouds." The following is General Grant s account of it and of the result : Thomas and I were on the top of Orchard Knob. Hooker s advance now made our line a continuous one. It was in full view, extending from the Tennessee river, where Sherman had crossed up the Chicka- mauga river to the base of Missionary Ridge, over the top of the north end of the ridge, to Chattanooga valley, then along parallel to the ridge a mile or more, across the valley to the mouth of Chatta nooga creek, thence up the slope of Lookout mountain to the foot of the upper palisade. The day was hazy, so that Hooker s operations were not visible to us except at moments when the clouds would rise. But the sound of his artillery and musketry was heard inces santly. The enemy on his front was partially fortified, but was soon driven out of his works. At 2 o clock the clouds, which had so 316 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. obscured the top of Lookout mountain all day long as to hide what ever was going on from the view of those below, settled down so and made it so dark where Hooker was as to stop operations for the time. At 4 o clock Hooker reported his position as impregnable. By a little after 5 o clock direct communication was established and a brigade of troops was sent from Chattanooga to re-enforce him. These troops met with some opposition, which was soon overcome, and I tele graphed to Washington: "The fight to-day progressed favorably. Sherman carried the end of Missionary Ridge, and his right is now at the tunnel and his left at Chattanooga creek. Troops from Lookout valley carried the point of the mountain, and now hold the eastern slope and a point high up. Hooker reports 2,000 prisoners taken, besides which a small number have fallen into our hands from Mis sionary Ridge." ["War Book," Vol. Ill, p. 704. General Joseph S. Fullerton of the Army of the Cum berland in this battle, in his article on the subject ( kt War Book," Vol. Ill, p. 719), gives a description and an engrav ing of the carrying of Lookout mountain, which is most interesting, as well as instructive, as to the how it came to be stormed to the very summit, without orders and even contrary to orders. General Grant s order was " to move forward and take the rifle-pits at the foot of the ridge," though in Sheridan s division the order read : u As soon as the signal is given, the whole line will advance, and you will take what is before you." They struggled up the steep ascent, and scattered over the slightly wooded and broad mountain side leading up to the palisade at the top, to find the ground furrowed by ravines, and more or less obstructed by felled trees. At the signal, 20,000 men rushed forward, moving in line of battle by brigades, with a double line of skirmishers in front, closely followed by the reserves in mass. They were met by heavy siege jruns from above, as well as by the lighter artillery and musketry in the valley, but neither fell back nor halted. The ground was so broken that it was impossible to keep a regular line of battle. The men, fighting and climbing up the steep ascent, sought the roads, ravines and less rugged parts. At times their movements were in. shape like the flight of migrating birds, some- WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 317 times in line, sometimes in mass, mostly in V-shaped groups, with points toward the enemy. At these points regimental flags were flying, sometimes drooping as the bearers were shot, but never reach ing the ground, for other brave hands were there to seize them. Sixty flags were advancing up the hill. Bragg was hurrying large bodies of men from his right to the center. They could be seen hastening along the ridge. Though exposed to a terrific fire, they neither fell back nor halted. By a bold and desperate push they broke through the works in several places, and opened flank and reverse fires. The enemy was thrown into confusion, and took pre cipitate flight up the ridge. Many prisoners and a large number of small arms were captured. The order of the commanding general had now been fully and most successfully carried out. But it did not go far enough to satisfy these brave men, who thought the time had come to finish the battle of Chickamauga. There was a halt of but a few minutes to take breath, and to reform lines; then, without orders, all started up the ridge, officers catching their spirit, first followed, then led. There was no thought of supports, or of protecting flanks, though the enemy s line could be seen stretching on either side. Here is pleasantly revealed by a little incident the spirit of a commander, and of his officers and men, but for which literal disobedience to a military order, though justi fied by the result, might have been made a serious offense. General Fullerton goes on to say . As soon as this movement was seen from Orchard Knob, Grant quickly turned to Thomas, who stood by his side, and I heard him say angrily: "Thomas, who ordered those men up the ridge?" Thomas replied in his usual slow, quiet manner: "I don t know, I did not." Then addressing General Gordon Granger, he said: u Did you order them up, Granger ?" "No," said Granger, "they started up without orders. When those fellows get started you can t stop them." General Grant said something to the effect that somebody would suffer for it if it did not turn out well, and then turning stoically, watched the ridge, and gave no further orders. I remember, too, that shortly after the battle was over, General Granger rode along our lines and said in a joking way to the troops, " I am going to have you all court-martialed; you were ordered to take the works at the foot of the hill; you have taken those on top! You have disobeyed orders, all of you, -md you know that you ought to be court-martialed ! " So on the 25th of November, 1863, after two days of most skillful fighting, and not with such fearful slaughter 318 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. as in several other battles,* the field was won, General Bragg and his army in full retreat, the siege of Chatta nooga raised, and all that valley and virtually those South western States had passed out from under the control of the Confederacy. This victory was followed by a move ment to relieve Burnside at Knoxville. Sherman led it, but Longstreet did not wait for his arrival and abandoned the siege before his arrival. General Grant sums up the situation in these words : " Knoxville was now relieved, the anxiety of the President was removed, and the loyal portion of the North rejoiced over the double victory, the raising of the siege of Knoxville and the victory at Chatta nooga." It is in his account of this campaign that he declares : " There was no time during the rebellion that I did not think and often say, that the South was more to be benefited by defeat than the North." The annual Thanksgiving, observed in New England and spreading among the Northern States, was observed this autumn more extensively and with new significance. It was appointed by the proclamation of the several governors, and generally observed the last of November. This year it came on the 26th, the day after the Chattanooga victory. It came too soon to have the completeness of that vic tory known, but the prospect of it, following so soon Gettys burg and Vicksburg, giving so much more hopeful an aspect to the Union cause, caused the day to be more gen erally observed and with a deeper significance than ever. The President had issued for the first time a proclama- * The battle of Chickamauga, which was only a month earlier, and in which Rose- crans was in command, and badly defeated and then shut up in Chattanooga, is an illustration of this kind. Our army is estimated to have been 56,965 strong, and the Confederate, 71 ,-551. And in that four-days fighting, we lost 16,000, while the enemy lost 17,000. In this battle at Chattanooga, our loss was 5,815 out of a force of 60,000, which was probably greater than that of Bragg s, as we were the attack ing party, while the Confederate loss is estimated at 6,687 out of somewhat near the same force, though not likely to have been so great. [" War Book," Vol. Ill, pp 670-673. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 319 tion,* recommending its universal adoption, to be followed by the several governors endorsing the same, and it was charac terized by so much of Mr. Lincoln s reasonableness, and reverence, and dependence upon the divine favor for the suc cess of our cause, that it was met with a more general and deeper response than was ever known before. Indeed, we had reached that point in the history of the war, when under its rigid discipline, its repeated rebukes of our self- confidence, and self-righteousness and vain reliance upon statesmen, generals and editors, we were glad of divine aid, and were not ashamed to pray for it or to give public and loud thanks when it came. We thought of our sins, and especially of that great crime against God and man, which had been too long tolerated, and which had now lifted its parricidal hand against the most parental govern ment the world had ever seen. It seemed as if for these three years God s hand had been holding the whole land, North and South, as by a thread of tow over the very fires of perdition. And who would not think of his sins, and cry for forgiveness as well as for deliverance? Those of us who can remember our Sunday services during the war, can recall the effect produced by such a state of things. The telegraph reached every important town and many of the villages, and we went to church as liable to hear of some sad defeat as of an important victory, and if not of such wholesale joy or sorrow, to learn that * After our victory at Gettysburg, President Lincoln called upon the people to assemble in their churches and bless God for his interposition and mercy. So also after the news came of Vicksburg s fall, he summoned them again to observe a day of national thanksgiving, praise and prayer, and " render the homage due to the Divine Majesty for the wonderful things he has done in the nation s behalf ; " and still again when Chattanooga was relieved and the Confederate forces driven out of Tennessee, he called upon the people to come together in their Christian assem blies and render special homage and gratitude to Almighty God for his great advancement of the national cause. But it was especially in that proclamation for the usual Thanksgiving that his humility and reverence toward God, and spirit of tender pity toward all who were suffering by the war, however misguided they may have been, that the religious character into which he had been growing was most distinctly showing itself. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. some family had lost a father, son or brother, and that the remains were on the way home for burial. And when they came, with what tender religious services, and universal and deepest sympathy, we laid our boy to his rest among his kindred and neighbors. We remember as one feature of those services never known before and almost forgotten now the use we made of the old " Battle Song of the Reformation." It seemed written for the times, and especially when the minister read the second verse as it was originally written : " Fear not! be strong! your cause belongs To Him who can avenge your wrongs; Leave all to him, your Lord ; Though hidden yet from mortal eyes, He knows the Gideon that shall rise, And save us from our enemies," instead of that vaguer and less suggestive version of if, found in our hymn books.* The justness of this criticism * The hymn as usually printed runs thus, and is found in Lowell Mason s " 8al>- bath Tune Book " and sung to the tune of "Ganges" : " Fear not, O little flock, the f oo Who madly seeks your overthrow ; Dread not his rage and power ; What though your courage sometimes faints, This seeming triumph o er God s saints Lasts but a little hour. " Fear not ! be strong ! your cause belongs To Him who can avenge your wrongs ; Leave all to him, your Lord ! Though hidden yet from mortal eyes. Salvation shall for you arise II r girdeth on his sword ! " As s-ire as God s own promise stands, Not earth, nor hell, with all their bands, Against you shall prevail ! The Lord shall mock them from his throne ; God is with us, we are his own ; Our vict ry cannot tail ! WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 321 will be seen, when it is remembered how long the Army of the Potomac was in finding its proper commander. Sure we are that the influence of the war upon the people at home, and the community at large, was a distinctively religious one. It not only summoned the people to a great duty, and called them to make sacrifices never required before, and by motives the most momentous, and many of them the most religious, and gave them a depth and breadth of sympathy with all classes who shared in the hardships and sufferings of the war ; but it brought to view, as never before, the God of heaven as the God of nations, who had given them their location on the earth and their place in history, and holding them responsible as communities for their wrong doings, and redress of wrongs, and ready to make them either the guides or the warnings of history. So that under such discipline, it was not strange, before the war was over, the crowds that gathered in Wall street to hear the announcements from the front of some victory, could only find expression for their joy in singing the Dox- ology of the sanctuary, -Praise God from whom all bless ings flow." In this connection we may well call to mind the spirit of Mr. Lincoln, whose official documents, and public and pri vate utterances, while they showed no pretentious piety, nor made appeals for effect to the Christian sentiment of the people, were eminently reverential and devout, recog nizing the dependence of the nation for success in their struggle, upon our righting the wrongs now that we had the opportunity of those whom we had held for genera tions in slavery; his kindly feeling toward those whom war had made enemies, and his incessant endeavor to save them Amen ! Lord Jesus, grant our prayer ; (ireat captain ! now thine arm make bare, Thy church with strength defend ; So shall all saints and martyrs raise A joyful chorus to thy praise, Through ages without end ! " 322 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. from all unnecessary loss and sorrow; his almost super human patience with those who misrepresented and vilified and hated him; and the spirit in which he went calmly forward from the first, toward threatened assassination, and to final martyrdom. But it is in the President s personal and deepest experi ences, that we find most reason to respect and sympathize with his piety. " I have been driven many times to my knees," he said to a friend, " by the overwhelming convic tion that I had nowhere else to go." And to another he said : " I should be the most presumptuous blockhead upon this footstool, if I for one day thought that I could discharge the duties which have come upon me since I came into this place, without the aid and enlightenment of One who is wiser and stronger than all others." " If it were not for my firm belief in an over-ruling Providence," he said, in reply to a clergyman who referred to the encour agement we have to trust in the good Providence of God, " it would be difficult for me, in the midst of such compli cations of affairs, to keep my reason on its seat. But I am confident that the Almighty has his plans, and will work them out, and whether we see it or not, they will be the wisest and the best for us. I have always taken counsel of him, and referred to him in my plans, and have never adopted a course of proceeding without being assured, as far as 1 could be, of his approbation. To be sure he has not conformed to my desires, or else we should have been out of our trouble long ago. On the other hand, his will does not seem to agree with our enemy over there (point ing across the Potomac). He stands as a judge between us, and we ought to be willing to accept his decisions. We have reason to anticipate that it will be favorable to us, for our cause is right." It was, however, in his family anxieties and bereavement, that his faith and submission were most severely tested. When he lost one of his boys by death, WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 323 and the other and youngest, who was called "Tad," seemed likely to follow, he sobbed: "This is the hardest trial of my life! Why is it? Why is it?" And when told that many were praying for him, he replied: "I am glad to hear that. I want them to pray for me. I need their prayers. I will try to go to God with my sorrows." It was about this time that he made a notable reply to a lady, who was begging him to let certain sick soldiers in the hos pital be sent North for more speedy recovery, and who s.aid: "They have been faithful to the government; they have been faithful to you ; they will still be loyal to the govern ment, do what you will with them. But if you will grant my petition, you will be glad as long as you live." He bowed his head and with a look of sadness which it is im possible for language to describe, said : " / shall never be glad any more" Indeed, before this time the impression had been fastening itself upon him, that he could hardly survive the war. " I feel a presentiment," he said to a mem ber of Congress (a presentiment which was no secret among his friends), " that 1 shall not outlast the rebellion. When it is over, my work will be done." It was in the autumn of this year that the Gettysburg cemetery was dedicated. The State of Pennsylvania, upon whose soil the battle had been fought, and many of whose sons had taken part in the struggle, had bought a large portion of the battlefield, for the resting place of the fallen and for monuments to the famous deeds done there, and this field was to be consecrated to this purpose with appro priate ceremonies. Edward Everett, the distinguished patriot and orator of Massachusetts, was naturally selected to deliver the principal address. And it is needless to say that it was worthy of the occasion, and, but for what fol lowed, it would have been the striking feature of those ser vices. The President, however, from whom little else seems to have been expected than to be present and repre- 324 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. sent the government in that ceremony, was stirred, as the exercises went on, by thoughts and sentiments of his own, to which he gave expression in that brief and never-to-be- forgotten address of his, which will be as memorable in history as that battle, and a summons to all mankind to maintain the only free government which had lasted a cen tury, and to which this people were to reconsecrate them selves in every such bloody baptism. They are familiar words now, but it is fitting to set them down once more here : Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing what that nation, or any other so con ceived or so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that iield as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we here take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we lu re highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that the government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth. CHAPTER XIX. GENERAL GRANT AT THE HEAD OF THE ARMIES. The Change in Methods When the Army Came Under His Com mand The Series of Flank Movements on Richmond The Only Battle Grant "Would Not Fight Again 1 A Pause After the Terrible Losses on Each Side. Although the victories at Vicksburg, Gettysburg and Chattanooga, in the summer and autumn of 1863, made n turning point in the war, they had fearfully depleted the armies on each side, and it was not until the spring of 1864 that they were ready for more great operations. Ft was now a question of determination and resources. The South was resolute enough, but her money was exhausted, her credit gone, her ports so closely blockaded that she could not get cotton out or supplies in. The conscription had been so rigid that she had nearly exhausted the available material. She had one advantage, in that the service being for the war, most of her men were already veterans. The resources of the North, on the other hand, were ample in both men and money. And by this time all peace measures and possible compromises were pretty much abandoned. Even New York, under Governor Seymour who had so earnestly counseled peace measures and almost resisted the government draft for more troops, when she found Pennsylvania invaded and her own territory threat ened, was swept over by a tide of patriotism that carried an army of its own to the front, and which no governor could resist. Meanwhile the other Northern governors were redeeming their pledges to the President, and he was 326 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM making call after call during the year, amounting to 1,500,000 of men for the army and the navy ; though for credits given and allowances made the number was reduced to 900,000.* During those nine months, from July, 1863, to May, 1864, this force was recruited, equipped and put into the field. Many of those who had been in service for six aud nine months and for three years, re-enlisted for the war, as most of the Connecticut troops did, thus furnishing the government at once so many veteran troops, and put ting our armies in this respect more nearly on a footing with the Confederate forces. When the spring opened, sufficient troops were poured into the valley of the Potomac from New England, and into the valley of the Mississippi from the West, to finish up the war within another year. Our Army of the Potomac had also found at last its com mander. When General Grant had accomplished his great work in the West, he was summoned to Washington, where Congress had revived the grade of Lieutenant General of our armies, hitherto accorded to George Washington alone, General Scott having- been such only by brevet, and the President offered him that position, with the understanding that he should personally take command of the Potomac army and have the direction of all the military movements of the government. His commission was dated March 9, 1864. It is worth noting that the " Personal Memoirs " of General Grant give us the most intelligible and certainly the most candid account of the manner in which the war had hitherto been conducted, and propose the plans upon which he would have it prosecuted for the future. He puts us into the most confidential communication with the * The number of men called for during the year may be thus recapitulated : Call of February 1, Call of March 14, 200,000 Call of July 18, 500,000 Call of December 20, 1,500 000 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 327 President, and the War Department, and the prominent commanders of the army, so that it is easy to see reasons for the failure, or the incomplete results, of some of our most important military expeditions. And he shows his own modesty, deference to the government authorities, courtesy and kind judgment toward other commanders, and anxiety to have those who had been relieved of their commands, restored to service somewhere, while he frankly gives his opinion of their fitness or unfitness for any par ticular service. The plan of General Grant s campaign, and whatever there was that was new and peculiar in it, are fully given in these memoirs and in his correspondence with the government. The Union armies," he says, " were now divided into nineteen departments, though four of them in the West had been concentrated into a single military division. The Army of the Potomac was a separate com mand and had no territorial limits. There were thus seventeen distinct commands. Before this time these various armies had acted separately and independently of each other, giving the enemy an opportunity often of depleting one command not pressed to re- enforce another more actively engaged. I determined to stop it." His criticism upon the past conduct of the war, as he writes to the War Department, was that " the armies of the East and West acted independently and without concert, like a balky team, no two pulling together, enabling the enemy to use to great advantage the interior lines of com munication for transporting troops from east to west, re-enforcing the army most vigorously pressed, and to furlough large numbers during seasons of inactivity on our part, to go to their homes and producing for the support of their armies." This is what he proposed to put a stop to, by making one army of the whole, and all its movements co-operate for the relief and assistance of the rest. Then the fighting was to be made more constant and vigorous, 328 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. and less account made of losses, trusting in the superior resources of the North in men and means to finally exhaust the South and leave her powerless, as was successfully done. From an early period in the rebellion General Grant writes to the government: 1 had been impressed with the idea that active and continuous operations of all the troops that could be brought into the field, re gardless of season and weather, were necessary to a speedy termina tion of the war. From the first, I was firm in the conviction that no peace could be had that was stable, and conducive to the happiness of the people, both North and South, until the military power of the rebellion was entirely broken. I therefore determined, first, to use the greatest number of troops practicable against the armed force of the enemy, preventing him from using the same force at different seasons against first one and then another of our armies, and the possibility of repose for refitting and producing necessary supplies for carrying on resistance; second, to hammer continuously against the armed force of the enemy and his resources, until by mere attrition, if in no other way, there should be nothing left to him but an equal sub mission, with the loyal section of our common country, to the consti tution and laws of the land. These views have been kept constantly in mind, and orders given, and campaigns made, to carry them out. With reference to the criticisms made upon his cam paigns, as needlessly wasteful of human life, his defense is : " Whether these campaigns might have been better in con ception and execution, is for the people, who mourn the loss of friends fallen, and who have to pay the pecuniary cost, to say. All 1 can say is, that what I have done has been done conscientiously, to the best of my ability, and in what I conceived to be for the best interests of the whole country." According to this new plan of the war, all our Union armies were organized as one army, with General Grant as its commander-in-chief, and his headquarters wherever he might be, whether at Culpepper courthouse at first, or " in the saddle," where he -was more generally to be found after wards. The two chief armies of the Confederacy the one under Lee on the Rapid an before Richmond, and the other WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 329 under Johnston at Dalton, Ga., and defending; Atlanta were to be the objective points of the campaign. General Meade, the commander of the Army of the Potomac under Grant, was instructed : " Lee s army will be our objective point, and wherever Lee goes, there you will go also," and to this army the commander-in-chief was to be attached personally. To Sherman he sent orders : You I propose to move against Johnston s army, to break it up and to get into the interior of the enemy s country as far as you can, inflicting all the damage you can against their war resources." The month of May had come, and General Grant had diligently improved the six weeks since he received his appointment, in perfecting his plans, selecting his com manders, and rearranging the location and number of his troops over the vast field of his military command. This field for active operations extended from Washington to New Orleans, from the islands around Charleston to the bayous of Louisiana, and the flooded lands of the Red River country. The plan included co-operation with the fleets on the James river, in Mobile bay, and in the capture of Fort Fisher. At many of these points large forces had to be kept permanently to hold possession of territory already acquired, and to retain these large Confederate forces, which would otherwise be swelling Lee s or John ston s army. One of these General Lee s was protecting the Confederate capital, just as our Army of the Potomac was defending Washington, while the other General John ston s was to withstand Sherman s " march to the sea," and his desolation of the Southern States, which had so much to do with the termination of the war. And to the support of these two armies, the chief energy and resources of the Confederacy had to be directed. These able gen erals, and veteran armies, and especially the former with its almost impenetrable position among the forests, ravines, 330 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. and tangled thickets of the Wilderness, might well have made any other less resolute general hesitate before he launched his own army, superior as it was in numbers and appointments, against such an impregnable and well- defended fortress. And whether this was the wisest, or the only course to put down the rebellion, it may be said, and perhaps this ought to satisfy us, that it accomplished its purpose, and after three years of fierce and indecisive fighting, the war was ended in a single year after Grant was placed in command. The Union army atthis time was made up, in preparation of its advance movement, of Butler s army at Fortress Monroe for its left, Meade s army the center, and Sherman s its right at Chattanooga. Though they were hundreds of miles apart, they were to advance together and work for the same end. The Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia, which were to come first into con flict and fight the fiercest battles of the war, if not of the world, were both of them superb armies in their numbers, commanders, material and appointments. The former num bered 114,000 enlisted men, and included such commanders as Meade, Burnside, Hancock, Warren, Sedgwick, and Sheridan with his 12,000 cavalry, and 224 guns. Lee s total strength was only 60,000 and 224 guns. Though thus inferior in numbers and armament, he still had the advantage of his strong and fortified positions all the way back to Richmond. He had also more veteran troops, as well as many of his oldest and ablest commanders Long- street, Early, A. P. Hill, and Stuart with his 8,000 cavalry, though he had already lost " Stonewall " Jackson. As to the plan of the campaign, General Sherman says : " Regarding ourselves all as one army and co-operating in the same work, Butler was to move from Fortress Monroe against Richmond on the south of the James river ; Meade straight against Lee entrenched behind the Rapid an ; and WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 331 1 was to attack Joe Johnston, and push him to and beyond Atlanta. This," he adds, " was as far as human foresight could penetrate." Accordingly on the 4th of May, 1864, our army crossed the Rapidan and began that all-important and fearful campaign of the Wilderness. " The Wilderness is a -considerable tract of broken table-land, stretching southward from the Rapidan nearly to Spottsylvania court house, seamed with ravines and densely covered with dwarfish timber and bushes, crossed by three or four good roads, and by a multiplicity of narrow cart tracks, used in peace only by woodcutters. In this tangled labyrinth, numbers, artillery, and cavalry, are of small account ; local knowledge, advantage of position, and command of roads, everything. It was Grant s object to get through this chaparral as quickly and with as little fighting as possible. It was Lee s business not to let him." Lee, with his knowl edge of the country and a shorter line, got there before him, and Grant had to take things as they were and fight him where he found him. He was well posted and in full force, and before our troops were in position, or supposed that they had any considerable force of the enemy to encounter, they were engaged in some of the heaviest and bloodiest fighting of the war. The first day there was nor much done, except to get into position on both sides, and to bring up from every quarter their great army corps and begin the struggle. But on the second day they were well engaged in it, and on the third, from early dawn till quite into the night, it was almost a hand-to-hand " bush fight," such as was never seen before, and no other conti nent could have furnished such a field for. Some of the ground between the two armies had been fought over four or five times. The weather was intensely hot and dry, and the forest in places had caught fire, and was consuming the wounded with the dead, until there was an amount of human suffering gathered there such as probably no other 332 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. battlefield ever saw. Not much less than 20,000 had fallen on the Union side in that three-days fighting, and half as many, at least, of the Confederates.* The next day Connecticut lost there one of her noble sons, and the service one of its most valuable commanders, General John Sedgwick, a thorough soldier, and greatly beloved for his personal qualities, of illustrious lineage through a Revolutionary ancestry, and Cromwell s Iron sides; thoroughly educated for military service and steadily promoted by the government until he attained his present rank. He was in the thickest of the fight at Antietam, and assigned at the head of the famous Sixth Corps, to storm and hold the heights of Fredericksburg ; and twice offered the command of the Army of the Potomac, which was as often declined. He fell as he was reconnoitering the enemy preparatory to the advance of his column, in the last of that Wilderness fighting. The affection felt for him in his native State, and the honor shown him by the Governor and officials, as they buried him tenderly at Cornwall Hol low, his country home, has been referred to elsewhere. General Alexander S. Webb, chief of staff of General Meade, in his article in the " War Book," " Through the Wilderness," furnishes in detail and with trustworthy exactness, the following particulars of the Army of the Po tomac, of which General Meade was in command : * (See l War Book." Vol. IV, p. 248.) Our loss in officers was heavy. The coun try s salvation claimed no nobler sacrifice than that of General James S. Wads- worth of New York. Born to affluence and social distinction, already past the age of military service, he had volunteered in 1861, under a sense of duty alone. As an aid of General McDowell, he was conspicuously useful at Bull Run. Accustomed to every luxury, he had courted ever since the hardships and perils of the field. Made the Republican candidate for governor in 1862 by an overwhelming majority, he could not have failed to be elected could those have voted who like himself were absent from the State at the call of their country, and though he peremp torily declined, his fellow-citizens, had he lived, would have insisted on electing him governor in 1864. Thousands of the unnamed have evinced as fervid and pure :.i patriotism, but no one surrendered more for his country s sake, or gave his life more joyfully for her deliverance than did James S. WadswoTth.[ffreeley>t American Conflict, 1 rot. 77, p. 570. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM 833 General Meade had with him, according to his report of April 30, just as that campaign began, 95,952 enlisted men, 3,486 officers and 274 guns. Hancock s corps, 26,676 men; Warren s, 24,125 men; Sedg- wick s, 22,584 men, while Sheridan controlled 12,525 in the cavalry. To guard all these trains, there was a special detail of 1,200; General Grant had also attached the Ninth Corps (General Burnside s) to the army as an independent command, operating under his eye. The total force under General Grant, including Burnside, was 4,409 officers and 114,360 enlisted men; for the artillery, he had 9,945 enlisted men and 285 officers; in the cavalry, 11,839 enlisted men and 585 officers; in the provost guards and engineers, 120 officers and 3,274 enlisted men. This 118,000 men, properly disposed for battle, would have covered a front of twenty-one miles, two ranks deep, with one-third of them held in reserve; while Lee, with his 62,000, similarly disposed for battle, would cover only twelve miles. Grant had a train which, he states in his " Memoirs," would have reached from the Rapidan to Richmond, or sixty-five miles. [" War tiook," Vol. IV, p. 152. Then began that series of flank movements which Gen eral Grant had deliberately adopted and persistently adhered to, and which has been so severely criticised, though it finally ended the war. He gives his reason for it in this case, and had the same reason for continuing it, until he had reached the other side of Richmond and Petersburg, and could invest them both by a regular siege, until their re-enforcements and supplies were cut off and both were compelled to sur render. U 0n the morning of the 7th," he says in his report to the government, u reconnoisances showed that the enemy had fallen behind his entrenched lines, with pickets to the front covering a part of the battlefield. From this it was evident to my mind that the two-days fighting had satisfied him of his inability to further maintain the con test in the open field, notwithstanding his advantage of position, and that he would await an attack behind his works. 1 therefore determined to push on and put rnv whole force between him and Richmond, and orders were at once issued for a movement by the right flank. " This refers to his frequent and favorite mode of getting around an enemy when he could not sweep him from his path, to 334 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. outflank him, to move around the extremity of his column or position and sweep his lines, or attack him in the rear. In this case he had been unsuccessful in it, and so he was at Spottsylvania, at North Anna, fearfully so at Cold Harbor, and only successful when it brought him south of James river, and finally cut off the Confederate capital from its re-enforcements and supplies, and brought that four-years war to a close. The march was commenced toward Spottsylvania court house. But the enemy having been apprised of the move ment, and having the shorter line, was enabled to reach there first. A few days were spent by both armies in ma neuvering for positions, when General Hancock, on the 12th, made his famous assault upon a salient of the enemy s works (which now goes by the name, among all who par ticipated in it, of the " Bloody Angle/ ) That must always be regarded as phenomenal in military courage, discipline and leadership, on both sides. The position was carried and was held at a fearful sacrifice, through five assaults by Lee in quick succession. Tt was too exposed to be retained and was then abandoned. The Union losses up to this time were 39,000, about half of them in the Wilderness. Heavy rains set in and made the roads so heavy that opera tions were suspended for a week. Then a third flank move ment was made to the south side of the North Anna. The river was carried successfully and Lee invested. He had a strong position, and after three days the Union forces with drew without risking an assault, recrossed the river and proceeded to make the fourth flank movement, the objec tive point of which was Cold Harbor on the north bank of the Chickahominy. Cold Harbor is a name associated with more that is sanguinary and sad than any other battlefield of this campaign. It is in the immediate vicinity of Games Mill, where McClellan was compelled two years before to begin his retreat across the swamps of the Chickahominy. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 335 The attack began at 4.30, on the morning of June 3. The Union advance was through wooded country and under a terrible fire from the enemy. It is said that in the first eight minutes, more men fell than in any other like period during the war. Of this battle, General Grant says, as quoted in Young s " Around the World with General Grant :" "Cold Harbor is, I think, the only battle I ever fought that I would not fight again under the same circumstances." In his official report General Grant speaks of this as the only general attack made from the Rapidan to the James which did not inflict upon the enemy losses to compensate for our losses. The fifth flank movement established the Army of the Potomac across the James river, opposite Petersburg, and within twenty miles of the Confederate capital, where it was to remain and carry on its operations to better advantage until the Confederacy fell. The movement was accom plished by successive extensions of the different corps towards the left, and was so well disguised by cavalry feints and dashes, that the whole army was on the south side of the river before Lee discovered the purpose of the move ments that had been made. Lee fell back to Richmond, and the contest resolved itself into a siege of that city. The Union losses from May 5 to June 13 were 7,289 killed, 37,406 wounded and 856 missing. Lee s losses were about 32,000. In these operations, particularly in the last and fatal assaults at Cold Harbor, the Connecticut troops had a highly honorable and peculiarly sad share. General Robert O. Tyler, who as colonel of the First Connecticut Heavy Artillery, had almost created that branch of the service in our war, and proved its efficiency at Malvern Hill and Gettysburg, was here in command of the reserve artillery. The Second Connecticut Heavy Artillery, under Colonel Elisha S. Kellogg, had just joined him with a new regiment 1,800 strong, and this was to be their baptism of blood. "The plan of the battle was simple and similar to that of Spottsylvania, a general assault with the bayonet along the front of six miles, to be made in column by division, at WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. half-past four next moruing. All caps were removed from the muskets. It was not later than forty-five minutes past four when the whole line was in motion, and the dark hollows between the armies were lighted up with the fires of death. It took hardly more than ten minutes of the figment men call time to decide the battle. There was along the whole line a rush, the spectacle of impregnable works, a bloody loss, then a sudden falling back, and the action was decided. In this charge Brigadier General R. O. Tyler, while gallantly leading his command, was severely wounded in the leg and carried off the field. Three of his regimental commanders were killed." Among these was Colonel Kellogg. He had led infantry, and this was an infantry regiment, just drilled as artillerists, and they were now to act as infantry, and depend upon their muskets and not their cannon. Afraid lest they should mistake their duties, or lose courage in this their first battle under their new organization, he took personal care of them, "marked out on the ground the shape of the works to be taken, told the officers what disposition to make of the different bat talions and how the charge should be made." Then putting himself at their head, and cheering them on, his stately form a conspicuous target for the enemy s fire, he fell in the very beginning of the fight, pierced with several bullets through his head. As one describes the scene just after the battle: "I remember at one point a mute and pathetic coincidence of sterling valor. The Second Connecticut Heavy Artillery, a new regiment, had joined us but a few days before the battle. Its uniform was bright and fresh, therefore its dead were easily distinguished where they lay. They marked in a dotted line an obtuse angle, covering a wide front, with its apex toward the enemy, and there upon his face, still in death, with his head to the works, lay the Colonel, the brave and genial Colonel Elisha S. Kel logg." The State gave him fit burial, and " when his mortal remains were laid in the pleasant valley at Winsted, a thousand hearts turned tenderly toward his grave." The losses of this single regiment in that single assault were 75 killed and 184 wounded, more in killed and wounded than those of any other regiment from this State in any battle. ["Connecticut in the IFar," p. 592. The State was pretty largely represented in this movement and suffered accordingly. Colonel Stedman, who was imme diately promoted for his services there, and who soon after fell himself in trying to retrieve the bad management when the mine was exploded before Petersburg, was in command of a brigade in that Cold Harbor assault, which contained several Connecticut regiments, and which did themselves WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 337 credit, as well as suffered heavy loss. " We left the woods," says their commander, " with 2,000 men ; in five minutes we returned, t>00 less." He was a cultured and knightly sol dier, who entered the army at the beginning of the war ; took part in the battle of Antietam, leading half his regiment in the charge on the stone bridge, and receiving a severe wound. He commanded his regiment at Fredericksburg, Chancellors- ville and Gettysburg, and at the beginning of the overland campaign of General Grant, was placed at the head of a brigade. His grave at Hartford, where he was born, is marked by a monument of granite and bronze, and fitly represents the high estimation in which he was held. " Here ended, practically, for the year 1864, Grant s deter mined, persistent, sanguinary campaign against Lee s army and Richmond. And while other campaigns were more brilliant, none contributed more positively and eminently to break the power of the Confederacy than that which began on the Rapidan and ended in front of Petersburg and across the Weldon road." For the next nine months, General Grant is to retain that position, and operate from that point to cut off the resources of the enemy, and prevent the army in front of him from sending many re-enforce ments elsewhere, while Sheridan in the Shenandoah cleans that valley of Confederate invaders and supplies for their armies,* and Sherman pushes his way down through Ten- * After General Lee was driven into Richmond, he sent General Jubal A. Early, one of his able commanders, into the Shenandoah valley the grainery of the Con federacy, and the avenue through which the Northern States were to be invaded where he found General Hunter far from his base and with inadequate supplies of food and ammunition, and drove him out of the valley. " General Grant therefore cast about," says General Sherman, "for a suitable commander for this field of operations, and settled upon Major General Philip H. Sheridan, whom he had brought from the West to command the cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac. " He left for his new field of operations in August, and continued them there until he had beaten his antagonist in fair and open battle, sending him, as he expressed it, whirling up the valley." General Early reorganized his army, and fell upon the Union forces in October at Cedar Creek and thoroughly defeated them, while Sheridan was absent. Sheridan was opportunely returning, and met his disorgan ized and demoralized men in full retreat, when with his peculiar adroitness and personal magnetism, he rallied them around him and led them back to that battle 338 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. nessee and the whole tier of Southern States, to appear on the Atlantic and join his commander and friend in accept ing the surrender of all that remains of the Confederacy. Among all the cavalry raids of the war, of which there were so many, of such a large force, such a peculiar organization, with such a broad arena, and which developed such able commanders on both sides, Sheridan s raid around Lee s army in the Wilderness campaign, and the help it was to Grant, was the most important as well as the most brilliant of any. The object of it was, as stated by General Grant: " If successfully executed and it was he would annoy the enemy by cutting his lines of supplies and telegraphic communications, and destroy or get for his own use supplies in store or coming up; would draw the enemy s cavalry after him, and thus better protect our flanks, rear and trains, than by remaining with the army; and his absence would save the trains drawing his forage and other supplies from Fredericksburg, which had now become our base. He started at daylight on the morning of the 9th of May, just after the battle of the Wilderness, and accomplished more than was expected. It was sixteen days before he got back to the Army of the Potomac."- ["War Book," Vol. IV, p. 116. " The fifteen thousand paper strength of the corps," says General Kodenbrough, who was engaged in these operations, "was sifted to 32.424 effectives. There were three divisions, subdivided into seven brigades. To each division were attached two batteries of horse artillery, with the same number as a reserve. The command was stripped ctf all impediments, such as unserviceable animals, wagons and tents. The necessary ammunition train, two ambulances to a division, a few pack mules for baggage, three-days rations, and a half- day s forage carried on the saddle composed the outfit. On the 9th day of May, 1864, at 6 A. M., this magnificent body of 10,000 horsemen moved out on the Telegraph road leading from Fredericksburg to Richmond. According to a Southern authority it took four hours at a brisk pace to pass a given point; to those who viewed it from behind barred windows and doors, it was like the rush of a mighty torrent." ["War Book," Vol. IV, p. 189. Passing around the Confederate army by the southwest, late in the afternoon they struck the Virginia Central railroad, and at an opportune moment, for there were two of Winchester, October 19, which has become as graphic in picture and song so familiar as " Sheridan s Ride "as it proved important to the success of the war, in shutting off inroads from that quarter, and in shutting out the Confederacy from that storehouse of its supplies. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 339 trains of cars carrying wounded and prisoners from Spott- sylvania, just ready to start for Richmond. In a moment 378 Union captives rent the air with cheers for their deliver ance, while the troops, after reserving what they needed, set fire to the trains and buildings with a million and a half of rations and supplies for Lee s army. The railroad track and telegraph were destroyed through the night for some distance, when by morning Stewart with his cavalry force was upon them, skirmishing with them briskly and attack ing them with vigor, and our troops pushed on across the South Anna, defeating the enemy s cavalry after a severe encounter, and destroying culverts, trestle bridges and six miles of track. On the fourth day they encountered Stuart with his main body of cavalry, where a " determined stand was made for the right of way to the Confederate capital, distant only six miles." Here is where General Stuart fell, who had been to General Lee thus far in his most important operations, what Sheridan was becoming to General Grant, and was greatly bemourned, not only for the loss of his military ability, but also for his personal worth. General Rodenbrough, who was one of Sherman s officers and engaged in this expedition with the magnanimity of a true soldier, pays this generous tribute to his opponent : " Deep in the hearts of all true cavalrymen, North and South, will ever burn a sentiment of admiration mingled with regret for this knightly soldier and generous man." From this point the expedition pressed on with the utmost vigor until it was within the outer defenses of the city. Here it was betrayed into an ambush from which it escaped with difficulty. Then it took the wrong road, from which it had to be recalled. Next they had a struggle for a bridge as their only escape, and with an unknown force. " This," as they said, " was the tightest place we ever got into." Just then Sheridan, with his quick invention and inspiring pres ence, appeared on the scene. " Pushed hard, are ye ! What 340 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. do you suppose we have in front of us ? A lot of depart ment clerks from Richmond, who have been forced into the ranks. I could capture Richmond, if I wanted, but I can t hold it, and the prisoners tell me that every house in the suburbs is loopholed and the streets barricaded. It isn t worth the men it would cost, but I ll stay all day to show these fellows how much I care for them, and go when I get ready. Send for your caissons and take it easy." The enemy had torn up the bridge, and were in same force on the opposite bank. Merritt dismounted all but three regi ments to repair the bridge. Ouster charged his men over the railroad bridge to cover the reconstruction. As soon as the flooring was down, the mounted force under Colonel Gibbs crossed. Gregg and Wilson covered the crossing of the ammunition and ambulance trains, and after a brisk affair with a brigade of infantry and cavalry, the raiders were well out of their net, and on their way to our army under Butler, whence after the briefest rest and much- needed supplies were procured, they set off to find Grant. After a forty-hours night march they found him on the morning of the 25th, having successfully performed their allotted task. " They had deprived Lee s army for the time being of its eyes and ears or means of obtaining informa tion of the enemy damaged his communications, destroyed an immense quantity of supplies, deprived them of their great cavalry leader, secured our great army train of 4,000 wagons from annoyance, saved our government the subsist ence of 10,000 horses and men for three weeks, perfected the morale of the cavalry corps, and produced a Amoral effect of incalculable value to the Union cause. Sheridan s casualties on the raid were 625 men killed or wounded, and 300 horses." Whatever it gained, this Wilderness campaign plunged the whole nation, South as well as North, into anguish such as it never knew before or since. The loss of 50,000 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 341 men on one side by death, wounds and imprisonment, and of two-thirds as many on the other, reaching as far as a military draft could reach or patriotism extend, was sure to spread universal and the deepest sorrow. It was like that scene described in vision by the Prophet Jeremiah, where he saw his people carried away into their Babylonian captivity, and beheld their old ancestress standing by the roadside as they passed, and wringing her hands in hope less despair : " A voice was heard in Rama, lamentation and bitter weeping; Rachael weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not." That was a heavy price paid for the reformation and recovery of God s people. And while ours seemed at the time too heavy a cost for almost any blessings, we are fast coming to think differently of it, and to regard the restora tion of our Union, the reorganization of our Republic, the recovery of equal rights for all men, and the re-establish ment of successful self-government in both Church and State, for the imitation of mankind in all future time, as worth it all, as so many martyrs have done ; for the glory of God, and the welfare of our fellow-men. CHAPTER XX. SHERMAN S CAMPAIGN IN GEORGIA. The Capture of Atlanta and Removal of the Inhabitants Preparing for the March to the Sea Capture of Savannah. When General Grant, now lieutenant general of all the armies, set out for Richmond early in May, 1864, General Sherman started the same day on his march through Georgia. Both expeditions were parts of the same plan. Never were commanders more fully possessed of each other s confidence, or more generous toward each other s fame, than these. Instead of the jealousies and bickerings which had existed in the Army of the Potomac, and the want of harmony between the commander-in-chief and the War Department, and the disposition of the government to carry on a campaign in its details a thousand miles away from the war office, there was now to be confidence and co-opera tion, and a generous regard for each others fame, as well as superb military ability and the noblest patriotism. General Grant says : In my first interview with Mr. Lincoln alone, he stated to me that he had never professed to be a military man, or to know how cam paigns should be conducted, and never wanted to interfere in them; but that procrastination on the part of commanders, and the pressure from the people at the North and from Congress, which was always with him, forced him into issuing his " Military Orders." He did not know that they were not all wrong, and did know that some of them were. All he wanted, or had ever wanted, was some one who would take the responsibility and act, and call on him for assistance needed; he would pledge himself to use all the power of the government in rendering such assistance. Assuring him that I would do the best I WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. S4B could with the means at hand, and avoid as far as possible annoying him or the War Department, our first interview ended. ["War Book," Vol. IV, p. 100. General Sherman also says : Mr. Lincoln was the wisest man of our day, and more truly and kindly gave voice to my secret thoughts and feelings, when he wrote me at Savannah from Washington, under date of December 26, 1864: 41 When you were about leaving Atlanta for the Atlantic coast, I was anxious, if not fearful; but feeling that you were the better judge, and remembering nothing risked, nothing gained, I did not inter fere. Now the undertaking being a success, the honor is all yours, for I believe that none of us went further than to acquiesce, and taking the work of General Thomas into account, as it should be taken, it is indeed a great success. Not only does it afford the ob vious and immediate advantages, but in showing to the world that your army could be divided, putting the stronger part to an impor tant new service, and yet leaving enough to vanquish the old opposing force of the whole, Hood s army, it brings those who sat in darkness to see a great light. But what next ? I suppose it will be safer if I leave General Grant and yourself to decide." [" War Book," />. 2oO. General Sherman, in his u Introduction to the Atlantic Expedition," pays this noble tribute to General Grant, and in the disclosure it makes of his own interesting traits of character and noble sentiments, wins as much respect tor himself as to his commander. I now turn with a feeling of extreme delicacy to the conduct of that other campaign from Chattanooga to Atlanta, Savannah and Raleigh, which with liberal discretion was committed to me by General Grant in his minute instructions of April 4 and April 19, 1864. To all mili tary students these letters must be familiar, because they have been published again and again, and there never was and never can be a question of rivalry, or claim between us as to the relative merits of the manner in which we played our respective parts. We were as brothers; I the older man in years, he the higher in rank. We both believed in our heart of hearts that the success of the Union cause was not only necessary to the then generation of Americans, but to all future generations. We both professed to be gentlemen and pro fessional soldiers, educated in the science of war by our generous gov ernment for the very occasion which had arisen. Neither of us by nature was a combative man, but with homes, hearts, and a clear pur pose to do what man could, we embarked on that campaign, which I 344 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. believe, in its strategy, in its logistics, in its grand and minor tactics, has added new luster to the old science of war. Both of us had at our front generals to whom in early life we had been accustomed to look up; educated and experienced soldiers like ourselves, not likely to make any mistakes, and each of whom had as strong an army as could be collected from the mass of the Southern people; of the same blood as ourselves, brave, confident, and well equipped; in addition to which they had the most decided advantage of operating in their own difficult country of mountain, forest, ravine and river, affording ad. inirable opportunities for defense, besides the other equally impor tant advantage, that we had to invade our unqualified enemy and expose our long line of supplies to the guerrillas of an " exasperated people." Again, as we advanced, we had to leave guards to bridges, stations and intermediate depots, diminishing the fighting force, while our enemy gained strength by picking up his detachments as lie fell back, and had railroads to bring supplies and re-enforcements from his rear. I instance these facts to offset the common assertion, that we of the North won the war by brute force, and not by courage and skill. ["War Book," p. 250. Sherman started from Chattanooga, which is on the southern border of Tennessee (the Confederate forces having already been driven out of Kentucky and Tennessee, and also out of Mississippi, along down the river so far as Vicksburg and New Orleans), for Atlanta, the "Gate City" of the South. It opened into the interior of the State of Georgia, and was the center of all the important southern lines of railroad, reaching not only back to Tennessee and Kentucky and into Western Virginia, but stretching also along the Gulf States, and up through South and North Carolina and Virginia to the Confederate capital at Rich mond. It was along these railroads that the Confederate government transferred its troops from the neighborhood of Richmond to Atlanta and Chattanooga, and furnished them with supplies and the munitions of war. To secure and hold that city, was to fatally cripple the operations of the Confederacy. And though a difficult and doubtful under- taking, to which the government slowly and reluctantly gave its assent, it proved more effective than could have WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. been expected in terminating the war. Atlanta was 120 miles from Chattanooga, with only a single railroad track running through a mountainous and hostile country, which was liable to be broken up at any time, and must be repaired and guarded again before Sherman s army could be sure of subsistence for a week. Even then he was so dependent for many of his supplies upon Louisville, 500 miles distant, that every mile he moved farther from his supplies he increased his risk and diminished his force, for he must repair every mile of broken railroad behind him and leave -a sufficient guard to protect it. He was also in a strange and hostile country, where he was liable to encounter at any time some strongly fortified position, and where the people were " peaceable citizens by day and guerrillas by night." Besides, such cavalry leaders as Wheeler and Forest were always on their line of march, breaking up their communications and appropriating their supplies. Still Sherman had confidence in reaching and holding Atlanta, if he went no further. And there was this under standing between him and Grant, as he tells us : That had General Grant overwhelmed and scattered Lee s army, and occupied Richmond, he would have come to Atlanta; but as I happened to occupy Atlanta first, and had driven Hood off to a divergent line of operations far to the west, it was good strategy to leave him to a subordinate force, and with my main force join Grant .at Richmond. ["War Book," Vol. IV, P- 25o. General Sherman set out for Atlanta on the 4th of May, 1864, with a well-appointed army of 100,000 men. General Joseph E. Johnston, the Confederate commander whom he was to encounter, probably had only about half that number.* But he was one whom General Sherman regarded * General Sherman says: "Coincident with the movement of the Army of the Potomac, as announced by telegraph, I advanced from our base at Chattanooga, with the Army of the Ohio, 13,550 ; the Army of the Cumberland, 60,773, and the Army of the Tennessee, 24,4(55 ; a total of 98,797, :-.nd 254 pieces of artillery." [" War Mook," Vol. IV, p. 252. 346 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. " as equal in all the elements of generalship to Lee," and of whom he said : " No officer or soldier who served under me will question his generalship. His retreats were timely,, in good order, and he left nothing behind." His knowledge of the country which he was called upon to defend, the sympa thy and co-operation of the people among whom he was to- carry on his operations, the peculiar capabilities of that region for military defense, and the series of remarkably well- selected and skillfully constructed fortifications which he had prepared against such an invasion, do him credit, and with any considerable force ought perhaps to have made Sherman s progress more difficult than it proved. But the expedition to Atlanta, and capture of Savannah, and march through the Gulf States and up along the Atlantic coast, until he could leave his army long enough to run up by sea from Wilmington, N. C., to City Point, and confer with Grant and the President, and then return in time to receive the surrender of his old opponent, just after Lee had surren dered to Grant this must forever make that campaign the most difficult, the most successful, and certainly the most romantic of anything in our war. " I feel," writes Grant to Sherman, " that you have accomplished the most gigantic undertaking given to any general in the war, with a skill that will be acknowledged in history as unsurpassed, if not unequaled." And Halleck writes : " I do not hesitate to- say, that your campaign has been the most brilliant of this war." Look at the country through which this campaign was General Johnston, in his article in the " War Book," p. 260, gives the strength of the Confederate army as only 43,000, 37,652 infantry, 2,812 artillery with 112 guns and 2,393 cavalry, a total of 42,857. The " War Book " gives another estimate, taken from the files of the Confederate War Department, which brings it up to 84,000 a little later. General Johnston s statement must have had reference to his army after its hard fighting and severe defeat at Chattanooga, and before it was- prepared for this campaign. It is probable that it was not much more than half as large as Sherman s, and the only wonder is that the South did not make it larger, and that, with his rare field for operation and defense, he should not have caused, an invader more trouble. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 34T conducted. That of the Wilderness was bad enough for an invader, as McClellan and Grant found it, with its for ests, ridges, ravines and swamps, but it was limited to the Peninsula, and a single corner of Virginia, while this stretched away from Lookout mountain, the scene of Hooker s fame, to the top of Kenesaw, from which John ston looked down so severely at first upon Sherman s approach ; and through such canons as Buzzard Roost and Snake Creek Gap, to Altoona Pass, where it seemed as if a few hundred men could obstruct the passage of a host. These positions, well fortified in advance, and with roads opened to still others in the rear, who could be confident that at some one of them he would not be arrested, and meet the fate of rashness ? How could he presume that he would make no mistakes, incur no inevitable interruption of his plan, encounter no absolute defeat ? General Sher man was certainly not so presumptuous, only proposing to accept his defeats, correct his mistakes, and what he could not accomplish in one way, hope to accomplish in another. Indeed, his successful campaign to Atlanta was to be his warrant for cutting loose there from everything behind him, and beginning his " twelve-hundred mile march to the sea." And it was not until then that he proposed it, or that Grant would have given his assent to such an other wise chimerical undertaking. True, he had the great West behind him, with its unstinted supply of men and means. He had the confidence of the President and of his cabinet, such as no one before him had possessed more fully. And he certainly was as well assured of the respect, friendship and co-operation of General Grant as he need to have been in the most hazardous enterprise. But after all, the suc cess of a campaign of such magnitude and peril, his careful planning, its vigorous execution, his quickness to detect and remedy a mistake; the spirit with which he inspired his army, and their ceaseless " tramp, tramp " through all those WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Southern States and quite up the Atlantic coast, are still the reverberations, and ever will be, of a history replete with great men and noble achievements. The plan of General Sherman s campaign was essentially that of General Grant, a series of flank movements ; mov ing around an enemy s position, when he could not be driven from it by assault, and compelling him to fall back to pro tect his communications in the rear ; only there were to be more of them, made among the mountains where defense was easier, and all the more critical when the invader was liable to have his own communication broken up, and be left stranded far from either reinforcements, or even food. This is what made the Atlanta expedition so difficult and so delicate, and when accomplished, justified the faith of Sherman s friends, that he might be trusted to go anywhere he pleased over the South, and report himself at a given time in the capital of North Carolina, and arrange with Grant the surrender of the other Confederate army, and settle for ever the fate of the Confederacy. Sherman s first advance from Chattanooga was upon Dalton. He made no direct assault, but only a feint, dur ing which his main army executed a flanking movement, which compelled Johnston to fall back to his next strong hold, Resaca. Here there was more fighting, and a repeti tion of the same tactics, until Johnston, whose army had now been considerably increased, took an impregnable posi tion in the Altoona mountains. Here Sherman, after a few days delay to prepare supplies for twenty days, set out on the 25th of May for the most vigorous, critical and suc cessful part of his advance upon Atlanta. The next two months there was constant fighting. The decisive battle, or series of battles, must be fought, if John ston was to retain that gateway of the South, and Sherman held back from devastating so many of those Southern States, which had done most to bring on the war, and suffered WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 349 least from its ravages. The Confederacy had reinforced its army to the utmost, and its commander was at the end of his defensive policy, for he was just occupying his last mountain fastness, " the famous Kenesaw position," with a high mountain crest for his main works, and a peak at each end as important as Little Round Top and Great Round Top were to the defenses of Gettysburg. " The whole line was stronger in artificial contrivances and natural features than the cemetery of Gettysburg," says General Howard, who tried them both, with more trouble from the latter than the former. " We closed down upon him in this position and in battle array," says General Sherman, " repaired the railroad up to our very camps, and then prepared for the contest. Not a day, not an hour, not a minute was there a cessation of fire. Our skirmishers were in absolute contact, the lines of battle and the batteries but little in the rear of the skirmishers, and thus matters continued for a full month, when I ordered a general assault, with the full co-operation of my great lieutenants, Thomas, McPherson and Schofield, but we failed, losing 3,000 men, to the Confederate loss of 630. Still the result was that Johnston abandoned the strongest possible position, and was in full retreat. We were on his heels, skirmished with his rear on the 4th of July and saw him fairly across the Chattahoochee, covered and protected by the best line of field entrenchments I have ever seen, prepared long in advance. We had advanced into the enemy s coun try 120 miles, with a single track railroad, which had to bring cloth ing, food, ammunition, everything requisite for 100,000 men and 20,000 animals. The city of Atlanta, the gate city, opening into the interior of the important State of Georgia, was in sight; its protecting army was shaken, but not defeated, and onward we had to go, illustrating the principle that an army once On the offensive, must maintain the offensive. " ["War Book," Vol. IF, />. 253. At this time the Confederate government, dissatisfied with the Fabian policy of Johnston, relieved him and substi tuted General Hood, who had a reputation as a fighter. He found the Confederate army reduced and dispirited. He, however, began an aggressive and venturesome course. He made three desperate attacks within a short time and did great damage, but was at last convinced that Johnston had not erred in keeping within his defenses. He found 350 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. himself forced to fall back, largely because only in that way could he feel sure of preventing Sherman from releasing the 34,000 prisoners then at Anderson ville. He himself gives this as one principal reason for his change in the conduct of the campaign. General Hood, however, was soon compelled to withdraw within the defenses of Atlanta, which was then invested by Sherman, and it was not long before he was obliged to abandon those defenses, and our army took possession of the city the 2d of September, 1864. This was not reaching Sherman s " objective," which he proposed to himself, and which was regarded by others as his special part to perform, to annihilate Johnston s army and desolate the Southern States, any more than Grant s investment of Richmond was disposing of Lee and break ing up the Confederacy. Here was General Sherman, only 120 miles from Chattanooga, his starting point, and he had spent four months already in skillful maneuvering and constant fighting, and had lost 30,000 of his army. How much longer will it take, and how many more re-enforce ments must his army receive, before he shall have accom plished his part of his agreement with Grant, to meet him somewhere on the Atlantic coast, and divide the glory of having crushed the Confederacy between theni ? He might perhaps reach Savannah, 300 miles distant from Atlanta, or Charleston, just about as far away. But with all the resources of that great State of Georgia, and what might be gathered from the half-dozen other Gulf States, together with those of South and North Carolina, still under such able military control as Johnston s and Hardee s, was it any thing less than presumption to cherish and persist in that "March to the Sea"? The government was willing he should move upon Savannah, and was prepared to meet him there with a sufficient fleet of war vessels and transport to help open that harbor, and then transport him and his WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 351 whole army up the Atlantic coast, to aid Grant in reducing Richmond. This was all the government dared hope for, and even General Grant was not willing as yet to encourage the dream of his friend. Indeed, General Rawlins, his own able and trusted chief of staff, regarded it as so unwise and hazardous, that he left General Grant s headquarters and went up to Washington, to dissuade the War Department from sanctioning such a project. But General Sherman had so far been successful in his plans, and if Grant would allow it, and the government would not interfere, he had, as he thought, reasonable expectations of complete success. So his next step was to fortify Atlanta, hold this key to the whole railroad system of the South, confiscate the military stores and any supplies of the Confederate government collected there, and destroy all the manufactories upon which their armies were so dependent. This was effectually done. He ordered the people of the city to remove from it, offered to transport them all, with clothing and furniture, to any designated point, and did thus remove 2,000 of them. General Hood protested against this order as an " unprec edented measure," which " transcends in studied and in genious cruelty all acts ever brought to my attention in the dark history of war." He appealed to General Sherman to revoke the order. The latter replied that he had to pre pare for a future struggle in which millions of people out side of Atlanta were deeply interested, that it was essential to establish peace by defeating the rebel armies, and that his military plans made it necessary for the inhabitants of Atlanta to go away. He repeated his offer to provide trans portation. Then he went on to say : War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it. Those who brought war on our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. I had no hand in making this war, and I will make more sacrifices to-day than any of you to secure peace. But you cannot 352 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. have peace, and a division of the country. We don t want yonr negroes, or your houses, or your laud, or anything that you have, but we do want, and will have, a just obedience to the laws of the United States. That we will have, and if it involves the destruction of your improvements we cannot help it. You have heretofore read public sentiment in your newspapers. They live by falsehood and excitement, and the quicker you seek for truth in other quarters, the better for you. You began this war with out one jot or tittle of provocation. I myself have seen in Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi, hundreds and thousands of women and children, fleeing from your own armies and desperadoes, hungry and with bleeding feet. In Memphis, Vicksburg and Missouri we fed thousands upon thousands of your families of rebel soldiers left on our hands, and whom we could not see starve. Now that war comes to you, you feel very differently; you deprecate its horrors. But you did not feel them when you were sending carloads of soldiers and ammunition, and were molding shells and shot to carry war into Kentucky and Tennessee, and desolate the homes of hundreds and thousands of good people, who only asked to live in peace at their old homes, and under the government of their inheritance. But when peace does come, you may call upon me for anything. Then I will share with you the last cracker, and watch with you to guard your homes and families against danger from any quarter. Now you must go, and take with you the old and feeble, feed and nurse them, and build for them, in more quiet places, habitations to shield them against the weather, until the mad passions of men cool down and allow the Union and peace once more to settle on your old homes in Atlanta. [Draper s " Civil War," Vol. Ill, p. 306. Sherman was now in possession of Atlanta, and it was well fortified and supplied with all that his army needed. But he could not march for the sea, leaving Hood in his rear. He held the city and turned back to look after Hood, fighting him during the autumn on many of the recent bat tle grounds. After a time Hood began to make his way North, intending to invade Tennessee and Kentucky, and draw Sherman away from the campaign he had planned. During this movement occurred the famous holding of Al- toona Pass, by General Corse, which brought him the brevet of major general. His ear and cheek bone were shot away during the engagement, but he continued to direct his men WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 353 until the relieving force arrived.* Hood continued his march North, getting further and further from Atlanta, until he reached Nashville, 300 miles from that city. Then Sherman sent two divisions of his army to reinforce Thomas, who was in command at Nashville, and believing that suffi cient occupation had been found there for Hood, turned to his plan for a march to the sea. He communicates his plans in detail to Thomas, and to each of his corps com manders. He sent back his surplus artillery, needless baggage and supplies, the sick, wounded and refugees, to Chattanooga. He withdrew the garrisons which he had left between himself and Chattanooga, and sent them back there with whatever of public property, or railroad stock, could be saved from the general destruction. Even when the railroads were broken up for long distances, as from * General Howard, who was with General Sherman at the time, and in command of the leading division of his army, gives this correspondence between the Con federate commander and General Corse : "ALTOONA, October 5, 1864. * COMMANDING OFFICER OF THE UNITED STATES FORCES: " SIR : I have placed the forces under my command in such positions that you are compelled to surrender, and to avoid a needless effusion of blood, I call upon you to surrender your forces at once and unconditionally. Five minutes will be allowed you to decide. Should you accede to this, you will be treated in the most honorable manner as prisoners of war. I have the honor to be, " Very respectfully yours, " S. G. FRENCH, Major General Commanding Forces, Confederate States." To which came the following reply : "* MAJOR GENERAL S. G. FRENCH, CONFEDERATE STATES ARMY: " Your communication, demanding surrender of my command, I acknowledge receipt of, and respectfully reply, that we are prepared for the " needless effusion of blood " whenever it is agreeable to you. " I am very respectfully yours, " JOHN M. CORSE, Brigadier General Commanding Forces, United States." Here originated the popular Sunday-school hymn and music of "Hold the Fort." And General Sherman tells us of his anxiety and relief, during that battle, as he watched it, fifteen miles away, from the top of Kenesaw mountain, on " a beautiful day, and with a superb view of the vast panorama to the north and west," and tried in vain all day to get some news of the result. The telegraph wires had been cut, and he signaled from Kenesaw to Altoona, over the heads of the enemy, and could get no reply. " But while I was with him the signal officer caught a faint glimpse of the tell-tale flag through an embrasure of the works, and after much time he made out these letters: C. R. S. E. H. E. R., which meant, Corse is here, and was a source of great relief, as giving me the first assurance that Corse had received his orders, and that the place was adequately garrisoned." 354 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Resaca back, the rails were saved to be relaid wherever they might be needed. Atlanta had to be destroyed, for it must be abandoned, and had too many advantages for defense to be left with any additional ones in the hands of the enemy. He telegraphed to Grant: " If I turn back, the whole effect of my campaign will be lost. I am clearly of the opinion that the best results will follow my contemplated movement through Georgia." To which Grant replied: "With the force you have left with General Thomas, he must be able to take care of Hood and destroy him. I really do not see that you can withdraw from where you are to follow Hood, without giving up all you have gained in territory. I say then, go on as you propose." His very last message was to Thomas: "All is well!" Then the telegraph was cut, and supplies for his army abandoned, and he set out to march through so many of those intensely humiliated and embittered Southern States. Sherman was now to cut loose from all his connections in the rear and be completely lost to the North for the next six weeks, except for what could be gleaned from the rebel newspapers. In view of the character of this great undertaking, it is worth while to notice the orders that were given in advance for its general conduct. The troops were to take only twenty or forty subsistences, and were expected to live on the country. They were to have organized companies to scour the country for the breadth of thirty miles, and gather horses, mules, wagons, food and forage, but were to " endeavor to leave with each family a reasonable portion for its main tenance." Manufactories, depots and cotton gins were to be destroyed, but only on order of a commander. Forag ing parties were to abstain from abusive and threatening language, and soldiers were forbidden to enter houses. The army, as it began its march on the morning of the 16th of November, was made up of " four corps, of an aggre gate strength of 60,000 infantry, one cavalry division of WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 355 5,500, and the artillery reduced to a minimum, one gun per thousand men." It was divided into two armies the right wing, or Army of the Tennessee, and the left wing, the Army of Georgia, the former under General Slocum, to follow the railroad toward Augusta, and the latter under General Howard, along the Macon road. These two lines connect Atlanta with the sea, the former terminating by the way of Augusta at Charleston, 300 miles away, and the latter at Savannah, about the same distance, by the way of the Central Georgia road, and connecting Macon with this point. These two main lines of railroad were connected by a crossroad from Augusta to Miller, fifty miles apart.* The two armies, consisting of two divisions each, kept near the two lines of railroad running east, so that the one could threaten Augusta, and the other either Savannah or Charles ton, and so distract and divide the Confederate forces, that no sufficient force could be concentrated at any point to resist them. This plan was most successfully used, when the Army of the Tennessee was threatening Columbia, and the Army of Georgia invested Savannah. These two armies kept about thirty miles apart, marching fifteen miles a day, with each column masked in all directions by such a cloud of skirmishers, that little could be known of the direction of their march, or what was taking place within those living walls of a conquering army. But whatever else was or was not taking place, under the orders and arrangement of the expedition, the soldiers were expected to live upon the country, and all public property or manufactories that would help the Confederacy carry on the war, were to be * All the troops were provided with wagon trains loaded with ammunition and sup plies of about twenty days bread , forty days sugar and coffee, a double allo wanes of salt for forty days, and beef cattle equal to forty days. The wagons also carried about three days forage in grain. The troops were instructed, by a judicious system of foraging, to maintain this.state of things as long as possible, living upon the coun try, which abounds in corn, sweet potatoes, and meat. In a continuous line, the- army would have stretched over fifty miles ; the wagon train would have reached over thirty miles. At every halt, the adjacent fields were covered with horses, mules and cattle. Not much was left in the rear. 356 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. destroyed or confiscated. The railroads, of course, must be destroyed behind them, and so effectually destroyed that no use could be made of the burnt-up ties and twisted rails that were left. Regular organized parties of " Bummers," as they were called not " idle, worthless fellows, with no visible means of support," as they used to be regarded, but the most enterprising, daring, successful purveyors for the army that had ever been invented set out in advance of the early march, who pushed off for miles on both sides of the several columns, found the plantations with their barns of grain and fodder, their pigs and poultry, their sheep and well-cured bacon, and were waiting with their treasures by the roadside as the trains came along to receive them. They were men who could do such work when required of them, and guard equally well the plantation honor and family, while they were laid under such contribution for their support. These were the men whom their commander, who was a strict disciplinarian, and with a knightly sensi tiveness as to what was unbecoming a true soldier, com plimented so highly for their deportment on this very campaign. " The behavior of our troops in Savannah has been so manly, so quiet, so perfect, that I take it as the best evidence of discipline and true courage. Never was a hostile city, filled with women and children, occupied by a large army with less disorder, or more system, order and good government." General Sherman marched straight upon Savannah, and before General Hardee, who was in command of the Con federate forces, could be sure of his destination, he had so divided his command between the places threatened that they were utterly unable to resist any concentrated attack. He took the city after a siege, and this was all that had been expected of him. It had been proposed to have a fleet meet him there and take his whole army to Grant at City Point. This was suggested to him by Grant as late WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 357 as December 6. In his reply, Sherman said he had intended to proceed to Columbia, S. C., then to Raleigh, and then to report to Grant. A little later he wrote: "Many and many a person in Georgia asked me why I did not go to South Carolina, and when I answered that I was en route for that State, the invariable reply was : Well, if you will make those people feel the utmost severities of the war, we will pardon you for your desolation of Georgia. " General Sherman seems to have been one of the first to discern the really divided, exhausted, discouraged condition of the South, and what an empty eggshell the Confederacy was. The Confederate States were criminating one another, especially South Carolina, for having forced them into Secession. Georgia was never more than half-hearted in it, and Alex ander H. Stephens, the vice-president of the Confederacy, would have been only too glad to accept the restoration of the Union as the issue of the war. This State claimed the right to withdraw her own troops from the service of the Con federacy, as she did her 2,000 State militia, after the fall of Atlanta. The Confederate troops were at this time deserting in numbers almost as fast as they were killed and disabled in the service. Some of the leading Confederate generals had lost their respect for President Davis, and were freely criticising his management of the war, and especially his blindness to the coming result. Charleston, which began the war so bravely, could attempt nothing whatever to repel the invader, and her people were fleeing in dismay, like guilty souls, to escape their doom. All the other Southern States had lost their courage and their troops, and were ready to let that single army march up their coast, encountering no successful resistance, until Lee and Johnston were both glad to capitulate. Yet it would seem that General Sherman was the only one up to this time who appreciated the real weakness of the South, and dared to test it with the hope of success. 358 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. A fleet had been sent to meet Sherman at Savannah, and it arrived, in command of Admiral Dahlgren, about the time Sherman began the investment of the city. He re ceived immediate communication with the admiral, and General Foster who was on board. He asked no help but a few siege guns, and in three days the city fell. Of the campaign to this point General Sherman wrote to the Sec retary of War: "The army has marched over 300 miles in 24 days, directly through the heart of Georgia, and reached the sea with its subsistence trains almost unbroken. In the entire march five officers and 58 men were killed, 13 officers and 232 men wounded ; one officer and 258 men missing, making a total list of casualties of but 577 of all ranks; while 1,338 Confederate officers and men were made prisoners. Ten thousand negroes left the plantations of their former masters, and accompanied the column when it reached Savannah; over 20,000 bales of cotton were burned, besides 25,000 captured at Savannah ; 13,000 head of beef cattle, 9,500,000 pounds of corn ; 10,500,000 of fod der were taken from the country and issued to the men and animals. The men lived mainly on the sheep, hogs, turkeys, geese, chickens, sweet potatoes and rice, gathered by the foragers from the plantations along the route of each day s march. Sixty thousand men, taking merely of the surplus which fell in their way as they marched rapidly on the main roads, subsisted for three weeks in the very country where the Union prisoners at Andersonville were starved to death or idiocy; 5,000 horses and 4,000 mules were impressed for the cavalry and trains; 320 miles of railway were destroyed, and the last remaining links of communication between the Confederate armies in Vir ginia and the West effectually severed, by burning every tie, twisting every rail while heated red-hot over the flaming piles of ties, and laying in ruin every depot, engine house, repair shop, water tank and turn-table." WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 359 The announcement of this victory at the North was as great a relief to the public as it was to the President. Nothing had been heard from this army since it left At lanta, except what was limited and unreliable through the Richmond papers. As to whether that critical undertaking was proving a success, or that well-appointed army was being repulsed, or starved into surrender, the wisest had their fears. But when assured that the expedition so far had been little more than a walk-over of the richest and most populous of the Southern States, and that the best Southern seaport not in our hands had been surrendered to us, it was apparent that the last resources of the Confed eracy were failing them, and that the last resolute efforts of the North to re-enforce her armies, and save the Republic, were proving a success. The West had been pouring down her troops and supplies into the valley of the Mississippi, with a prodigality and determination that was now reaping its reward, while the East with equal spirit and the same self-sacrifice was providing Grant with all the troops he needed to supply the waste of the Wilderness, and hold Lee in his remorseless grasp until he, too, must surrender. The inspiration of such a victory at the North, as well as the discouragement of such a defeat upon the South, could only hasten the end. CHAPTER XXI. THE ELECTIONS IN 1864. Governor Buckingham Again Re-elected The Voting of Soldiers in the Field Governor Buckingham s Words on Slavery in His Mes sage Adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment Mr. Lincoln Re-elected. While we have been following the military operations of the year, we have lost sight, for the time, of the action of the President, the doings of Congress, the work of the Northern governors and their Legislatures, and the presi dential election of this year. The Governor of Connecticut, we know, was never more busy in meeting the demand for troops, or the Legislature more united and efficient in sus taining the general government, or more resolute in their determination to put down the rebellion. And what was true of this State and its Governor, was true of every other Northern State. The spring election in Connecticut this year was quiet and resulted in the re-election of Governor Buckingham. The " Peace Movement," in sympathy with the " Draft Riots" of New York city the previous year, and the attempt to prevent the soldiers from voting, had been pretty much disposed of when this election came. An extra session of the Legislature of four days had just been held at Hartford and devoted to this subject. At a previ ous session the Democratic members had opposed such a measure, on the ground that it was unconstitutional. This session was to propose an amendment of the Constitution, allowing all electors of the State in the volunteer military service of the United States to vote in the field during the rebellion. This amendment was adopted in the House of WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 361 Representatives by a strict party vote of 117 yeas to 77 nays. The Senate was not required to vote upon it, as such a measure must be submitted to a subsequent Legisla ture, and then submitted to the Senate, before it was referred to the people at large for adoption by the popular vote. At the regular session in May this year (1864), the message of the Governor, it is said, " exhibited the same calm dignity, clear statements, and intense loyalty, that had characterized his previous official communications. He thus tersely stated the argument for the amendment giving the soldiers the ballot : " Freemen who sustain and pro tect a government by baring their bosoms to the deadly shafts of its enemies, should have an opportunity to express an opinion in respect to its policy and the character and qualification of its officers."* In this same message, Governor Buckingham thus expressed his own convictions, and those of his State, not only in regard to the prosecution of the war, but in respect to slavery as the cause of it : Slavery is not dead. Its life is in the custody of its friends, and while it shall so remain there will be no peace. The events of the past urge us to adopt some measure which shall terminate in favor of freedom that controversy which must ever exist so long as a part of the nation remains free and a part enslaved. . . Let us embrace this opportunity and perform these duties (establish justice and form a more perfect union) with humble confidence that under the guid ance of the King of Kings, this revolution will carry the nation onward in the path of prosperity, intelligence, and influence, and upward to a higher level of freedom, civilization, and Christianity, until every man, whether high or low, rich or poor, learned or igno rant, of whatever tribe or race or nation, shall be protected in all the inalienable rights which God has given him, under our national emblem of liberty, union, and power. * A newspaper at this time puts the matter thus : " Perhaps we are prejudiced, but it seems to us that a man who does nothing worse than shed his blood for the old flag, ought not, for so small an offense as that, to be disfranchised like a com mon thief." Some of the States refused to grant this privilege to soldiers in the field. Governor Seymour of New York vetoed such a bill, and when it was after- wards adopted, it was purposely nullified by allowing their votes to be sent home and cast for them by their nearest friends. Any one may guess how many of them were ever c ast, or cast for those for whom they were intended. 362 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. The constitutional amendment providing for the exten sion of the elective franchise to the soldiers in the field, was then adopted in both branches of the Legislature, and after being submitted to the people before the presidential election took place, it was ratified by a majority of 10,000, and the soldiers in the field, whatever might have been their party connections at home, pretty generally voted to sustain the present administration, both State and National. The Springfield Republican, a newspaper remarkably quick to appreciate public sentiment, and sagacious in its forecasts of the future results of such sentiment, says in this con nection : " Altogether this election has been a glorious triumph for the Union party of Connecticut, and a very flattering endorsement of Governor Buckingham s adminis tration. Such an endorsement is not to be mistaken." This Union sentiment showed its controlling power when the presidential election came in the autumn. For while the Democrats were appealing for peace, the Republicans were insisting on a more vigorous prosecution of the war. And while the former made abundant use of the fact that the Union had not yet been restored after three years of vigorous fighting, the latter showed how much rebel terri tory had already been reclaimed, and were more resolute than ever that the rest should be. Although the Peace party in Connecticut was stronger than in any other Northern State, the Republicans had elected more than two-thirds of the House of Representatives in their Legisla ture, and eighteen out of the twenty-one Senators. And when the two parties came to be represented on the presi dential ticket by Abraham Lincoln and General McClellan, the electoral votes of Connecticut helped to swell that popular majority of 400,000 for Mr. Lincoln. Efforts had been made from the first to settle the Seces sion difficulty by negotiation and diplomacy, never so many or so urgent as in these last days of the Confederacy, when WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 363 the prospect of securing Secession by force of arms was becoming hopeless. The earlier attempts, including the convention in Washington at the call of Virginia, have been described. In July of this year, certain refugees in Canada asked a safe conduct to Washington in the interests of peace. Mr. Lincoln authorized Horace Greeley to take charge of the affair, and he found they were not authorized by the Confederacy to make any proposals. About the same time, Colonel Jaques of Illinois and Mr. Gilmore of New York went to Richmond with Mr. Lincoln s knowledge, but without any formal permission. To them Mr. Jefferson Davis, who was afterwards to run away in woman s clothes, used these swelling words : " It (the war) must go on till the last man of this generation falls in his tracks, and his children seize his musket and fight our battles unless you acknowledge our right to self-government. We are not fighting for slavery; we are fighting for independence. And that, or extermination we will have." These words, of course, had their effect at the North. There was another attempt still later, which maybe noted here to complete the subject, It took place at Hampton Roads, between Mr. Stephens, the Confederate vice-president, Mr. Hunter and Mr. Campbell on one side, and President Lincoln and Mr. Seward on the other. It was after Sherman had taken Savannah, and Farragut was in possession of Mobile bay, and Charleston was deserted, and Columbia, the capital of .South Carolina, had been sacked. It was when some of the Southern States, like Georgia and North Carolina, were reproaching South Carolina for having dragged them into Secession and the war, and were glad to see her reaping the fruit of her rashness and crime, and there was a wide spread disaffection toward the Confederate government, and especially toward its President. Then they came to negotiate a peace. But these commissioners were not authorized to concede the reunion of the States upon any 364 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. terms, and President Davis utterly repudiated it, as a thing never to be thought of, while President Lincoln would not treat with them upon any other basis. As showing how blind and arrogant the Confederate government even then was, hear how Mr. Davis addressed a great public meeting at Richmond, upon the return of these commissioners : " In my correspondence with Mr. Lincoln, that functionary has always spoken of the United States and the Confederacy as our afflicted country, but in my replies I have never failed to refer to them as separate and distinct governments. And sooner than we should ever be united again, I would be willing to yield up everything I have on earth, and if it were possible I would sacrifice my life a thousand times before I would succumb." And he concludes by exhorting those at home who are able to bear arms, " to unite with those already in the army in repelling the foe, believing that thereby we would compel the Yankees in less than twelve months to petition us for peace on our own terms." To this the meeting unanimously responded : " Resolved., that we the citizens here assembled, do spurn, with the indignation due to so gross an insult, the terms on whk h the President of the United States has offered peace to the people of the Confederate States." This was only four months before the surrender of the Confederate armies. But the presidential canvass of 1864 had come, which was to settle everything. The first convention called was* addressed " To the Radical Men of the Nation," and nomi nated General Fremont for President. It advocated severer measures than any other party would have favored and among others that " rebel property ought to be confiscated and divided among soldiers and settlers." General Fre mont, however, withdrew from the contest, in favor of Mr. Lincoln, when he saw the issue made between the Repub lican Union party, and the Democratic Peace party. Not that he sympathized with Mr. Lincoln s administration, but WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 365 as between his party and the positions of the peace party he would aid the former.* The Democratic convention which nominated General McClellan was tainted with the peace-at-any-price doctrine. Its presiding officer was ex-Governor Seymour of New York, and its platform was largely shaped by Vallanding- ham. This platform while declaring " fidelity to the Union under the Constitution," asserts that the public welfare de mands immediate efforts for a " cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate convention of the States, or other peaceable means to the end that at the earliest practicable moment peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal Union of the States." In accepting the nomination, Mc Clellan felt it necessary to dissent from that portion which implied that the war had been in vain. Secretary Seward said in a public speech after this convention had been held : * Sherman and Farragut have knocked the bottom out of the Chicago nominations. The issue is thus squarely made up: McClellan and division, or Lincoln and Union." The Republican party, which had been the support of Mr. Lincoln s administration thus far through all the diffi culties and perplexities of his strange position, and under whose guidance they seemed about to secure both union and freedom, and upon a basis not likely to be disturbed again, renominated him, of course, for the presidency, and *In his letter of withdrawal he said: "The presidential contest has in effect been entered upon in such a way that the union of the Repu blican party has be come a permanent necessity. The policy of the Democratic party signifies either separation or re-establishment of slavery. The Chicago platform is simply sepa ration. General McClellan s letter of acceptance is re-establishment with slavery. The Republican candidate is, on the contrary, pledged to the re-establishment of the Union without slavery, and however hesitating his policy may be, the pressure of his party will, we may hope, force him to it. Between these issues, I think no man of the liberal party can remain in doubt, and I believe I am consistent with my antecedents and my principles in withdrawing ; not to aid in the triumph of Mr. Lincoln, but to do my part in preventing the election of the Democratic candidate. In respect to Mr. Lincoln, I continue to hold exactly the sentiments contained in my letter of acceptance. I consider that his administration has been politically, mili tarily, and financially a failure, and that its necessary continuance is a cause of regret to the country." 366 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, the fearless opponent of secession at the South, as Vice-President. The platform maintained the restoration of the Union, the paramount authority of the Constitution and laws of the United States, the suppression of the rebellion, the repudiation of com promise with the insurgents, the abolition of slavery by constitutional amendment, the emancipation proclamation and the employment of negro soldiers, provision for soldiers and sailors disabled by wounds, redress for the treatment of prisoners of war, both colored and white, the encourage ment of immigration, the inviolability of the public debt, and the application of the Monroe doctrine. The autumn State elections, which preceded the presi dential election, were watched with great interest, as indi cating the direction and strength of public sentiment with reference to the matters at issue, and when Indiana, naturally a Democratic State, showed a change of 30,000 votes in favor of the Republican ticket, partly due to the admirable conduct of Governor Morton, who, although originally a Democrat, had given magnificent support to Mr. Lincoln. Pennsylvania elected fifteen Republican con gressmen to nine Democrats, in place of twelve to twelve as at the last election. Ohio gave a Republican majority of more than 50,000, and Maryland, a slave State, adopted a new constitution, banishing slavery forever from her soil. Mr. Lincoln was re-elected by 212 electorial votes to 21 for General McClellan. The latter carried only three States, and Mr. Lincoln s popular majority was 428,000. The signs of the times were plain to any one who could see. Then followed the next meeting of Congress, the reas sembling of the Thirty-eighth Congress, December 6, 1864. And with all the important work upon their hands, in view of the evident determination of the North to close up this war, and guard against any recurrence of it from the cause WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 367 which led to it, they at once set about amending the Con stitution so as to prohibit slavery forever. On this point the President, in his last annual message, had laid down his position as follows : " In presenting the abandonment of armed resistance to the national authority, on the part of the insurgents, as the only indispensable condition to ending the war on the part of the government, I retract nothing heretofore said as to slavery. I repeat the declaration made a year ago, that while I remain in my present posi tion I shall not attempt to retract or modify the Emanci pation Proclamation, nor shall I return any person who is free by the terms of that proclamation, or by any of the acts of Congress/ If the people should, by whatever mode or means, make it an executive duty to re-enslave such persons, another, and not I, must be their instrument to perform it." Difficult as it had properly been made to change the Constitution, requiring two-thirds of the Senate and of the House of Representatives, to submit such a change to the people, and then the ratification of the same by two-thirds of the States, yet the late elections had shown such a change in Congress, that the amendment was adopted both there and by the States separately. This all-impor tant change in the Constitution of the United States was clearly and briefly expressed, and adopted as a concur rent resolution, as presented by Mr. Trumbull of Illinois, chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the Senate, and was as follows: "Be it resolved, etc., that the following article be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which when ratified by three-fourths of said Legislatures, shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the said Constitution, namely : "ARTICLE XIII. " SECTION 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly con- 368 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. victed, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. " SEC. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appro priate legislation." Thus the way was being fast prepared for the closing up of the war, and for the complete elimination out of our Constitution, politics, economics, and social life of what had always rested as a hindrance upon one-half the country in its proper development, and compelled the other half to reluctantly consent to its continuance for the sake of having one government, and one that recognized " the inalienable rights of every man to life, liberty, and pursuit of happi ness," even though for the time such rights were denied to the slave. For the sake of such a democratic government and such a Union, to take the place of the old confederation of separate States, the free States had adopted the Consti tution, and pledged themselves to leave slavery to the slave States, the slave States being equally pledged not to extend slavery into free territory, nor require of the North any legislation to extend and perpetuate the system. The South had violated its agreement again and again, but it was not until the Mexican war had been carried on to secure Texas for additional slave territory, and the Fugitive Slave Law passed to make us slave catchers, and the Kansas outrages perpetrated on free territory to keep out freemen as set tlers, and the war of Secession begun because we would not submit to all such unreasonable demands, that public feeling became strong enough and general enough to con tend successfully against the aggressive and disruptive policy of the South. It became a duty to make this in fact a self-governed and successful republic based on the equal rights of all before the law. It was more than a duty ; it was nothing less than a providential opportunity, which had never come before and might never come again, and which patriots and philanthropists and God-fearing men WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 369 could not disregard. Then, too, it was a peculiar Provi dence which had raised up and put Abraham Lincoln at the head of the government at such a time, and two such commanders as Grant and Sherman at the head of our armies, all men so anxious for peace, and ready to bring it about in the easiest and most magnanimous terms. To this point were we being fast led, by " a Power not ourselves that makes for righteousness," which to most of us means God, the sovereign ruler of men, and which the rest rejoice in as the saving force of the universe. CHAPTER XXII THE LAST YEAR OP THE WAR. Review of the Situation Fight in Mobile Bay Sherman in Georgia Grant s Investment of Petersburg Evacuation of Richmond Decisive Battle at Sailor s Creek. The year 1865 opened auspiciously upon the political and military prospects of the Union government. Almost at its beginning Fort Fisher, which guarded the approaches to Wilmington, N. C., and had so long held out against the efforts of the government to either capture the fort or seal up the harbor against blockade running, was taken, and was designated as the place where Sherman s army would meet a fleet with supplies, and what additional land forces he might need after having made his " March to the Sea." A formidable fleet, under Admiral Porter, and a sufficient land force, under General Terry, both admirably conducted, captured that fortification, most like a " Malakoff " of any thing in our war, and put it with all its supplies and free communication with the North, at the service of Sherman s approaching army.* It had been attempted before, but without success, and now when possession of this port was most needed to carry out with confidence Sherman s daring and complicated project, here it was, open to welcome him with re-enforcements and supplies, and one of his able * General Schofield, who was with Sherman s expedition as far as Atlanta, and was sent back from there to look after Hood on his way to Tennessee, and helped Thomas defeat him at Nashville, and pursued him until his army was thoroughly broken up and scattered, performed an important part in the capture of Wilmington and the surrounding region, and met his- old commander there to help him finish up his campaign and be present to witness the surrender of Johnston s army in North Carolina. Indeed, it was one of the feats of the war, removing him and his army corps of 15,000 men, with their artillery and baggage, over a distance of 1.800 miles by rail to Washington, and by sea to Wilmington, both within seventeen days. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 371 and trusted commanders on hand to help him complete his victory. A little previous to this, Farragut had even surpassed his achievements at New Orleans and up the Mississippi, by reducing the forts of Mobile bay, and destroying the rebel ram being built there, before it could get out to play havoc with our wooden fleet. The Confederacy had proven itself remarkably skillful in constructing such vessels, and in defending its harbors by torpedoes. This bay was strongly defended by both, and Farragut had been impatiently wait ing for a year for the government to furnish him with monitors enough, and a sufficient land force, to take posses sion of this harbor. It was not until the summer of 1864 that, with such means at his command, he went about his work. One of the most formidable rams ever built by the Confederacy the Tennessee was just finished, and might any day come out of the harbor and sweep away everything of wood. It was built upon the same plan as the Merrimac, which sank the Cumberland and blew up the Congress in Hampton bay, early in the war. It was commanded by Admiral Buchanan of the Confederate navy, who was in command of the Merrimac when she caused such consternation among all our fleets. The only defect about this ironclad was that its steering apparatus was not properly protected, and that it had insufficient machinery and steam power. Never had there been such a battle as this was to be. It was to be a fight between that sea monster, assisted by a few gunboats, on one side, and our eight wooden sloops of war, and a variety of other smaller vessels, on the other. The whole of the Union fleet must be driven through a nest of torpedoes. Admiral Farragut s plan of battle was to have each of his sloops of war attached, on the inside towards the forts, to one of the swift steamers, to increase her speed and drag her out of danger in case her own machinery was disabled. His flag- 372 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. ship, the Hartford, was lashed on the inside to one of the double-enders, the Metacomet, and the admiral proposed to lead the advance, but was dissuaded from it by the unani mous advice of his captains, and that position was assigned to his old flagship at New Orleans, the Brooklyn. The four monitors were to go a little in advance, and on the right of the wooden vessels. The six war sloops, with a steamer attached, were to follow. It was a clear, sunny August morning when a shell was exploded over Fort Morgan, and within half an hour the fleet came within range and the tiring from the inside vessels became general, the fort and the Confederate fleet replying. The wooden vessels moved more rapidly than the monitors, and as the flagship came opposite the fort, and approached the torpedo line, she came nearly alongside of the rear monitor. To have kept on would have been to take the lead, with the ram Tennessee approaching, and with the unknown danger of the torpedoes underneath. At this critical moment the Brooklyn halted, and began backing and signaling. The flagship was imme diately behind, and the following vessels were in close proximity, and the sudden stopping of the Brooklyn threatened to bring the whole fleet into collision, while the strong, inflowing tide was likely to carry some of the vessels ashore under the guns of the fort, The Brooklyn signaled, " The monitors are right ahead; we cannot go on without passing them." The reply was sent at once from the admiral, " Order the monitors ahead and go on." But still the Brooklyn halted, while to add to the horror of the situation, the monitor Tecumseh, a few hundred yards in advance, suddenly careened to one side and almost instantly sank to the bottom, carrying with her Captain Craven and the greater part of his crew, numbering in all 114 officers and men. Meantime the Brooklyn failed to go ahead, and the whole fleet became a stationary point-blank target for the guns of the fort and of the rebel vessels. It was during these few perilous moments that the most fatal work of the day was done to the fleet. Owing to the Hartford s position, only her few bow guns could be used, while a deadly rain of shot and shell was falling on her, and her men were being cut down by scores, unable to make reply. The sight on deck was sickening beyond the power of words to portray. Shot after shot came through the side, mowing down the men, deluging the decks with blood, and scattering mangled fragments of humanity so thickly that it was difficult to stand on deck, so slippery was it. At one o-un all the crew on one side were swept down by a shot which WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 373 came crashing through the bulwarks. A shell burst between the two forward guns in charge of Lieutenant Tyson, killing and wounding fifteen men. [" War Book," Vol. IV, p. 390. Soon after the fight began, Admiral Farragut climbed to the masthead to obtain a view above the fog and smoke. At the urgent request of Captain Drayton he consented to be lashed to the rigging as a precaution against falling, if he should be wounded. While he remained there the mast was once struck by a heavy shell, but it failed to explode. When the Tennessee arrived and headed for the flagship, she was struck amidship by the Monongahela, one of our heaviest vessels, furnished with a ram, but the blow made no impression. She was also struck by the Lackawanna, but kept on her course for the Hartford, meantime putting two shots through her latest assailant. When she ap proached the Hartford this vessel steamed to meet her bow on. At the last moment the rebel ram swerved slightly, and the vessels rubbed against each other as they passed. A broadside was poured into the ram but did no harm. One shot from her passed through the berth deck, killing five men. All the Union vessels were now making for the Tennessee, firing balls against her which did no damage and attempting to run her down. One of them managed to run into the Hartford and did some damage. The whole fleet pursued the ram, and the shots were directed at her stern what was not fully protected by armor. At last a shot cut one of her rudder chains and made her unmanage able. Her commander was badly wounded, and as another ship was about to strike her she surrendered. This sea fight was the last and most formidable of the war ; for this was the supreme effort of the Confederacy to protect her harbors by rams and torpedoes. This was another of the struggles between monitors and ironclads, which was to revolutionize the whole science and art of marine warfare over the world. A full and graphic account 374 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. of this light is found in Lieutenant J. C. Kinney s article in the " Century Company s War Book," (Vol. IV, p. 379), the most exact, complete and graphic description of that important naval operation to be found anywhere. Lieu tenant Kinney was an officer in the Thirteenth Connecticut Infantry, and was Admiral Farragut s signal officer, fur nished to communicate with the land forces. He was stationed with him on the crosstrees of the fore-topmast of his ship, and tells how he came to be there, and how the admiral came to be tied to the rigging 100 feet above the deck. It is a fine representation of that grand old hero in such a stress of circumstances, and can be relied upon in its minutest particulars. Returning now to General Sherman, we find that after taking Savannah in the Christmas time of 1864, he remained about a month to refresh his army, communicate with the fleet and get supplies, especially of clothing for the troops. It had not yet been decided whether he should be allowed to follow his own plan and go north by land. He made further appeal for authority to do this. He wrote to Gen eral Grant : u 1 know that this inarch is necessary to the war. It must be made sooner or later, and I am in the proper position for it. I ask no re-enforcements, but simply wish the utmost activity at all other points, so that the enemy may not concentrate too powerfully against me. I expect Davis will move heaven and earth to resist me, for the success of my army is fatal to his dream of empire. Richmond is not more vital to the cause than Columbia." At last consent was obtained, and he set out through the Carolinas by way of Wilmington. Charleston he counted of no consequence. The army moved January 15, 1865, the same day on which Fort Fisher was taken. Almost at the outset it was embarrassed by heavy rains. The columns were almost submerged in the soaked rice fields, a cause way was washed away, the swamps became lakes of slimy WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 375 mud, and it was not until the first week in February that the whole army was on the other side of the river. The march thenceforth was not unlike that through Georgia. The army moved in two columns, thirty miles apart, fol lowed the lines of railroad and destroyed them, and diverted the enemy by feints on places never meant to be attacked. It is curious to notice that Charleston, the place where Secession was nourished as a political principle, and where treason had been hatched and the war forced on the country, was now thought of so little importance that a conquering army would not turn aside to deal with it as with other places. The Confederates, however, saw that it could not resist if attacked, and withdrew, burning part of the city as they retired. The Union troops made no attempt to occupy it, but turned abruptly to the north, thus disclosing the real purpose of the expedition. The objective point now was Columbia, the capital of the State, one of the most beautiful towns of the South, and noted for the number of public buildings and educational institutions. It was occupied by Wade Hampton s cavalry and a small force besides. The force was not large enough to offer successful resistance, and as Sherman s army approached, the place was evacuated and the more important buildings destroyed. The cotton had been carried into the streets, the bags cut, and at the proper time it was set on fire and, blown by a strong wind, carried flames everywhere. Sherman made great efforts to save private houses and protect families.* * This inhuman and senseless act was charged upon General Sherman and his troops, to which he replies : " I disclaim on the part of my army any agency in this fire, but on the contrary claim that we saved what of Columbia remains uncon- sumed. And without hesitation I charge General Wade Hampton with having burned his own city of Columbia, not with a malicious intent, or as the manifesta tion of a silly Roman stoicism, but from folly and want of sense in filling it with lint, cotton, and tinder. Our officers and men on duty worked well to extinguish the flames. But others not on duty, including the officers who had long been im prisoned there, rescued by us, may have assisted in spreading the fire after it had once begun, and may have indulged in unconcealed joy to see the ruin of the capi tal of South Carolina." 376 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. From Columbia northward, General Sherman was not to expect so little resistance. For Hood s failure to hinder Sherman s operations had compelled President Davis to remove him, and restore General Johnston to his old com mand. He was now in North Carolina, collecting all the troops from every quarter that the Confederacy could fur nish, to check Sherman s onward inarch and prevent a junc tion with Grant. Hardee was with him, and the troops with drawn from Charleston. So were the troops withdrawn from Columbia. The local garrisons and militia of North Carolina, re-enforced to some extent from Lee s army, were also with him. And this force was awaiting the arrival of the remnants of the Confederate Army of the Tennessee, though the railroads had been so broken up, and the whole track of Sherman s army so stripped of supplies, that it was found difficult to secure many from that quarter.* Besides Sherman had just passed by the remnants of a Con federate corps, and effectually cut them off from rendering any assistance. Still General Johnston had probably, after Hampton joined him, a force of 24,000 veterans, and was expecting morc.f And with Johnston s well-known ability and caution, which his opponent well understood and respected, he was not likely to encounter him with his forces scattered, or be taken at any disadvantage. He made short stay at Columbia, and was soon pushing on * This state of things in the line of Sherman s march was well expressed by the soldiers : " A crow could not fly from Atlanta to Savannah without a haversack," t"The Military Biography of Sherman and his Campaigns," says : "These forces, when once united, would constitute an army probably superior to Sherman s in cavalry and formidable enough in artillery and infantry to justify him in extreme caution, in taking the last step necessary to complete the march." General Lee had just sent Johnston 5,000 cavalry under Wade Hampton, to which Wheeler had been added, with perhaps a corresponding number ; two of the ablest and most to be feared commanders in that branch of the Confederate service, who were not to be encountered by any number of invaders without danger. Kilpatrick, General Sherman s cavalry leader, well known to him and valued in such service, had a force of .5,068 men, including a six-gun battery of horse artillery, and a small brigade of dismounted men, so that the encounters between these forces alone were frequent and desperate, and sometimes amounted to important battles. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 877 through North Carolina as if he expected to reach Virginia and help Grant close up the war there. But at what point he would approach Virginia, whether at Charlotte on the west, connecting directly with the Danville railroad to Richmond, the one by which Lee at last tried to escape from Grant, or at Goldsboro near the coast, and connecting with Wilmington, which had just been opened by our fleet and army to receive him, could not be ascertained. That this port was opened was not known to him then, for though Fort Fisher, which defended Wilmington, had been recently reduced, it was not known that the bay and city were acces sible until he was almost there. He adhereS to his favorite plan of dividing the Confederate forces resisting him, by moving one wing of his army toward Charlotte, and press ing far on in that direction, and then turning both wings abruptly toward Goldsboro, where he found more troops awaiting him, and all needful supplies. To arrive there, however, he had been obliged to do some pretty heavy fight ing, which not every commander with the same force could have come out of so well. Some of the most critical and serious of these fightings in North Carolina were between the cavalry forces of the two armies, as Sherman was approaching Fayetteville. General Kirkpatrick once found himself in the middle of General Hampton s whole force, lost many men and barely escaped himself on foot. The most serious battle was at Bentonville, where a Confederate force of 40,000 fought what was really the decisive battle of the campaign, since its issue decided whether Sherman should reach Goldsboro and secure his connection with the North by sea at Wil mington. Johnston s purpose was to crush Slocum s left wing of the army before Howard s right wing could assist it. The two divisions had been drawn nearer together than usual with a view to such a possibility. Six successive assaults were successfully resisted and then Johnston with- 378 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. drew and entrenched himself to await attack in turn. Here he was outflanked by Sherman, taken in the rear and obliged to retreat to Raleigh so hastily that his pickets were left behind. This last battle was fought March 19, 1865, and Sherman then moved on to Goldsboro. General Sherman, after a hasty visit to Generals Terrv and Scho- field. took the first train of cars that ran to Morehead and thence a swift steamer to City Point, where he met in coun cil the President, Generals Grant, Meade, etc., returning as hurriedly to his army at Goldsboro, which he reached on March 30. Strange as it may seem, our government had heard nothing from him since he left Savannah, the middle of January, and he had not learned that Fort Fisher had been captured, nor that Wilmington was occupied by our forces, nor that Schofield, one of his old commanders, and one of his army corps had been transferred to Wilmington to re-enforce him, and a fleet to reclothe his ragged troops. It was not until a week or two before, as he was approach ing this part of the coast, that he sent two trusty scouts through the enemy s country, to apprise the commander of the Union forces on that coast, wherever he might be found, of his whereabouts and success. " We are all well, and have done finely ; details are for obvious reasons omitted," was the brief and satisfactory message they bore. It was thought important enough to be spread before the country in an official bulletin from the Secretary of War. Meantime General Grant, after the battles of the Wilder ness, had continued to plan and execute operations which were no longer disconnected and almost haphazard, but parts of one coherent theory of the conduct of the war. Thus the reduction of Fort Fisher, and the occupation of Wilmington and Newbern, were to give Sherman re-enforce ments and supplies if he should ever get so far north on his venturesome expedition. Mobile bay also had been WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 379 opened, after a desperate struggle and great cost, to have another fleet and land forces meet him there. General Schofield and his army division had been transported with railroad speed from Tennessee, and down the coast by transports, to repair Sherman s losses when he should have reached the end of his long and dangerous march. At the same time Grant had kept up his vigorous operations around Petersburg and Richmond, that Lee should not re-enforce Johnston too liberally when the crisis was com ing. This was all done with a liberality and unselfish devotion in painful contrast with some of our previous commanders. The confidence and devotion to each other s welfare, and disposition to ascribe to others no small share of their own success, which characterized the officers of our army and of our navy at the close of the war, was most honorable to both branches of the service. In addition to the naval operations of 1864, and the suc cessful expedition of General Sherman, General Grant had planned and successfully carried out another, in forever removing all further trouble from the Shenandoah valley. This was the garden and storehouse of Virginia, and as it was so well protected by mountains on both sides, and ran up so directly into Maryland and Pennsylvania, it not only furnished supplies for any Northern expedition, but was also the gateway to both those States, and was always hold ing out a temptation to some Northern invasion, as it did to Lee when he invaded Pennsylvania and fought the battle of Gettysburg in 1863, and to Early when he invaded Mary land and threatened Washington in 1864. To clear the valley of Confederate forces, and destroy its supplies so that no army could subsist there, Sheridan had been sent, and there he had contended successfully with General Jubal A. Early, one of the ablest of the Confederate commanders, and seemingly put an end to all further trouble from that quarter. He had only just rested and remounted his cavalry 380 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. force, when he returned to Grant in the spring of 1865, to do his great work in cutting off the flight of Lee s army and compelling his surrender. Probably there never was a. finer body of cavalry organized in our war than this, 9,000 strong and made up of veterans. The investment of Petersburg, to which General Grant devoted Iiimsolf so diligently after the close of the Wilder ness campaign, was virtually the investment of Richmond, the Confederate capital. They were only a little more than twenty miles apart, the one at the head of navigation on the James river, and the other a few miles up the Appo- mattox, above its junction with the James. With these were connected the whole system of Southern railroads and the James river canal, upon which both cities were dependent for their daily supplies, and without which Gen eral Lee s army could not have been kept in the field for a fortnight. This was the object of so many cavalry raids in the rear of Lee s army, to break up those railroads and destroy that canal, and it was owing to the thoroughness with which it had been done, that both Richmond and Petersburg were finally evacuated and Lee surrendered. Thus General Grant says : The operations in front of Petersburg and Richmond through the winter and until the spring campaign of 1865 commenced, were con fined to the defense and extension of our lines, and to offensive move ments for crippling the enemy s lines of communication, and to prevent his detaching any considerable force to send South. And after the long march of General Sheridan s cavalry from the Shenan- doah valley over wintry roads, it was necessary to rest and refit at White House. At this time the greatest source of uneasiness to me was the fear that the enemy would leave his strong lines about Peters burg and Richmond, for the purpose of uniting with Johnston, before he was driven out of his defenses by battle, or I was prepared to make an effectual pursuit. It was not until the 27th of March that Sheridan joined Grant before Petersburg, and within a fortnight had the satisfaction and the honor of arresting the whole Confed- WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 381 erate army in its attempted flight, and affording Grant such aid in compelling its surrender. It was not, however, without a final and desperate strug gle that the end came. All through the summer and winter of 1864, the investment of Petersburg had been kept up with vigor. The country around the city for a dozen miles was covered with forts, earthworks and trenches, and the two armies had pushed them so near each other that in places they were not more than iifty yards apart, and it was diffi cult to expose a head or a hand over an embankment with out drawing the fire of the enemy. Early in the invest ment an effort had been made on our part to mine and blow up some of the principal fortifications. The miserable success of that explosion, and the useless loss of life to which it subjected us, forbid any repetition of such an experiment. The work was thereafter carried on until the next spring by the most wearisome and anxious life in the trenches. And it was not until the last of March, 1865, that, in the struggle to take and to retain those strong works, the Confederacy gave way, and was compelled to abandon its defenses and meet our superior army in the open field. It will always be a marvel that the Confederate States, with their unequal population and resources, no foreign commerce, and their financial credit all gone, could have carried on such a war so long and so vigorously almost to the last. With more wisdom, and without that insane idea of establishing a great slave empire, it never could have been done. The defeat at Gettysburg, the re-election of Mr. Lincoln in 1864 by an unprecedented majority, the utter defeat of the peace party in the North, the pouring in of men and money to repair the awful waste of the late cam paigns, all these were indications that the struggle of the South had become hopeless. General Grant s anxiety lest General Lee should endeavor 382 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. to break through the line of entrenchments around Peters burg and escape, was not without reason, for on the night of March 24 the Confederate General Gordon made a vig orous and successful assault upon our lines where they were nearest to the enemy, and when desertion from the enemy to our lines was of daily occurrence. Taking advantage of this and of the darkness of the night, the commanding general sent out his pickets with their arms, scattered over the whole intervening space, until they came creeping up to our pickets from every quarter, as so many deserters had done when our men found that they themselves were prisoners in the hands of the enemy, and sent to the rear as such. This was all done -so quietly and successfully, that our men within the main lines and back of their pickets were not aware of it, until considerably later in the night there came a powerful charge upon that portion of our lines, which captured Fort Stedman and the adjacent battery, turned their guns upon their own men, and secured all the arms and troops in them. Continuing the charge, they carried two other batteries. Lee was concentrating not less than 20,000 of his troops, almost one-half of his army, upon that point, and had there not been unexpected delay in bringing them up, he would doubtless have suc ceeded in his purpose. But fortunately General Parke, in command of the Ninth Corps, became aware of the situa tion, and, acting with promptness and vigor, he gathered a large number of pieces of artillery and planted them in the rear of the captured works, so as to thoroughly sweep the narrow space of ground between the lines, and the enemy could neither advance nor retreat. In fact two of our divisions headed the rebels off in one direction, where they were charging most successfully, and drove them back into Fort Stedman, and then recaptured their own forts and entrenchments and all that was within them. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 383 The artillery fire was kept up so continuously that it was impossi ble for the Confederates to retreat, and equally impossible for re-en forcements to join them. They all therefore fell captives into our hands. This effort of Lee cost him about 4,000 men, and resulted in their killing, wounding and capturing about 2,000 of ours. [" Grant s Memoirs," Vol. II, p. 433. Now came the last Confederate attempt to escape, and its failure. General Grant had issued orders to his commanders to be drawing in around Petersburg, and be within supporting distance when this should happen, as it must. And the very night that the successful Confederate assault was made upon Fort Stedman, these orders had been issued and were being responded to with alacrity. On the morning of Wednesday, the 29th of March, the advance movement was to be made, and at 9 A. M. General Grant and his staff took the cars from City Point for the front, eighteen miles distant. President Lincoln was there, having come down to confer with his generals in regard to this critical movement. General Sherman had also left his army in North Carolina, and hurried up from Wilmington for such a conference, and returned. The President accompanied General Grant to the train, and as he stepped on board, the President stood grasping the iron rod at the rear of the car, and saying: "I wish I could go with you. 1 The cavalry under Cook and Merritt moved off in two columns, and at night reached Dinwiddie Courthouse. The infantry under Warren, Humphreys, Ord, Wright and Parke, and in this order from left to right, extended without a break from Dinwiddie Court house to the Appomattox. Lee was at Five Forks, where several roads intersected, and was posted as follows: Ewell commanded the garrison in Richmond; Longstreet below that city, north of the James, and across the river nearly to Petersburg; Gordon was at Petersburg, and Hill south and west of that place. From the night of the 29th to the morning of the 31st, the rain fell in such torrents as to make it impossible to move wheeled vehicles except as corduroyed roads were laid in front of them. Sheridan, however, during the 30th had advanced from Dinwiddie Courthouse toward Five Forks, where he found the enemy in force. Lee had stripped the Petersburg en trenchments as much as he could with safety, and obtained on the 31st a force of about 20,000, chiefly the divisions of Fickett and Johns ton, to meet the threatened attack. This extension of his lines toward Five Forks had weakened Lee s left, and it was the discovery of it which led Wright and Parke to report that they could assault successfully. [Draper s " Civil War," Vol. Ill, p. 570. It was these attacks made by Grant and Sheridan upon the Confederates, March 31 and April 1, which were the most critical of the campaign, and caused them both the 384 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. most anxiety. The danger was that infantry enough could not be brought up in time to support Sheridan s cavalry. There were 10,000 of them, "natty fellows, with tight- fitting uniforms, short jackets, and small magazine car bines, swarming through the pine thickets and dense undergrowth, and looking as if they had been especially equipped for crawling through knot-holes." They could sweep over the country for any distance around, and leave their horses behind and fight as infantry, and hold a large infantry force at bay for a considerable time, but with the advantages of the solid infantry organizations, and the abundant artillery which such an organization usually pos sesses, they are at a great disadvantage, as Sheridan now found, when so many of the latter were massed before him, and his own infantry supports so slow in coming up. He probably never had harder work, or experienced more anxiety in all his military service, and the result was the highest tribute that could be paid, not only to his dauntless courage and desperate fighting, but to his quick perceptions and just judgment, and complete self- control, which made no mistakes in this critical campaign, and which has led military critics to regard it as one of the best planned and best fought battles of the war. On the morning of that last day of March, the enemy was reported as entrenching themselves at Five Forks, near Dinwiddie Courthouse. General Grant had ordered up the infantry to support Sheridan, but the weather was so bad, and such was the difficulty in moving infantry and artillery, that they were slow in reaching him, and be fore they did reach him he found himself vigorously re sisted. General Grant hurried to the front, and dispatched General Porter, one of his staff, to Sheridan, to inform him what was being done for his support. General Porter reached Sheridan, who said that he had had " one of the liveliest days in his experience, fighting infantry and cav- WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 385 airy with cavalry only, but that lie was concentrating his command on the high ground just north of Dinwiddie, and would hold, that position at all hazards." But he begged Porter to go back to General Grant at once, and urge him to send the Sixth Corps " because it had been under him in the battles in the Valley of Virginia, and knew his way of fighting." This corps, however, could not be spared, and he was promised the Fifth. The night of March 31 was spent by Grant, Meade and Sheridan in hastening preparations for the battle of the next day, when Grant hoped for an opportunity of " fight ing the enemy s infantry outside of its fortifications." The assault was made by the Fifth Corps, which had borne the brunt of the fighting ever since the movement began. After desperate fighting and heavy loss, the earthworks were carried with a rush. Sheridan had been chafing with impatience, dismounting his horse, and pacing up and down, saying : " This battle must be fought and won before the sun goes down. All the conditions may be changed by morning and we have only a few hours of sunlight left. My cavalry are fast using up their ammu nition, and if the attack is delayed they will soon have none left." More officers were sent off to hurry up the columns, and it was 9 o clock before the formation was complete, the order for assault given, and the struggle for the entrenched lines begun. Here was to be encoun tered the same intrepid fighter who made such des perate charges upon our lines at Gettysburg, and whom Sheridan had found it so difficult to drive out of the Shen- andoah valley. It was then that Sheridan called for his crimson-and- white battle flag, and in his cheery, bantering way led his troops " Come on, men ! Go at em ! They are getting ready to run ! " and turned the tide of battle in their favor. " That line of weather-beaten veterans moved right along the slope toward the woods, whence batteries 386 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. were mowing them down with a steady swing that boded no good to Pickett s command, earthworks or no earth works," while he himself on his favorite black horse, Rienzi, that carried him from Winchester to Cedar creek, which Buchanan Read has made famous for all time as " Sheri dan s Ride," had dashed on over the very earthworks of the destructive " Angle," and plunged into a crowd of pris oners who had thrown away their arms and were hiding there for shelter. That was the end of the war so nearly reached, as the whole army understood it, and as General Porter says : " Sheridan had that day fought one of the most interesting technical battles of the war, almost per fect in conception, brilliant in execution, strikingly dra matic in its incidents, and productive of important results." CHAPTER XXIII. Surrender of the Two Principal Confederate Armies Negotiations for Surrender Difficulties iu the Way Made Unconditional Mag nanimity of the Union Commanders Its Appreciation by the Confederates No More Fighting The Relief of the South The Joy of the North. The time had come for Lee s surrender. He had staked everything upon this last battle and lost, when he with drew all his troops from Petersburg and the neighboring forts, so long the stronghold of the Confederacy ; abandoned Richmond, after destroying half the city, that he might gather force enough to sweep away Grant and Sherman from the pathway of his flight when "flight had become impossible, and nothing remained to put a stop to the bloody slaughter, but to throw down their arms and be come captives, and Ewell, with eleven of his general offi cers, including the ablest of them, and about all his gallant army that survived were prisoners, and in this battle more men were captured in actual conflict, without negotiation, than on any other field in America;" and when Sheridan, the night before the surrender, had captured their last train of supplies, and Lee begged at once for rations, saying, " My own men have lived for the past few days principally upon parched corn, and we are badly in need of both rations and forage," the end had certainly come, not only to that long and terrible campaign against Richmond, but to the war. Within ten days after that battle of " Sailor s Creek," the whole army of Northern Virginia had surrendered to General Grant upon his own conditions, of " unconditional surrender," to be followed at once by the 388 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. surrender of Johnston s Southern army, the flight of Presi dent Davis, and the complete dissolution of the whole Con federacy. General Porter, who was upon Grant s staff at this time and present in these operations, gives a particular account of the occurrences and negotiations that related to the sur render. (" War Book," Vol. IV, p. 728.) " It was a little before noon on the 7th of April, 1865, that General Grant and his staff rode into the little village of Farmville, on the south side of the Appomattox river, and, dismounting at the village hotel, established headquarters on its broad piazza. One of our prisoners, formerly of the regular army, and a relative of General Ewell, had told General Grant the night before that Ewell said the cause was lost, and that they ought to negotiate for peace. This statement, together with the news received from Sheridan, saying that he had heard that General Lee s trains of provisions which had come by rail were at Appomattox, and that he expected to capture them before they could reach Lee, led him to address to Lee the following communication " : HEADQUARTERS, ARMIES OF THE U. S., I 5 P. M., April 7, 1865. J GENERAL R. E. LEE, Commanding C. S. A. : The results of the last week must convince you of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard it as my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of any further effusion of blood, by asking of you the surrender of that portion of the Confederate army known as the Army of Northern Virginia. U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant General. General Lee replies : APRIL 7, 1865. GENERAL: I have received your note of this date. Though not entertaining the opinion you express of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia, I reciprocate your desire to avoid useless effusion of blood, and therefore, before considering your proposition, ask the terms you will offer on con dition of its surrender. R. E. LEE, General. LIKUT. GEN. U. S. GRANT, Commanding Armies of the U. S. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 389 The answer was as follows : APRIL 8, 1865. GENERAL R. E. LEE, Commanding C. S. A. : Your note of last evening, in reply to mine of the same date, ask ing the conditions on which I will accept the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, is just received. In reply I would say that peace being my great desire, there is but one condition I would insist upon, namely, that the men and officers surrendered shall be dis qualified for taking up arms against the government of the United States until properly exchanged. I will meet you, or will designate officers to meet any officers you may name for the same purpose, at any point agreeable to you, for the purpose of arranging definitely the terms upon which the surrender of the Army of Northern Vir ginia will be received. U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant General. Then came the following : APRIL 8, 1865. GENERAL: I received at a late hour your note of to-day. In mine of yesterday I did not intend to propose the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, but to ask the terms of your proposition. To be frank, I do not think the emergency has arisen to call for the sur render of this army, but as the restoration of peace should be the sole object of all, I desired to know whether your proposals would lead to that end. I cannot, therefore, meet you with a view to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia; but as far as your proposal may affect the Confederate State forces under my command, and tend to the restoration of peace, I should be pleased to meet you at 10 o clock A.M. to-morrow, ou the old stage road to Richmond, between the picket lines of the two armies. R. E. LEE, General. LIEUTENANT GENERAL U. S. GRANT. Very early in the morning was prepared and dispatched the following reply : APRIL 9, 1865. GENERAL: Your note of yesterday is received. I have no authority to treat on the subject of peace. The meeting proposed for 10 o clock to-day could lead to no good. I will state, however, that I am equally desirous of peace with yourself, and the whole North entertains the same feeling. The terms upon which peace can be had are well under stood. By the South laying down their arms, they would hasten that most desirable event, save thousands of human lives, and hundreds of millions of property not yet destroyed. Seriously hoping that all our difficulties may be settled without the loss of another life, I subscribe myself, etc., U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant General. GENERAL R. E. LEE, Commanding C. S. A. 890 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. The " peace " which General Lee wanted and which Gen eral Grant replies that he has no authority to deal with, refers to the permission sought for, to have the Virginia Legislature called together, and allowed to reorganize the State govern ment on its old foundations. This was a condition which President Lincoln and General Grant were disposed to allow at first, until they were overruled by the other depart ments of the government, particularly the War Depart ment. And well that it was prevented, for under that permission the Confederate Legislature and State would have acquired their old position in the Union, and nobody need have suffered any punishment for treason, and they might even have chosen Jefferson Davis for their governor. General Lee bad proposed to General Grant not long before to arrange with him to "submit the subjects of controversy between the belligerents to a convention," etc., and there came back at once these instructions: [CYPHER.] OFFICE, UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH, I HEADQUARTERS, ARMIES OF. THE UNITED STATES. ) LIEUTENANT GENERAL GRANT: The President directs me to say to you that he wishes you to have no conference with General Lee unless it be for the capitulation of Lee s army on solely minor and purely military matters. He instructs me to say that you are not to decide, or discuss, or confer upon any political question. Such questions the President holds in his own hands, and will submit them to no military conferences or conven tions. Meantime you are to press to the utmost your military advantages. EDWARD M. ST ANTON, Secretary of War. [" War Book," Vol. IV, p. 756. The same morning General Lee received General Grant s last note refusing to communicate with him upon any sub ject except immediate and unconditional surrender. Lee replied that he would meet him on the picket line at once for "an interview, in accordance with the offer made in your letter of yesterday, for that purpose." And at half- past one on that Sunday afternoon, the 9th of April, the WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 391 two generals, each with his staff, and some general officers about him, took possession of the " McClean house" at Ap- pomattox Courthouse, and soon arranged in the frankest manner, and to their mutual satisfaction, all the particulars of the surrender. At General Lee s request, General Grant drew up the paper in the form of a letter from himself to the Confederate commander, to be commented upon as it was read. The document was as follows : APPOMATTOX COURTHOUSE, VA., April 9, 1865. GENERAL R. E. LEE, Commanding C. S. A. : GENERAL: In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the 8th hist., I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of North ern Virginia on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate, one copy to be given to an officer to be designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or offi cers as you may designate. The officers to give their individual pa roles not to take up arms against the government of the United States until properly exchanged, and each company or regimental com mander to sign a like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery and public property to be packed and stacked, and turned over to the officers appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side arms of the officers, nor their private horses or baggage. This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, not to be disturbed by the United States authorities so long as they observe their paroles, and the laws in force where they may reside. Very respectfully, U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant General. When Lee came to the sentence about the " officers side- arms, private horses and baggage," he showed for the first time during the reading a slight change of countenance, and was evidently touched by this act of generosity. It was doubtless the condition mentioned to which he par ticularly alluded, when he turned towards General Grant as he finished reading and said with some degree of warmth in his manner : " This will have a very happy effect upon my army." He then said that he would like to mention one thing: "The cavalrymen and artillerists own their own horses in our army. I would like to understand whether 392 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. these men will be permitted to retain their horses ? You will find the terms as written do not allow this." General Grant replied : " Only the officers are permitted to take their private property.". Lee read over the second page of the letter again, and then said : "No, I see the terms do not allow it, that is clear." His face showed plainly that he was quite anxious to have this concession made, and Grant said, without giving him time to make a direct request: " Well, the subject is quite new to me. Of course I did not know that any private soldiers owned their animals, but I think this will be the last battle of the war, I sincerely hope so, and that the surrender of this army will be fol lowed soon by that of all the others. And I take it that most of the men in the ranks are small farmers, and as the country has been so raided by the two armies, it is doubtful if they will be able to put in a crop to carry themselves and their families through the next winter, without the aid of the horses they are now riding. So I will arrange it in this way, I will not change the terms as now written, but I will instruct the officers I shall appoint to receive the pa roles to let all the men who claim to own a horse or a mule, take the animals home with them to work their little farms." Lee looked up greatly relieved, and though anything but a demonstrative man, he gave evidence of his appreciation of this concession, and said : " This will have the best possi ble effect upon the men. It will be very gratifying, and will do much toward conciliating our people." General Lee was indeed in absolute extremity, and thus speaks of his need of immediate relief: " I have a thousand or more of your men as prisoners, General Grant, a great number of them officers whom we have required to march along with us for several days. I shall be glad to send them into your lines as soon as it can be arranged, for I have no provisions for them. I have, indeed, nothing for my own men." As he had said before, " They have been WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 393 living for the past few days principally upon parched corn, and we are badly in need of both rations and forage. I tele graphed to Lynchburgh, directing several train loads of rations to be sent on by rail from there, and when they arrive I shall be glad to have the present wants of my men supplied from them." At this remark, it is said, all eyes turned toward Sheridan, for he had captured these trains with his cavalry, the night before, near Appomattox station. The end, of course, had come to this campaign and to this army. For men cannot fight unless they are fed, how ever brave and patient they may be. And this accounts for the strange fact that only 8,000 of Lee s men were paroled and laid down their arms, when he asked for 25,000 rations, and over 28,000 surrendered. He said, to be sure, that he had a thousand or more of our prisoners, who had been suffering the same hardships. But the effective strength of Lee s army at the beginning of this campaign, and as engaged in the desperate operations of the last fortnight was 54,000, according to official estimates. And Grant had captured within that time 19,132 of them, be sides the dead, wounded and missing (" War Book," Vol. IV, p. 753). Deducting these from Lee s whole force, and considering that discouraged and starving men might well throw away their arms, the few that were surrendered is reasonable enough. But it shows their desperate condition, and the condition of their cause. Now if there could have been anything better than food to such starving men, or than relief to such disheartened souls, it must have been the consideration and magnanimity shown them by the President, General Grant, and the rank and file of the army they had been fighting, and the general sympathy of the whole North. The wound had been deep, and seemingly fatal, but this pouring in oil and wine and anxiety to heal it, was enough to make a dead man live again, and love such friends. The commander-in-chief 394 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. putting a stop to the firing of cannon over the surrender, and repressing every form of exultation, while the blue and the gray were sitting down together and sharing each other s rations, became the brightest omen of our future. We now turn to the Southern army under Johnston, with which Lee had failed to unite, and which must itself sur render. Determined to prevent Johnston from pushing on to the relief of Lee, as Grant was bent on preventing Lee from reaching Johnston, General Sherman resolved to head off the enemy in that direction, and compel him either to surrender at once, or fight a last and decisive battle. So he issued a confidential order to his corps commanders and chiefs of staff, to be in immediate readiness for an impor tant movement. The very morning this movement was to be made, the news came that Richmond had fallen, and Lee was making a desperate effort to escape southward and combine his forces with those of Johnston, which only put new vigor into Sherman s operations. Kilpatrick with his cavalry was pushed on to Raleigh, where the Confederate army had been left, and found it encamped twenty-five miles beyond at Durham Station. Here the news reached Sherman that the Army of Northern Virginia had already surrendered, and he was soon met by a message from the commander of the Confederate forces in North Carolina, requesting a " cessation of hostilities with a view to nego tiating terms of surrender." Sherman sent a reply at once, and arrangements were made for a personal interview between the two commanders, " at a point midway between our advance and the position held by the enemy." The account of what took place, and of the effect of Mr. Lincoln s assassination upon General Johnston, to whom it was communicated privately, and all the particulars of the negotiations for exchange, which caused such perplexity at the time and such misunderstanding and crimination after wards, are furnished us bv General Sherman himself in his WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. #95 personal memoirs. As General Sherman and some of his staff were entering a car to meet the Confederate com mander, as requested, to negotiate terms of surrender, the telegraph operator stopped him and requested him to wait a few minutes, as he was just receiving an important dispatch for him. The dispatch was from Mr. Stanton, announcing the assassination, and the attempt on the life of Mr. Seward and his son. General Sherman asked the operator if he had divulged the contents of that dispatch to any one, and being answered in the negative, he ordered him to keep the secret until his return. Sherman and his staff met Johnston and Wade Hampton, with a number of others. He says : We had never met before, though we had been in the regular army together for thirteen years. He was some twelve years my senior, but we knew enough of each other to be well acquainted at once. We asked a farmer if we could have the use of his house for a few minutes, and he and his wife withdrew into a smaller log house which stood close by. As soon as we were alone together, I showed him the dispatch announcing Mr. Lincoln s assassination, and watched him closely. The perspiration came out in large drops on his forehead, and he did not attempt to conceal his distress. He denounced the act as a disgrace to the age, and hoped I did not charge it to the Con federate government. I told him that I could not believe that he or General Lee, or the officers of the Confederate army, could possibly be privy to acts of assassination; but I would not say as much for Jeff Davis, George Landers and men of that stripe. We talked about the effect of this act on the country at large, and on the armies, and he realized that it made my situation extremely delicate. I explained to him that I had not revealed the news to my own personal staff, or to the army, and that I dreaded the effect when made known in Raleigh. Mr. Lincoln was peculiarly endeared to the soldiers, and I feared that some foolish woman or man in Raleigh might say some thing or do something that would madden our men, and that a fate worse than that of Columbia would befall the place. I then told Johnston that he must be convinced that he could not oppose my army, and that since Lee had surrendered, he could do the same with honor and propriety. He plainly and repeatedly admitted this, and added that any further fighting would be "murder; " but he thought that instead of surrendering piecemeal, we might arrange terms that 396 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. would embrace all the Confederate armies. I asked him if he could control other armies than his own. He said not then, but intimated that he could procure authority from Mr. Davis. I then told him that I had recently had an interview with General Grant and President Lincoln, and that I was possessed of their views ; that with them and the people of the North there seemed to be no vindictive feeling against the Confederate armies, but there was against Davis and his political adherents, and that the terms that General Grant had given to General Lee s army were certainly most generous and liberal. All this he admitted, but always recurred to the idea of a universal sur render, embracing his own army, that of Dick Taylor in Louisiana and Texas, and of Maury, Forest, and others in Alabama and Georgia. Our conversation was very general and extremely cordial, satisfying me that it could have but one result, and that which we all desired, viz., to end the war as quickly as possible. And being anxious to return to Raleigh before the news of Mr. Lincoln s assassination could be divulged, on General Johnston s saying that he thought that during the night he could procure the authority to act in the name of all the Confederate armies in existence, we agreed to meet again the next day at noon at the same place, and parted, he for Hills- boro and I for Raleigh. [" Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman," Vol. II, p. 347. The next day General Sherman met again General John ston, at the time and place appointed, to agree upon the terms of surrender. General Johnston then assured him that he had obtained authority over all the Confederate armies, and could surrender them on the same terms with his own, but argued that to obtain so cheaply this desirable result, Sherman ought to give his men and officers some assurance of their political rights after their surrender. 1 explained to him that Mr. Lincoln s proclamation of amnesty of December 8, 1863, still in force, enabled every Confederate soldier and officer below the rank of colonel to obtain an absolute pardon by simply laying down his arms and taking the common oath of allegiance, and that General Grant, in accepting the sur render of General Lee s army, had extended the same principle to all the officers, General Lee included. Such a pardon, I understood, would restore to them all their rights of citizenship. But he insisted that the officers and men of the Confederate army were unnecessarily alarmed about this matter, as a sort of bugbear. He then said that Mr. Breckenridge was near at hand, and he thought it would be well WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 397 for him to be present. I objected, on the score that he was then in Davis s Cabinet, and our negotiations should be confined strictly to belligerents. He then said that Breckenridge was a major general in the Confederate army, and might sink his character of secretary of war. I consented, and he sent one of his staff officers back, who soon returned with him. General Johnston and I then again went over the whole ground, and Breckenridge confirmed what he had said as to the uneasiness of the Southern officers and soldiers about their political rights in case of surrender. While we were in consul tation, a messenger came with a parcel of papers, which General Johnston said were from Mr. Regan, postmaster general. lie and Breckenridge looked over them, and after some side conversation, he handed one of the papers to me. It was in Regan s handwriting, and began with a long preamble and terms so general and verbose that I said they were inadmissible. Then recalling the conversation of Mr. Lincoln at City Point, I sat down at the table and wrote the terms which I thought concisely expressed his views and wishes, and explained that I was willing to submit these terms to the new Presi dent, Mr. Johnson, provided that both armies should remain in statu quo until the truce therein declared should expire. I had full faith that General Johnston would religiously respect the truce, which he did; and that I would be the gainer, for in the few days it would take to send the papers to Washington and receive an answer, I could finish the railroad up to Raleigh, and be better prepared for a long chase. Neither Mr. Breckenridge nor General Johnston wrote one word of that paper. I wrote it myself, pronounced it the best I could do, and they readily assented. [General Sherman s "Personal Alem- oirs," Vol. II, p. 353. The u basis of agreement," which embraced a truce of forty-eight hours, and the conditions upon which the sur render was to be made, when approved of by the two governments, was as follows : Memorandum, or basis of agreement, made this eighteenth day of April, A. D. 1865, near Durham Station, in the State of North Carolina, and by and between General Joseph E. Johnston, com manding the Confederate army, and Major General William T. Sherman, commanding the Army of the United States in North Carolina, both present. 1. The contending armies now in the field to maintain the statu quo until notice is given by the commanding general of any one to its opponent, and reasonable time say forty-eight hours allowed. 2. The Confederate armies now in existence to be disbanded and 398 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. conducted to their several State capitals, there to deposit their arms and public property in the State arsenal; and each officer and man to execute and file an agreement to cease from acts of war, and to abide the action of the State and Federal authority. The number of arms and munitions of war to be reported to the Chief of Ordinance at Washington city, subject to the future action of the Congress of the United States, and in the meantime, to be used solely to maintain peace and order within the borders of the States respectively. 3. The recognition, by the Executive of the United States, of the several State governments, on their officers and Legislatures taking the oaths presented by the Constitution of the United States, and where conflicting State governments have resulted from the war, the legitimacy of all shall be submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States. 4. The re-establishment of all the Federal Courts in the several States, with powers as defined by the Constitution of the United States and of the States respectively. 5. The people and inhabitants of all the States to be guaranteed, so far as the Executive can, their political rights and franchises, as well as their rights of person and property, as defined by the Constitu tion of the United States and of the States respectively. 6. The Executive authority of the government of the United States not to disturb any of the people by reason of the late war, so long as they live in peace and quiet, abstain from acts of armed hostility, and obey the laws in existence at the place of their residence. 7. In general terms the war to cease ; a general amnesty, so far as the Executive of the United States can command, on condition of the disbandment of the Confederate armies, the distribution of the arms, and the resumption of peaceful pursuits by the officers and men hitherto comprising said armies. Not being fully empowered by our respective principals to fulfill these terms, we individually and officially pledge ourselves to promptly obtain the necessary authority, and to carry out the above programme. W. T. SHERMAN, Major General, Commanding Army of the United States in North Carolina. J. E. JOHNSTON, General, Commanding Confederate States Army in North Carolina. The " conditions of surrender " laid down in this paper are essentially different from those granted to General Lee, which were " unconditional," so far as the reorganization of the seceded State governments and the political rights WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 399 and franchises of the citizens of such States were con cerned. They were certainly contrary to the " cypher tele gram" from the President to General Grant, directing him to have no " conference with General Lee, unless it be for the capitulation of Lee s army," and directly forbidding him to " decide, or discuss, or confer upon any political question." This paper, on the other hand, seeks to legiti matize the Secession State governments ; turns over to them the " arms and munitions of war," about to be cap tured, and restores to the inhabitants of those States their "political rights and franchises," without any accounta bility for their treason and hand in a civil war. Of course, such a " basis of agreement" was not to be approved of by our government, and General Grant was immediately sent there to order its rejection, and instruct General Sherman to " demand " of General Johnston " the surrender of your army on the same terms as were given to General Lee at Appomattox," which was done. The truth was, the old spirit and intrigue of the Confederacy were concerned in that paper, when an entirely different spirit had taken pos session of Lee and Johnston, and the mass of the people of the South, who were glad to have the war over, and ready to come back into the Union. The calling into the con ference, which proposed those terms of agreement, of members of the Confederate Cabinet, and no doubt having consulted Davis about it ; the attempt to settle even then by astute diplomacy, what had been referred to the desperate arbitrament of war, and when war had left nothing else but submission, " unconditional submission," to conquerors ; then to have insisted upon such conditions, was as unwise as it was useless. For it was only prolonging a hopeless struggle, and keeping alive the hostility which would for ever have prevented union and peace. The final terms as ratified and approved, were these : 400 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. MILITARY CONVENTION OF APRIL 26, 1865. SUPPLEMENTAL TERMS. 1. The field transportation to be loaned to the troops for their march to their homes, and for subsequent use in their industrial pursuits. Artillery horses may be used in field transportation, if necessary. 2. Each brigade or separate body to retain a number of arms equal to one-seventh of its effective strength, which, when the troops reach the capitals of their States, will be disposed of as the general commanding the department may direct. 3. Private horses, and other private property of both officers and men, to be retained by them. 4. The commanding general of the military division of West Mississippi, Major General Canby, will be requested to give trans portation by water, from Mobile or New Orleans, to troops from Arkansas and Texas. 5. The obligation of officers and soldiers to be signed by their immediate commanders. 6. Naval forces within the limits of General Johnston s command, to be included in the terras of this convention. J. M. SCHOFIELD, Major General, Commanding United States Forces in North Carolina. J. E. JOHNSTON, General, Commanding Confederate States Forces in North Carolina. The total number of prisoners of war paroled by General Schofield, at Greensboro , North Carolina, as afterwards officially reported, amounted to 36,817. And the total number who surrendered in Georgia and Florida, as reported by General J. H. Wilson, was 52,453. Aggregate surrendered under the capitulation of General J. E. Johnston, 89,270. [General Sherman s 1 Personal Memoirs," Vol. II, p. 370. The relief to the South of the disbandment of her armies, after the rigid conscription and reckless squandering of life and treasure for those four years of war ; the withdrawal of our Northern armies from her territory, where they had been employed all that time in breaking up railroads, burning cotton and cotton presses, and destroying manu facturing establishments, and storehouses of all that could sustain a war; the recovery of all who were left of their friends, to their own homes and to their support and com- WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 401 fort, was lifting a crushing load from all their hearts, and doing more to make them give up the lost cause than any number cf future defeats and losses could have done. While the joy of the North was equally great in welcoming home their friends, in addition to the satisfaction of having saved the^Jnion, and forever disposed of slavery, as well as of having secured a new lease of life to the only successful experiment of a " government of the people, by the people, and for the people," and preventing its perishing from the earth. There was one alloy in the general satisfaction afforded by the surrender of Lee and Johnston, the regret of General Sherman s friends over his mistake, and the unjustly severe censure of it by the government and a portion of the press. He acknowledges his mistake in a letter to Secretary Stanton, and excuses it by the necessi ties of the case and anxiety to promote the best feeling at the South, without practically changing the result. "I admit my folly in embracing in a military convention any civil matters ; but, unfortunately, such is the nature of our situation that they seem inextricably united, and I under stood from you at Savannah that the financial state of the country demanded military success, and would warrant a a little bending to policy. When I had my conference with General Johnston, I had the public example before me of General Grant s terms to Lee s army, and General WeitzePs invitation to the Virginia Legislature to assemble at Rich mond. I still believe the general government of the United States has made a mistake, but that is none of my business. Mine is a different task, and I had flattered myself that by four years of patient, unremitted and successful labor, I deserved no reminder such as is contained in the last para graph of your letter to General Grant." He was for the time removed from his command, and it is to be noticed that General Schofield, instead of himself, received John- 402 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. stem s surrender. The following representation of this matter has appeared recently in the newspapers,* from Mr. George C. Gorham, the custodian of Secretary Stanton s private papers and his biographer. He presents that side of the subject, and justifies as well as does honor to the rare ability and sturdy patriotism of Mr. Stanton. Still it is to be said that General Sherman only made the same mistake which President Lincoln made when he gave per mission for the Virginia Legislature to be called together to have a hand in the reconstruction of the government, a mistake most likely which Mr. Stanton convinced him of, and led him to withdraw that permission, and refuse to give it to General Sherman. Besides, he knew that his terms of surrender to Johnston must first be approved of by our government, and might be set aside, as they were, and Johnston, like Lee, required to surrender uncondition ally. Mr. Gorham said, in conclusion, he honored and ad mired General Sherman and enjoyed his friendship; that no more patriotic American, no braver or more faithful soldier ever lived. But he also honored and admired Mr. Stanton, and he could not remain silent when one of the greatest and wisest of his official acts was misstated and perverted in a useless effort to show that General Sherman was right, when he himself admitted that he was wrong. It is only to be regretted these two men the one ranking so high in the field and the other in the Cabinet, and going down to gether in history as stars of the first magnitude in that long, dark night should have had such a personal quarrel over this matter, though General Sherman was afterwards restored to his command in the army, and both lived long enough to enjoy the well-nigh unqualified admiration of their countrymen. * Springfield Republican, April 11, 1862. CHAPTER XXIV. % ASSASSINATION OP MR. LINCOLN. The Conspirators and Crime Their Trial and Punishment Effect Upon the Nation Testimonials of Respect and Grief The Funeral Procession to His Burial Place Strange Tribute from the World s Great Caricaturist. The relief of the South and the joy of the North, which have been spoken of, had not reached their height, for it was between the surrender of General Lee and the sur render of General Johnston, that the saddest and most critical event of the war occurred the assassination of Mr. Lincoln. The plot, the conspirators and the transaction, were as follows : It was proposed not only to kill the President, but all his Cabinet, and General Grant, who was expected to be with him at the time. It was to be done when General Grant s masterly conduct of the war was just being successfully finished, and when there was no other man in the land who had both at the South and at the North such confidence placed in his wisdom and kindness, as Mr. Lincoln. And then as General Sherman feared at Raleigh, that such an atrocity would demoralize his army, and lead to such ravages as would make the war break out afresh, and with more of personal vindictiveness; so we all stood aghast and cried more fervently than ever to heaven for help. Booth, the leading conspirator, belonged to the distin guished family of actors of this name. He was an ardent Secessionist, and proud of the part he took in the arrest 404 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. and execution of John Brown. He had become "stage struck" about playing the part of another Brutus, and with mock-heroic " acting, expected to fire the Southern heart with new desperation in their struggle, and appall the North by sweeping away at once, the President, the Vice- President, the Cabinet and the Commander-in-Chief of all our armies. After the re-election of Mr. Lincoln, so fatal to the success of the Secession movement, he visited Canada, to plan with sympathizers there, the capture of the President, and deliver him a prisoner at Richmond. On the 4th of March, when Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated, Booth was there and created some disturbance because he was kept back in the crowd, where he said he lost an ex cellent chance of killing the President then. But when Lee surrendered, if anything was ever done to relieve the South, it could be delayed no longer. " For six months," he said, " we have worked to capture, but our cause being lost, something decisive and great must be done." So when the President had returned from the front, where he could be in conference with Grant during that critical period, and after he had visited the deserted and half-burnt Confederate capital, and it was found that, with his family and General Grant and a few friends, he was to divert himself from the cares of State by an evening at the theatre, the conspira tors, who all had their several parts assigned them, were summoned to their work. On the evening of April 14, 1865, President Lincoln occupied a box at Ford s theatre. There he was shot by Wilkes Booth, who entered the box, having previously fastened an outer door to guard against interruption. He fired from behind, placing the pistol almost against the head of the President, who fell forward unconscious. Booth dropped the pistol, and as Major Rathbone, one of the party in the box reached toward him, struck savagely at him with a knife, and leaped from the box to the stage. His spur WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 405 caught in the flag with which the box was draped, and he fell heavily, but recovering himself, stopped to cry : " Sic semper tyrannis" dashed across the stage, and out where a horse was waiting for him, and for the time escaped. In his fall he had broken his leg, but this hardly checked him. He was followed, overtaken in Maryland, and stood at bay in a barn. He refused to surrender, the barn was fired and he was shot by one of the soldiers. The plot miscarried as to the other intended victims, except Mr. Seward, who was dangerously wounded in the leg, as he lay sick in bed. The conspiracy was afterwards proved to the satisfaction of the court, and four persons were hanged, Herold, Atzerodt, Payne, and Mrs. Suratt. Four others were imprisoned for six years, or for life. Mr. Lincoln was shot a few minutes after ten o clock in the evening. He scarcely moved, his head drooped forward slightly, his eyes closed. He was carried to a house across the street, and laid upon a bed in a small room at the rear of the hall, on the ground floor. A hasty examination by the sur geons showed at once that his wound was mortal. A large derringer bullet had entered the back of his head on the left side, and passing through the brain had lodged just behind the left eye. Mrs. Lincoln soon reached him, and he was tenderly cared for, but there was no hope. He was uncon scious, of course, from the first moment ; but he breathed with slow and regular respiration throughout the night. As the dawn came, and the lamplight grew pale in the fresher beams, his pulse began to fail ; but his face even then was scarcely more haggard than those of the sorrow ing group of statesmen and generals around him. His automatic moaning, which had continued through the night, ceased ; a look of unspeakable peace came upon his worn features. At twenty-two minutes after seven he died. Stanton broke the silence by saying, " Now he belongs to the ages." Dr. Gurley kneeled by the bedside and prayed 406 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. fervently. The widow came in from the adjoining room, supported by her son, and cast herself with loud outcry on the dead body. ("History of Abraham Lincoln," Vol. X, pp. 289-302.) So died our good President, without knowing who killed him. And his assassins no more realized that they were killing their best friend, than the Jews knew they were murdering their Saviour when they crucified Christ. Mr. Lincoln was one of the most tender-hearted and generous of men, even toward his bitterest enemies. He had just expressed, in his second inaugural address, what nobody could doubt, after his first administration of the govern ment, were the real sentiments of his heart. " With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives me to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations." When the terms of Lee s surrender were under consideration, Mr. Lincoln was for making them as easy as possible, and was constrained by his Cabinet to recall some of the concessions he was making to the Confederate States to reorganize themselves under their Confederate State governments. The very day of his death, when the reconstruction of the government was under consideration in the Cabinet, he was very desirous of avoiding the shedding any more blood, or the infliction of vindictive punishments. " No one need expect me to take any part in hanging or killing these men, even the worst of them. Frighten them out of the country, open the gates, let down the bars, scare them off," he said, throwing up his hands as if scaring sheep. " Enough lives have been sacrificed, we must extinguish our resent ments if we expect harmony and union." WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 407 When he fell, what a wave of awe and grief swept over the land. It was like some great convulsion of nature. What is to come next? And what shall we do without our trusted leader ? The extent of the plot to break up the government by any violence was not known, and the repe tition of it was to be feared any moment. This is illus trated by one of the incidents of the times, as connected with Governor Buckingham, and well remembered in Nor wich, his home. When the news reached the place, and such a rumor flew abroad, the people, as they do in earth quake countries, instinctively rushed into the streets. There they met the Governor, and, flocking about him, asked, "What shall we do now?" Struggling with his own grief and wiping away his tears, he could only tell them, " God lives, and having so far helped us, we trust he will not forsake us now." And bethinking himself of what might be the danger at Washington, he called Colonel Selden, his secretary, and one of his military offi cers, and gave him the order to take a dozen or fifteen of the most reliable citizens, arm them, and convey Senator Foster safely to Washington. Senator Foster was president pro tern of the Senate, and if V ice-President Johnson had been assassinated as well as Mr. Lincoln, Senator Foster would have been sworn into the office of President. This order was faithfully carried out, though the Vice-President, having escaped with his life, was immediately inaugurated as Mr. Lincoln s successor. Then the nation gave way to its lamentations, and made up that funeral train which bore its dead half across the continent and seemed more than anything else like Joseph s burial of his father, when he carried him down into Canaan with all the devotion of a child, and all the pomp of an Egyp tian funeral, and the Canaanites ever after called the place of his burial, "The mourning of the Egyptians." After the funeral services at Washington, Mr. Lincoln s remains were 408 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. taken back to his home in Illinois, every town on the route beg ging that the train might stop within its limits and give the people the opportunity of looking upon that face once more. As far as possible, this request was granted, and it was arranged that the route should be substantially that by which Mr. Lincoln had come to Washington in 1861. Everywhere the most touching tokens of loving remem brance came alike from the rich and the poor, and the fur ther west the train went, it was noticeable that these manifes tations became the more general and striking, as if he was one of their parentage and training. The towns and cities made their formal preparations and showed all honor to the memory of the President, who had been a hero in dark days and became a martyr. But it was the humblest people, and from the remotest places, who crowded around his bier and wept the bitterest tears over their " good President," and made it more impressive than any royal funeral. A guard of honor, consisting of a dozen officers of high rank in the array and navy, had been detailed by their respective departments, which received the remains of the President at the station in Wash ington, at 8 o clock on the morning of Friday, the 21st of April, and the train, decked in somber trappings, moved out toward Baltimore. In this city, through which, four years before, it was a question whether the President-elect could pass with safety to his life, the train made a halt, the coffin was taken with sacred care to the great dome of the Exchange, and there, surrounded by evergreens and lilies, it lay for several hours, the people passing by in mournful throngs. Night was closing in, with rain and wind, when the train reached Harrisburg, and the coffin was carried through the muddy streets to the State Capitol, when the next morning the same scenes of grief and affection were seen. We need not enumerate the many stopping places of this dolorous pageant. The same demonstration was repeated, gaining continually in intensity of feeling and solemn splendor of display, in every city through which the procession passed. At Philadelphia, a vast concourse accompanied the dead President to Independence Hall; he had shown himself worthy of the lofty fate he courted when on that hallowed spot, on the birthday of Washington, 1861, he said he would rather be assassinated than give up the principles embodied in the Declaration of Independence. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 409 Here, as at many other places, the most touching manifestations of loving remembrance came from the poor, who brought flowers twined by themselves, to lay upon the coffin. The reception at New York was worthy alike of the great city and of the memory of the man they honored. The body lay in state in the City Hall, and a half-million of people passed in deep silence before it. Here General Scott came, pale and feeble, but resolute, to pay his tribute of respect to his de parted friend and commander. The train went up the Hudson river by night, and at every town and village on the way vast crowds were revealed in waiting by the fitful glare of torches; dirges and hymns were sung as the train moved by. Midnight had passed when the coffin was borne to the Capitol at Albany, yet the multitudes rushed in as if it was day, and for twelve hours the long line of people from Northern New York and the neighboring States poured through the room. Over the broad spaces of New York the cortage made its way, through one continuous crowd of mourners. At Syracuse 30,000 people came out in the storm at midnight to greet the passing train with fires and bells and cannons; at Rochester the same observances made the night memorable ; at Buffalo, it was now the morning of the 27th, and the body lay in state at St. James Hall, visited by a multitude from the western counties. As the train passed into Ohio the crowds increased in density, and the public grief seemed intensified at every step westward; the people of the great central basin seemed to be claiming their own. The day spent at Cleveland was unexampled in the depth of emotion it brought to life, the warm devotion which was exhibited to the memory of the great man gone ; some of the guard of honor have said, that it was at that point they began to appreciate the place which Lincoln was to hold in history. The authorities, see ing that no building could accommodate the crowd which was sure to come from all over the State, wisely erected in the public square an imposing mortuary tabernacle for the lying in state, brilliant with evergreens and flowers by day, and innumerable gas jets by night, and surmounted by the inscription, Extinctus amabitur idem. Im pressive religious ceremonies were conducted in the square by Bishop Macllvaine, and an immense procession moved to the station at night between two lines of torchlights. Columbus and Indianapolis, the State capitals of Ohio and Indiana, were next visited. The whole State, in each case, seemed gathered to meet their dead hero; an in tense personal regard was everywhere evident; it was the man, and not the ruler, they appeared to be celebrating; the banners and scrolls bore principally his own words: "With malice toward none, with charity for all;" "The purposes of the Lord are perfect and must prevail;" " Here highly resolved that these dead shall not have lived in vain," and other brief passages from his writings. On arriving in 410 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Chicago, on the 1st of May, amid a scene of magnificent mourning the body was bourne to the Courthouse, where it lay for two days under a canopy of somber richness, inscribed with that noble Hebrew lament, " The beauty of Israel is slain rryon thy high places." From all the States of the Northwest an innumerable throng poured for these two days into Chicago, and flowed a mighty stream of hu manity, past the coffin of the dead President, in the midst of evi dences of deep and universal grief, which was all the more genuine for being quiet and reserved. The last stage of this extraordinary progress was the journey to Springfield, which began on the night of the 2d of May and ended at 9 o clock the next morning, the schedule made in Washington twelve days before having been accurately carried out. On alAhe railroads centering in Springfield the trains for several days had been crowded to their utmost capacity with people who desired to see the last of Abraham Lincoln upon earth. Nothing had been done or thought of for two weeks in Springfield but the preparations for this day. They were made with a thoroughness which surprised the visi tors from the East. The body lay in state in the Capitol, which was richly draped from roof to basement in black velvet and silver fringe; within it was a bower of bloom and fragrance. For twenty-four hours an unbroken stream of people passed through, bidding their friend and neighbor welcome home and farewell, and at 10 o clock the 4th of May, the coffin lid was closed at last. A vast procession moved out to Oak Ridge, where the dead President was committed to the soil of the State which had so loved and honored him. The cere monies at the grave were simple and touching. Bishop Simpson delivered a pathetic oration, prayers were offered and hymns sung, but the weightiest and most eloquent words uttered anywhere that day were those of the second inaugural, which the committee had wisely ordained to be read over his grave, as the friends of Raphael chose the incomparable canvas of "The Transfiguration" as the chief ornament of his funeral. [" History of Abraham Lincoln," Vol JT, pp. 319-324. The effect of Mr. Lincoln s death upon the South was not seen at first, but came later. While some, like the Presi dent of the Confederacy, were disposed to regard it as good luck to a failing cause, which might save it, they soon found, when reconstruction came and Mr. Lincoln s unreli able successor came into office, that his kind heart and wonderful wisdom were what they most needed. And few Bincerer regrets, or higher tributes of praise, came from WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 411 any quarter than from that. They came to join in the country s grief, and the world s honor, of that remarkable character which Providence had raised up for his mission, and so inexplicably removed the moment his work was finished. There is no other character like his in all our strange history, and no other work like his in the world s history. And among all the tributes paid him at his death, there was none nobler, certainly none so unexpected, as the one which came from the world s great caricaturist, the editor of London Punch. If we could have known at the time, what was discovered afterwards, that the leer ing, jeering spirit of fun, which had taken no end of satis faction in ridiculing the rugged face, the tall, gaunt form and awkward manners of Lincoln, had been conscience smitten for his crime, and was following that funeral train like a barefooted monk, crowding up to that bier as to a holy shrine, and pouring out its penitence and prayers for the dead, and in that guise was atoning for its sins if it had not been that John Leech himself told us, that this was the way in which he chose to make his acknowledg ment, and right the wrong he had done this great, good man we never could have expected such remorse within the privileged field of caricature, or had such admiration for one of the profession. TRIBUTE TO ABRAHAM LINCOLN. You! lay a wreath on murdered Lincoln s bier! You ! who with mocking pencil wont to trace Broad for the self-complacent British sneer, His length of shambling limb, his furrowed face, His gaunt, gnarled hands, his unkempt, bristling hair, His garb uncouth, his bearing ill at ease, His lack of all we prize as debonair, Of power or will to shine, or art to please ! You! whose smart pen, backed by the pencil s laugh, Judging each step as though the way was plain, 412 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Reckless, so it could point its paragraph Of chief s perplexity, of people s pain Beside the corpse, that bears for winding sheet The stars and stripes he had to rear anew, Between the mourners at his head and feet, Say ! scurrile jester, is there room for you? Yes, he had lived to shame me from my sneer; To lame my pencil, and confute my pen; To make me own this mind of princes peer; This rail-splitter, a true-born king of men. My shallow judgment I have learned to rue, Noting how to occasion s hight he rose, How his quaint wit made home truth seem more true, How iron-like his temper grew by blows; How humble, yet how hopeful he could be; How in good fortune, and in ill the same; Nor bitter in success, nor boastful he ; Thirsty for gold, nor feverish for fame. He went about his work such work as few Ever had laid on head, and heart, and hand- As one who knows when there s a task to do, Man s honest will will heaven s good grace command. Who trusts the strength, will with the burden grow, That God makes instruments to work his will, If but that will one can arrive to know, Nor tamper with the weights of good and ill. So he went forth to battle on the side That he felt clear was Liberty s and Right s, As in his peasant boyhood he had plied His warfare with rude nature s thwarting mights. The uncleared forest, the unbroken soil, The iron bark that turns the lumber s axe, The rapid that o erbears the boatman s toil, The prairie hiding the mazed wanderer s track, The ambushed Indian, and the prowling bear; Such were the needs that helped his youth to train WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 413 Rough culture ; but such trees large fruit may bear, If but their stocks be of right girth and grain. So he grew up a destined work to do, And lived to do it four long suffering years Ill-fate, ill-feeling, ill-report lived through, And then he heard the hisses changed to cheers. The taunt to tribute, the abuse to praise, And took both with the same unwavering mood, Till, as he came on light from darkling days, And seemed to touch the goal from where he stood, A felon hand, between the goal and him, Reached from behind his back; a trigger pressed; And those perplexed and patient eyes were dim, Those gaunt, long, laboring limbs were laid to rest. The words of mercy were upon his lips; Forgiveness in his heart and on his pen ; When this vile murderer brought swift eclipse To thoughts of " Peace on earth; good will to men." The old world and the new, from sea to sea, Utter one voice of sympathy and shame! Sore heart I so stopped when it at last beat high! Sad life ! cut short just as its triumph came. CHAPTER XXV. THE WAR OVER. The Cost of the War Measures Taken to Stop the Expenses Grand Review and Disbandment of the Army Difference Between Eastern and Western Troops Equal Tributes Paid to Both by their Two Great Commanders. The war was now over, and the first thing to be done was to stop the military expenses, disband the army, and scatter the navy. When Lee surrendered, and Richmond was evacuated, General Grant did not enter the city, but hurried off to Washington to stop enlistments for the army and navy, and supplies for both, which for four years had seemed such a bottomless sea of waste for the resources of any nation. The cost of supporting the great armies and fleets used in the Civil War, is shown by the rapid increase of the national debt, which was in 1800, June 30, $64,769,703; 1861, June 30, $90,867,828; 1862, June 30, $514,211,371; 1863, June 30, $1,097,274,360; 1864, June 30, $1,740,036,689; 1865, March 31, $2,423,437,001; 1866, January 1, $2,749,491,745. As to this statement, Draper s "Civil War" says: " The great increase indicated by the last item, apparently after the war was over, was due to the paying off of the troops and the settlement of outstanding bills. Such was the debt, but to it should be added the sums expended by individual States, and local bodies, in raising and fitting out their several contingents. The total rises above $4,000,000,000. Bounties were paid to the amount of about $200,000,000, and about $100,000,000 more to the families of absent and deceased soldiers." The same authority says, as to numbers of men in the field : WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 415 The entire force called into the national service during the war was 2,688,523 men. Of these there were enlisted : For three months, 191,985; for six months, 19,076; for nine months, 87,558; for one year, 394,959; for two years, 43,113; for three years, 1,950,792; for four years, 1,040; total, 2,688,523. Many of these were mustered in more than once. Making suitable allowance for this, and other necessary deductions, it may be concluded that about 1,500,000 soldiers were employed. Of these, 56,000 were killed in battle; 35,090 died in the hospitals of wounds; 185,000 died in the hospitals of disease; many more died subsequently; and the health of still more was irreparably broken down. The breadth of the field of the war, extending over a territory more than a thousand miles square ; the ex tent of seacoast, and number of ports to be blockaded ; the important part which railroads were to have in all its operations; the new navy which had to be created both for the ocean and for our great rivers ; and the very arms, from turreted and iron-clad ships, to siege guns, breech loaders and repeating rifles, which were to be invented and manu factured ; explain the cost of such military operations. Almost simultaneously with the cutting off of the outlay for recruits and supplies, and the support of the armies in the field, came the disbandment of the great forces, which had for years been withdrawn from civil life and were now to return to it. The greater part of the men were quickly mustered out wherever they happened to be. but Sherman s army and the Army of the Potomac under General Meade, and that of the James under General terry, were assembled at Washington, and there 200,000 veterans marched in the never-to-be-forgotton review of May 23 and 24. Tuesday, the first day, was devoted to the review of the Eastern troops. The President and Cabinet occupied a stand along the line of march, while General Grant and his staff led the procession, with General Meade leading the Potomac army, and General Terry at the head of the Army of the James, with the several commanders in place. The next day, Wednesday, the 24th, was equally beautiful as to weather, 416 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. and quite as interesting and imposing in its pageantry. General Sherman thus describes it : The Fifteenth, Seventeenth and Twentieth Corps closed up to the bridge. The morning was extremely beautiful, and the ground was in splendid order for a review. The streets were filled with people to see the pageant, armed with bouquets for their favorite regiments or heroes, and everything was propitious. Punctually at 9 A. M. the signal gun was tired, when in person, attended by General Howard and all my staff, I rode slowly down Pennsylvania avenue, the crowds of men, women, and children densely lining the sidewalks, and almost obstructing the way. We were followed close by General Logan, and the head of the Fifteenth Corps. When I reached the Treasury building and looked back, the sight was simply magnificent. The column was compact, and the glittering muskets looked like a solid mass of steel, moving with the regularity of a pendulum. We passed the Treasury building, in front of which and of the White House was an immense throng of people, for whom extensive stands had been prepared on both sides of the avenue. As I neared the brick house on the lower corner of Lafayette square, some one asked me to notice Mr. Seward, who, still feeble and bandaged for his wounds, had been removed there that he might behold the troops. I moved in that direction and took off my hat to Mr. Seward, who sat at an upper window. He recognized the salute, returned it, and then we rode on steadily past the President, saluting with our swords. All on this stand rose and acknowledged the salute. Then turning into the gate of the presidential grounds, we left our horses with orderlies and went upon the stand, where I found Mrs. Sherman, and her father and son. Passing them, I shook hands with General Grant, and each member of the Cabinet. I then took my post on the left of the President, and for six houj-s and a half stood while the army passed, in the order of the Fifteenth, Seventeenth, Twentieth and Fourteenth Corps. It was, in my judgment, the most magnificent army in existence 65,000 men in splendid physique, who had just completed a march of 2,000 miles in a hostile country, in good drill, and who realized that they were being closely scrutinized by thousands of their fellow- countrymen and foreigners. Division after division passed, each commander of an army corps or division commander on the stand during the passage of the command to be presented to the President, Cabinet, and spectators. The steadiness and firmness of their tread, the careful dress of the guides, the uniform intervals between the companies, all eyes directed to the front, and the tattered and bullet- riven flags festooned with flowers, all attracted universal notice. Many good people up to that time had looked upon our Western army as a sort of mob, but the world then saw and recognized the fact that WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 417 it was an army in a proper sense, well organized, well commanded and disciplined, and there was no wonder that it had swept through the South like a tornado. For six and a half hours that strong tread of the Army of the West resounded along Pennsylvania avenue; not one soul of that crowd of spectators left his place, and when the rear of the column had passed by, thousands of spectators still lingered to express their sense of confidence in the strength of a government which could claim such an army. [General Sherman s "Personal Memoirs," Vol. II, p. 378. The difference between Eastern and Western armies, when thus brought together, is pointed out by General Grant, while their equal share in the achievements of the war is so impartially assigned them, by the commander-in- chief of both, as to take away all jealousy or boasting from either. "Sherman s army made a different appear ance from that of the Army of the Potomac. The latter had been operating where they received directly from the North full supplies of food and clothing regularly. The review of this army, therefore, was the review of a body of well-drilled, well-disciplined and orderly soldiers, unused to hardship and fit for any duty, but without the experience of gathering their own food and supplies in an enemy s country, and of being ever on the watch. Sherman s army was not so well dressed as the Army of the Potomac, but their marching could not be excelled ; they gave the appear ance of men who had been thoroughly drilled to endure hardships, either by long and continuous marches, or through exposure to any climate without the ordinary shelter of a camp." As for their several and equal services, which went to make up the result of the war, and the glory which will forever be attached to all who had any part in those achievements, he says, in his final report to the government : It has been my fortune to see the armies of both the West and the East fight battles, and from what I have seen, I know there is no difference in their fighting qualities. All that was possible for men to do in battle, they have done. The Western armies commenced 418 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. their battles in the Mississippi valley, and received the final surrender of the principal army opposed to them in North Carolina. The armies of the East commenced their battles on the river from which the Army of the Potomac derived its name, and received the final surrender of their old antagonists at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. The splendid achievements of each have nationalized our victories, removed all sectional jealousies of which we have unfortu nately experienced too much and the cause of crimination and recrimination that might have followed had either section failed in its duty. All have a proud record, and all sections can well congratu late themselves and each other for having done their full share in re storing the supremacy of law over every foot of territory belonging to the United States. Let them hope for perpetual peace and harmony with that enemy, whose manhood, however mistaken the cause, drew forth such herculean deeds of valor. ["Grant s Memoirs," Vol. II, p. 632. In this spirit of appreciation of each other s services, and of magnanimity toward the South, in which the North was fast coming to appreciate their disadvantages, and the deso lations they had suffered from the war, the review closed. And these 200,000, who represented the million and a half of men who had been engaged in the service, laid by their arms and uniforms and sank back into their citizenship again. And it took place as naturally and quietly as the snows of winter melt into the returning spring and freshen the verdure which is to hide the ravages of war. With the review and disbandment of our armies, and the testimony of these two great commanders to their heroic qualities and equal merits, came the relief and satisfaction, both to the South and of the North, that the war was over. As showing what this state of feeling was at the capital of the Confederacy, the personal observations of the writer, soon after the evacuation, are given in the form of " A Visit to Richmond." A photograph of Governor Buckingham s hasty letter to his brother, announcing the evacuation of the city, and its being first occupied by some of his colored troops, is also given. L^1 tvzttt^ak fJL ly /fc, luYi/l- m </i^\+tufi~ c/l {y i / u- ^* -tc)** tvy h dun ^ Ay uifl^-cA. r tJI C/J ( f+*t <\M*~ i.* u^uO A <**. (J 419 CHAPTER XXVI. A VISIT TO RICHMOND. Personal Observations in the City Soon After its Evacuation The Temper of the People The Disposition to Accept the Result of the War and Cultivate Friendship. In May, 1865, a month or six weeks after the city fell into our possession, the writer left Springfield, Mass., with a dozen friends, to find out what we could of the condition of things there. The city was under martial law and full of Confederate prisoners gathered there to be sent by our government to their homes. Not only were these prisoners fed by our government, but the inhabitants of the city were mostly dependent for their daily bread upon the same supply. For the close blockade and long investment of Richmond, and especially the blowing up by the Confed erate commanders before they left, of the warehouses and provision depots of the city, and the destruction of the rail road bridges, and leaving the city on fire, which destroyed one-third of the business part of it, left the inhabitants as destitute of all needful supplies as can well be conceived. The best residences, and such as had not been reached by the fire, had evidently not been repaired or painted since the war began. It was the days of hoop skirts among the ladies, but not one was seen there ; they were not manu factured and they could not be imported. Their clothing was scanty and out of fashion, showing how they had suffered in this respect. It was enough to change all re sentment into pity, to witness their condition. And the fortitude and self-respect with which the people bore their WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 421 humiliation, and the freedom with which they consulted us, as to what could be done for their relief, won our highest respect. The impression among them at first was that our party must he a government commission, sent to get information, or to regulate affairs. But when answered that we had no connection with the government, and that if we could do anything for them in the way of advice, or influence with the government, we were ready to use it, they gave us their confidence, so that we mingled freely with the citizens and with the prisoners, and soon found that a visit of curiosity might be made a mission of helpfulness, both to them and to the government, and this we endeavored to make it. Mr. Lincoln had been assassinated, and they knew they had lost their best friend. Mr. Johnson, the Vice-Presi- dent, who had succeeded to the presidency, they feared, for though a Southerner, he was a man of strong preju dices and freakish disposition. " What are you going to do with us, now that you have conquered us ? " was their inquiry. " We have done all we could to have a separate government, but have failed. And now do you want to shut us out of our old privileges and punish us all you can, or will you make us citizens again, and let us go home, and help us build up the ruins of the South ? " This, we assured them, was what the North was anxious to do, and if in the bitterness of the strife we had felt revengeful, it was now over, and like Mr. Lincoln, and General Grant, and General Sherman, we only wished them to become good citizens again, and enjoy greater prosperity than they had ever known under the old Union. The easy terms of sur render, and the permission given to their officers and soldiers to take their horses and mules, and to begin again the cultivation of their lands, was heartily approved of by the North. And if they would allow social intercourse, and Northern business to come in, we should in time 422 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM, become a more united nation than we ever had been, and the South a much richer portion of it. Such views and feelings, especially in such circumstances, were not likely to encounter much opposition. And we soon found our selves with opportunities enough for helping the South and helping the government. Several ot our party had either lived in Richmond or been there on business, and they found their acquaintances glad enough to see them and get the benefit of their advice. We were specially invited to meet one evening several of the principal men of the city, and talk over the situation of affairs. The question with them, as with everybody, was : " What arc you going to do with us ? How does your government propose to treat us V And what can we do on our part to secure the most favorable treatment ? " All their difficulties were frankly stated, and their fears ex pressed. They were under martial law. They were mostly dependent upon the government for daily rations, and some member of those old Virginia families, often the lady of the house, of her youthful daughter, at tended by her colored servant, was obliged to take the oath of allegiance at the lips of some young lieu tenant, as the only condition of obtaining aid, while her servant, perhaps, was rejoicing over her humiliation. The property of the city was virtually confiscated by the govern ment, at least their places of business and manufacturing establishments were closed, and work stopped. Those thousands of prisoners who were being gathered into the city from every quarter and sent off as fast as possible, made it impossible that ordinary business should be done there for a long time. No wonder all were asking for advice. And when, at that first conference, the whole sub ject was opened with us, we were glad to honor their confi dence and give them all the information and advice that we could furnish. As for information, I remember, when WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 423 the Union Pacific railroad happened to be referred to, with what surprise and incredulity it was received, for they had never heard of it, nor were their papers allowed to refer to such an event, so important to the North, though the road was then half-way across the continent. Our advice, of course, was that they should accept the situation cheerfully, apply for the removal of their disabilities and the restora tion of their property, and as good citizens help us restore the Union and as quickly as possible repair the ravages of the war. We remember that one of their number, Gen eral James R. Anderson,* a Confederate officer, a graduate of West Point, and manager of the Tredegar Works, where so many cannon were cast, and so much heavy iron work constructed for the Confederate service, was an old acquaintance of some of our party in the way of business, and came to consult with them repeatedly and see if there was no way in which he could recover his confiscated works and resume his business. The last thing he did when we were leaving for Washington was to beg us to go to General Dyer, at the head of the Ordnance Department, and see if his works could not be restored upon some terms. In con sidering the matter among ourselves, it was suggested that, as he was a man to be depended upon, and there was noth ing the government needed so much as supporters in Rich mond, it might well afford to restore his property, on con dition that he would become a Union man and be the leader and nucleus of a Union party in that city. Representations to this effect were made to General Dyer at Washington. His property was soon restored, and, it is to be presumed, upon some such terms. There was one occurrence during this visit that should be mentioned as showing the respect and confidence felt for our party, in that peculiar condition of the community. It * General Anderson died afc the Isle of Shoals, N. H., on a visit, there during the summer of 1892. 424 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. was a meeting we were allowed to hold on Sunday evening in the large and famous colored church of the city. It was a regular Baptist church, with two pastors, one white and the other colored, the latter to suit the tastes of his con gregation, and the other to supervise him and his people. The white pastor was a pronounced and un-reconstructed Secessionist, and probably only consented to such a meet ing out of courtesy to us, and at the desire of his people. The arrangements were judiciously made and carried out and meant for the benefit of both classes of the population. It so happened that we had in our party those who well understood the subjects upon which they spoke. One of them was a civil engineer, president of a railroad, and largely interested in works of construction, so that he knew what was for the interest of laboring men, and had done much for their welfare. He told how many of this class of people lived at the North, in their own homes, painted and carpeted, their children in the public schools, with every opportunity given them to become intelligent, prosperous and useful citizens. Another of the party, one of the " Webster s Dictionary " firm, told how many spelling books and school books of various kinds they published, and how rare it was to find a New Englander who could not read books, and write letters and keep the accounts of business ; and how such education gave them employment and good wages, and with industry, economy and sobriety, improved their condition. One or two of us were clergymen, and it was natural for us to speak to them of marriage, and of the new liberties and responsibilities that were thrown upon them in this respect. Their reverence for the Bible we could see made them sensitive to its teachings upon this subject, and we could not help feeling that with their new responsibilities for their domestic life, and this book always in their hands, would improve their homes and their chil dren. Of course others gave them good instruction in re- WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 425 gard to the duties they owed their old masters and society, and the country of which they were eventually to become citizens. And remembering what the North had done for their emancipation, nothing could exceed their confidence in us, and gratitude for our interest in them. It was cer tainly a very remarkable meeting a congregation of at least 1,000 emancipated slaves, and in that community, and in such a condition of things, probably not a score of white people among them, and not the least remarkable feature of it was, that it was suffered, and stirred neither resentment nor criticism, unless it was in the suppressed utterances of their white pastor. As for the Confederate prisoners in the city, poor fellows, they needed and were glad of our sympathy and encour agement. They had been compelled to serve during the war, some of them from the beginning, and were going home, they hardly knew where, or to what. If any body needed hope and help, they did, and they were grateful for it. We gave them cheer, we gave them money, we sent them home with the knowledge that the Yankees were not such mean and heartless people as they once supposed. The soldiers on both sides had learned before this to con fide in each other s humanity and honor. It was the home guards and guerrillas, who have been defined as " peaceful citizens by day and Confederate soldiers at night," whom they feared most. And more or less of these men went South, assured that they had friends at the North who would wish the government to be considerate of them, and support any policy which should relieve them of their dis abilities, and help to build up their business. It was at this time that General Sherman s army passed through Richmond, after their " march to the sea," on their way to Washington for the grand review. There were 65,000 of them, and it took two days to accomplish it. They came, just as they had marched through Georgia, 426 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. with light baggage, mostly upon inules, and with their bummers and representatives of plantation life and prod ucts. They were marched around by Libby Prison, and up past the Capitol, with their endless lines and ceaseless tramp, as if that was a force which must end any war. I went to the Powhattan hotel, directly opposite the Capitol, which had been given up to the Confederate officers, to see how they looked upon that passing army, and heard no utterances but those of respect, profound respect, for such heroes. The principal residences on that fine street were generally closed and the shutters fastened, as if the inhab itants could not look upon such a display without being made too sensible of their losses and humiliation. But that was not strange, and there were no signs of either contempt or hostility. The people accepted the situation, and having thrown down the gauge of battle and been defeated, they were glad to have it over, and doubly glad that their conquerors showed no inhumanity. It was at this time that the news came of the capture of the Confederate President. General Devens of Massachu setts, who was in command across the river, and came into the city to take some of our party to church with him on that Sunday morning, brought us the intelligence. It caused a great sensation, and particularly the exaggerated account of the disguise in which he attempted to escape. Some of us were going to another church, with a good Union family, and I remember the exclamation of the wife of our friend when the story was told her : u () dear ! What do they want of him ? " When the government had such trouble to dispose of him, and after a couple of years or so of close imprisonment and liberty under guard, they were obliged to let him go, because they could neither try him by court martial nor before a civil court, when if tried in Virginia, where his crime was committed, he was sure to be acquitted, we could not help thinking how superior WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 427 a woman s instinctive good sense sometimes was to able statesmanship, and that it might have been a gain to have had one such in the Cabinet ! One little incident occurred at the close of our visit which, though personal to the writer, may be of general interest enough to be mentioned. The morning before we were to leave, there appeared at the table two young Con federate officers in their uniform, one of whom recognized me. Inquiring where we had ever met, he said it was in Springfield, at his uncle s house, who was one of my parishioners. He invited mo to come out and see him in his quarters, where he was waiting with his regiment to be sent South. He was a surgeon, and had enlisted at Baton Rouge, and had served through the entire war. 1 inquired if his mother was not at the North, and being told that she was, I suggested that he should go North and see her before he went home, and invited him to return with me. He resented it at first, as if it was a desertion of his com rades. But upon the suggestion that it was a duty to his mother, and would also be a benefit to him to find out the state of things at the North, and the encouragement there was to labor for the re-establishment of the Union, he interposed the question, "Could 1 go North?" Cer tainly," was the reply ; " nobody will harm you, nor inten tionally wound your feelings. You will, of course, have to be guarded in your speech and temper. And you will have to take off that rebel uniform," was added. To this he replied, that if 1 would allow him to consult with his com manding officer he would report to me shortly. Within an hour he came back, accepting my invitation, and was taken to a ready-made clothing store that had just been opened, where he exchanged his Confederate gray suit for a citi zen s dress, and was told that he " looked better." He realized this more fully when we took the crowded boat for Baltimore and saw what scant courtesy one received 428 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. who wore the rebel uniform. We sincerely pitied and admired him when we stopped at the hotel in the morning for breakfast and found he had no appetite for it, and only took out his prayer book and quietly comforted his- heavy heart with that best balm for every wound. He came North and enjoyed his visit with his friends, and returned South, where he is a good citizen, with a large family of this kind grown up around him. So peace has her victories as well as war, and I take more satisfaction in this kind of capture of a single Confederate, than if I had slain a score. Our party brought back, of course, more or less memen toes of the war. Major General Charles Devens of Massa chusetts, who distinguished himself at Fair Oaks, Antie- tain and Fredericksburg, the accomplished gentleman and scholar, who for twenty-five years after the war honored the bench of the Supreme court of his native State, and was then in command at Richmond, added much to the interest and value of our visit. He furnished us with ambulances and young officers to visit the fortifications and battlefields about the city, and we all brought back something of in terest besides the information we gained. Some of our number came back loaded with a broken musket and an unexploded bomb, while the rest of us were content with buttons and bullets, and black beans, such as the Confed erate soldiers were sometimes reduced to, as the principal part of their rations. For myself, I was content to bring home a piece of the rebel flag that was floating over the Capitol when our troops arrived there ; a rubber ruler marked " L. Cruger, Comptroller s office C. S.," which I have found convenient on my writing desk, and with which to spank my little grandsons, when obliged to carry out the teachings of Solomon, though it has seemed as if the in strument had too much of the Confederate temper in it, and needed to be used with more of the spirit that has come after the war. Besides this I had quite a quantity of signed WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 429 but unissued Confederate bonds, to be left to my heirs and make them wealthy, when they become of value, as they will when the Confederacy shall be established. As it is, there is wealth enough of its kind in such things, which so open to us the pages of history, impress us with the cost of so many privileges, and make us daily thankful to God that such times are forever over. CHAPTER XXVII. GOVERNOR BUCKINGHAM S RE-ELECTION IN 1865. Close of the War What Connecticut Had Done The Loyal Gover nors Reconstruction Begun in Congress and in the States The Adoption of the Xlllth Amendment by Connecticut Acquies cence in it by the South Testimony of a Southern Bishop. The end of the war came in the spring of 1865. Gov ernor Buckingham was then re-elected for the last time and by an increased majority. After having held the office eight years, and met the responsibilities of that critical and all-important period to the satisfaction of the State, he declined any further re-election, but a few years later was sent by the State to the United States Senate. As has been already remarked, political parties in Con necticut were generally so evenly balanced that a majority of a few hundred, or at most of 1,000 or 2,000, was enough to throw the influence of the State either for, or against, any administration. Thus Governor Buckingham s first election in 1858, when the war had not yet broken out, but was threatening, was by a majority of only 2,500 over all other votes, and in 1860, in the struggle for Mr. Lincoln s election, it fell to 500. Still in 1861, when the war was upon us, his majority rose to 2,000 ; in 1862, the midst of the war, to 9,000 ; and in 1865, when the war was closing, to 11,000. This last election took place the day after Lee surrendered, when the ringing of bells and the firing of cannon were proclaiming that the rebels were conquered, which, up to this time, so many insisted never could be done. Indeed, one of the Democratic papers explained the WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 431 poor showing of the party at that election, on the ground that it was impossible to bring out a full vote in such a state of things. The Governor, and the State, had gone into that war with distinct and righteous convictions, and while he counseled well, and led the way, the State rallied to his support, and stood by him to the last, with all her men and money and moral force, as no State could have done better. The State of Connecticut is small compared with other States. At that time she had a population of less than half a million, (461,000,) while Pennsylvania had 2,906,370 and New York 3,880,735. With this limited population she furnished 54,000 troops to the general gov ernment, which, reduced to the standard of three-years service, made 48,000, reckoned for that length of time. The other States all did noble service, and were as prodigal of the lives of their sons as they were of their wealth. But if Pennsylvania had furnished troops in the same propor tion, she might have supplied McClellan with t wo such magnificent armies, as that with which he commenced his Peninsular campaign ; and New York could have sent Sher man five such armies as the one with which he marched through the whole Southern Confederacy.* At one time more than one-tenth of the entire population of the State were in the army, and only two States in the Union fur nished more troops for the government in proportion to their population. These were Iowa, with her splendid * Adjutant General Morse, in his final report to the Governor, gives the following explanatory and fuller statement of this matter : "It will be noticed that in my report 1,800 are reported whose term of service is not known. This is to the credit allowed by the Naval Commission, and their term of service is to be determined by the Navy Department. Thus the State has furnished equal to 48,181 three-years men, from which deduct the total quota, also reduced, to the three-years stand ard, viz.: 41,483, and the State has a surplus of 6,G98 in three-years men, without reference to its quota under the call of December, 1864. Under this last call no troops were required to be furnished from this State. In fact no quota was as signed. Your Excellency was informed, that the surplus under former calls more than filled the demand under this, and the State was exempt." In other words, Connecticut always more than met the levies made upon her, and was never s\ib- jected to a draft. 432 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. patriotism, and more young men in it because of her re cent settlement, and the other, Illinois, with patriotism enough, and the additional enthusiasm of having furnished the nation with its President. As for the character of these troops, such a book as " Connecticut in the War," which details their services in the field, their sufferings in prison, and heroic deaths in the storm of battle; as well as that roll of honor* which contains so many of the highest promotions of the war ; to say nothing of the unmentioned and unhonored ones, by which such promotion could only have been won for their commanders, amazes us. To find so many such characters in our own times, and such achievements in our own country, and in this work-a-day age, when money making and practical politics are supposed to engross everybody; to have known these things by our own knowledge, and heard them from the lips of our friends and neighbors, and felt them to our heart s core, when our sons and brothers were brought home to be buried in a soldier s grave, and we have gone from the funeral to comfort the widow, and provide for the orphans ; gives to such achievements a glory which neither age, nor distance, nor the romance of history can -either intensify or brighten. When, therefore, Gov ernor Buckingham, at the very outbreak of the war, as his correspondence with the government already given, shows, pressed upon the War Department the acceptance of more of his troops, and assured Secretary Stanton that "no State, large or small, shall send your Excellency better troops, or stand by you in all your embarrassments and perplexities more firmly, than this Commonwealth;" and when he assured the President, that "to secure such high public interests, the State of Connecticut will bind her destinies more closely to those of the general government, and in adopting the measures suggested, she would renewedly pledge all her pecuniary and physical resources, and all her * See pages 292, & WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 433 moral power," he was not uttering unmeaning or incon siderate words. These loyal governors, who led the nation through that stern conflict, were a rare and noble set of men. Not, per haps, that they were so much more patriotic than others when all were patriotic, but they were so wise, so steadfast, so harmonious and so hopeful of success in the darkest periods of the war ; they were so sagacious in their judg ments from the beginning, such wise advisers of the gen eral government, so ready to furnish all the men and money that should be needed for any struggle, however desperate, and when the period of reconstruction came they were magnanimous enough to win the respect and confidence of well-nigh the whole South, we may well confer upon them the rank of truest nobility. The men who could counsel thus, and so command the confidence of their several States, and work so well together through these perilous times these were the men who may be justly said to have saved the Republic. Some of them had easier work than others, but all did their part nobly, and commanded the con fidence and support of their several States to the very last. It was the Governor of Massachusetts who sent the first armed regiment to fight their way through Baltimore to the capital, when other troops who had no arms were obliged to turn back. It was Connecticut s Governor whose armed troops first readied Washington, provided with baggage wagons and ammunition and everything needed for the field. Governor Morgan of New York, with his great State behind him, sent 220,000 troops to the front and put New York harbor in a state of defense. Governor Curtin also, with the resources of another great State, promptly responded to the first call for troops, and when General Patterson, who was in command of Pennsylvania s militia, asked for 25,000 more, furnished them also. And when these were refused by the Secretary of War, instead 434 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. of disbanding them, he obtained authority from the Legis lature to equip them at the State s expense and hold them subject to the call of the national government, and was thus able to honor promptly the frequent and heavy drafts made upon him. Governor Morton of Indiana had the hardest time of any of them, but held the State firmly to the support of the war, though a Democratic Legis lature came into power which refused to receive the Governor s message, and was about to take from him the command of the militia. The Republican members withdrew, leaving both houses without a quorum, when in order to carry on the State government and pay the State bonds he obtained advances from banks and county boards, and appointed a bureau of finance, which from April, 1863. till January, 1865, made all disbursements of the State, amounting to more than $1,000,000. During this period he refused to summon the Legislature. The Supreme Court condemned this arbitrary course, but the people subsequently applauded his action, and the State assumed the obligations that he had incurred. These were the men to whom Mr. Lincoln looked for advice and sup port, and with such support the government dared to under take and successfully accomplished the greatest achieve ments of our history. The ending of the war called not only for the recon struction of the Union and the terms upon which the Secession States were to be restored, but slavery was to be once and forever disposed of by an amendment to the Con stitution. This could only be done by the action of the several States, as well as by Congress, so the governors had work enough the first year after the war to secure the adoption of the amendment, and settle up their State accounts with the general government, before they could retire from office. This work was done with such wis dom and fidelity to their various trusts, that it was the WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 435 crowning glory of their several administrations. In Congress, such an amendment had to be adopted by a two-thirds vote of each branch of that body before it could be submitted to the several States, to be ratified by a similar majority of each branch of the Legisla ture. The attempt to adopt it in Congress at the close of 1864 failed, though urged by. the President in his message. But early in 1865, as the war was about to end in the triumph of freedom, and when the presidential elec tion had so completely changed the political character of both branches of Congress, the amendment was adopted there by the necessary majority, and successively adopted by three-fourths of the thirty-six States of the Union. When the General Assembly of Connecticut met on the first Wednesday of May of that year, every Confederate army had either surrendered or was disbanding itself. In the following language, Governor Buckingham urged the immediate ratification of the amendment wjiich was forever to abolish slavery: "As slavery has been the cause of our woes and our burdens, it is our duty to labor for its abolition. An institution antagonistic to liberty, and opposed to the first elements of Christianity ; an institution which, in its barbarous tendency, planned and perpetuated a cowardly, brutal and murderous assault upon freedom of speech, and upon fidelity to truth, in the person of a scholarly and accomplished statesman in the American Senate; an institution which instigated the Rebellion which scored and imprisoned our sons, and sent them by tens of thousands to the grave by starvation, and which, to crown its work of infamy, assassinated the President; has forfeited all right to protection and life, and merits our vigorous and undying opposition. If, during this struggle we shall sustain the general government in the performance of its proper func tions, abolish the inhuman system of slavery, punish traitors, and adhere perpetually to the demands of truth, 436 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. righteousness and justice, we may hope that throughout an undivided nation our prosperity will be increased, our peace be uninterrupted, and our liberties be eternal." A resolution was at once introduced into the House of Representatives, adopting and ratifying the XHIth Amend ment to the Constitution of the United States, abolishing and prohibiting slavery. "The Democratic leaders prom ised that no opposition should be made to the passage of the resolution, provided the yeas and nays were not called. Under this agreement, the resolution was passed nem. con., the Republicans voting aye and the Democrats main taining the stipulated silence. In the Senate, the roll was called and the twenty-one Republican Senators voted yes. So Connecticut cast her vote for the abolition of slavery without a dissentient voice." Thus this real climax of the war was reached, and these loyal men were all agreed about it, and alike persistent in securing it. And when this was accomplished, they might well, like the Governor of Connecticut, lay their cares and their honors down, and retire at least for a while to private life. For history will do them justice, and they must ever be regarded as remarkable men, such as have been the product of no other age, nor have left to their country and to mankind such another bequest of liberty and humanity. The reconstructive period of the government, which im mediately succeeded the war, was almost as full of peril as the war itself. Upon what terms were the Secession States to be received back into the Union ? What penalties were to be inflicted upon the leaders of the Rebellion ? What privileges were to be given to the emancipated slave, and what legislation adopted to make him eventually an American citizen, and allow him to vote among a white population ? And how could the South be conciliated by our consideration and magnanimity, so as to forget the ani mosities of the war. and let us become a truly united WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 437 people ? These were questions delicate and perplexing enough to tax the wisest statesmanship, as well as the best- controlled and most Christian spirit. And here was where a surprising difficulty was encountered in Mr. Lincoln s successor. President Johnson was a strange man, and if he had not been so strangely unreasonable and forfeited to such an extent the confidence of the country, he would have caused the government more embarrassment than he did, and have defeated the best results of the war. He held that the Secession States were still in the Union ; he vetoed the Freedmen s Bureau bill, designed to protect the negroes; he vetoed the Civil Rights bill, which made the freed men citizens without the right of suffrage, and after wards the bill giving them the right of suffrage in the Dis trict of Columbia was passed over his veto. And when the XlVth Amendment followed, to carry out and more effectually execute the XHIth, it had to encounter his dis approval and earnest opposition. The President was finally impeached before the Senate for violating the provisions of the Tenure of Office Act, and on his trial only escaped con viction where three-fourths of the body were required to convict, for the lack of one more vote in behalf of the prosecutors. Still, in spite of this and every other ob struction in the way of the reconstruction of the Union, it was well done, and has been endorsed by all parties and all parts of the country, South as well as North, which is the highest testimony that could be paid to its wisdom and justice, and the necessity for it. That Xlllth Amendment, with its few lines and simple language, and two clauses, Clause I. Neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly con victed, shall exist within the "United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Clause II. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. 438 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. is the charter of our freedom and foundation of our Re public. The privileges of the English people, contained in their Magna Charta, as wrung from one of their sovereigns at Runny mede, were not greater or more fundamental than these are to us.. But for these privileges, the English mon- archs had still been the vassals of the Pope, and England a province of France, while but for ours, 4,000,000 of our popu lation had continued to be plantation slaves, " with no rights which a white man was bound to respect," and the rest of us required to be slave hunters and bound to help keep them in that condition forever. It is certainly cheering after the alienations of a century and the struggles of a civil war, and within thirty years after that war, to have one competent from his Southern birth and training, and his present position and his Christian spirit, tell us : Living in that section of the country which was last and longest cursed by the institution of slavery, and myself the son of a slave holder, I rejoice beyond expression in the fact and providence of emancipation. The hateful thing is dead and buried beyond power or possibility of resurrection, and for this all our people are devoutly thankful. With an extensive acquaintance over the entire South land, I do not know a single person, old or young, who would consent to its restoration. [Bishop Galloway, of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, 1892. CHAPTER XXVIII. GREAT BRITAIN CALLED TO ACCOUNT FOR BUILDING CONFED ERATE CRUISERS. The Alabama Our Claims for Damages The Geneva Award " How I Ran into the Builder of the Alabama" Napoleon Ill s Latin Kingdom in Mexico Disposed of by Our " Monroe Doctrine." The end of our war required not only the reconstruction of our own government, but also the settlement of important matters with foreign governments, particularly Great Britain, and France, who had taken advantage of our em barrassments to encroach upon our rights, as they never would have thought of doing had we been free to prevent it at the time. Great Britain had allowed piratical vessels, or " Confederate Cruis ers," as they were called, to be built by her subjects, and sent out to prey upon our commerce. This was done to a considerable extent, but the most reckless and hostile instance of it was the case of the Alabama. This vessel, called by the number of her dock on the Clyde, where she was built, " The 290," and built by a firm to which the Laird Brothers, one of whom was a member of Parliament, belonged, caused the greatest consternation to our shipping, and it was a long time before her depredations could be stopped. She was built in the summer of 1862, and her depredations were not put an end to for a full year. In the meantime, under command of an English captain, she went to one of the West Indian Islands, and was there joined by another English vessel, from which she received her armament, and soon after still another brought her Semmes, the former captain of another Confederate privateer, and a crew. On Sunday, August 26th, 1862, having received her arms, crew and commander, and being in other respects ready, "The 290" steamed out of port. When in the open sea, Semmes appeared on deck in full uniform, and announced that the ship was hereafter the Confederate steamship Alabama. The British flag was hauled down, the Confederate hoisted and saluted. 440 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. The crew were British. On the 29th of August she began her cruise, and on the 5th of September made her first capture, burning the ship and putting the crew in irons. By the close of October, she had made twenty-seven prizes. Her manner of operatios, as indeed was the case with all the Anglo-Confederate cruisers, was to approach her prey under the British flag, and when it was captured to hoist the Confederate. Semmes then either burnt or bonded his victim. Having received a supply of coal at one of the West Indian Islands, he lay in wait for the California treasure-ships, capturing one, the Ariel, which, however, was outward bound, and therefore not very profit able. On January 11 he sunk the Hatteras, one of the blockading ships off Galveston, having lured her within reach by hoisting British colors and hailing as her Majesty s ship, Petrel. He subse quently cruised in the West India seas for a time, and then went to the coast of Brazil. He then crossed the Atlantic to Cape Town, August 5th, and thence to the Malay Archipelago, which he reached in November. After an unproductive cruise of three months in those waters, he returned, destroying on his way but few American vessels, for there were but few now upon the sea. On the llth of June he went into the French harbor of Cherbourg. [Draper s " Civil War," Vol. 7/1, p. 201. All this, be it remembered, took place when this ship of war had no recognized government to issue any such com mission ; * had not a port in the wide world where it could take its prizes, and have them adjudged lawful prizes by consular power, as the laws of civilized nations require. Seemingly such a vessel might have been hunted down by the navy of every civilized nation, and especially by Eng land s, through whose negligence, if not direct connivance, she was proving the pest of all commerce. In June, 1864. the Alabama found shelter in the harbor of Cherbourg, Prance, where she found sympathy, but where the French government could hardly be said to wel come her for fear of complications with our government. This port is only separated from England by the British * The only commission which this ship had was the following : Captain Semmes took command, and drawing up the crew read his commission as a port captain in the Confederate Navy, and opened his sealed orders in which he was directed to hoist the Confederate ensign and pennant and "to sink, burn and destroy every thing which flew the ensign of the so-called United States of America." WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 441 Channel, and our ship of war, the Kearsarge, was at Flush ing, not far off, and came with all haste at the call of our French minister, Mr. Dayton, to look after her. Without entering the port, Captain Winslow lay off the harbor, sailing back and forth, as a challenge to the Alabama to come out and fight, which could not be done within the harbor. Captain Semmes, confident that he could meet any thing of her class, and encouraged by those whose wishes were for his success, and who flattered him with the assur ance of it, sailed out of the harbor on the morning of the 19th of June, when the Kearsarge led off with the Alabama in pursuit, until they should both get more than a marine league from the shore. Then the Kearsarge turned short about and steered directly for her antagonist, intending to run her down, or if that was not possible, to engage her at close quarters. It was a beautiful Sunday morning, the atmosphere a little hazy, with a gentle breeze blowing from the west. Many vessels had followed the Confederate corsair, and she had encountered many more on that path way of commerce, while the shore was lined with spectators to listen to the guns if they could not see the ships. Cap tain Winslow was determined that if skillful seamanship and desperate fighting could win the battle, it should be done. When the Alabama had come within a mile of the enemy, she turned her full broadside upon her, and began firing rapidly, but doing little damage. Another and another broadside came from her, still without much harm to the Union vessel except to her rigging. The Kearsarge was now within nine hundred yards of her enemy, and had not yet fired a shot; but her commander, apprehensive that another broadside, which would have raked her, might prove dis astrous, sheered his vessel and opened on the Alabama. The vessels now lay broadside and broadside, and Winslow, fearing that Semmes might make for the shore, made up his mind to keep full speed on, to run under the stern of the Alabama and rake her. To avoid this Semmes kept sheering, and as a consequence the two vessels, with a 442 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. full head of steam, fell into a circular track which continued during the whole engagement. The firing of the Alabama was at first rapid and wild. On board the Kearsarge the firing was much more delib erate. The Confederate fired some two shots to one fired by the Eearsarge, but with little effect. Only three persons were wounded 011 the national vessel, of whom one afterwards died, while nearly every shot from the guns of the Kearsarge told fearfully on the Alabama. Six times the vessels had circled around each other, the Alabama, with all her noise and fury, doing little damage, while the steady fire of the Kearsarge was working havoc on the decks and hull of the Confederate. At last, on the seventh rotation, Semmes, per ceiving the battle was lost, tried to take flight for the shore of France. His port broadside was then presented to the Kearsarge with only two guns bearing. Winslow now saw that his enemy was at his mercy, and poured his shot into her, and in a few moments had the satisfac tion of seeing a white flag displayed over her stern. A moment later the Alabama lowered her boats, and an officer came alongside the Kearsarge, informing Winslow that the ship was sinking. Twenty minutes later she went down by the stern, her batteries rushing aft weighing her down, her bow rising high out of the water. The Alabama had sunk before the Kearsarge was ready with her boats to rescue the Confederate crew. While Winslow was lowering his boats for this purpose, he took notice of the English yacht Deerhouud, which had steamed out from Cherbourg to watch the fight, and requested John Lancaster, her owner, to assist him in picking up the drowning men. The latter instantly availed himself of this request in a manner which amazed the commander of the Kearsarge. In ten minutes after the request was made, the English captain had Semmes and about forty of his officers and men on board, and then steamed away to the English shore. -["History of Abraham Lincoln," Vol. IX, p. 150. This was the source of much indignation on our part, while the English press justified it. This whole business of building Confederate cruisers by the English, led to a serious complication of relations between this country and Great Britain, which fortunately resulted in a reference to an arbitration at Geneva, that settled the matter to the general satisfaction of both parties. Our minister in London at that time was Mr. Adams, who, like the other members of that distinguished family, had sound judgment, fearless integrity, and a patriotism WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 443 which no iiattery could corrupt nor statecraft mislead. He repeatedly called attention to the construction in England of vessels to be used by the Confederacy, one being the Florida and another the Alabama. Lord Russell, on the part of the British government, disclaimed knowledge of the facts, and did not see how his government could prevent what was said to be going on. In the meantime Mr. Adams was collecting proof of the ownership of the Alabama, and the use to which she was to be put, and also secured " the legal opinion of one of the most eminent English lawyers, Mr. Collier, afterwards Lord Monkswell, declaring positively that on the case as pre sented it was the duty of the Liverpool authorities to detain the vessel, and that they would be incurring a heavy respon sibility in allowing her to go." On account of these communications, the law officers began their leisurely examination, and sent orders to stop the vessel. But before they were executed the Confederate cruiser Alabama was gone , and on her way around the world, a besom of destruc tion to our commerce and a sad reproach to the British government, and for which she was afterwards to answer.* At this time the unfortunate Peninsular campaign was being carried on, and hope for Union success was not so bright as it had been before and was afterwards. The wrong was borne for the time. Later, when we had suc- * For the sense of wrong which we felt in this crisis of our war for such unjusti fiable aid to our enemies, and at the almost uniform utterances of England s public men and her Parliament in sympathy with the Confederacy, and assured prophe cies of their success ; and also for England s persistent denial of the wrong she had done us in building those rebel cruisers, and for the " easy indifference, if not contempt," with which for six years she treated our reasonable and generous offers to settle all claims for damages, and prevent their repetition in the future, the reader is referred to Mr. Elaine s "Twenty Years in Congress," Vol. II, Chap. XX. It was not until the Franco-Prussian war showed what damage might have been done to either of those belligerents by such a disregard of neutrality laws, and until President Grant proposed to Congress to pay the Alabama claims out of the United States treasury, as showing that the British government would always bo held accountable for them, that England was willing to settle those claims upon any terms, and in hot haste submitted them to the Geneva arbitration. 444 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. ceeded, the British government became alarmed by the position in which it found itself, and asked for an adjust ment of this difficulty. For when she should be at war with any nation, even the weakest, we had only to interpret our neutrality treaties as she had done, to build ships of war ior her enemy, and make a formidable enemy of the weakest. So when some adjustment of the matter was sought for, we proposed a reference, and to settle it by arbitration, as a fair and improved method of adjusting such international difficulties, which was done. It was not effected, however, until 1872 ten years after these wrongs were done us under President Grant s administration, when the u Alabama Claims," as they were called, were referred to a court of arbitration, which held its session at Geneva, Switzerland, in September of that year, and awarded the United States the sum of $15,500,000, which was paid. " Twelve Confederate crusiers figured in the so-called Alabama Claims settlement with England, named in the order of the damage inflicted by each. They weref the Alabama, Shcnandoah, Florida, Tallahassaee, Georgia, Chick- amauga, Sumter, Nashville, Retribution, Jeff Davis, Sallie and Boston. The actual losses inflicted by the Alabama, $7,050,293.76, according to claims for ships and cargoes filed up to March 15, 1872, were only about $400,000 greater than those inflicted by the Shenandoah. The sum total of the claims filed against the twelve cruisers for ships and cargoes up to March 15, 1872, was $19,782,917.60, all but about $6,000,000 of it being charged to the Alabama and Shenandoah. On May 8, 1871, the Treaty of Washington was con cluded, in accordance with which a Tribunal of Arbitration was appointed, which assembled at Geneva. It consisted of Count Frederick Sciopis, named by the King of Italy ; Mr. Jacob Staempfli. named by the President of the Swiss Confederation; Viscount d ltajuba, named by the Emperor WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 445 of Brazil ; Mr. Charles Francis Adams, named by the Presi dent of the United States, and Sir Roundell Palmer (after wards Lord Selborne). The United States was represented by William M. Evarts, Secretary of State; Caleb Gushing, an old diplomat, and Morrison R. Waite, afterwards Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Claims were made by the United States for indirect and national losses, as well as for the actual private losses represented by nearly $20,000,000 on ships and cargoes. The Tribunal decided that England was in no way re sponsible for such indirect and national losses. ("War Book," Vol. IV, p. 625.) As showing among other things the manner in which this award was regarded in Great Britain, the author in serts here an article written by him after a visit to England in the summer of 1877, soon after General Grant was there. It records also his own judgment of the award at the time, which has not been materially changed since. It was writ ten to be printed, though never published, under the title : " How I RAN INTO THE BUILDER OP THE ALABAMA." "In the summer of 1877, I was traveling in Great Britain, and at the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin, fell in with an intelligent gentleman and his most agreeable wife. I knew he was an Englishman, as he must have known that I was an American. He had traveled extensively, having been in Australia, as well as over Europe, and was re markably well acquainted with business matters in this country, though he had never been here. I suppose we were both cautious, I certainly was, not to get upon sub jects where we should disagree, and so the day was past and the dinner hour in most agreeable conversation, and with no collision of opinions. As I was to leave in the morning, I took occasion to sit down with them the last of the evening for another talk, in which I expressed, my 446 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. gratification in having met with them, and the hope that we might meet again. I expressed some surprise that in all their travels they had not visited us, and said : I hope we shall some time see you over there. We shall be glad to see you. To this his wife, in an arch and mischievous way, replied : Perhaps, if you knew who he is, you might not be so glad to see him. Suspecting nothing more than mischief from her frank and gleesome manner, and even now unable to understand how she could have let the secret out to an American, I drew her out until I found that her husband was one of the Laird Brothers, the Liverpool ship builders, and one of them a member of Parliament, who had built the Alabama. The revelation, it must be con fessed, stirred my indignation, but controlling my temper and speech, we were soon engaged in discussing the subject of our war, and the recent Geneva Award. His justification was, that they all believed that our war must prove a failure, and if the government was to be broken up, they might reap whatever benefits they could from our de struction ; the very principles of a wrecker, who sees a ship driving upon the rocks, without either helpfulness or pity, but waits for her to break up, and then to go in for the wreckage ; only in this case the wrecker goes in with all his heart and might to help wreck her. " This gentleman soon made complaint of the Geneva Award as excessive. Fifteen million and a half ! It was admitted that it might be excessive, so far as actual damages were concerned, though as our government reckoned them up, and was proposing itself to pay these several sums to the claimants, they were nineteen million or more. But this did not begin to cover the indirect damages, for it had driven no small part of our com merce from the ocean, or at least had compelled it to be carried under some other flag, and there was no telling when, if ever, we should recover our fair amount of the WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 4i7 carrying trade of the world. For this the award was certainly no adequate compensation. "A question was then asked, and in seriousness, which surprised . and irritated me, so that I replied that I thought if he realized the bearings of that question, he never would have asked it. The question was: 4 Is your government never likely to repay any part of that excessive award? And why is that such an improper question? The answer was : Your government was very anxious when our war was over to settle that difficulty. You could not afford to leave the interpretation of Neutrality Laws and Treaties an open question. You are much more likely to be engaged in foreign wars than we are, and if not with some of your powerful neighbors, such as France, or Llus- sia., where our aid to strengthen their navy would be most to your injury; if it were only with some inferior power you were fighting, and we could build all the war ships for them that they needed, even then it would play mischief with your widely extended commerce. The truth was, that when our war was over and the Union safe, we were so well satisfied that we could afford to be magnanimous, and instead of being resentful for your unfair treatment of us, we were willing to let you find out for yourselves that the wrong you had done us must be rectified, if you were ever to feel secure from such a danger. Why, if we had wished to repay your wrong, and you were engaged in war with any nation, we had only to interpret our Neutrality Laws and Treaties as you did, to have gone into the business of building piratical cruisers for them as you did for the Con federacy. If you had got into war with the Feji Islanders, we could have built Alabamas for them and swept your commerce from the ocean. Do you understand what I meant, when I expressed surprise at your asking such a question ? After that we parted on good terms, but with a better understanding, I must think, on his part, of what 448 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. their business firm, and their government had been doing, without realizing what a wrong they had done, and in what a peril they had involved their nation. [Note page 451.] " It was gratifying to see the respect and high honor bestowed by the English people upon our ex-President, General Grant, who had so recently been there. It was difficult to account for it, arid the people themselves seemed unable to explain it. In visiting Windsor Castle, one of the officials pointed out the wing of the castle and suite of rooms where, as he said, < your General Grant had just been entertained. lie said that the Queen showed him attentions such as were scarcely shown to royalty itself. She took him to ride with her through the park. And when I asked, Why did you treat him with so much consideration ? his answer was, Oh, we liked him ! we liked him ! We hardly expected any profound an swer from such an official. But we made up our minds that they admired the honest, sensible, straightfor ward pluckiness of Wellington in him, and also that they were anxious to make in some measure the amende honorable for their lack of sympathy with us in our strug gle, and the wrong they had done us in building privateers for the Confederacy. " Thank God that is all over now, and the sympathy of blood and language, and civilization and religion, have resumed their influence, arid are together the most powerful and hopeful influence in the world s future." Another international difficulty which had arisen during our war, and which threatened trouble under our " Monroe Doctrine," was also successfully disposed of. The French Emperor, Napoleon III, who had been anx ious to recognize the independence of the Confederacy, but was unable to induce either of the three great powers of Europe, Great Britain, Prussia, or Russia the latter espe cially being strongly opposed to it to join him in it, thought WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 449 it a good time to carry out a favorite plan of his own, while our hands were tied, and in the confidence that the Confederacy would succeed in establishing an empire of its own. His plan was to overthrow the government of Mexico as a republic, and establish a monarchy, and the papacy with it, both of which had been overthrown in Mexico. So, with the sanction of the Pope, he fitted out a military expedition to Mexico in the summer of 1863, who called together those who were opposed to the Republican government under Jurez, and organized an " Assembly of Notables," which decreed the following revolutionary form of government : 1. The Mexican nation adopts, as its form of government, a limited hereditary monarchy, with a Catholic prince. 2. The sovereign shall take the title of Emperor of Mexico. 3. The imperial crown of Mexico is offered to his imperial arid royal highness the Prince Ferdinand Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, for himself and his descendants. 4. If, under circumstances which cannot be foreseen, the Archduke of Austria, Ferdinand Maximilian, should not take possession of the throne which is offered to him, the Mexican nation relies on the good will of his majesty, Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, to indicate for it another Catholic prince. This form of government was nominally submitted to the people, and by them adopted, but it was when Mexico was occupied by a French army, which held Pueblo and the city of Mexico, and this form of government was immedi ately overthrown when the French troops were withdrawn, showing that it was never adopted by the people, but forced upon them by military power. Maximilian, however, accepted the offer, and was brought over by a French fleet, and crowned Emperor of Mexico, and Carlotta as Empress. But in the meantime our war had ended in our favor, and the French Emperor at once found himself obliged to abandon this enterprise, and leave this poor young prince and princess to their miserable fate. 450 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Maximilian was forced to abandon his capital, and, broken down in health and spirit, was soon after arrested, tried and executed for treason, while Carlotta, a devoted wife and superior woman, having hope in her own personal and family influence, hastened to Europe to plead with the French Emperor, and the Emperor of Austria, to interfere in behalf of her husband. The reason of it all was, that the " Monroe Doctrine," as it was called, whatever it might mean, and whether enforced or not, made Napoleon draw back from his ambitious enterprise of founding a Latin empire on this continent, as soon as we were in a condition to protest against it, and had power to push that protest, if it was considered necessary. It is not generally known that our position upon this subject was pressed upon us for adoption by Lord Canning, the British statesman, and was intro duced by President Monroe into his message to Congress in 1823. It was earnestly advised by ex-President Jefferson, who, in his letter to Mr. Monroe, says: Our first fundamental maxim should be never to entangle ourselves in the broils of Europe; our second, never to suffer Europe to meddle with our cis-Atlantic affairs. America, North and South, has a set of separate interests distinct from those of Europe, and peculiarly her own. She should, therefore, have a system of her own, separate and apart from that of Europe. While the last is laboring to become the domicile of despotism, our endeavor should surely be to make our hemisphere that of freedom. One nation (England), most of all, could disturb us in this pursuit. She now offers to lead and accom pany us in it. By acceding to this position, we detach her from the bands of despots, bring her mighty weight into the scale of free government, and emancipate a continent at one stroke, which might otherwise linger long in doubt and difficulty. Great Britain is the nation which can do us the most harm of any one on all the earth, and with her on our side we need not fear the whole world. With her then we must most seriously cherish a cordial friendship, and nothing would tend more to unite our affections, than to be fight ing once more side by side in the same cause. It is only protesting against the atrocious violations of the rights of nations by the inter ference of any one in the internal affairs of another, so flagrantly WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 451 begun by Napoleon I, and now continued by the equally lawless alliance calling itself holy.* These ideas are summed up by President Monroe in his message in the statement of the principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved, that the two continents by the free and independent condition they have assumed and maintained, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers. And especially when such colonizations are organized as hereditary monarchies, and with the Roman Catholic church as the established religion, the right is claimed of protesting against it, and of carry ing such protest as far as may be thought expedient to prevent it. It was such a protest on our part against the invasion of Mexico by a French army and the establishment of an hereditary monarchy under a Catholic and foreign prince, and our ability to enforce that protest if necessary when our war was over, that made Napoleon withdraw his troops and abandon his Austrian prince to his fate. And so this protest has answered its purpose for the greater part of a century without our being obliged to resort to force, and so may it prove in the future. * This means the " Holy Alliance " entered into in 1815 by Russia, Austria and Prussia, for the maintenance of "peace and the establishment of existing dynasties." NOTE. Page 448. As showing the perverted judgment of the English people in respect to this matt* r. Bishop Brooks tells us what Tennyson, one of our good friends, and whom we held in high honor, said to him: "We should think you w< uld be ashamed to keep that award," while we were wondering that they were not ashamed to cause us such loss. CHAPTER XXIX UNITED STATES SENATOR. Governor Buckingham s Term in the Senate His Share in Main taining What Had Been Gained by the War Some of His Work His Death Shortly Before the Expiration of His Term of Office. When the war was over, and the interests of Connecticut were well settled with the general government, and Gover nor Buckingham had held his office eight years, he declined re-election, and in 1868 was sent to the United States Senate. In the meantime he had met with a sore domestic bereave ment in the death of his wife. He had been singularly favored and happy in his family relations. His wife, Eliza Ripley, belonged to an old, large and respected Norwich family of eight children, who mostly settled in the town, and had families of their own, which of themselves made a considerable social circle, but concerned as they were in all the interests of society, it rather indicates the breadth of their intercourse and abounding hospitality. A Thanks giving dinner with twenty or more at the table, an evening party of a score of nephews and nieces and several times that number of their young friends, the daily entertain ment not only of men in public life, but of ministers, mis sionaries, students, or some neighbors from the old Lebanon home, which was near, were mattery of course. And it was hospitality as sincere and unstinted as could be found anywhere. No one who ever enjoyed it, and espe cially was accustomed to share in it, could forget the parents and the daughter * who constituted the family, and * This daughter became the wife of General William A. Aiken of Norwich, and the mother of a lar^e family, where they now reside. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 453 who were never weary in contributing to the comfort and enjoyment of their guests. The mother, a great-hearted woman, full of the tenderest sympathy, with hands wide open to want, and with sufficient means at her disposal, always had a company of dependants who knew that as long as she lived they would never be deserted, and when she died cherished her memory as they would few of their own kindred. To her own husband, she was for forty years all that a wife could be in tender affection, efficient helpfulness, and as sharing their Christian faith and im mortal hopes together. And nothing could have expressed more fittingly the estimation in which he cherished her memory than the inscription he had chiseled upon the fam ily monument under her name : " I thank my God upon every remembrance of you." (Phil, i: 3.) Her death was a sad bereavement, and especially when he was released from the cares of state, to enjoy his family and friends the more. Indeed, his election to the United States Senate had little interest to him at that time, and especially if he must go to Washington without taking with him the de voted wife and true helpmeet of his life. Notwithstanding this, he purchased a residence in Washington, and contributed his part to the social life of the capital and to the enter tainment of strangers, with one of his wife s nieces to pre side over his table and household, who will be pleasantly remembered by those who shared his hospitality there. How he accepted his bereavement and bore it like a Chris tian, may be seen from his reply to one who extended his sympathy, and to whom he wrote as follows : I am greatly obliged for your kind and sympathetic letter. You knew Mrs. Buckingham quite well, for she carried her heart in her face and her character was perfectly transparent. There was no deceit and no guile. She humbly trusted in Christ, lived to please him, and in the hour of trial he was true to his promise and did not forsake her. Her end was peaceful. While I sorrow and mourn, I 454 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. also rejoice in God s goodness tons. My heart was never so large before. Until now it never held so much sorrow and so much jay; sorrow that the light of my dwelling is removed, and joy that she has gone where there is "no need of the sun, nor of the moon to shine, for the glory of God and the Lamb" are the light of her present dwelling place. Governor Buckingham was elected to the United States Senate in 1868, and took his seat March, 1869, for the term of six years. This was the first session of the Forty- first Congress, when the Republican ticket of Grant and Colfax swept the country by 214 electoral votes, to eighty for Seymour and Blair. It was the indorsement by the country of the administration which had carried through the war successfully, and especially disposed once and forever of Secession and slavery. President Lincoln had been assassinated four years before, just as he was entering upon his second term of office. Vice-President Johnson, who succeeded to the presidency, soon broke away from all sym pathy with his party, and in a strange and reckless way set out to defeat their plans of reconstruction. What he had done added greatly to the difficulties of President Grant s position, and multiplied obstacles to the reconstruction of the Union. Indeed, it seemed as if there was never to be any end of these obstacles and difficulties. And it only increases our respect for the statesmanship and patriotism of the men who managed our national affairs through all that perilous period, and intensifies our gratitude to that good Provi dence which raised up and guided our statesmen, as well as inspired the nation with such intelligent and self-sacrificing patriotism. And if Congress under President Johnson s administra tion, and in spite of his hindrances, made a good beginning in the work of reconstruction, and secured the adoption of the amendments of the Constitution which abolished slavery, and gave the freedmen the rights of citizenship, and received the Secession States back into the Union, and WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 455 all this had been accomplished before General Grant came to the presidency; still there was work enough left, and anp! of this kind, for the new President and his administra tion. The new amendments of the Constitution were to be carried out, and the spirit of them enforced so far as pos sible, and this required much and difficult legislation. Political disabilities were to be removed from individuals and classes for their connection with Secession, which was done until " more than 3,000 participators in the rebellion, among them some of the most prominent and influential, were restored to the full privileges of citizenship ; the rule being, in fact, that any one who asked for it, either through himself or his friends, was freely granted remission of penalty." Provision was also to be made for the national debt, for taking off the tariff and taxes of the war, and for a good banking system, all of which was done greatly to the credit of President Grant s administration. Before his second term of office was ended, he had also frightened the French out of Mexico, satisfactorily settled our Alabama claims against England, and adjusted all our boundary ques tions with Great Britain, some of which had been in dispute ever since the government was organized, so that he could say in one of his last messages, and ninety years after the close of the Revolutionary war : " We are permitted to add that for the first time in the history of the United States as a nation, we are left without a question of dis puted boundary between our territory and the possessions of Great Britain on the American continent." Whatever may be thought of his unsuccessful attempt to annex St. Do mingo, the bitter and personal attacks made upon him for it in Congress, and by a portion of the press, led him, in his last message to Congress, nearly six years after the controversy had closed, to restate his reasons for it, arid in self-vindication, he said : " If my views had been con curred in, the country would have been in a more pros- 456 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. perous condition to-day, both politically and financially;" and add^ : "I do not present these views now as a recom mendation for a renewal of the subject of annexation, but I do refer to it to vindicate my previous action in re gard to it." While Senator Buckingham was a reliable supporter of President Grant and his administration, he was decidedly opposed to this St. Domingo project, and in one of his letters to a friend thus characterizes it : " You may notice the President s message relating to St. Domingo. The message is well enough, but the people are not. I know not what follies the people may commit, but to annex St. Domingo to this government would be folly and a crime. Instead of being a source of revenue, it will cost us millions every year." And when congratulated on the defeat of the measure, he writes of it as follows : " You speak of the St. Domingo question as being at rest. I hope it may prove a permanent sleep, but this I do not anticipate. The President may never publicly urge the annexation of that part of the island again, but there are men who have pecuniary interests to be promoted by an annexation, which will not let it rest. Those most interested may keep in the background, but they will push forward their agents, who will adopt measures to accomplish their object, and the claim will be made that they utter the voice of the people. This is what I fear and what I expect, and I shall regard it as a favorable Divine interposition if the scheme can be finally defeated." It was in such a state of things, and the legislation that was required at such a critical period of our history, that Senator Buckingham entered the Senate, and for six of those important years of President Grant s administration, he gave the President his confidence and support. In all those matters of reconstruction and adjustment to the new order of things which kept coming up, and in those " car- WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 457 pet-bagger" corruptions, and " Ku-Klux " outrages, and "Credit Mobilier" frauds, he bore his share of responsi bility of investigation and judgment. But it was particularly in hard and faithful committee work upon currency and commerce, and especially as chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs, and chairman of a special committee to investigate frauds in the New York Customhouse, that he displayed his good judgment and even temper and conscientious regard for the highest standard of personal integrity. One of his early speeches in the Senate was upon the removal of disabilities and the restoration of political privi leges to those who had been implicated in the rebellion. And from one who held to such strict principles of justice and retribution for such a crime as treason (which we all of us cherished in the stress of the war, and which were only modified when the South surrendered, and we were ready to welcome them back upon almost any terms), it was perhaps hardly to have been expected that he should have been so lenient and magnanimous toward such crimi nals. It was within a month after President Lincoln s as sassination that he thus expressed, in his annual message to the Legislature, the general sentiment of loyal people : Leniency without distinction between loyalty and treason, is more certain to subvert the government than is rebellion itself. Clemency at the sacrifice of justice, is abandonment of the govern ment. Every field of carnage, every rebel prison, every soldier s grave, and the blood of the martyred President, unite with a violated law and demand the penalty. Let it be inflicted, beginning with the leaders in crime, and let it be followed up with a firm hand until the innocent and the loyal shall be conscious of security under the vindi cated majesty of the law. Then, and not till then, may we safely restore forfeited rights, and extend forgiveness with a beneficent prodigality. [Message of 1864. No wonder Senator Platt, in referring to this utterance at the unveiling of his statue, asks : " Who shall say 458 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. that he was wholly wrong ? And yet he was one of the kindest of men, full of the tenderest sympathy, ready to overlook a fault, with an almost womanly love for his friends. Who shall say that it is not mistaken clemency which pardons unrepentant crime ? Who shall say that such mistakes, though lauded as generosity, do not in the long run bear bitter fruit?" And yet with such stern convictions of the necessity of law, and penalty, and the infliction of it upon such men as the leaders in Secession, and the instigators of a civil war, and the inaugurators of such a state of things as led to the assassination of Mr. Lincoln, the Senator from Connecticut advocated the bill for the removal of legal and political disabilities from the mass of the Confederates. He saw that the state of things had changed, and that the disposition of the conquerors was to be generous and magnanimous toward their mis guided enemies. So many had been relieved of their disabilities, that the rest ought to be. So that he now welcomed them to "every right, every privilege, every position." And he adds : " I shall welcome them, either with or without repentance, but with the hope a hope based on desire rather than conviction that this relief from merited punishment, and their full restoration to all the rights of citizenship, will inspire their hearts with loyalty to the government, and cause them to be truly the friends and supporters of Republican liberty." We all feel alike satisfied now, that there was no persistent prose cution of the Secessionists, and that there were no martyrs made for the South to worship, especially when the era of good feeling between the South and the North had so well begun. Through his whole term of service in the Senate he served upon the Standing Committees on Commerce, and perhaps here was his best work done, as his business experience and sound judgment were constantly selected for such WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 459 service. Among other things, he worked out with care a plan of elastic currency, which, though not adopted, showed his familiarity with the subject, and anxiety to perfect the system. His ideas of national credit, and the strictest responsibility of the government for all its engagements, such as the most conscientious individual would feel, he insisted upon, and deprecated the least deviation from that standard. Thus he criticises at one time the reactionary legislation of the government upon its finances, as follows : " Of the balance outstanding there is now $382,076,837.50 in legal tender notes, and 149,102,661.27 in fractional currency. These notes are not money. They are evidence of debt which the government has promised to pay in coin, the recognized currency of the civilized world. The obliga tion is most sacred and binding, and has so pressed upon the national conscience that Congress has solemnly pledged the faith of the government to make provision at the earliest practical period to redeem the promise, and yet but one step has been taken with direct reference to meeting those obligations, which, after the redemption of $44,000,- 000 of legal tender notes, was retracted by reissuing $28,000,000 of the same irredeemable paper. And now, in stead of doing your utmost to preserve national integrity, and maintain national faith by your legislation, you open the door for a new issue of currency which will diminish your ability to redeem pledges already made." The most discouraging position held by Senator Bucking ham was that of chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs, a position which he held for his whole senatorial term, and yet this is where he showed his patience, hopeful ness, and fidelity to a great trust. The chairman of that committee had need to be always on the watch against some invasion of their rights. And if he could secure their rights here and improve their condition there, save their lands from occupation or misappropriation, improve 460 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. their agencies and schools, and prepare them somewhat for their citizenship which should come, it was all that could be expected. When Senator Buckingham was put upon that committee, he wrote as follows to a friend : " It is a responsible and honorable position, but full of embarrass ment and -difficulty. Public sentiment in our States in the extreme West and Southwest is strongly in favor of their extermination by direct and indirect means. But I hope that a remnant may be saved, civilized and Christianized- But what I. as a senator, want, is that the government should deal with them justly and mercifully." And it was with this end in view, that he was always on the alert to protect his wards, and improve their condi tion. As an illustration of his work and tact in doing this, we remember how a bill was introduced author izing the arming of the settlers to protect themselves against the Indians, when the Senator proposed, as an amendment, to arm the Indians to protect themselves against the settlers, which, of course, disposed of such a measure. This was the beginning of that work which Senator Dawes of Massachusetts has so successfully prose cuted until he has secured to them, as to the negro, a per sonal title to their property, and ultimately bestowing upon them the full rights of citizenship. This might well satisfy any statesman s ambition, to have prepared the way for and especially to have secured to a whole people of savages all the essential rights and privileges of the highest modern civilization.* * Among those who have greatly aided in bringing about the improved condition of things among both the negroes and the Indians, General Samuel C. Armstrong, principal of the Hampton Institute, Va., should never be forgotten. The son of a missionary in the Sandwich Islands, he had learned of his parents, as he said, "never to despair of the elevation of the most degraded people, and also how to elevate them," had enlisted in the war when a student in Williams College, had risen for services in the field to the rank of brigadier general, and had induced the government to let him enlist arid drill a colored regiment and then put them into he trenches before Petersburg, where they did themselves credit. He was granted a freedman s camp when the war was over, where he might educate coloi ei^ WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 461 The most thankless and disagreeable work of a congress man must be to investigate irregularities in the departments of government, or to prosecute charges of corruption among their own number, as Senator Buckingham found it when chairman of the committee to investigate frauds in the New York Customhouse. Some of his friends urged him not to undertake the work, but his ideas of duty would not allow him to decline it. But his senatorial term was nearly completed, and so was his earthly work. That was the long session of Congress, and as it continued quite into the summer, the extreme heat and long sessions wore upon him until he went home quite worn out and his condition a great source of anxiety to his friends. It was hoped that rest would restore him, and his physicians encouraged that hope. But it proved that he had a serious disease of the liver, and though it yielded somewhat to treatment, and he was not confined to the house through the autumn and early winter, his disease was making steady progress, and terminated in death after a brief confinement to his bed. He died at his home in Norwich, Ct., February 5, 1875, at twenty minutes past 12 in the morning, in the seventy-second year of his age. teachers for the South, and where Indian youth of both sexes have since been received and sent back to their tribes with the elements of education and ordinary civilization. He has demonstrated beyond a question the practicability of such a scheme, and surprised everybody by its marked success. Captain Pratt, also of the regular army, and principal of the Indian school at Carlisle, Pa., should have his share also in the glory of such results. CHAPTER XXX. ESTIMATES OP CHARACTER AND SERVICE. Extracts from the Newspaper Articles Drawn out by Governor Buck ingham s Death Eulogies in Congress The Funeral Services. As showing how his death affected the community, we refer to an article in one of the Norwich papers The Bulletin : ENTERED INTO REST. Death of the Hon. William A. Buckingham The Laxt of Connecticut s War Governor and Senator Close of a Spotless Life, and End of a Brilliant Career. The Hon. William A. Buckingham died at his home in this city last night. Mr. Buckingham had been in ill health for several months, and grave apprehensions of its result had been entertained. On Saturday last he drove out and that evening appeared as bright and cheerful as usual. On Sunday, however, he seemed very much pros trated, and subsequently was seized with intense pain, for the allevi ation of which opiates were administered. Up to this time, although feared, no symptoms of positive disease had shown themselves, his failing health being attributed to general causes. Dr. Smith of Springfield, Massachusetts, and Yale College, was summoned on Monday and reached his bedside at 5 o clock p. M.* On examination it seemed that the obscure disease which he had feared at a former visit, had developed into active inflammation of the liver and bowels, and from this time no hope was entertained of his recovery. But little could be done to mitigate his sufferings. On Thursday he be came insensible, and though he appeared to rally, there was nothing more than circulation and respiration to show that he still lived. He died calmly and peacefully without pain, his breath and pulse grow- * It was Dr. David P. Smith, an army surgeon through the war, and at one time at the head of the medical department of General Thomas Western army. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 468 ing fainter and slower until they ceased. All that could be done by his devoted friends was done until he quietly expired at twenty min utes past 12 o clock. Mr. Buckingham was born in the town of Lebanon, May 28th, 1804. His father was a farmer in that place, and until he was eighteen he assisted in the general work of the farm. He then taught school in Lyme for a year, and shortly after, at the age of about twenty, entered a dry goods store in this city as a clerk. His education was that fur nished by the academy of his native village, and also by the superior advantages of Bacon Academy, Colchester. Though he developed an aptitude for study and especially for mathematics, his nature was too strong and practical to admit of the sedentary habits of a student, and he decided upon entering mercantile pursuits. When only twenty-one he established himself in the dry goods business, in which he continued till 1848. Energy, prudence and economy brought him success, and while still a young man he was known as one of the most enterprising and prosperous merchants of the city. In or about 1830 he commenced the manufacture of ingrain carpeting, a business which he prosecuted till 1848, when he retired from commercial pur suits, and devoted himself solely to the various manufactures in which he had by this time become largely interested. His chief con nection in this line was with the Hay ward Rubber Company, of which he was for many years treasurer and active director, though he was a stockholder in a number of other concerns. From the time of his first residence in Norwich, he was a practical temperance man, and a devoted friend of education. In 1830 he became a member of the Second Congregational church, and ten years later was one of the organizers of the Broadway church, being elected one of its deacons at that time and holding the office to the period of his death. For nearly forty years he was a teacher in the Sunday school, and his influence was always exerted in favor of the religious and educational movements of the time. In his charities toward these and every other good cause, he was proverbially gener ous. He gave the organ to the Broadway church, and subsequently built its mission chapel. To this church and the church in Lebanon he gave permanent funds. He gave largely to the Free Academy, and also to Yale College, his life being insured for the benefit of the Yale Divinity school. He was an earnest advocate of the consolidation of the school districts of Norwich, and the present admirable system of graded schools is largely due to his foresight and energy. During the war he not only refused to receive any remuneration for his services as Governor, but met a large portion of his official expenses from his private purse. He was a man of great liberality, and one whose ear was never closed to the cry of distress. In his private charities he was equally generous, and these amount to a much greater sum than 464 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. his public gifts. He loved to do good unostentatiously, und while no man was recognized as a more generous giver, no one can know how far his benefactions extended. Not alone to the circles of political and social life in which his days were .passed, will the announcement of his death bring sorrow; there are scores of homes in Norwich where want is struggling with industry, on which it will fall with a sense of personal bereavement, and many others where it will be read with tears as over the loss of a friend and benefactor. Up to the year 1849 he took no prominent part in politics, though his ability, high standing and great popularity made him eminently eligible as a candidate. In 1842 he was nominated for the State Legis lature but was defeated, and though repeatedly solicited, declined to run for any office till seven years later, when he was elected Mayor of the city. He held the position two years, and was re-elected in 1856 and 1857. With the disruption of the Whig party he joined the Repub licans, and in 1858 was by them elected Governor of Connecticut, holding the office by consecutive re-elections for a period of eight years. It was here that he first gained a national reputation, his name throughout all the dark days of the Rebellion being a synonym for unfaultering loyalty and fidelity to the Union. Like John A. Andrew of Massachusetts, he was known as the "War Governor," and like him he possessed that magnetic, unwavering earnestness in the cause he espoused, which was a constant stimulus to all to whom his influence extended. As the men who put on the visible armor were the bone and sinew of the nation at that time, so he, and those who stood with him, were the nerve and vital forces which sustained and encouraged them. The incalculable moral strength of his position was of more value than thousands of armed men. With all the terri ble strain upon his nervous powers, with the great demands made unceasingly upon his mind, with all the heavy responsibilities of his office under which a weaker man, though animated by the same pure patriotism, would have succumbed, with all this he never yielded. His energy was untiring, his confidence and loyalty unwavering. They were men like him who a century ago framed the republic; they were men like him who saved it. His duties were never per functorily discharged ; he was a patriot and a man as well as the chief magistrate of the State, and those who were associated with him at that time know how ardently he gave his personal aid to any work for the Union. Whatever came to his hand, that he did; whether packing boxes for hospital use, or filling cartridges in a moment of emergency, he carried with him that sanguine, encouraging enthusiasm which men felt with a thrill in the fervid proclamations of the early part of the war. There is perhaps no better illustration of his spirit than is afforded in his message in 1863, just after the bloody repulse at Chan- cell orsville, when he spoke there words of hope and unyielding WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 465 determination : "The conflict inaugurated at Sumter must go on until the government shall conquer or be conquered. Let no one be deceived by the artful device of securing peace by a cessation of hostilities, or by yielding to the claims of our enemies. A peace thus obtained would cost a nation s birthright Civil war is cruelty. Its fruits are desolation, sorrow and death. Fear, hesitation and a timid use of the forces of war will eventually increase these terrible sufferings. They will be diminished by courage, vigor and severity. . . . . Whatever of trial, suffering or privation may be in store for us, or however long may be the controversy, firm in the faith that our nation will be preserved in its integrity, let us in adversity as well as in prosperity, in darkness as in light, give the administration our counsel, our confidence, and our support." A history of his life at this time would be a history of the state of things during the war, so completely was he identified personally as well as officially with the political, military, and social movements of those turbulent times. He retired from the gubernatorial chair in 1866, declining a re-election. For two years he remained in private life. In 1868 he was elected to the United States Senate, his term not being completed at the time of his death. He served on several im portant committees, among them that on Indian Affairs, of which he was chairman, the Committee on Commerce, and for a time on that on Engrossed Bills, and also on others of a special nature. He was capable of a vast amount of detail work, and it was in this capacity that he rendered his best services. Though not often prominent in debate, he was a ready speaker, his addresses being marked by grace and fluency of expression, as well as soundness of treatment. His judg ment and ability, especially in matters of commercial and financial importance, were recognized, and his opinions on questions of national policy carried great weight. During the present session of Congress he was prevented by ill health from discharging the duties of his office, and remained at his home in this city during the winter. In private life Senator Buckingham was characterized by great sweetness of disposition and an urbane courtesy in his social relations which won the sincere regard of all with whom he was personally in contact. His observance of the social amenities was not limited by class prejudice ; no one, however humble in condition, ever received from him any but the courteous consideration which was extended to his own associates, and in this undoubtedly lay one of the most powerful elements of his great personal popularity. He possessed that polished dignity of manner which we of this day characterize as the gentility of the old school, and the refinement of its minor details was strongly marked in all his habits of life. This was not the result of his birth or breeding; it was simply the outgrowth of his nature, in which there was nothing common or unclean. He was one of 466 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. those rare men to whom all things are pure, who recognizing the gross- ness of the world, can meet it and pass on undefiled; and the refine ment of his manner was merely the exponent of the refinement and purity of his taste. This was greatly strengthened by the strong religious convictions which he received in early life, and by which he was controlled until his death. He was widely known as an exem plary, laborious Christian, and no man better deserved than lie the title which has been applied to others in derision, of "Christian statesman." His religion was not reserved for the uses of private life; the great underlying principles of Christianity were those whose motive force directed him in all his official action, and his public career was in thorough consistence with them. In the words quoted above may be found the formula of his polit ical life, and to the end of it was the one to which he clung. He believed in the great principle of exact and equal justice to all men; his political creed was based on this one article, and through all his political career his action was in harmony with it. He was a partisan, not in the narrow interpretation of the word, but in that broader sense which makes fealty to party dependent upon fealty to right. He was not a politician, neither was he a great statesman, but he was great in his probity, patriotism and purity of life, and unobtrusively he wielded a vast influence for the good. His associ ates know him for what he was. During his continuance in the Senate, no member was recognized as a more assiduous, conscientious worker in the country s service for the country s good than he, and none carried more weight with his utterances on any subject. His recognized ability, his never-questioned integrity, and his adherence to principle, will be sadly missed in the councils of the nation. Not many men there are, whose characters have been developed and whose reputations made in the unhealthy atmosphere of political life, who can leave behind the bright, unsullied record which the dead Senator has left. His memory will be ever green and fragrant; no taint of political corruption adheres to it; no malevolence can ever tarnish the purity of his life. In public and in private life, like him who was loved of God, he walked uprightly before men. And with the full remembrance of all the honors which had been pressed upon him. of all the great successes of his life, no better or truer epitaph can be produced over his grave than that which he himself would have desired: "A man of honor, and a Christian gentleman." The above article is quoted as showing the estimation in which Senator Buckingham was held in his own State, and in the community where he was best known. And a simi lar quotation is made from one of the New York papers, WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 467 The Times, as showing how he was regarded outside of Connecticut, and in the great metropolitan center of the country : Ex-Governor and Senator William A. Buckingham died at his home in Norwich, Conn., about midnight last night. Governor Buckingham approached the time of the assembling of Congress this winter with a frame enfeebled by disease, and has been unable to take his seat in the Senate at any time during the session. The vigor of the physical man was broken, and he gradually failed until he sank beneath an attack of acute disease, leaving to his native State a name eminent for its spotless purity and sterling virtue. He was born in the quaint old town of Lebanon, eminent in Con necticut from its first settlement for the fervid patriotism and the in tellectual activity of its people. This town is the birthplace of five gentlemen who have enjoyed gubernatorial honors, viz. : Jonathan Trumbull, the old War Governor of the Revolution, whom in many respects the War Governor of the Rebellion, Governor Buckingham, resembled to a remarkable degree ; his son Jonathan Trumbull, and his grandson Joseph Trumbull, also Governor Bissell, who together held that office thirty-five years. Governor Nelson Dewey of Wis consin was also a native of this town. Inheriting the iron constitu tion and intense convictions of his Puritan ancestry, William A Buckingham spent there a profitable youth, forming upon the farm of his father, and in the schools of the vicinity, the strength of charac ter and love of country that enabled him afterwards to bring to the service of the State an exalted patriotism and devotion not surpassed m the history of our civil war. He was educated in the public schools of Lebanon, and at the Bacon Academy in the neighboring town of Colchester, which institution at that time stood higher than any other in the State, and even enjoyed a national reputation. Here Governor Ellsworth, Chief Justice Waite of the Supreme Court of Con necticut, father of the late Chief Justice Waite of the Supreme Court of the United States; Hon. Henry M. Williams, Judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and Lyman Trumbull, Senator from Illinois were students, among a host of others, who afterwards were prominent m public life. Among associates of that stamp, and in a town asso ciated with a thousand thrilling Revolutionary memories William A Buckingham rose to manhood. A special taste for mathematics and impulses of an energetic nature, led him at first to desire the career of a practical surveyor. But neither that, nor school teaching to which he devoted himself for a year, satisfied him. He went to Korwich at the age of twenty and engaged in business. He entered the store of Giles & Hamlin Buckingham, then almost the only dry goods dealers in the city. After two years spent there, and a year in 468 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. a wholesale house of New York city, he established himself as a dry goods merchant at Norwich. The enterprise, exact dealing, and spot less honor, that have always distinguished him, were manifested from the beginning of his first business essay, and contributed to his suc cess. In 1830 he began the manufacture of ingrain carpets, and con ducted it for eighteen years. In 1848 he discontinued all other forms of business effort, and engaged in the manufacture of india-rubber goods in connection with Messrs. Hayward & Burr, under the name of the Hayward Rubber Company. In this business he amassed the generous fortune which he has so lavishly bestowed to aid public, educational and charitable enterprises in the city of his residence, the State and nation. At the time of his death he was a stockholder in six or eight manufacturing enterprises, to all of which he gave more or less of his time and attention. The characteristic feature of his long individual and mechanical life was not so much the execu tive ability he displayed, for that is a trait which hundreds of New England manufacturers possess, in equal if not superior degrees; but it was the infallible keeping of his business engagements, his genius for managing men, and ability to awaken enthusiasm in his service. It is told of him, in illustration of his punctuality in business affairs, that in a period of active effort of forty years duration, only two of his notes were protested for non-payment, and those only through disability from sickness. The trait powerfully increased his useful ness during the war. William A. Buckingham adhered to the religion of his forefathers. Descended from Thomas Buckingham, one of the members of the original colony of Now Haven, and from the Rev. Thomas, his eon, who was one of the settlers and minister of Saybrook, and from whom the Governor was directly descended, he was trained in a family of Puritans, and gave his life-long devotion to the cause of the Congregational church. In 1838 he made a report to the Second Con gregational church of Norwich, which resulted four years after in the^formation of the present Broadway church. He gave the new church an organ, and built a chapel for one of its Sunday schools. In 1865 he was moderator of the first National Congregational Council in Boston. In 1850 he with others founded the Otis Library of Nor wich. He was proverbially liberal in his support to all such objects. Large benevolence, a desire to do something for the race and the age, led him to bestow generous gifts upon the Norwich Free Academy and Yale College. And all his gifts were entirely devoid of ostentation. Governor Buckingham was always a decided politician. For many years his interest in affairs was only actively manifested in the manage ment of party. Things were continually going wrong with the old Whig party of Eastern Connecticut, and William A. Buckingham was almost always the man called in to set things right, which in a quiet WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 469 sort of way, by his personal influence, he had a magical faculty of doing He declined several nominations to the State Assembly, but like an eminent official whom he afterwards met under peculiar circum stances, was often elected alderman of the city of Norwich, and in 1849 and 1856 was twice elected mayor for terms of two years each. In 1857, at the time of the election of President Buchanan, he was a presidential elector from Connecticut, and with his associates cast the vote of the State for the minority candidate, a common experience with the old Whig party. In 1857 a number of gentlemen in Norwich resolved to propose him as the Republican candidate for Governor of the State. By the simple circumstance of the detention by snow of a train bearing fifteen or twenty delegates from Windham county, who would have voted for him, they failed to nominate him. There are those among his friends that now regard this as a providential occur rence. Had he been chosen in 1857, by the rule upon which the party acted then, he would have been re-elected and then retired, without an opportunity of showing his singular fitness for the position of war governor of Connecticut. But elected to the chief magistracy of the State in 1858, he was upon re-election brought so near to the mael strom of events attendant on the breaking out of the war, that public necessity compelled the State to continue him in office, and he made his distinguished record. "At the close of 1860, Governor Buckingham, who had been watch ing the drift of public events carefully, announced the conviction that compromise with the South was an impossibility, and he required of the militia of the State their immediate perfection in discipline and equipment. In his capacity of Governor of a patriotic State, he sug gested to the delegates of the State in the peace conference of Feb ruary, preceding the outbreak of the war, to be governed by a conciliatory spirit, but to have special regard to the measures which tend to maintain the dignity and authority of the government." He never was a policy man, and there was something electrical in his fearless and uncompromising words that roused the State to enthusi asm. The right man was at the helm, and in the spring canvass he was re-elected by the State by an increased majority. The call for troops awakened in Governor Buckingham the spirit of the soldier and the leader. The Legislature was not in session; no powers had been conferred upon him by law. With an energy and devotion worthy of the Revolutionary patriots of Lebanon, he immediately re solved to pledge his own ample fortune to the work of raising Con necticut s quota of troops. His life of unsullied integrity and reputation for sound judgment here stood him in good stead. Hardly had he determined to apply for a loan of $50,000 from the old Thames bank of Norwich, before that sum was tendered him by the Elm City bank of New Haven, for use on his individual obligation. The 470 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Thames bank followed by $100,000; Hartford banks united to offer $500,000, and in a comparatively few days $1,000,000 had thus been placed at his personal disposal by the banking institutions of the State. His call for a regiment of men was immediately issued. While the State was aglow with the excitement of enlisting these men, Governor Buckingham dispatched his son-in-law. General Aiken, to Washington, to make his way through all obstructions, at whatever hazard, and pledge to President Lincoln the last man and the last dollar of Connecticut. General Aiken had a great deal of difficulty in accomplishing his mission, but did succeed at length, and brought to the government the first tidings received during that perilous first week of the rising of the North. The First Regiment of Connecticut volunteers was raised in four days. In six days a second regiment was enlisted, and in three weeks a third regiment was raised and in camp, and Connecticut had tendered fifty-four com panies to the defense of Washington, or five times the quota of the State. These achievements were due to the personal power and promptitude of Governor Buckingham, more than to any other one thing. May 3d the Legislature ratified all that the Governor had done, and assumed all obligations for raising the troops. Whatever may have been the motives or influences that impelled men of great eminence at Washington to announce their belief in a termination of the war in "sixty days," Governor Buckingham did not share them. He perceived the magnitude of the rebellion clearly, and was em phatic in his statements that the sixty-day doctrine immensely under estimated the importance of the crisis. In June he wrote to Mr. Lincoln, urging that steps be taken to raise an army of 500,000 men. ** Let legislation on every other subject," he said, with reference to the extra session of Congress called, " be regarded as out of time and place, and the one great object of suppressing the rebellion be pur sued by the administration with vigor and firmness." Governor Buckingham fully believed that more men would be immediately required, and he lent every capacity of mind and soul to the matter of awakening the State and the government to the fact. Ex-Governor Seymour and William W. Eaton were carrying on a vigorous fire in the rear at this time and agitating strenuously for peace. In spite of their efforts, the State remained loyal to Governor Buckingham and the Union, and it shows the effect of his teachings on the popular heart of Connecticut, that in October the Legislature convened in special session and gave him carte blanche to act in the matter of rais ing troops. Two million dollars were raised, in addition to the $2,- 000,000 already provided for, and were placed at the unrestricted dis posal of Governor Buckingham. It was a proof of confidence in his judgment and patriotism, which the records of the imperial States of the Union will be searched in vain to surpass. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 471 Governor Buckingham was re-elected to the chief magistracy of the State seven times, serving for a period of eight years. Throughout the war his course was marked by the same intrepid support of the administration that distinguished its beginning. The calls of the government were always more than faithfully honored. Every quota was more than filled, and a moral support was brought to the eman cipation and other great measures of the war that the administration thoroughly appreciated. No war governor had greater influence at Washington. Anything he wanted for the troops in the field was granted. Where others failed he succeeded, and the advantage to which he turned this fact in securing benefits for the troops, together with his well-known private benefactions to soldiers at home, earned for him the title of "the soldier s friend, " a phrase which bore a world of meaning to those who knew him. Governor Buckingham s course at the time of Mr. Lincoln s assassi nation was fully illustrative of the man. From the date of his majority he had been an earnest advocate of the cause of temperance, and a few weeks prior to the assassination had electrified the nation by one of those sword-like thrusts at culpability in high places, for which he was noted. In his proclamation of the annual Fast Day in Connecticut, issued March 15, he had recited, among the causes for pain, that "the oath of fidelity to the Constitution, and to high official duty, has recently been taken with a stammering tongue, in the pres ence of, and to the reproach of, the American people." This keen rebuke to a national shame was announced throughout the country. Under these circumstances, almost any other man beside Governor Buckingham would have hesitated to go immediately to Washington, as he did, to convey to President Johnson the assurances of Connec ticut s determination to yield him a loyal support. This, however, was what Governor Buckingham did at once. He left Norwich by the afternoon train of Saturday for the national capital. A party was formed to escort him, and also to escort Senator Foster of Nor wich, who by Mr. Lincoln s death became Vice-President of the United States. It was composed of General Aiken, Colonels Osgood and Selden, Henry Bell, Mayor Day, Lorenzo Blackstone, Doctor Thurston and Major J. B. Dennis. They reached Washington the following day, and immediately repaired to the presence of Presi dent Johnson, to whom Senator Foster introduced them. Governor Buckingham grasped Mr. Johnson s hand warmly, and with tears in his eyes, pledged to the President of the United States the unfaltering support of Connecticut, and was the first Governor in that crisis who did so. Mr. Johnson was greatly moved, and earnestly assured the Governor that, whatever the past, no one should surpass him in the future, in purity of devotion to the Union. In 1869 Governor Buckingham took his seat in the Senate of the 472 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. United States. The record of his connection with that body has been a creditable one. He was capable of an unlimited amount of hard work, and it was upon the various committees of the Senate that his influence was most felt. Throughout the term of six years he>has served upon the Standing Committees on Commerce and Indian Relations, and twice served on special committees, once to investi gate the affairs of the New York Customhouse, and once to investigate the charges of bribery against Senator Pomeroy. He participated frequently in debate, and exerted a marked influence in financial and Indian questions by his candor, sound judgment, and graceful method of presentation of what he had to say. It is, however, as War Governor of Connecticut that he will be the longest and most widely known. In his social life Governor Buckingham was an attractive man. Whoever met him, either in his elegant home in Norwich, or in social circles at the State and national capitals, never failed to be won by his charming manner. He had all the dignity of the old school gentleman and the affability of the thorough-going Republican, and while he knew all the advantages accruing to a public man from the possession of these traits, it was well said of him that these qualities were the natural product of the man. He was of the best type of a Christian gentleman that society produces. And statesman, citizen and soldier alike, will cast upon the grave of William A. Bucking ham not only laurels due to distinguished public worth, but the flowers of affection and admiration for what he was as a man. THE LAST OF EARTH. A Day of Sorrow Funeral of the Late William A. Bucking hamSincere Manifestations of G-riefAn Impressive Civic Funeral The Public Services. The above is the announcement of his funeral which took place at Norwich, the 9th of February, 1875. And the account continues : The last honors to Connecticut s War Governor and Senator were paid Tuesday. They were given in no perfunctory spirit, but with a depth of feeling and a tenderness of expression which showed how strong a hold the dead Senator had upon the people. Though the day was one of bitter cold, the streets were filled with hundreds from out of town, many of them having driven twenty miles or more in the early morning to reach the city, and the later trains were crowded with others from all parts of the State and country. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 473 The Senate of the United States was represented by its Sergeant-at-arms and Senators Sherman of Ohio, Stevenson of Kentucky, Fen ton of New York, Washburn of Massa chusetts, and Hamlin of Maine. Governor Ingersoll of Connecticut and his staff were also there, as were Governor Buckingham s old military staff, consisting of Colonel Osgood, Colonel W. Fitch, Colonel T. Fitch, Gen eral Morse, Colonel Watson and Colonel Bond. These acted as a guard of honor around his casket, while Colonel Selden, for three years his military secretary, Messrs. H. B. Norton, A. W. Prentice and B. W. Tompkins, his old neighbors and friends, were the pall bearers. The train from Hartford brought many friends from among the business men and public men of the State, who had vigor ously sustained him in the prosecution of the war, while the train from New Haven brought an equal number, and among them a very considerable number of the faculty of the University, whose interests he had befriended. It was meant to be entirely a simple and ordinary New England funeral, with the customary religious exercises and nothing else, such as an ordinary man would prefer. There was no military display or ceremony, and to those of us who had witnessed the troops and grand parades of his inaugurals as Governor, it was felt to be in best keeping with his character and wishes to be looked upon for the last time in his own home, borne thence to his place of worship, and thence followed to the cemetery, where his wife and so many of his old neighbors and friends were sleeping, to rest among them. Speaking on this point, the account goes on to say : It was fitting- that this was so, for Senator Buckingham was a man of the people and for the people, and it was to the benefit of these classes that his best energies were directed. The absence of empty pomp and display was in accordance with all his tastes. But no nobler tribute was ever paid to the memory of a public man, than that expressed by the great popular demonstration of Tuesday. 474 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Throughout the day there was a general suspension of business, and in the afternoon the banks and post office were closed. All the flags of the city were at half-mast, and many private buildings were dressed in mourning. At 10 o clock the doors of Senator Bucking ham s residence were thrown open, and the throng which had been waiting for some time began to pass in, under the guidance of a force of police stationed in the yard. The Senator s remains lay in the north parlor of the house, in a plain, rosewopd casket. A superb crown fashioned of white flowers stood near the head, and a cross and anchor rested on the lid; on a table near by were another crown of laurel and a large form worked in evergreens and grains. Around the casket, as a guard of honor, stood the members of his old military staff. From 10 o clock to 12 the throng was continuous and dense, over 2,000 persons, it is estimated, visiting the house in that time. The throng was so great that there could be no lingering by the coffin, and none had more than a momentary glance as they passed by, but no one who watched that heterogeneous assemblage as it moved on, and saw the tearful eyes which were bent upon the well-known face, could help recognizing with almost a sense of awe, how strong and universal was the love in which the dead Senator was held. The con trast between tne peaceful expression on his face and the mourning, which was only in part restrained as the wave of humanity rolled by him, was touching. His countenance was calm and restful; death had softened the lines which care and anxiety had written in it, and though emaciated and worn, he looked like one who being weary had fallen into a pleasant sleep. As one stood beside him it was hard to realize that it was the sleep from which there was no waking; that with him all earthly toils and earthly honors were past, and yet as one looked at the noble face with its strong, sharply cut features, it was easy to imagine that it was purified by a new tenderness; that a light from the other world had shown upon it, and that the joy of hope accomplished and promises fulfilled had left their radi ance there. The doors of the house were closed at noon, after which no one was admitted. The relatives and friends then assembled, and a short prayer was made by Rev. Mr. Merriman, the pastor. Shortly after 1 o clock the casket was removed to the hearse and was carried to the Broadway church. From the house to the church the street was crowded so that there was barely a carriage way kept open for the pro cession. The church could not contain all who would have entered, and it was a pathetic part of the scene to find the crowd waiting there in the cold at zero until the services WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 475 within were over, to accompany the procession to the ceme tery, a mile or more away. The services at the church were simple. The choir chanted, " Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord," and sang, "Who are these in bright array?" also Mendelssohn s, " Oh! that I had the wings of a dove," which to some of us will be always associated with his upward longings, and the wish stirred within us that we could have joined him in his flight. Dr. Arms, one of the pastors of the city, read the ninetieth Psalm, and the venerable Dr. Bond, under whose ministry Senator Buckingham had been trained as a young man, offered prayer. The Rev. Mr. Merriman, his pastor, then paid a just and heart-felt tribute to his parishioner and deacon and good friend, and the mournful procession set out for the grave. Arriving there, the Rev. Dr. Giesy, one of the Episcopal clergymen of the city, read their ser vice over the interment, while a thousand hearts responded to its Christian faith and immortal hopes, and comforted their grief in what God had done for their friend, and what he had done by him for others, and in the memory and example which would be forever left to that community and become a permanent part of the history of the State and of the nation. The death of Senator Buckingham and the remem brance of his war services called out notices of him from every quarter and many an honorable tribute to his memory. And the estimate of him which came from so many quarters, and the tributes paid to his worth and use fulness, furnish probably the best means of judging of the man and of his life work that we could have. One of the early sketches of him was by Professor Porter, afterwards president of Yale University, and pre pared for the "New England Historical and Genealogical Register " (January, 1876). In connection with a full and exact account of his genealogy and his training for his 476 WILLIAM A. HUCKINCJHAM. public life, President Porter gives, from a life-long and personal acquaintance, the following convictions in regard to him : At the time of his election to the office of Governor, neither he nor his friends anticipated what was before him. Had either known or even dimly foreboded that the office from being little more than a place of easy routine and formal administration, would be suddenly transformed into a post of the most serious responsibility, involving perplexity, toil and anxiety, both he and his friends would have hesi tated in thinking that he was the fittest man to fill the place, and to fill it so long. No one would have dared to predict that he would meet its responsibilities with such distinguished success. But in review it may be confidently affirmed, that from the time when the first mutterings of war were heard, to the moment when they died in silence, no citizen of the State was ever thought of as in any re spect superior to, or comparable with the noble "War Governor" who represented the State of Connecticut. Whether his relations are considered to the executive of the United States, to the Governors of the other States, to the party in Connecticut opposed to the war, to the soldiers and officers from Connecticut, to the men who were re cruited or drafted, who were sick or in prison, to the banks and men of business all over the country, to the American people as far as they knew him, his fitness for his place was unquestioned. Whether on horseback at an election parade, or in a public reception, whether reading his own messages or speaking at a sudden call, often under very trying circumstances, whether writing stirring letters to Presi dent Lincoln, or addressing regiment after regiment as each hurried away to the field, whether conferring with his staff or trusted friends in sudden exigencies, he was always heroic, patient, self-controlled and courteous. His messages and correspondence were not only among important documents in the history of the war, but they re flect the highest honor on the mind and head of their author. His own clear and practical intellect discerned earlier than many prac tised statesmen what the issues were, and how stern and lasting the struggle would be. His decisive and ringing words bespoke serious and painful forebodings on the one hand, but they breathed out courage and triumph on the other. He wrote and spoke as a prophet, because he wrote and spoke from those firm convictions which were inspired by his faith in right, and in the God who had defended the right in the past and could not desert it in the present. The writer of this sketch knew Senator Buckingham from before the beginning of his public career to the end of his life, and had frequent opportunities to judge of him in almost every one of the WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 477 relations which have been named. After abating all that might be required from the partialities of personal friendship, he can honestly give his testimony that a conscientious sincerity and a graceful sym metry gave the strength and beauty to a character which other gener ations may reasonably hold in honor. The Rev. Dr. I. N. Tarbox also published a " Memoir " of Senator Buckingham in the " Congregational Quarterly," April, 1876, in which he gives a very particular account of his ancestry and family, and a graphic sketch of the remarkable old town of Lebanon, the place of his birth and the home of the Trumbulls. Of the Senator s parentage, he says : " His father was a thrifty farmer, a deacon in the church, a man of remark ably sound judgment and common sense and a public spirited man, abounding in hospitality. His mother was one of those women in whom the strong qualities of the Puritan stock came to a flowering and a fruitage of celestial quality a rare union of strength and sweetness. She always had a mother s ambition for her children, but always directed to the best things. Whatever else you are, I want you to be Christians, was one of her daily household sayings. Her memory is cherished in the records of many words and deeds of love and beneficence, written not with pen and ink, but in the fleshly tables of the heart, in all the region where she lived. She came from the old town of Lyme, fruitful in good influences and in good character. The mother of Chief Justice Waite of Connecticut and the grand mother of the late Chief Justice of the United States was her sister, and in that town they were all born and educated." And here he brings to view one member of the family, whom he knew personally, and was an important influence in that family. " The oldest child in this household was a daughter, about three years older than her brother. A sister standing in such relations of age is not to be over looked in computing the influences which circle about the WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. inind and heart of the growing boy, and especially in this instance these influences are not to be forgotten, for all witnesses agree (and the facts are within the personal knowledge of the writer) in ascribing to Abigail Bucking ham a saintly beauty of character. Her thoughts, hopes and aspirations were not in the line of common earthly ambitions, but were set towards choice and refined culture, and a heavenly purity of heart and disposition." Of the town of Lebanon Dr. Tarbox gives these remark able particulars : From this quiet town, on the hills of Eastern Connecticut, an influ ence went forth through all the years of the Revolutionary struggle, such as flowed from no other place, large or small, in all New England. This was the home of Governor Jonathan Trumbull, who held the office of governor from 1769 to 1783, and then resigned, having been for fifty years in one form or another without interruption in the public service. By the peculiar charter of Connecticut, the colonial governors were chosen by the people, and not appointed in England. And so Governor Trumbull was on the side of the people, while the governors generally in the other colonies were appointed abroad, and at the opening of the Revolutionary strife, acted for the home govern ment and against the people. This of itself tended to give Governor Trumbull a peculiar prominence in that war, and to make Lebanon a peculiar place. And he quotes Governor Hawley of Connecticut, in his address delivered in the Hall of Representatives at Wash ington, after Senator Buckingham s death, as saying of Governor Trumbull : " Every other colonial governor went with the king. Brother Jonathan stood by the people, and they stood by him, from the beginning to the end the square, straight, solid, brave, indomitable old man." Not only were the Trumbulls inhabitants of the town, but the three governors, father, son and grandson, and that large family of distinguished sons and daughters, and sons- in-law, as Joseph, Washington s first commissary general ; Jonathan, Jr., his first paymaster and private secretary; David, commissary of the colony in the Revolution ; John, WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 479 our distinguished historical painter, and Mary, the wife of William Williams, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and their characters all of the highest type of integrity, patriotism and Christian principle. But as Dr. Tarbox has said : " There is not probably in all New England another place of the same population that can point to so many eminent graduates of colleges among her sons as Lebanon. Some happy, favoring influences set this stream in motion, and once started it flowed on, broadening as it ran. Some of the ablest ministers of New England, and some of her ablest lawyers and judges, came from this town. Among the earlier ministerial names we find such as these : Dr. John Smalley, Dr. Eliphalet Williams, Dr. Elijah Parish, Dr. Ezra Stiles Ely, Dr. Ralph R. Gurley, and Dr. Walter Harris. In civil life the result is no less remarkable. Jeremiah Mason, that giant among Boston lawyers, had his birth and education here. John Wheelock, LL.D., the second president of Dartmouth college, and son of Dr. Eleaze Wheelock, the first presi dent, was reared at Lebanon, where his father was settled in the ministry. Not far from sixty ministers were sent forth from this one township, with its different ecclesiastical parishes, and the whole number of its graduates cannot fall short of one hundred." Dr. Tarbox continues : We have no wish to exalt Governor Buckingham unduly above many other governors in the Northern States. Not a few of them have left noble records, and this is not a place for rude comparisons. Nor can we venture even to enter upon that war record in detail. It is too voluminous. From the first outbreak, when he hurried General Aiken, afterwards his son-in-law, to Washington, to assure President Lincoln that the troops were coming, through all those gloomy four years, till General Lee s final surrender, he was boundless in his ac tivity. He seemed a man as truly raised up for the exigency as did his great townsman, Governor Trumbull, in the years of the Revolu tion. Is there anything weak or superstitious in the thought, that the God who of old prepared Abraham and Moses and David, by a peculiar early experience and discipline, for the great part they were 480 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. to act in the history of our race, was just as distinctly preparing him in those early years, on the hills of Eastern Connecticut, for the great crisis that came upon this nation in 1860 ? Was it a mere chance that developed his childhood in such an atmosphere of patriotism, that opened his eyes to look upon the monuments of the illustrious dead, and upon the faces of men yet living, who had done so noble a work for their country in her great struggle for liberty? We do not so un derstand the events of human life. Such men as Abraham Lincoln, John A. Andrew, William A. Buckingham and others, were chosen, trained and prepared for that sharp crisis of the rebellion, as truly as Moses was fitted and appointed to lead the Children of Israel out from the house of bondage. It is the custom of Congress when a member dies, for each House to set apart a time for the commemoration of his life and services. This was done for the Senator from Connecticut, and took place February 27, a fortnight after his burial at Norwich. Such a service in so large a body, among those of different politics and from different parts of the country, must take on more or less of dignified cere mony, and the utterances of special friends. But as has been said of this : " Some great men have died out of the Senate of the United States within the past few years, and fitting tributes have been paid them, but it may be doubted whether any one has drawn more upon the fountains of tenderness than he. In the speeches, both in the Senate and in the House, there is a remarkable absence of what may be called formal and conventional. They are such words as mourners speak when the eye is moist and the heart full." The first of these tributes paid to the deceased Senator was by Senator Ferry, his associate from Connecticut, and was in part as follows : MB. PRESIDENT: When the telegraph announced that Mr. Bucking ham was no more, we paused in the work of legislation to do honor to his memory. When, a few days later, the hour arrived for the great assemblage which had gathered to his funeral at his distant home, to go forth bearing his body to its last resting place, we stopped, as it WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 481 were, for the long procession to pass by and do its solemn office and disperse, and now we pause once more to utter in the hearing of the nation such words of commemoration as seem to us befitting the regard in which we held our associate and friend. After referring to his Puritan ancestry, and describing the New England family into which he was born, he briefly sketched that birthplace with its peculiar aspects, associations and influences, as if no other could have been its equal : There is no spot in the world where the conditions which mold a human life, are more auspicious than those which existed in his native town from fifty to seventy years ago. Its natural aspects were simple and peaceful. Its one long, spacious street, with wide, grassy borders, between which lay the beaten road, here and there over shadowed by ancient trees; the slopes of arable and pasture and meadow land, broken by primitive woods at varying intervals; the scattered farmhouses with their outbuildings, the rain and sun-im- browned meeting-house, schoolhouse and academy, are all familiar features of the New England village of that day, and in harmony with the life of the people who beheld them ; a plain, earnest, thoughtful people, who believed in God and duty ; industrious, because they earned their bread by their daily toil; independent, because each man owned the acres which he tilled; intelligent, because the school- house opened wide its doors to all; brave, because fearing God they feared nothing else; pure, because without a shadow on their belief in their Scripture revelation they lived habitually in as vivid a con sciousness of the invisible as of the visible world around them. We can hardly realize the intensity of that faith in the present age. It had perhaps too much of a somber tinge, but it pervaded life with the impregnable sense of duty, and robbed death of its terrors by the assurance of a noble life beyond. The air of the place was, moreover, full of patriotic associations. It was the home of many prominent characters of the Revolutionary period. Chief among these was the family of the Trumbull. The plain frame house in which they had lived during two generations of distinguished service, and the " Old War Office," as it was called, where the elder Trumbull had trans acted his public business during his long administration of State affairs, remained landmarks of the past, as they still do. School boys entering the latter looked with awe upon the marks of the spurs, still to be seen in the side of the counter, where orderlies and ex press riders sat awaiting the Governor s orders during the War of Independence. In that house Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Lafay ette, Rochambeau, and many other old-time worthies had been 482 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. guests. French troops had gone into winter quarters here, and five regiments had been reviewed by Washington himself on the spacious street. More than 500 men from that little town had been in the Revolutionary armies at one time, and every house was full of their reminiscences. It was in the midst of such associations that the boy Buckingham grew up from infancy to early manhood. The impress ion which they made may, I think, be traced through all his subse quent life.* As Governor, Senator Buckingham had been in office two years when the Rebellion broke out. The election of President Lincoln had turned upon the question whether slavery was to be restrained and kept within its constitutional limits, to be eventually consumed, and when that election had gone against the South, Secession came. To Governor Buckingham. Secession was rebellion, and an ordnance of Secession was a declaration of war. It did not require the echo of artillery from Fort Sumter to awaken him to the duties of the hour. In the winter of 1860 and 1861, he began with such means as the dis jointed militia laws of Connecticut placed in his hands to prepare for the conflict. Upon the first call of President Lincoln for troops at the fall of Sumter, he devoted himself, mind and body and estate, to bring that conflict to a successful issue. Thenceforth till the final overthrow of the Rebellion, his history is a prominent part of the history of the nation. The Legislature was to assemble in a few weeks, but it was impossible to await its meeting. The laws of the State were utterly inadequate to the emergency, and responsibility * Among the other patriotic associations and influences of the place, the Trum- bull tomb in the old burying ground might well be added to the " War Office." As has been said of it : " Within this mausoleum rest the sacred ashes of more of the illustrious dead than in any other in the State, or perhaps in the country. Here rest the remains of that eminently great and good Jonathan Trumbull, ST., the bosom friend and most trusted counselor of Washington ; of his good wife, Faith Robinson ; of his oldest son, Joseph, the first commissary general of the army under Washington ; his second son, Jonathan, Jr., paymaster general of the same army, private secretary and first aid-de-camp to General Washington, and after wards Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, member of the United States Senate, and Governor of the State, and by his side his good wife, Eunice Backus : of his third son, David, commissary of this colony in the Revolu tion, and assistant commissary general under his brother in the army of Washing ton, and by his side his good wife, Sarah Backus ; of his second daughter, Mary, and by her side her illustrious husband, William Williams, one of the signers of the immortal Declaration of Independence, and many others who from these descended. What a tomb is here ! What a shrine for patriotic devotion ! "[Rev. Mr. Bine s " Early Lebanon." One has said who was a boy with Governor Buckingham : "As I have stood before that tomb with him, I can think of nothing so likely to have inspired him with his patriotism as this. Sure I am, that next to his duty to God, no stronger motive influenced him than the desire to be to the State and country somewhat such as Trumbull was in the War of the Revolution." WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 483 must be assured. The treasury was empty and money could not be raised for months by the regular methods, hut money must be raised. The Governor anticipated the enactment of laws, assumed responsi bility, and pledged his private credit in the purchase of supplies and munitions of war for the troops, which from all parts of the State were filling up the rolls of the volunteers. When the Legislature assembled, it passed acts of indemnity and literally placed the whole resources of the State at his disposal. And thus it continued sub stantially during the entire war. Never was a trust more faithfully executed. As call after call for troops proceeded from Washington, the Governor was indefatigable in securing the promptest response. As regiment after regiment went forth to the front, he devoted his time, his energies, and often his personal resources, to the complete ness of their equipment and the promotion of their comfort. His care of them was as tender as that of a father. One or two incidents which I know to be authentic will illustrate this tenderness of the Governor for his troops. A citizen of Con necticut, whose duties kept him almost constantly at the front, hap pened to meet Governor Buckingham at Washington, and in the course of a conversation the latter said to him : " You will see a great many battles and much suffering. Don t let any Connecticut man suffer for want of anything that can be done for him. If it costs money, draw on me for it." The same person, on the last day of the fight at Gettysburg, when victory had declared on the Federal side, while yet the fields were strewn with the dead and wounded, seized an opportunity to telegraph the Governor the great result, and quick as the wires could bear it came back the response: " Take good care of the Connecticut men." In this connection, Senator Ferry brings out the other side of the Governor s character, which, tender-hearted as he was, showed convictions and principles in regard to the support of government and the preservation of the Union at any cost, and made him urge on the contest to victory, as follows : " The conflict inaugurated at Sumter must go on until the govern ment shall conquer or be conquered. Let no one be deceived by the artful device of securing peace by a cessation of hostilities. A peace thus attained would cost a nation s birthright. Civil war is cruelty. Its fruits are desolation, sorrow and death. Fear, hesitation, and a timid use of the forces of war, will eventually increase these terrible sufferings. They will be diminished by courage, vigor, and severity. Whatever of trial, suffering or privation may be in store for us, or 484 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. however long may be this controversy, firm in the faith that our nation will be preserved in its integrity, let us in adversity as well as in prosperity, in darkness as well as in light, give the administration our counsel, our confidence, our support." The exigencies of the war frequently brought Governor Bucking ham to Washington during its whole continuance. Here he speedily won the respect of all by his capacity, firmness, and devotion to the common cause. He was especially endeared to President Lincoln, who reposed in him the same confidence which Washington had bestowed upon his great predecessor, Jonathan Trumbull. As a gentleman entering the executive office, introduced himself from Connecticut, the President rose from his chair, and placing ins hand impressively upon the visitor s shoulder, exclaimed: "From Con necticut? Do you know what a good governor you have got?" Kindly and gentle as we have seen him in these recent years, it is impossible not to feel that in his veins flowed the blood of the grim Ironsides who fought at Naseby and at Marston Moor, and that in his breast dwelt the spirit which animated the Hebrew king who, con templating the inextinguishable hostility of the enemies of his people and of the glorious hopes bound up in their national existence, ex claimed: "Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight." Senator Frelinghuysen of New Jersey said : MB. PRESIDENT: The warm friendship Ihavefor years entertained for Governor Buckingham and my high estimate of his character forbid that I suffer this occasion to pass away without, as briefly as I may, paying to his memory a parting tribute. When the sad tidings of the death of our friend passed over the wires, thousands and thou sands of the best people of the country were saddened. Those who, while we are making laws to impose on society external restraints, are noiselessly and unobtrusively at work in imposing on society the more potent and more salutary internal restraints of a pure religion, feel that in his death they have lost an efficient coworker, a wise counselor, and a bright exemplar. His was a bright example, and as he had no moral obliquities to hide, he had no temp tation to resort to pretension, and to become a prude in virtue. The faith he professed received from him no prejudice and no damage. His life was the expression of " an honest, earnest, loving heart, taking counsel of its God, and of itself." In his death the nation and society have sustained a loss not readily repaired. That combination of integrity and efficiency, of prudence and courage, of kindness and firmness, of patriotism and Christian virtue, which formed his character, is not often found. As WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 485 a man of extensive business connections, his opinions on affairs were sought after and respected, and his punctuality in the performance of any obligation was an example As the War Governor of Connecticut, he contributed much to the preservation, and shed a luster on the his tory, of his native State. As our companion here, his wisdom and judgment commanded our respect, his virtue won our esteem, and his generous confidence secured our affection. Senator Stevenson of Kentucky said : My acquaintance with Governor Buckingham commenced upon my entrance into the Senate in 1871. A joint service with him upon the Committee on Indian Affairs brought us closely together, and I soon learned to honor and respect him. I shall not speak of his public ser vice in the Senate; it was known to us all; it was appreciated by all. Governor Buckingham was a man of decided character. Without brilliancy, he possessed a strong, clear judgment, was a man of decided opinions and strong convictions from which he never swerved. He was eminently industrious and attentive to his official duties, but always gentle and courteous in the discharge of them. But his example, Mr. President, to the Senate and to the world, possessed a higher value. Earthly distinction is of " the earth, earthy;" it attracts and dazzles for a brief period and then passes away and perisheth; but a conscience void of offense before God and man is an inheritance for eternity. And such, I believe, was the possession of the late William A. Buckingham. His religious convictions were of the highest and deepest type. No irreverence, no frivolity, no loud pro fessions of his faith ever escaped his lips. He believed that pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father, was to visit the fatherless and widows in their afflictions, and to keep himself un spotted from the world. This he illustrated in his daily life; this he rejoiced in in his calm and quiet life. He lived in hope; he died in triumph. Senator Wright of Iowa also said : I met Governor Buckingham for the first time when taking my seat in this chamber, nearly four years since. I was then, as always after wards, impressed, as I know all were, with his amiable disposition, sterling worth, his devotion to right and duty, his unobtrusive man ner, his ever earnest advocacy of the cause of the weak and oppressed, his Christian faith, and what was far more, his Christian life. I but repeat what has been said by others when I say that his work was not so much in mere appearance or show, as in its quiet and practical value to the Senate and the country. Participating in our debates 486 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. but seldom, he, nevertheless, in those matters requiring patient in dustry, tireless research, watchfulness, the care of the conscientious business man, yea, of pure purpose and clear brain and judgment, was ever at home, had but few equals, was the peer of any. And hence, as my acquaintance ripened into warm friendship, and I came to know more and more of his purity of purpose and the thorough ness of his investigations, if in doubt as to my course, I simply asked what has he said or advised, what was his vote, and followed his lead. I knew his path could not and would not probably lead me from the right, and could not be otherwise than that of safety. His was always " a straight road," and a traveler in this never gets lost. These tributes of highest respect and personal esteem, come, it should be noticed, not only from men of his own political party, but from those with very different politics, and when such relations were terribly strained. Here is Senator Bayard of Delaware, afterwards President Cleveland s Secretary of State, and now our minister to the Court of St. James, who frankly avowing his differences, yet pays the Connecticut Senator as high and hearty trib utes of respect as any other. Senator Bayard says : I entered this body on the same day as our late friend and brother, having never previously had personal acquaintance with him, and although the committees upon which we were allotted service by the Senate were different, yet relations of a kindly nature soon grew up between us, arising from the contact of general business in the chamber. I was greatly won by the considerate courtesy which so eminently marked his bearing, and our acquaintance grew closely with the lapse of time, until a sentiment of what I am glad to believe was one of mutual regard, established itself between us. Our affili ations in party politics were totally diverse, and upon such questions the sense of duty entertained by each led our voices and our votes usually in opposite directions. Our habits of life, the schools of thought and action in which we had been reared, had always been of a different character, leading us into the adoption of different theories of social and political government. But the calmness, the serenity, the cheerful, steady, and open advocacy of his conscientious views, never suggested condemnation or disrespect of those who opposed him. I well remember on one occasion, when I had combated in debate some opinion he evidently cherished, that fearing he might have considered himself included in my adverse criticisms, 1 said to WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. him privately: " I trust you will let me agree with you, and yet denounce your opinions." And with a smile of graciousness whicl any one who knew him must remember, he placed his arm around my shoulder and said: "My dear friend, we both mean what is right; and must not condemn each other because we differ in our ways attaining it." Referring to that perplexing and disagreeable Custom- house Investigation in New York, he says : In the winter of 1871 and 1872, Mr. Buckingham was chairman of a committee of investigation of which I was a member, which sat i New York for nearly two months. Its sessions were long and laborious, by night and by day, involving much that was calculated to arouse contest between the members. And I would here bear witness to the unfailing industry, the unflagging attention t bestowed upon the public duty, by this then aged and venerable man, whose gentle courtesy and good temper never failed upon any occar sion The long life of our friend had been, as we have just one of steady industry and solid, unvarying integrity, and the reward of wealth, and the higher reward of public and private regard and respect were his. The people of his native State have attested i many ways and repeatedly their high opinion of his intelligence and worth, and placed him for many successive terms in the chair of chief magistracy, and sent him into this council chamber as one t their representatives. Full of years and honors, they now mourn for him. Let his virtues be written upon marble, and remember imitated by those of us who survive him. Let such faults and imper fections as are ever attendant upon humanity pass from our minds, and find that mercy and forgiveness for what he earnestly and humbly sought, and of what we all stand so much in need. Senator; our hearts meet now over this new grave of a departed brother, not this communion of sorrow keep us less far apart in the perform ance of our daily duties, upon which we are in a few hours again to embark? Senator Baton, of Connecticut, just appointed by the Gov ernor to succeed Senator Buckingham, and the representa tive of the opposite political party in the State, pays him this magnanimous tribute of respect and esteem : Governor Buckingham came into public life and shortly after enter ing upon it there arose grave and great questions upon which n antagonized. Though many years younger than he, 1 had been sc 488 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. what m public life. My political convictions differed from the con victions of our deceased friend. I am glad to say here, that however much they differed, though we were not intimate, yet our personal relations were always friendly. And, sir, I will say here, and 1 ask for no higher eulogium upon myself either from political foe or per sonal friend, that whatever William A. Buckingham did in the line of his duty, he did it in all heart and in all honesty. If there were dif- rences of opinion between him and some of his fellow-citizens ie differences to-day are cast into the great lumber-room of the past and are forgotten. He was a gentleman, a kindly gentleman, and blessed with large wealth, he showered it upon the needy. True to his friends, true to his convictions, true to those great principles which should govern us all, he went down to the grave an honest man. Noble heart, farewell! Pure, gentle spirit, fare thee well! " The earth which bears thee dead bears not alive a truer gentleman. But the tributes of some of the older Senators, and such as had had more experience in Congressional statesman ship, and especially had shared with him the anxieties of the war, come back to us full of meaning, and rich in affec tion. Senator Pratt of Indiana says : I met him first in this chamber nearly six years ago, and while many of his associates may lay claim to a greater intimacy than I enjoyed, no one, I feel sure, more sincerely mourns his loss With perfect truth I can say, that in all the acquaintances I have formed with public men since coming to this Capitol, no one has impressed me more strongly as being thoroughly conscientious and honest in his public and private life than Mr. Buckingham. He was a statesman in the best sense of the term. What makes a statesman? Ifc>t knowledge alone, however wide, deep, varied and all-comprehensive; not mere quickness of apprehension to detect the latent fallacy in argument or proposition; not large experience with men and subjects in the legislative forum, nor familiarity with par liamentary rules; it does not consist alone in great powers of debate. All these may co-exist, and yet something be wanting to complete our beau ideal of the statesman. What is the lack? What is still want- I reply, perfect integrity, broad philanthropy, and an ardent patriotism, which, discarding selfish aims and local benefits, seek to elevate the whole people, to make them wiser and better, and to promote their material welfare. To this highest type of statesmanship he belonged, whose memory we honor to-day. He was not a great orator, upon whose utterances men hung with bated breath. He did not mingle frequently in WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 489 debate. He did not aspire to the honor of leadership, nor was his education as comprehensive as that of many. He made no pretense to superior culture. But he possessed the practical knowledge of the affairs of the country, its varied industries and wants, its internal commerce, its growing manufactories, its vast agricultural and mineral resources, and especially that knowledge of our relations with the various Indian tribes, to which subject he gave so much of his attention as the chairman of the committee on Indian Affairs, as to eminently qualify him to be a judicious adviser in this body and to frame appropriate laws upon these subjects. Without making any pretense to the graces of oratory, he possessed the faculty of setting forth his views in away all could understand. With this was coupled that sincerity of manner that made all men respect if they could not adopt his views. And while dwelling upon his course in this chamber, let me allude to another matter. Debates sometimes engender heat and hasty speech. But who can forget his unvarying courtesy? Who ever saw him forget for a single moment the propriety of debate? Who ever heard fall from his lips a word calculated to offend or wound? Who ever saw his brow cloud with anger, or his face flush with sudden passion? Who ever suspected him of equivocation or double dealing? No, sir; he was the soul of truth, the embodiment of honor. In him centered the virtues which make up the Christian gentleman. * In a similar strain, Senator Thurman of Ohio pays his tribute to his deceased associate : MB. PRESIDENT: I can do no more than express my high apprecia tion of the character of the deceased as it was manifested during the * The Senator is often referred to as a "gentleman, 1 a " Christian gentleman." and the following incident will illustrate what kind of a gentleman he was, in spirit as well as in manner : " It is told of the late Governor Buckingham, that during an important official consultation in regard to the war, an old and feeble woman dressed in simple mourning, was ushered into the room, and told her story to the sympathetic Governor. She was a widow, and her only son, who had gone as a private in the Fourteenth Connecticut regiment, had been killed in a recent action, leaving her alone with her grandson. She drew out a roll of bills from a a much-worn pocketbook and asked the Governor to take from it the value of her son s rifle and give her an order for it on his captain. John didn t have much to leave his boy besides a good name and a patriotic example, said the old lady, but I want to get that rifle so that the boy can be reminded of his father while he is growing up. The Governor was deeply affected. He refused the money and told her he should have her son s rifle if he had to go in person to the regiment to get it. After taking the necessary directions from her, he gave her his arm as she rose up to go, assisted her off the steps, and then with a courtly bow bade her good bye, and returned to his office. Gentlemen, said he, what are our labors and sacrifices compared to hers? The daily evidence I receive of the heroism of our Connecticut women, inspires me with confidence as nothing else could do. " 490 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. years he sat among us. My acquaintance with him began when he entered the Senate, and the friendly relations that soon followed were never marred by any difference of opinion, however great. I always found him polite, amiable, and ready to oblige; a noble specimen of a true gentleman. I always found him an industrious and careful legislator, distinguished by an excellent judgment and naturally in clined, I believe, to moderation. Earnest in the discharge of his duties, he was never obtrusive, never presumptuous, and never said a word calculated to inflict a wound. And hence, when he last walked from this chamber, he left no one within its walls who did not feel for him respect, kindness and esteem. A Senator of whom after years of service this can be truly said needs little more of eulogy. There is so much to create passion, prejudice, or ill-will in the con tests imposed upon us by a discharge of our duties, that he who finishes his senatorial career with the universal good will and respect of his brethren, is most surely a character that merits commemoration and honor. Senator Howe s delicate perception of some elements of Senator Buckingham s character, and his felicitous and heart-felt representations of them, make his tribute one of the gems of this kind of literature : MR. PRESIDENT : I put on no sable, none of the trappings of woe, to stand by the bier of Buckingham. I recall no single trait in his character, no incident in his career, to bow me with a sense of hu miliation. On the contrary, the memory of all the years I knew him fills me with exultation. And then, sir, I remember with grateful pride that he was an American Senator. I need not remind you how in these latter years calumny has emptied all its vials upon the heads of public men and upon the endeavors of public life. It has really seemed at times as if the fountains of falsehood s great deeps were broken up, and that so ciety, which can no more be overwhelmed by floods, was to be drowned by detraction. A friend told me that when traveling along a railway in New England two years ago, she heard a fellow-traveler declare, with emphasis, his settled belief that there was not an honest man in either House of Congress. But Buckingham was then there. One incident in his life I will venture to recall, which not inaptly illustrates his enduring excellence. By command of the Senate, I was with others assigned but three years ago to aid the deceased on the investigation of alleged abuses in the customs service in New York. It was an irksome task, yet we prosecuted it for weeks. Daily we were splashed with the foul humors engendered in the glandered politics of a great city. Malice unwound a hideous web WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 491 before us, shot with a thread of fact to a shuttleful of falsehood. During the whole trial I did not once hear a censorius remark from him, or even a petulant exclamation. It was evident he was human, and that he felt. Occasionally, when the manifestations were especially spiteful, his countenance would wear that mingled ex pression of pain and resignation which art has so long and so vainly toiled to reproduce in some Ecce Homo; that look, half willing and half shrinking, which one fancies the shuddering Saviour wore as there broke from his lips the supplication: "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done." But the poultice of a night relieved the suffering and each succeeding day restored him to his work, showing no more trace of scars from the inflictions of the yesterdays, than the sun bore which lighted him to his work. Mr. President, I have long felt to regret that I never heard Jenny Lind sing, that I never saw Rachel act. They must have been marvel ous specimens of art. Governor Buckingham was a grand piece of nature. I shall always regret that I could not have known him in domestic life. I am persuaded that was his masterpiece. I never saw him in the presence of a child. But I partly know what he was as a father. Once he spoke to me of a daughter, and no June morn ing ever suffused the eastern sky with a more genial radiance than that which broke over the face of the father, as he told me how good that daughter was. Sir, I should wrong the memory of Governor Buckingham and grieve his truthful spirit only his spirit is beyond the reach of grief if I should neglect to bear testimony to one thing. There is in this unbelieving generation a loud, if not a large element, desperate, if not devilish, hoping nothing here and fearing nothing hereafter, which screams with derision of the Christian statesman. Standing by the grave of Governor Buckingham, I must not forget to tell the world that he was, what I have never dared pretend to be, a Christian statesman.* * While we are giving the estimates of these Congressmen of one of their number, it may be of interest to know his estimate of his associates, certainly if he had anything like the good judgment and fairness attributed to him. It is well known to his friends, that he regarded public men in that position, as greatly misunder stood, misrepresented, and suspected of what does not belong to them as a class, however criminal individuals may be. He spoke more particularly of the Senate, as the body with which he was best acquainted, and testified to their high honor and scrupulousness in regard to legislation affecting their personal interests, and sensitiveness to the very suspicion of it. As he once said to the writer when visit ing him in Washington and inquiring after his health: " Oh ! I am well enough, but you know that when a man comes to Congress, and makes any money while he is here, he has had his hands in the public treasury. And if he has lost any, he has fallen into bad habits. This last is the case with me! 1 492 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Senator Morton of Indiana was an old friend of Senator Buckingham. They had both been governors all through the war, in frequent correspondence in respect to the course to be pursued, and in perfect sympathy as to the necessity of carrying on the war to the bitter end, in spite of all peace measures and compromises. In one respect they greatly differed in their lot. Governor Buckingham always had his State at his back, while Governor Morton had to struggle with a Democratic Legislature, and the popular majority was against him in supporting the national administration by the abolition of slavery. Yet he raised a great number of troops, and carried the State successfully through the war in the support of the government. A grand old man he was, and though an invalid all through the war, and his senatorial life, no man did harder or better work for his country. His tribute to his friend was as follows : I first met Governor Buckingham when he took his seat in this body on the 4th of March, 1869. I felt from the first that we were friends, and we were. He always expressed a deep interest in my health; his inquiries were always tender and almost from day to day. Though I had never met Governor Buckingham until that time, yet we had been in correspondence before under circumstances of a most solemn character. It was, I think, in the summer of 1862, a few weeks, per haps a month, before the issue of the proclamation of emancipation by Mr. Lincoln, that I received a long letter from Governor Bucking ham, in which he discussed the general situation of the country. It was at a gloomy period, when victory was not resting upon our arms. Toward the close of the letter he suggested the question whether the government was doing its duty in regard to the institution of slavery, and whether we could hope for ultimate victory while that institution was protected and preserved, but he expressed himself as uncertain as to whether the time had arrived when any step could be taken toward its destruction. He said he had had an interview or a letter, I forget which, but recently from Governor Andrew of Massachusetts, which had led him to write me on the subject. In replying, I agreed with him upon the main suggestion of his letter, expressing the same doubt, however, as to whether the time was ripe, whether public opinion was in that condition to authorize the President WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 493 of the United States to take the decisive step which he after wards took. During my intercourse with Governor Buckingham as a member of this body, he often talked to me about his experiences as Governor during the war. We often compared notes upon that subject. He evidently regarded his services as Governor of Connecticut during the war as the great event of his life, and on several occasions expressed his doubts as to whether it was wise or expedient for him to accept a seat in this body, and whether he ought not to have retired from public life when the war was over. Just before the close of the last session, and before his departure, he came across to my seat where I was sitting, and said: " Well, we are about to separate. I hope we will meet next winter in better health." He said : "I am an old man, and feel that my race is nearly run." He said: "There are only three of us left who served as governor of our respective States throughout the entire war," referring to himself, Governor Curtin of Pennsylvania, and to my self. He said that Yates and Andrew were gone, and that we, notwithstanding our utmost hopes, must soon follow; and taking me by the hand, expressed the hope that we should meet the coming winter in better health. We parted to meet no more. In the House of Representatives, also, similar tributes were paid to the Senator from Connecticut, by Messrs. Starkweather, Kellogg, Wilson of Iowa, Potter of New York, and General Hawley, who afterwards succeeded him in the Senate. Those especially of the Connecticut members are not only discriminating and heart-felt, but they are more at length in historic detail and illustrative facts, and justify what has been said by others. So that there is no great difficulty in telling what kind of a man " the War Governor of Connecticut " was, or what he did for the country, for the Union, and for freedom. It is evident what Connecti cut thinks of him, when she puts the statue of Trumbull, her " War Governor of the Revolution," as her representa tive in the Capitol at Washington, and lets the statue of Buckingham, her " War Governor of the Rebellion," greet you when you enter her State Capitol at Hartford. She means that they shall go down together in history, as her legacy to the country, to Republican government, and to humanity. CHAPTER XXXI. PERSONAL TRAITS OP CHARACTER. Governor Buckingham s Connection with Christian and Benevolent Associations The First Triennial Congregational Council His Ability as its Moderator His Style of Writing and Address- Photograph Copy of His Letter to the President in Transmit ting their Paper on the " State of the Country." Little more remains to complete the Memoir of Governor Buckingham, than to refer to his connection with the lead ing religious, educational, and philanthropic organizations of the times. With all such he was in sympathy, and with some actively concerned in their management, and among their most generous supporters. He was a corporate member of the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, the oldest, we believe, of the American foreign missionary societies, and certainly one of the most efficient and successful in its work. Here he was a counselor, as well as generous contributor to their work, and one of those who, when the times were bad and the contributions of the churches falling short, could be called upon to make up such deficiencies. He was a special friend to missionaries, and with his high respect for their motives and self-denying labors, he could not do too much to make them enjoy their occasional visits to this country, and contribute to their comfort when they should have returned. He was also a friend and steadfast supporter of the American Home Missionary Society, whose object is to aid the feeble churches of the East, and plant new ones in the growing settlements of the West, and which has been WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 495 so successful in the work that, of all the Congregational churches there, probably the majority of them have been planted and nursed into self-support through its agency. The Western College and Education Society was another of those organizations of which he was president, adviser and supporter for years. This was a society to found and sup port Western colleges, and also to aid young men in their education for the ministry. When the war was over, and the South was left with all her emancipated slaves, and with the rights of citizenship conferred upon them, it was natural that the North should pity and help her, as well as have some regard for the safety of the nation, with such an element given the right to vote. Then with a magnanimity that was noble, and a generosity that was superb, there came those Peabody, and Slater, and Hand endowment funds, for the education of the South, and that noble American Missionary Association, which undertook to look after both the educational and religious welfare, not only of the freedmen, but of the "mountain whites" of that section of the country, and which is meeting with such marked success. Of course Governor Buckingham appreciated it, and was for a number of years its honored president, giving it his wisest counsel and generous aid. He was also well known as a good friend to the temperance cause. His father was the first in his native town to give up the use of ardent spirits in his family and upon his farm, and he himself entered upon his business life with such principles and habits. He had too much reflection not to see what mischief the drinking habit was causing, and how easily it could be prevented by total abstinence, and regard enough for others to make the little > acrifice required to aid so good a cause. And the ease with which ho did - .L in tho various positions lie occupied, arid in the circles where he moved, as his Washington friends would 496 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. tell you,* caused him no embarrassment and only won from others the more respect. Governor Buckingham was for several years the president of the Connecticut Temper ance Union, which is still engaged by lecturers, colporteurs and publications in promoting this cause. But the most important and probably the most interest ing position of this kind offered to Governor Buckingham, was to be called to preside over the " First Triennial Con gregational Council," held in Boston, June, 1865. This was a part of the reconstructional work called tor at the end of the war, which had reference to the Congregational churches of the country. From the first settlement of New England, Congrega tionalism and Presbyterianism were so much alike in Christian faith and church government, that they carried on their home missionary and foreign missionary work through the same organizations. Their members and ministers were always recognized in one body as well as the other. And when Congregationalists removed to the new States, it was considered advisable that they should connect themselves with Presbyterian churches already established, and not divide their strength by rival enter prises. But when the New England settlers became numer ous, it was necessary that their love for their own form of church government should be gratified, and for the interest *When Secretary Bayard, of President Cleveland s cabinet, came North a few summers ago to deliver the annual address to the Law School of Yale University, and was introduced, at the president s levee, to the Governor s niece, as he heard the name, he asked if she was any relative of Senator Buckingham, and being told of the relationship, he smilingly said : " You know your uncle was a good temper ance man, and that while he gave us good dinners, he never would give us any liquors. A party of us were dining with him one evening, when we happened to be almost all Democrats. We rallied him, and told him that he was evidently try- Ing to kill off the Democratic party, because he would give no liquor. It so hap pened that in the course of the evening there came a sleet storm, such as is common at Washington during the winter, and when we came out we all found ourselves slipping down and helping each other up, like a company of intoxicated people. The next morning the story was told at the Senate chamber before Senator Buck ingham arrived, and when he came he was rallied upon having turned out such a drunken crew at that hour of the night from his temperance mansion." WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 497 of the country that they should be encouraged and aided in that work. The South, too, and Southwest, where there were no such churches, but mostly Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian, was to be thrown open to Northern settlers, and it was desirable that the best of our churches should be introduced, as well as our industry, and skill, and system of education. But more than all, our civil government was so essentially modeled alter this form of church govern menteach State self-governed, and by the majority, and in the general government all the States having the benefit of the wisdom and co-operation of the rest that it seemed as if this best school for training in citizenship ought not to be shut out from any part of the land. It allowed each church to adopt its own creed, and if it was deemed by the rest sufficiently scriptural and evangelical, it was recognized by the rest as a Christian church, and could administer its own discipline and manage its own affairs. Only in matters of " common concernment," such as the organization of churches, and the ordination of their ministers, and the settlement of difficulties which they cannot settle themselves, are they expected to seek advice of other churches, and in this consists the difference between them and simply independent churches, like those of Great Britain. Even the results of these advisory coun cils are not authoritative, but advisory, as one of the early New England fathers, Richard Mather, has said : The result of any council hath only so much force as there is force in the reason for the same." While another of those fathers, Cotton Mather, happily testifies that " in the early periods of our ecclesiastical history, such bodies were so judiciously constituted and their decisions so respectfully received, that the councils in the churches of New England rarely met with contradiction from the churches whose cases were laid before them." And while they believed that no particular form of church 498 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. government was laid down and required in the New Testa ment, they held that any company of believers under the guidance of the apostles were allowed to choose their 1 own bishops and elders for the apostles to consecrate and set apart to such service, so they became thoroughly demo cratic in their church government. And while they pro posed to make of their civil government a Christian com monwealth, they did not hesitate to organize a Union of Independent States, and create a self-governing Repub lic. So this independence of churches, and their union for conference and mutual counsel, became the characteristic of Congregationalism, in distinction from Episcopacy, or Presbyterianism, or Methodism. To secure the full results of union, as well as independ ency, it was necessary for the churches to consult with one another in regard to their common interests, as they did in the organization of churches and the ordination and dismission of pastors, and sometimes larger councils, or 4< synods," as they were called, were convened when the interests of all required it. Thus a general synod or council was convened in 1637, made up of all the churches of New England. There were only nineteen of them then, thirteen in Massachusetts Bay, four at Plymouth, and two in Connecticut. Another synod was held in 1646, when the churches of New England had increased to fifty-three. There was another in 1662, and still another in 1680, both of which were confined to Massachusetts. Then came the synod at Saybrook, Conn., in 1708, which was confined to Connecticut. For 200 years there had been no general Congregational council, until in 1852 one was convened at Albany, N. Y., to consider the changed condition and duties of these churches, and resulted greatly in their increased extension and usefulness. Up to that time Congregation alism had been confined almost entirely to New England, but now commenced its national work. As showing the WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 499 need of it, from the Albany Council in 1852, which repre sented only 2,000 churches, they had become 3,000 in 1865, when the Boston Council was held, and may now be reckoned at 5,000. It was deemed as important to the welfare of the churches as reconstruction in civil matters was to the State. It was a large council, con sisting of 500 members, and representing 3,000 churches of the country, with delegates from some forty foreign bodies. It is needless to eay that the ablest members of the denomination were there, laymen as well as min isters. Dr. Leonard Bacon was there, the Nestor of Congregationalism, and so was Dr. Dexter, the historian of the Pilgrims. The colleges were well represented and President Sturtevant of Illinois College preached the open ing sermon, while President Stearns of Amherst College was chairman of the committee to make the final revision of the " Declaration of Faith." So were the theological seminaries represented, and their ablest men predominated on the committee which drew up and agreed upon the first draft of the " Declaration of Faith." Some of these com mittees were quite large, like that of twenty members on the " State of the Country," of which Dr. Post of St. Louis was the chairman, and one-half the rest were from among the eminent civilians of the land. Of the committee on " Ministerial Support," four out of five were laymen, whose ability was as much at the service of the churches as it was in demand for the business enterprises of the country. Some of the papers submitted to the council, like the one on The Government and Fellowship of the Congregational Churches in the United States," were the work of a com mittee of only two, Drs. Bacon and Quint, who had been designated beforehand for this work, and which is in itself a treatise on Congregational church polity, as well as a history of its administration and results in this country for two centuries and a half. All this work of the council 500 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. required not only rare scholarship and good theology, and ability to organize and administer well, but demanded, espe cially at such a time, grander conceptions of the future that was opening to us in the re-establishment of our Republic, and in the new order of things to come at the South, and in the increased immigration to flow in upon us from every land, and in the new development of our re sources to take place, and the wealth and culture and unbounded enterprise to follow. More or less of this any ordinary forecast might have discerned, while the prophets of our race, especially those who had been always walking in the light of Christian revelations, were prepared, like the saints of old (Heb. xi : 13), to salute these caravans of the desert in the distance, and ready to direct the wise men from the East to the infant Redeemer. There was one occurrence in the council which seriously threatened its harmony, and but for the frank acknowledg ments on one side, and the magnanimous acceptance of them on the other, would have sadly marred the faultless Christian spirit of the whole. One of the foreign delegates, editor of a British quarterly, which had expressed no sym pathy with us in our fearful struggle, and been particularly persistent in its dark foreboding of our future, called out from Dr. Quint, who had been a chaplain in our Union army, the following natural and irrepressible sense of wrong that had been done us : When I went to settle in the place where I now live, I found that my people s property, being upon the sea, had been given to the flames by British pirates, vessels of war built in England, manned and supplied there. And when I was in the service of my country and saw my comrades dead, when I saw friends from Wisconsin, Indiana and New York dead side by side, I knew that they fell by British bullets, from British muskets loaded with British powder, fired by men wearing British shoes and British clothing, and backed up by British sympathy. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 501 Here he stopped, leaving the sentence unfinished, as if he could not bear to draw the only fit conclusion. And after making some quotations from that Review which was regarded as the organ of the Congregationalists of England, he said that he " could not hold himself responsible for fraternal fellowship " with that body, until such sympathy with ,wrong, and justification of such measures, were regretted and repudiated. Rev. Henry Ward Beecher also had complaint to make of his reception in Great Britain, and the lack of sympathy he found there among Christian people and even among the Congregational churches. And but for the explanation, and regret, and apology of the foreign delegate, there might have been a permanent alienation cherished between us and the Congregational Union of Great Britain, whose relations have always been, and still are, so peculiarly pleasant. As it was, however, these two American brethren called up their English brother, and pledged him their abiding confi dence, and only challenged him and the churches he repre sented to outdo us if they would in the evangelization of the world. The most significant and impressive occurrence in the proceedings of the council, however, was its adjournment to Plymouth, the landing place of the Pilgrims, where, on that " Burial Hill " overlooking the rock upon which they landed, and the sea which separated them so far from their native land, and surrounded by the graves of one-half the Mayflower s company who died the first winter there, on that holy ground, at midday, and before high heaven, with prayer, and psalm, and under a solemn sense of duty to God and to mankind, they read and adopted that "Declara tion of Faith," and pledged themselves to carry out their fathers plans, in founding here a Christian commonwealth for the welfare of the world. The council returned to Boston, where, after closing up 502 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. its business, and the adoption of a resolution of thanks to the moderator, and his reply, it was dissolved. Rev. Dr. Wolcott of Ohio offered the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted : Resolved, That this council tenders to His Excellency, Governor Buckingham, our honored moderator, for the dignity, urbanity and courtesy with which he has presided over its deliberations, to which in part we ascribe the pleasant cordiality of feeling, unmarred by harshness, which has prevailed throughout its earnest discussions; and as a National Council, we express the satisfaction with which we are reminded by this assembly of the early days of our Puritan history, when the chief magistrates of the colonies were the servants of the churches, and the honors of the State were humbly laid at the foot of the cross. The moderator replied as follows: MB. MODEKATOK: I am not prepared, not able, properly to reply to that resolution. I remember, by history, that one hundred and fifty- seven years ago, my paternal ancestor presided as assistant moderator of that synod which adopted the Saybrook platform. For me to occupy such a position as I do to-day, through your partiality, is a high privilege. I believe I occupy it, in part, in consequence of the partiality which has been manifested by the citizens of Connecticut toward me, in placing me in a position which has linked my name, for the few years past, with the government of that little State, so inti mately connected with the cause of liberty and civil government. This also has been an unspeakable privilege, occurring as it has during the period when, all the interests of civil government have been, as it were, concentrated upon the events of the passing hour or year. No events have ever transpired in the history of this world, of such importance to civilization, to civil government, to morality, to religion, as the events which have transpired before us. It is a privilege to live at such a time; and it is a privilege to be the chief magistrate of a State whose patriotism goes down to the very depths of love, and offers her sons and her fathers as sacrifices on the altar of liberty. But there are still higher interests than those of merely civil govern ment; there are higher interests than those which are merely tempo ral; for they will pass away. This council binds us to those higher interests, reaching from this, on to another life. And to be connected with a body like this, which takes action for the promotion of those interests, is a higher privilege than is enjoyed by any man whose WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 503 duties relate merely to earthly things. I rejoice in it. I am grateful to you. I thank you for your forbearance toward me. I am grateful to God, who grants me this privilege. In this connection it may be well to answer the inquiry which will so naturally be made : " How did Governor Buckingham come by his peculiar qualifications for the work in life which he was called upon to do ? " He never was regarded as a genius. He never had a liberal educa tion in the modern sense, only somewhat more than the ordinary advantages of a New England boy fifty years ago. He was trained to business, and by his good judgment, enterprise and integrity became successful in it. He had no political ambitions, and though he had distinct opinions upon public affairs, and in his own community used his influence to maintain what he regarded as the best adminis tration of the government, he was content to serve his country there. He had always sat under the best of preaching and enjoyed it. He had been a careful student of the Bible and all his life a Sunday-school teacher, and acquired the pure and simple style of thinking and writing which so many scholars and public men have derived from the same source. Accustomed to undertake whatever came to him as a duty and train himself to do it properly, he was naturally called upon to fill important positions and sometimes to assume heavy responsibilities. And with no vanity from promotion, but with only an increased sense of responsibility and prayer for wisdom and fidelity, he stood modestly before the people of Connecticut when war was threatening and she was chiefly anxious to entrust her interests to safe keeping. Thus introduced into public life at such a crisis, and with the people of the State having full confidence in his leadership and ready to follow him wherever he showed the way, he was enabled to give to that little State an influence out of proportion to her size in the settlement of the strife and the re-establishment of the Union, 504 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. There was one kind of ability in which he was thought to excel, and that was to preside over public bodies, and judo-ing from the frequency with which he was called upon for such service, there must have been some reason for it. We have the full and discriminating judgment of one of the members of the late council, which satisfactorily explains that matter. It was a large council, was in session ten days and occupied with all-important subjects, and made up of those who were making it the woik of their lives to understand them. There were endless questions arising, and complicated ones, and in the freedom and earnestness of such discussions as actually took place there was occasion for perplexity and disorder. And yet this member writes : No single facts perhaps worth repeating, stand out on the page of my memory respecting him. But my impressions of him and my judgment in respect to his character, are that he was a man eminently candid, courteous in his decisions, without being dilatory or timid; a man who when his mind was made up went straight to his mark, un warped by self-interest or prejudice. Whether he was a large reader of books or not, 1 could not determine. But in his public ad dresses, his utterances always seemed to me to flow from a well- stored and cultured mind. His thoughts were lucid, his arguments full of that strong common sense which carries conviction, never sen sational or farfetched, and always above the common-place style. What especially attracted my attention and elicited my admiration, when he presided over public meetings, was the perfect equipoise which he maintained. He knew his points of order, and fell into no blunders in a moment of excitement when questions of order became complicated; he straightened out the tangle of debate with the most perfect ease without any show of flusters or even effort. That he was a solidly good man, all who associated with him bear a united testimony. Modest in his manner, kind and helpful in counsels, large-hearted and generous, and yet quiet in his benefac tions; multitudes are even now rising up to call him blessed. [Rev. Mr. Chesebrough of Connecticut. In regard to Governor Buckingham as a public speaker, and his style of address, Prof. Hoppin, the long-time pro fessor of homiletics in Yale University, when consulted in WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 505 regard to it, instead of giving a criticism, gave this remem brance of one of his war speeches, at the most critical period of the war: On the evening of July 2, 1862, I attended a war meeting in New Haven. It was when matters were at the lowest ebb. Our armies were out-generaled, their existence imperiled. Admiral Foote, fresh from the Western campaign, presided over the vast meeting held in Music Hall. He and others made impressive addresses. But none of them compared with the speech of Governor Buckingham. It was as tonishing in its electrifying power. It was the hour and the man. I do not know that Governor Buckingham was looked upon as a great orator for he did not speak much, though always sensibly and well, while in the Senate. But on this occasion he cast oratory and orators behind his back. It was the earnestness of absolute conviction, of love of country, that roused the depths of a noble nature. His speech was short, but every word told. His form seemed to expand, his voice to deepen, and his eye to grow luminous with the concentrated force of a lofty purpose. His manner was charged with power, and men s hearts were lifted from the depths of depression to a new height of courage and hope. He affirmed in a few words his confidence in the government. He declared that the time had come when we must be men enough to meet the crisis that was upon us. We had not yet half estimated the strength of the rebellion. The army was in danger and must be reinforced, or it and the country would be lost. Where one man was needed now, four more would be wanted a month hence. The surrender of one s life now would save a hundred lives hereafter More men should be raised by volunteering and not by draft. Free men should have the privilege offered them of fighting for the country. And he as Governor of the State of Connecticut would not draft men, except by direct order of the Executive. But what was now wanted was that they should lay their lives on the altar of their country. The foreign nations of the old world were clamorino- for intervention. But, said he, in ringing tones: "If I had the entire American press at my command, I would send the voice of the whole nation across the Atlantic, and bid defiance to their combined power " These courageous words were received with tremendous enthusiasm, and were recognized as the utterances of a brave man, who spoke the words that ought to be spoken at that moment. This was more than eloquenceit was the living energy of truth and faith. The Governor s style of writing was familiar to the public through his messages to the Legislature, his proclamations, his correspondence as published, and was known to be clear, 506 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. simple, dignified, appropriate, and sometimes magnificently noble and impressive. We must think his personal letter to President Lincoln, in June, 1862, urging him to call for many more troops if he expected to put down the rebellion, and pledging himself and his State to sustain him in it with all their resources, was in the perfection of style, and in the best of spirit. We append to this chapter, a photographed copy of his letter to President Johnson, conveying to him the com munication which the Council made to him, upon the 4i state of the country." We give it in comparison with his other photographed letter, so hasty, and with only his ini tials, announcing the occupation of Richmond by some of his troops, and with its bold and characteristic signature, found upon the commission of so many veteran soldiers and every State officer, and so familiar to everybody in Connecticut. U to**. M/ M/nC k*A- d 507 CHAPTER XXXII. BUCKINGHAM DAY. Unveiling of the Statue How Ordered and How Dedicated Gather ing; of Old Soldiers Ceremonies and Addresses Statue Placed Among the Battle Flags. Almost as soon as the new Capitol building at Hartford was finished, the proposal to place in it a statue of the War Governor was brought forward. The suggestion was iirst put in form at a meeting of the Hartford Veteran City Guard in 1881. A petition was presented to the Legisla ture in the same year, and a special joint committee of the two houses was appointed. In the following year, on recommendation of this committee, a commission was appointed to procure a suitable statue. The commission consisted of Governor Hobart B. Bigelow, the Hon. Henry B. Harrison of New Haven, General William A. Aiken of Norwich, George G. Hill of Hartford, and Thomas I. Thurber of Putnam. They gave the commission for the statue to Olin L. Warner of New York, a native of Con necticut and of patriotic ancestry. The sum paid for the statue was $ 10,000, and $6,000 was appropriated for the unveiling ceremonies, of which an unexpended balance was returned to the treasury. The legislative commission on the statue ceremonies was as follows: John Allen, Senator from the 21st District, Captain S. B. Home of Winchester, E. Barrows Brown of Groton, Jabez 8. Lathrop of Nor wich, General William H. Noble of Bridgeport, James W. Spellman of Suffield, George F. Spencer of Deep Kiver, James R. Avers of Orange, Thomas B. Walker of Coventry. THE BUCKINGHAM STATUE IN THE CAPITOL. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 509 The statue was placed in the west corridor of the Capi tol, where on two sides are preserved in glass cases the battle flags of the Connecticut regiments, which Governor Buckingham had put into the hands of his troops when he sent them into the field, and which he received when they returned, with the commendation and sympathy which their achievements merited. These flags, it should be mentioned, had already been removed from the State Arsenal to the new Capitol, in 1879, with the most impos ing military ceremonies. And nothing could have stirred the patriotism of the people, or brought together more of the inhabitants of the State, than those ceremonies, which were only equaled in their perfection of arrangement, and civic decorations, and gorgeous military display, by these of the " Buckingham Day." The unveiling of the statue was fixed for June 18, 1884. The city was hung with flags, and draperies, and inscrip tions. The public buildings were, of course, richly deco rated, while private dwellings excelled them in richness and taste, and some of the great business blocks were festooned along every story, with rich draperies trailing to the very ground. The inscriptions along the line of march were such as these : "The State will forever cherish his name;" " For such a man praise, honor and imitation, but not tears ; " The Friend of Education ; " " The Friend of the Slave ; " " Take good care of the Connecticut men;" " We honor him who was a tower of strength in Church and State ; " " The earth which bears thee dead, has not alive a truer gentleman." No buildings could shelter such a crowd, and so tents were pitched about the State House and over Bushnell Park. No hotel or restaurant accommodation could feed such a multitude, and it was done under vast pavilions and at the public expense. It was a beautiful June day, though the heat was excessive, and many of the troops and espe- 510 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. cially the veterans must have suffered from their march and long parade. But the parade was carried out in per fect order by means of signals, when the movements of such a body were beyond the control of ordinary commands. About 7.000 men were in the line, and they were all virtu ally military organizations, save the few civil officers and guests of the State. Every organization that went to the war from the State was well represented, with the single exception of the Third Light Battery, which maintains no organization. Every regiment was there, 200 or 250 strong. The veterans were in dark clothes with white neckties and gloves, while the Connecticut National Guard in their State uniform, the Governor s foot guard in their Revolutionary and antique costumes, and the New York Seventh Regiment, the guests of the State, with their choice membership, equipments, and drill gave brilliancy to the scene, while bands of music and drum corps filled in every interval of the procession, and responded to each other in every variety of martial music. The procession was led by the grand marshal of the day, preceded by a platoon of police, and accompanied by his general staff, aids and signal corps. This officer was Major John C. Kinney of Hartford, acting signal officer with Admiral Farragut in the capture of Mobile Bay, to whom we are indebted for the exact and graphic account of that fight, as seen from the masthead with the admiral, to be found in the " War Book," Vol. IV, p. 379. His general staff was as follows : Major General Henry W. Birge, Thirteenth C. V., assistant grand marshal; Captain William Berry, Twelfth C. V., department com mander G. A. R., chief of staff; Major J. Hartwell Butler, U S. army, adjutant general; General L. A. Dickinson, captain Twelfth C. V, Hartford; General (Rev.) Erastus Blakeslee, New Haven, First Con necticut Cavalry; Dr. Archibald T. Douglas, New London, surgeon Tenth C. V.; Dr. William M. Mather, Suffield, surgeon 173d N. Y. V.; Rev. Henry Clay Trumbull, Philadelphia, chaplain Tenth C. V.; WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 511 Rev. J. H. Twichell, Hartford, chaplain Sickles Brigade; Lieutenant John C. Abbott, U. S. Signal Corps; Major C. L. Burdett, First C. N. G., engineer.* In one of the divisions came, under the escort of the Gov ernor s foot guard, Governor Waller and staff, mounted ; Captain George M. Southmayd, assistant marshal; the Lieutenant Governor, ex-Governors of the State, the State officers, the Buckingham Statue Commission, commis sioners on the unveiling exercises, the orator of the day, United States Senator 0. H. Platt ; the sculptor, Olin D. Warner, surviving State officers of the war review, and military staff of Governor Buckingham ; Judges of the Supreme and Superior Courts, Brigadier General S. R. Smith, C. N. G. and staff, military and naval guests and the mayor of Hartiord, and the mayors of other cities. Another division was made up of the " Union Battalion," soldiers of other States, 1,200 strong, and a navy battalion of 300 men, besides several detachments of Sons of Vet erans. Still another division was composed of the Con necticut Cavalry Association, with 250 members, led by one of our New England pastors, under the title of Brevet Brigadier General Erastus Blakeslee, followed by the First Light Battery, whose broken wheel, and numerous engagc.- ments in which it had borne an honorable part inscribed upon it, is one of the objects of interest among the treas ured relics of the war ; the Second Light Battery, the First Regiment Heavy Artillery, under Major General Abbott, with 570 men the regiment so prominent in the war, and forever to be associated with Malvern Hill and Gettysburg ; the Second Regiment Heavy Artillery, Colonel Jeffrey * This list of names is eminently suggestive, names of those who when young men, little more than boys, went into the war out of their patriotism, and with good abilities and good principles did their best in a cause they appreciated, and rose from one rank to another, until the State is proud to honor them, and let them represent her and her part of the work, which she is this day immortalizing in marble and bronze. 512 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Skinner, commanding, 250 men, and worthy to be asso ciated with the First in the achievements of the war. Next came in order all the thirty regiments of the war, some of them represented by 200 or 250 men, while others scarcely reached 100 left of the 1,000 that went into the field. Each had had its own peculiar experience, like the Connecticut troops at the battle of Chancellorsville, when " fifty of them lay dead, and 135 lay wounded on the field, and 500 more were on their way to rebel prisons ; " or like the Sixteenth Connecticut, that unfortunate regiment, which was hurried into the battle of Antietam, undicipiined and scarcely armed, to be slaughtered in the " Cornfield," and soon after to be captured at Plymouth and sent to Ander- sonville prison, where, out of 400 men, less than 200 lived to come out. The official account of the day says : Headquarter tents were placed along the river bank of Bushnell Park, properly designated, and the veterans on arriving easily found their quarters, and formed companies and battalions without delay. The column was formed in platoons of twelve files, closed in mass, the lines being handled by signals from elevated points commanding the entire line and preventing any breaks. The march was begun at 12 o clock, noon, and the head of the column reached the Capitol about 2 o clock. The parade marched through Ford, Hoyt, Church and Ann streets to North Main, down Main, passing around City Hall and Post Office Square to the South Park, through Jefferson and Washington to the Capitol. All along the line of march the city was brilliantly decorated, and fully 70,000 people witnessed the parade. During its progress a national salute was fired and all the church bells were rung. Arriving at the Capitol the commission which had in charge the unveiling of the statue, the State officials and the guests of the State, as well as the military staff and friends of Governor Buckingham, were detached from the procession, and as many more as could find room within the building where the services took place. The Hon. John Allen, chairman of the commission on TEE DISABLED BATTERY WHEEL THE BATTLES IN WHICH IT HAD BEEN ENGAGED. >% THK FIRST LIGHT BATTERY, CT. VOL. A. P. ROCKWELL, CAPT." 11. Pccotaligo, S. C., May 28, 18G2. 12. James Island,S. C., June 3, 4, 15, 16, 1862. 13. Ft. Finegan, Fla., Oct. 3, 18G2. 14. Willtown, S. C., July 10, 18C3. 15. James Island, S. C., July 16, 1863. 16. John s Island, S. C., Feb. 20, 1864. Chester Station, Va., May 9, 10, 1864. 17. Richmond Turnpike, May 12. 1864. 18. Drury s Bluff, Va., May 16, 1864. Bermuda Hundreds, Va., May 19 19. and June 27, 1864. West Bottom Church, Va., June 16, 20. 1864. Strawberry Plains, Va., July 26, 1864. Grover House, Va., May 27, 1864. Four-mile Creek, Va., May 14, 1864. Deep Bottom, Va., Aug. 27, 1864. Before Petersburg, Va., Aug. 25 to Sept. 25, 1864. Chapin s Bluff, Va., Oct. 7, 1864. Johnson s Farm, Va., Oct. 13, 27, and 28, 1864. Before Richmond, Va., Oct., 1864, to April, 1865. Struck in action! Proctor s Creek, Va., May 15, 1865. 518 514 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. the unveiling ceremonies, introduced the Rev. Dr. Merri- man, who offered prayer. The statue was then presented to the State by the Hon. Henry B. Harrison of the statue commission, and accepted by Governor Waller. An ex tract from each speech will give an idea of the feeling that dominated the occasion. Mr. Harrison s address of pre sentation was as follows: YOUR EXCELLENCY: To you, as the governor and official represen tative of the State, the commissioners, who were directed by the General Assembly to procure and cause to be placed in the battle-flag vestibule of the Capitol a statue of Governor Buckingham, have the honor to announce that they have discharged the duty which was thus imposed upon them. The statue is here. It is covered by the flag of the State and of the Nation entwined together. The hour has come for you to lift them and reveal to us the noble figure of your great predecessor. There was an illustrious Greek who declared that he had no accom plishments or graces, but that he knew how to make a small State great. He whom to-day we honor was himself great, because he, too, knew how to make a small State great. If the greatness of the State was not made by him, it was by him enhanced and exalted. He was the chief of a State then containing less than 470,000 people. But he knew how, in the dread days of war, so to inspire and so to stimulate this little commonwealth as to make her send forth to battle and wounds and death on distant fields, for the sake of a righteous cause, more than 53,000 of her sons more than one- third, almost one-half, of all the able-bodied men within her borders fit to bear arms. Perhaps, in his modesty, he did not know that he was great. We ourselves, who did know it, knew not how great he was until death and time, revealers of the truth, enabled us to take the just measure of his grand character and his lofty spirit. This imposing demonstration is the unerring witness to his great ness. From every hill, from every valley, from every city, and from every hamlet in the State from many States and from distant States the scarred veterans of the holy war have gathered together here, moved by one spontaneous, magnetic, and irresistible impulse, to associate with this ceremonial the memories of their patriotism, their sacrifices, and their valor. With the soldiers of the land have come the warriors of the sea. And with the soldiers of the land and the warriors of the sea, a vast multitude of men, of all conditions, of WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 515 all temperaments, of all beliefs, and of all passions, have come up hither with one accord and in unity of spirit as to a high solemnity. What means this mighty movement? What means this universal and overpowering impulse? It is the mystery the old and eternal mystery of the power of a noble and royal spirit, a noble and heroic life, over the hearts and lives of men. He was great because he was a true type of the best characteristics of the race which founded and peopled Connecticut. His sagacity was unerring; his courage dauntless; his will inflex ible; his devotion to duty supreme; his faith in God absolute. Like the race from which he sprung, he loved peace; but, like that race, he feared not war. The sculptor, himself a son of Connecticut, in whose veins runs the same blood that warmed the heart of one of her early heroes, has approached with affectionate reverence the work which was com mitted to his hands. He was equal to the work. With the finger of genius he has touched the bronze and wakened it to life immortal. Remove, sir, the veil, and disclose to us the grave face and majestic form of the War Governor. Let us behold him in the midst of the surroundings which best befit him. This stately Capitol, with all wealth of marble and of granite and of decoration, is henceforth to be his appropriate resting place. This vestibule, consecrated already by these tattered flags which his right hand delivered to the brave men whom he sent forth to battle and his right hand received from them when they came back victo rious, will be made more sacred forever by his august presence. At the close of the address the statue was uncovered by Governor Waller, who made the address of reception, in which he said : The stately tigures, in marble and bronze, of Trumlmll and Buck ingham, the War Governors of Connecticut in the Revolution and the Rebellion, now adorn this magnificent building, and the places they occupy are of historic import. The statue of Trumbull, who took such a conspicuous part in the formation of this government, stands where in honor it should, at the very portals of the Capitol of this commonwealth. The statue of Buckingham is appropriately here. Its position in this part of the Capitol, in which are placed the sad but honored trophies of our State in the War of the Rebellion, adds to its memorial significance, and these worn and blood-stained battle flags, standing like so many sentinels of honor to guard it, add to its glory. 516 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Connecticut never rendered more fitting honors than those of to day, to either civilian or soldier, living or dead. Let us, fellow-citizens, on this memorable day, at the base of this statue, as at the foot of an altar, consecrate, ourselves anew to that loyalty and devotion to our State and our country, that animated the life of him whose effigy we are beholding, and whose memory we revere. After the unveiling of the statue, the orator of the day, Hon. Orville H. Platt, United States Senator from Con necticut, fitly described the peaceful characteristics of the State, and paid worthy tribute to her love of liberty and generous response when called upon to save the Republic, whether from foreign enemies, or civil war. After describ ing the long, sad course of events which led to the civil war, and the exigency of the times which demanded a peculiar leader, he finds in the parentage and training of Governor Buckingham, the man raised up for his times and work. So that the selection of him had as much of a providence in it as his training. To lead and direct a people thus inspired, William A. Buckingham was specially chosen. In his faultless character, one quality stood out strikingly it was his sublime religious faith. It pervaded and energized the whole man. I know that the fervor of those days seems to have passed, so much so, indeed, that it may seem inappropriate to dwell on this controlling element in Buckingham 1 * character; but truth and justice demand it. Like Washington at Valley Forge, he met the crisis with prayer, and from the beginning to the end of the trial went forward with a calm bearing born of the undoubting faith that he was but an instrument in the hand of the Lord God Almighty to do His will, to preserve His chosen nation, to set His people free. Who shall deny, even in this skeptical day, that faith alone makes man truly great? It made Buckingham great; and we shall do but partial justice to his memory, or his ability, if we do not recognize and honor this noblest, grandest quality of the man. As I recall his bearing in those years of peril, I cannot but feel that he combined in character the stern justice of Israel s judge and the rapt spirit of the Hebrew prophet. His God, during the war, was the God of the Old Testament. He served Jehovah, the Man of War. The army of the Union was the army of the Lord. I may not dwell on the four long, sad years of bitter strife that WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 517 followed. I must repress the desire to recall the heroic achievements of the sons of Connecticut on the glorified battle-fields of the Union, lii victory, in defeat, in camp, in prison, in life, and in holy death, they were true to their State, their Country, to Freedom, and to God. I weave no chaplet of laurel for those who survive, for their fellow- citizens have crowned them with reverence. I lay no flower garlands on the graves of the slain, for we cherish in our hearts to-day, and forever, the men who died to save our country. Our present duty is to set forth the love and reverence borne by a grateful State for the man who, by his position, represented and embodied the purpose, devotion, and valor of all. Through the varying fortunes of the conflict he was the same active, faithful, uncompro mising patriot. The people of the State acknowledged him as their lawful head, listened to his advice with profound respect, obeyed his orders with a perfect obedience, reposed in him a loyal confidence, and learned to love him with a rare love. No other man but Trum- bull ever so illustrated the rich meaning of the word we have chosen to designate our chief magistrate he was most truly and emphati cally our Governor. The duties of his office were arduous and trying; but he never seemed to feel weariness. He was never content with the formal discharge of official duty. He was the foremost citizen, as well as the elected ruler of the State, and his great heart gave character to his public acts. At the outset he pledged his private fortune for the equipment and arming of the troops. Whatever money could procure for their comfort and enjoyment, beyond the things authorized by the State, he supplied at his own expense. The sum of his benefaction will never be told. Benevolent by nature, his Christian experience taught him that he was God s steward and almoner, and he gave as he believed God s Spirit prompted him. His gifts gladdened many a soldier in distress. Probably not one of the War Governors, who held with steady hand the helm of State during the perilous storm, was more relied on by the Presidewt than Buckingham. Very early in the war, foreseeing the magnitude of the contest, he addressed the President a letter setting forth his views on the situation. Many of the suggestions contained in that letter were embodied in the President s message to Congress on the 4th of July, 1861, and from that date onward Lincoln frequently consulted him. It is related of the President that being introduced to a Connecticut gentleman during the war, he quickly and impressively said: "Do you know what a good Governor you have got?" To another he said : " The Connecticut regiments give me no trouble; Governor Buckingham always sends them fully equipped for any emergency." Well might the President rely on him. The country contained no truer patriot, no safer counselor. There may have been greater men, 518 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. as the world counts greatness, but Buckingham, by his pure life, by his unselfish loyalty, by his intense love of the right, by his singleness of purpose, by his trust in the Lord of Hosts, earned his right to a place among the heroes of faith." At the conclusion of these ceremonies the Capitol was thronged, as it had been before they began, with a surging crowd, eager to see the statue of their War Governor, and to recognize the flags under which they or their friends had gone forth to the war. The impression made by the statue is justly given in the accounts of the unveiling. It is a representation of the Governor in a sitting position, of heroic size, and by common consent a good likeness. The artist, in representing him as the War Governor, has very properly and successfully given him the stern and spirited expression which the duties of his office would inspire. And while some at first sight might be disappointed in not finding the kindly-spirited and gentle-mannered man they were accustomed to meet with in private, reflection satisfied them that such a modification was required and has been successfully made. Perhaps the size and spirit of the statue would be softened to advantage if seen from a little greater distance. Be that as it may, it is a noble represen tation of the man, and in that character of which the State may well be proud. Strangers who go there must admire it, especially in its noble building and impressive surround ings. Citizens may well take satisfaction in showing it to strangers, and if, when they are complimented upon the building and the statue, they modestly inform us that they were both furnished " within the appropriation, * we think none the less of their taste and patriotism, because they have been combined with economy and integrity. The papers of the day especially represent the interest of the veterans as they crowded around the statue, and told their wives and children of some kindness the Governor showed their regiment, or pointed out the faded and tattered flag WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 519 under which they fought, and the gilded names of Roanoke Island, Port Hudson, or Fort Fisher, where they received their wounds and won their promotion.* This, let it be remembered, was the regiment that refused to sign a petition to President Lincoln for an exchange, when our government had suspended such exchanges, on the ground of some inequality and unfairness it was seeking to remedy. They refused to sign such a petition lest it might " embarrass the government in its dealings with the Rebel lion." ( Connecticut in the War," Chap. XXXII.) Another incident occurred at the close of those cere monies, which illustrates the Governor s regard for the mass of the people, their freedom of access to him, and their attachment to him. An old man came and wished to speak with the Governor s daughter. " You remember," he said, " that when your father was first Governor, he used to ride a beautiful parade horse called the < Pathfinder. That was my horse, and after his second or third election, I came into the city and went to the State House to tell him I was glad he was chosen again." " yes," his daughter said, " we all remember that beautiful horse, and how he enjoyed riding it." " Well, said your father, < I suppose I can have your " Pathfinder " again. c No, I told him, u Path finder" is dead. What? said he. Then I don t see how I am to be Governor, laying his hand on my knee." And the tears ran down the old man s face, as much out of * The writer remembers, in visiting the Capitol with his grandsons, and pointing out the flag of the Sixteenth Regiment (the unfortunate one with its AmU rsonville t xperience, whose fresh new flag bore on it a little shield made up of bits of the old one, which the men tore in pieces and concealed about their persons when they were captured), that an old soldier came up and said of another standard by its side, 4k This is my flag." We did not need to ask him how he had fared under it, for his arm was gone at the shoulder. Soon another joined him and said that the next standard was the one he fought under, and being asked if he had escaped all injury, he showed a wooden leg. Then came a third, saying : " The Sixteenth was my regiment." And when we said : " Well, my friend, you seem to have fared better than your comrades ; " " Oh, yes," he replied, " but we all lived on the same rich soup in prison." And these are scenes that will be repeated as long as there are veterans to tell of such things, or they have descendants to rehearse such pathetic stories. 520 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. regret at disappointing his friend as at the loss of his favorite horse. Thus the people of Connecticut have enshrined in their Capitol building to immortality, so far as marble and bronze can do it, the most precious and suggestive memorials of their late war. And whatever may befall them in the convulsions of nature, or the revolution of empires, they transmit them still more imperishably to the pages of his tory, which must remain so long as there shall be any human beings here to read them, and human history to be read. Parents will tell of such things to their children, and children s children will repeat the story to their chil dren. Posterity will read of such deeds done by their an cestors, and as they read the same blocd will be stirred in their veins, and they be roused to equal heroism when it is called for. CHAPTER XXXIII. To THE PEOPLE OF CONNECTICUT. A Reminder of What They Have Been What Made Them What They are The Character They Have to Maintain. An organist hardly feels that his musical service is com plete, without a suitable postlude to his performance, as well as a prelude. And as the author of this memoir has had as much regard for you in this work, as for your Gov ernor, he takes the liberty of calling attention to certain of your characteristics as a people, which stood you in good stead in all the crises of the war ; to certain influences and events in your earlier history to which you owe such charac teristics, and to what should be the benefits of some of your recent history to your State and to posterity. To the Southerner, all New Englanders were Yankees in the most objectionable meaning of the term. But the Con necticut Yankee was a peculiar species of the class, bright, sharp for business, loving money and never spending it except to make more. There was something nasal about his voice, and awkward about his manners, and he had no fine qualities of blood and breeding. In older times when men in public life were not so sectional or partisan, and personal friendships were formed stronger than afterwards, we used to hear of the pleasantries that passed between Southerners and Northerners ; like that of the one who saw a drove of mules going by the Capitol at Washington, and called his brother Senator to the window to see a company of his constituents, and the reply was, " Yes, they are going South to teach school." Down to the very opening of the war, when a Southern mother, standing with her boy OZ2 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. before Washington s noble statue at Richmond, was heard teaching him : " There, my son, you see Washington is turning his back upon the North, and only looks with satis faction and blessing upon the South ; " the South had this low opinion of you, and instilled it into their children. But how unjust this opinion was your history had shown, and your coming action was to do away with it forever. Your country was a rough one, and your climate vigorous for half the year, so that industry and economy had to be considered prime virtues. You had to do your own work, or pay for it when done by others. But you knew how to accumulate your gains, and use them as capital for larger enterprises ; you made your water power drive your ma chinery, and by invention improved your machinery and methods of business until you could not only bring cotton from the South and return it in clothing to advantage, but export it also to the ends of the earth ; you utilized the very ice of your ponds as well as the timber of your forests and the clay of your valleys, together with the granite from your hills, to furnish yourselves and others with the com forts and benefits of a higher civilization. You knew the value of education and Christianity also. You would not incorporate towns even on the outposts of civilization, unless they would provide schools and churches with an educated ministry. You must have your colleges almost from the first, and sent your contributions to Harvard until you could support one of your own. And when those twelve ministers (with little more than their piety, and a few books) founded the one which has since grown into your noble University, with its various departments of literature, theology, philosophy, natural science, sociology, law and medicine, where so many of the statesmen and professional men and scientists of the land have been trained for the last two centuries, it is proof that you have always valued other things than money, and have labored WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 523 as hard to secure the former as the latter. Your common schools, free to all, have been cheerfully sustained by those who have had anything to be taxed, whether they had any children or not. Your State, if we mistake not, was the first to set apart a school fund of $2,000,000 for this pur pose. And the result has been, that it is rare to find one of your native population who cannot read and write,- read the newspapers and books, and write an intelligible letter, and affix his signature to his own will. You have been learning, too, the best use of property. When so many are giving liberally out of their competency or their wealth, and many more out of straitened means or even poverty, to whatever will promote the public good, the relief of distress, the elevation of the oppressed, the promo tion of better morals, the most thorough Christianization of this country, and the evangelization of the whole world, who can say that this is not the greatest and best attain ment that can be made in this age of progress ? When we think of the possibilities that are open to us in this direc tion ; in the intellectuality and education of the people, which would put the wealth of science more fully into our possession, the skill of trained artisanship, the resources of invention, the treasures of history and the refinements of art ; when moral and religious culture shall have saved us from the exhaustless waste of vice and fraud, to say nothing of needless incompetency and reckless mismanagement in business, and especially when there shall be enough of the spirit of Christianity in the community to make us " fear God and keep his commandments," " love our neighbor as we love ourselves," seek " another s wealth," as well as our own, be " kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ s sake hath forgiven us ; "- what mines of wealth, priceless in value and limitless in extent, are found all around us, if they were only developed ! There could hardly be a better illustration of this subject, 524 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. or one more honorable to you, than the two gifts from your State of a million each, for the education and religious improvement of the colored people of the South, the Slater fund and the Hand fund, the only gifts for the same pur pose arid of equal amount that have come from any quarter. The Peabody fund is a noble charity, but that is for the white population especially, while these are for the Preed- men, the most needy and depressed, and are absolutely necessary to qualify them for the citizenship which has been conferred upon them, and which they are not yet capable of exercising. This is the supreme wisdom of such a charity, and as full of benevolence to the whole country as it is to the South. Your generous use of money also for carrying on the war, the way in which individuals pledged their fortunes, the banks offered loans, the towns taxed themselves to raise volunteers and support their families, the Legislature appropriated -14,000,000 to raise and equip troops, and the State loaned its credit to aid the general government, ought to stifle forever the ancient reproach that you were a mer cenary and mean-spirited people.* But more than all, you gave yourselves, as well as your money, to the cause of your country, and herein showed your truest patriotism. Pew shrank from enlistment who were fit for military service and could be spared from duties at home, and as the state of things became more critical, instead of sending substitutes, your citizens felt under greater obligation to go into the field themselves, so that the most independent in their circumstances and the * Nor should it ever bo forgotten to your credit that it was a citizen of your State, Hon. C. S. Bushnell of New Haven, who himself and his friends advanced the money which enabled Ericsson to build his Monitor, saved our navy in its greatest peril, and revolutionized tho system of naval shipbuilding throughout the world. Our naval department saw nothing promising in such a war vessel and the government had no spare funds to risk upon such an experiment, but this private citizeu of yours, virtually at his own risk and expense, saved the nation from disaster, and made this contribution to the defense of every nation. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 525 ablest in every profession and position were to be found in our army. There was a private in one of the Connecticut regiments we know, who, when the government was largely in arrears to them, drew his check for the back pay of the whole regiment. And the assertion of Mr. Lincoln, which was ridiculed abroad, that he could have filled every office in his cabinet from more than one single regiment in the service, was justified. You sent 50,000 men into ths field out of a population of less than half a million, or more than one to every ten inhabitants, counting men, women and children. Your State never had to submit to a draft to furnish your quota, but had a surplus of 6,000 to her credit when the war was over. The honor your volunteers did themselves and your State, on land and sea, in cam paigns like McClellan s, on the battlefields of the Wilder ness, Antietam and Gettysburg ; the high rank in the army to which so many of them attained, largely from civil life ; the illustrious dead, so many of whom sleep in your village burying grounds, the constant shrine of love and flowers ; and so many more who rest in unknown graves, and just outside, perhaps, of some prison pen, where unassuaged grief can never make any expression of affection for them, or of its admiration of the sacrifice they made for others, these are matters of truthful and eternal history, and they tell whether you have any patriotism, or self-sacrifice, or nobility. What is nobility in its truest sense ? Is it to have some royal blood in your veins, like that of Charles the First, or trace your descent to some titled ancestor, like his Attorney General, who prosecuted all the patriots in his Parliament for high treason ? Or would you rather find yourself descended from one of those patriots, Hampden or Sir Henry Vane, characters whom all respect, and whose services will be appreciated as long as personal rights are cherished and unjust taxation opposed ? Would you rather inherit the faith of the Reformers, who sloughed off 526 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. from the church the corruptions of the middle ages, or possess the self-sacrifice of the Pilgrims, who would plant a pure church and a Christian commonwealth in this wilder ness, or have given your money, or risked your life, or surrendered your best friends to either prison or death, to save that church from injury, this commonwealth from overthrow ? Then we can assure you that your patent of nobility will stand quite as high in the court of heaven, and in the best judgment of mankind, as if you could trace your descent from ever so many royal families and the highest titled estates. There is such a thing as a noble parentage and honorable heredity, which should be respected and cherished, whether the chain of connection be one of birth and blood, or only of spirit and similar character. We are proud of our Protestant ancestry, our Cromwellian spirit, especially if we bear the name of one who came over in the Mayflower, or who was an important settler in Massachusetts Bay, or a planter of either the Hartford or the New Haven colony. And we have reason to feel so, for there are few influences more ennobling than to wear an honored name, and be always striving to do it credit. Happily for us, the great names of history were apt to have some strong character istics behind them, and not infrequently some noble virtue and rare achievement in a rude age. When these quali ties and such a spirit have characterized for generations a family or a people, like the Scotch Covenanters, the French Huguenots, or the New England Puritans, it is neither affectation nor folly to prize such historic associations and yield to their influence. For they bind us to the past, and put us under bonds to the future. Happy is the people whose ancestry can be thus honored and their example imitated.* * If any one is desirous of knowing how much noble blood was brought over to New England in its early settlement, he will be interested to refer to such a work as Chancellor Walworth s "Genealogy of the Hyde Family." The question had been raised as to the birthplace and family of Jeremiah Mason, the great Bos on WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 527 Your characteristics have been largely the result of such parentage and history. Our New England settlers are well known to have gener ally come from the best English middle classes, the land owners and country squires, and some thrifty merchants, like the planters of the New Haven colony, with a large percentage of university men, like our ministers and magis trates. They brought with them their Protestant faith in its purity and simplicity, and their ideas of religious and civil liberty, and the conviction that men could govern themselves in the State as they were doing in the churches, without either king or pope. They made it a religious duty not only to maintain liberty, but also to support civil govern ment. They recognized " the powers that be," or established governments, " as ordained of God," and to be maintained, while they demanded just and equal and useful legislation. And these duties were enforced, not merely for social safety and from economic considerations, but by all the motives and obligations of Christianity. They were taught from the pulpit their duties to the government, as well as to God and their fellow-men, until they knew what good govern ment was, and that both duty to God and to men required lawyer, the contemporary of Daniel Webster and quite his equal as a lawyer. He was born in Lebanon, the birthplace of the Trumbulls and of Governor Bucking ham. His ancestor in this country was Captain John Mason of Pequot fame, who received a considerable part of that township in repayment of his public service at that critical period of our history. In the pursuit of those inquiries, the lineage of this decendant is traced back step by step and with th ) highest authorities for its correctness, to William the Conqueror, and Matilda of Scotland, and Alfred the Great, and several other Anglo-Saxon kings. And not only so, but he sprang also from Louis the Fair of France, and from Charlemagne, the great Emperor of the West. So that with that family alone, came blue blood enough into New England to stock a kingdom. There was another personage also among our first settlers, Elizabeth St. John, wife of Rev. Samuel Whiting, first minister of Lynn, Mass., who brought over a richer inheritance of noble character as well as of high rank, than probably any other, and her blood is so well scattered among our most familiar names, that nobody need feel surprised to find himself belonging to the "first families," and if his character justifies a nobler descent than that of mere blood, few will call in question his claim to any rank. [ u Genealogy of the Hyde Family," by Chancellor Walworth, Vol. II, p. 920. 528 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. that they should have it. So they were no reckless an archists, nor shallow socialists, but the best possible material for self-government. It was by one of your pas tors (Rev. Thomas Hooker of Hartford) that the plan of your State government and of the general government was virtually outlined at first. Yours also was the only colony which had a charter that gave the right to choose your own governor, while the rest had such appointments from the crown, and as a consequence, Governor Trumbull was the only patriot among them when the rest proved " Tories." And that right you deemed so sacred that when the charter which gave it was demanded of you, you refused to give it up, and hid it in the famous " Charter Oak," the likeness of which is carved over the entrance to your Capitol, to be cherished as the guardian of your liberties. This is what made your State so patriotic in the Revolutionary war and Governor Trumbull such a leader in it, and made it so easy for you and your War Governor of the Rebellion to imitate such noble examples. Such have always been the influences which have molded communities and nations, and have been more potent than location and circumstances, or even race and heredity. They have made Great Britain what she is, on her little island, and with her world-wide enterprise. They have made France and Germany and Russia what they are, as their peculiar ideas have been incorporated into their institu tions, and illustrated by their history. And so it will be essentially to the end of time. Nations may be swept away from even strong foundations, as the Roman Empire was from her fine organization of government and noble system of civil law. But such institutions and influences are the best security against national ruin, as yet discovered, especially when truth, justice and benevolence underlie them, and Christianity holds a people under its individual and almost omnipotent control. WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 529 It is such history of your worthy deeds and such memo rials of them which are to perpetuate your noblest charac teristics. We know how nations may be sometimes swept away from the best foundations and rush into a wicked war, like ours with Mexico, for the extension of slave terri tory ; or oppress some particular classes and deny them their simplest rights, as we did so long to the slave and the Indian ; or corrupt politics by buying votes and counting them fraudulently, and rewarding party services with the spoils of office, as we have seen so often done. We know how wealth has been found controlling legislation or party politics, putting judges on the bench on purpose to defeat good laws, and defying public sentiment because it had the power to do so, as we have also seen to our grief and almost despair. We have seen the great metropolis of this nation administering its city government to enrich its office holders, and subjecting the community to the heaviest taxation for such a purpose, and contemptuously answering back to therr complaints : "What are you going to do about it?" when there seemed no possible remedy. But you know as well, that an unjust though successful war and ample slave territory could not fasten upon us forever, slavery and the slave trade. You know, too, the poor Indian, long ago des tined to extermination, has escaped it, and is acquiring the rights of property and citizenship, the benefits of education and Christianity, in spite of everything. And have you not seen, also, the most corrupt legislation and the worst politics driven out from the halls of Congress, the Legisla tures of the States, and from the proudest metropolis by the revolt of public sentiment against such corruption ? Those who defied public sentiment so arrogantly, have you not seen such criminals dying in prison and fleeing into exile, poor and friendless, " fugitives and vagabonds in the earth ? " These are influences which lie back of force and back of votes even, and can re-enforce both as nothing else 630 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. can, and which any rightly disposed community under our system of free voting can use with resistless power against any sort of corruption. These are moral influences which are mightier than force or fraud, and though we may some times be overborne by the latter and somebody have to suffer martyrdom, we expect in the end to conquer. Truth and righteousness and humanity are mightier than falsehood and fraud and oppression. And God himself is always on that side, though he does not immediately vindicate the right, but will in the end. Wickedness is folly as well as crime, and as the Scriptures say, it is " the fool who hath said in his heart, There is no God." Those who undervalue these forces of the universe are sure to be mistaken and must make a failure in their plans, when it is the " right eous eventually who shall inherit the land." This is the lesson you have been taught by your late his tory. When no one else cheered you on in that great struggle, save the old statesman of Huguenot descent who saw in it the " Uprising of a Great People," and foretold your success because your cause was based upon inherent righteous ness and humanity and the favor of heaven ; when you took little account of mere probabilities of success, and only knew what you must do and would do to be worthy sons of your sires, and preserve the government upon which the best institutions of society depend and can only be furnished to other lands ; when you counted this as your highest duty and cared no more for what it cost, whether of comfort, or property, or life itself, than the early martyrs did, it made such patriotism come near to martyrdom itself. We have often wondered, if an age of persecution should return to the church, whether martyrs would offer themselves again as freely as in those early times. But when we saw the choicest of our youth and maturest of our citizens volun teering for the service more freely than adventurers, we knew Christianity was safe even in charge of the imperfect WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 531 people who represent it. If " the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church," so will the dust of patriots breed heroes anywhere, especially when men have been reared under such a parentage and such history as yours. Still more confidently is this to be expected when the world is evidently coming faster under the higher influences of civilization and the purer influences of Christianity. The night has been long and dismal, but the morning is promised and in places is already tinging the horizon, and will tip the mountain tops and penetrate the valleys, until, as Longfellow has said: "It s morning everywhere!" There seems to be a general impression that the next cen tury is likely to bring with it improvements in the condition of mankind, such as have never been known before. Whether this hope is born of the need of it, or of the countless experimental work that is being done for every class and condition of men, and the world-wide enthusiasm which beats in so many hearts to benefit somebody like the strong expectation of the world s Messiah when he came it is a distinct expectation and strong hope that light up our future. Most of us who have reached a good old age and experienced all the vicissitudes and anxieties of life, might hardly wish to live far into the new century, but we should be glad if we could sec through the eyes of our children s children some of the glory that is coming. But it is not so much along the lines of material wealth and development, great as this must be, that we look for the greatest improvement, but in better characters, better lives, better families, better governments, in all that is meant by the establishment of the kingdom of heaven upon this earth. When the aged and beloved apostle looked out from his imprisonment upon Patmos over the boundless sea and up into the infinite heavens, where his Master was upon the throne, he saw " a new heaven and a new earth, and its capital the holy city, the New Jerusalem coming 532 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." It satisfied his heart, realized all his hopes, and content to lay down his work, he responded to his Lord s assurance : u Surely I come quickly." " Even so come, Lord Jesus." CONNECTICUT o HISCURA@EWAS DAUNTLESS HIISFA1THIN<5D ABLUT1 INSCRIPTION ON THE GOVERNOR S MONUMENT. ALPHABETICAL INDEX AIKEN, William A., 144. Alabama Claims, 439-445. Alabama, interview with builder of 445-448 Appomattox. surrender at, 388-393 Armies, condition of 307, 308. Arms for the South, 124. Army and Navy di organized at open ing of the war, 160. Army of the Potomac, 216 217 221 223, 313, 330. Assassination of Lincoln. The plot, 403. Its execution, 404, 405. Punishment for, 405. Atlanta, capture of. 350. BALDWIN, ROGER S., 79. 88, 90 Baltimore. Attack on Massachusetts reei- ment, 144. Bancroft. George, 261. Banks offer money for the war 129 Bates, Edward, 109. Battell, Kobbins, 79. Battle Flags in Connecticut State Capitol, 509. Battles, described or specially men tioned. Antietam, 308. Bentonville, 377. Bull Run, 172, 177. Chattanooga. 312-318. Cliickahominy, 232. Five Forks, 384-386. Georgia campaign, 342-359 Gettysburg, 268, 270, 308. Glendale, 2b9. Grant s flank movements, 333-336 Malvern Hill, 241. Mechanicsvi le, 230. Mobile Bay, 370-374. Vicbsburg, 268,270. "Wilderness 331-336. Bissell, George P., 252. Blair, Montgomery, 109. Booth, Wiikes, 403-405. Border States, 123. Bounties for enlistment, 251. Boyd, John, 132. Brandegee, Augustus, 157. Breckinridge John C., 60. Brewster, James, 137. Buchanan, Robert. His administration and its failure 40. His character, 41, 42, 107. Message to congress in the autumn of 1859, 44. Justifies demolition of the Union, 64. His cabinet divided. 65. His opinion of Lincoln s inaugural, Buckingham. The family in this country, 1-3 Joanna (Matson), 10-12. Samuel. 3, 7, 8. Rev. Thomas, colonist, minister and one of the founders of Yale College, 1. 2. "Buckingham Day," 50r, 520 Buckingham Rifles, 134 Buckingham statue, 507 Buckingham, William A. Birth, 3. Home and training, 4-16. Early occupations and business life, 15,16. Elections aa governor 32 37 50 128, 209, 380, 430 Messages, 34, 38, 52. 154, 17!), 211, 361. .friendship with Abraham Lincoln, Gubernatorial canvass of 1860, 48, 53. Instructions to members of Peace Convention. 79. First cail for volunteers, 128 Pledges his private fortune to equip soldiers, 130. His early estimate of the great ness of the war, 131. Buys arms and equipments on his own responsibility, 141. Assures President Lincoln that the North will support him, 144. His letter offering the president S2.000.000 and 10,000 men, 158. Offers more troops, 159. Letters to Simon Cameron, May 18 and July 26, 1861, 163 164 Letter to General Daniel Tyler, 165 Appeal to the president to increase the army, 166. His promise that no state shall furnish more or better troops than Connecticut, 164, 431. Proclamation callitjg for loyal sup port of the government, 184. Conferences with the president, 188. Assures the people of their ability to mtet all demands, 212. Order issued after Peninsular cam paign. 249. Letter to the president on slavery, 263. Call for volunteers to suppress possible draft riots, 280. Reply to criticism of action iu preparation for draft riots, 281 . Appointment of officers from civil life, 291. His care for soldiers, 293, 296 301 302. 303, 305. Reception of returning volunteers, 534 ALPHABETICAL INPKX. Fao-simile of letter announcing the fall of Richmond, 419. Urges ratification of the Thir teenth Amendment, 435. Interview with the builder of the Alabama, 445-448. Elected United States senator, 452. Family life, 452, 453. Life as senator, 454-461. Bis committees, 458-460. His death at Norwich, 461. Tributes from ihe press 462-472. His funeral at Norwich, 472-475. Utterances of public men as to his life and service, 475-493. Personal traits, 494. Qualifications for his work. 503. Moderator of First Congregational Council, 496, 502. Bull Run, 172, 177, 183. Burnharn, George S., 133, 134. Butler, B. P., 181, 265. CAMERON. SIMON, 109. Carnps of instruction, 136, 290. Catlin, Julius, 141. Chase. Salmon P.. 109. Chattanooga, capture of, 312-318. Chickahominy, 226. Christian Commission, 297, 298. Civil an<1 mili ary power, 34 Clark, David, 137. Cleveland, Ch^uncey F., 79, 135. Colt, Samuel, H4, 162. Confederate finances. 271. Confederate troops. Demoralized, 357. Distress at time of surrender, 387. Congregational council at Boston, 496. Congress. Extra session July 4, 1861, 123, 173. Authorized call for 500,000 addi tional troops, 166. Connecticut. People of, 522-528 Its first regiment, 161, 290, 291. Its credit lent to the general gov ernment, 171, 289. Its contribution in troops and money to the war, 431. Suffered no draft, 255. Connecticut Legislature. Indorses the governor s action as to volunteers, 143. Session of 1861. 154. Crittenden compromises, 184. Resolutions after the Peninsular campaign, 210. Not a single disloyal member, 274. Action as to soldiers votes, 362. Connecticut Volunteers. Those first sent, 182, 183, 194, 195, 197. Regiments at Bull Run, 192. Commissioned officers from these three regiments, 185. Three-months and three-years men, 162. Their patriotic impulse, 186. Training camps, 187. Officers from civil life, 291. Men who became generals, 292. The attention volunteers received from the governor, 293, 296. Provision for sending their pay to their families, 295. Work of voluntary associations for them. 297-300. Constitutional amendments, 367, 436, 43 7. Crisis of 1857, 31 Crittenden compromises, 184, 273. DAVIS, JEFFERSON, 46. 65. 73, 364. Deming, Henry C., 157, 181. Douglas, Stephen A . Debates with Lincoln, 54-59. Candidacy in I860, 59, 60. Opinion of Lincoln s inaugural.llQ. Views after the firing on Sumter. 121. His death, 157. Draft. First suggestion of, 250. Connetciout escapes it, S55. Riots, 276-279. Volunteers to suppress riots, 280. Dred Scott decision, 24, 25. EDDY, REV. HIRAM, 132. Election (presidential). In 1860, 46. 47, 61. In 1864, 364. Election frauds in Connecticut, 61, 53. Election parade, 33. Emancipation. President Lincoln s attitude, 112. Development of feeling for it, 856. Lincoln s plan by purchase, 256. The proclamation, 264, 267. Eulogies or sketches of Governor Buckingham. I. N. Tarbox, 477. Noah Porter, 475. Senator Kerry, 480 Senator Frelinghuysen, 484. Senator Stevenson, 485. Senator Wright. 485. Senator Bayard, 48G. Senator Eaton, 487. Senator Pratt, 488. Senator Thurman, 489. Senator Ho we, 491. Senator Morton, 492. Congressmen Hawley, Stark weather and Kellogg of Con necticut; Wilson of Iowa, and Potter of New York, 493. FARRAGUT, Admiral, 371, 374. Ferry, Orris S., 134, 480. Field, David Dudley, 86. Financial strength of the North, 211. First Connecticut Cavalry, 198. 200. First Connecticut Heavy Artillery, 193, 195, 197, 201, 300. First Connecticut Light Battery, 197. Fort Fisher, 193. 370,378. Fort Pickens, 203. Franklin, William B., 244. Fremont, John C.. 364. Fugitive Slave law, 23. GETTYSBURG cemetery,dedication, 323. ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 535 Governors of loyal States. Their services during the war, 170, 433. In advance of the general govern ment, 190. Grant, Ulysses S. In the Mississippi valley, 309. At Chattanooga. 312. At i he held ot the armies, 326. Plan of campaign, 327, 328, 329. On waste of life in war, 328. Begins advance on Richmond. 342. Campaign after the Wilderness, 378, 3T9 Receives surrender of Lee s army, 390-394. Magnanimity of his treatment of Lee s army, 392,393. Greeley. Horace. Examination of proposals for peace, 363. Graybeard regiment, 186. HAMPTON, WADE. 395. Hawley, Jo- eph R. Raised first company of volunteers in Hart ord, 133. Brevetted m jor general. 292. Characterization of Governor Trumbull, 478. Home Samuel K First Volunteer in Connecticut, 132. JOHNSON, ANDREW. Opponent of secession, 366. Nominated as vice-president, 366. Course as president. 437. Impeachment proceedings, 437. Johnston. Joseph E., 225, 227, 345, 349, 376. 393. Johnston s surrender, terms of, 400. KANSAS outrages, 25, 26, 27. Kinney, John C., 374, 510. LEBANON. A typical New England town, 4. Its famous school, 5. Its influence on Governor Buck ingham, 6. War office, 6. The town characterized by Dr. Tar box, 478. Lee, Robert E. His Army of Northern Virginia, 330. At Petersburg, 381-386. Surrender at Appomattox, 388-393. Leech, John. His tribute to Lincoln in London Punch, 411. Lee s surrender, terms of, 391. Lincoln, Abraham. In Connecticut in 1860, 49, 166. Nomination as president, 54, 60. Debate with Douglas, 54-59. Election in 1860. 61. Effect of his election in the South, 67. Journey to Washington, 94-100. Inauguration, 101-107. Plot to assassinate him in 1861,93. Speeches in 1861, 5-97. Farewell address to his townsmen, 101. His first message, 105, 106. Cabinet of 1861,109, His views when he became presi dent, 112. Rising to the greatness of the oc casion. 161. Correspondence with McClellan, 220, 234. Plan for freeing the slaves by pur chase. 256. Emancipation proclamation, 264, 267. Cost of slaves and cost of war compared. 258, 259. Interview with Governor Buck ingham, 262. Expression as to slavery in his secon < inaugural message, 26t>. His Christian spirit, 321. Loss of his son 323. Address at Gettysburg, 324. Conversation with Sherman on the conduct of the war, 342. General Sherman s opinion of him, 343. Nomination in 1864, 365. Declaration as to slavery, 367. Surrender of the Confederate armit-s. 390, 406. His assassination, 403-413. His character, 406. Effect of the assassination on the country, 407-411. John Leech s recognition of him in Punch, 411. Lincoln s assassination (see as sassination of Lincoln.) Louisiana territory, 19 20. Lookout Mountain, 316. Loyal governors (see governors of loyal states.) Lyon, Nathaniel, 302, 303. 304. MALVEBN Hill, 221 Maximilian in Mexico, 448-451. McClellan, George B. Commander in Chief, 215. Characterized. 215. Advance on Richmond along the Chick ahominy. 227. Retreat to Harrison s Landing, Complaint of the government, 234. Retirement from command and from the army, 255. Nominated for president, 365. McCurdy, Charles <) ., 79. Mexican Empire. 448-451. Mexican war unpopular, 23. Missionary Ridge, 815. Mississippi valley cleared, 309. Missouri, its admission as a slave state, 21. Missouri compromise, 19, 21. Mobile Bay, 371. Monitor. The money for it furnished by C. S. Bushnell of New Haven, 274. 536 ALPHABETICAL INDEX. Monroe Doctrine. Application to Mexico, 450. Its English origin, 450. NAVY and army disorganized at the opening of the war. 160. New Orleans under Gen. Butler, 182. PATRIOTISM of the volunteers, 138. Peace by concession, 363. Peace Convention, 78-92. Peace meetings, 73, 78, 184,209,274,279. Peace resolutions at Philadelphia, 75. Peace Party. Condition in 1864, 302 Attempts to do something in 1864, 363. Peninsular campaign. General account, 223-246. Delay in preparation, 219-222. Orders as to the city of Washing ton, 220 Plans of attack and defense, 227, 22S. Battles of, 230, 232, 239, 240. Pennsylvania reserve, 290. Perkins. George L., 148. Petersburg and Richmond, 380. Pierce, Franklin, 274. Port Royal, 203. Presidential campaign of, 1860. Democratic conventions, 46, 47, 60. Republican convention, 47, 60. Constitutional Union convention, 61. RECONSTRUCTION, 436. Reformation, Battle song of the, 320. Republican party. Inception, 40. Gain of states in 1859, 43. Gains in 1864, 366. Richmond Condition of during Peninsular campaign. 224. Visit to after its evacuation, 420, SANITARY Commission, 297. Secession. Advocated in Congress. 46. History to the time of the war, 63-73. Cabinet officers betrav their trnit, 65. Governor Gist s message of No vember, 1860, 07. South Carolina s haste to lead the movement, 68-72. Peace conventions, 73-92. Buchanan s position, 44, 64, 76. Rebellion or revolution, 77. At tbe time of Lincoln s inaugu ration, 111. Trials of negotiation and diplo macy, 362-306. Collapse, 387-400. Sedgwick. John, 304, 305, 332. Seward, William H., 98, 109, 110, 207, 208.248,363,405. Seymour, Horatio, 76, 275, 273. Seymour, Thomas II., 47. Shenandoah Valley, 379 Sheridan, P. H.. 337-340. Sherman, William T. Meridian expedition, 310. At Chattanooga, 315. March througn Georgia, 342-359. Marching North, 374. Arranging - T ohnston s surrender, 394^100. His error in this matter, 399, 40C, 402. Sixteenth Connecticut resiment in Andersonville, 251, 252. Slavery. Its history before the war, 17-30. Early understanding that it should cease at last, 18. Virginia and tne Northwest Terri tory, 19. Extension of the system, 19-28. How its supporters made war necessary, 28, 29. Governor Buckingham s declara tion in his first message. 35, 38. The contest from 1854 to 1860, 39. Heloer s Impending Crisis, 45. The Lecompton constitution, 56. Buchanan s cabinet divided by slavery, 65. Conciliatory attitude of the North, 73. Slaves freed under the common law, 85. Lincoln s plaa for freedom through purchase. 256-260. Emancipation proclamation, 264. Cost of slaves and cost of war, 258, 259. George Bancroft on slavery, 261. Governor Buckingbam a letter to President Lincoln. 262. B. F. Butler s abhorrence of slavery, 265. Lincoln in his message in 1865, 266, 367. Constitutional amendment, 367, 436. W"orR of loyal eovernors, 434. Bishop Galloway on emancipa tion. 438. Smith, Caleb B.. 109. Southern empire, Hope of, 177. Stanton. Edwin M.,65. Stephens, Alexander H., 357. Sutnter. Attack on. 113-115. The news in South Carolina, 116. The news at tbe North, 118. TERRY, ALFRED H., 180, 193. Thanksgiving, First national, 318. Tisdale, N athan, 5. Towns offer to support families of soldiers, 133. Trent affair, 2< 4-208. Trinity College volunteers, 137. Trowbridge, Thomas R., 137. Trnmbull, David, 5. Trumbull, John, 5. Trumbull, .Jonathan. 5. Trumbull, Jonathan. Jr., 5. Trumbull, Joseph, 5. ALPHABETICAL INDP:X. 537 Trumbull family, 478. Tyler, Daniel, 188, 290. Tyler, Robert O., 188. * UPRISING of a great people," 160. VALLANDINGHAM, 273, 274. Volunteers. Unlimited number authorized, 180. Calls for new levies, 122, 248, 307, 326. Orders of Governor Andrew and Governor Buckingham, 249. Vo es of, 362. WAR Democrats, 156. War meetings, 250. War of the Rebellion. The outbreak, 109-117. The news North and South, 116- Service of the loyal newspapers, First call for troops, 122. Effects of treason in Buchanan s cabinet, 124-126. Connecticut s answer to the call for troops, 128-153. Woman s work, 141, 187. Popular enthusiasm, 150. Action of the Connecticut legis lature, 156. Bull Run, 172, 177. The wonderful response to calls for volunteers, 186. Fort Fisher, 193 Review of the situation up to 1862, Connecticut s contribution in the first year of the war, 211. Peninsular campaign, 323-246. A turning point, 270. Review of the situation to July, 1863, 276. Bounties, 283, 284. Summary of calls for troops, 28!5. Connecticut s contribution to the army, 287. Condition of both sides in July 1863, 307, 308. Waste of life, 308, 309, 328. Recruiting the armies, 311. A Question of endurance, 325. Situation in May, 1864, 326. Wilderness campaign, 331-336. Losses in this campaign, 341. Situation at the beginning of 1865, 370. Lee s surrender, 368-394. Johnston s surrender, 394-400. Cost of the war, 414. Number of men in the field, 414. Disbanding the army, 415. Review in Washington, 415-418. Washington, George, 6. Washington, review in at close of the war. 415-418. Waste of life in war, 328. Week of battles, 229. Welles, Gideon, 109. Wesleyan students in the vrar, 137. Wideawake clubs, 0. Williams. Rev. Solomon, 4, 5. Wilmot proviso, 22. Winsted s prompt action to furnish soldiers, 132. YALE students volunteer, 136 Yorktown, 223. THIS BOOK IS BUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. MOV 22 1932 "* 28 194-8 939 LD 21-50m-8,<32 YC 51097 250236 / A