5? I I I ^ i-i-I CO 1 sick, and to comforting the dying. Their untiring energy, their fortitude and pa- tience under the most trying circumstances to which g any people may be subjected, are worthy the emu- cat iu lation of all nations through all time. W. H. 448935 PREFACE. This booklet is only a compilation of certain well known recorded events matters of history opinions of, and expres- sions by, many men, with some reflections by the compiler. What it contains is gathered from many sources. Any opin- ions of the compiler herein expressed were and are honestly entertained, and are honestly expressed. Having read remarks by Hon. G. M. Dallas, Senator from Pennsylvania, that, "The Constitution in its words is plain and intelligible, and is meant for the homebred, unsophisticated understandings of our fellow citizens," 1 and by Judge Story, "A Constitution of government is addressed to the common sense of the people and never was designed for trials of logical skill or visionary speculation," 2 the compiler was emboldened to express his common sense understanding of its meaning, as to certain Articles. It is not the object of this booklet to reawaken the ani- mosities of half a century ago far from it. The hope of the 14 The Constitution," W. Hickey, p. 27. "Idem, p. 27. compiler is that he may truthfully present, in concise form, the reason why the Southern States seceded to relieve the South- ern people from the charge of treason to set forth briefly the efforts they made to maintain peace in order that their de- scendants may not, under the influence of so-called histories, false, partizan and vituperative, cease to honor their fathers. It is also his hope that, if perchance the following pages should be impartially read by any on the "opposite side," erroneous impressions may be eradicated; that confidence in the Southern people may be restored, and that they truly accept the results of the war in good faith may be believed. It may not be out of place to say a few words about the compiler. He is a native of Alabama, was rocked in a State's rights cradle, and suckled on secession pap; was in the Con- federate service all through the war; from his youth he favored the abolition of slavery in his native State; now, in the "sere and yellow leaf," he yields to none in his devotion to the Union as it is. WM. HAWN, Late Seventh Louisiana Regiment. ALL AROUND THE CIVIL WAR April 13, 1607, the first permanent settlement by English- men in America was made by the landing of about one hun- dred men at a point in Virginia, to which they gave the name of Jamestown, in honor of their King, James I. Nearly, or quite half of them perished in the first summer from a pesti- lence. It is needless to the purpose of the writer to dwell upon the hardships of this first colony ; to rehearse their sufferings ; to trace their growth in numbers and expansion, or to refer to their religion, characters or surroundings, for this purpose is an effort to show that the Southern States, which seceded from the United States in 1860-61, exercised a power reserved to them under the Constitution ; that they were driven thereto by the General Government having passed into the control of a party inimical to their constitutional rights; that African slavery was not the cause of secession, but only an incident, and that the Southern people were not rebels. A seed had been planted at Jamestown from which was to arise a form of Republican-legislative government, and a lib- 8 ALL AROUND THE CIVIL WAR erty, having no prior existence among men ; a form of govern- ment destined to modify all others; to improve the conditions of all mankind, and to become one of the greatest world powers. Other colonies in due course were founded by peoples from various countries which, under similar conditions, grew and expanded until there were thirteen, all owning allegiance to the British crown. The injustice and bad faith of England finally drove the colonies to rebel, and to an agreement between them under the title of "ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION AND PERPETUAL UNION/' Sept. 5, 1774, a Congress composed "of a number of dele- gates, chosen and appointed by the several colonies and prov- inces of North America" assembled in Philadelphia, at "The Carpenter's Hall," the object of the Congress being to form "a bond of Union," and "to connect the powers and means of the colonies for the common defense." Nov. 15, 1777, these articles were agreed to by the dele- gates of the thirteen original States in Congress assembled, subject to the ratification of the Legislatures of the several States, and were ratified by the States on dates as follows : By eight States July 9, 1778', one State July 21, 1778', one OR BEFORE AND AFTER 9 State July 24, 1778 ; one State Nov. 26, 1778 ; one State Feb. 22, J//P ; one State March i, 1781. These Articles provided that : 1. "The style of this Confederacy shall be The United States of America.' 2. "Each State retains its sovereignty, freedom and inde- pendence, and every power, jurisdiction and right which is not, by this confederation, delegated to the United States in Congress assembled. 3. "The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other * * * binding them- selves to assist each other against all force offered to, or at- tacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or on any other pretense whatever. 4. " * * * and the people of each State shall have free ingress and regress to and from any other State, and shall en- joy therein all the privileges of trade and commerce subject to the same * * * restrictions as the inhabitants thereof re- spectively, provided that such restriction shall not extend so far as to prevent the removal of property imported into any State to any other State of which the owner is an inhabitant, etc. 10 5. "Provides for the appointment of delegates to the Congress of the United States, etc. 6. "No State, without the consent of the United States in Congress assembled, shall * * * enter into any conference, agreement, alliance or treaty, etc. 7. "When land forces are raised by any State for the common defense, all officers under the rank of Colonel shall be appointed by the Legislature, etc. 8. "Provides for charges for war and other expenses, etc. 9. "The United States in Congress assembled shall deter- mine on peace or war. * * * No State shall be deprived of territory for the benefit of the United States. * * * Settle- ments of disputes between States provided for * * * also regulating trade with Indians. * * * Establishing or regu- lating post roads. * * * The United States in Congress as- sembled shall never engage in war, nor enter into treaties, nor appropriate money * * * unites nine States assent to the same. 10. "Confers limited powers on the committee of the States, or any nine of them. 11. "Canada may be admitted to this confederation, etc. OR BEFORE AND AFTER n 12. "Provides for payment of bills of credit, etc. 13. "Every State shall abide by the determination of the United States in Congress assembled, on all questions which, by this Confederation is submitted to them; and the Articles of this Confederation shall be inviolably observed by every State, and the Union shall be Perpetual ; nor shall any altera- tion hereafter be made in any of them, unless such altera- tion be agreed to in a Congress of the United States, and be afterward confirmed by the Legislatures of every State." It is worthy of note that in these Articles the words "United States" occur more than fifty times, and only twice is the word United written with a capital U, in Article i and in Article 9, which, perhaps, indicates slight respect for the Union ! These Articles were soon found to be defective; first, in that they did not provide "the necessary means of raising a revenue," and second, in the absence of "power to regulate and control the foreign trade and commerce of the country." 1 February 3, 1781, a member from New Jersey moved a recommendation to the States that Congress be vested with additional powers to provide means for paying the public debt 1 "The Constitution," W. Hickey, p. 131. 12 ALL AROUND THE CIVIL WAR and prosecuting the existing war, by laying duties on imports and prize goods. Rhode Island refused to comply with this recommendation, giving under three heads the reasons for such refusal. These reasons were: First. "That the proposed duty would be unequal in its operation, bearing hardest upon the most commercial States, and so would press particularly hard upon that State which draws its chief support from commerce." To this the Committee of Congress, having charge of the matter, replied, "that every duty on imports is incorporated with the price of the commodity, and ultimately paid by the consumer, with a profit on the duty itself, as a compensation to the merchant for the advance of his money." Second. "That the recommendation proposes to intro- duce into that and the other States officers unknown and un- accountable to them, and so is against the Constitution of the State." To this the reply was : "The doctrine advanced by Rhode Island would perhaps prove, also, that the Federal Govern- ment ought to have the appointment of no internal officers whatever." * * * OR BEFORE AND AFTER 13 Third. "That by granting to Congress the power to col- lect moneys from the commerce of these States, indefinitely as to time and quantity, and for the expenditure of which they would not be accountable to the States, they (Congress) would become independent of their constituents, and so the proposed impost is repugnant to the liberty of the United States." To this the Committee replied: "The fund proposed was sufficiently definite as to time * * * the resolution recom- mending the duty specifies the object to be the discharge of debts already contracted, etc." 1 The arguments of the Committee prevailed, and the "Arti- cles of Confederation and Perpetual Union," which were agreed to by the delegates of all the States in Congress as- sembled as early as Nov. 15, 1777, were finally ratified by the last of the thirteen, as late as March i, 1781, having been prac- tically under consideration since Sept. 5, 1774. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. July 4, 1776, Congress in Committee of the Whole, agreed to the Declaration of Independence, which reads, in part, as follows : 1<4 The Constitution," W. Hickey, p. 131 i 4 ALL AROUND THE CIVIL WAR That "all men are born free and equal ; that they are en- dowed with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ; that to secure these, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and to institute a new government, * * * organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. * * * But when a long train of abuses and usur- pations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the pa- tient sufferance of these colonies, and such is now the neces- sity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States ; he has refused his assent to laws, the most whole- some and necessary for the public good ; he has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance ; he has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of OR BEFORE AND AFTER 15 large districts of people; * * * he has endeavored to prevent the population of these States ; he has obstructed the adminis- tration of justice; he has excited insurrections amongst us. "We have warned them from time to time ; * * * we have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence; they have been deaf to the voice of justice and magnanimity. We must therefore acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace, friends. "We, therefore, by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United States are, and of right ought to be, Free and Independent States." This declaration was signed by the representatives from the "Free and Independent States" of New Hampshire, Mas- sachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, Mary- land, New York, Virginia, New Jersey, North Carolina, Penn- sylvania, South Carolina and Georgia. It will be seen herein and hereafter, how the practices of the King, so eloquently protested against in the "Declaration 16 ALL AROUND THE CIVIL WAR of Independence," were revived in the actions of a sectional party, which arose in the New England States and spread over the vast domain, which was freely ceded to the United States by the State of Virginia. The "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union" hav- ing proved ineffectual to meet the exigencies of the Union, it was necessary that a better system should be devised. Feb. 21, 1787, a resolution was offered in Congress that recommenda- tion be made to the different Legislatures to send forward to a convention to be held in Philadelphia on the "second Mon- day in May next," to take into consideration the situation of the United States, etc. This resolution was passed with little delay. Delegates from the several States met as suggested. After deliberate and candid discussion, the Constitution, as finally prepared, was agreed to by the assembled delegates, on Sept. 17, 1787, and was ratified by the several States upon dates ranging from Dec. 7, 1787, to May 29, 1790. THE CONSTITUTION. The articles to which consideration will be given herein are: THE EXORDIUM. "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure OR BEFORE AND AFTER 17 domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of Liberty to our- selves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Consti- tution for the United States of America. ARTICLE i. SEC. 8, c.n. The Congress shall have power To declare war, etc. 12. To raise and support armies, etc. 15. To provide for calling forth the militia, etc. ARTICLE 4. SEC. 2, c.i. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States. c.3. No person held to service or labour in one of the States, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such services or labour, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labour may be due. SEC 3, c.i. * * No new State shall be formed or created within the jurisdiction of any other State, etc. AMENDMENTS. ARTICLE 2. A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a Free country, the right of a people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. i8 ALL AROUND THE CIVIL WAR ARTICLE 4. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, homes, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, etc. ARTICLE 9. The enumeration in the Constitution of cer- tain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. ARTICLE 10. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people. SLAVERY. "This year, 1619, about the last of August, came a Dutch man-of-war" to Jamestown, Va., "that sold us twenty ne- gars" 1 and this was the rising upon the horizon of a cloud- speck, having in it the germ of a mighty storm that was des- X tined to sweep over the country, spreading death and destruc- tion over a once happy people sacrificing hundreds of thou- sands of lives costing thousands of millions of dollars and causing the compulsory emancipation of nearly four millions of negro slaves, without compensation to their owners, and in violation of the Constitution. (See Art. 4, Sec. 2, clause 3, also Amendments, Articles 4, 5 and 10.) Negro slavery thus 1 "Virginia," Cooke, p. 123. OR BEFORE AND AFTER 19 introduced, soon extended to all the other colonies. Slaves were recognized as property; owners were secured in their possession, with the right to dispose of them as property and to remove with them to any State. Conditions in the Northern and Southern States were so diverse, that it soon became evi- dent that what might be profitable in one section might be unprofitable in the other. So it was with negro slavery. The Southern States, with a more genial climate, a more fertile soil and a difference in products, were better adapted for the employment of negro slaves, than were the Northern or New England States. The people of the North, away from the sea, were farmers. Their products were mostly hay and grain, but the climate was too cold for the negroes. Near the sea the people were fishermen, manufacturers, traders, ship-build- ers and sailors occupations requiring skill not possessed by the slaves. In the South the people were largely, almost ex- clusively, planters, owning large areas of fertile soil and rais- ing principally tobacco, cotton, rice and sugar crops which could be successfully cultivated by negro slaves. Let it be remembered that no question of immorality in buying, selling, working or holding slaves was suggested for many years in either the Northern or Southern States. Un- der all these conditions, those who held slaves in the North 20 were glad to find a market for them in the South, and it was chiefly through this market that slavery became extinct in the former. And not only did the Northern slave owners con- tribute in this way to the continuance of slavery, but being traders, ship-builders and sailors, some of them engaged in the "African slave trade," organizing companies for carrying it on and making fortunes by the nefarious traffic, without re- proach from the people of the States where they resided. It is related of one James D'Wolf, who was a Senator from Rhode Island, that he resigned from the Senate to become President of a slave-trading company. Being told that the trade was to be declared piracy, he replied, "So much the bet- ter for us; the 'Yankees' will be the only people not scared off by such a declaration" 1 From what has been said it appears that the people residing in the Northern States engaged in importing slaves, and that the Southern people were not at all engaged in it. The South- ern States were first in disapproving the slave trade. In co- lonial days Virginia made frequent appeals to Great Britain to suppress it, but was overruled by the Crown. In nearly every Southern State laws were enacted forbidding the im- portation of slaves. Virginia was the first State to prohibit it. 1 "The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government," J. Davis, Vol. I, p. 84. OR BEFORE AND AFTER 21 The fact is, slavery was practically forced upon the South for the pecuniary benefit of those who were engaged in the "trade." Art. i, Sec. 9, clause i of the Constitution made the slave- trade legitimate until the year 1808. In 1784 Virginia ceded to the United States her vast territory northwest of the Ohio River. The ordinance for the government of this territory contained, among others, one article which provided that "there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, etc.," which provision was not only acceded to by Virginia, but the ordinance was adopted at her express instance. Thus it is evident that the people of the Southern States deplored the existence of slavery; that they were not only willing, but desirous to have it restricted to the limits where it existed. But the number of slaves increased rapidly, keeping pace with the general increase in the whole country in population and material development, and when a political party arose, whose aim and object it was to forcibly emanci- pate the slaves, to deprive part of the States of rights guar- anteed to them by the Constitution, and protected by the laws of Congress rights which the highest courts had decided be- longed to them; after having appealed to Congress and to their brethren of the Northern States not to infringe upon 22 these rights, it was painfully evident that some other remedy must be found to secure them, and the only thing to do was to withdraw from the Union and set up a government of their own. Hence came SECESSION. Examples of claims for the right to secede from the Union and for the exercise of this right are not wanting. The first exercise of it was when every State seceded from the Union formed under the "Articles of Confederation," and formed a new Union under the Constitution. The right was frequently "asserted in Massachusetts and other New England States." The acquisition of Louisiana in 1803 was made a special occa- sion for its claim. Mr. Timothy Pickering, long a Senator from Massachusetts, in a letter written Dec. 24, 1803, said: "I will not yet despair. I rather anticipate a new confederacy, exempt from the corrupt and corrupting influence and oppres- sion of the aristocratic democrats of the South. There will be (and our children, at farthest, will see it) a separation." In another letter written January 29, 1804, he said : "The prin- ciples of our Revolution point to a remedy a separation. That this can be accomplished, and without spilling one drop of blood, I have little doubt. * * * A Northern Confederacy O R BEFORE AN D AFTER 23 would unite congenial characters. * * * The Southern States would require the naval protection of the Northern Union, and the produce of the former would be important to the navigation and commerce of the latter. It (the separation) must begin in Massachusetts," and he had no doubt all the New England States would join the new confederacy also New York and New Jersey. In February, 1804, he wrote further: "The public debts might be equitably apportioned." "A friendly and commercial intercourse would be maintained with the States in the Southern Confederacy. * * * It is not unusual for two friends, when disagreeing about the mode of conducting a common concern, to separate and manage, each in his own way, his separate interest, and thereby pre- serve a useful friendship which, without such separation, would infallibly be destroyed." 1 In 1811 a bill for the admission of Louisiana as a State being under consideration, Mr. Josiah Quincy, of Massachu- setts, said : "If this bill passes, it is my deliberate opinion that it is virtually a dissolution of this Union; that it will free the States from their moral obligation; and as it will be the right of all, so it will be the duty of some, definitely to prepare l "The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government," J. Davis, Vol. I, pp. 71, 72, 73- (Quoted from "Life of Cabot Lodge," pp. 334, 491, 338, 340, 446.) 24 for a separation amicably if they can, -violently if they must.' A member from Mississippi Territory thereupon called Mr. Quincy to order, and was sustained by the speaker. An appeal was taken from the speaker's decision, and it was reversed. Mr. Quincy then proceeded, saying, "Is there a principle of public law better settled or more conformable to the plainest suggestions of reason, than that the violation of a contract by one of the parties may be considered as exempting the other from its obligations, etc." 1 In December, 1814, during the war with Great Britain, a convention, composed of delegates from New England States, met at Hartford, Conn., it is understood, for the purpose of considering the question of withdrawing the States repre- sented, from the Union ; and it is beyond doubt that this matter was considered as, in a published report they say, "some new form of confederacy should be substituted among those States which shall intend to maintain a federal relation to each other. * * * Whenever it shall appear that the causes" (for disso- lution) "are radical and permanent, a separation by equitable arrangement will be preferable to an alliance by constraint among nominal friends, but real enemies." 2 1 "The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government," Vol. I, pp. 73, 74, 75. 2 Idem. OR BEFORE AN D AFTER 25 In 1844, when the annexation of Texas was being consid- ered, the Legislature of Massachusetts declared that "the Com- monwealth of Massachusetts, faithful to the compact between the people of the United States, according to the plain mean- ing and intent in which it was understood by them, is sin- cerely anxious for its preservation ; but that it is determined, as it doubts not other States are, to submit to undelegated powers in no body of men on earth" ; and "the project of the annexa- tion of Texas, unless arrested on the threshold, may tend to drive these States into a dissolution of the Union." 1 Feb. n, 1845, tne same Legislature declared that, "as the powers of legislation granted in the Constitution of the United States to Congress do not embrace a case of the admission of a foreign State or foreign territory, by legislation, into the Union ; such an act of admission would have no binding force whatever on the people of Massachusetts." It will be seen from the above that almost from the date when the Constitution was adopted, that is from 1803 and to 1845, t ne New England States and some of their eminent statesmen asserted, contended for and insisted upon the right of any State to secede from the Union, and that each State had the right to determine for itself upon what provocation ^'R. & F. Confederate Government," Vol. I, p. 76. 26 ALL AROUND THE CIVIL WAR this right should be exercised, and that the "Commonwealth of Massachusetts," particularly, asserted the right to construe the provisions of the Constitution for herself, and to be bound only by "the plain meaning and intent with which it was under- stood by them." The right to secede from the Union was clearly reserved to the States, as the right to coerce a State is not conferred by the Constitution upon Congress. The course of events between i5ji (at which time William Lloyd Garrison established "The Liberator," a newspaper per- sistently advocating the entire and immediate abolition of African slavery in America) and 1860, when Abraham Lin- coln was elected President, justified the people in the Southern States in apprehending that the policy of the Government henceforward would be not merely to limit African slavery to the States where it already existed was recognized by the Constitution, and was protected by the Laws of the country but to abolish it in all the States. The anti-slavery party had now become dominant practically sovereign independent of and unlimited by any other power. It was a sectional party. It elected to the presidency a man who had said that the Union "could not permanently endure half slave and half free." The Constitution had been denounced as a "Covenant with OR BEFORE AND AFTER 27 hell." One of its leaders had declared that "Congress was bound to prohibit it (slavery) in, or to exclude it from any and every Federal Territory," thus claiming that Congress could set aside the provisions of the Constitution and deprive certain citizens of the enjoyment of the only kind of property -which was especially recognised by it. Another leader of the party had predicted an "irrepressible conflict," and had proclaimed "a higher law than the Con- stitution." The meaning of all which is that the party was determined to rule the country according to its own ideas, without regard to Constitution or Law. What caused the Northern States to contemplate their withdrawal from the Union in 1803, 1814 and 1845? It was not that any of their Constitutional rights had been infringed, or even threatened; it was not that their material interests were endangered! It was because of their hatred of the so- called "Aristocratic Democrats of the South," and because the acquisition of Southern territory seemed to promise addi- tional influence to the South in the government of the country a seeming promise that was never fulfilled, as this acquisi- tion subsequently contributed greatly to the enlargement of their commerce, manufactures and wealth. It may be not improperly asked, "if a consideration of their 28 ALL AROUND THE CIVIL WAR material prosperity did not largely influence them in 1861 to deny to the South the right previously claimed for themselves ?" Carefully read the Declaration of Independence. Where reference is made to the King, substitute the words "Repub- lican Party," and a close similarity will be seen between the acts of the former and those of the later (would-be) sover- eign, committed prior and subsequent to 1860! If the Anti- slavery or Republican Party, up to 1860, had not committed all the sins against the Southern States which the King had committed against the colonies, it was evident that they were capable of them and intended to follow his example, unless their reckless demands were submitted to. The imagined dangers to their interests which had so in- flamed the Northern mind were as nothing, even if they were real, when compared with the actual danger overhanging the South in 1860. This latter danger portended the overthrow of the Constitution, the obliteration of States' rights ; the abso- lute subjection of the Southern to the Northern States; the loss of vast property and the utter demoralization of their most serious domestic concerns. The Southern States might, of their own accord, have abolished slavery, and there was a growing sentiment among them in favor of so doing, not because it was admitted to be immoral, but for the reason OR BEFORE AND AFTER 29 that its continuance would permanently prevent the influx of a desirable population and the development of great natural resources. But the intolerant disposition of the Northern people checked the growth of this sentiment, and united the South in a determination to resist encroachment upon its rights by any and all means. The compulsory abandonment of a valuable domestic institution, having a constitutional legal ex- istence, at the behest of a combination of people in other States people who were almost exclusively responsible for its existence, and had profited by establishing it would have been a sacrifice of honor, and the abnegation of self-respect by a people claiming both in an eminent degree. Eleven States, exercising a power reserved to them by virtue of the fact that no power had been delegated to the United States to prevent it, passed Ordinances of Secession, and three others were prevented from doing so only by military forces which had invaded them. Attention is called to the fact that a "Perpetual Union" is not provided for in the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson declared, in considering the principles of the Constitution, "If we countenance a political intolerance, despotic, wicked, capable of wicked persecution, we have gained little" * * * "the support of the State governments 30 ALL AROUND THE CIVIL WAR in all their rights as the most competent administration for our domestic concerns." 1 James Madison, referring to the principles of the Consti- tution, declared the purposes of Government to be "to prefer, in all cases, amicable discussion and reasonable accommoda- tion of differences, to a decision of them by an appeal to arms." * * * to f oster a S pj r it of independence, too just to invade the rights of others, too proud to surrender our own; to re- spect the rights and authorities reserved to the States and to the people." 2 Numerous citations might be made of the opinions and remarks of eminent men from both sections of the country men who were not advocates for the exercise of the rights reserved to the States similar to the above, but it is not con- sidered necessary. It has been said that the South acted hastily in seceding, but when you have been advised that your house is to be broken into, you do not wait until the burglar has gotten in to make preparations to meet the emergency. The idea of seceding was first entertained by our brethren of Massachusetts. Soon after the founding of different colo- 14< The Constitution," W. Hickey, p. 31. *Idem, p. 32. OR BEFORE AND AFTER 31 nies there began to arise sectional jealousies. The Southern colonies having the more genial climate, the more fertile soil and a more extensive area than the Northern. These advan- tages naturally led to the apprehension that the South would become the more populous and prosperous section, and so be- come dominant in the Government. It was therefore inevi- table that, in the formation of any Union of the colonies under a General Government, the less favored section should desire such organization as would provide for a "Perpetual Union" (as was set forth in the preamble and title of the "Articles of Confederation, etc.," adopted by Congress Nov. 5, 1777, and subsequently ratified by the several Legislatures), and would also provide for reciprocal commerce. The Organization ef- fected under the "Articles" was found inadequate to the "exi- gencies of the Union, "in that they did not provide means sufficient to pay the debts already incurred and to meet current expenses." Steps were taken to remedy these defects, and in a Constitution, superseding the "Articles of Confederation," powers were conferred upon Congress to raise revenue and to regulate commerce. That the "Articles of Confederation, etc.," would estab- lish a "Perpetual Union," and that the Constitution which superseded them makes no reference to such thing, argues that 32 ALL AROUND THE CIVIL, WAR the idea was abandoned as an absurdity, if by "Perpetual," it was meant that the Union would be "neverceasing-unend- ing." If the Union formed was to exist perpetually, it fol- lows that the agreement by which it was formed must also be "neverceasing-unending," and this we have seen is not the case, as that agreement was made null and void by the adop- tion of the Constitution, whereby all the States seceded from the former Union. If the prerogative of secession was claimed by the New England States, for reasons which justified it to their own judgments, how could they conscientiously deny it to other and equal States? When South Carolina ceded to the United States forts and sites for their erection within her boundaries, it was done upon certain conditions, by which the United States were to repair the fortifications already existing, and to keep a garrison or garrisons therein, within three years from the passage of the act, and if these things were not done as stipulated, in such case the grant or cession was to be null and void. 1 These con- ditions were not complied with, and consequently the owner- ship of the forts and sites reverted to the State, and possession a "R. & F. Confederate Government," Vol. I, p. 210. Quoted from Statutes at Large of S. C., Vol. V, p. 501. OR BEFORE AN D AFTER 33 was demanded when the State resumed sovereignty. This, however, was refused. When New York granted a site for the Brooklyn Navy Yard, it was done on the express condition that "so long as the said tract shall be applied to the defense and safety of the city and port of New York, and no longer, shall the United States retain it." 1 When Massachusetts made similar cession, she claimed concurrent jurisdiction. 2 From the above it is seen that, in the cases mentioned, the forts and sites were not conveyed to the United States in fee simple, or to hold forever. On Dec. 20, 1860, South Carolina passed an Ordinance of secession. Almost immediately thereafter she sent to Wash- ington commissioners to "Treat with the Government of the United States for the delivery of the forts * * * for an ap- portionment of the public debt * * * for the continuance of peace and amity, etc.," evincing a desire to deal honorably and in good faith. Dec. n, 1860, Major Robert Anderson, who with a gar- rison occupied Fort Moultrie, in Charleston Harbor, received 1 "R. & F. Confederate Government," Vol. I, p. 209. 2 Idem. Quoted from Revised Statutes of Mass., 1836, p. 56. 34 ALL AROUND THE CIVIL WAR instructions from the War Department in Washington in part, as follows : "Carefully avoid every act which would needlessly tend to provoke aggression." * * * "You are not, without evident and imminent necessity, to take up any position which could be construed into the assumption of a hostile attitude." * * * "An attack upon either of them (the three forts in Charleston Harbor) will be regarded as an act of hostility, and you may then put your command in either of them." 1 The Commissioners reached Washington Dec. 26, 1860, but before they could communicate with President Buchanan, they learned that Major Anderson had "secretly dismantled Fort Moultrie and had occupied Fort Sumter" a more com- manding position thus changing the status quo, in which it was understood President Buchanan had agreed there should be no change, the assurance having been made to him by South Carolina's representatives in Congress that there was no pres- ent intention of attacking the forts. It cannot be doubted that Major Anderson thought much was permitted to his own dis- cretion; that he was governed by a sense of honor and duty; nevertheless, his act was looked upon by the people of South Carolina as one of bad faith. The Commissioners, in a letter 1 "R. & F. Confederate Government," Vol. I, p. 212. Quoted from Buchanan's Administration, Chap. IX, p. 165 and Chap. II, pp. 212-214. OR BEFORE AN D AFTER 35 addressed to the President Dec. 28, 1860, protested against it, and entreated him to withdraw the troops from Charleston Harbor to prevent a bloody issue from "questions which ought to be settled with temperance and judgment." 1 They also called his attention to the fact that South Carolina "could, at any time within the last sixty days, have taken possession of the forts." 2 To this letter the President replied Dec. 30th, that he had "no authority to decide what shall be the relations be- tween the Federal Government and South Carolina." 3 This question he had not been asked to decide, but as Commander- in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, he did have the authority to withdraw the troops. The President replied further, * * * "It is therefore my duty to submit to Congress the whole question in all its bear- ings. * * * It is not believed that any attempt will be made to expel the United States from this property by force." "It was my determination * * * not to reinforce the forts in the harbor and thus produce a collision, until they had been actu- ally attacked* or until I had certain evidence that they were about to be attacked." About Dec. 28th the President was informed that "the 1 "R. & F. Confederate Government," Vol. I, p. 592. 2 Idem. *Idem, p. 593. 36 ALL AROUND THE CIVIL WAR Palmetto flag floated out to the breeze at Castle Pinckney, and a large military force went over last night {2?th) to Fort Moultrie," and in connection with this he wrote: "Thus the authorities of South Carolina, * * * doubtless believing * * * that the officer had acted not only without, but against my orders, etc." 1 It is not to be inferred that, in occupying forts and raising her flag over them, she intended to attack Fort Sumter, but rather to prepare for defense against attack, which an act of bad faith, as she construed ft, led her to believe would be made on her. Jan. i, 1861, the Commissioners, replying to the Presi- dent's communication of Dec. 30th, wrote : * * * "In your annual message you declared that you had no right and would not attempt to coerce a seceding State. * * * You did not reinforce the garrisons in the harbor of Charleston. You re- moved a distinguished and veteran officer from the command of Fort Moultrie, because he attempted to increase his supply of ammunition. You refused to send additional troops to the same garrison when applied for by the officer appointed to suc- ceed him. You accepted the resignation of the oldest and most eminent member of your Cabinet, rather than allow the l "R. & F. Confederate Government," Vol. I, pp. 594-596. OR BEFORE AND AFTER 37 garrison to be strengthened. You compelled an officer sta- tioned at Fort Sumter to return immediately to the arsenal forty muskets which he had taken to arm his men." * * * Referring to Major Anderson's evacuating Fort Moultrie, spiking the guns, etc., and removing to Fort Sumter, the Com- missioners wrote to the President, "This is war. * * * For this act, with all its attending circumstances, was as much war as firing a volley. * * * You have resolved to hold by force what you have obtained through our misplaced confidence. * * * By your course you have probably rendered civil war inevitable." This was the last communication from the Com- missioners to the President, and he declined to receive it, as shown by an endorsement on it, because "it is of such a char- acter, etc." In February, 1861, a plan was proposed for reinforcing and furnishing supplies to the garrison of Fort Sumter. Lieu- tenant-General Scott advised the President that the fort could not be relieved and must be given up. 1 March i^th, the pro- posal was renewed, Mr. Lincoln at this time being President, and he agreed to it. A confidential agent was sent to Charles- ton to "spy out the land," the better to determine the practica- bility of carrying out the plan. This agent arrived in Charles- 1 "R. & F. Confederate Government," Vol. I, p. 271. 38 ALL AROUND THE CIVIL WAR ton March 21, 1861. He obtained permission from Governor Pickens to visit the fort "expressly upon the pledge of pacific purposes." 1 The plan was not made known to Major Ander- son by this agent, but he was aware that suggestion had been made for the relief and reinforcement of the garrison, for on April 8th, he had written to the Adjutant-General United States Army that * * * "it is, of course, now too late for me to give any advice in reference to the proposed scheme. I fear that its results cannot fail to be disastrous to all con- cerned." 2 The agent returned to Washington and reported; his plan was approved by President Lincoln, and he was sent to New York to make arrangements for its execution. An- other confidential agent soon followed the first one Lamon who announced that "he had come to arrange for the removal of the garrison" and said "he hoped to return in a few days for that purpose." 3 Other States than South Carolina sent Commissioners to Washington hoping to arrange for peaceable separation and the avoidance of war, but all efforts directed to this end proved unavailing. It was evidently the intention of the Federal Government to coerce the seceding States, and all promises 1 "R. & F, Confederate Government," Vol. I, p. 272. "Idem, p. 283. s ldem, p. 272. 39 not to reinforce Fort Sumter were made in bad faith with intent to deceive. Jan. p, 1861, a vessel, loaded with troops, attempted to enter Charleston, but was driven away by batteries on the shore. All efforts made by individual States and by the Con- federate Government to avoid war having failed, Fort Sumter was fired upon April 12, 1861, due notice having been given to the commanding officer. The next day the fort surren- dered, and the garrison was permitted to retire with the honors of war. At this time a fleet of armed vessels was lying off the port of Charleston, and the commander of the Pawnee is reported to have refused to enter without orders from a supe- rior, "There to inaugurate civil war" 1 While these things were taking place around Charleston, the general condition of the country, the right of secession, etc., were freely discussed in newspapers and in all places where "two or three were gathered together." March 4, 1861, President Lincoln, in his inaugural mes- sage, said: "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to in- terfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it 1 "R. & F. Confederate Government," Vol. I, p. 292. 40 ALL AROUND THE CIVIL WAR exists; I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so." 1 When Gen. John C. Fremont issued a proclamation, emancipating the slaves of certain persons, President Lincoln countermanded it. But Jan. i, 1863, Mr. Lincoln issued a "Proclamation of Emancipation," declaring all slaves in the seceding States to be free. There is certainly no authority conferred upon a President by the Constitution to take such step under any circumstances. Nov. 9, 1860, The New York Tribune said, "We hold with Jefferson to the inalienable right of communities to alter or abolish forms of government that have become oppressive or injurious ; and if the Cotton States shall decide that they can do better out of the Union than in it, we insist on letting them go in peace. The right to secede may be a revolutionary right, but it exists, nevertheless; and we do not see how one party can have a right to do what another party has a right to pre- vent. We must resist the asserted right of any State to re- main in the Union and nullify or defy the laws thereof; to withdraw from the Union is quite another matter. And, whenever a considerable section of our Union shall deliber- ately resolve to go out, we shall resist all coercive measures l "R. & F. Confederate Government," Vol. I, p. 262. OR BEFORE AN D AFTER 41 designed to keep her in. We hope never to live in a republic whereof one section is pinned to the residue by bayonets." The Albany Argus said, "We sympathize with and justify the South as far as this : their rights have been invaded to the extreme limit possible within the forms of the Constitution; and, beyond this limit, their feelings have been insulted and their interests and honor assailed by almost every form of denunciation and invective; and if we deemed it certain that the real animus of the Republican Party could be carried into the administration of the Federal Government and become the permanent policy of the nation, we should think that all the instincts of self-preservation and of manhood rightfully im- pelled them to resort to a revolution and a separation from the Union, and we would applaud them and wish them God- speed in the adoption of such a remedy." (The South was fully convinced "that the real animus of the Republican Party" had "become the permanent policy of the nation.") In a later issue The Albany Argus said, "If South Caro- lina, or any other State, through a convention of her people shall formally separate herself from the Union, probably both the present and the next Executive will simply let her alone and quietly allow all the functions of the Federal Government within her limits to be suspended. Any other course would be 42 madness, as it would at once enlist all the Southern States in the controversy and plunge the whole country into a civil war. * * * As a matter of policy and wisdom, therefore, independ- ent of the question of right, we should deem resort to force most disastrous." The New York Herald said, "Each State is organized as a complete government, holding the purse and wielding the sword, possessing the right to break the tie of the confedera- tion as a nation might break a treaty, and to repel coercion as a nation might repel invasion. * * * Coercion, if it were possible, is out of the question." Jan. 31, 1861, at a mass meeting in the city of New York, Mr. James S. Thayer said: "We can at least * * * arrive at the basis of a peaceable separation; we can * * * en- lighten, settle and concentrate the public sentiment in the State of New York upon this question and save it from that fearful current, which circuitously but certainly sweeps madly on, through the narrow gorge of 'the enforcement of the laws/ to the shoreless ocean of civil war. Against this, under all circumstances, in every place and form, we must now and at all times oppose a resolute and unfaltering resistance. * * * If a revolution of force is to begin, it shall be inaugurated at home. And if the incoming administration shall attempt to OR BEFORE AND AFTER 43 carry out the line of policy that has been foreshadowed, we announce that when the hand of Black Republicanism turns to blood-red, and seeks from the fragments of the Constitution to construct a scaffolding for coercion another name for exe- cution we will reverse the order of the French Revolution, and save the blood of the people by making those who would inaugurate a reign of terror the first victims of a national guillotine." At the same meeting, ex-Governor Seymour asked the questions whether "successful coercion by the North is less revolutionary than successful secession by the South? Shall we prevent a revolution by being foremost in overthrowing the principles of our Government and all that makes it valu- able to our people and distinguishes it among the nations of the earth?" And ex-Chancellor Walworth said : "It would be as brutal, in my opinion, to send men to butcher our own brothers of the Southern States, as it would be to massacre them in the North- ern States. We are told, -however, that it is our duty to, and we must, enforce the laws. But why and what laws are to be enforced? There were laws to be enforced in the time of the American Revolution. * * * Did Lord Chatham go for enforcing those laws? No, he gloried in defense of the liber- 44 ALL AROUND THE CIVIL WAR ties of America. He made that memorable declaration in the British Parliament, 'If I were an American citizen instead of being, as I am, an Englishman, I would never submit to such laws. Never, never, never.' ' In February, 1861, The Detroit Free Press said, "If there should not be a change in the present seeming purpose to yield to no accommodation of the national difficulties, and if troops shall be raised in the North to march against the people of the South, a fire in the rear will be opened upon such troops, which will either stop their march altogether or wonderfully accelerate it." The Union newspaper, published in Bangor, Me., said, "The difficulties between the North and the South must be compromised, or the separation of the States shall be peaceable. If the Republican Party refuse to go the full length of the Crittenden amendment which is the very least the South can or ought to take then, here in Maine, not a Democrat will be found who will raise his arm against his brethren of the South. From one end of the State to the other let the cry of the De- mocracy be, COMPROMISE OR PEACEABLE SEPARA- TION." (The Crittenden amendment proposed, among other things, the restoration and incorporation into the Constitution of the O R BEFORE AN D AFTER 45 Missouri Compromise, rnade in 1820, which established a line, 36' 30" north latitude, above which slavery was" ex- cluded. Much of this northern territory had been acquired from France by treaty and purchase, and the treaty was vio- lated by such exclusion, as it guaranteed to the inhabitants of safld territory "all the rights, advantages and immunities of citizens of the United States, and the free enjoyment of their liberty, property and the religion they profess.") It will be seen from the words of eminent men and influ- ential newspapers, as above quoted men and newspapers of various party affiliations and of no party affiliations that there existed in many of the Northern States a decided sentiment opposed to coercion, and in favor of the States' rights doctrine upon which the South claimed the right of secession. March 19, 1861, The New York Herald, referring to the Constitution of the Confederate States which had been adopted March n, said, "The Constitution is the Constitution of the United States with various modifications and some very im- portant and most desirable improvements. We are free to say that the invaluable reforms enumerated should be adopted by the United States, with or without a reunion of the seceded States, and as soon as possible. But why not accept them 46 ALL AROUND THE CIVIL WAR with the propositions of the Confederate States on slavery as a basis of reunion?" Fort Sumter having surrendered on April 13, 1861, on April i$th President Lincoln called out the military of the several States to the number of seventy-five thousand men, and this hastened the convention of Virginia delegates to pass an ordinance of secession, which was done April ijth, and war began in earnest. The Constitution confers upon Con- gress power to "raise armies and to declare war." There is not one word in it that can by any possibility be construed into meaning that the President has such power. His calling for seventy-five thousand men was an usurpation. The war now begun continued until the spring of 1865. April 9, 1865, General R. E. Lee surrendered to General U. S. Grant. April 26, 1865, General J. E. Johnston surrendered to General W. T. Sherman, and all other Confederate armies finally surrendered. The de facto government was a thing of the past. The war had been conducted on the part of the Confed- erate States with strict regard to the rules of war among civil- ized peoples. On the part of the Federal Government these rules were not so strictly observed. Numerous acts of cruelty* OR BEFORE AND AFTER 47 and outrage were committed. "They waged an indiscriminate war upon all : private houses in isolated places were bom- barded and burned ; grain crops in the field were consumed by the torch; and when the torch was not applied, careful labor was bestowed to render complete the destruction of every article of use or ornament remaining in private dwellings after their female inhabitants had fled from the insults of brutal soldiers; a petty war was made on the sick, including women and children, by carefully devised measures to prevent them from obtaining necessary medicines." 1 Generals Sher- man, Sheridan, Pope, Hunter, B. F. Butler, Milroy, and Colonels Grierson and Dahlgren, were chief among those who violated those rules. The only act of retaliation by any Con- federate force during the war was that of General J. A. Early, committed on Chambersburg, Pa., July 30, 1864, when the town was burned after notice had been given of his intention. Many prisoners being captured from time to time, the dic- tates of humanity demanded that arrangements should be made for their exchange. A cartel for this purpose was exe- cuted July 22, 1862. The carrying out of this agreement was made difficult by the officials of the Federal Government upon various pretexts. General B. F. Butler, who was thought to 1 "R. & F. Confederate Government," Vol. II, p. 5. 48 ALL AROUND THE CIVIL WAR be responsible for delaying or interrupting the carrying out the cartel, says in his defense that he was directed "to put the matter offensively for the purpose of preventing an ex- change." 1 On August 18, 1864, General U. S. Grant wrote to General Butler: "It is hard on our men held in Southern prisons not to exchange them, but it is humanity to those left in the ranks to fight our battles. Every man released on parole, or otherwise, becomes an active soldier against us, either directly or indirectly. If we commence a system of ex- change, which liberates all prisoners taken, we will have to fight on until the whole South is exterminated. If we hold those caught, they amount to no more than dead men. At this particular time to release all rebel prisoners North would in- sure Sherman's defeat, and would compromise our safety here." 2 So the cartel was made null and void. An impression has been made upon the minds of the Northern people that the Confederate authorities were re- sponsible for all the sufferings of prisoners held in the South. This responsibility is not only denied by the facts, but is shown to rest upon the Federals. The supplies of medicine in the Confederacy were entirely inadequate for the necessities of ll 'R. & F. Confederate Government," Vol. II, p. 599. 2 Idem, p. 600. OR BEFORE AN D AFTER 49 the people. In 1864 Commissioner Ould "made an offer to the United States authorities to purchase medicines from them to be used exclusively for the relief of Union prisoners. He offered to pay in gold, cotton or tobacco, and even to pay two or three prices if required, and agreed that such medicines might be brought into the Confederate lines by United States surgeons and dispensed by them." 1 To this offer no reply was ever received. The prison at Andersonville, Ga., was one in which a large number of Union prisoners were confined, and in which it was alleged they were treated most cruelly. A delegation of these prisoners was sent to Washington with the hope that' they might induce their Government, in some way, to ameli- orate their condition. They were made to understand that the interest of the Government required that they should re- turn to prison and remain there. And this they did. The editor of Southern Historical Papers says, "We have a letter from the wife of the chairman of that delegation (now dead) in which she says that her husband always said that he was treated more contemptuously by Secretary of War Stanton than he ever was at Andersonville." One of the prisoners, Henry M. Brennan, writes : "I was ^'R. & F. Confederate Government," Vol. II, p. 602. 50 at Andersonville when the delegation of prisoners spoken of left there to plead our cause with the authorities at Washing- ton; and nobody can tell, unless it be a shipwrecked and famished mariner, who sees a vessel approaching and then passing on without rendering the required aid, what fond hopes were raised and how hope sickened into despair, waiting for the answer that never came. In my opinion, and that of a good many others, a good part of the responsibility for the horrors of Andersonville rests with General U. S. Grant, who refused to make a fair exchange of prisoners." 1 That more and avoidable cruelty was practised upon Con- federate soldiers in Northern prisons than upon Federal sol- diers in Southern prisons is abundantly proven by the fact that out of 220,000 of the former 26,000 died, while of the latter, out of 270,000, 22,000 died. 2 From the beginning of the war, and for some time after, high officials of the United States were anxious to spread abroad in this country and in Europe declarations of the pur- poses of the Government, of what it intended to do and what not to do. April 22, 1861, W. H. Seward, Secretary of State, in a despatch to the United States Minister to France, wrote *"R. & F. Confederate Government," Vol. II, p. 603. *Idem, p. 607. OR BEFORE AND AFTER 51 as follows : "The territories will remain the same in all re- spects, whether the revolution shall succeed or shall fail ? The condition of slavery in the several States will remain just the same, whether it succeed or fail. There is not even a pretext for the complaint that the disaffected States are to be conquered by the United States if the revolution fails ; for the rights of the States and the condition of every being in them will remain subject to exactly the same laws and forms of administration, whether the revolution shall succeed or whether it shall fail. In one case, the States would be federally connected with the new Confederacy; in the other they would, as now, be mem- bers of the United States; but their Constitutions and laws, customs, habits and institutions, in either case, will remain the same/' 1 Similar views were expressed by many, and had they been honestly carried out, much suffering and anxiety would have been spared to the whole country. The Constitutions of the several States in 1865 had been adopted by the people in conformity with the principles of the Declaration of Inde- pendence and of the Constitution of the United States. The Legislatures had been organized, and the members had been elected in accordance with those principles. De jure govern- ments, republican in form, existed in all these States, and there 1 "R. & F. Confederate Government," Vol. I, pp. 262-263. 52 ALL AROUND THE CIVIL WAR was no authority which lawfully existed for their overthrow. According to the views of the Secretary, above cited, when the armies of the Confederacy laid down their arms, and the revo- lution had failed, inasmuch as the Governments of the seced- ing States had been continuous before and since 1860-61, and as the Government of the United States had denied that they, or any of them, were ever "out of the Union," the plain in- ference is, that they were still in the Union on an equality with all other States. During the progress of the war, those in position to de- termine jthe policy of the Government of the United States in disregard of the Constitution became more and more influen- tial, until they finally dictated what it should be. August 6, 1861, Congress passed an act of Confiscation, in reference to which President Lincoln said : "It is startling to say that Congress can free a slave within a State." 1 In dis- cussing this bill, Thaddeus Stevens asked : "Who pleads the Constitution against our proposed action?" 2 When discussing the rape intended upon the State of Virginia, 1861-62, and the erection of a new State within her boundaries and jurisdic- l "R. & F. Confederate Government," Vol. II, p. 169. 2 Idem. p. 8. OR BEFORE AND AFTER 53 tion, Mr. Stevens said: "We know that it is not Constitu- tional, but it is necessary" Feb. 25, 1861, Charles Sumner, Senator from Massachu- setts, declared in Congress: "I do not think that Congress has any right to interfere with slavery in a State." 1 July /, 1862, General McClellan, commanding the Federal army around Richmond, wrote to the authorities at Washing- ton : "A declaration of radical views, especially upon slavery, will rapidly disintegrate our armies." 2 May 9, 1862, General Hunter issued an order declaring the "persons held as slaves in Georgia, Florida and South Carolina to be forever free." (Evidently an attempt to incite the slaves to insurrection and all its horrors, and a plain violation of the Constitution.) May ipth. President Lincoln declared the order void. 3 July 12, 1862, President Lincoln, alluding to the stress being brought to bear for the emancipation of slaves, re- marked : "The pressure in this direction is still upon me, and is increasing." 4 Notwithstanding all the promises that had been made that 1 "R. & F. Confederate Government," Vol. II, p. 160. s ldem, pp. 9-10. *Idem, p. 181. 'Idem, p. 182. 54 ALL AROUND THE CIVIL WAR slavery should not be interfered with, the admissions that neither the President nor Congress had any right to abolish it, as it was protected by the Constitution, and the fear expressed by General McClellan that the agitation of the subject would "disintegrate our armies," "the pressure brought to bear" finally overcame President Lincoln's scruples, and on Sept. 22, 1862, he issued a preliminary proclamation of emancipa- tion. It has been claimed that slavery was the cause of the war, that the Southern States seceded for the purpose of protect- ing and perpetuating it. The truth is that property right in slaves was protected and guaranteed by the Constitution ; that a political party had become dominant, whose fixed determina- tion was to deny this right and to set the slaves free. If the denial of any other right, such, for instance, as representation in Congress on the basis of population, had been threatened for years, and all hope of its continuance, for good and suffi- cient reason, had been abandoned, it is reasonable to suppose can it be doubted that the States to whom the right was de- nied North or South would have resorted to secession? War ceased in the land, but the promise made by Secretary Seward, above quoted, that "their Constitutions and laws, habits and institutions, will remain the same," proved illusory. OR BEFORE AND AFTER 55 March 2, 1867, Congress passed what is known as the "Reconstruction Act," in part as follows : "Whereas no legal State Governments exist in the rebel States * * * and where- as it is necessary that peace and good order should be enforced in said States until loyal and Republican State Governments can be established; therefore, be it enacted, etc., that the said rebel States shall be divided into military districts and made subject to the military authority of the United States, etc." SEC. 2. "That it shall be the duty of the President to as- sign to the command of each of said districts an officer of the army, not below the rank of brigadier-general, etc." A supplemental Reconstruction Act was passed March 23, 1867. The commanding officers were duly appointed and as- sumed charge. By these acts many of the intelligent, honorable white citizens were disfranchised. Those who owned property in the States were deprived of any voice in the management of State affairs. The slaves were not only set free, but were clothed with all the rights, privileges and duties of citizenship. In the meantime swarms of "carpet baggers," following the victorious armies, had settled upon the prostrate States, which, in their helpless condition, offered rich fields for plunder. 56 ALL AROUND THE CIVIL WAR These monsters, destitute of honor, governed only by base selfishness, affiliated with the negroes, organized them into all kinds of secret, oath-bound societies, instigating in their igno- rant minds sentiments of bitter hatred against the whites, upon whom they had been thrust as slaves principally by "Yankee" greed. The horrible conditions brought about by the circum- stances can be better imagined than described. However, these conditions finally improved. The seceding States were restored to the Union ( from which they had never departed), and intelligence regained its control. It is but natural that the negroes, removed from their savage ancestors by only two hundred and fifty years, or less, kept in bondage, and, necessarily, in ignorance, though treated kindly and with every consideration their numbers and con- dition permitted, should be duped by designing scoundrels, and should "mistake liberty for license." This they did to such excess that the very lives of the States depended upon their suppression a fact now almost universally admitted. They had been contented laborers in slavery, and were gener- ally loyal to their owners during the war. Considerable num- bers, but few in proportion to the whole, left their homes and kindred and enlisted in the Federal armies. From the white man's standpoint this was commendable. Liberty worth hav- OR BEFORE AN D AFTER 57 ing is worth fighting for. It is greatly to their credit, how- ever, that the negroes who remained at home were not guilty of insurrection, and no instance is on record of assault upon a white woman during the war by .them. For the manner in which they cultivated the fields, for the respect shown by them to women and children during the war, the Southern people should be very thankful. More than forty years have now passed since the war closed. Peace and good-will unite the sections, and a more fraternal feeling than ever before exists. The real cause of the war was the jealousy the intolerance of the New England character, called into action by the imagined wrongs and cru- elties practised upon the poor negroes, whom they had made slaves. Their responsibility seemed to be followed by remorse. Men and whole communities went daft, were seized with fanatical zeal on the subject, until "judgment had fled to brutish beasts and men had lost their reason." But whether the cause of the war, 01 only an incident leading to it, slavery is forever abolished among the people of the United States, and the former slaveholders acknowledge a blessing in this. Few, if any of them, would restore it if they could. Since the emancipation of the slaves, the whole country has entered upon a new and better era an era o5t happiness 5 8 ALL AROUND THE CIVIL WAR and prosperity heretofore unknown, and this is largely due to the failure of the Southern Confederacy and the abolition of slavery. No longer is heard the charge of disloyalty to the Government. We are again an united people, as our fore- fathers were in 1776. In our patriotism there is no sectional- ism. The only strife among us is in the noble emulation of who can best strive and best serve for the public good. The most prominent cause of sectional dissension being removed, economic questions are discussed with more patience and for- bearance and less acrimony than formerly. There is no threat of a crisis in our country's affairs similar to that through which we passed forty odd years ago, and the manifest destiny of our great Republic is to hold a high place among the na- tions forever. We have come to know each other better, and this "diffused knowledge has immortalized itself." We have "One Country, One Constitution, One Destiny." "The union of hearts, the union of hands, And the flag of our union forever." UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNTA Los Angeles This book is DUE on *>: 1955 CM in c^ en UD CD UN1VKKSITY 01 AT LOS ANGELES LIBRARY versity of Cajifornia University Of California Los Angeles ^,?, U . T " ER N.. REG| ONAL LIBRARY FACILITY