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 ■"Sn^'.d byj,K.naa,pbM,i"-"^' 
 
confederate 
 Military History 
 
 a library of confederate 
 states history, in twelve 
 volumes, written by distin- 
 guished men of the south, 
 and edited by gen. clement 
 a. evans of georgia 
 
 VOL. L 
 
 Atlanta, Ga. 
 0>nfederate Publishing; G)mpany 
 1899 
 
 uu 
 
Copyright, 1899, 
 BY Confederate Publishikg Company. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THIS work is the result of contributions by many 
 Southern men to the literature of our country that 
 treats of the eventful years in which occurred the 
 niomentous struggle called by Mr. A. H. Stephens "the 
 war between the States." These contributions were 
 made on a well-considered plan, to be wrought out by 
 able writers of unquestionable Confederate record who 
 were thoroughly united in general sentiment and whose 
 generous labors upon separate topics would, when com- 
 bined, constitute a library of Confederate military history 
 and biography. According to the great principle in our 
 government that One may result from and be composed 
 of Many — the doctrine of E pluriius unum — it was con- 
 sidered that intelligent men from all parts of the South 
 would so write upon the subjects committed to them as 
 to produce a harmonious work which would truly portray 
 the times and issues of the Confederacy and by illustra- 
 tion in various forms describe the soldiery which fought 
 its battles. Upon this plan two volumes — the iirst and 
 the last — comprise such subjects as the justification of 
 the Southern States in seceding from the Union and the 
 honorable conduct of the war by the Confederate States 
 government ; the history of the actions and concessions 
 of the South in the formation of the Union and its policy 
 in securing the existing magnificent territorial dominion 
 of the United States; the civil history of the Confederate 
 States, supplemented with sketches of the President, 
 Vice-President, cabinet officers and other oflScials of the 
 government; Confederate naval history; the morale of 
 the armies; the South since the war, and a connected 
 outline of events from the beginning of the struggle to 
 its close. 
 
 Ill 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 The two volumes containing these general subjects are 
 sustained by the other volumes of Confederate military 
 history of the States of the South involved in the war. 
 Each State being treated in separate history permits of 
 details concerning its peculiar story, its own devotion, 
 its heroes and its battlefields. The authors of the State 
 histories, like those of the volumes of general topics, are 
 men of unchallenged devotion to the Confederate cause 
 and of recognized fitness to perform the task assigned 
 them. It is just to say that this work has been done in 
 hours taken from busy professional life, and it should be 
 further commemorated that devotion to the South and its 
 heroic memories has been their chief incentive. 
 
 Clement A. Evans, Editor. 
 
 It is fit that a few words be said here regarding the 
 authorship of these volumes, in a general way to express 
 the gratitude of the publishers for the hearty co-operation 
 and patriotic spirit of all the distinguished gentlemen 
 who have contributed to this work, and specially to note 
 briefly those facts regarding the life of each that com- 
 mend them alike to the confidence of the South and the 
 high regard of the student who seeks historical authority. 
 
 Hon. J. L,. M. Curry, LL.D., who writes upon "The 
 legal justification of the Southern States in their ordi- 
 nances of secession, and the honorable course of the Con- 
 federate States government in the conduct of the war, " 
 has had a long and eminent career familiar to the people 
 of the South. During the important period, 1857 to 
 1 86 1, he represented his Alabama district in the Congress 
 of the United States, and upon the secession pf his State 
 he was elected a delegate to the first provisional Con- 
 gress, at Montgomery, and a member of the first Confed- 
 erate States Congress, at Richmond. After the close of 
 his term he served in the field in Georgia and Alabama. 
 Subsequently he entered upon religious and educational 
 work, was president of Howard college, a professor of 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 Richmond college, Virginia, and since 1881 general agent 
 of the Peabody educational fund. During the first 
 administration of President Cleveland he represented 
 the United States as minister to Spain, and his experi- 
 ences in that country are related in one of the several 
 contributions which he has made to literature. 
 r'Vxoi. William R. Garrett, author of the history of the 
 South as a factor in, the formation and extension of the 
 Constitutional Union, is a Virginian by birth and was 
 graduated at William and Mary college. He enlisted as a 
 private in Col. B. S. Ewell's regiment, but soon afterward 
 became captain of an artillery company which won the 
 praise of Gen. J. E. B. Stuart at the battle of Williams- 
 burg. His subsequent service was as adjutant, first of a 
 battalion of partisan rangers in Tennessee, and later of 
 the Eleventh Tennessee cavalry regiment, until he was 
 surrendered with General Forrest at Gainesville, Ala. 
 Returning to Virginia, he became master of the grammar 
 school of William and Mary college, but in 1868 he made 
 his home in Tennessee, where he has devoted his talents 
 to the cause of education. He has been State superin- 
 tendent of public instruction, was president of the inter- 
 national meeting of the National educational association 
 at Toronto, and is professor of American history at Pea- 
 body normal college, editor of the American historical 
 magazine, vice-president and chairman of the historical 
 committee of the Tennessee association of Confederate 
 soldiers, and member of the committee on history of the 
 United Confederate Veterans. 
 
 Gen. Clement A. Evans, in addition to the editorship 
 of these volumes, has^contributed a monograph upon the 
 civil history of the Confederate States, treating specially 
 of the political events of the period, also a brief general 
 view of the military history. General Evans is familiar 
 to the people of the South, through his gallant service 
 in the army of Northern Virginia — at the close command- 
 ing Gordon's division; his prominence in the national 
 
•n PREFACE. 
 
 organization of United Confederate Veterans, and his 
 distinction as a citizen of the great State of Georgia. His 
 lucid and forceful exposition of the history of the Con- 
 federate States government, in its relation to the States, 
 the people, and other national governments, is an essen- 
 tial part of this historical library. 
 
 Lieut. William Harwar Parker, of gallant record both 
 in the navies of the United States and Confederate States, 
 just before the close of his life contributed to this work 
 the sketch of the Confederate States navy which appears 
 in the final volume. A practiced writer on historical, and 
 scientific subjects, no one could have been found better 
 qualified to present, in the brief space which could be 
 allotted, an account of the gallant deeds of the navy. 
 He entered the service of the Confederate States after 
 twenty years' connection with the old United States navy, 
 during which he had participated in the war with Mexico, 
 and sailed upon the first cruise, in the Pacific, of the 
 Merrimac. His gallant performance of duty on the 
 North Carolina coast early in 1862, was followed by mem- 
 orable service in the famous battle of the ironclads in 
 Hampton Roads, and on the Palmetto State in Charleston 
 harbor. Subsequently he organized and was superin- 
 tendent of the Confederate States naval academy until 
 the close of hostilities. In the course of his subsequent 
 career he served as president of the Maryland agricult- 
 ural, college, and as minister of the United States to 
 Corea during the first administration of President Cleve- 
 land. 
 
 "The Morale of the Confederate Armies," a chapter 
 demonstrating the high character of the Confederate 
 soldier, his unflinching endurance of hardship, un3deld- 
 ing allegiance to principle, and unfaltering obedience to 
 orders, is the subject of a chapter of the final volume, 
 from the pen of the gifted Confederate chaplain, Rev. 
 John William Jones, D. D. His career in the army, first 
 as a private soldier, afterward as chaplain of his Virginia 
 
PREFACE. VII 
 
 regiment, and of A. P. Hill's corps, army of Northern 
 Virginia, marching with the soldiers, going with them 
 into battle, and ministering to them in hospital, from 
 Harper's Ferry to Appomattox, qualifies him in an 
 exceptional manner for an adequate treatment of this 
 subject. His life since the war has been consecrated to 
 religious and benevolent work in the South, and to 
 preservation in literature of the memories of the great 
 conflict for Southern independence. 
 
 Gen. Stephen D. Lee, who entered the Confederate 
 service as an ofiicer of artillery, from South Carolina, 
 rose to great prominence in that army at the time of the 
 battle of Sharpsburg ; then being sent to the Mississippi 
 river, defeated Gen. W. T. Sherman at Chickasaw bayou ; 
 was afterward in command of the department of Missis- 
 sippi and East Louisiana, and from Atlanta to Bentonville 
 commanded Hood's corps of the army of Tennessee, with 
 the rank of lieutenant-general. Since the close of the 
 war he has devoted himself to the vital interests of his 
 beloved South, along the line of technical education, 
 and for several years has been president of the Missis- 
 sippi Agricultural and Mechanical college. He is thor- 
 oughly in sympathy with the Confederate soldier, and is 
 honored by the order of United Confederate Veterans 
 with the rank of lieutenant-general and the position of 
 chairman of the historical committee. General Lee has 
 prepared for the final volume of this work an able state- 
 ment of the political history of the South since the war, 
 and an enthusiastic r6sum6 of its present material devel- 
 opment and prospects. 
 
 Gen. Bradley T. Johnson, the gallant organizer and 
 leader of the Maryland Line, distinguished in many of 
 the battles of the army of Virginia, one of the most bril- 
 liant regimental and brigade commanders under Stone- 
 wall Jackson and Robert E. Lee, and for a time in com- 
 mand of division, is the author of the military history of 
 Maryland, a subject which he is eminently qualified to 
 
vin PREFACE. 
 
 handle. With a facile pen he has traced the history of 
 his State, in so far as it was involved in the Confederate 
 war. 
 
 Col. Robert White, of Wheeling, W. Va., a distin- 
 guished attorney familiar to the veterans of the South 
 through his prominence in the order of United Confed- 
 erate veterans as major-general commanding the West 
 Virginia division, is a native of Hampshire county, of 
 the original State of Virginia. As a captain of volun- 
 teers he reported to Col. T. J. Jackson at Harper's Ferry 
 in the spring of 1861. Subsequently he raised a battalion 
 of cavalry within the enemy's lines, which he com- 
 manded with gallantry, finally becoming colonel of the 
 Twenty-third Virginia cavalry, of which his battalion 
 was the nucleus. At the close of hostilities he had a 
 record of gallant participation in fifty-six cavalry fights. 
 In the preparation of the history of West Virginia he has 
 given much time and pains to the collection of data in a 
 field peculiarly unfavorable for the preservation of rec- 
 ords, and his work will doubtless remain the authoritative 
 statement of the Confederate history of that region. 
 
 Almost the last work of the lamented Major Jed Hotch- 
 kiss, of Staunton, Va. , was the completion of his history 
 of Virginia. Very soon after he laid down the pen with 
 which he traced the record of the war in Virginia, and 
 of the great army which was led by Robert E. Lee, he 
 was called to the rest of the soldier and Christian. As 
 topographer and staff officer under Gamett, Lee, Jack- 
 son, Ewell and Early, he was undoubtedly more 
 familiar with the battlefields of Virginia than any other 
 man, and it is fortunate for the students of to-day and of 
 future generations that his account of the war in that 
 region should be here preserved. Particularly in regard 
 to the Valley campaigns of Stonewall Jackson and Early, 
 and the campaigns of the Second corps of the army of 
 Northern Virginia, he was an historical authority. Much 
 of what he has written for this work is from his personal 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 records and recollection, and the work is also indebted 
 to him, originally, for many of the maps which are 
 reproduced from the War Records. 
 
 Prof. D. H. Hill, author of the North Carolina history, 
 bears a name familiar to the readers of this work, that 
 of his gallant father, Lient.-Gen. Daniel H. Hill. His 
 mother, a sister of the wife of Lient.-Gen. Thomas J. 
 Jackson, is a daughter of Rev. Dr. Morrison, of North 
 Carolina, who was a relative of the distinguished Illinois 
 congressman, William Morrison. Professor Hill has 
 devoted his life to the work of education, beginning his 
 career, after his graduation at Davidson college. North 
 Carolina, as professor of English in the Georgia military 
 and agricultural college, at Milledgeville, under the 
 presidency of his father, and afterward. In 1889 he was 
 appointed to the position he now holds, the chair of 
 English in the Agricultural and Mechanical college of 
 North Carolina. 
 
 Gen. Ellison Capers, whose task it has been to present 
 the important part taken by South Carolina in the great 
 war, is well equipped for the duty by his birthright as a 
 descendant of one of the earliest families of that State, 
 and his patriotic service with her troops. He was iden- 
 tified with the military operations in the State, mainly 
 the defense of Charleston and the railroad communica- 
 tions of the city, until the situation became dangerous in 
 the West. Thereafter he was a participant in the great 
 campaigns for the defense of the heart of the Confederacy, 
 until he fell, severely wounded, before the Federal works 
 at Franklin, Tenn. One of the most gallant affairs of 
 the war in that important mountain region south of 
 Chattanooga, was his memorable defense of Ship's gap, 
 covering Hood's retreat from North Georgia in the fall 
 of 1864. Entering the ministry of the Protestant Epis- 
 copal church, after the war, he is now bishop of the 
 diocese of South Carolina. 
 
 Prof. Joseph T. Derry, author of the military history of 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 Georgia, is a native of Milledgeville, of that State, was 
 graduated at Emory college in i860, and in January, 
 1 86 1, enlisted in tlie Oglethorpe infantry, a famous mili- 
 tary company, that served throughout the war. Mr. Derry 
 was on duty in Virginia, Tennessee, on the Georgia coast 
 and in the Atlanta campaign of 1864, his service being 
 terminated by capture on the skirmish line at Kenesaw 
 Mountain, June 27th, after which he was a prisoner of 
 war at Camp Douglas, Chicago, for about one year. 
 Since his return to Georgia his life has been devoted to 
 educational work. For several years he was professor of 
 languages at the Wesleyan Female college at Macon, Ga. 
 He is the author of a "School History of the United 
 States," "The Story of the Confederate States," and has 
 contributed articles to the Century and other magazines. 
 
 Col. J. J. DicHson, major-general commanding the 
 United Confederate Veterans of Florida, is the author of 
 the war history of that State. He is a native of Virginia, 
 was educated in South Carolina, and became a citizen of 
 Florida in 1856. He was identified with the organization 
 of troops for Confederate service from the beginning, 
 and soon becoming distinguished for ability as a cavalry 
 leader, was intrusted with the defense of the eastern part 
 of the State from the incursions of the enemy who held 
 the seaports. Fighting for Florida from the opening to 
 the close of the war, he was the Marion of his State, and 
 achieved fame throughout the Confederacy. 
 
 Gen. Joseph Wheeler, of Alabama, who has prepared for 
 this work an account of the part taken by his State and 
 her people in the great conflict of 1861-65, is beloved by 
 all the people of the South, as he has been since his days 
 of gallant leadership as one of the great cavalry generals 
 of the Confederacy. His laurels were won, and his rank 
 of lieutenant-general attained, before he had reached the 
 age of thirty years. The middle period of his life was 
 given to the civil interests, the restoration of the pros- 
 perity, and the re-establishment of the political status of 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 his people, whom he has continuously represented in the 
 United States Congress. In the past year, and just after 
 he had prepared the Alabama war history for this work, 
 he renewed his military reputation as major-general of 
 United States volunteers, commanding the cavalry in 
 the Santiago campaign of the war with Spain, and 
 attracted to himself, in addition to the love of the South, 
 the admiration and pride of fellow-citizenship of the peo- 
 ple in all parts of the united nation. 
 
 Col. Charles E. Hooker, of Jackson, Miss., author of 
 the military history of that State, entered the Confeder- 
 ate service in 1861 as a volunteer in the First Mississippi 
 regular artillery, and was captain of his company during 
 the siege of Vicksburg, when he lost his left arm. He 
 was surrendered with the army under General Pember- 
 ton, and upon being exchanged was promoted '0 colonel 
 and assigned to duty as a member of the military court 
 for the army of Mississippi. He was leading counsel in 
 the defense of President Jefferson Davis during the trial 
 at Richmond ; was selected as the orator for the reunion 
 of the United Confederate veterans at Atlanta, July, 
 1898, and as a citizen of Mississippi since the war has 
 had honorable prominence as attorney-general for two 
 terms, and member of Congress for sixteen years. 
 
 Hon. James D. Porter, author of the military history 
 of Tennessee, entered the Confederate States service in 
 1 86 1 as adjutant-general, with the rank of captain, on the 
 staff of Gen. B. F. Cheatham, and with promotion to 
 major he was on duty during the course of the war, either 
 as a staff officer or as acting lieutenant-colonel of a regi- 
 ment. His association with the army of Tennessee 
 peculiarly qualifies him to give a correct account of its 
 operations. His career since the war has been one of 
 prominence. He was a member of the constitutional 
 convention of 1870, judge of the western circuit of the 
 State, governor of Tennessee from January, 1875, to 
 January, 1879, assistant secretary of State of the United 
 
XII PREFACE. 
 
 States during Cleveland's first administration, and minis- 
 ter to Chili in 1892-96. 
 
 Col. J. Stoddard Johnston, of Louisville, author of the 
 history of Kentucky for this work, is a native of New 
 Orleans, was reared in Kentucky, and educated at Yale 
 college and the Louisville law school. His service during 
 the war as a staff officer with Generals Bragg, Buckner, 
 Breckinridge and Echols, with the army of Tennessee 
 and in the department of East Tennessee, where the Con- 
 federate soldiers of Kentucky were mainly engaged, ena- 
 bles him to follow their record through the four years 
 with intelligence and just appreciation. Since the war 
 period Colonel Johnston has held the offices of adjutant- 
 general and secretary of state of Kentucky. 
 
 The preparation of a military history of Missouri was 
 intrusted to Col. John C. Moore, of Kansas City, and his 
 finished work may be confidently submitted to the ver- 
 dict of the reader. Colonel Moore is well known as an 
 accomplished writer, and for this work he is specially 
 fitted by his Confederate service as a staff officer with 
 Generals Marmaduke and Magruder, and as colonel com- 
 manding a regiment with Gen. Jo Shelby. The years 
 that he has given to historical studies bearing on the 
 general Confederate subject, and his complete sympathy 
 with Southern ideas and ideals, have further equipped 
 him for this faithful presentation of Missouri's part in 
 the great conflict. 
 
 Col. John M. Harrell, of Hot Springs, Ark., has 
 brought to the preparation of the war history of his State 
 memories of four years' service in her defense, and the 
 ripened intellectual powers of a life devoted to the pro- 
 fession of law, in which he yet maintains a high rank. 
 As a staff officer with Generals Holmes and Breckinridge 
 he had opportunities for gaining valuable information 
 regarding the operations which he now describes. As 
 colonel of cavalry, also, and as commander of Cabell's 
 brigade in the latter part of the war, he took a conspic- 
 
PREFACE. XIII 
 
 uous part in the campaigns in Arkansas, Missouri, Kan- 
 sas and Indian Territory. The important military oper- 
 ations in that region, too often neglected in a view of 
 the far-reaching war, are clearly and adequately pre- 
 sented in Colonel Harrell's work. 
 
 The military history of Louisiana has found spirited 
 treatment at the hands of John Dimitry, A. M. Mr. 
 Dimitry, now engaged in journalism and literary pur- 
 suits, is the eldest son of the late eminent scholar. Prof. 
 Alexander Dimitry, and since his boyhood has been 
 identified with Louisiana. Returning in 1861 from Cen- 
 tral America, where he acted as secretary to his father. 
 United States minister, he enlisted in the famous Cres- 
 cent regiment of New Orleans, and going into battle at 
 Shiloh received a severe and disabling wound. Subse- 
 quently he became chief clerk of the postofHce depart- 
 ment at Richmond under Postmaster-General Reagan. 
 He accompanied the presidential party in April, 1865, as 
 far as Washington, Ga. On his return to Louisiana he 
 wrote the famous epitaph for Albert Sidney Johnston, 
 which is now carved upon the tomb erected by the asso- 
 ciation of the Army of Tennessee, at New Orleans. 
 
 Gov. Orin M. Roberts, author of the Texas history, is 
 another who, since the completion of his work, has passed 
 to the reward of an honorable life. He was a native of 
 South Carolina, a descendant of Revolutionary ancestors, 
 a graduate of the university of Alabama, and in 1840 a 
 settler in Texas. As a lawyer at San Augustine he 
 gained distinction; became district judge, and later 
 associate justice of the supreme court. In 1 860 he was pres- 
 ident of the State convention called to decide the future 
 status of the commonwealth. When the war began, he 
 organized a regiment, of which he became colonel, serv- 
 ing until the close of hostilities with a creditable record. 
 He was elected to the United States senate immediately 
 after the war, but was refused his seat; was chief justice 
 of Texas 1874-78, and governor of the State 1878-84. 
 
XIV PREFACE. 
 
 Subsequently he was for ten years professor of law in the 
 State university. 
 
 The illustrations include portraits of the leaders of the 
 Confederacy, both in the civil administration and on the 
 field of battle. Maps have been especially engraved to 
 show each State as it was in the war period, indicating 
 the battlefields and routes of important military move- 
 ments. A great many battle maps are also given, where 
 possible from Confederate sources, for which the publish- 
 ers are indebted to the admirable atlas accompanying the 
 Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. 
 
 The biographical department of this work includes 
 sketches of the lives of the President, Vice-President and 
 cabinet, other prominent officials of the government, and 
 the war governors, and covers every grade in the military 
 service. It has been the object of the Editor and Pub- 
 lishers to present brief biographies of every general 
 officer commissioned by the Confederate States as such, 
 and in addition, of as many of subordinate grades as 
 would give to the reader and preserve for the study of 
 future ages an adequate picture of that wonderful and 
 unsurpassed character — flower of the manhood of the 
 century now hurrying to an end — the Confederate 
 Soldier. 
 
 Confederate Publishing Company. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 HON. J. L. M. CURRY, LL. D. ^*^^' 
 
 Legal Justification of the South in Secession 1-58 
 
 WILLIAM R. GARRETT. 
 
 The South as a Factor in the Territorial Expansion of 
 THE United States 59-246 
 
 CHAPTER 1. Territorial Expansion a Distinctive Feature in 
 the History of the United States— The South a Leading 
 Factor in this Policy 61 
 
 CHAPTER II. The Extension of the Territory of 'the 
 United States from the Alleghany Mountains to the Mis- 
 sissippi River and North of the Ohio River 72 
 
 CHAPTER III. Hostilities with France and the Acquisition of 
 Louisiana 128 
 
 CHAPTER IV. The Second "War with Great Britain— Spanish 
 Complications — Spain Cedes Florida, and Her Claims to 
 Oregon. 160 
 
 CHAPTER V. Annexation of Texas— War with Mexico— Mex- 
 ican Cessions — Oregon Treaty with Great Britain 205 
 
 CHAPTER VL Confederate War— Acquisition of Alaska 239 
 
 BRIG.-GEN. CLEMENT A. EVANS. 
 
 The Civil History of the Confederate States 247-570 
 
 CHAPTER I. The Settlement of 1850— Previous Sectional 
 Questions — Origin of the Terms North and South — Extent 
 of "Old South" — Sectional Rivalries — Slaveholding Nearly 
 Universal — Objected to by the South and Insisted on by 
 the Slave Traders — "Profit and Loss" and not Conscience — 
 Causes which Necessitate the Confederate States 249 
 
 CHAPTER II. First Organized Attack— Garrison the Original 
 and Able Representative — Politicians Embrace Sectionalism 
 — National Rebuke and Fight Against the Greatness of the 
 Union by the Sectionalists — Secession Threatened — Mexican 
 War and its Results — Sudden and Fierce Attacks on South- 
 ern Policy in 1849-50 — The South's Pacific Sentiment — 
 Union Imperiled by Men of Sectional Views — Clay and 
 Webster, Douglas and Davis Work Together for a National 
 Settlement — The Compromise of 1850 263 
 
 CHAPTER IIL Political Alignment in 1852— Democrat, Whig 
 and Freesoiler — The Settlement of 1850 Ratified — Pierce 
 President — Nullification Measures in Northern States— Re- 
 newal of Agitation by Freesoilers — Shadows Showing a Com- 
 ing Event — Sectional Discord Necessary to the Freesoil 
 Faction — Kansas Troubles and Emigrant Aid Societies — 
 The Shaping of a Party Strictly Northern — Local Successes 277 
 
 CHAPTER IV. Sectional Convention of 1856 — Aggressive 
 Assault on the Union by the Fremont Party — Its Strength 
 Alarms the South— "All New England Solid"— Southern 
 
 XV 
 
svi . CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 Vote Given to National Northern Men— Buchanan Elected by 
 Only Nineteen States— The Election Endorsed the Compro- 
 mise of 1850 — Kansas Agitation Renewed by the Sectional- 
 is ts — Democratic Leaders Divide the Party — Lincoln and 
 Douglas — The Union Imperiled for Party Success — The 
 Crisis Impending — Disunion Becoming Evident — John 
 Brown's Raid a Result of Methodic Madness— Pulpit, Press 
 and Platform Stir Up Passions— Helper's Impending Crisis 
 Reinforces Uncle Tom's Cabin 291 
 
 CHAPTER V. The Agitators of Sectionalism Combine in 1859 
 — The Constitutional Unionists Divide — The South Unable 
 to Control the Question — Resolutions of Mr. Davis, i860 — 
 Platforms, Nominations and Canvass for the Presidency — 
 National Union Sentiment Overthrown — Mr. Lincoln 
 Elected — The Fixed Sectional Majority of States Attained. . 306 
 
 CHAPTER VI. The Effect Produced by the Presidential Con- 
 test of i860 — Northern Recoil from the Yawning Bloody 
 Chasm — Commercial Interest — Southern Alarm — Southern 
 Efforts to Avoid Secession — Rally of the Northern Extrem- 
 ists — Buchanan's Perplexity — Beginning of Federal Move- 
 ments to Hold the South by Force — Secession Movements in 
 the South 316 
 
 CHAPTER VII. Yet Four Months of Power— Buchanan's Vac- 
 illation — Opinion Against Coercion — Scott Proposes Force — 
 Major Anderson Instructed — Reinforcement of Sumter Con- 
 sidered — United States Congress Takes Up the Crisis — Crit- 
 tenden, Stephens and Davis in and out of Congress Plead 
 for an Adjustment — Committee of Thirty-three and Com- 
 mittee of Thirteen 325 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. Vigorous Work to Strengthen Fort Sumter 
 — Cabinet Officers Resign— Buchanan's Policy Looks War- 
 like — Seward Calls Secession a Humbug — Lincoln Instructs 
 Against Compromise — Election in South Carolina and Seces- 
 sion Ordinance Passed — Commissioners from South Carolina 
 Sent to Washington — Anderson's Strategy in Moving from 
 Fort Moultrie an Act of War — Lincoln in December Advises 
 Scott to Hold the Forts or Retake Them — Failure of Peace 
 Measures in Congress — The Dark Day 335 
 
 CHAPTER IX. Policy Foreshadowed in December, i860— War- 
 like Preparations — Star of the West Hired to Reinforce 
 Sumter — Southern Leaders Grow Hopeless of Peace — 
 Northern Leaders Oppose Compromise — Crittenden, Davis, 
 Toombs and Others Urge Conciliation — Virginia to the 
 Rescue — Border States Declare Against Coercion — Secession 
 of Several States — Peace Congress — "Peace Hath No Vic- 
 tories" '. 347 
 
 CHAPTER X. Delegates of Seceded States Meet in Montgom- 
 ery — Adoption by Convention of a Provisional Government 
 — Election of Officers — Inauguration of Mr. Davis as Presi- 
 dent — Measures Adopted — Commissioners Sent to Washing- 
 ton and to Foreign Countries — The Constitution of the Con- 
 federate States of America 358 
 
 CHAPTER XI. President Lincoln's Inauguration— Military 
 Display — Cabinet — Confederate Commissioners at Washing- 
 
CONTENTS. XVII 
 
 Page, 
 ton— Mr. Seward's Double Dealing with Them— The Port 
 Sumter Reinforcement Question 372 
 
 CHAPTER XII. The Fight for Forts— Proceedings Against 
 Fort Sumter— The South Deluded— The Astute Scheme to 
 Reinforce— The Fleet, the Demonstration, the Surrender- 
 Purpose to Put the South in a False Position 381 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. Lincoln's Call for 75,000 Volunteers— Re- 
 sponses of Governors — Confederate Preparations for 
 Defense — Political Effect in the North— Confederate Con- 
 gress Simimoned to Meet— Letters of Marque — Blockade — 
 Measures of Confederate Congress 393. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. Confederate War Policy— President Davis' 
 Proclamation — Sympathy for Maryland — Virginia Forces 
 Organized by Lee — Federals Cross the Potomac — Confeder- 
 ate Government Transferred to Richmond — Congress of the 
 Confederate States and the United States — Messages — Per- 
 plexing Questions — Foreign Affairs 403, 
 
 CHAPTER XV. Comparison of Resources— The Advance to- 
 ward Richmond — Curious Story of the First Manassas Told 
 in the Records — The Discomfiture Turned to Political Ad- 
 vantage — Confederate Flags in Full View from Washington 
 — Question of Offensive or Defensive War — Additional Com- 
 missions from the Confederacy to Europe — Acts of Confed- 
 erate Congress— The Trent Affair 417 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. Character of the Confederate Government- 
 Message of the President — Congressional Debates on War 
 Policy — Use of iCptton, Tobacco, etc. — Foreign Affairs- 
 Peace Resolutions — Free Trade Defeated 430' 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. Second Session of Congress— Message- 
 Bills Introduced — Discussions of Military Events — Lincoln's 
 First Emancipation Proclamation — Retaliation — Sequestra- 
 tion — California and Oregon — Counterfeit Money — Commis- 
 sions to Washington to Propose Peace — The Loan — Impor- 
 tant Bills— Appropriations 44j 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. Emancipation Proclamation— The Neces- 
 sity of It — Effect — The Southern View— Neg^o Enrollment 
 in Northern Armies — Meeting of Confederate Congress — 
 Message — Debates — Resolutions — Army Movements — The 
 Confederate Situation 461 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. Mediation Attempted— Foreign Affairs- 
 Peace Spirit — Prisoners of War — Amnesty on Conditions — 
 Reconstruction on a War Basis — Close of 1863 472 
 
 CHAPTER XX. Exchanges— Prisons and Prisoners— Ander- 
 sonville in the South — Elmira, Johnson's Island and Fort 
 Delaware in the North — Confederate Government Not Re- 
 sponsible for Difficulties of Exchange 484 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. Armies East and West— United States Con- 
 gress — Message of President Lincoln — The Confederate 
 States Congress — Message of President Davis — No Sign of 
 Yielding— All Male Citizens in the South Enrolled — Other 
 Acts of Congress — Politics in the United States — Thirteenth 
 Amendment Proposed — A Peace Movement — War Prepara- 
 tions — Confederate Victories 499 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. Political Battle of 1864 in the North— Peace 
 
xviii CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 Currents — Southern Peace Movements — War or Peace Dis- 
 cussed in United States Congress — ^The Situation in July — 
 Niagara Conference 509 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. Re-Survey, MEitary and PoUtical— Radical 
 Convention in May — Republican Convention in June — 
 Southern View of Northern Politics — Failure of the Arm- 
 istice — Peace Propositions Ignored — National Democratic 
 Convention in Aug^ust — Southern Desire for McClellan's 
 Election — The Canvass for Presidency — Lincoln Re- 
 elected 522 
 
 CHAPTER XXrV. Confederate Congress, November, 1864— 
 Message — Question of Enrolling Negroes in Southern Serv- 
 ice — Measures of the Congress — Negotiations for Peace Pro- 
 posed by Congress 538 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. Mission of Mr. Blair— Davis and Lincoln 
 Exchange Letters through Blair — Failure of Blair Discussed 
 — ^The Hampton Roads Conference 543 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. Military Disparities— Wise on the Part of 
 the South to Refuse Unconditional Surrender — ^Why the 
 Final Fight was Made — Closely Allied Military and Civil 
 Events — Last Message of President Davis to Congress — 
 Last Acts of Congress — Patriotic Act of Virginia and Other 
 States — Grant Breaks the Lines at Last — Richmond Evac- 
 uated — The President and Cabinet Move to North Carolina 
 and Georgia — Capture of the President — Assassination of 
 President Lincoln — Malicious Prosecution of President 
 Davis — The Dissolution of the Confederate States of America 560 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL 571-737 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 facing page. 
 
 Anderson, Richard H 697 
 
 Beauregard, Pierre G. T 633 
 
 Benjamin, J. P 592 
 
 Bragg, Braxton 656 
 
 Breckinridge, J. C 592 
 
 BucKNER, Simon B 697 
 
 Cooper, Samuel 633 
 
 Curry, J. L. M i 
 
 Davis, Jefferson Frontispiece 
 
 Early, Tubal A 697 
 
 Evans, Clement A 247 
 
 EwELL, Richard S 681 
 
 Forrest, Nathan B 688 
 
 Garrett, William R 59 
 
 Gordon, John B 688 
 
 Hampton, Wade 697 
 
 Hardee, William J 665 
 
 Hill, Ambrose P 681 
 
 Hill, Daniel H 681 
 
 Holmes, Theophilus H 665 
 
 Hood, John B 656 
 
 Hunter, R. M. T 592 
 
 Jackson, Thomas J 665 
 
 Johnston, Albert Sidney 633 
 
 Johnston, Joseph E 656 
 
 Lee, Robert E 57i, ^33 
 
 Lee, Stephen D 688 
 
 Longstreet, James 665 
 
 Mallory, Stephen R 592 
 
 Memminger, C. G S92 
 
 Original States and Their Cessions to the United States 
 
 (Map) Between pages 74, 75 
 
 Pemberton, John C 681 
 
 Polk, Leonidas 665 
 
 Randolph, G. W 592 
 
 Reagan, J. H 59* 
 
 Seddon, James A 592 
 
 Smith, Edmund Kirby 656 
 
 Stephens, Alexander H 589 
 
 Stewart, Alexander P 697 
 
 Taylor, Richard 681 
 
 Territorial Acquisitions of the United States (Map) 
 
 Between pages 204, S 
 
 Toombs, Robert. 59* 
 
 Trenholm, George A 592 
 
 Walker, Leroy Pope 592 
 
 Watts, Thomas H 592 
 
 Wheblbr, Joseph 688 
 
 XIX 
 
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 a 
 
 J. L. M. CURRY 
 
LEGAL JUSTIFICATION OF THE SOUTH 
 IN SECESSION. 
 
 BY 
 
 Hon. j. l. m. Curry, ll. d. 
 
LEGAL JUSTIFICATION OF THE SOUTH 
 IN SECESSION. 
 
 THE Southern States have shared the fate of all con- 
 quered peoples. The conquerors write their his- 
 tory. Power in the ascendant not only makes 
 laws, but controls public opinion. This precedent should 
 make the late Confederates the more anxious to keep be- 
 fore the public the facts of their history, that impartial 
 writers may weigh and properly estimate them in mak- 
 ing up the verdict of an unbiased posterity. Besides, as 
 they have been the objects of persistent misrepresenta- 
 tion, and authentic records have been perverted to their 
 prejudice, their descendants are liable to receive and hold 
 opinions hostile and derogatory to their fathers. 
 
 In this series of volumes, pertaining to the history of 
 the Confederate States, all concerned wish to disclaim 
 in advance any wish or purpose to reverse the arbitra- 
 ment of war, to repeal the late amendments to the Con- 
 stitution, to revive African slavery, or secession as a 
 State right or remedy ; or to organize any party, or culti- 
 vate an opinion, which, directly or indirectly, shall in- 
 culcate disloyalty to the Union, or affect the allegiance 
 of citizens to the Federal government. Let it be stated, 
 once for all, that this argument as to the right of the 
 South to be protected in property in slaves and the ex- 
 clusive right of a State to be the final judge of the powers 
 of the general government and to apply suitable rem- 
 edies, is based on the Constitution and the rights of the 
 
 8 
 
4 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 States as ttey existed in i860.* The amendments made, 
 since that year, in Federal and State constitutions, put 
 an entirely new and different phase on the subjects dis- 
 cussed, for these changes have expurgated slavery and 
 secession from our institutions. Our sole object is to 
 present the Southern side of the controversy as it ex- 
 isted in i860 and to vindicate it from accusations and 
 aspersions which are based on ignorance and injustice. 
 As the South is habitually condemned and held criminal 
 for seeking to perpetuate a great wrong, it is well to 
 inquire and investigate who was responsible for the state 
 of things which precipitated and prolonged the crisis of 
 1860-1865. If the act of secession cannot be justified the 
 Southern people will be stigmatized as a brave and rash 
 people deluded by bad men who attempted in an illegal 
 and wicked manner to overthrow the Union. Painfully 
 are we conscious of the disadvantages in any effort to 
 vindicate the motives and principles and conduct of the 
 Southern States and secure a rehearing and readjudica- 
 tion of a suit which seems to have been settled adversely 
 by the tribunal of public opinion. We have a right to 
 ask of our fellow citizens and of the world a patient and 
 fair hearing while we present anew the grounds of our 
 action. We challenge the closest scrutiny of facts and 
 arguments, and if they cannot be disproved and refuted, 
 justice and honesty demand a modification or reversal of 
 the adverse judgment. Pew writers seem to compre- 
 hend the underlying idea of secession, or the reasons for 
 the establishment of the Southern Confederacy. Swayed 
 by passion or political and sectional animosity, they 
 ignore the primary facts in our origin as a government, 
 the true principles of the Constitution, the flagrant nulli- 
 fications of the Northern States; and, when they phi- 
 losophize, conclusions are drawn from false premises and 
 hence injustice is done. Too often, in the endeavor to 
 narrate the deeds of and since the war, prejudiced and 
 ♦ See resolutions of Pennsylvania legislature in 18 11. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 5 
 
 vicious statements as to character and motives have been 
 accepted and acted on as verifiable or undeniable facts. 
 
 In deciding upon the rightness or wrongness of seces- 
 sion, in passing judgment upon the Confederate States, 
 it is essential to proper conclusions that the condition of 
 affairs in i860 be understood and that clear and accurate 
 notions be had of the nature and character of the Federal 
 government and of the rights of the States under the 
 'constitutional compact. And here, at the threshold, one 
 is confronted by dogmas which are substituted for prin- 
 'ciples, by preconceived opinions which are claimed to be 
 historical verities, and by sentimentality which closes 
 the avenues to the mind against logic and demonstration. 
 To a student of our political and constitutional history it 
 is strange how stubborn historical facts are quietly set 
 aside and inferences and assumptions are used as postu- 
 lates for huge governmental theories. These errors are 
 studiously perpetuated, for in prescribed courses of read- 
 ing in civics and history are books full of grossest mis- 
 statements teaching sectional opinions and latitudinous 
 theories, while works which present opposite and sounder 
 views are vigorously excluded. State rights is perhaps 
 the best term, although not precise or definite in its 
 signification, for suggesting the view of the Constitution 
 and of Federal powers, as held by the Southern States. 
 During the administration of General Washington, those 
 who were in favor of protecting the reserved rights of 
 the States against threatened or possible encroachment 
 of the delegated powers assumed the name of the Re- 
 publican party, but were often called the State Rights 
 party.* There is no ultimate nor authoritative appeal 
 
 * "In the g^-eat historic debate in the Senate in 1830, Robert Y. 
 Hayne, of South Carolina, said that they assumed the name of 
 Democratic Republicans in 1812. True to their political faith they 
 have always been iu favor of limitations of power, they have in- 
 sisted that all powers not delegated to the Federal government are 
 reserved, and have been constantly struggling to preserve the rights 
 of the States and to prevent them from being drawn into the vortex 
 and swallowed up by one great consolidated government. As con- 
 
6 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 for determining the political differences between the 
 North and South except the Constitution, but some pre- 
 liminary inquiries, answers to which will be suggestive 
 and argumentative, may aid in understanding and in- 
 terpreting that instrument. 
 
 Our Constitution is not a mere temporary expedient. 
 It exists in full force until changed by an explicit and 
 authentic act, as prescribed by the instrument, and in 
 its essential features is for all time, for it contains the 
 fundamental principles of all good government, of all 
 free representative institutions. Among these requi- 
 sites, unalterable by changing conditions of society, are 
 individual liberty, freedom of labor, of human develop- 
 ment, rights of conscience, equality of the States, dis- 
 tribution of political powers into independent executive, 
 legislative and judicial departments, and a careful re- 
 striction of those powers to public uses only, the healthy 
 action of concurrent majorities, a careful safe-guarding 
 that the power which makes the laws and the power 
 which applies them shall not be in the same hands, and 
 local self-government. The people are ultimately the 
 source of all political power, and the powers delegated 
 are in trust, alterable or terminable only in a legitimate 
 and prescribed manner. Changes cannot be made to 
 conform to a supposed moral sense, or to new environ- 
 ments, neither by the "fierce democracy," nor by the 
 action of a department, nor by a combination of all de- 
 partments. 
 
 To obtain a correct comprehension of the dignity and 
 power of the States it is well to consider them as they 
 emerged from their colonial condition, having waged a 
 tedious and successful war against the mother countrj', 
 having achieved separate independence and established a 
 
 firmatory of the statement that the South has been misrepresenterl 
 and villified through ignorance, it may be said that, while school 
 boys are familiar with Webster's eloquent periods, few writers and 
 politicians have read the more logical and unanswerable argument 
 of Hayne." 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 7 
 
 new form of government, a federal union of concurrent 
 majorities, under a written constitution. The American 
 colonies have not had sufficient importance ascribed to 
 theiii for their agency in achieving civil and religious 
 liberty ; and, with their rights and powers as separate 
 governments, as the potential forerunners of our consti- 
 tutional, representative, federal republic. The institu- 
 tions founded in this western world, in the essential ele- 
 ments of law and freedom, were far in advance of 
 contemporary transatlantic institutions. The relations 
 they sustained to one another and to the controlling En- 
 glish government, their large measure of local adminis- 
 tration, must be clearly comprehended to do them justice 
 for what they wrought out and to understand what char- 
 acter and power they preserved as States in the govern- 
 ment of their creation under the Federal constitution. 
 Their precise political condition prior to the Revolution 
 cannot be obscured. The colonies were separate in the 
 regulation of domestic concerns, in home affairs, but sus- 
 tained a common relation to the British empire. The 
 colonists were fellow subjects, owed allegiance to the 
 same crown^ had all the rights, privileges and liabilities 
 of every other British subject.* The inhabitants of one 
 colony owed no obedience to the laws, were not under 
 the jurisdiction of any other colony; were under no civil 
 obligation to bear arms or pay taxes, or in any wise to 
 contribute to the support or defense of another, and were 
 whoilj' distinct and separate from all others in political 
 functions, in political rights, and in political duties. In 
 so far as all the colonists were one people and had com- 
 mon rights, it was the result of their mutual relation to 
 the same sovereign, of common dependence on the same 
 head, and not any result of a relation between them- 
 
 * Some of these principles are ably discussed by the Hon. 
 Thomas F. Bayard in an address, 7th of November, 1895, before the 
 Edinburgh Philosophical Institution, the same paper which excited 
 the partisan ire of the House of Representatives in 1896. 
 
8 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 selves. There was neither alliance nor confederacy be- 
 tween the colonies. 
 
 When hostilities between Great Britain and the col- 
 onies became imminent, because of adverse imperial 
 legislation and the unlimited claim of the right of taxa- 
 tion, and united effort was obvious and imperative, to 
 relieve themselves from the burdens and iiijustice of the 
 laws and the claims of a distant government, the col- 
 onies, each acting for itself, and not conjointly with any 
 other, sent deputies to a general congress, and when the 
 body assembled each colony had a single vote, and on all 
 questions of general concern they asserted and retained 
 their equality. The Congresses of 1774, 1775 and 1776 
 were occasional and not permanent bodies, claimed no 
 sovereign authority, had no true governmental powers, 
 and seldom assumed to go beyond deliberation, advice 
 and recommendation. When under stress of war and 
 the danger of or impossibility of delay they acted as a 
 de facto government, their acts were valid, had the force 
 and effect of law only by subsequent confirmation or 
 tacit acquiescence. The common oppressions and dan- 
 gers were strong incentives to concert of action and to 
 assent and submission to what was done for resistance to 
 a common enemy. There never was any pretense of 
 authority to act on individuals, and in all acts reference 
 was had to the colonies, and never to the people, indi- 
 vidually or as a nation. 
 
 Virginia made a declaration on the 12th of June, 1776, 
 renouncing her colonial dependence on Great Britain and 
 separating herself forever from that kingdom. On the 
 29th of June, in the same year, she performed the high- 
 est function of independent sovereignty by adopting and 
 ordaining a constitution,, prescribing an oath of fealty 
 and allegiance for all who might hold office under her 
 authority, and that remained as the organic law of the 
 Old Dominion until 1829. 
 
 The Declaration of Independence, subsequently on the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 9 
 
 4th of July, was an act of Congress declaring absolution 
 of the colonies from allegiance to the crown and govern- 
 ment of Great Britain and that they were "free and in- 
 dependent States." The Congress which made this 
 Declaration was appointed by the colonies in their sepa- 
 rate and distinct capacity. They voted on its adoption 
 in their separate character, each giving one vote by all 
 its own representatives who acted in strict obedience to 
 specific instructions from their respective colonies, and 
 the members signed the Declaration in that way. The 
 members had authority to act in the name of their own 
 colony and not of any other, and were representatives 
 only of the colony which appointed them. Judge Story, 
 in his "Commentaries on the Constitution," reasons 
 upon this instrument as having the effect of making the 
 colonies "one people," merging their existence as sepa- 
 rate communities into one nation. The Declaration of 
 Independence is often quoted as an authoritative politi- 
 cal document defining political rights and duties, as on a 
 parity with the Constitution, and as binding parties and 
 people and courts and States by its utterances. The 
 platform of the Republican party in 1856 and i860 affirms 
 the principles of this Declaration to be essential to the 
 preservation of our republican institutions, the Constitu- 
 tion and the rights of the States, when, in truth and in 
 fact, its main and almost its sole object was to declare 
 and justify the separation from, and the independence 
 of, the British crown. In no sense was the paper or the 
 act intended as a bill of rights, or to enunciate the 
 fundamental principles of a republic, or to define the 
 status of the colonies, except in their relation to the 
 mother country. No true American will underrate the 
 significance or the importance of the act of separation 
 from a foreign empire, or hold otherwise than with the 
 highest respect the reasons which our fathers gave in 
 vindication of their momentous and courageous action. 
 Refusing to be subject to the authority of the crown and 
 
10 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 the parliament was a heroic undertaking dictated by the 
 loftiest patriotism and a genuine love of liberty. Put- 
 ting into the minds and hearts of our ancestors more far 
 reaching and prescient purposes than they possessed will 
 not magnify their virtues nor enhance their merit. 
 They met the issues presented with the sagacity of 
 statesmen and were not guilty of the folly of propagand- 
 ism of the French revolutionists, a few years later. 
 The colonies being distinct and separate communities, 
 with sovereignty vested in the British crown, when the 
 tie which bound them to that sovereignty was severed, 
 upon each colony respectively was devolved that sover- 
 eignty and each emerged from provincial dependence 
 into an independent and sovereign State. A conclusive 
 proof of the relation of the colonies to one another and 
 to the revolutionary government is to be found in the 
 recommendation in 1776 for the passing of laws for the 
 punishment of treason, and it was declared that the 
 crime should be considered as committed against the 
 colonies individually and not against them all as united 
 together. The joint expression of separate wills in ref- 
 erence to continued union with England expressed no 
 opinion and suggested no action on the subject of a com- 
 mon government, or of forming a closer union. It com- 
 pleted the severance of the rapidly disuniting ties which 
 bound to the government across the seas. Some of the 
 colonies, prior to the 4th of July, had declared their in- 
 dependence and established State constitutions, and now 
 all, by a more public and stronger and more effective 
 affirmation, united in doing what had by some been 
 separately resolved upon. Ceasing to be dependent com- 
 munities involved no change in relations with one an- 
 other beyond what was necessarily incident to separation 
 from the parent country. The supremacy which had 
 previously existed in Great Britain, separately over each 
 colony and not jointly over all, having ceased, each be- 
 came a free and independent State, taking to herself 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 11 
 
 what applied to and over herself. The Declaration of 
 Independence is not a form of government, not an 
 enumeration of popular rights, not a compact between 
 States, but was recognized in its fullest demands, when, 
 in 1782, Great Britain acknowledged New Hampshire, 
 Massachusetts, New York, South Carolina, Georgia and 
 the other colonies to be "free, sovereign and independ- 
 ent States." 
 
 Stress is laid on the revolutionary government and on 
 the Declaration of Independence by those who are anx- 
 ious to establish the theory of a national or consolidated 
 government, reducing the States to mere dependencies 
 upon central power. As has been shown, the conten- 
 tion, derived from those sources, is without legal or his- 
 torical foundation; but the temporary government, 
 largely for war purposes, was superseded by the Articles 
 of Confederation, which, because of the reluctance of the 
 States to delegate their powers, did not become obliga- 
 tory until 1781, as their ratification by all the States was 
 a condition precedent to their having any binding force. 
 These articles, in explicit terms, incapable of misinter- 
 pretation, declare that "each State retains its sover- 
 eignty, freedom and independence and every power, 
 iurisdiction and right, which is not by this confederation 
 expressly delegated to the United States in Congress as- 
 sembled. " There can be no mistake here as to the 
 reservation of entire freedom, entire independence, en- 
 tire sovereignty. These were retained without qualifica- 
 tion or limitation, and the use of the word "retains" is 
 the clearest assertion that these unsurrendered preroga- 
 tives were possessed under the previous government. 
 
 This historical review was not necessary except argu- 
 mentatively as throwing light on the real facts, and as 
 raising the strong presumption, to be rebutted only by 
 irrefragable proof, that a state once sovereign has not 
 voluntarily stxrrendered that ultimate supreme power of 
 self-government or self-existence. While in a colonial 
 
12 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 condition the people of the several States were in no 
 proper political sense a nation, or "one people;" by the 
 declaration and the treaty of peace each State became a 
 complete sovereignty within its own limits ; the revolu- 
 tionary government was a government of the States 
 as such through Congress as the common agent, and 
 by the Articles of Confederation each state expressly 
 reserved its entire sovereignty and independence. In 
 all this succession of history there was no trend to 
 consolidation and the most conspicuous feature was-the 
 jealous retention" by the States of their separate sover- 
 eignty. 
 
 EQUALITY AND SOVEREIGNTY OF THE STATES. 
 
 In forming the Constitution of the United States, 
 from whose ratification our "more perfect union" re- 
 sulted, did the States surrender their equality and sover- 
 eignty and transfer to a central government the powers 
 and rights which in all previous history had been so care- 
 fully maintained? This is the crucial question determin- 
 ing the right of the Southern States in i860 and 1861 to 
 secede from the Union and to establish for their own de- 
 fense and welfare a new federal union. Obviously this 
 question should be approached and considered and de- 
 cided, not by prejudice, or passion or sectionalism, or 
 interest, or expediency, or wishes of men; but by the 
 Constitution, in its proper meaning as to rights and 
 powers delegated and rights and powers reserved. 
 Whether secession was wise or unwise, expedient or in- 
 expedient, approved or disapproved by a majority of the 
 States, or of the inhabitants, has no relevancy, nothing 
 whatever to do with this discussion. The naked matter 
 is one of right. Was there a supremacy in Congress, or 
 in any other department of the government of the 
 Union, or did the States assert and retain their sover- 
 eignty, as against the world? 
 
 The States were not created by the government of the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 13 
 
 Union, but antedated and created that organism. Our 
 systems of government are singularly complex and 
 hence unintelligible to many foreigners. There are two 
 divisions of power — that between the people and their 
 governments, and that between the State governments 
 and the government of the Union. The system is com- 
 pounded of the separate governments of the several 
 States and the one common government of all the mem- 
 bers of the Union, called the government of the United 
 States. Each was formed by written constitutions ; those 
 of the several States by the people of each acting sepa- 
 rately and in their sovereign character, and that of the 
 United States by the same, acting in the same character, 
 but jointly and in concert instead of separately. Both 
 governments derive their power from the same source 
 and were ordained and established by the same authority. 
 These governments are co-ordinate and there is a sub- 
 ordination of both to the people of the respective states. 
 Limited rights are delegated by the people to their gov- 
 ernments, or trustees, and all the residue of the attributes 
 of sovereignty are retained. The division of the powers 
 into such as are delegated specifically to the common 
 and joint government of all the States, to be exercised 
 for the benefit and safety of each and all ; and the reser- 
 vation of all to the States respectively, to be exercised 
 through the separate governments, is what makes ours a 
 system of governments. Taking all the parts together, 
 the people of forty-four independent and sovereign 
 States, confederated by a solemn constitutional compact 
 into one great federal community, with a system of gov- 
 ernment, in all of which powers are separated into the 
 great primary divisions of the cottstitution-making and the 
 /aw-m.aking powers; those of the latter class being 
 divided between the common and joint government of 
 all the States, and the separate and local governments 
 of each State respectively ; and finally the powers of both 
 distributed among three separate and independent de- 
 
14 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 partments — legislative, executive and judicial — present, 
 in the whole, a political system as remarkable for its 
 grandeur as it is for its novelty and refinement of organ- 
 ization. (Calhoun's Works, 112, 113, 199.) Under the 
 English form of government, this division with limita- 
 tions is unknown and parliament is supreme. Madison, 
 in the Federalist, says: "The Federal and State govern- 
 ments are, in fact, but different agents and trustees of 
 the people, instituted with different powers and designed 
 for different purposes." Hamilton says: "In the com- 
 pound republics of America, the power surrendered by 
 the people is first divided between two distinct govern- 
 ments, and the portion allotted to each subdivided among 
 distinct and separate departments. Hence a double 
 security arises to the rights of the people. The differ- 
 ent governments will control each other at the same time 
 that each will be controlled by itself. ' ' 
 
 The Union is not the primary social or political rela- 
 tion of those who formed it. The State governments 
 were already organized and were adequate to all the pur- 
 poses of their municipal concerns. The Federal govern- 
 ment was established only for such "purposes as the State 
 governments and the confederation could not sufficiently 
 answer, namely, the common purpose of all the States. 
 The people of the States, not as a unit, not in the aggre- 
 gate, but separately, hold in themselves all governmental 
 power. One portion they granted to the State govern- 
 ments ; another to the government of the Union, and the 
 residue they retained undelegated in themselves. The 
 grants were in trust for their benefit, and created the di- 
 vision of political power between the Federal and the 
 State governments, which division constitutes the gist 
 and sum total of the controversy between the govern- 
 ment at Washington and the seceding States. During 
 and soon after a war waged for eight years to resist a 
 claim to legislate for them locally and internally, in- 
 ferred from parliamentary supremacy, the colonies or 
 
COMFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 15 
 
 states constructed two unions and established in both a 
 division of power bearing a strong similitude to that 
 upon which they were willing to have continued their 
 union with England ; namely : yielding to her the regula- 
 tion of war, peace, and commerce, and retaining for 
 themselves local and internal legislation. The first 
 union "retains" to the States the sovereignty and rights 
 not delegated to the United States; the second "re- 
 serves" to the States the powers not delegated to the 
 United States. The first confers upon Congress almost 
 all the powers of importance bestowed by the second, 
 except that of regulating commerce, the second only ex- 
 tends the means for executing the same powers by be- 
 stowing on Congress a limited power of taxation ; but 
 these means were by neither intended to supersede nor 
 defeat those ends retained or reserved by both. By the 
 first, unlimited requisitions to meet "the charges of war 
 and all other expenses for the common defense and gen- 
 eral welfare" were to be made by Congress upon the 
 States. By the second, Congress is empowered to lay 
 taxes, under certain restrictions, to "provide for the 
 common defense and general welfare. ' ' A sovereign or 
 absolute right to dispose of these requisitions or taxes 
 without any restriction is not given to Congress by 
 either. The general terms used in both are almost 
 literally the same and, therefore, they must have been 
 used in both under the same impression of their import 
 and effect. (Taylor's Construction Construed, 55.) 
 
 An obiter dictum of Justice Miller, of the Supreme 
 court,- gives point to the value of restrictions and of 
 enforcing them. "To lay with one hand the power of 
 the government on the property of the citizen, and with 
 the other to bestow it upon favored individuals to aid 
 private enterprises and build up private fortunes is none 
 the less a robbery because it is done under the favor of 
 the law." 
 
16 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION MADE BY STATES. 
 
 As everything in this discussion depends on the Con- 
 stitution it seems prudent to state with some particu- 
 larity its origin, its establishment and its terms. The 
 confederation was found to be inadequate to the ends of 
 an effective government. The states adopted conflicting 
 and even hostile commercial regulations and trade suf-. 
 fered from these embarrassments. The legislature of 
 Virginia, impressed with the necessity of a government 
 of larger powers, appointed in 1786 commissioners to. 
 meet commissioners from other States, at Annapolis, to 
 prepare for adoption by the States a uniform plan of 
 commercial regulations. Some met and recommended 
 to their respective legislatures to appoint delegates to 
 meet in general convention at Philadelphia for the pur- 
 pose of reforming the government as the interests of the 
 States might require. Congress approved thev recom- 
 mendation and suggested a convention of delegates to be 
 appointed by the several States to meet in Philadelphia 
 and to report to Congress and the several legislatures 
 such alteration of the Articles of Confederation as shall, 
 when agreed to in Congress and confirmed by the States, 
 render the federal constitution adequate to the exigen- 
 cies of government and the preservation of the Union. 
 Accordingly, the convention was composed of deputies 
 appointed by the States, and they voted as States. Madi- 
 son, in recording their action, on agreeing to the Con- 
 stitution, says: "It passes in the affirmative, all the States 
 concurring." It was transmitted to the several State 
 legislatures to be by them submitted to State conven- 
 tions and each State for itself ratified at different times, 
 without concert of action, except in the result to be as- 
 certained. As the jurisdiction of a State was limited to 
 its own territory, its ratification was limited to its own 
 people. The Constitution got its validity, its vitaHty, not 
 from the inhabitants as constituting one great nation, nor 
 from the people of all the States considered as one people, 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 17 
 
 but from the concurrent action of a prescribed number of 
 States, each acting separately and pretending to no claim 
 or right to act for or control other States. That each of 
 these States had the right to decline to ratify and remain 
 out of the Union for all time to come, no sane man will 
 deny. Rhode Island and North Carolina did, in the un- 
 doubted exercise of an undisputed right, refuse to enter 
 the compact until after the government was organized 
 and Washington entered upon his duties as president. 
 "The assent and ratification of the people," says Madi- 
 son, "not as individuals composing an entire nation, but 
 as composing the distinct and independent States to 
 which they belong, are the sources of the Constitution. 
 It is, therefore, not a national but a federal compact." 
 
 Virginia, in her ratification as a distinct, sovereign 
 community, had said: "The delegates do, in the name 
 and in behalf of the people of Virginia, declare and make 
 known that the powers granted under the Constitution, 
 being derived from the people of the United States, may' 
 be resumed by them whensoever the same shall be per- 
 verted to their injury or oppression, and that every 
 power not granted thereby remains with them and at 
 their will." (s Bulletin of the Bureau of Rolls, 145.) 
 Calhoun ' s Works, 248-251. 
 
 Maryland declared that nothing in the Constitution 
 "warrants a construction that the States do not retain 
 every power not expressly relinquished by them and 
 vested in the general government of the Union." New 
 York more explicitly said: "That the powers of govern- 
 ment may be reassumed by the people whenever it 
 should become necessary to their happiness, that every 
 power, jurisdiction and right which is not by the said 
 Constitution clearly delegated to the Congress of the 
 United States or the departments of the government 
 thereof, remains to the people of the several States, or to 
 their respective State governments, to whom they may 
 have granted the same ; and that those clauses in the 
 
18 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 said Constitution, which declare that Congfress shall not 
 have or exercise certain powers, do not imply that Con- 
 gress is entitled to any powers not given by the said 
 Constitution ; but such clauses are to be construed either 
 as exceptions to certain specified powers or as inserted 
 merely for greater caution." Rhode Island lingered 
 until 1 790, and then adopted the cautious phraseology of 
 New York, specifying certain rights and declaring that 
 they shall not be abridged or violated and that the pro- 
 posed amendments would speedily become a part of the 
 Constitution, gave her assent to the compact, but de- 
 clared that "the powers of government may be reasSumed 
 by the people, whenever it shall become necessary to 
 their happiness. " (5 Bureau of RgHs, 140-145, 196, 191, 
 311.) Other States showed equal concern and jealousy. 
 Besides the clear assertion on the part of ratifying States 
 of the right to reassume delegated powers, a larger num- 
 ber were so apprehensive and distrustful of federal en- 
 croachment, so jealous in the maintenance of their re- 
 spective rights, that they attached bills of rights to their 
 assent, or proposed amendments to restrict the general 
 government ; the incorporation of which into the Consti- 
 tution was earnestly insisted upon. 
 
 It has now been demonstrated that with jealous vig- 
 ilance the States retained their separateness as sovereign 
 communities in all the forms of political existence 
 through which they passed. That they adopted their 
 separate State constitutions in their sovereign character 
 is indisputable. That the deputies who framed the fed- 
 eral constitution were appointed by the several States 
 each on its own authority ; that they voted in the con- 
 vention by States; that their votes were counted by 
 States; that when framed the instrument was submitted 
 to the people of the several States for their independent 
 ratification ; that the States ratified and adopted, each 
 for itself, as distinct sovereign communities; that the 
 Constitution had no binding force over a State or its citi- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 19 
 
 zens except in consequence of this adoption ; that it was 
 valid as a covenant of union, the federal compact, only 
 as between the States so ratifying the same ; are facts alike 
 incontestable. All these acts were by the States and for 
 the States, without any participation on the part of the 
 people regarded in the aggregate as forming a nation. 
 Our controversy arose, not so much from these historical 
 incidents (although historians, judges, editors and con- 
 gressmen have denied or misinterpreted them all) as 
 from the import and effect and construction of the agree- 
 ment so formally and cautiously made. 
 
 Did the act of rati6cation of itself, or does the Consti- 
 tution in its grants, divest the States of their character 
 as separate political communities and merge them all 
 into one nation, one American people? The Constitution 
 superseded the Articles of Confederation because the 
 parties to those articles agreed that it should be so. If 
 they have not so agreed, the articles are still binding on 
 the 'States. In point of fact the Constitution did become 
 obligatory as a compact of government by the voluntary 
 and separate ratification and adoption of the several 
 States. Massachusetts and New Hampshire, in their 
 ratification, call the Constitution a compact, and the 
 federal Union must be so, or the result of a compact, 
 because sovereign States would not otherwise have 
 agreed and expressed their agreement. Some made 
 provisos, others suggested amendments, which make 
 plain the intention of the fathers in entering the Union. 
 The apprehensions of consolidation were so strong that 
 to guard against such a possible evil, provisions to pre- 
 vent were incorporated in the acts of assent. The right 
 to resume surrendered powers, as affirmed by three of 
 the States, has been mentioned. Massachusetts, South 
 Carolina, New Hampshire and Virginia were so alarmed 
 at the liability to absorption of unsurrendered powers, 
 that they proposed an amendment to the effect that each 
 State shall respectively retain every power, jurisdiction 
 
20 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 and right which had not been delegated in the Constitu- 
 tion. This was modified and adopted in regular consti- 
 tutional form and is known as the Ninth article. All the 
 suggestions were in the nature of limitations and re- 
 strictions, showing distrust of centralization and a deter- 
 mined purpose to preserve from invasion or impairment 
 the rights of the States. It was felt that time and ex- 
 perience would show the wisdom of changes and of 
 adaptations to new environments, and thus it was wisely 
 provided that amendments might be made but should be 
 valid only "when ratified by the legislatures of three- 
 fourths of the several States, or by conventions in three- 
 fourths thereof. ' ' As the States only could make a con- 
 stitution, so three-fourths of them, as separate political 
 corporations, could amend the instrument. The favorite 
 theory of many, that the States were merged into the 
 government of the Union, into an aggregated unit, is an 
 assumption totally irreconcilable with the fact that this 
 same people can neither alter nor amend their govern- 
 ment. When that essential function has to be per- 
 formed, it is indispensable to summon into new life and 
 activity those very State sovereignties, which, by the 
 supposition, lost their individual power and vitality by 
 the very act creating the instrument which they are re- 
 quired to amend. Had the Constitution originated from 
 the people inhabiting the territories of the whole 
 Union, its amendment would have remained to them, as 
 the amendment of a State constitution belongs to the 
 people of a State. But as such a body of associated peo- 
 ple is a myth, a figment of the brain, the power of 
 amendment is left in the hands of the existing bodies 
 politic, the creators of the Constitution and of the 
 Union. The positive supervising power bestowed by 
 the compact upon the State governments and the peo- 
 ple over the whole Federal government flatly contradicts 
 the idea that the same compact designed constructively 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 21 
 
 to bestow a supervising power upon Congress, or other 
 department, over the State governments. 
 
 The government was organized in 1789 and assumed 
 its place among the nations of the earth. Soon, amend- 
 ments proposed by the ratifying States were submitted, 
 as the Constitution prescribed, to the respective States 
 and adopted by them. These amendments have no 
 direct relation to the immediate objects for which the 
 Union was formed, and, with few exceptions, were in- 
 tended to guard against improper constructions of the 
 Constitution, or the abuse of the delegated powers, or to 
 protect the government itself in the exercise of its 
 proper functions. They sought to guard the people and 
 the States against Federal usurpation, and one of them 
 Jefferson pronounced "the corner stone of the Constitu- 
 tion." The ninth amendment prohibits a construction 
 by which the rights retained by the people shall be 
 denied or disparaged by the enumeration, but the tenth, 
 in language that tyranny cannot pervert or dispute, "re- 
 serves to the States respectively or to the people the 
 powers not delegated to the United States, nor pro- 
 hibited to the States. ' ' Could any language more con- 
 clusively show the ultimate authority of the States, or 
 that the general government has no more right to en- 
 force its decisions against those of the several States 
 where they disagree as to the extent of their respective 
 powers than the latter have of enforcing their decisions 
 in like cases? This reservation was incorporated from a 
 caution deemed unnecessary and excessive by some, be- 
 cause such a reservation is of the very essence and struct- 
 ure of the Constitution, but it has been vindicated as a 
 marked demonstration of the wisdom and sagacity of the 
 fathers. Instead of receiving powers the States had be- 
 stowed them, and in confirmation of their original au- 
 thority most carefully reserved every right they had not 
 relinquished. The powers reserved by those who pos- 
 sessed them, the distinct people of each State, are those 
 
22 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 not delegated or prohibited, and were intended to re- 
 move a suspicion of a tendency in the Constitution toward 
 consolidation which had been vigorously charged by some 
 of those who had opposed the ratification. It cannot be 
 reiterated too often that the people do not derive their 
 rights from government. In England, Magna Charta 
 and other franchises were granted by kings and residuary 
 rights remain in and with the government; here, un- 
 granted rights remain with the grantors and these are 
 the people of the States. 
 
 RELATION OF STATES TO THE UNION UNDER 
 THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 We are now prepared to consider the action of the 
 South which rested upon the relation which the States 
 and the Federal government bore to each other. What 
 the South maintained was that the Union, or general 
 government, emanated from the people of the several 
 States, acting in their separate and sovereign capacity, as 
 distinct political communities ; that the Constitution be- 
 ing a compact to which each State was a party for the 
 purpose of good government and the protection of life, 
 liberty and property, the several States had the right to 
 judge of infractions of the Constitution, or of the failure 
 of the common government to subserve its covenanted 
 ends, and to interpose by secession or otherwise for 
 protecting the great residuary mass of undelegated pow- 
 ers, and for maintaining within their respective limits 
 the authorities, rights and liberties appertaining to 
 them. The third Virginia resolution of 1798, drawn by 
 Madison, puts this very clearly — "That this assembly 
 doth explicitly and peremptorily declare that it views 
 the powers of the Federal government as resulting from 
 the compact to which the States are parties, as limited by the 
 plain sense and intention of the instrument constituting 
 that compact ; as no further valid than they are author- 
 ized by the grants enumerated in the compact ; and that 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 23 
 
 in case of a deliberate, palpable and dangerous exercise 
 of other powers not granted by the said compact, the 
 States, who are parties thereto, have the right, and are 
 in duty bound, to interpose for arresting the progress of 
 the evil, and for maintaining within their respective 
 limits the authorities, rights and liberties appertaining 
 to them. ' ' The States, in adopting the Constitution and 
 surrendering many attributes of sovereignty, might have 
 surrendered all their powers and even their separate ex- 
 istence. Were they guilty of this felo de se, or did each 
 retain the equal right to judge of the failure of the gov- 
 ernment to accomplish stipulated objects as well as of 
 the mode and measure of redress, and the means of pro- 
 tecting its citizens? We have held that the obvious and 
 chief purpose of the Constitution was to invest the Fed- 
 eral government with such powers only as equally affect- 
 ed the members of the community called the Union and 
 to leave to the States all remaining powers. The greater 
 part of the powers delegated to the general government 
 relate directly or indirectly to two great divisions of au- 
 thority; the one pertaining to the foreign relations of 
 the country, the other of an internal character ; the pur- 
 poses for which the Constitution was formed being 
 power, security and respectability without, and peace, 
 tranquillity and harmony within. Mr. Calhoun, in early 
 political life, stated clearly our dual system. The 
 American Union is a democratic federal republic — a 
 political system compounded of the separate govern- 
 ments of the several States and of one common govern- 
 ment of all the States, called the government of the 
 United States. The powers of each are sovereign, and 
 neither derives its powers from the other. In their re- 
 spective spheres neither is subordinate to the other, but 
 co-ordinate ; and, being co-ordinate, each has the right 
 of protecting its own powers from the encroachments of 
 the other, the two combined forming one entire and 
 separate government. The line of demarkation between 
 
24 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 the delegated powers to the Federal government and the 
 powers reserved to the States is plain, inasmuch as all 
 the powers delegated to the general government are ex- 
 pressly laid down, and those not delegated are reserved 
 to the States unless specially prohibited. 
 
 Much is said and written in praise of the British con- 
 stitution, but, in large degree, it is intangible, and inde- 
 finable. It exists in no exact form, except as contained 
 in Magna Charta, Petition of Right and some other 
 muniments of liberty. Elsewhere it is to bfe searched 
 for in usage, tradition, precedent and public opinion, and 
 chiefly consists in direct parliamentary control of the re- 
 sponsible heads of the great departments ol state. 
 Knowing how illusory and deceptive were constitutional 
 guarantees, which existed only in repealable statutes or 
 the varying will of parliament, our ancestors preferred 
 to repose on fixed definitions and asserted rights, em- 
 bodied in organic law, having more dignity, permanence 
 and sacredness than a mere municipal or statutory regu- 
 lation. In proportion as power was liable to be abused, 
 it was thought wise to impose and stren'gthen checks 
 and restraints. If the judgment of the governing body 
 be the only limit to its powers, then there is nothing to 
 control that judgment or to correct its errors. The 
 minority is relegated to the uncertain remedy of rebel- 
 lion or revolution. Restrictions, however clear and as- 
 certainable, if there be no right or powdr to enforce, will 
 end in legislative omnipotence which makes useless a 
 written constitution. True liberty demands severe re- 
 straints to prevent degeneracy into license and needs a 
 discipline to be compelled by some exterior authority. 
 It is absurd to make one's rights contingent upon the 
 conscience or reason of another. There is but one safe 
 rule to be adopted by those intrusted with ecclesiastical 
 or civil power — if you do not wish to hurt me, put it out 
 of your power to do so. If a government, or a depart- 
 ment of a government, can interpret finally its own pow- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 25 
 
 ers, or take without hindrance what powers it pleases, 
 then it may as well have had originally all powers, with- 
 out the mockery of a verbal limitation. Mr. Jefferson 
 deprecated "usurpation of the powers retained by the 
 States, interpolations into the compact, and direct infrac- 
 tions of it," and as late as 1825, solemnly asserted that 
 though a dissolution of the Union would be a great 
 calamity, submission to a government of unlimited pow- 
 ers would be a greater. Under our written Constitution, 
 the powers of the government were distributed among 
 several co-ordinate departments and instead of being left 
 to be scrambled for were defined with such precision that 
 generally each may ascertain its own, unless blinded by 
 ambition or partisanship or selfishness. The jurisdiction 
 of each is limited to certain enumerated objects, and this 
 division, with checks and balances, was to prevent the 
 evils Jefferson deplored, and which have always attended 
 irresponsible and ill-defined authority. 
 
 As the written Constitution, with all its superiority to 
 unwritten usage, is not self-executory, the practical and 
 vital question continually arises, who is to guard and 
 enforce its limitations and who is the ultimate arbiter in 
 case of dangerous infractions? The famous Kentucky 
 resolutions of 1798, drawn by Jefferson, affirm that the 
 States composing the Union are not united on the prin- 
 ciple of unlimited submission to their general govern- 
 ment; that each State, while delegating certain definite 
 powers to that government, reserved the residuary mass 
 of right to their own self-government, and that the gov- 
 ernment created by the compact to which each State 
 acceded as a State and is an integral party, was not made 
 the exclusive or final judge of the powers delegated to 
 itself, since that would have made its discretion and not 
 the Constitution the measure of its powers. In 1799 he 
 reaffirmed the declaration and added that the principle 
 that the general government was the exclusive judge of 
 the powers delegated to it stopped nothing short of 
 despotism. 
 
26 CONFEDERA TE MILITARY HISTOR Y. 
 
 The favorite allegation of consolidationists is that the 
 Constitution and the laws made in pursuance thereof are 
 the supreme law of the land. No one questions that 
 statement, but what is the Constitution, what laws are 
 in pursuance thereof? The consequent assumption is 
 that the Supreme court is the safe referee and the final 
 judge. In all questions of a judicial nature of which the 
 court has lawful cognizance, it is the final judge and in- 
 terpreter, and there is no power in the government to 
 which the court belongs to reverse its decisions or resist 
 its authority, but the jurisdiction of the Federal courts is 
 limited and the Federal judiciary is only a department of 
 the government whose acts are called in question. 
 Numerous instances of usurped powers might occur 
 which the form of the Constitution could never draw 
 within the control of the judicial department. The Su- 
 preme court might assume jurisdiction over subjects not 
 allowed by the Constitution and there is no power in the 
 general government to gainsay it. Charles Sumner, as- 
 sociated in the Northern mind with John Brown, as a semi- 
 inspired apostle, spoke in 1854 in lofty scorn of according 
 to the Supreme court the "power of fastening such in- 
 terpretation as they see fit upon any part of the Constitu- 
 tion — adding to it, or subtracting from it, or positively 
 varying its requirements — actually making and unmak-" 
 ing the Constitution ; and to their work all good citizens 
 must bow as of equal authority with the original instru- 
 ment." Sometimes the court is divided, the dissenting 
 judges possessing by universal concession the greater 
 wisdom, more legal learning and ability ; sometimes, not 
 bound by its own judgment, the court reverses its de- 
 cisions and stands on both sides of a question. ''If the 
 court itself be not constrained by its own precedents how 
 can co-ordinate branches under oath to support the Con- 
 stitution, " and the creating States, "like the court itself, 
 called incidentally to interpret the Constitution, be con- 
 strained by them?" Sometimes to procure a reversal it 
 
CONFEDERA TE MILITARY HISTORY. 27 
 
 is held that the court by action of Congress may here- 
 after be constituted differently, and we have a memorable 
 precedent of the enlargement of the court and of the ap- 
 pointment of additional justices, whose opinions were 
 well known in advance, in order to secure a reversal of 
 the legal tender decision. Jefferson, in 1820, saw how by 
 the silent and potential influence of judicial interpreta- 
 tion, the government was in great danger, and he wrote 
 to Thomas Ritchie: "The judiciary of the United States 
 is the subtle corps of sappers and miners constantly work- 
 ing underground to undermine the foundations of our 
 confederated fabric * * * a judiciary independent of 
 a king or executive alone 's a good thing, but independ- 
 ence of the will of the nation is a solecism, at least in 
 a republican government. ' ' The powers reserved in the 
 tenth amendment are not only reserved against the Fed- 
 eral government in whole, but against each department, 
 the judicial as well as the legislative and executive. 
 Otherwise the Federal sphere is supreme and the spheres 
 of the States are subordinate. It cannot be tolerated for 
 a moment that the Supreme court has the right to mod- 
 ify every power inhering in the State governments, or 
 undelegated by the people, so as to exempt its own action 
 from their influence. That would be to concentrate ab- 
 solute sovereignty in the court. If the Federal govern- 
 ment, in its entirety, has no authority in the last resort 
 to judge of the extent of its own powers, how can a single 
 department, even the Supreme court, have this authority? 
 What folly for the States to reserve powers against the 
 Federal government, if that government, in whole or in 
 part, has the ultimate decision as to what was reserved! 
 To the Supreme court all the jurisdiction which properly 
 belongs is cheerfully yielded, but in it no more than in 
 the other departments can be safely reposed the trust of 
 ascertaining, defining or limiting the undelegated powers 
 of the States. 
 
28 CONFEDERA TE MI LIT A R Y HIS TOR Y. 
 
 History is said to be constantly repeating itself. This 
 assumption of the Federal government, through all or 
 either of the departments, to decide, ultimately and au- 
 thoritatively, upon the character and extent of the grants 
 and limitations of the Constitution, upon the powers it 
 possesses, is a claim of absolute sovereignty and is not 
 distinguishable from the unrepublican theory of the Di- 
 vine Right, as expounded by Filmer and other such 
 writers. Reduced to its real significance, it is practically 
 what was asserted by the "Holy Alliance" of 1815, when 
 certain European sovereigns, under a kind of approved 
 orthodox despotism, assumed the prerogative to perpetu- 
 ate existing dynasties, to suppress rebellions and revolu- 
 tions, and to crush out civil and religious liberty. This 
 alliance insisted that governments did not derive their 
 authority or legitimacy from the assent of the people ; 
 that all who asserted such political heresies were outlaws 
 and traitors ; that constitutions have no legitimate source 
 except absolute power ; that governments grant or with- 
 hold what they please ; that every movement in oppo- 
 sition to the "powers that be" is a monster to be crushed, 
 and that all resistance to oppression is involved in the 
 same anathema, however legitimate or defensible. 
 
 There are some who see and concede the unreasonable- 
 ness of making the discretion of a majority in Congress 
 the measure of the powers granted or withheld in the 
 Constitution, and that this nullifies the limitations and 
 guarantees of the compact, and they recognize the neces- 
 sity of resistance and interposition where reserved rights 
 have been trampled on. Declining to accept the State 
 rights theory, they have, under the stress of the neces- 
 sity of not leaving wrongs unrighted and guarantees dis- 
 regarded, suggested that the true remedy is an appeal to 
 the "sober second thought" of the people, or that failing, 
 to a popular uprising to overthrow the offending govern- 
 ment. This is the logical fallacy of begging the ques- 
 tion. What people? Eti masse? No such people po- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 29 
 
 litically ever existed. The people who offended? Who 
 will convince them of their error? 
 
 " When self the wavering balance shakes, 
 It's rarely right adjusted." 
 
 Rebellion or revolution assumes that the acts complained 
 of were done by legitimate authority, in due course of 
 procedure, according to valid forms. That is the gist of 
 the question in issue. If successful, rebellion becomes 
 right ; if unsuccessful, it is treason. It is not an appeal 
 to reason, justice, morality, law, but to brute force. It 
 belongs to the slave and is the mere right of self-preser- 
 vation. It is a travesty on freedom, on constitutions, on 
 civilizations. Might can never make right. It is great 
 only in the service of righteousness. Were Satan 
 omnipotent, he would be none the less Satan, rather all 
 the more the incarnation of evil, in potent antagonism to 
 the good. Our fathers do not deserve such a reproach. 
 They were not guilty of such folly. With a prescient 
 statesmanship, far beyond their times, they made ad- 
 equate protection for the rights and liberties of posterity 
 and made not their maintenance dependent on avoirdu- 
 pois, or the fluctuating will of an interested or fanatical 
 pDpulace. 
 
 STATES MUST DECIDE. SECTIONALISM PRO- 
 DUCED DISUNION. 
 
 The Federal government, as the representative and 
 embodiment of the delegated powers, has no disposition, 
 and, within itself or in its organization, no provisions to 
 prevent the delegated from encroaching on the powers 
 reserved to the several States. This government, 
 neither through the President, the Congress nor the 
 courts, having the right to determine finally whether 
 the compact has been dangerously violated, or has 
 failed to subserve the purpose of its formation, it follows 
 irresistibly that where the forms of the Constitution 
 
30 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 prove ineffectual against dangers to the equality and 
 essential rights of the States, the parties to it, these 
 States have the sole right to interfere for arresting the 
 progress of the evil and for maintaining within their re- 
 spective limits the rights and liberties appertaining to 
 them. The interposition of a State in its sovereign char- 
 acter, as a party to the constitutional compact, was the 
 only means furnished by the system to resist encroach- 
 ments and prevent entire absorption of the powers which 
 were purposely withheld from the general government. 
 Madison said: "Where resort can be had to no tribunal 
 superior to the authority of the parties, the parties 
 themselves must be the rightful judges in the last resort, 
 whether the bargain made has been pursued or violated. 
 The Constitution of the United States was formed by 
 the sanction of the States, given by each in its sovereign 
 capacity. The States, then, being parties to the consti- 
 tutional compact, and in their sovereign capacity, it fol- 
 lows of necessity that there can be no tribunal above 
 their authority to decide, in the last resort, whether the 
 compact made by them be violated, and consequently 
 that, as the parties to it, they must themselves decide, 
 in the last resort, such questions as may be of sufficient 
 magnitude to require their interposition." An assem- 
 blage of citizens of Boston in Faneuil Hall, in 1809, 
 state, in a celebrated memorial, that they looked only to 
 the state legislatures, who were competent to devise 
 relief against the unconstitutional acts of the general 
 government. "That your power is adequate to that 
 object is evident from the organization of the confed- 
 eracy. " How the States were to exercise this high 
 power of interposition, which constitutes so essential a 
 portion of their reserved rights that it cannot be dele- 
 gated without an entire surrender of their sovereignty 
 and converting our system from a federal into a consoli- 
 dated government, is a question 'that the States only are 
 competent to determine. The resei-vation of powers is 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 31 
 
 to "the States respectively," that is, to each State sepa- 
 rately and distinctly. The Constitution contains no pro- 
 vision whatsoever for the exercise of the rights reserved 
 nor any stipulation respecting it. It does not seem rea- 
 sonable to look to the government of the United States, 
 in which the delegated powers are vested, for the means 
 of resisting encroachments on the reserved powers. 
 That would be to expect power to tie its own hands, to 
 relinquish its own claims, or to look for protection 
 against danger to the quarter from which only it could 
 possibly come, (i Calhoun, 237.) Every sovereignty 
 is the judge alone of its own compacts and agreements. 
 Each State must have the right to interpret the agree- 
 ment for itself unless it has clearly waived that right in 
 favor of another power. That it has not been waived 
 has been placed beyond refutation, for otherwise the 
 powers of the government at Washington are universal 
 and the eniimerations and reservation are idle mockeries. 
 And so a written constitution, however carefully guarded 
 the grant and limitations, is no barrier against the 
 usurpations of governments and no security for the 
 rights and liberties of the people. Restrictions are con- 
 temptuously disregarded, or undermined by the gradual 
 process of usurpation, until the instrument is of no more 
 force, nor any more respected than an act of Congress. 
 Constitutional scruples are hooted at, and suggested bar- 
 riers of want of authority are ridiculed as abstractions or 
 the theories of political doctrinaires. The Federal ju- 
 diciary, the Congress, the Executive, the Constitution, 
 the Union, are but emanations of the sovereignty of the 
 States, and the States are not bound by their wishes, 
 necessities, action, except as they have agreed to be 
 bound, and this agreement was made, not with the 
 Union, the Federal government, their agent and creat- 
 ure, but with one another. "Vicious legislation must 
 be remedied by the people who suffer from the effects of 
 it and not by those who enjoy its benefits." (Bryan.) 
 
82 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 They made their compact as sovereign States, and as such 
 they alone are to determine the nature and extent of 
 that agreement and how far they were to be bound. 
 Each State was grantor and grantee receiving precisely 
 what it had granted. The Federal government was in no 
 sense a party to the Constitution ; it has no original pow- 
 ers and can exert only what the States surrendered to it, 
 and these States, from the very nature and structure of 
 the common government, are alone competent to decide, 
 in the last resort, what powers they intended to confer 
 upon their agent. The States were not so stupid as to 
 confer upon their creature, the Union, the power to 
 obliterate them, or reduce them to the relation of de- 
 pendence which counties sustain to the State. This high, 
 supreme, ultimate power of our whole system resides in 
 its fullness in the people of the several States, the only 
 people known to us as performing political functions. 
 The general government is not superior to the States, 
 and has no existence nor autonomy, outside, irrespective 
 of, contrary to, the States. The Union could not exist a 
 day if all of the States were to withdraw their co-opera- 
 tion. The President, the Senate and Representatives, 
 with all their powers, are conditioned upon the action of 
 the States. Hamilton, in Federalist, No. LIX. said: "It 
 is certainly true that the State legislatures, by forbearing 
 the appointment of senators, may destroy the national 
 government. ' ' The Federal government, the Union, as 
 a corporate body politic, does not claim its life, nor a 
 single power, from the people apart from State organiza- 
 tions. In truth and in fact, there is not, nor ever has 
 been, such a political entity as the people of the United 
 States in the aggregate, separated from, independent of, 
 the voluntary or covenanted action of the States. That 
 anything is constitutional or admissible, simply because 
 the judiciary or the Executive or the Congress, or the 
 moral convictions of citizens approve, or the country will 
 be benefited by it, is a modern invention and has no 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 33 
 
 basis in our constitutional federal republic. To put it in 
 the least objectionable form, the States, in their undele- 
 gated powers, are as important, as supreme, as the gen- 
 eral government, and the theory of State subjugation, of 
 provincial dependencies, is a pure afterthought to justify 
 arbitrary and ungrailted authority. It is indisputable 
 that by far the greater part of the topics of legislation, 
 the whole vast range of rights of person and property — 
 where the administration of law and justice comes closest 
 home to the daily life of the people — are exclusively or 
 chiefly within the power of the States. The number of 
 topics of legislation which lie outside the pale of national 
 legislation greatly exceeds the number to which the 
 power of State legislation does not extend. (Federalist, 
 No. 14; Mich. Lect., 244; i Calhoun, 197, 204, 214-15.) 
 If the Union be indissoluble, with equal or greater pro- 
 priety we may affirm that the States are equal and inde- 
 structible. 
 
 When the adoption of the Constitution was under dis- 
 cussion before the State conventions, with an uncertain 
 result, its enemies were alarmed on account of the mag- 
 nitude of powers conferred on the general government 
 and its friends were fearful because of alleged feebleness 
 in comparison with extent of reserved powers; but 
 neither party contended that an increase or diminution 
 of power could constitutionally be made by implication 
 and inference so as to equip the central government with 
 all the means it derived in the warfare with antagon- 
 ists. The authors of The Federalist — the essays written 
 to secure the acceptance of the Constitution — insisted 
 that the apprehended inequality did not exist, and 
 that should it be developed, the States would be able to 
 control. Hamilton wrote: "The general government 
 can have no temptation to absorb the local authorities 
 left with the States. * * * It is, therefore, improb- 
 able that there should exist a disposition in the Federal 
 councils to usurp the powers with which commerce, 
 M 
 
34 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 finance, negotiation and war are connected. Should 
 wantonness, lust of domination, beget such a disposition, 
 the sense of the people of the several States would con- 
 trol the indulgence of so extravagant an appetite. ' ' This 
 redundant exposition of the doctrine that there can be 
 no tribunal above the authority of the States and that in 
 them reside the ultimate decision, has been made because 
 there is such a painful misunderstanding of the relation 
 the Federal government sustains to the States, and of the 
 comparative authority, power and value of the Union 
 and of the States. 
 
 The forebodings of those who dreaded an undue en- 
 largement of the powers of the central government — the 
 increase of centripetal tendencies to the weakening of 
 the centrifugal — have been more than realized. Instead 
 of a rivalry between the general government an(^ the 
 States, between the delegated and the reserved powers, 
 the antagonism has proved unreal and fallacious, and the 
 strong trend has been and is to centralization, justif3dng 
 the prediction of Jefferson that "when all government, 
 domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall be 
 drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will 
 render powerless the checks provided of one government 
 on another, and will become as venial and oppressive as 
 the government from which we separated. ' ' By an irre- 
 sistible tendency the stronger has absorbed the weaker 
 and is concentrating in itself unlimited and uncontrollable 
 power. This usurpation has been carried so far that 
 nothing short of an absolute negative on the part of the 
 States can protect against the encroachments of a grow- 
 ingly centralized government. For a few years and 
 naturally, States were superior in dignity, and two citi- 
 zens of South Carolina declined positions on the Supreme 
 court, one the chief-justiceship. The enlargement of 
 territory, the multiplication of States, the glory resulting 
 from successful wars, the enormous prosperity caused by 
 varied climate and products, free interstate commerce. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 35 
 
 religious. liberty, the stimulus of free institutions, ex- 
 tensive landed proprietorship, the immense Federal and 
 subsidizing expenditures, government partnership in 
 business, the building up of favored classes and interests 
 by protective tariffs and bounties and discriminating 
 fiscal policy, the vast number of Federal offices constitut- 
 ing executive patronage and conferred not as a trust for 
 the public good, but as spoils of office and rewards for 
 partisans, a huge pension system, destroying local patri- 
 otism of recipients and corrupting states — ^have magni- 
 fied the government at Washington and given from ex- 
 uberance of strength a resistless impulse, adverse to its 
 federal and favorable to a consolidated character. This 
 revolutionary change has been attended by the grossest 
 inequality, because a majority has centered in one sec- 
 tion, giving it absolute control on all questions which 
 coincide with its views and interests. As the govern- 
 ment has been centralized, nationalized, lost its original 
 character as a constitutional federal republic, its power 
 has grown by what it has fed upon and its patronage has 
 become more tempting and wide spread. Proportionate 
 with power and patronage, and increasing with their in- 
 crease, will be the desire to possess the control over 
 them, for the purpose of individual or sectional aggran- 
 dizement ; and the stronger this desire, the less will be 
 the regard for principles and the Constitution, and the 
 greater the tendency, accompanied by increase of ability, 
 to unite for sectional domination, (i Calhoun, 241, 
 371.) The tariff system, framed in the interests and at 
 the dictation of classes and persons that contribute 
 liberally in elections ; the taxation practically of agricult- 
 ural exports, grown preponderantly in one section ; the 
 partial, inequitable appropriations for rivers, harbors, 
 public buildings, the concentration of the financial opera- 
 tions of the government in one quarter of the Union ; the 
 theories of the latitudinous interpretation of the Consti- 
 tution which dominated parties and dictated political and 
 
36 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 legislative action at the North, investing Congress with 
 the right to determine what objects belong to the gen- 
 eral welfare ; have been most potential in enriching one 
 section to the prejudice of the other and in enlarging the 
 power, prestige and influence of the Union. The power 
 of Congress to levy duties on imports for specific pur- 
 poses has been enlarged into an unlimited authority to 
 protect domestic manufactures against foreign compe- 
 'tition. The effect of this has been "to impose the main 
 burden of taxation upon the Southern people, who were 
 consumers and not manufacturers, not only by the en- 
 hanced price of imports, but indirectly by the consequent 
 depreciation of the value of exports, which were chiefly 
 the products of the Southern States. ' ' The increase of 
 price was not always paid into the public treasury, but 
 accrued somewhat to the benefit of the manufacturer. 
 What revenues went into the treasury were disbursed 
 most unequally, and the sectional discrimination, enrich- 
 ing one portion to the injury and inequality of the other, 
 tended to direct immigration to the North and to increase 
 the functions and influence of the Federal government. 
 The majority, doing the injustice, claim to be the sole 
 judges of the rightness of their action and whether or not 
 the power is lodged in their hands. The minority have no 
 rights which the majority are bound to respect, or if they 
 have, there are no means of asserting and vindicating 
 them. The majority, which are sectional, possess the 
 government, measure its powers and wield them without 
 responsibility. Enriched by their own acts, becoming 
 proud, insolent, greedy of power and gain, inflamed by 
 cupidity, avarice, monopoly, they arrogate and usurp; 
 and, with each succeeding day, what was very question- 
 able becomes by force of unresisted precedent a prin- 
 ciple, and self-conceit transmutes exercise of power into 
 piety, and the judgment of parties and the interest of 
 classes into a higher law, into the will of God. We find 
 in England and other countries an aristocracy, the classes 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 37 
 
 in the enjoyment of pensions, tithes, monopolies, vested 
 rights, exclusive privileges until, with blunted sensi- 
 bilities and beclouded intellects, they delude themselves 
 into acquiescence in, and support of, such inequalities and 
 wrongs. So in the United States, under powers granted 
 in the Constitution, such as levying duties and taxes, 
 regulating commerce, war, appropriating money, dis- 
 posing of territory and other property, admitting new 
 States, the government during the Confederate war in- 
 corporated banks, made fiat money or promises to pay 
 a legal tender, constructed roads, granted bounties and 
 monopolies, gave away the property of the people, pre- 
 scribed State constitutions, emancipated slaves, fixed 
 terms and conditions of suffrage, dictated manner of ap- 
 pointing and electing senators, assumed control over 
 railways and industries and absorbed and exercised a 
 sovereign power over interstate commerce, capital, labor, 
 currency and property. We have seen an alliance be- 
 tween Congress and eleemosynarians, senators taking 
 care of their private aflEairs in revenue bills, and manu- 
 facturers before sub-committees of ways and means and 
 of finance dictating the subjects to be taxed and the 
 amount of duties to be levied. 
 
 One wonders how these revolutions and iniquities have 
 been accomplished. Governor Morris wrote to Timothy 
 Pickering that "the legislative lion will not be entangled 
 in the meshes of a logical net. The legislature will 
 always make the power which it wishes to exercise." 
 One of the ablest expounders of the Constitution deplores 
 "the science of verbality, " the artifice of so verbalizing 
 as to assail and destroy the plainest provisions. The in- 
 strumentality of inference has sapped and mined our 
 political system. Acuteness of misinterpretation and con- 
 struction has accomplished what the framers of the Con- 
 stitution exerted all their faculties, by specifications and 
 restrictions, to prevent, so that constructive powers have 
 been as seed-bearing of mischief and usurpation as the 
 
38 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY: 
 
 doctrine of constructive treason. Alexander Hamilton 
 believed honestly that nothing short of monarchical in- 
 stitutions would prove adequate to the wants of the coun- 
 try, and in the convention of 1787 he sought to conform 
 the new government, while in process of construction, to 
 the model of the British, which he regarded as the best 
 ever devised by the wit of man. He had not a single 
 supporter, and afterward, ably and effectively, with 
 marked patriotism, he threw his pen and voice in favor 
 of ratification. But this he did avowedly as a temporary 
 bond of union and as the only avenue of escape from 
 anarchy. Appointed to assist in carrying the govern- 
 ment into effect and sincerely believing that with no 
 other powers than those he so well knew it was intended 
 to authorize, it must prove a failure, and the government 
 must go to pieces, he decided unhesitatingly to do under 
 it whatever he, in good faith, might think would pro- 
 mote the general welfare, without reference to the inten- 
 tion of the authors of the Constitution. The discussions 
 to show that his principal measures were authorized by 
 the instrument, were in deference to the prejudices and 
 ideas of the people — nothing more. The principle of 
 construction he espoused was to make good all laws 
 which Congress might deem conducive to the general wel- 
 fare, and which were not expressly prohibited, a power 
 similar to that contained in the plan he proposed in the 
 convention. He desired, in short, to make the Constitu- 
 tion a tablet of wax upon which each successive adminis- 
 tration would be at liberty to impress its rescripts to be 
 promulgated as constitutional edicts. (Van Buren's Pol. 
 Parties in U. S., 211, 213.) Hamilton laid the found- 
 ation of his policy so deep and with so much skill that it 
 has been impossible to reverse especially under conditions 
 so favorable to centralization. He invoked in support of 
 his measures the selfishness, the cupidity, the ambition 
 of classes, and sought to make the strength of the gov- 
 ernment depend, as in England, on the interested sup- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 39 
 
 port of an intelligent and combined few. An impulse in 
 accordance with his theory was impressed, and has since 
 been constantly strengthened. It is not uncommon to 
 hear the Constitution ridiculed as an abstraction, or an 
 effete formula. The government has grievously de- 
 parted from its federal character, and reserved powers 
 are so far removed from possible application in case of 
 controversy, that State rights, when seriously mentioned, 
 provoke contempt or ridicule. In 1824 Jefferson wrote 
 to Van Buren: "General Washington was himself sin- 
 cerely a friend to the republican principles of our Con- 
 stitution. His faith might not, perhaps, have been as 
 confident as mine, but he repeatedly declared to me that 
 he was determined it should have a fair chance of suc- 
 cess, and that he would lose the last drop of his blood in 
 its support against any attempt which might be made to 
 change it from its republican form. ' ' 
 
 WHY THE SOUTH RESISTED FEDERAL 
 ENCROACHMENTS. 
 
 It can now be clearly seen why the South, being a 
 minority section, with agriculture as the chief occupation 
 and with the peculiar institution of African slavery 
 fastened on her by Old England and New England, 
 adhered to the State rights or Jeffersoriian school of poli- 
 tics. Those doctrines contain the only principles or 
 policy truly conservative of the Constitution. Apart 
 from them, checks and limitations are of little avail, and 
 the Federal government can increase its powers indefi- 
 nitely. Without some adequate restraint or interposi- 
 tion, the whole character of the government is changed, 
 and forms, if retained, will be, as they have been in other 
 countries, merely the disguises for accomplishing what 
 selfishness or ambition may dictate. The truest friends 
 of the republic have been those who have insisted upon 
 obedience to constitutional requirements. The real ene- 
 
40 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 mies, the true disunionists, have been those who; under 
 the disguise of a deceptive name, have perverted the 
 name and true ftfnctions of the government' and have 
 usurped, for selfish or partisan ends, or at the demand of 
 crazy fsraiaticism, powers which States never surrendered. 
 Those who contend most strenuously for the rights of the 
 States and for a strict construction of the Constitution are 
 the genuine lovers and friends of the Union. Their 
 principles conserve law, good order, justice, established 
 authority; and their unselfish purpose has been to pre- 
 serve and transmit our free institutions as they came 
 from the fathers, sincerely believing that their course 
 and doctrines were necessary to preserve for them and 
 posterity the blessings of good government. The States 
 have no motive to encroach on the Federal government 
 and no power to do so, if so inclined, while the Federal 
 government has always the inclination and always the 
 means to go beyond what has been granted to it. No 
 higher encomium could be rendered to the South than 
 the fact, sustained by her whole history, that she never 
 violated the Constitution, that she committed no aggres- 
 sion upon the rights or property of the North, and that she 
 simply asked equality in the Union and the enforcement 
 and maintenance of her clearest rights and guarantees. 
 The latitudinous construction, contended for by one party 
 and one section, has been the open door through which 
 the people have complained. A strict construction gives 
 to the general government all the powers it can benefi- 
 cially exert, all that is necessary for it to have, and all 
 that the States ever purposed to grant. 
 
 Passion, revenge, cupidity, ignorance and fanaticism 
 have created an incurable misunderstanding of secession, 
 its source and object. In its simplest form and logically 
 it meant a peaceable and orderly withdrawal from the 
 compact of union, a dissolution of the civil partnership, a 
 claim of the paramount allegiance of citizens, a declen- 
 sion to continue under the obligations due to or from the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 41 
 
 Federal government or the other States. The authority 
 of the Constitution remains intact and unimpaired over 
 the States remaining in the Union and ceases only as to 
 the seceding State. The remaining or continuing States 
 had no right of coercion nor of placing the "wayward 
 sister" in the attitude of an enemy. The history of the 
 Union does not show any eagerness on the part of any 
 State to interpose its sovereign power for protection. 
 During the first quarter of our existence as a confederate 
 union, New England showed much impatience at remain- 
 ing under the bonds, made angry and repeated threats of 
 dissolution, but did not execute her menaces. The truth 
 is that the Union is so strong, has so many advantages, 
 so many patriotic associations, that the motives and rea- 
 sons for continuance in it, for patient forbearance, for 
 submission even to injustice and wrong, are well nigh 
 overwhelming. 
 
 The Southern States through many years showed the 
 strength of their attachment to the Union by immeasura- 
 ble sacrifices, illustrated their patriotism by acts of heroic 
 devotion, and got their reluctant consent to a separation 
 only after a series of unendurable wrongs, and the most 
 indisputable demonstration of the purpose of a united 
 North to deprive them of solemn guarantees of equality 
 in the Union. From the "Missouri compromise" — pro- 
 hibiting Southern extension north of the line of thirty-six 
 degrees thirty minutes — substituting a new confederation 
 for the old, drawing a geographical line, south of which 
 Was to be equality, north of which the Southern States 
 were proscribed, dishonored, stigmatized, establishing 
 the policy of an interference by Congress with an interest 
 not common among all the States and thus creating two 
 great combinations of States, between which mutual prov- 
 ocations were manufactured, down to the war between 
 the States, the Congress and the government repeatedly 
 and offensively declared that the Southern States were 
 not the equals of the Northern States in the benefits of 
 
42 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 the Union, that property recognized and guaranteed in 
 the Constitution must be restricted within narrow lines, 
 and that "territory of the United States," obtained at 
 the cost of common blood and common treasure, was not 
 to be equally enjoyed, but was to be for the exclusive 
 possession of the Northern States with their civilization 
 and property. 
 
 The Northern States, not in the regular and prescribed 
 form, but in most irregular, illegal and contemptuous 
 m'anner, by ecclesiastical action and influence, by leg- 
 islative and judicial annulment, by public meetings, by 
 pulpit and press, by mobs and conspiracies and secret 
 associations, made null and void a clear mandate of the 
 Constitution, protective of Southern property and adopted 
 as an indispensable means for securing the entrance of the 
 Southern States into the Union. To use the language of 
 President Harrison: "Government of the mob was given 
 preference over government of the law enforced by the 
 court decrees and by executive orders." The highest 
 Northern judicial and historical authorities concede that 
 the Union would never have been formed without these 
 compacts of guarantee and protection. This constitu- 
 tional provision was sustained by the Supreme court and 
 by every Congress and President upto 1861. Ten North- 
 ern States, with impunity, with the approval of such 
 men as Governor Chase, afterward secretary of the 
 treasury under Mr. Lincoln and chief justice of the 
 Supreme court, nullified the Constitution, declared that 
 its stipulation in reference to the reclamation of fugitives 
 from labor was "a dead letter," and to that extent they 
 dissolved the Union, or made an ex parte change of the 
 terms upon which it was formed. These States did not 
 formally secede, but of themselves, without assent of 
 those Mr. Jefferson described as "co-parties with them- 
 selves to the compact, " changed the conditions of union and 
 altered the articles of agreement. Releasing themselves by 
 their own motion, in most arbitrary, extra-judicial, extra- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 43 
 
 constitutional manner, of a covenant or injunction of the 
 Constitution, because in their opinion it was unwise, they 
 still, while thus in flagrante delicto, demanded obedience 
 to the Constitution and laws on the part of the other co- 
 signitories to the league of government. In the elec- 
 tions of i860, on sectional issues and securing sectional 
 ascendency, this rebellion against legitimate authority, 
 this nullification, this assumption of a right to self- 
 release from an imperative constitutional requirement, 
 this setting up of private judgment, of individual or cor- 
 porate whim, against statutory and organic law, an 
 unbroken line of judicial precedents and the undisputed 
 history of the formation of the Constitution, was sanc- 
 tioned by the popular vote of the North and the election 
 of President Lincoln, who had boldly declared that the 
 States could not remain in union as they had originally 
 agreed and stipulated. In that election, in direct antag- 
 onism to the opinions and covenants of the men who 
 achieved our independence and framed and adopted the 
 Constitution which made the Union, it was deliberately 
 decided that the States could not exist together as slave- 
 holding and non-slavehol ding, and that "the irrepressible 
 conflict" between them must go on until "the relic of 
 barbarism" should be effaced from constitutions and laws. 
 That election divided the Union into fixed hostile geogra- 
 phical parties, strongly distinguished by institutions, tradi- 
 tions, opinions and productions and pursuits, the stronger 
 struggling and by the popular verdict licensed to enlarge 
 its powers, and the weaker to save its equality and rights. 
 It placed in the hands of the stronger section, dominated 
 by a fanatical spirit, the power to crush the weaker 
 section and institutions, to destroy at will the existing 
 constitutional relation between the races, and to leave no 
 alternative but reduction to provincial condition or resist- 
 ance. With the ascendency previously acquired by 
 territorial monopoly and government favoritism, it was 
 now made certain that political power was centralized 
 
44 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 pennanently in the North to the control and subjection 
 of the South whenever the feelings or interests of the 
 sections came into conflict. What the result would be it 
 required no seer to prophesy.* 
 
 ♦Whether the North had any purpose to uphold the Constitution 
 and give equality in the Union may be judged from the appended 
 opinions: 
 
 "There is a higher law than the Constitution which regulates our 
 authority over the domain. Slavery must be abolished, and we 
 must do it."— Wm. H. Seward. 
 
 "The time is fast approaching when the cry will become too 
 overpowering to resist. Rather than tolerate national slavery as it 
 now exists, let the Union be dissolved at once, and then the sin of 
 slavery will rest where it belongs." — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 "The Union is a lie. The American Union is an imposture, a 
 covenant with death and an agreement with hell. We are for its 
 overthrow! Up with the flag of disunion, that we mayhave a free 
 and glorious republic of our own." — William Lloyd Garrison. 
 
 "I look forward to the day when there shall be a servile insurrec- 
 tion in the South ; when the black man, armed with British bayonets, 
 and led on by British officers, shall assert his freedom and wage a 
 war of extermination against his master. And, though we may not 
 mock at their calamity nor laugh when their fear cometh, yet we 
 will hail it as the dawn of a political millennium." — Joshua R. 
 Giddings. 
 
 "In the alternative being presented of the continuance of slavery -. 
 or a dissolution of the Union, we are for a dissolution, and we care 
 not how quick it comes. " —Ruf us P. Spaulding. 
 
 "The fugitive-slave act is filled with horror — we are bound to 
 disobey this act." — Charles Sumner. 
 
 "The Advertiser has no hesitation in saying that it does not hold 
 to the faithful observance of the fugitive-slave law of 1850." — Port- 
 land Advertiser. 
 
 "I have no doubt but the free and slave states ought to be sepa- 
 rated. . . . The Union is not worth supporting in connection with 
 the South." — Horace Greeley. 
 
 "The times demand and we must have an anti-slavery Constitu- 
 tion, an anti-slavery Bible, and an anti-slavery God." — Anson P. 
 Burlingame. 
 
 "There is merit in the Republican party. It is this: It is the 
 first sectional party ever organized in this country. ... It is not 
 national, it is sectional. It is the North arrayed against the South. 
 . . . The first crack in the iceberg is visible ; you will yet hear it go 
 with a crack through the center " — Wendell Phillips. 
 
 "The cure for slavery prescribed by Redpath is the only infalli- 
 ble remedy, and men must foment insurrection among the slaves in 
 order to cure the evils. It can never be done by concessions and 
 compromises. It is a great evil, and must be extmguished by still 
 greater ones. It is positive and imperious in its approaches, and 
 must be overcome with equally positive forces. You must commit 
 an assault to arrest a burglar, and slavery is not arrested without a 
 violation of law and the cry of fire." — Independent Democrat, lead- 
 ing Republican paper in New Hampshire. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 45 
 
 The Southern States believed that the transfer of the 
 government to pronounced hostility to their institutions 
 involved a repudiation of the covenanted faith of their 
 sister States, and released them from the burden of their 
 own covenants when they were denied the benefit of 
 the corresponding covenant of the other contracting 
 states. Seeing the hopelessness of security from Presi- 
 dent, or Congress, or courts, or public opinion, all iniiexi- 
 bly averse to their constitutional rights, as understood by 
 the patriot fathers, they felt constrained to withdraw 
 from a government which had ceased to be what those 
 fathers made it. Not to have done this would have been 
 to leave the stronger section in entire and hostile control 
 of the government and to consolidate the powers of our 
 compound system in the central head. The last hope of 
 preserving the Constitution of the Union being extin- 
 guished, nothing remained except to submit to a con- 
 tinuation of the violation of the compact of union, the 
 perversion of the grants of power from their original and 
 proper purposes, or to assert the sovereign right of 
 reassuming the grants which the States had made. 
 
 SECESSION THE SEPARATE AND LEGAL ACT 
 OF THE STATES. 
 
 It is not uncommon to confound the secession of a 
 state, as a separate, independent, sovereign act, with the 
 subsequent establishment of a confederacy or a common 
 government, by the co-operative action of several States 
 after they had seceded. A State, by virtue of its indi- 
 vidual, sovereign right, demonstrated in this introductory 
 chapter, repealed or withdrew its act of acceptance of 
 the Constitution, as the basis or bond of union, and re- 
 sumed the powers which had been delegated and enu- 
 merated in that instrument. This act of resumption of 
 delegated powers, assertion of undelegated sovereignty, 
 was not by the legislature, There is in our American 
 
46 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 system what is not found elsewhere, a power above that 
 of the Federal or of the State government, the power of 
 the people of a State, who ordained and established con- 
 stitutions for and over themselves. No secret conspiracy 
 was needed, no mask to conceal the features of the State, 
 no secret place in which to concoct or consummate the 
 designs. Everything was done in broad daylight, and 
 inspection was invited to the accomplishment of what had 
 been repeatedly avowed as the logical consequence of 
 sectional supremacy. The people of the State — the only 
 "people" then known under our political system — had a 
 regularly and lawfully constituted government, already 
 in their hands and subject to their direction. They had 
 a complete corps of administrative officers, an executive, 
 a legislative, a judiciary, filling every department of a 
 free, representative government, all holding office under 
 State authority alone and wearing no badge of official 
 subordination to any power. This government was com- 
 plete in all its functions and powers, unchanged as to its 
 internal affairs, altered only in its external or Federal 
 relations, and law and order reigned in every portion of 
 the State precisely as if no change had occurred. The 
 secession was as valid as the act of ratification by which 
 the State entered the Union. The secession, or with- 
 drawal of a State from a league, had no revolutionary or 
 insurrectionary character, and nothing which could be 
 tortured into rebellion or treason except by ignorance or 
 malignity. 
 
 Several States having openly, with most public declara- 
 tion of purposes, withdrawn from the compact, they 
 established a union, a confederacy of states, for them- 
 selves. The constitution was formed, adopted, ratified, 
 in precisely the same manner and by the same forms and 
 agencies as the Constitution of the United States came 
 into being. Not a clause nor article interfered with the 
 right of any Northern State or citizen. No assault was 
 made upon property or institutions of any other people. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 47 
 
 The model of the Constitution of the Union, which had 
 been respected, obeyed and revered by the Southern 
 States, was followed, with only such changes as time and 
 experience had demonstrated to be necessary for the 
 states to retain their equalitj' in the Union and have their 
 guaranteed rights respected. There seemed no other 
 alternative for the security of the domestic institutions of 
 self-governing States — institutions over which neither the 
 Federal government nor people outside the limits of such 
 States had any control, and for which they had no moral 
 or legal responsibility. Southern life was habitually 
 denounced as utter "barbarism, "and an institution of the 
 remotest origin, sanctioned in the Old Testament and by 
 the law of nations, and upheld for centuries by all civil- 
 ized governments, and existing at the time of the 
 Declaration of Independence in all the States, was held 
 up to odium as "the sum of all villainies," and the Con- 
 stitution, because of its explicit recognition and guaran- 
 tee of this institution, was spurned as "a covenant with 
 death and an agreement with hell. ' ' It was a logical 
 and inevitable inference that the predominant and fanat- 
 ical sentiment of the North should purge the country of 
 such an "unmitigated crime" by its speedy suppression, 
 and that invested with, or arrogating supreme power, it 
 should throw its irresistible weight in the sacrifice of 
 Southern interests to a remorseless and destructive propa- 
 gandism. 
 
 No one would now hazard the assertion that, if the 
 Southern States had acquiesced in the result of the elec- 
 tions of i860, the equality and rights of the Southern 
 States could have continued unimpaired by the unfriendly 
 action of the government at Washington and of the 
 Northern States. We need not be left to conjecture as 
 to .what would have occurred, for a few years later — not 
 during the frenzy of the war, but in the flush of victory 
 and the strength of peace — we had a notable illustration 
 of the insecurity of reliance upon the clearest constitu- 
 
48 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 tional prohibition. The Supreme Court, exercising its 
 constitutional power and duty, gave an interpretation to 
 the legal tender law that was not pleasing to Congress 
 and certain moneyed interests. As a rebuke and remedy 
 the court was reconstructed, the number of judges was 
 increased, to reconsider and reverse the judgment, 
 and this process President Harrison, speaking on a kin- 
 dred subject in a political address in New York, charac- 
 terized as "packing the court with men who will decide 
 as Congress wants them to. ' ' 
 
 Perhaps more conclusive proof of the insecurity of a 
 minority and of unresisted tendency toward assumption 
 of all power which may be supposed to be needed for the 
 accomplishment of coveted ends, may be found in the 
 reconstruction measures, which were deliberditely pur- 
 posed to punish "the rebels" and to subject ^e white 
 people to negro domination. Roger Foster, in his com- 
 mentaries on the Constitution, 1896 (pp. 265-267), speaks 
 of the dealings of Congress and the Federal government 
 with the Southern States during the period of reconstruc- 
 tion. At his hands the story becomes a gloomy tale of 
 vacillation, intimidation and fraud; but he tells it with 
 plainness and directness and with more than his usual 
 force. In his opinion "the validity of the acts of Con- 
 gress" is "open to investigation," and, "in view of the 
 language of the Constitution, the decisions of the courts 
 on cognate questions, and the action of Congress in other 
 respects toward the States which were the seat of the 
 insurrection, it seems impossible to find any justification 
 for them in law, precedent or consistency. . . . The 
 reconstruction acts must consequently be condemned as 
 unconstitutional, founded on force, not law, and so tyran- 
 nical as to imperil the liberty of the entire nation should 
 they be recognized as binding precedents. " The change 
 of sentiment in reference to John Brown is a startling 
 revelation of the rapidity with which sectional and politi- 
 cal hostility can pervert the judgment and the conscience. 
 
CONPRDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 49 
 
 In October, 1859, this bold, bad man attempted his bloody 
 foray into Virginia, fraught with most terrible conse- 
 quences of spoliation of property, arson, insurrection, 
 murder and treason. The raid was a compound of fool- 
 hardiness and cruelty. Conservative and respectable 
 journals and all decent men and women denounced, at 
 the time, the arrogant and silly attempt of the murderer 
 to take into his destructive hands the execution of his fell 
 purposes. Sympathy with those purposes and his methods 
 was vehemently disclaimed by representatives of all 
 parties in Congress, conspicuously by Hon. John Sher- 
 man. Few, except red-handed and insane fanatics, lifted 
 voice against his execution, after a fair trial and just ver- 
 dict by a Virginia court. ' A Senate committee, after a 
 laborious investigation of the facts, submitted a report 
 accompanied by evidence, and said: "It was simply the 
 act of lawless ruffians, under the sanction of no public or 
 political authority, distinguishable only from ordinary 
 felonies by the ulterior ends in contemplation by them, 
 and by the fact that the money to maintain the expedi- 
 tion, and the large armament they brought with them, 
 had been contributed and furnished by the citizens of 
 other States of the Union under circumstances that must 
 continue to jeopard the safety and peace of the Southern 
 States, and against which Congress has no power to legis- 
 late. " Now, John Brown inspires a popular song and 
 poetry and eloquence, almost a national air, and North- 
 em writers and people compare him to Jesus Christ and 
 put him in the Saints' Calendar of Freedom. 
 
 The organization of the Grand Army of the Republic 
 has become a potent political agency, demanding that 
 Union soldiers shall have preference, and making connec- 
 tion with the army, irrespective of service or personal 
 merit, the highest consideration in appointments to places 
 of profit and trust. Akin to this, a gigantic pension 
 system, heavier and more exhaustive than the support of 
 the huge standing army in Germany, has been fastened 
 1-4 
 
50 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 on the public treasury, subsidizing States and making the 
 name of soldier or sailor the passport to the support of 
 himself and family. The strange and vicious doctrine 
 has been affirmed over executive protest that fraud and 
 perjury do not vitiate a pension once allowed, and that 
 any disabilities incurred, whether in the line of duty or 
 of pecuniary aggrandizement, within the "sphere of com- 
 munication" with either army, are sufficient grounds for 
 the paternal adoption of such a son. And a presidential 
 candidate, in his letter of acceptance of the nomination, 
 seeking arguments for popular support, makes the "need' ' 
 of a soldier or sailor, however that need may have been 
 created, a sufficient plea for "generous aid" by the 
 government. 
 
 As has been affirmed and reiterated, the action of the 
 seceding States was deliberate and most publicly pre-an- 
 nounced. The Northern States and the government at 
 Washington were not taken by surprise, for the purpose 
 of the South, in a certain anticipated contingency, was 
 well known and had been repeatedly and solemnly de- 
 clared. Exercising a right claimed by the States in their 
 ratification and adoption of the Constitution, and re- 
 affirmed from that day continuously, the seceding States 
 neither desired nor expected resistance to their action. 
 The power to coerce States had been explicitly rejected 
 in the convention. Hamilton said: "To coerce the States 
 was one of the maddest projects ever devised. " No pro- 
 vision had been made by any of the States to meet a 
 resistance to their withdrawal from the partnership. 
 (Madison Papers, 732, 761, 822, 914; 2d Elliot's Debates, 
 199, 232, 233.) Not a gun, not an establishment for their 
 manufacture or repair, nor a soldier, nor a vessel, had 
 been provided as preparation for war, offensive or defen- 
 sive. On the contrary, they desired to live in peace and 
 friendship with their late confederates, and took all the 
 necessary steps to secure that desired result. There was 
 no appeal to the arbitrament of arms, nor any provoca- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 51 
 
 tion to war. They preferred and earnestly sought to 
 make a fair and equitable settlement of common interests 
 and disputed questions with their former associates, so as 
 to preserve most amicable relations and avoid the inflic- 
 tion of any damage or loss. 
 
 To show that peace was ardently desired by the govern- 
 ment and the people of the Confederacy, it is sufficient to 
 state that the Confederate Congress, prior to the inaugu- 
 ration of the chief magistrate, passed a resolution asking 
 for the appointment of commissioners to be sent to the 
 government of the United States, "for the purpose of 
 negotiating friendly relations between that government 
 and the Confederate States, and for the settlement of all 
 questions of disagreement between the two governments 
 upon principles of right, justice, equity and good faith." 
 In his inaugural President Davis said: "If a just percep- 
 tion of neutral interests shall permit us peaceably to 
 pursue our separate political career, my most earnest 
 desire will have been fulfilled." "In furtherance of 
 these accordant views of the Congress and the people, ' ' 
 said the president in his first message, 29th April, 1861, 
 "I made choice of three discreet, able and distinguished 
 citizens, who repaired to Washington. Aided by their 
 cordial co-operation and that of the secretary of state, 
 every effort compatible with self-respect and the dignity 
 of the Confederacy was exhausted before I allowed my- 
 self to yield to the conviction that the government of the 
 United States was determined to attempt the conquest of 
 this people, and that our cherished hopes of peace were 
 unattainable." On the 12th of March the commissioners 
 officially addressed the secretary of state (Mr. Seward), 
 informing him of the purpose of their mission, and stat- 
 ing, in the language of their instructions, their wish "to 
 make to the government of the United States overtures 
 for the opening of negotiations, assuring the government 
 of the United States that the President, Congress and 
 people of the Confederate States earnestly desire a peace- 
 
52 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 ful solution of these great questions; that it is neither 
 their interest nor their wish to make any demand which 
 is not founded on strictest justice, nor do any act to 
 injure their late confederates. ' ' To this no formal reply 
 was received until the 8th of April. In the meantime, 
 with the firm resolve to avoid war if possible, the com- 
 missioners waived all questions of form and held unofficial 
 intercourse through an intermediary, Justice Campbell, 
 late of the Supreme court of the United States, and 
 through him assurances were received from the govern- 
 ment of the United States "of peaceful intentions; of the 
 determination to evacuate Fort Sumter; and, further, 
 that no measure, changing the existing status prejudi- 
 cially to the Confederate States, especially at Fort 
 Pickens, was in contemplation, but that in the event of 
 any change of intention on the subject notice would be 
 given to the commissioners. ' ' In the closing paragfraph 
 of the message the President protested "solemnly in the 
 face of mankind that we desire peace at any sacrifice 
 save that of honor and independence ; we seek no con- 
 quest, no aggrandizement, no concession of any kind 
 from the States with which we were lately confederated ; 
 all we ask is to be let alone ; that those who never held 
 power over us shall not now attempt our subjugation by 
 arms. This we will, this we must, resist to the last 
 extremity. ' ' 
 
 On May 8th, i86i, the president submitted a special 
 message to Congress, communicating a report of Judge 
 Campbell stating what he had done in connection with 
 the commissioners for a peaceful adjustment of the pend- 
 ing difficulties between the two governments. In the 
 papers were letters from Judge Campbell to President 
 Davis and to Secretary Seward, the latter having been 
 submitted to Mr. Seward, who did not reply or publicly 
 question the correctness or accuracy of the recital 
 Judge Campbell held wnritten and oral conferences with 
 Secretary Seward, and from these he felt justified in 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 53 
 
 writing to Mr. Seward, "The commissioners who received 
 these communications conclude they have been abused 
 and overreached. The Montgomery government hold 
 the same opinion." "I think no candid man who will 
 read over what I have written, and consider for a 
 moment what is going on at Sumter, but will agree that 
 the equivocating conduct of the administration, as 
 measured and interpreted in connection with these 
 promises, is the proximate cause of the great calamity. ' ' 
 He further affirmed the profound conviction of military 
 and civil officers "that there has been systematic duplic- 
 ity practiced on them through me. ' ' President Davis 
 had previously said: "The crooked paths of diplomacy 
 can furnish no example so wanting in courtesy, in can- 
 dor, in directness, as was the course of the United States 
 government toward our commissioners in Washington. ' ' 
 A Peace Convention was held in Washington City, with 
 representatives from border and other States, to devise 
 terms of honorable adjustment and prevent the calamity 
 of war or disunion. Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky, a 
 statesman of experience, ability and conservatism, sub- 
 mitted a series of compromise measures and they were 
 indignantly and insultingly rejected. The speaker of the 
 house of representatives was not allowed even to present 
 certain proposed amendments to the Constitution, look- 
 ing to pacification, while the convention in Virginia, so 
 unwilling, so reluctant, to take extreme steps, tendered 
 to Senator Crittenden, by a unanimous vote, the thanks 
 of the people of the State for his able and patriotic efforts 
 "to bring about a just and honorable adjustment of our 
 national difficulties." 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 It is not witliin the scope of this article to detail 
 incidents of the war ; it is fitting, however, to animadvert 
 upon an oft-repeated accusation and to furnish such proof 
 of its falsity as to leave hereafter no loop to hang a doubt 
 upon. It is a common excuse for early defeat and ina- 
 bility "to crush the rebellion in ninety days," that the 
 Confederacy was better supplied than the government of 
 the United States with the means and appliances of war. 
 This explanation on its face is absurd, for how could an 
 infant, suddenly improvised government, without a dol- 
 lar, without a sailor, without a ship, without a manufac- 
 tory of guns or powder, be better equipped than a strong, 
 well established government, constantly engaged in 
 Indian wars and having a regularly equipped army and 
 navy and no inconsiderable plants for their maintenance? 
 Mr. Goldwin Smith, of Canada, in his work on the United 
 States, says that at the beginning of the war the South 
 was able to draw upon the supplies stored in the arsenals, 
 which had been "well stocked by the provident treason 
 of Buchanan's minister of war." Senator Sherman, in 
 his "Recollections," repeats the absurd story and says 
 that in the early days of the war the Confederates, be- 
 cause of this surreptitious aid, had superior means of 
 warfare. General Scott endorsed the accusation against 
 Secretary Floyd in regard to what has been called "the 
 stolen arms," and thus contributed to the belief of 
 respectable people that the Confederate States fought 
 with cannon, rifles and muskets treacherously placed in 
 their hands. Mr. Buchanan says, and there can be no 
 better authority, in the book on his administration, page 
 220: "This delusion presents a striking illustration of the 
 extent to which public prejudice may credit a falsehood, 
 
 54 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 55 
 
 not only without foundation but against the clearest offi- 
 cial evidence. ' ' Eighteen months before General Scott's 
 endorsement of the charge it had been condemned as 
 unfounded by the report of the committee on military 
 affairs of the house of representatives. The disproved 
 slander that arms had been fraudulently or otherwise sent 
 to the South to aid the "approaching rebellion," is in 
 accord with the concerted purpose of writers and politi- 
 cians to falsify the record and make apology for Northern 
 reverses. General Scott made specific charge that Secre- 
 tary Floyd removed "115,000 extra muskets and rifles, 
 with all their implements and ammunition, from North- 
 ern repositories to Southern arsenals, so that, on the 
 breaking out of the maturing rebellion, they might be 
 found without cost, except to the United States, in the 
 most convenient positions for distribution among the in- 
 surgents. " He also charged that 130 or 140 pieces of 
 heavy artillery were ordered from Pittsburg to Ship 
 Island and Galveston, forts not yet erected. The charge, 
 vouched for by public rumor, underwent a searching 
 official investigation by a committee authorized to send 
 for persons and papers and to report at any time. It was 
 most easy to establish the charge, if true, for these arms 
 could not have been removed without the knowledge and 
 active participation of the officers of the ordnance bureau, 
 whose loyalty had never been impugned nor suspected. 
 The accusation may be reduced to three indictments: 
 First. That arms were improperly distributed to the 
 Southern States prior to and preparatory for premeditated 
 rebellion. Tables furnished from the ordnance bureau 
 show that these States received much less, in the aggre- 
 gate, instead of more, than the quota of arms to which 
 they were justly entitled under the law for arming the 
 militia. It is a significant fact, utterly disproving the 
 charge and the belligerent intent, that Arkansas, Ken- 
 tucky, Louisiana, North Carolina and Texas did not re- 
 ceive any portion of army muskets of the very best quality 
 
56 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 to which they were entitled, and which would have been 
 delivered to each on a simple application to the ordnance 
 bureau. Of the muskets distributed the South received 
 2,091, and of long-range rifles of the army caliber, 758! 
 Not enough to arm two full regiments ! 
 
 Second. That Secretary Floyd sent cannon to the 
 Southern States. If he did the fact could not have been 
 concealed, for their size and ponderous weight would have 
 made it impossible to escape detection. The committee 
 reported that there was no evidence that any cannon had 
 been transported to the South. Secretary Floyd may 
 have made an order for the transfer of guns, but it was 
 never executed, and the officer in charge. Colonel May- 
 nadier, said: "It never entered his mind that there could 
 be any improper motive or object in the order. " 
 
 Third. The committee extended their inquiry into the 
 circumstances under which Secretary Floyd ordered the 
 removal of the old percussion and flint-lock muskets from 
 the Springfield armory, where they had accumulated in 
 inconvenient numbers. These arms were to be removed 
 from time to time as may be most suitable for economy 
 and transportation, and were to be distributed among the 
 arsenals in proportion to their respective means of proper 
 storage. These arms had been condemned by inspectors 
 and were recommended to be sold, and they were adver- 
 tised for sale, but the bids did not average $1.50 each and 
 were not accepted. The committee did not, in the 
 slightest degree, implicate Governor Floyd. Alas! what 
 becomes of Senator Sherman's conjured up superior pre- 
 paration for war and of General Scott's " good arms 
 stolen?" It is of a piece with the rifle pitfalls with 
 which Northern papers, after the Bull Run escapade, in 
 which some Republican congressmen shared, said the 
 whole country was honeycombed. (See Reports of House 
 Committee on Military Affairs, gth January, 1861, and 
 18th February, 1861 — Report No. 85.) 
 
 Secretary Floyd, by inheritance and conviction, was a 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 57 
 
 thorough believer in State rights, but was opposed to 
 secession and in favor of employing every right and pro- 
 per expedient for averting or postponing it. His diary 
 of the secret meetings and discussions of Mr. Buchanan's 
 cabinet, during November, i860, shows how averse he 
 was to what he regarded the unwise and precipitate 
 action of South Carolina. He addressed himself with 
 great assiduity to the task of repressing the disposition 
 manifested by the Southern States to take forcible posses- 
 sion of the forts and arsenals within their limits, and just 
 prior to the time alleged for his distribution of public 
 arms for aiding the secession movement he had pub- 
 lished, in a Richmond paper, a letter which gained him 
 high credit at the North for his boldness in rebuking the 
 pernicious views of many in his own state. (Pollard's 
 Lee and His Lieutenants, pp. 790-796, and Administra- 
 tion of Buchanan, p. 220.) 
 
 It may not be impossible that this persistent perversion 
 of history is intended to shield the North from any re- 
 proach that might attach to her because of inability, with 
 her immense superiority of military resources, to make 
 an early conquest of the South. Besides the enormous 
 means at her command in aid of commissary, quartermas- 
 ter and ordnance departments, the North recruited her 
 largely preponderant armies by purchased "Hessians" 
 from Europe, by enlistment of negroes, and by pecuniary 
 stimulants for substitutes or volunteers offered by indi- 
 viduals and towns and states and the general government. 
 The frauds practiced on the poor negroes in enlistments, 
 in withholding bounties, in misapplication of what had 
 been accumulated under orders of Butler and other 
 generals, constitute a dark chapter in the mysterious 
 history of the freedmen's bureau and in other unrecorded 
 occurrences of the war. In 1870 was published the report 
 of the commissioners on equalization of the municipal 
 war debts by the general assembly of Maine. It contains 
 curious and disgraceful matters of history in regard to 
 
58 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 the method of fumishing men for the army and naAry. 
 It transpires in that oflScial comment that " substitute 
 brokers" did a business so important and profitable as 
 to call for the formation of partnerships, which plied 
 their "iniquitous transactions" so adroitly and actively 
 and fraudulently, as to obtain large sums, "himdreds of 
 thousands of dollars, ' ' for men who were never reported 
 for duty. This "wrong" to the municipalities, "double 
 and cruel wrong to the brave men lying in the trenches 
 of the Appomattox and the James, ' ' occurred, says this 
 merciless exposure, "when the army lay panting and 
 exhausted in front of Petersburg," "when the govern- 
 ment was calling loudly for recruits and new regiments, ' ' 
 ' ' when the gallant men were calling for help and succor, ' ' 
 "when the conviction had been at last forced home upon 
 the government that the people and the rebellion could 
 only be subdued by being thoroughly whipped in its 
 entrenched strongholds, and that to do this the army of 
 freedom must be kept full and strong by constant rein- 
 forcements. " (See Portland Advertiser, January 31, 
 1870.) 
 
WILLIAM R. GARRETT 
 
THE SOUTH AS A FACTOR IN THE 
 
 TERRITORIAL EXPANSION OF 
 
 THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 BY 
 
 William Roberson Garrett, a. M., Ph. D., 
 
 Captain of First Virginia Regiment Artillery— subsequently in Forrest's 
 
 Cavalry. Professor of American History, Peabody Normal 
 
 College, Nashville, Tenn. 
 
 59 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 TERRITORIAL EXPANSION A DISTINCTIVE FEATURE 
 IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES— THE 
 SOUTH A LEADING FACTOR IN THIS POLICY. 
 
 IN one important respect the history of the United 
 States differs from the history — transcends the his- 
 tory — of any other great power of the world. Its 
 boundaries have never receded. It is true, indeed, that 
 some of the great powers have gained important terri- 
 torial acquisitions, and have lost others ; their boundary 
 lines advancing and receding. At certain points of their 
 ^history they may have claimed that their boundaries had 
 never receded. This statement is now true of no great 
 power except the United States.* 
 
 This is a fact of deep significance. It refutes the the- 
 ory formerly so prevalent in Europe, and entertained to 
 solnfe extent in America, that a vast confederated repub- 
 lic could not possess cohesive force sufficient to hold its 
 several parts together. Yet experience has shown that 
 the United States, alone of all the great powers of the 
 world, has preserved intact all the territory it has ever 
 acquired. 
 
 In another respect American history is distinctive. 
 Every great war in which the United States has ever 
 been engaged, has been accompanied by a large acquisi- 
 
 * It is also true that the United States, in adjusting its territorial 
 claiiEns with other nations has, in a few instances, compromised dis- 
 puted claims. This was done in the case of our first claim to Texas, 
 based on the purchase of Louisiana. (Benton's Thirty Years, Vol. 
 I, Chap. VI.) This was also done with respect to the proposed line 
 of 50° 40', and with respect to other disputed claims. But these 
 claims having been adjusted by treaty, and the jurisdiction of the 
 , Uhitfed States once established, not one square inch of territory ac- 
 quired has ever been lost. 
 
 61 
 
62 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 tion of territory. Although we have grown to greatness, 
 like "the great robber, Rome," by successive wars and 
 successive acquisitions of territory, yet these wars have 
 not been undertaken for the purpose of foreign conquest. 
 Such a purpose has never been charged against the 
 United States except in the case of the Mexican war. 
 
 These several wars, accomrpanied by acquisitions of ter- 
 ritorj', have been so interspersed along our history, that 
 they form the true key of our chronology. Not the suc- 
 cessive presidential administrations, but the successive 
 epochs of growth in the acquisition of territory, and the 
 corresponding eras of development in the assimilation of 
 the territory acquired, form the true principle upon 
 which the history of the United States should be studied 
 and written. 
 
 Whether these several wars and acquisitions shall be 
 viewed as connected by the relation of cause and effect, 
 or as forming a chain of remarkable coincidence, it is 
 certain that an examination of the territorial map, in 
 connection with a table of dates, will verify the chrono- 
 logical sequence. 
 
 1. The Revolutionary war, practically closing in 1781 
 with the surrender of Comwallis at Yorktown, was 
 formally terminated in 1783 by the treaty of Paris, con- 
 firming the title to our original territory, and defining its 
 limits. 
 
 2. The war with France is sometimes omitted from the 
 list of wars, on account of its short duration and its dis- 
 tance from American shores. War, however, actually 
 existed, and had an important influence upon foreign 
 relations. Peace was restored by the convention of 
 September 30, 1800. On the next day, October i, 1800, 
 France acquired Louisiana, by retrocession from Spain. 
 April 30, 1803, Louisiana was ceded to the United States. 
 
 3. Our next war, growing out of the purchase of 
 Louisiana, and a logical sequence of the transaction, was 
 the second war with Great Britain, closing in 1815 with 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 63 
 
 the brilliant battle of New Orleans. As a corollary, 
 came the complications with Spain and the Indian wars 
 leading up to the treaty of Washington, made between 
 John Quincy Adams and Don Luis de Onis, February 
 22, 1819. By this treaty the United States acquired 
 Florida, and the cession of all "rights, claims and pre- 
 tensions" of Spain to the territory of Oregon. 
 
 4. Next came the Mexican war, preceded in 1845 by the 
 acquisition of Texas, and followed in 1848 by the Mexi- 
 can cessions under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and 
 in 1853 by the Gadsden purchase. In 1846, the treaty 
 with Great Britain decided the northern boundary of 
 Oregon. 
 
 5. Last came the Civil war, fought among ourselves, 
 certainly not undertaken for any purpose of foreign con- 
 quest, yet attended by the uniform result of all our wars. 
 It closed in 1865, and was followed in 1867 by the acqui- 
 sition of Alaska. 
 
 In this policy of territorial expansion, the South was 
 the leading factor. It is one of the contributions which 
 the South as a section of the Union, and as a factor in its 
 upbuilding, has given to the United States. Historians 
 have not chosen to emphasize this fact. It is written, 
 however, in the records of the nation, and cannot be suc- 
 cessfully denied. This treatise will be devoted to demon- 
 strate its truth. 
 
 Before entering upon the discussion, attention is in- 
 vited to the consideration of several important points 
 which the student of American history is apt to overlook, 
 but which are essential elements to a clear comprehen- 
 sion of the territorial growth, and to an unbiased judg- 
 ment of the forces which have been the factors in building 
 the Union. The digression will, also, serve to indicate 
 to the reader that this work is not conceived in a 
 partisan spirit. 
 
 I. While it is true, that' the "broad Atlantic" rolls be- 
 tween America and Europe, apparently separating the 
 
64 CONPEDEkATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 United States from the great powers of the world; yet, 
 nearly every important era or turning point in our his- 
 tory has been more or less affected by the condition of 
 affairs in Europe. This fact is conspicuously illustrated 
 in our acquisitions of territory. Our territorial growth 
 reveals the hand of destiny, and was made possible only 
 by the coincidence of peculiar conditions in America and 
 Europe, affording opportunities which our ancestors 
 might seize, but could not create. 
 
 2. Territorial expansion was the foundation of Ameri- 
 can power and greatness. From the beginning of his- 
 tory to the present time, no country ever exerted a con- 
 trolling power over the world until it had acquired a wide' 
 extent of territory. Greece, while a little peninsula, jut- 
 ting out into the Mediterranean, did, indeed, possess a 
 population of genius and intelligence, affording light to 
 herself and her neighbors ; but she did not reach power 
 and control until after her fleets traversed the Mediter- 
 ranean, until finally her conquering phalanx swept over 
 the known world, and Alexander wept because there 
 were no more worlds to conquer. Her sister peninsula, 
 Rome, stretching likewise out into the Mediterranean, 
 exerted no controlling influence until her victorious 
 legions had carried the Roman eagles under Scipio into 
 Africa, under Pompey into Asia, under Caesar into Gaul 
 and Britain; subduing a wider world than Alexander 
 had conquered, and reaching the ultima thule. The same 
 is true of Asiatic domination. The empire of Charle- 
 magne, Spanish domination, French domination, rose 
 and fell with the gain and loss of territory. What power 
 did the English race possess while confined to the British 
 Isles? Britain's greatness began when her navy won the 
 dominion of the seas, and placed upon her masthead, 
 "Britannia rules the wave." Then came the spreading 
 of her territory until now, in the language of Daniel 
 Webster, her "morning drum-beat, following the sun 
 and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 6S 
 
 with one continuous and unbroken strain of the martial 
 airs of England. ' ' 
 
 No nation has reached, or can reach power and great- 
 ness, until it rests upon the strong foundation of a wide 
 extent of territory. Had the United States been con- 
 fined to the limits proposed at the treaty of Paris, accept- 
 ing the Alleghany mountains for its western boundary, 
 or the Ohio river for its northern boundary; had its 
 progress been arrested at the Mississippi river or at the 
 Florida line ; this country might have become a prosper- 
 ous and happy people, but it would not have been a great 
 and powerful nation. With due respect for the opinions 
 of those who opposed the territorial expansion, expe- 
 rience now enables us to point out their error of judg- 
 ment, and all should rejoice that the wiser policy pre- 
 vailed. 
 
 3. It is idle to disguise the fact that this country is 
 divided by natural laws into geographical sections differ- 
 ing in soil, climate and domestic interests. "Let there 
 be no North, no South, no East, no West," is a figure of 
 speech used to convey the sentiment that there should be 
 no hostility between the sections. In its figurative 
 sense, this is a patriotic expression worthy of all praise. 
 Taten literally, it would be an absurd protest against 
 the laws of nature. The State lines are political and may 
 be changed. The geographical divisions are natural and 
 ineffaceable. Although the irritating cause, slavery, has 
 been removed, yet other causes remain which must ever 
 render the sections geographically distinct, and must 
 lead to conflicts of interest. Stronger causes bind them 
 together, and enforce conciliation and compromise. 
 
 This division into geographical sections need not be 
 deplored by the patriot, and cannot be disguised by the 
 historian. It constitutes the peculiar strength of Ameri- 
 can institutions. These differences of interest are im- 
 planted by nature and must exist whether the several 
 sections are organized into separate nations, or united 
 
 I-B 
 
66 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 under one government. Wide extent of territory in- 
 volves the union of these several sections under better 
 safeguards for the protection of their conflicting inter- 
 ests than could be obtained under separate governments. 
 No lover of mankind could wish to see them united upon 
 the plan of the spoliation of one section, or the neglect 
 of its interests, for the aggrandizement of the other sec- 
 tions. 
 
 Our ancestors did not rush into union blindly. They 
 pondered deeply and cautiously, often hesitating over the 
 questions at issue. Gradually and firmly there grew up 
 an abiding confidence in the benevolence, moderation 
 and good faith of the several States and sections. A con- 
 federated republic, with its limitations and "checks and 
 balances," was the result. The Union was built by 
 many factors. No one factor could have built it ; neither 
 the North, nor the South, nor the East, nor the West. 
 It needed the distinctive genius of each, and the com- 
 bined energy of all. No similar spectacle of national 
 development has ever been presented to the world ; so 
 vast, so excellent, so progressive, so permanent. Even 
 its internal struggles are evidences of its strength, and 
 its powers of recuperation prove its healthy constitution. 
 
 Every step in the formation, growth and preservation 
 of the Union has been almost a historical miracle. It is 
 wonderful that thirteen separate and independent sover- 
 eignties, scattered over a wide extent of territory, should 
 voluntarily unite themselves under one government. 
 It is no less wonderful that such a union should survive 
 the reaction of local jealousies and conflicting interests in 
 the earlier periods, when no effort at coercion would 
 have been entertained. 
 
 The first century of national government witnessed 
 many tests of the relative strength of its centrifugal and 
 centripetal forces. In the first reaction, in the early 
 periods of the government, there were minor insurrec- 
 tions. They were easily quelled. As the government 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 67 
 
 progressed, there were serious conflicts of interest and 
 opinion, leading to fierce political strife, and ending in 
 concession and compromise. The territorial acquisitions, 
 becoming alternately the cause and effect of political 
 contests, and complicated with questions of foreign 
 policy, have applied the most severe tests to the cen- 
 trifugal and centripetal forces of the Union. Questions 
 growing out of the organization of acquired territory dis- 
 turbed the federal relations when about to settle into 
 quiet and routine. Each section in turn became dissatis- 
 fied, and threatened secession. The South, although 
 making an early protest, was the last section to threaten 
 secession, and the only section to carry its threats into 
 execution. The Civil war applied the crucial test, and 
 almost broke the cohesion of the parts. The South, 
 which had made so many sacrifices to establish the 
 Union, was required to make fresh sacrifices for its resto- 
 ration. 
 
 The equilibrium of these forces could not have been 
 maintained, or when disturbed, could not have been re- 
 stored, without the constant operation of a silent force, 
 operating upon the minds of men unexpressed, sometimes 
 unconsciously, but always controlling the hearts of the 
 American people. It was the same centripetal force 
 which held together the thirteen sparsely settled colonies 
 and enabled them, without constitution or government, 
 to contend successfully against the greatest power of the 
 world on land and sea, to win the battles of the Revolu- 
 tion and the liberties of America. It was the same force 
 which attracted together the scattered elements, and 
 organized them into a confederated republic, which 
 brought to the Union prosperity and expansion, and 
 which has made the United States the only great power 
 whose boundaries have never receded. 
 
 This force is the sentiment, deep-seated in the heart of 
 every American, the feeling of American brotherhood, a 
 Ipve for the American system of government, and confj- 
 
68 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 dence in American institutions. This sentiment led to 
 the magnanimous cession by Virginia of the Northwest 
 Territory, appeasing jealousy and establishing the con- 
 federation. It brought the reluctant state, Rhode Isl- 
 and, finally to ratify the Constitution, controlled the 
 West in the crisis of the Spanish intrigues, restrained 
 New England at the Hartford convention, and made the 
 Confederate soldier "love the Star Spangled Banner 
 while he fought it." This sentiment led to the offer 
 and acceptance of honorable terms of surrender, and to 
 the restoration of peace, and now disposes the hearts of 
 the American people to recall the Civil war with emo- 
 tions of national pride, rather than sectional malice. 
 
 This war did, indeed, arouse deep passions, and threat- 
 ened to implant sectional animosities which time could 
 never heal, but it was fought on questions of principle 
 and public policy; it did not spring from feelings of 
 mutual antipathy. During its progress, resentments 
 were aroused, but the sentiment of American brother- 
 hood was never destroyed, and feelings of fixed hatred 
 were not engendered. The American people belong to 
 a race of strong passions, but not of sullen temper. 
 They belong to the great Anglo-Saxon-Norman race, 
 the race of heroes, of warriors and of statesmen. After 
 the conquering races had commingled their blood in the 
 British Isles, the nursing ground of the heroic English 
 race, their descendants began to spread over the world, 
 and have everywhere been its leaders. The Southern 
 people inherit the strong passions of their ancestors. 
 They know how to love, how to hate and how to forgive. 
 They could be bound permanently to no country by hu- 
 miliating ties. The only ties which can bind people of 
 English blood are the ties of love and pride. The South- 
 ern people love American institutions, and they are edu- 
 cating their children to be patriots. 
 
 If any one doubts the patriotism of the Southern peo- 
 ple, let him visit their schools, and listen to the lessons 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 69 
 
 which they teach their children, or let him attend the 
 annual reunions held by the soldiers who fought the 
 Confederate battles. Here are some of their expressions, 
 taken from the report of the committee on history, 
 unanimously adopted by the United Confederate Veteran 
 Association at its annual reunion at Richmond, Va., 
 June 30, 1896: 
 
 "Our children and our children's children, trained by 
 us to sentiments of patriotism, will grow up with love 
 and admiration for the institutions of the United States 
 — those munificent institutions to which their fathers 
 have contributed so much. ' ' Referring to the Confed- 
 erate soldier: "He surrendered as the brave surrender. 
 His surrender meant peace and conciliation." * * * 
 "He returned to the Union as an equal, he has remained 
 in the Union as a friend. With no humble apologies, no 
 unmanly servility, no petty spite, no sullen treachery, 
 he is a cheerful, frank citizen of the United States, ac- 
 cepting the present, trusting the future, and proud of 
 the past." * * * " He must love some country, and he 
 has no other country to love. " * * * "He learned to 
 love that flag when he was a boy. He loved it even when 
 he fought it. " * * * Referring to the Confederate his- 
 torian the report says: "Then let the Confederate his- 
 torian be like his model, the Confederate soldier. He 
 must be patriotic, for he is representing the cause of 
 patriots. He must be candid, for a partisan work will 
 not live in history, and will fail to convince the world. ' ' 
 * * * " He must be bold and fearless, but always lib- 
 eral. He must be eloquent, for he is dealing with a lofty 
 thenie — the most gigantic internal struggle which his- 
 tory records — the grandest contribution which the nine- 
 teenth century has made to human greatness — America's 
 proudest title to martial glory. He is painting for future 
 ages the picture of that eventful epoch, whose memories 
 are the joint heritage of all Americans, and which is 
 destined to occupy in American history the pathetic place 
 
70 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 which the Wars of the Roses now occupy in the annals of 
 England, and in the hearts of Englishmen." Such are 
 the sentiments expressed by Confederate soldiers. Has 
 the great centripetal force, the sentiment of American 
 brotherhood, the love for the American system of gov- 
 ernment, and confidence in American institutions, yet 
 lost its power over the hearts of the American people? 
 
 There is one irritating cause, too petty to exert any 
 controlling influence, but which tends to keep alive pas- 
 sions which war and political strife have failed to per- 
 petuate. A class of partisan writers have attempted to 
 ignore the South as a factor in American institutions, 
 and persist in representing the Southern section as in- 
 ferior or hostile to the other sections, and have even 
 stained the page of history by false pictures of its peo- 
 ple, representing them as drones in the national hive, 
 ungrateful participants in the blessings which other sec- 
 tions have conferred. Such writers deserve rebuke at 
 the North as well as at the South. Their partisan color- 
 ing fades in the light of facts. The patriot who loves his 
 country is just to all its sections, and finds in its history 
 abundant reason to rejoice that each factor has performed 
 a distinctive part in its upbuilding. 
 
 The above digression, it is hoped, will indicate to the 
 reader that a cordial admiration for the joint work of all 
 the sections in building the greatest nation of the world, 
 is in harmony with an analysis of the distinctive work of 
 each. 
 
 A calm review of the development of the United 
 States cannot fail to disclose to the candid mind that the 
 South was the leading factor in promoting the territorial 
 expansion, at each period of acquisition, unless the ac- 
 quisition of Alaska be excepted. 
 
 This discussion must be sectional, as it is written in 
 vindication of a particular section ; it must also be na- 
 tional, since it deals with that section as one of the 
 factors of the nation ; it "must be patriotic as well, for it 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 71 
 
 relates the history of patriotic devotion and sacrifice. If 
 any apology were needed, it would be found in the fact 
 that this distinctive work of the South, although no new 
 discovery, has not received due recognition. This is not 
 surprising. The sections whose genius has made them 
 leaders in commerce, manufactures and internal improve- 
 ments, while contributing to the greatness of the whole 
 country, have in the same work built up their own 
 wealth. The evidences are visible on their soil, and 
 attract the eye of the observer. They may be verified in 
 statistics, population, products and tax lists. The results 
 of the Southern policy of territorial expansion have ac- 
 crued to the whole country, but have left no mark or 
 memento on Southern soil. The controversies to which 
 the organization of the several territorial acquisitions has 
 given rise, have been mingled with collateral questions, 
 leading to the slavery agitation, and culminating in the 
 Civil war. 
 
 These collateral questions have been of such immedi- 
 ate and absorbing- interest as to divert attention from the 
 due consideration of the causes and effects of the several 
 acquisitions. Discussion has been directed rather to the 
 contests which arose over the assimilation of the terri- 
 tory acquired, its organization into States, arid the rela- 
 tions of the new States to the contending political parties. 
 In the contest for control of the acquired territory, the 
 South was outstripped in the race, and its agency in the 
 acquisition has been ignored. Let us now consider each 
 acquisition in chronological order. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE EXTENSION OF THE TERRITORY OF THE UNITED 
 STATES FROM THE ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS TO 
 THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND NORTH OF THE OHIO 
 RIVER. 
 
 THE consideration of this subject involves a discus- 
 sion of the title of all claimants to the territory 
 between the Alleghany mountains and the Mis- 
 sissippi river from the Florida line to the Great Lakes, 
 and the final cession to the United States of all this ter- 
 ritory, except Kentucky, which was erected into an inde- 
 pendent state by consent of Virginia. There were three 
 distinct classes of claimants. 
 
 First. — The charter claimants: 
 
 Second. — Claimants by virtue of alleged grants or pur- 
 chases from the Indians. 
 
 Third. — Foreign claimants. 
 
 There was, also, a class of indirect claimants who 
 urged the United States to set up a claim of original 
 right to the jurisdiction and soil of this entire region. 
 
 It was urged that the United States ought to seize this 
 entire country as the property of the general govern- 
 ment; that this territory, "?/ secured by the blood ami 
 treasure of all the States, ought in reason, justice and policy to 
 be considered a common stock." This agrarian argument 
 aroused the indignation of the charter claimants and 
 threatened to prevent the formation of the Union. Con- 
 gress, however, was not deceived by the fallacy, and 
 acted with wisdom and justice. By no act or declara- 
 tion, under the Continental Congress, or under the Con- 
 federation, or under the Constitution, did the United 
 States ever assert such a claim, or sanction the policy of 
 
 72 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 73 
 
 Spoliation. Since the United States never appeared as a 
 claimant, the consideration of such claims might be dis- 
 missed, were it not for the fact that the persistence with 
 which they were urged upon Congress by outside parties 
 has made the controversy historic, and led to important 
 results. It will, therefore, be necessary at the proper 
 place to trace the origin, progress and final defeat of an 
 effort which, if it had been successful, would either have 
 prevented the Union or would have engrafted upon its 
 fundamental law a pernicious and fatal doctrine. 
 
 The charter claimants were six in number: Virginia, 
 Massachusetts, Connecticut, the two Carolinas and 
 Georgia. Their several charters constituted the only 
 legal and valid titles to any portion of this western coun- 
 try. Their conduct was eminently wise and patriotic 
 through the whole controversy. They engaged in no un- 
 seemly squabbles, and met with dignity the noise that 
 was made by those who had neither legal title nor equit- 
 able rights. They ended the controversy by the patriotic 
 cession of the whole country to the United States. 
 
 Virginia claimed the whole territory from her southern 
 boundary line extending to the Mississippi and up north- 
 ward to the Great Lakes, including Kentucky and all the 
 country which afterward became the Northwest Territory. 
 This claim was based upon her charter of 1609, and up- 
 held by actual possession and by civil and military occu- 
 pation. She remained in actual possession until the 
 country was ceded to the United States. Her claim was 
 undisputed by any charter claimant as far north as the 
 41st parallel. 
 
 Massachusetts and Connecticut claimed that their char- 
 ters extended westward to the Mississippi, covering the 
 narrow belts running across the territory in possession of 
 Virginia, and embraced in the westward extension of 
 their respective northern and southern boundary lines. 
 Neither of these States had ever occupied any portion of 
 the territory up to the time of the cessions, and neither 
 
74 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 made any attempt to occupy it. Had either of them 
 desired to test their claims, the tribunal was within easy 
 reach, to which Georgia and South Carolina referred 
 their territorial dispute — ^the tribunal provided under the 
 ninth article of the confederation. There was no neces- 
 sity, however, as they all contemplated ceding their 
 claims to the United States. 
 
 North Carolina, alone, possessed an undisputed claim. 
 Her western territory was co-extensive with the present 
 State of Tennessee. 
 
 A conflict of title between South Carolina and Georgia 
 was submitted to Congress under the ninth article of the 
 confederation, but was settled by friendly compromise 
 before the court appointed by Congress was ready to be- 
 gin the trial. It was decided that a strip about twelve 
 miles wide, extending from the present limits of the State 
 westward to the Mississippi, and running along the south- 
 ern border of Tennessee, should belong to South Caro- 
 lina. All south of this strip to the Florida line should 
 belong to Georgia. 
 
 The second class of claimants, under alleged grants 
 and purchases from the Indians, were the State of New 
 York and several land companies. The claim of New 
 York was vague and shadowy, covering a large and in- 
 definite tract of country without specified boundaries, and 
 based upon no acknowledged principles of custom, law 
 or equity. New York made skillful use of this claim, 
 and did the only thing which it was possible to do with 
 it, except to abandon it. She ceded it to the United 
 States. The land companies, especially the Indiana and 
 the Vandalia companies, proved to be arrogant, persistent 
 and aggressive claimants. Hoping to realize immense 
 profits from the lands which they had pretended to ac- 
 quire for a trifle, they resorted to all the arts of the lob- 
 byist. Having acquired an undue and sinister influence 
 in Congress, they used it to promote discord, and even 
 to imperil the Union. They were ultimately defeated, 
 and their claims justly ignored. 
 
'" \o 
 
^^c^ 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 75 
 
 The foreign claimants were Great Britain and Spain. 
 Spain proposed as the price of alliance with the United 
 States, that the region from the Alleghany mountains to 
 the Mississippi river, and from Florida to the Ohio river, 
 should constitute an Indian reservation, of which the 
 western half should be under the protection of Spain and 
 the eastern half under the protection of the United 
 States; that Spain should be permitted to occupy this 
 country with her troops, so that she could claim it from 
 Great Britain under the principle of uti possidetis. This 
 reservation would have covered the present States of 
 Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky. France 
 sustained Spain in this demand and urged it upon Con- 
 gress. 
 
 Great Britain, in addition to her ancient title to the en- 
 tire territory of the colonies, laid especial claim to the 
 country northwest of the Ohio river, by virtue of her act 
 of parliament in 1774, commonly known as the "Quebec 
 Act, ' ' by which she had annexed all that region to Can- 
 ada. In assertion of this claim, she took possession of 
 the country early in the war, and occupied it with British 
 troops. At the suggestion and under the guidance of 
 her illustrious citizen. General George Rogers Clarke, 
 Virginia organized an expedition composed of Virginia 
 soldiers, in Virginia pay, without assistance from the 
 United States, expelled the British from the territory, 
 and held it at the close of the war, in the name of the 
 State. 
 
 These foreign claims came up for settlement, not be- 
 fore Congress, but by treaty with foreign nations ; yet the 
 uncertainty served to render the whole question still 
 more complicated. The two charter claimants, Virginia 
 and North Carolina, were the only States who supported 
 their titles by actual settlement, and by civil and military 
 occupation. The settlements along the Mississippi, the 
 Wabash and the Ohio, and in Kentucky, and the military 
 occupation by George Rogers Clarke, on the part of 
 
76 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Virginia; and the settlements along the Watauga and 
 the Cumberland, and the operations of Robertson and 
 Sevier on the part of North Carolina, supported and 
 maintained the charter rights of all the claimants to the 
 western lands. The cabin and the rifle of the pioneer 
 guarded the charters of the States, and enabled our com- 
 missioners in negotiating the treaty of peace to add to 
 the abstract charter titles the plea of possession, and 
 thus to prevent the limitation of the boundaries to the 
 Alleghany mountains or the Ohio river. (Roosevelt's 
 Winning of the West, Vol. 2., p. 373; Vol. 3, p. 243.) 
 
 At the treaty of Paris, the United States was fortunate 
 in the services of three of her ablest diplomats, John 
 Adams, John Jay and Benjamin Franklin. After Great 
 Britain signified her willingness to grant independence, 
 negotiations were delayed on several important ques- 
 tions, the most important of which was the question of 
 boundary. The three commissioners were united in 
 demanding boundaries which should include every foot 
 of land within the charter limits of every State. They 
 differed only in the methods of negotiations to secure the 
 end. Dr. Franklin was disposed to confide in France, 
 and to work in harmony with her representatives. Jay 
 was distrustful of the designs of France, and favored 
 direct negotiations with England without the privity of 
 France. Adams, upon his arrival, warmly sided with 
 Jay, and Franklin yielded. Whether the course favored 
 by Franklin would have been successful, can only be con- 
 jectured. The course pursued at the suggestion of Jay 
 and Adams was eminently successful, and achieved a 
 brilliant diplomatic victory. 
 
 The purposes of Spain, though aided by France, were 
 thwarted, and Great Britain acceded to the demands of 
 the United States. (See Narrative and Critical Hist, of 
 Am., VII. 2, and Lecky's Hist, of Eng., Vol. 4.) 
 
 After the fortunate expedient of Jay in sending 
 Vaughan to confer with Lord Shelbume, Great Britain 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 77 
 
 seemed suddenly to adopt a policy at variance with her 
 former obstinate and haughty tone toward America, and 
 there was no longer any trouble about the western 
 boundaries. In addition to the views which the British 
 negotiators expressed, we may well conjecture that 
 there were others to which no public expression was 
 given. 
 
 It was no part of British policy to build up either 
 France or Spain in America, and it was, perhaps, fort- 
 unate that France took a decided and active part in 
 urging the claims of Spain. The British leaders saw in 
 it an attempt to gain a foothold east of the Mississippi 
 over territory which Great Britain had been accustomed 
 to regard as her own. It was less galling to her pride to 
 yield it to America than to extend the domimons of Spain 
 at the demand of France. In addition to this, the Brit- 
 ish statesmen believed that the American republics could 
 not hold together, and confidently expected that in a 
 short time some, if not all of them, would return to the 
 mother country. They were already quarreling among 
 themselves over this very territory, and doubtless the 
 quarrel was considered abroad as more dangerous than it 
 really was. Was it not better for Great Britain to leave 
 them this bone of contention than to cure their quarrels 
 by removing the cause? It had already delayed the 
 Union for many years and was still an unsettled question. 
 Would not the quarrel be renewed with greater violence 
 as soon as the pressure of a foreign war was removed? 
 If these states should return they would bring this terri- 
 tory back with them. Besides, a liberal policy and the 
 decision of this point in her favor against the wishes of 
 France and Spain, would tend to detach America from 
 her allies, and restore confidence in the mother country. 
 On the other hand, Great Britain could not hope, and 
 perhaps did not wish, to establish permanently cordial 
 relations with France and Spain. Influenced by consid- 
 gr?itions of this nature, and in accordance with the heroic 
 
78 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 British character, which is as positive and magnanimous 
 in concession as it is bold and haughty in aggression, 
 Great Britain consented that the boundaries should be 
 established in accordance with her charters to the several 
 States, and in the case of the northwestern boundary^^ 
 yielded her claims under the "Quebec Act" to the prin- 
 ciple of uti possidetis, which Virginia so happily supplied 
 by the success of her expedition under George Rogers 
 Clarke. The boundaries were established to extend to 
 the Great Lakes, the Mississippi river and the Florida 
 line, embracing all the western territory within the 
 charter claims of Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, Con- 
 necticut and Massachusetts, the claim of Virginia alone 
 extending to Lake Superior. 
 
 Let us now review the controversy which a few of the 
 States without color of title and the land companies so 
 long waged in Congress against the charter claimants, 
 especially against Virginia, and let us begin at the be- 
 ginning. This controversy started in 1776 between 
 Maryland and Virginia, and grew out of the proceedings 
 connected with the instructions to the Virginia delegates 
 to move in Congress for independence, confederation 
 and foreign alliances. Virginia was the leader in these 
 three propositions. Maryland instructed her delegates 
 to oppose them all. 
 
 The conventions of the two States were in session at 
 the same time. Let us examine their proceedings to 
 arrive at the origin of the controversy. 
 
 The Virginia convention met at Williamsburg, May 6, 
 1776. Some of her leaders were absent. Washington 
 was in command of the army. Jeiferson, Richard Henry 
 Lee and George Wythe were in Congress. Yet many of 
 her ablest men were present, some of whom were 
 already famous, and others were to gain fame in this as- 
 sembly. Patrick Henry was there in the plenitude of 
 his powers, the ruling spirit of the convention. Ed- 
 mund Pendleton presided over the deliberations. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 79 
 
 Thomas Nelson was the mover of its most important 
 resolutions. George Mason was the author of its "Dec- 
 laration of Rights. ' ' Other delegates, scarcely less illus- 
 trious, were among its members. Two young men, 
 James Madison and Edmund Randolph, here began 
 their careers. * 
 
 May isth the following resolutions were adopted: 
 
 "Resolved, unanimously. That the delegates appointed 
 to represent this colony in General Congress, be in- 
 structed to propose to that respectable body to declare 
 the United Colonies free and independent States, ab- 
 solved from all allegiance to, or dependence upon, the 
 crown or parliament of Great Britain, and that they give 
 the assent of this colony to such declaration, and to what- 
 ever measures may be thought proper and necessary by 
 the Congress for forming foreign alliances, and a con- 
 federation of the colonies, at such time, and in the man- 
 ner, as to them shall seem best ; Provided, that the power 
 of forming government for, and the regulations of the 
 internal concerns of each colony, be left to the respect- 
 ive colonial legislatures. 
 
 "Resolved, unanimously, That a committee be ap- 
 pointed to prepare a Declaration of Rights, and such a 
 plan of government as will be most likely to maintain 
 peace and order in this colony, and secure substantial 
 and equal liberty to the people." (Life of Patrick 
 Henry, by W. W. Henry, Vol. i, Ch. i6; American 
 Archives, Fourth Series, Vol. 6, p. 1524.) 
 
 These resolutions, prefaced by a strong preamble, 
 were offered by Thomas Nelson, and were seconded by 
 Patrick Henry in words of burning eloquence. Copies 
 were sent to the several colonial legislatures and were 
 presented to Congress May 27th. 
 
 In obedience to these instructions, Richard Henry 
 Lee, on behalf of the Virginia delegates, offered the fol- 
 lowing resolutions in Congress June 7, 1776: 
 
 * For a more detailed account of the proceedings of this conven- 
 tion see Life of Patrick Henry, by W. W. Henry, "Vol. i, Chap. XVI, 
 
80 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 "That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to 
 be, free and independent States ; that they are absolved 
 from all allegiance to the British crown, and all political 
 connection between them and the state of Great Britain 
 is, and ought to be, totallj' di-ssolved. 
 
 "That it is expedient forthwith to take the most 
 effectual measures for forming foreign alliances. 
 
 "That a plan of confederation be prepared and trans- 
 mitted to the respective colonies for their consideration. " 
 
 Thus was outlined the policy of Virginia. By the adop- 
 tion of the motion of her delegates, July 2,17 76, it be- 
 came the policy of the United States. (Am. Arch., 
 Fourth Series, Vol. 6, p. 1699.) 
 
 Let us now examine the policy of Maryland. Her 
 state convention met May 15, 1776, the day on which 
 the convention of Virginia adopted the instructions in 
 favor of independence. May 21, 1776, the Maryland 
 convention gave to its delegates the following instruc- 
 tions : 
 
 "Resolved, unanimously. That, as this convention is 
 firmly persuaded that a reunion with Great Britain on 
 constitutional principles would most effectually secure 
 the rights and liberties, and increase the strength and 
 promote the happiness of the whole empire, objects 
 which this province has ever had in view, the said 
 deputies are bound and directed to govern themselves 
 by the instructions given to them by this convention in 
 its session in December last, in the same manner as if 
 said instructions were particularly repeated." (Am. 
 Arch., Fourth Series, p. 463.) 
 
 The previous instructions to her deputies in Congress, 
 adopted January 12, 1776, and referred to above, con- 
 tained strong expressions of attachment to Great Britain 
 and the ardent desire for reconciliation. They comment 
 on "the mildness and equity of the English Constitu- 
 tion, under which we have grown up to, and enjoyed a 
 State of felicity not exceeded among any people we know 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 81 
 
 of, until the grounds of the present controversy were 
 laid by the ministry and parliament of Great Britain. ' ' 
 
 After these preliminary expressions, the legislature 
 proceeds to give explicit instructions on three points: 
 independence, foreign alliance and national union. 
 These instructions are so interesting that they are quoted 
 below, as follows: 
 
 "As upon the attainment of these great objects, we 
 shall think it our greatest happiness to be thus firmly 
 united to Great Britain, we think proper to instruct you 
 that, should any proposition be happily made by the 
 crown or parliament that may lead to, or lay a rational 
 and probable ground for reconciliation, you use your 
 utmost endeavors to cultivate and improve it into a 
 happy settlement and lasting amity; taking care to 
 secure the colonies against the exercise of the right as- 
 sumed by parliament to tax them, and to alter and 
 change the charters, constitution and internal policy 
 without their consent — powers incompatible with the 
 essential securities of the colonists." (American Ar- 
 chives, Fourth Series, p. 463.) 
 
 "We further instruct you, that you do not, without the 
 previous knowledge and approbation of the convention 
 of this province, assent to any proposition to declare 
 these colonies independent of the crown of Great Britain, 
 nor to any proposition for making or entering into alli- 
 ance with any foreign power, nor to any union or con- 
 federation of these colonies which may necessarily lead 
 to a separation from the mother country, unless in your 
 judgment, or in the judgment of any four of you, or a 
 majority of the whole of you, if all shall be then attend- 
 ing in Congress, it shall be thought absolutely necessary 
 for the preservation of the liberties of the United Col- 
 onies; and should a majority of the colonies in Congress, 
 against such your judgment, resolve to declare these 
 colonies independent of the crown of Great Britain, or to 
 make or to enter into alliance with any foreign crown, or 
 1-6 
 
82 COXFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 into any union or confederation of these colonies, whicfi. 
 may necessarily lead to a separation from the mother 
 country, we instruct you immediately to call the con- 
 vention of this province, and repair thereto with such 
 proposition and resolve, and lay the same before the said 
 convention for their consideration; and this convention 
 will not hold this province bound by such majority in 
 Congress, until the representative body of the province 
 in convention assent thereto. ' ' 
 
 The resolutions of the Virginia delegates, embracing 
 the three propositions of independence, foreign alliances 
 and confederation, were debated June S, 1776. A report 
 of these debates is given by Mr. Jefferson in the Madison 
 papers. Vol. i, p. 9, et seq, 
 
 ^Messrs. Wilson, Robert R. Livingston, E. Rutledge, 
 Dickenson and others, although personally favorable to 
 the measures proposed, argued for delay. The middle 
 colonies, they argued, "were not yet ripe for bidding 
 adieu to Great Britain, but they were fast ripening;" 
 "some of them had expressly forbidden their delegates 
 to consent to such a declaration;" "that if such a dec- 
 laration should now be agreed to, these delegates must 
 retire, and possibly their colonies might secede from the 
 Union." 
 
 The other side was argued by J. Adams, Lee, Wythe 
 and others, who urged prompt action, and argued: 
 "There are only two colonies, Maryland and Pennsyl- 
 vania, whose delegates are absolutely tied up, and that 
 these had by their instructions, only reserved the right 
 of confirming or rejecting the measure;" "that the 
 backwardness of these two colonies might be ascribed 
 partly to the influence of proprietary power and connec- 
 tions, and partly to their having not yet been attacked 
 by the enemy;" "that the conduct of some colonies, 
 from the beginning of this contest, had given reason to 
 suspect it was their settled policy to keep in the rear of 
 this Confederacy, that their particular prospect might 
 be better even in the worst event " 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 83 
 
 It was decided to wait for the colonies "not matured 
 for falling from the parent stem." So the final decision 
 was postponed to July i, and a committee was appointed 
 to prepare a "Declaration of Independence." 
 
 Fortunately for the country, the deliberations in re- 
 gard to independence came to a speedy conclusion. All 
 opposition vanished. July 4, 1776, the remarkable result 
 was reached, which was ultimately attained by every 
 vital issue of the "Critical Period" — unanimity. Before 
 this result was achieved, and closely connected with it, 
 an event occurred which hastened the Declaration of 
 Independence, and delayed the consummation of con- 
 federation. This event led to acrimonious controversy, 
 and the revival of the old colonial feud between Vir- 
 ginia and Maryland. 
 
 This feud originated with the settlement of Maryland. 
 The grant to Lord Baltimore was made by the crown 
 out of lands within the charter limits of Virginia. It was 
 regarded by the colonists as an arbitrary violation of 
 their charter rights, against which they made unavailing 
 protest. In addition to this they were indignant that a 
 colony of Catholics should be established in their vicinity. 
 Partaking in the prejudices of the times, they felt in- 
 dignation and feared danger at the prospects of papists 
 for neighbors. They were, also, jealous of certain com- 
 mercial privileges accorded to this new cqlony in which 
 they were not permitted to share. When the new set- 
 tlers arrived to take possession of their grant, they were 
 not received with the proverbial Virginia hospitality. 
 The Marylanders were not slow to resent this unfriendly 
 disposition, and the relations between the two colonies 
 assumed a hostile aspect. Acrimonious controversies and 
 personal encounters marked its earlier stages. Virginia 
 never relinquished her claim to the territory during her 
 whole colonial life, and made several efforts to recover 
 its possession. Before the Revolution, however, her 
 people had become accustomed to the situation, and cor- 
 
84 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 dial relations began to grow up between the two colonies. 
 These relations were strengthened by their mutual par- 
 ticipation in the Revolution. 
 
 These old quarrels are now happily healed, and the 
 people of no two states in the Union are, now bound by 
 ties of more cordial friendship than the people of Vir- 
 ginia and Maryland. The mention of this historic feud 
 now excites a smile rather than angry sentiments, be- 
 cause it long ago reached friendly adjustment, and its 
 solution produced results beneficial to the whole coun- 
 try, and of which both states are proud. 
 
 The event alluded to, which revived this colonial feud, 
 was the capture by Virginia of letters from Lord George 
 Germaine, the English secretary of state, addressed to 
 "Robert Eden, Esq., deputy governor of Maryland." 
 Governor Eden was the brother-in-law of the last pro- 
 prietor of Maryland. (Maryland, William Hand Brown.) 
 
 The sixth Lord Baltimore, dying in 1771, leaving no 
 legitimate issue, bequeathed Maryland to his natural 
 son, Henry Harford. After the beginning of the Revo- 
 lutionary war, Governor Eden occupied a peculiar posi- 
 tion. He remained as governor of Maryland, and exer- 
 cised his functions as the representative of the proprietary 
 interest, with the concurrence of the convention, and en- 
 joyed a high degree of confidence and popularity, 
 although making no secret of his attachment to the in- 
 terests of England. The exemption of Maryland from 
 British attack was attributed to his presence, and ex- 
 cited the suspicion of the other colonies. 
 
 Lord George Germaine, under date of December 23, 
 177s, wrote to Governor Eden two letters which were 
 captured by Captain Barron on the Chesapeake bay, 
 from a British vessel, some time in April, 1776, and 
 were delivered to the Virginia committee of safety. 
 These intercepted letters were forwarded to the authori- 
 ties of Maryland, and their contents communicated to 
 Congress. Thereupon, the president of Congress wrote 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 85 
 
 to the Maryland council of safety, urging the immediate 
 arrest of Governor Eden and inclosing the "Resolve of 
 Congress" to the following effect: 
 
 "That information had come to Congress that the 
 governor carried on a correspondence with the ministry 
 highly dangerous to American liberty, which was con- 
 firmed by some letters to him from Lord George Ger- 
 maine, lately intercepted and sent up to Virginia, by 
 which it appears to them that the public safety requires 
 his person and papers to be seized ; that they recommend 
 it to this council of safety to secure him and them im- 
 mediately and send them to Philadelphia. (Am. Arch. , 
 Fourth Series, Vol. 6, p. 735.) 
 
 About the same time, General Charles Lee ordered 
 the commanding officer of the troops at Annapolis to 
 arrest Governor Eden. This order was conveyed through 
 Mr. Samuel Purviance, chairman of the Baltimore com- 
 mittee, and steps were taken for the arrest. The Mary- 
 land council of safety interposed at this point, and pre- 
 vented further proceedings. The matter was referred to 
 the Maryland convention, which, May 24, nine days after 
 the instructions of Virginia to move independence, took 
 action censuring Mr. Purviance, and adopting resolu- 
 tions containing, among others, the following : 
 
 "It is the intention of this convention to preserve, as 
 far as may be, the ostensible form of government, in 
 hopes it may have some influence toward a reunion with 
 Great Britain. " * * * 
 
 "Therefore, the request is, that the governor will not 
 take an active hostile part; or, until the event of the 
 commissioners is known, that he will not correspond 
 with administration, or those who may be carrying on 
 hostilities in America, directly or indirectly." 
 
 "If the governor thinks himself at liberty to enter 
 into such engagement, it is much the inclination of the 
 convention that he should continue in the province in his 
 station." (Am. Arch., Fourth Series, Vol. 6, p. 736-7.) 
 
86 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 To this communication, after some delay, Governor 
 Eden replied, declining to accept the terms proposed, 
 and requesting permission to return to England. To 
 this communication the convention replied, commending 
 the course of the governor, granting the request and in- 
 viting his services in behalf of reunion with England. 
 A committee was appointed to wait on him and present 
 the following address: 
 
 "To his Excellency Robert Eden, Esq., Governor of 
 Maryland : 
 
 ' ' May it please your excellency : We are commanded 
 by the convention to wait upon your excellency, and to 
 communicate to you the resolutions they have this day 
 entered into ; and we are instructed to assure your ex- 
 cellency that the convention entertains a favorable sense 
 of your conduct, relative to the affairs of America, since 
 the tmhappy differences have subsisted between Great 
 Britain and the United Colonies, as far as the same hath 
 come to their knowledge, and of their real wish for your 
 return, to resume the government of this province, 
 when we shall happily be restored to peace, and that 
 connection with Great Britain, the interruption and sus- 
 pense of which have filled the mind of every good man 
 with the deepest regret. 
 
 "From the disposition your excellency hath manifested 
 to promote the real interest of both countries, the con- 
 vention is induced to entertain the warmest hopes and 
 expectations that, upon your arrival in England, you will 
 represent the temper and principles of Maryland with 
 the same candor you have hitherto shown, and that you 
 will exert your endeavors to promote a reconciliation, 
 upon terms that may be secure and honorable both to 
 Great Britain and America." 
 
 "To which his excellency returned no answer, but 
 received assurances that he might send down to the 
 Capes for a man-of-war, having engaged by letter to Mr. 
 Carroll, that it should commit no hostilities whilst up for 
 him." (Am. Arch., Fourth Series, Vol. 6, p. 737-8.) 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 87 
 
 A copy of the proceedings of the convention relative to 
 Governor Eden, together with a request for a passport 
 from Virginia, were sent to the president of the Virginia 
 committee of safety, in a letter from the president of the 
 Maryland convention, dated May 25, 1776. This letter 
 was laid before the Virginia convention Ma:y 31, and 
 aroused a strong feeling of indignation. This sentiment 
 will be readily understood when it is remembered that 
 the letters of Lord George Germaine to Governor Eden 
 had been intercepted by the Virginia authorities and by 
 them conveyed to the authorities of Maryland and to 
 Congress. 
 
 These intercepted letters famished indubitable evi- 
 dence that Governor Eden had heretofore conveyed to 
 the British ministry information which they deemed 
 valuable, and that he was expected by them to use the 
 anomalous oificial position in which the Maryland con- 
 vention persistently retained him, to furnish information 
 to Great Britain, and to aid in measures for the sub- 
 jugation of Virginia and other Southern colonies, while 
 Maryland was left free from invasion. The letters did 
 not prove that Governor Eden assented to the Southern 
 invasion, but they did show that the British government 
 relied on him to aid in such purposes, and that he had 
 heretofore furnished important information. This is 
 clearly shown in the following intercepted letter : 
 
 "Whitehall, December 23, 1775. 
 
 "Sir: — It was not until the 27th of November, that 
 your dispatch to Lord Dartmouth, of the 27th of August, 
 was received here, when I had the honor of laying it 
 before the King. And I have it in command from his 
 Majesty to express to you his Majesty's approbation of 
 your zeal for the publick service, and of the unalterable 
 attachment you have shown to his person and Govern- 
 ment, from the first commencement of the present un- 
 happy disputes, which have involved his Majesty's faith- 
 ful servants in the Colonies in difficulties and distress 
 
88 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 that are only to be equalled by the fortitude with which 
 they are borne. 
 
 "Your letter contains a great deal of very useful in- 
 formation, and your confidential communication of the 
 characters, of individuals, more especially of such as 
 come over into England, is of great advantage ; and you 
 may rest assured that every possible precaution will be 
 used that no part of your letter shall transpire. 
 
 "An armament, consisting of seven regiments and a 
 fleet of frigates and small ships, is now in readiness to 
 proceed to the Southern Colonies in order to attempt the 
 restoration of legal Government in that part of America. 
 It will proceed, in the first place, to North Carolina, and 
 from thence either to South Carolina or Virginia, as cir- 
 cumstances of greater or less advantage shall point out ; 
 if to the latter, it may have very important consequences 
 to the Colony under your government, and therefore you 
 will do well to consider of every measure by which you 
 may, in conjunction with Lord Dunmore, give facility 
 and assistance to its operations. 
 
 "I am, sir, your most obedient servant, 
 "George Germaine. 
 "To Robert Eden, Esq., Deputy-Governor of Maryland. 
 
 "Copy. 
 "J. Pendleton, C. C. Safety for Virginia. " 
 
 When, therefore, the action of the Maryland conven- 
 tion was announced to Virginia, accompanied with a re- 
 quest for passports to enable Governor Eden to join Lord 
 Dunmore and the British fleet, it is not surprising that 
 the proposition excited surprise and alarm. The Virginia 
 convention. May 31st, took the following action: 
 
 "Resolved, unanimously, That the committee of 
 safety be directed to write a letter to the president of 
 the convention of Maryland in answer to his letter of the 
 25 th inst., expressing the deepest concern at the proceed- 
 ings of that convention respecting Governor Eden, and 
 our reason for not becoming accessory thereto, by giving 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 89 
 
 him a passport through this colony or the bay adjoining. 
 That we would with reluctance, in any case, intermeddle 
 in the affairs of a sister colony ; but in this matter we 
 are much interested, and the convention of Maryland, by 
 sending their proceedings of the committee of safety 
 here, have made it the duty of the convention to declare 
 their sentiments thereon. That, considering the inter- 
 cepted letter from Lord George Germaine to Governor 
 Eden, in which his whole conduct and confidential let- 
 ters are approved, and he is directed to give facility and 
 assistance to the operations of Lord Dunmore against 
 Virginia, we are at a loss to account for the council of 
 safety of Maryland, their having neglected to seize him, 
 according to the recommendation of the general Con- 
 gress, and more so for the convention having promoted 
 his passage to assist in our destruction, under a pretense 
 of his retiring to England, which, we conceive from the 
 above letter, he is not at liberty to do ; that, supposing 
 he should go to Britain, it appears to us that such voy- 
 age, with the address presented to him, will enable him 
 to assume the character of a public agent, and, by pro- 
 moting diversion and disunion among the colonies, pro- 
 duce consequences the most fatal to the American cause ; 
 that, as the reasons assigned for his departure, 'that he 
 must obey the ministerial mandates while remaining in 
 his government, ' are very unsatisfactory, when the con- 
 vention declare that in his absence the government, in its 
 old form, 'will devolve on the president of the council of 
 state, who will be under equal obligations to perform 
 such mandates, we cannot avoid imputing those proceed- 
 ings to some undue influence of Governor Eden, under 
 the mask of friendship to America, and of the proprietary 
 interest in Maryland, where the members of that con- 
 vention were betrayed into a vote of fatal tendency to 
 the common cause, and we fear to this country in particu- 
 lar, and feel it an indispensable duty to warn the good 
 people of that province to guard against the proprietary 
 influence. ' ' 
 
90 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 "Resolved, That the foregoing resolution be forthwith 
 published in the Virginia Gazette. ' ' (Am. Arch. , Fourth 
 Series, vol. 6, pp. 1544-45-) 
 
 This protest of Virginia was timely. Its publication 
 produced important eflEects, all of which were ultimately 
 salutary, though exciting temporary irritation. June 
 nth the delegates of Maryland in Congress wrote to the 
 Marj'land coimcil of safety: 
 
 "We are astonished at the ungenerous and malevolent 
 turn given to the proceedings of our convention by that 
 of Virginia, and hope that they will be as unsuccessful 
 in their nefarious attempt to stir up the people of Mary- 
 land against their representatives as they have hitherto 
 been in their endeavors to render the councils of that 
 province suspected. ' ' 
 
 They thought it important, however, in the same letter 
 to urge advice similar to the suggestion of Virginia, 
 though not couched in the same plain language. They 
 say: "It will be necessary that the convention of Mary- 
 land should meet as soon as possible to give the explicit 
 sense of the province on this point (the Declaration of 
 Independence) ; and we hope that you will accordingly 
 exercise your power of convening them at such time as 
 you think the members can be brought together." 
 
 The council of safety had already acted, and by circu- 
 lar of June 9th had summoned the delegates to meet 
 in convention at Annapolis June 20th, and to be punc- 
 tual, "as the business is very urgent and will not admit 
 of a moment's delay." The convention met at the time 
 appointed. Their action is thus described in the inter- 
 esting history of Maryland by William Hand Brown. 
 (Commonwealth Series, p. 280.) 
 
 "They summoned their deputies back from congress, 
 and then laid the question before the freemen. These, 
 meeting in their sovereign political capacity in their 
 several counties, instructed their representatives in the 
 convention to rescind the restrictions imposed upon the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 91 
 
 deputies in Congress, and to allow them to unite with 
 those of the other colonies in declaring independence and 
 forming a confederation. ' ' 
 
 The Maryland convention defended its previous action 
 upon the ground of lack of authority, claiming that its 
 powers were limited to carrying out the non-importatioiji 
 agreements; "that it had been empowered to exercise 
 its functions with a view to reconciliation with Gre&t 
 Britain, and that it had no power to declare independeijice 
 — for that it must go to the people. ' ' 
 
 This view of passive obedience does not accord with 
 the vigor and warmth of the instructions to her dele- 
 gates, issued by the convention in the previous month, 
 nor with the earnestness with which they implored the 
 cilices of Governor Eden with the British ministry. How 
 far the convention was influenced by the proprietary in- 
 terests, as charged by Virginia, cannot be determined. 
 One thing, however, is clear: The convention had been 
 very slow "to go to the people." The blunt letter of 
 Virginia, rebuking not the people of Maryland but its con- 
 vention, was an important factor "to stir up the people" 
 as well as the convention. As soon as the opportunity 
 was afforded them, the people of Maryland responded 
 nobly, and the convention caught their spirit. Action 
 was prompt. There was no quibbling or shuffling to pre- 
 serve consistency. The convention went to the people 
 and obeyed their voice. The policy was instantly re- 
 versed, and Maryland's vote was made ready for inde- 
 pendence. July ist her delegates laid before Congress 
 the resolutions of the Maryland convention, adopted 
 June 3 8th. 
 
 By these resolutions the previous instructions were 
 revoked, and the restrictions therein contained removed; 
 and the deputies were "authorized and empowered to 
 concur with the other United Colonies, or a majority of 
 them, in declaring the United Colonies free and indepen- 
 dent States, in forming such further compact and con- 
 
92 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 federation between them, in making foreign alliances, 
 and in adopting such other measures as shall be adjudged 
 necessary for securing the liberties of America; and that 
 said colony will hold itself bound by the resolutions of a 
 majority of the United Colonies in the premises, pro- 
 vided the sole and exclusive right of regulating the inter- 
 nal government and police of that colony be reserved to 
 the people thereof. ' ' 
 
 The next day, July 2d, the motion of the Virginia dele- 
 gates of June 7th was adopted in Congress, and the vote 
 of Maryland is recorded in the affirmative. Thus, the 
 first effect of the revival of the old colonial feud was 
 beneficial to the country. But the feud did not end here. 
 
 The Maryland convention having obeyed the voice of 
 the people and placed the State in its true position, now 
 turned attention to censure Virginia for what they styled 
 the appeal "to the good people of this province against 
 their convention. " Waiting two days for the rejoicings 
 of July 4th to subside, the Maryland convention, July 
 6th, adopted a series of resolutions defending their own 
 course with regard to Governor Eden, and censuring 
 Virginia for publishing the resolutions of May 31st. 
 These resolutions of Maryland are too long to quote. 
 They are strongly worded, and, thoHigh courteously 
 expressed, evince a feeling of deep resentment. 
 (American Archives, Fourth Series, vol. 6, pp. 1506, 
 1727.) 
 
 The opportunity to repay Virginia in kind was now at 
 hand. The convention of Virginia did not stop with in- 
 structing her delegates in Congress to move for indepen- 
 dence and confederation. Without waiting on the result, 
 the convention entered upon the work of preparing the 
 State for independence and union. Her "Declaration of 
 Rights" was adopted June 12th, and her "Constitution or 
 form of government" was adopted, with like unanimity, 
 June 29th. Article XXI of this instrument was intended 
 to pave the way to confederation by releasing all title to 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 93 
 
 the territory of other States, which had been carved out 
 of her territory by grants of the crown, and which had 
 occasioned colonial disputes, especially with Maryland. 
 This article reads as follows: "The territories contained 
 within the charters erecting the colonies Maryland, 
 Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, are hereby 
 ceded, released and forever confirmed to the people of 
 those colonies respectively, with all the rights of prop- 
 erty, jurisdiction and government, and all other rights 
 whatsoever which might at any time heretofore have been 
 claimed by Virginia, except the free navigation and use 
 of the rivers Potowmack and Pohomoke, with the prop- 
 erty of the Virginia shores or strands bordering on 
 either of the said rivers, and all improvements which 
 have been made or shall be made thereon. The western 
 and northern extent of Virginia shall in all other re- 
 spects stand as fixed by the charter of King James the 
 First, in the year one thousand six hundred and nine, 
 and by the publick treaty of peace between the courts of 
 Great Britain and France in the year one thousand seven 
 hundred and sixty- three; unless, by act of legislature, 
 one or more territories shall hereafter be laid off, and 
 governments established westward of the Alleghany 
 mountains. And no purchase of lands shall be made of 
 the Indian natives but on behalf of the publick, by au- 
 thority of the general assembly." (Henning's Statutes 
 of Virginia.) 
 
 Judge Haywood remarks on this action: "Here was 
 magnanimously cut off and surrendered all the territory 
 which had been taken from Virginia to satisfy the grants 
 to the Lords Proprietors. " (Haywood's Hist, of Tenn., 
 p. 6.)* 
 
 Haywood is just in calling this action magnanimous. 
 
 While Virginia could not, perhaps, have maintained a 
 
 * Revised extracts from a series of articles written by the author 
 and published by the Tennessee Historical Society, and in current 
 magazines, are used in this chapter without quotation marks or 
 references. 
 
94 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 successful claim to the possession of those territories to 
 which her abstract prior title had so long lain dormant, 
 and had been weakened, if not destroyed, by so many 
 capricious grants from the same power by which it was 
 created, yet her position offered strong temptations to 
 pursue the time sanctioned European policy, the policy 
 which European statesmen consider sagacious, which has 
 built up all the great powers of Europe at the expense of 
 their neighbors, and which is pursued now and ever has 
 been pursued throughout the whole history of their diplo- 
 macy. That policy would have been to nurse her claims, 
 to hold them as a perpetual thorn in the side of her 
 neighboring States, to prevent the formation of the union, 
 to make herself the great central absorbing power, and 
 gradually to encroach on the lesser States. Such a policy 
 was feared by several of the smaller States, especially by 
 Maryland. Had a monarch ruled the destinies of Virginia, 
 such would have been the inevitable tendency of events. 
 With wealth, population and resources then superior to 
 any of the States, the prospect was certainly alluring, had 
 the ambition of Virginia aimed at empire. But a far 
 different spirit animated her people. Fired with the 
 love of liberty, and struggling for their own freedom 
 from the grasp of Great Britain, no thought entered 
 their minds of aggression against the brethren fighting 
 by their sides. Impelled by this spirit of her people, she 
 devoted her efforts to bind the States in a fraternal com- 
 pact, to remove all causes of jealousy, and to build up a 
 great and permanent Federal republic, and she hastened 
 to surrender all claims to the territory of her sister States. 
 The Maryland convention, however, was in no frame 
 of mind to recognize the magnanimity of Virginia. On 
 the 29th of October the Maryland convention entered 
 upon its journal the following note: "This convention, 
 being informed that in the constitution or form of 
 government agreed upon by the delegates of Virginia, a 
 claim is made by them injurious to the inhabitants of 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 95 
 
 this state," (American Archives, Fifth Series, vol. 3, p. 
 133 ), "Ordered, That the same be read, and the same was 
 read, as follows, to wit:" The twenty-first section of 
 the Virginia constitution, as above quoted, was then read, 
 and the convention resolved to consider the matter on 
 the next day, October 30th. The consideration was re- 
 sumed at the time appointed, whereupon a series of 
 three resolutions was adopted. These resolutions make 
 no acknowledgment of the effort of Virginia to terminate 
 the old colonial disputes by the cession of her charter 
 claims, but seem rather to resent it. The first resolution 
 is in the following words: (Ibid., p. 134.) 
 
 "Resolved, unanimously, That it is the opinion of this 
 convention that the State of Virginia hath not any right 
 or title to any of the territory, bays, rivers, or waters in- 
 cluded in the charter granted by His Majesty Charles 
 the First to Csecilius Calvert, Baron of Baltimore." 
 (Am. Arch., Fifth Series, vol. 3, pp. 133, 134.) 
 
 The second resolution is devoted to boundary claims, 
 asserting "sole and exclusive jurisdiction over the said 
 river Potowmack, ' ' etc. The third resolution is the one 
 which demands our attention. It is as follows: 
 
 "Resolved, unanimously. That it is the opinion of this 
 convention that the very extensive claim of the State of 
 Virginia to the back lands hath no foundation in justice, 
 and that if the same or any like claim is admitted, the 
 freedom of the smaller States and the liberties of America 
 may be thereby greatly endangered; this convention 
 being firmly persuaded that, if the dominion over those 
 lands should be established by the blood and treasure of 
 the United States, such lands ought to be considered as 
 a common stock, to be parceled out at proper times into 
 convenient, free and independent governments."* 
 
 This resolution marks the beginning of the contro- 
 
 * Mr. Herbert B. Adams, in "Maryland's Influence Upon Land 
 Cessions," does not mention this resolution of Maryland, but treats 
 her movement as beginning with the motion made in Congress Octo- 
 ber 15, 1777, nearly one year later. 
 
96 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 versy which delayed the formation of the Confederation 
 for nearly five years, and threatened, at one time, to 
 defeat it. The spirit of retaliation against Virginia is 
 manifest upon its face, yet it ultimately led to good re- 
 sults. Just as the timely thrust of Virginia had awak- 
 ened the people of Maryland to the patriotic action which 
 hastened the Declaration of Independence, so the retalia- 
 tion of Maryland, though failing signally, as we shall 
 hereafter see, in the measures proposed by the State, yet 
 had the effect to draw attention to the subject, and ulti- 
 mately induced Virginia to reconsider the territorial 
 policy announced in her constitution, and to make the 
 voluntary cession of her western possessions the most 
 magnanimous act of history. 
 
 The territorial policy of Virginia had been fore- 
 shadowed in her constitution of June 26th, 1776, which 
 was passed by the unanimous vote of her convention. 
 This instrument declares that her western and northern 
 extent shall stand as fixed by her charter, ''''unless by act 
 of legislature one or more territories shall hereafter be laid off 
 and governments established west of the Alleghany mountains." 
 
 This policy, so solemnlj'- incorporated into her funda- 
 mental law, although the purpose of organizing the terri- 
 tory into new States is contingently expressed, furnishing 
 the first official suggestion of additional States, was 
 voluntarily made without pressure from others, and has 
 been faithfully carried out. In one respect alone has 
 Virginia departed from the policy outlined in her consti- 
 tution. Instead of organizing all of her territory "west 
 of the Alleghany mountains" into States by the direct 
 agency of her own legislature, she subsequently com- 
 mitted a portion of that duty to the United States by 
 ceding the Northwest Territory, under express stipula- 
 tions that it should be organized into States. She re- 
 served the portion south of the Ohio, and, by direct 
 action of her own legislature, erected it into the State of 
 Kentucky in 1792, ten years before the United States 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 97 
 
 was able to begin redeeming its pledge of organizing the 
 Northwest Territory into States by creating the State of 
 Ohio in 1802. 
 
 Maryland's resolution of October 30, 1776, contained 
 the excellent suggestion that Congress could make good 
 use of these western lands, and would be the best agent 
 for organizing them into independent States; but her 
 reasoning as to any title of the United States was fal- 
 lacious, and the coercive measures hinted at, and subse- 
 quently urged, were unwarrantable. The resolution 
 was speedily followed up by bringing the matter before 
 Congress. November 9th, 1776, the convention took up 
 the consideration of a letter from the president of Con- 
 gress, urging them to rescind the action of Maryland 
 "to pay ten dollars in lieu of the hundred acres of bounty 
 land determined by Congress to be given to such non- 
 commissioned officers and soldiers as shall inlist to 
 serve during the war." 
 
 In reply to this letter the convention resolved that the 
 president of the convention be directed to write to Con- 
 gress and inform them that Maryland had no public 
 lands which could be pledged to the soldiers, and knew 
 of no such lands owned by Congress ; that Maryland 
 declined to pledge the faith of the State to offer one hun- 
 dred acres as bounty for enlistment until "the honoura- 
 ble Congress will specify any Land belonging to the 
 United States as common stock to be divided among the 
 soldiery. " 
 
 Then comes the climax: "That this convention are 
 under the strongest impression that the back Lands 
 claimed by the British Crown, if secured by the blood 
 and treasure of all, ought, in reason, justice and policy, 
 to be considered as a common stock, to be parceled out 
 by Congress into free, convenient and independent 
 governments, as the wisdom of that body shall hereafter 
 direct; but if these (the only lands as this convention 
 apprehend that can) should be provided by Congress at 
 1-7 
 
98 coy FEDERATE MIUTARY HISTORY. 
 
 the expense of the United States to make good the prof- 
 fered bounties, every idea of their being a common stock 
 must thereby be given up ; some of the states may, by fix- 
 ing their own price on the Land, pay off what of their 
 quota of the pubKc debt they please, and have their ex- 
 tensive territory settled by the soldiery of the other 
 states, whilst this state and a few others must be so 
 weakened and impoverished that they can hold their 
 liberties only at the will of their powerful neighbors. " 
 (Am. Arch., Fifth Series, voL 3, p. 1569.) 
 
 This letter was read in Congress November 13, 1776, 
 and elicited no action except an order that the president 
 inform Maryland that the faith of the United States is 
 pledged for the bounty land to the soldiers. But Mary- 
 land was resolute to follow up the attack. October 15, 
 1777, her delegates moved in Congress "that the United 
 States, in Congress assembled, shall have the sole and 
 exclusive right and power to ascertain and fix the western 
 botmdary of such states as claim to the Mississippi or 
 South Sea and lay out the land beyond the boundary 
 so ascertained, into separate and independent States, 
 from time to time, as the numbers and circumstances 
 of the people may require." (Journals, voL 2, p. 290.) 
 
 This motion fully developed the Maryland idea. Coer- 
 cion was to be used. This was proposed even before a 
 confederation was established. The unorganized United 
 States should seize the territory of the States, and de- 
 prive them of jurisdiction and property. The argument 
 was, that some of the smaller States did not own public 
 land, and felt it to be a hardship to lack this resource 
 while others possessed it ; that this land, if secured by 
 "the blood and treasiire of aU," should be a "common 
 stock"; therefore, the United States should arbitrarily 
 limit the western boundaries of the claimant States with- 
 out regard to their charter rights, and take possession of 
 all territory which they saw fit to sequester. No wonder 
 that such a proposition received only the vote of Mary- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 99 
 
 land, and neither then nor subsequently obtained the 
 sanction of the United States. It was abhorrent to all 
 the principles so recently announced in the Declaration 
 of Independence, the only charter under which the 
 United States could, at that time, claim existence. 
 
 When the thirteen colonies became States by the Dec- 
 laration of Independence, their several territorial limits 
 remained unchanged. "These United Colonies are^ and 
 of right ought to be, free and independent States." 
 What colonies? ^' These." The several colonies as they 
 were on the 4th of July, 1776, with their respective 
 boundaries and charter rights, became States. What 
 defined "these" colonies? Their several charters. In the 
 same series of resolutions of October 30, 1776, in which 
 Maryland began the assault on the rights of Virginia, 
 she asserted her own territorial rights, and based them 
 upon "the charter granted by His Majesty Charles the 
 First to Csecilius Calvert. ' ' 
 
 The declaration to which the several States plighted 
 "our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor," bound 
 them to respect and defend each other's chartered rights 
 by "the blood and treasure of all." But for whose 
 benefit were these chartered rights to be respected and 
 defended? Was all the territory of the States to become 
 the property of Congress, and form a common stock? 
 Every sentiment of justice revolts at the thought. 
 
 Had the war been unsuccessful, each State would have 
 returned to its colonial condition without change of 
 boundary. Had independence been achieved, and no 
 union established, certainly each State would have re- 
 tained its charter boundaries. In the case of conflict of 
 title under charter claims, as in the case of Virginia's 
 conflict with Massachusetts and Connecticut, the matter 
 would have been settled between the claimant States, 
 either by war or by treaty. 
 
 When independence was achieved and union was es- 
 tablished, the charter rights of the claimants were in no 
 
100 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 way affected, except that a tribunal was provided for the 
 peaceable adjustment of conflicting claims. This was 
 done by the unanimous consent of the States, and was 
 carefully guarded to prevent the United States from 
 abusing the position of umpire. 
 
 But it was argued that these western lands were unoc- 
 cupied and unsettled, and therefore different from other 
 lands; that the settled lands, although "defended by the 
 blood and treasure of all, ' ' were not claimed as a com- 
 mon stock, but inured to their respective States and were 
 covered by their respective charters; these lands, how- 
 ever, were different, and the charters of their States did 
 not protect them. The fallacy of this argument appears 
 on its face. The charter protected the entire jurisdiction 
 of the State. The war was undertaken to secure to each 
 State its rights of person and property. No right accrued 
 to the United States to usurp the jurisdiction and abridge 
 the charter limits of any State. 
 
 Later on, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Delaware, 
 though not going to the extreme position of Maryland, 
 came to her aid. The land companies, which had been 
 repudiated by Virginia, joined the alliance, and the argu- 
 ment was revived in a modified form. 
 
 Conceding that the jurisdiction of the several States was 
 protected by their charters, it was urged that the property 
 rights in the soil were not thus protected ; that the King of 
 Great Britain owned the property right to all ungranted 
 lands within the charter limits of the several colonies 
 until they became States, and therefore the general gov- 
 ernment, as the successor to the king, became at once 
 the owner of these unoccupied or "crown lands," holding 
 them within the jurisdiction of the several States. This 
 argument, yielding half the controversy, was more plausi- 
 ble and less repulsive than the former, but was totally 
 unsound. 
 
 If it applied to the unoccupied lands in the west, it 
 jnust apply with equal force to all unoccupied lands in aU 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 101 
 
 portions of the United States, yet it was proposed that 
 this rule should be applied only to "the western boun- 
 daries of such States as claim to the Mississippi or the 
 South Seas. ' ' In its general application it would have 
 been resisted by every State, and even by Maryland 
 itself. If it applied to the crown lands, it must equally 
 apply to proprietary rights; yet Maryland confiscated 
 the proprietary rights and quit rents, and never proposed 
 that the United States should inherit them. If it applied 
 to lands, it must apply to all other species of property. 
 If it applied to property, it must apply to all other rights 
 and powers of the crown, and a general government, as 
 yet unborn, was heir to all the rights and powers of the 
 British crown. If this doctrine prevailed, what was the 
 use of framing articles of confederation? Why was unani- 
 mous consent required? There was already -a nebulous 
 sovereignty whom nobody could locate, inheritor of the 
 crown, and king of America. 
 
 The sentiments of the people of the United States could 
 be reconciled to no such doctrine, in whole or in part. 
 The strong common sense of their representatives had 
 declared, not that all political connection between the 
 states and Great Britain has descended io an heir, 
 but that it "m totally dissolved." They inherited no 
 general government, they created one, and took five 
 years to frame one to suit them. After a discussion as 
 to whether it were better to form a confederation before 
 declaring independence, it was decided to declare inde- 
 pendence first ; in order that the free and independent 
 States, and not the English colonies, might determine 
 the conditions of permanent union. When this Con- 
 federation was established, it was vested with rights and 
 powers conferred and defined by the States, and possessed 
 not a trace of hereditary rights or powers descended from 
 the British crown. The claim that Congress inherited 
 from the British crown the right to limit the boundaries 
 of the several States or to sequester lands, whether 
 
102 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 settled or unsettled, covered by their several charters, 
 was, therefore, untenable, and was never sanctioned or 
 seriously contemplated by the United States. 
 
 On the contrary, the recognition of the jurisdiction of 
 the several States over all land, settled or unsettled, 
 within their respective charter limits, some of which has 
 never been ceded to, and none of which has ever been 
 claimed by, the United States ; the repeated invitations 
 to the States to make cessions of their western lands ; the 
 care with which the terms of each cession were scruti- 
 nized ; the scrupulous observance of the stipulations of 
 these cessions, especially in the cases of Georgia and 
 Connecticut, and of the request to Virginia to amend the 
 terms of its cession so as to permit the Northwest Terri- 
 tory to be organized into more than three States ; the in- 
 corporation into the articles of confederation of the pro\'i- 
 sion by which the United States can take cognizance of 
 the boundaries or jurisdiction of States only as "the last 
 resort on appeal, ' ' when the case shall be brought before 
 Congress by "the legislative or executive authority or 
 lawful agent" of one of the States "in controversy"; the 
 adoption of the guarding clause, "No State shall be de- 
 prived of territory for the benefit of the United States' ' ; 
 the language of the ordinances of 1784 and 1787; subse- 
 quent decisions of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States on collateral questions growing out of the cession ; 
 all abundantly show that the United States has uniformly 
 respected the charter titles of the States to their western 
 territory. 
 
 The events connected with the origin of this dispute 
 have been given in some detail, for the reason that, 
 although essential to a just estimate of the acts and 
 motives of the leading parties to the controversy, they 
 have not been adequately set forth by previous writers. 
 The events which follow have been discussed by many 
 historians, who agree on the main facts but differ in their 
 opinions and reflections. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 103 
 
 The motion of the Virginia delegates, offered June 7, 
 1776, embraced a clause "that a plan of confederation be 
 prepared and transmitted to the respective colonies for 
 their consideration." July nth Congress resolved to 
 create a committee for the purpose, which was appointed 
 the next day, consisting of one member from each State. 
 This committee reported a plan of confederation July 
 12th, which was debated at intervals until August 20th, 
 when the committee presented an amended report. 
 April, 1777, it was decided to devote two days in each 
 week to the consideration of the subject. It was during 
 the progress of these debates that Maryland offered, 
 October 15, 1777, the motion heretofore quoted. The 
 Articles were adopted by Congress November 15, 1777, 
 not to be valid until ratified by all the States, and a 
 circular was addressed to the States urging ratification. 
 (Journals, vol. i, pp. 408, 507, 618; vol. 2, p. 598.) 
 
 While the ratification was pending, Maryland continued 
 her contest relative to the western lands by offering, 
 June 22, 1778, a series of amendments to the Articles. 
 Among these was an amendment intended to break down 
 the safeguard which guaranteed to the States the protec- 
 tion of their territory from infraction by the United 
 States. The proposed amendment was in the following 
 words: "Article 9; after the words 'shall be deprived of 
 territory for the benefit of the United States,' insert 'the 
 United States, in Congress assembled, shall have the 
 power to appoint commissioners, who shall be fully 
 authorized and empowered to ascertain and restrict the 
 boundaries of such of the confederated States which claim 
 to the river Mississippi or South Sea. ' ' ' This amend- 
 ment was rejected, receiving five votes, Maryland, New 
 Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware and Pennsylvania. 
 Against it were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connec- 
 ticut, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia. New York 
 was divided, and North Carolina absent. 
 
 July 9, 1778, the delegates of all the States, in accord- 
 
104 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 ance with instructions, signed the articles in ratification 
 of their respective States, except the delegates of New 
 Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. Rhode Island, al- 
 though signing in ratification, proposed an amendment, 
 that the crown lands "shall be deemed, taken and con- 
 sidered as the property of these United States, and be dis- 
 posed of and appropriated by Congress for the benefit of 
 the whole Confederacy, reserving, however, to the States 
 within whose limits such crown lands may be, the entire 
 and complete jurisdiction thereof." New Jersey pre- 
 sented a memorial setting forth the views of her legisla- 
 ture on a number of matters. On the subject of the 
 western lands New Jersey expressed views similar to 
 those of Rhode Island ; that the crown lands belong to 
 the United States, the jurisdiction being reserved to the 
 States within whose charter limits the land may lie. 
 New Jersey acceded to the Confederation November 25, 
 
 1778. Delaware acceded February 23, 1779, but filed a 
 protest, affirming the right of Delaware and all the other 
 states to a share in the western lands. Congress per- 
 mitted this protest to be filed with a condition "that it 
 shall never be considered as admitting any claim by the 
 same set up or intended to be setup." Maryland re- 
 fused to become a member of the Confederation unless 
 the articles should be amended to contain a provision in 
 conformity to her views in reference to the western 
 country. She seemed to persist in her course, notwith- 
 standing that she had been defeated at every step. De- 
 cember 15, 1778, her legislature adopted "A declaration 
 and a letter of instructions to her delegates in Congress, ' ' 
 both of which were devoted to the subject of the 
 western lands and were laid before Congress May 21, 
 
 1779. (Journals of Congress, vol. 2, pp. 601-605; vol. 3, 
 pp. 281-2-3, 289. Henning's Statutes of Virginia, vol. 10, 
 appendix.) 
 
 These documents reiterate the former claims and argu- 
 ments of Maryland, extending and elaborating them. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 105 
 
 They complain that "the alterations and amendments 
 proposed by our delegates to the Confederation in conse- 
 quence of the aforesaid instructions by us to them given, 
 were rejected, and no satisfactory reason assigned for the 
 rejection thereof." They declare that unless amend- 
 ments be made to "the third article of the Confederation, 
 and the proviso to the ninth (according to which no 
 State is to be deprived of territory for the benefit of the 
 United States)," that "we mean not to subject ourselves 
 to such guaranty." * * * "We declare that we will ac- 
 cede to the Confederation, provided an article or articles 
 be added thereto, giving full power to the United States, 
 in Congress assembled, to ascertain and fix the western 
 limits of the States claiming to extend to the Mississippi 
 or South Sea, and expressly reserving or securing to the 
 United States a right in common in and to all lands lying 
 to the westward of the frontiers as aforesaid, not granted 
 to, or surveyed for, or purchased by individuals at the 
 commencement of the present war. ' ' Allusion is made 
 to States "grasping for territories to which, in our judg- 
 ment, they have not the least shadow of exclusive right. ' ' 
 A picture is painted of the great advantages Virginia 
 would enjoy by selling these lands, and attracting the 
 population of other States. The probability that Virginia 
 would organize this territory into independent States is 
 made the occasion of severe arraignment, and the charge 
 of establishing a "sub- confederacy," an "imperiumin 
 imperio," and of a movement "to lull suspicion to 
 sleep, and to cover the designs of a secret ambition. ' ' 
 Her former allies in the effort to establish the western 
 limits, who had subsequently joined the Confederation, 
 are touched up as follows : 
 
 "Although the pressure of immediate calamities, the 
 dread of their continuing from the appearance of dis- 
 union, and some other peculiar circumstances, may have 
 induced some States to accede to the present Confedera- 
 tion contrary to their own interests and judgments, it 
 
106 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 requires no great share of foresight to predict that when 
 these causes cease to operate the States which have thus 
 acceded to the Confederation will consider the first occa- 
 sion of asserting their just rights and securing their inde- 
 pendence. ' ' 
 
 Her delegates are instructed "not to agree to the Con- 
 federation unless an article or articles be added thereto 
 in conformity with our declaration. Should we succeed 
 in obtaining such article or articles, then you are hereby 
 fully empowered to accede to the Confederation. ' ' 
 
 While very desirous to complete the Confederation, 
 Congress would not and could not surrender the great 
 principles at stake. The coerciixe measures of Maryland 
 hsiA. failed. What was to be done? Neither Virginia, the 
 Carolinas, Georgia, Massachusetts nor Connecticut would 
 submit to have their charter rights invaded, nor would 
 Congress consent to invade them. Virginia and Connec- 
 ticut had instructed their delegates to proceed to form 
 the Confederation without waiting longer on Maryland. 
 These instructions were presented on the same day with 
 the Maryland memorial, and the Virginia delegates pre- 
 sented resolutions in pursuance thereof. More patient 
 councils prevailed, and the Confederation remained in 
 suspense. 
 
 At this stage the land companies, which, since the re- 
 fusal of Virginia to recognize their claims, had been 
 operating unseen in the effort to wrest these lands from 
 Virginia and place them in the hands of Congress, where 
 they hoped to have more weight, threw aside the cloak 
 and appeared as open antagonists. Virginia had, May 
 1 8, 1779, passed an act to open a land office and sell a 
 portion of the land claimed by these companies. The 
 land companies now addressed memorials to Congress, 
 September 14, 1779, in which they claimed that the 
 western lands were the property of the United States as 
 successors to Great Britain, and prayed Congress to 
 decide their controversy with Virginia. These memo- 
 
CONFEDERA TE MILITARY HISTOR Y. 107 
 
 rials were referred to a committee, before which the 
 delegates of Virginia indignantly refused to appear or 
 plead. The movement was followed up by a motion 
 introduced by two delegates of Maryland, which, after 
 amendment, was adopted, and was as follows: 
 
 "Whereas, The appropriation of vacant lands by the 
 several States, during the continuance of the war, will, 
 in the opinion of Congress, be attended with great mis- 
 chiefs ; therefore, 
 
 "Resolved, That it be earnestly recommended to the 
 State of Virginia to reconsider the late act of assembly 
 for opening their land office; and that it be recom- 
 mended to the said State, and all other States similarly 
 circumstanced, to forbeair settling or issuing warrants 
 for unappropriated lands, or granting the same during 
 the continuance of the present war." (Journal, vol. 3, 
 
 P- 33S0 
 
 The tone of Maryland was beginning to change. Her 
 present motion does hot ask Congress to use coercive 
 measures to prevent Virginia from selling her lands. It 
 is now a request or recommendation addressed to the 
 State. Virginia made prompt and generous response by 
 adopting, December loth, her famous remonstrance. 
 This able document so lucidly presents her case that the 
 reader will be interested to peruse it in full : 
 
 "The General Assembly of Virginia, ever attentive to 
 the recommendations of Congress, and desirous to give 
 the great council of the United States every satisfaction 
 in their power, consistent with the rights and constitu- 
 tion of their commonwealth, have enacted a law to pre- 
 vent present settlements on the northwest side of the 
 Ohio river, and will on all occasions endeavor to manifest 
 their attachment to the common interest of America, and 
 their earnest wish to remove every cause of jealousy, and 
 to promote that mutual confidence and harmony between 
 the different States so essential to their true interest and 
 safety. 
 
108 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 "Strongly impressed with these sentiments, the Gen- 
 eral Assembly of Virginia cannot avoid expressing their 
 surprise and concern upon the information that Congress 
 had received and countenanced petitions from certain 
 persons, styling themselves the Vandalia and Indiana 
 companies, asserting claims to lands in defiance of the 
 civil authority, jurisdiction and laws of this common- 
 wealth, and offering to erect a separate government 
 within the territory thereof. Should Congress assume a 
 jurisdiction, not only unwarranted by but expressly con- 
 trary to the fundamental principles of the Confederation, 
 superseding or controlling the internal policy, civil 
 regulations and municipal laws of this or any other State, 
 it would be a violation of public faith, introduce a most 
 dangerous precedent which might hereafter be urged to 
 deprive of territory or subvert the sovereignty and 
 government of any one or more of the United States, 
 and establish in Congress a power which, in process of 
 time, must degenerate into an intolerable despotism. 
 
 "It is notorious that the Vandalia and Indiana com- 
 panies are not the only claimers of large tracts of land 
 under titles repugnant to our laws; that several men of 
 great influence in some of the neighboring States are 
 concerned in partnership with the Earl of Dunmore and 
 other subjects of the British king, who, under purchases 
 from the Indians, claim extensive tracts of country be- 
 tween the Ohio and Mississippi rivers ; and that proposi- 
 tions have been made to Congress evidently calculated to 
 secure and guarantee such purchases; so that, under 
 color of creating a common fund, had those propositions 
 been adopted, the public would have been duped by the 
 arts of individuals, and great part of the value of unap- 
 propriated lands converted to private purposes. 
 
 "Congress has lately described and ascertained the 
 boundaries of these United States as an ultimatum in 
 their terms of peace. The United States hold no terri- 
 tory but in right of some one individual State in the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 109 
 
 Union ; the territory of each State from time immemorial 
 hath been fixed and determined by their respective char- 
 ters, there being no other rule or criterion to judge by ; 
 should these in any instance (when there is no disputed 
 territory between particular States) be abridged without 
 the consent of the states affected by it, general confusion 
 must ensue; each state would be subjected in its turn to 
 the encroachments of the others, and a field opened to 
 future wars and bloodshed ; nor can any arguments be 
 fairly urged to prove that any particular tract of country, 
 within the limits claimed by Congress on behalf of the 
 United States, is not part of the chartered territory of 
 some one of them, but must militate with equal force 
 against the rights of the United States in general, and 
 tend to prove such tract of country (if north of the Ohio 
 river) part of the British province of Canada. 
 
 "When Virginia acceded to the Articles of Confedera- 
 tion, her rights of sovereignty and jurisdiction within her 
 own territory was reserved and secured to her; and cannot 
 now be infringed or altered without her consent. She 
 could have no latent views of extending that territory, 
 because it had long before been expressly and clearly 
 defined in the act which formed her new government. 
 
 "The General Assembly of Virginia have heretofore 
 offered Congress to furnish lands out of their territory on 
 the northwest side of the Ohio river, without purchase 
 money, to the troops on continental establishments of 
 such of the confederated States as had not unappro- 
 priated lands for that purpose, in conjunction with 
 the other States holding unappropriated lands, and 
 in such proportion as should be adjusted and settled 
 by Congress, which offer, when accepted, they will 
 most cheerfully make good to the same extent, with 
 the provision made by law for their own troops, if Con- 
 gress shall think fit to allow the like quantities of land to 
 the other troops on continental establishment. But, 
 although the General Assembly of Virginia would make 
 
110 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 great sacrifices to the common interest of America (as 
 they have already done on the subject of representa- 
 tion), and will be ready to listen to any just and reasona- 
 ble proposition for removing the ostensible causes of 
 delay to the complete ratification of the Confederation, 
 they find themselves impelled by the duties which they 
 owe to their constituents, to their posterity, to their 
 country, and to the United States in general, to remon- 
 strate and protest ; and they do hereby, in the name and 
 on behalf of the Commonwealth of Virginia, expressly 
 protest against any jurisdiction or right of adjudication 
 in Congress, upon the petitions of the Vandalia or Indi- 
 ana companies, or on any other matter or things subver- 
 sive of the internal policy, civil government or sover- 
 eignty of this or any other of the United American 
 States, or unwarranted by the articles of the Confedera- 
 tion. " (Henning's Statutes, vol. lo, pp. 557-559.) 
 
 This remonstrance plainly showed that Virginia under- 
 stood her rights and intended to maintain them. It fur- 
 ther distinctly stated that Virginia was willing to make 
 great sacrifices, and invited propositions for removing 
 the ostensible cause of delay in completing the Confed- 
 eration. In short, it showed plainly that Virginia might 
 be persuaded, but could not be coerced. 
 
 Maryland's plan of coercion having failed, Virginia 
 having supplied the hint. New York now set the example 
 of voluntary cession. She stepped forward as a mediator 
 in the quarrel between her two Southern sisters. Her 
 course was judicious, patriotic and adroit. Her legisla- 
 ture, by act of March 7, 1780, authorized her delegates in 
 Congress to cede all her claims to the United States. 
 This cession of New York could have no effect except the 
 force of example. She assumed to give away what did 
 not belong to her, yet she gave it with admirable grace 
 and with suggestive purpose. Why could not the situa- 
 tion be relieved by voluntary cessions from other States? 
 
 The effect was happy. The way was opened to a 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. HI 
 
 friendly solution. The early suggestion of Maryland 
 had drawn the attention of the whole country to the 
 value of the unsettled western lands as a national domain, 
 to be organized into new states by Congress, and her 
 persistence had kept alive public interest in the matter. 
 
 Her rashness in urging coercive measures had repelled 
 confidence in the movement, and had left her no sup- 
 porters except the land companies. Rhode Island, New 
 Jersey and Delaware, declining to follow her into ex- 
 treme measures, had acceded to the Confederation, leav- 
 ing her in an awkward predicament. From this painful 
 condition the judicious action of New York and the 
 generous cession of Virginia came in time to extricate 
 her. 
 
 The Virginia statesmen had arrived at the conclusion 
 that the purpose announced in their State constitution of 
 1776, of organizing their western possessions into inde- 
 pendent States, could be better carried out by the United 
 States than by the parent State. While irritated at the 
 unjust assaults upon her title, and the threats of coer- 
 cion, and while they could not concede that any portion 
 of this land belonged to the smaller States, as a common 
 stock , yet they recognized that these States were sadly 
 in need of some such resource, which it was in the power 
 of Virginia, by a wise and generous policy, to supply 
 them. Such a policy would appease all jealousies, and 
 would assure the great national purpose which Virginia 
 had proposed and still ardently cherished, the completion 
 of the Confederation. 
 
 Now that all efforts at coercion had signally failed, 
 Virginia could be magnanimous ; yet there was necessity 
 for caution. The Confederation was not complete, and 
 it would manifestly be unwise to cede her territory to an 
 inchoate government. This territory must be guarded 
 from the grasp of the land companies, which had ac- 
 quired a strong influence in Congress. The claim that 
 the United States possessed title to. any territory within 
 
112 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 the cliaxter limits of Virginia or any other State, to be 
 enforced at the pleasure of Congress, upon the plea that 
 it had been defended by the common blood and treasure, 
 or upon any other specious plea, was a dangerous doc- 
 trine, and any concession of Virginia must be so guarded 
 that it could not be construed into a precedent to sanc- 
 tion such a claim. Impelled by patriotic impulses, and 
 restrained by wise considerations of caution, Virginia de- 
 cided to cede to the United States all the territory within 
 her charter limits north of the Ohio river, and to guard 
 this cession by conditions to protect those principles 
 which she had so firmly maintained. 
 
 Congress was also now ready to act upon the hint sup- 
 plied by New York. Resolutions were adopted, Septem- 
 ber 6, 1780, urging all the States who owned western 
 lands to make "a liberal surrender of a portion of their 
 territorial claims so necessary to the happy establish- 
 ment of the Federal union," and earnestly requesting 
 Maryland to accede to the Confederation. This was 
 followed in Congress, October 10, 1780, by additional 
 resolutions, providing that the territory ceded should be 
 held for the common benefit of the Union, and formed 
 into repubhcan States. 
 
 The response of Virginia was prompt. In fact, Vir- 
 ginia had informally invited this action of Congress, as 
 may be seen from the letter of Colonel Mason, author of 
 the "Remonstrance," written from the Virginia Assem- 
 bly, July 2 7, 1780, to ilr. Joseph Jones, in Congress. (Life 
 of Patrick Henry, by W. W. Henry, vol. 2, p. 85.) In this 
 letter. Colonel ]SIason says that the members of the 
 legislature "wish for such reasonable propositions from 
 Congress as they can unite in supporting. " Her general 
 assembly entered promptly upon the discussion of the 
 proposed cession of the western lands. After debating 
 its provisions through the Christmas holidays, the legis- 
 lative forms of the act were completed January 2, 1781, 
 by which Virginia tendered to the United States the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 113 
 
 most magnificent Christmas gift which history records, 
 resigned the sovereignty of the largest tract of territory 
 in the annals of the world ever voluntarily surrendered 
 without price or bloodshed by a powerful state able to 
 defend it. 
 
 First of the States holding charter title to tender the 
 jurisdiction and soil of her western lands, she invited the 
 others to follow her example, and thus made possible 
 the local governments and magical development of the 
 West, averting the jealousy and possibly the anarchy 
 and bloodshed that might have followed the assertion of 
 her claims. As we see her thus voluntarily stripping 
 herself of her territory until she shrinks up between the 
 Ohio river and the Atlantic, shall we view her with that 
 kindly pity which we feel for the man whose good-na- 
 tured weakness has permitted greatness and fortune to 
 fall from his grasp? Does not her course rather reveal 
 a broad wisdom and a philanthropy which looked to the 
 good of mankind, and not to the grasping of power or the 
 extension of state lines? Whether we consider her 
 magnanimous or weak, we cannot refuse the praise which 
 poets and historians may bestow with kindling warmth, 
 but which the world echoes with faint applause : 
 
 All thou hast been reflects less fame on thee, 
 Far less, than all thou hast forborne to be ! 
 
 But all magnanimity was lost on the Ian d companies. 
 The conditions of this cession, if accepted by Congress, 
 would forever preclude the recognition of their claims. 
 They, therefore, set up a clamor to prevent the accept- 
 ance of the cession.- The effect on Maryland was differ- 
 ent. Just one month later, February 2, 1781, Maryland 
 authorized her delegates to accede to the Confederation, 
 and accompanied her act with a mild declaration that 
 she did not thereby relinquish any rights that she might 
 have in the western lands. Her delegates ratified the 
 articles May ist. 
 
 As in 1776, so again in 1781, Maryland acted with 
 
 1-8 
 
114 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 patriotism, and wisely receded from her former extreme 
 declarations. She had notified Congress that she would 
 not join the Confederation unless an article or articles 
 should be added thereto limiting the boundaries of the 
 States claiming to extend to the Mississippi river. Yet 
 no such articles were ever added. In addition to this, 
 the cessions of Virginia, New York and Connecticut had 
 not been accepted, and no other charter claimant had 
 even tendered a cession. Maryland had taken a sober 
 second thought. She had discovered the impossibility of 
 coercive measures and never afterward urged them, 
 leaving the other claimant States to make cessions at 
 leisure, or not at all, except of their own volition. The 
 fact seems to be that she had nursed an unfounded sus- 
 picion of the "secret ambition" of Virginia, and being 
 now convinced of Virginia's patriotic intentions, she 
 abandoned the contest, and her relations with Virginia 
 became pacific and soon afterward cordial. 
 
 The land companies, however, continued the fight 
 against the acceptance of Virginia's cession, which con- 
 tained conditions that would forever bar their claims. 
 They obtained influence enough to procure the appoint- 
 ment of a committee favorable to their interests. Either 
 through the exertions of the agent of the Indiana Land 
 company, who was besieging Congress, or by some other 
 means, a report was secured from this committee which 
 was suspiciously favorable to the Indiana company. 
 
 This report, made November 3, 1781, recommended 
 that the title of the Indiana Land company be con- 
 firmed ; that the cession of New York be accepted, as in- 
 vesting Congress with the jurisdiction of the entire west- 
 em country ; and that the cession of Virginia be rejected, 
 for six reasons assigned, among which are the follow- 
 ing: 
 
 "First. — All the lands ceded or pretended to be ceded 
 to the United States, by the State of Virginia, are within 
 the claims of the States of Massachusetts, Connecticut 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 115 
 
 and New York, being part of the lands belonging to the 
 said Six Nations and their tributaries. ' ' 
 
 "Sixth. — The conditions annexed to the said cession 
 are incompatible with the honor, interests and peace of 
 the United States." 
 
 The report offers a series of resolutions, among other 
 things, that Congress recommend to Virginia and other 
 states to cede "all claims and pretensions of claims to 
 said western territory without any conditions or restric- 
 tions whatever. ' ' This report was the nearest approach 
 to recognition which the claims of the land companies 
 ever received in Congress, but it was a victoiy of short 
 duration, and destined to an ignominious end, as shown 
 by the following extract from the Fourth volume of 
 Journals of Congress: ^ 
 
 April 1 8, 1782.—* * * "The order of the day for tak- 
 ing into consideration the report of the committee on the 
 cessions of New York, Virginia and Connecticut, and the 
 petitions of the Indiana, Vandalia, Illinois and Wabash 
 companies, being called for by the delegates for Virginia, 
 and the first paragraph being read, a motion was made 
 by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mr. Bland [both Virginia dele- 
 gates], 'That previous to any determination in Congress, 
 relative to the cessions of the western lands, the name of 
 each member present be called over by the secretary ; 
 that on such call, each member do declare upon his 
 honor, whether he is or is not personally interested, 
 directly or indirectly, in the claims of any company or 
 companies, which have petitioned against the territorial 
 rights of any one of the States, by whom such cessions 
 have been made, and that such declaration be entered 
 upon the journals. ' ' ' 
 
 The intelligent reader will not be surprised to find 
 that this resolution never came to a vote. On various 
 pretexts, the consideration of this motion and the report 
 of the committee were postponed from day to day until 
 May 6, when it was indefinitely postponed. From this 
 
116 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 date this committee disappears from the records of Con- 
 gress. The portion of the report relating to the cession 
 of Virginia was subsequently referred to another com- 
 mittee. 
 
 Meanwhile a committee, called the Grand Committee, 
 ■^hich consisted of one member from each State, ap- 
 pointed to consider the most effectual means of support- 
 ing the credit of the United States, made several ineffect- 
 ual attempts to secure action on the cessions of Con- 
 necticut, New York and Virginia. 
 
 A step forward was taken when Congress, October 29, 
 1782, on the motion of Maryland, accepted the cession qf 
 New York. June 4, 1783, Congress took up the report 
 of a committee to which had been referred the motion pf 
 Mr. Bland, to accept the cession of Virginia. This com- 
 mittee recommended that Congress should take up the 
 old report of November 3, 1781, which had slumbered on 
 the journals since the effective narcotic administered by 
 Mr. Lee. Whereupon Congress ordered: "That so much 
 thereof as relates to the cession made by the Common- 
 wealth of Virginia, on the 2d day of January, 1781, be 
 referred to a committee of five members. " 
 
 This committee reported June 20, 1783, recommending 
 changes in the cession of Virginia. Pending the proceed- 
 ings, the delegates of New Jersey filed a remonstrance 
 from the general assembly of their State, protesting 
 against the acceptance of the Virginia cession, unless the 
 said State will "make a liberal surrender of that territory 
 of which they claim so boundless a proportion. ' ' This 
 remonstrance revives the old claim of the rights which 
 had accrued to the other States by reason of the defense 
 of the country by the common blood and treasure, an argu- 
 ment which had lost what little plausibility it ever had, 
 for Virginia had some time before rescued the territory 
 from the British by the blood and treasure of Virginia 
 alone. 
 
 The committee to whom the cession of Virginia had 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 117 
 
 been referred, reported Septeinber 13, 1783, recom- 
 mending the acceptance 6£ the bession, as soon as the 
 State should agree to repeal the seventh and eighth con- 
 ditions of the cession. The remaining six conditions 
 were approved, although the first was considered un- 
 necessary, and an amendment was suggested to the sec- 
 ond to more fully carry out its provisions. The seventh 
 was considered to be really embraced in the sixth, but 
 its repeal was urged. The real objection was to the 
 eighth condition, which was wrong in principle, and its 
 repeal was important. Of these two conditions whose 
 repeal was desired, the seventh declared all purchases 
 from the Indians void, and the eighth required the 
 United States to guarantee to Virginia all her remaining 
 territory. 
 
 The report of this committee was decisive, and was 
 adopted, September 13, by the votes of all the States 
 represented, except New Jersey and Maryland. Vir- 
 ginia readily accepted the amendments proposed. The 
 condition in reference to purchases from the Indians was 
 unnecessary, being embraced in the other conditions 
 which had been approved. The condition requiring thkt 
 the United States should guarantee all remaining terri- 
 tory was intended to apply to Kentucky, and to operate 
 as a contract with the United States to protect the State 
 against claims that might arise under the cession of New 
 York or the revival of 'Ca.^'^X^&oi^^ common stock." In 
 her anxiety to put a quietus oh all Such claims, Virginia 
 had gone too far, and had framed this condition at vari- 
 ance with her own theories. Marylaiad, in the instruc- 
 tions to her delegates to accede to the Confederation, had 
 protested against this condition, and Maryland was right, 
 its acceptance would have operated as an ex parte ad- 
 judication or a prejudication of all claims against the 
 State, and would have barred all proceedings under the 
 ninth article of the Confederation, to which any claimant 
 Statfe might be entitled. There were no adverse charter 
 
118 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 claimants, and the shadowy claims of New York had 
 been ceded to the United States. There was no prob- 
 ability that any State would appear as a contestant. Still, 
 it would be setting a precedent wrong in theory that any 
 State might secure from Congress a guarantee to its ter- 
 ritory, and thus acquire an exemption from the jurisdic- 
 tion of the tribunal, provided by the ninth article of the 
 Confederation for the trial of contests between the 
 States. At the next meeting of her legislature, Virginia 
 promptly instructed her delegates to execute to the 
 United States a deed of cession conforming to the amend- 
 ments proposed by Congress. This deed was accord- 
 ingly executed by her delegates and accepted by Con- 
 gress, March i, 1784, New Jersey alone voting against 
 acceptance; Maryland, Georgia and New York being 
 absent, Sotith Carolina divided ; all the other States vot- 
 ing for it. 
 
 The acceptance of the deed met with petty opposition 
 from a peculiar source. Mr. George Morgan, the agent 
 of the Indiana Land company, who had all along been 
 besieging Congress, now appeared in a new role. He 
 filed a petition in the name of the State of New Jersey, 
 as its agent, praying Congress to take jurisdiction under 
 the ninth article of Confederation and try the case as be- 
 tween two states. He recites that a hearing had been 
 "obtained before a very respectable committee of Con- 
 gress," alluding to the report of November 3, 1781, and 
 presents his credentials as agent of New Jersey. A 
 motion by Mr. Beatty, of New York, to refer this peti- 
 tion to a committee was voted down, as also a motion by 
 Mr. Williamson, of North Carolina, to appoint a commit- 
 tee to prepare an answer to the State of New Jersey. 
 
 It was immediately following this action that the deed 
 of Virginia was presented and accepted, as above related. 
 "Simultaneously with this acceptance," Jefferson sub- 
 mitted his famous plan for the subdivision and govern- 
 ment of the Northwest Territory, and such other western 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 119 
 
 territory as might be obtained by cessions expected from 
 the other states. The adoption of this report, April 23, 
 1784, and the subsequent acts of Congress, show that the 
 main cause of jealousy was removed, and the title of the 
 United States to the Northwest Territory was considered 
 assured by this cession of Virginia and its acceptance. 
 Virginia had fought and won the battle directed against 
 her charter rights, and had made generous use of her 
 victory. We hear no more of ''^common stock," ''.''blood and 
 treasure of all, ' ' and limiting the ' ' western boundaries. ' ' 
 
 As yet, however, the cession of Connecticut had not 
 been accepted, while Massachusetts, the two Carolinas 
 and Georgia were sleeping on their claims. All threats 
 of coercion, all acrimonious controversy had ceased. 
 The history of the subsequent cessions involves only the 
 recital of successive patriotic acts, taken by the remain- 
 ing charter claimants, at leisure. They were subjected 
 to no pressure except the example of New York and 
 Virginia, the force of public opinion, and their own 
 patriotism. They seemed to be in no hurry. 
 
 North Carolina vacillated, her legislature passing an 
 act in June, 1784, to cede Tennessee, and repealing the 
 same in November before Congress could accept it. 
 
 November 13, 1784, Massachusetts authorized her dele- 
 gates to cede her claims, and her cession was accepted 
 April 19, 1785, the anniversary of Lexington. This ces- 
 sion was free from reservations or conditions of a selfish 
 character, and bore on its face the evidence of its patriotic 
 purpose. 
 
 As early as October 10, 1780, Connecticut had offered 
 to cede the rights of soil in a portion of her western 
 claim, reserving to herself the jurisdiction to the entire 
 claim. The acceptance of such a proposition would have 
 had the effect of confirming her titleiand establishing her 
 in jurisdiction. In May, 1786, her legislature modified 
 the terms of the original offer, in accordance with which 
 her delegates in Congress executed a deed of cession, 
 
120 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 September 13, 1786. The next day Congress, in order 
 to complete the title of the United States to the North- 
 west Territory, accepted the cession of Connecticut, not- 
 withstanding the reservation by which that State sought 
 to convert the surrender of her abstract claims into a real 
 establishment of possession. Reserving both soil and 
 jurisdiction to the strip of land about 120 miles long 
 lying south of Lake Erie, she surrendered the rest of the 
 territory to the United States. Thus she was the only 
 state that gained possession of land by making cession 
 to the United States. After granting a large portion of 
 this reserve to her citizens, and selling the remainder 
 for the benefit of her school fund, she ceded jurisdiction 
 to the United States, May 30, 1800. 
 
 The title to the Northwest Territory being now freed 
 from all claimants, the pressure was directed against the 
 Carolinas and Georgia. It is not surprising that Georgia 
 should cling to her western territory with more tenacity 
 and yield it with more reluctance than any of her sister 
 States. Separated from it by no mountain barriers, and 
 lying in immediate contact, these western possessions 
 seemed more a part of herself, and no adverse interests 
 urged her few western settlers to demand a separation. 
 
 Besides all this, a new complication had now arisen, 
 which disposed the Southern claimants of western terri- 
 tory to look with less favor upon a cession of their claims 
 to the United States. This was the spirit manifested by 
 the Northern States to concede to the claims of Spain 
 the temporary control of the Mississippi river as high as 
 Natchez, which was then occupied by Spanish troops. 
 In August, 1786, panting for the revival of trade on any 
 terms, seven Northern States, by their delegates in Con- 
 gress, approved a plan submitted by Jay to yield to the 
 claims of Spain temporary control of the Mississippi 
 river, and the possession of the disputed territory. The 
 five Southern States opposed it, and it was only defeated 
 by lacking the constitutional majority of nine States^ 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 121 
 
 Georgia and the Caroliiias resented this disposition to 
 abandon their territory to Spain, and refused to listen to 
 any proposition to cede tferritory to the United States. 
 
 These events occurring in 1785, and the sectional 
 spirit which they aroused, put an end for the time to any 
 cessions of southwestern territory. In 1787, after the 
 excitement and sectional jealousy had been somewhat 
 allayed, although the affairs with Spain were still unset- 
 tled, the pressure upon North Carolina and Georgia was 
 revived by the first cession of any southwestern territory 
 to the United States. This was the cession by South 
 Carolina of a strip of land about 400 miles long and about 
 twelve miles wide, lying along the southern boundary of 
 the present State of Tennessee. It would seem that 
 South Carolina desired to bring to bear on North Caro- 
 lina and Georgia the same pressure which New York had 
 so successfully exercised on Virginia. There may have 
 been also some feeling of pique against Georgia in the 
 action of the Hotspur State, caused by the suit then 
 pending between the two States. The following are the 
 circumstances of the cession : 
 
 In the year 1785 South Carolina instituted suit against 
 Georgia, before Congress, under the ninth article of the 
 Confederation. On June i, of this year, Georgia was 
 summoned to appear on the second Monday of May, 1786. 
 The following is a portion of the petition of South Caro- 
 lina: 
 
 "To the United States of America in Congress assem- 
 bled : The petition of the Legislature of South Carolina 
 sheweth that a dispute and difference hath arisen and 
 subsists between the State of Georgia and this state Con- 
 cerning boundaries. That the case and claim of this 
 state is as follows, viz. : 
 
 "Charles II., king of Great Britain, by charter, dated 
 the 24th March, in the fifteenth year of his reign, grant- 
 ed, etc. * * * That on the 30th day of June, in the 
 seventeenth year of his reign, the said king granted to 
 
122 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 the said lords proprietors a second charter, enlarging the 
 bounds of Carolina, etc. * * * That Carolina was 
 afterward divided into two provinces called North and 
 South Carolina. That by a charter dated the 9th day of 
 June, 1732, George II., king of Great Britain, granted to 
 certain persons therein named all the lands lying be- 
 tween the rivers Savannah and Altamaha, and lines to be 
 drawn from the heads of those rivers respectively to the 
 South Seas, and styled the said colony of Georgia. 
 * * * That South Carolina claims the lands lying be- 
 tween the North Carolina line and a line to be run due 
 west from the mouth of the Tugaloo river to the Missis- 
 sippi, because, as the State contends, the river Savannah 
 loses that name at the confluence of Tugaloo and Keowee 
 rivers, consequently that spot is the head of Savannah 
 river ; the State of Georgia, on the other hand, contends 
 that the source of Keowee is to be considered at the head 
 of Savannah river. ' ' 
 
 The petition recites other disputed points of boundary, 
 and concludes with a prayer to Congress to take juris- 
 diction and try the case under the Articles of Confedera- 
 tion. The case was adjourned from time to time, until 
 September 4, 1786, when both States appeared by their 
 agents. Proceedings were then instituted and a court 
 appointed to try the case, which was to sit in New York, 
 June 4, 1787. No judgment was ever rendered by this 
 court in consequence of the compromise of the suit be- 
 tween the parties. 
 
 Both states appointed commissioners, who met at 
 Beaufort, S. C. , clothed with full powers to make a final 
 settlement. And now comes a singular part of the his- 
 tory, and the origin of the twelve-mile strip. These 
 commissioners — Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Andrew 
 Pickens and Pierce Butler, on the part of South Caro- 
 lina ; and John Habersham, Lacklan Mcintosh, a majority 
 of the commissioners, on the part of Georgia — April 28, 
 1787, signed an agreement and convention establishing 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 123 
 
 the line as it now exists between the two States, running 
 along the Savannah river and its most northern branch, 
 the Tugaloo, and the most northern branch of the Tuga- 
 loo, the Chatuga, to the point where it intersects the 
 North Carolina line. This would have granted all the 
 twelve-mile strip to Georgia. It so happened, however, 
 that the legislature of South Carolina was at the same 
 time in session. 
 
 On March 8th of the same year, just one month and 
 twenty days before the completion and signature of the 
 convention at Beaufort, the South Carolina legislature 
 passed a bill conveying to the United States the terri- 
 tory bounded by the Mississippi river, the North Caro- 
 lina line, and a line drawn along the crest of the mount- 
 ains which divide the waters of the East from the waters 
 of the West, from the point where these mountains in- 
 tersect the North Carolina line to the headwaters of the 
 most southern branch of Tugaloo river, and thence west 
 to the Mississippi river, thus mapping out the twelve- 
 mile strip. The delegates of South Carolina were 
 directed to make a deed conveying the same. 
 
 These two apparently inconsistent acts of South Caro- 
 lina both needed the confirmation of Congress. They 
 were accordingly presented to Congress on the same 
 day, accompanied by the deed of cession, August 9, 
 1787. The action of Congress bears marks of worldly 
 wisdom. The cession to the United States was accepted 
 on the same day. The motion to confirm the convention 
 of Beaufort was referred to a committee which never 
 reported. This report was, perhaps, prevented by the 
 absorbing interest in the Constitutional Convention then 
 in session, and which completed its labors in the follow- 
 ing month by adopting the present Constitution, and the 
 Congress of the Confederation soon after passed out of 
 existence, and with it the ninth article, under which the 
 suit of South Carolina was instituted. Thus, the twelve- 
 mile strip became the territory of the United States, and 
 
124 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 intervened as a wedge between Geofgia and North Cato- 
 lina, affording for several years a suggestive invitation to 
 cede their western lands. 
 
 The example was followed by North Carolina in 1 790^ 
 when, after her patience was exhausted by the attempt 
 to establish the State of Franklin, she ceded her froward 
 daughter, Tennessee, to the United States; thus making 
 the first cession under the Constitution. 
 
 Kentucky anticipated the expected second cession of 
 Virginia, and became a State in 1792, without undergo- 
 ing the territorial apprenticeship. 
 
 This left the full pressure of the demand for western 
 cessions to fall on Georgia. This sturdy state resisted 
 until 1802, when her cession, by no means a free gift, 
 proved to be a shrewd bargain. She then ceded the 
 Territory of Mississippi, nearly all of which was covered 
 by Indian titles, and received in return' that portion of 
 the South Carolina cession immediately north of her 
 boundary, $1,250,000 in money from the proceeds of the 
 sale of public lands, and what ultimately proved very 
 costly to the United States, a jguarantee for the extinc- 
 tion of all Indian claims in her present limits. Thie re- 
 maining portion of the twelve-mile strip, all of which, 
 after the admission of Tennessee, was styled in legisla- 
 tion the territory of the United States south of the State 
 of Tennessee, was in 1804 added by Congress to Missis- 
 sippi Territory, and now constitutes the northern portion 
 of the States of Alabama and Mississippi. 
 
 Thus, the whole territory west of the Alleghany 
 mountains, embracing the portion north of the Ohio, 
 which had been claimed by Great Britain, and the south- 
 ern portion which Spain and France had attempted to 
 erect into an Indian reservation, was now ceded to the 
 United States by all claimants except the land com- 
 panies. These companies continued the struggle until 
 finally repulsed from the Supreme court of the United 
 States. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 125 
 
 The following conclusions seem to be irresistible : 
 
 First. — The extension of the original United States 
 beyond the Alleghany mountains, in opposition to the 
 claims of Great Britain and the active efforts of France 
 and Spain, was due alone to the titles of the charter 
 claimant States, supported by an actual adverse posses- 
 sion on the part of Virginia and North Carolina. 
 
 Second. — Virginia, by expelling the British from the 
 country north of the Ohio, by her expedition under 
 George Rogers Clarke, and by taking military possession 
 pf the covmtry, not only maintained her own charter 
 claims, but also supplied the United States with the 
 argument of uti possidetis, which successfully met the 
 claims of Great Britain under the Quebec Act. 
 
 Third. — The whole country owes a debt of gratitude 
 tp all the charter claimants for ceding the only valid titles 
 to this immense territory, and for their firmness and wis- 
 dom in resisting and defeating the effort to engraft on 
 the fundamental law the dangerous principle that Con- 
 gress should have power to abridge the limits of the 
 States, invade their jurisdiction and sequester their terri- 
 to^. 
 
 Fourth. — The territory ceded by all charter claimants 
 amounted in area to 404,955.91 square miles, all of which 
 was embraced in the cessions of the four Southern 
 States, Virginia, the two Carolinas and Georgia. The 
 claims of Massachusetts and Connecticut, extending in 
 belts across the claim of Virginia, amounted to 94,315.91 
 square miles. Thus, the undisputed area of the cessions 
 by the Southern States amounted to 310,640 square 
 miles. If the area of Kentucky be added, which was 
 erected into a State in 1792, before the completion of the 
 western cessions, the undisputed contribution of the 
 South was 361,040 square miles. The total contribution 
 of the South, disputed and undisputed, including Ken- 
 tucky, was 445,355.91 square miles. 
 
 The cessions of all other charter claimants amounted 
 
126 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 to 94,315.91 square miles, all of wHch was disputed. If 
 the area of Vermont and Maine be added, which were 
 independently erected into States, the total contribution 
 of all other charter claimants, disputed and undisputed, 
 would amount to 136,807.91 square miles. 
 
 Fifth. — The four Southern States, Virginia, the two 
 Carolinas and Georgia, were the only States which ceded 
 a foot of land in actual possession and covered by actual 
 jurisdiction. The other States, acting with patriotic mo- 
 tives, conveyed only unadjudicated claims — which was all 
 they had to convey. The Southern States, being in pos- 
 session, were able to confer possession on the United 
 States. How different might have been the fate of 
 America, had the four great Southern States adhered 
 to their western territory with the tenacity usually shown 
 by powerful states able to defend their possessions. In 
 the language of the first great cession, "preferring the 
 good of their country to every other object of smaller 
 importance, ' ' they laid the foundation of national great- 
 ness by voluntary sectional sacrifice, and furnished his- 
 tory its most instructive lesson in the building of nations. 
 
 Reference is given to Madison Papers, Vol. i ; Benton's Thirty 
 Years, Vol. 2 ; Narrative and Critical History of Araerica, Vol. 7 ; 
 Lecky's History of England, Vol. 4; American Archives, Fourth 
 Series ; on the cessions of western lands consult Journals of Con- 
 gress, Vols. I, 2, 3 and 4; for the acts of cession, Henning's Stat- 
 utes, Vol. 10; for various deeds of cession. Public Domain; for 
 Spanish intrigues, Roosevelt's Winning of the West; consult also 
 Life of Patrick Henry, by W. W. Henry ; Maryland, by Wm. Hand 
 Brown ; Haywood's History of Tennessee. 
 
 A decision of the Supreme Court, touching on these cessions, 
 was rendered as late as April 3, 1893, in the case of Virginia against 
 Tennessee, relative to boundary. The court recites the titles of 
 Virginia and North Carolina, as based upon their charters, extend- 
 ing to the South seas, and alludes to "the generous public spirit 
 which on all occasions since has characterized her (Virginia's) con- 
 duct in the disposition of her claims to territory under di'fferent 
 charters from the English government" United States Reports, 
 148, October Term, 1892, p. 503. 
 
 Among the older historians who have treated this subject are 
 Bancroft, Hildreth and Pitkin. It has, also, been ably treated, in 
 some of its aspects, by modern historians. Among the works 
 which have touched upon the subject more or less in full, are the 
 following: 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 127 
 
 The Old Northwest, by B. A. Hinsdale. 
 
 Fisk's Critical Period of American History. 
 
 'The Narrative and Critical History of America contains, in Vol. 
 7, a lucid discussion of the several cessions, and a valuable list of 
 references to various books and pamphlets which discuss phases of 
 the subject. 
 
 The Public Domain, Donaldson, is an invaluable government 
 publication, in which important information on this subject is col- 
 lected. 
 
 The settlement and development of this territory are related and 
 questions connected with the cessions are discussed by Mr. Theo- 
 dore Roosevelt, in a work of great ability and lucid style, entitled 
 ' ' Winning of the West. ' ' 
 
 Maryland's Influence on Land Cessions, by Mr. Herbert B. 
 Adams, in the Johns Hopkins Papers published at Baltimore, Md., is 
 an article eulogistic of Maryland, and attributing to that state the 
 chief influence in establishing the Public Domain. 
 
 Mr. W. W. Henry, in his Life of Patrick Henry, devotes Chapter 
 17 of Vol. 2, of his able and interesting work, to the Cession of the 
 Northwest Territory. He" clearly demonstrates Virginia's title to all 
 the territory which she claimed. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 HOSTILITIES WITH FRANCE AND THE ACQUISITION 
 OF LOUISIANA. 
 
 THE acquisition of Louisiana was "an opportunity- 
 snatched from fate. ' ' This terse expression ac- 
 curately defines the diplomacy by which Louis- 
 iana was acquired. The United States did not command 
 the situation, but made skillful use of the opportunity. 
 All the military power which the United States possessed 
 in 1803, and all the diplomatic skill of her statesmen, 
 would have been inadequate to create the conditions 
 which resulted in the acquisition of Louisiana. Two 
 simultaneous revolutions were necessary: a revolution 
 in Europe and a revolution in America. Just in time, 
 the French Revolution swept "like a meteor across the 
 sky of Europe, ' ' so involving other nations that it might 
 be called, with little impropriety, the great European 
 Revolution. Simultaneously came the revolution of 
 political parties in the United States. 
 
 Napoleon Bonaparte became First Consul of France, 
 and Thomas Jefferson President of the United States. 
 Thus, the two great minds of the world turned at the 
 same time to Louisiana. Napoleon saw in it the means 
 of obtaining a navy, of strengthening the French party 
 in America, and of restraining the power of Great Brit- 
 ain. When the treaty was completed he said: "I have 
 just given to England a maritime rival that will sooner 
 or later humble her pride." Jefferson saw in it the 
 first giant stride of his country to the Pacific ocean, and 
 the permanent triumph of the political party of which 
 he was the father. It was, indeed, "an opportunity 
 snatched from fate. ' ' 
 
 128 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 129 
 
 Yet, when the minds of these two great men turned to 
 Louisiana its transfer to the United States was not the 
 first thought that occurred to either of them. Napoleon 
 first looked to it as a colony for France. When Jeffer- 
 son learned of its acquisition by Napoleon it excited his 
 gravest apprehensions. His first thought was to remove 
 the French to the west bank of the Mississippi river, and 
 to secure that river as the national boundary. He at 
 once began the movement to acquire Florida and the 
 Island of Orleans, and entered on the policy which was 
 tenaciously pursued by himself and his political asso- 
 ciates until its consummation in 182 1. 
 
 In pursuing this sagacious policy he took the initiative 
 in the negotiations which led to the unexpected acquisi- 
 tion of Louisiana. Conditions beyond the control either 
 of Napoleon or Jefferson conspired to render the transfer 
 desirable to Napoleon and available to Jefferson. 
 
 Attention has been heretofore called to the fact that 
 all our acquisitions of territory, except those from Mex- 
 ico, have been dependent upon the condition of affairs in 
 Europe. In fact, these conditions have been so remark- 
 able, that they seem to reveal a law of destiny. So pecul- 
 iar were the relations of Great Britain, France and Spain, 
 that while they all strongly desired to restrain the growth 
 of the United States, yet each, in turn, made important 
 contributions to its territorial expansion. In the peace 
 negotiations at Paris, on the question of the extension of 
 her boundaries beyond the Alleghanies and the Ohio, the 
 United States found a friend in her enemy. Great Brit- 
 ain, and enemies in her friends, France and Spain. The 
 liberality and magnanimity of Great Britain placed her 
 almost in the light of a donor. 
 
 In the crossing of the Mississippi in 1803, the positions 
 of France and Great Britain were reversed. France was 
 now the ceding power, while Great Britain looked on 
 with polite envy, and Spain threatened to interfere. A 
 few years later Spain became, in turn, the ceding power, 
 1-9 
 
130 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Strange, indeed, that these three European powers should 
 find in their relations with each other, reasons which im- 
 pelled each in succession to contribute to that expansion 
 of the United States which they all desired to prevent. 
 
 To trace the causes which led to this remarkable re- 
 sult, it is necessary to take a rapid review of the well 
 known historical events following the close of the French 
 and Indian war, when France retired from the contest 
 for the possession of America. In the treaty of Paris, 
 February lo, 1763, she ceded to Great Britain all of her 
 American possessions east of "a line down the middle of 
 the Mississippi river and through the Iberville lakes to 
 the sea," and confirmed to Spain all her possessions west 
 of that line, which had been previously ceded, Novem- 
 ber 3, 1762. (Public Domain, p. 91.) Louisiana thus 
 became the property of Spain, and so remained for 
 thirty-eight years. 
 
 Of all the nations of Europe, Spain was the most op- 
 posed to the institutions and political doctrines of the 
 United States. She would have repelled, as far as pos- 
 sible, all intercourse with the American people, and 
 would have purposely maintained semi-hostile relations. 
 Louisiana would, probably, have been held like her South 
 American possessions, until filled with a population 
 strong enough to rebel and shake off her nerveless grasp. 
 Had it been slowly peopled, as would seem most prob- 
 able, by emigrants from the United States, its future 
 would have been uncertain. It would, perhaps, have 
 been a refuge for ambitious men like Burr. It might 
 have become a rival kingdom, or a rival republic, facing 
 us across the Mississippi. It might have been broken 
 into fragments, a multitude of petty states, blocking our 
 expansion toward the Pacific. It might have been a 
 means of detaching a portion of the western country 
 from the Union. Such a result was feared about the 
 time of the cession. It is certain that we would never 
 have acquired it in a form so complete and so favorable 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 131 
 
 for assimilation to our institutions as by the cession 
 of 1803. 
 
 In the fall of 1799, the French Revolution had assumed 
 the phase which made Napoleon First Consul of France. 
 He found France engaged in needless hostilities with the 
 United States. He at once determined upon a policy of 
 conciliation, and appointed his brother Joseph Bonaparte 
 at the head of a commission to treat with the newly 
 arrived American commissioners, Murray, Ellsworth and 
 Davie. The result was the treaty of Morfontaine, Sep- 
 tember 30, 1800, and the establishment of friendly rela- 
 tions. The election of Jefferson speedily followed, and 
 Napoleon had the satisfaction of seeing the administra- 
 tion of American affairs pass into the hands of a political 
 party deemed friendly to France. 
 
 Let us recount the events which led to these results. 
 Napoleon had taken Talleyrand into his cabinet, and 
 Talleyrand had a hobby: the recovery of Louisiana, and 
 its organization into a French province. Napoleon per- 
 mitted Talleyrand to ride his hobby, yet he manifested 
 no especial interest in the matter until the negotiations 
 with America were approaching a crisis, and his brother 
 Joseph had assured him of their friendly aspect, but that 
 they were suspended on the question of indemnity for 
 French spoliations. He then suddenly manifested an in- 
 terest in Talleyrand's plans for the retrocession of Louis- 
 iana, and ordered communications to be immediately 
 opened with the Spanish court. Without awaiting the 
 routine course of negotiations which were progressing 
 favorably under the French minister at Madrid, his im- 
 patience led him to send General Berthier to hasten 
 them. Meanwhile, he seemed disposed to restrain his 
 brother Joseph from concluding the American treaty. 
 
 This course would indicate that he had secret views, 
 connecting the retrocession of Louisiana with the Ameri- 
 can treaty. If he revolved in mind in 1800 the ptirposes 
 which he carried into execution three years later, he did 
 
132 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 not then express them. Often frank, and apparently 
 imprudent in the expression of his purposes, no one knew 
 better than Napoleon how to conceal them either by- 
 reticence or by dissimulation. The only hint that can be 
 found of ulterior purposes is his caution to Joseph that 
 better terms could be obtained from the United States at 
 a later date, but he assented to the conclusion of a tem- 
 porary treaty, September 30, 1800. He pressed negotia- 
 tions with Spain so actively that Berthier signed the 
 treaty for the retrocession of Louisiana the following 
 day, October i, 1800. In compensation to Spain for this 
 cession France engaged to create the kingdom of Etruria, 
 composed of Tuscany and adjacent territory, and to seat 
 on its throne the son of the duke of Parma, who was 
 son-in-law of the king of Spain. 
 
 Napoleon was now master of the situation. Whatever 
 plans he may have formed, it was in his power to exe- 
 cute. How far he agreed with Talleyrand in the policy 
 of making Louisiana valuable to France by the slow 
 process of colonial development is very doubtful. His 
 temperament was too eager to await the tardy returns 
 of invested capital. He needed all his resources for pres- 
 ent gambling and quick profits. Europe was his battle 
 ground, and the conquest of England his immediate 
 object. All else was subsidiary. If England could be 
 subdued he was then, indeed, master of the world. He 
 was not indifEerent to the glory of restoring to France 
 the American possessions, the loss of which had been for 
 many years a source of national humiliation. Neither 
 was he insensible of the wisdom of Talleyrand's colonial 
 policy, yet such a policy made peace with England a 
 necessity. He knew that France had been compelled to 
 give up her American possessions for lack of a navy, and 
 his penetrating genius could not fail to see that France 
 could not hold colonies across the ocean three thousand 
 miles away, in the face of the navies of Gr«at Britain. 
 He had not forgotten the Egyptian campaign, which be 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 133 
 
 had warmly urged in its inception, but which he had op- 
 posed at the last moment, even to the point of tendering 
 his resignation, but to which he had been forced by 
 Talleyrand's Directory, and which had taught him the 
 power of the British navy. (Allison's History of Eu- 
 rope, vol. 6, pp. 241-2.) 
 
 It is probable that before beginning negotiations for 
 the retrocession of Louisiana, Napoleon contemplated an 
 early war with England, and that he entertained the 
 purpose of using Louisiana as a lever on the United 
 States, though perhaps under conditions different from 
 those which circumstances subsequently shaped. He 
 began these negotiations just at the time when all indi- 
 cations pointed to the coming revolution in American 
 politics, and the transfer of power to the Republican 
 party. Affairs in America soon assumed a form to 
 strengthen in his mind the conviction that the United 
 States could be made a valuable ally. Whatever may 
 have been his purpose in 1800, he was the engineer in 
 1803 who put in motion the train of events which, be- 
 ginning with the cession of Louisiana, led the United 
 States to the second British war. 
 
 Let us now trace the political revolution in the United 
 States. It is needless to recite that the Federalist party 
 came first into possession of the government, and con- 
 trolled its policy for twelve years. All are familiar with 
 the quarrels in Washington's cabinet, and the rise of the 
 Republican party, now generally designated as the 
 Democratic-Republican party, to distinguish it from the 
 Republican party of the present day. This new party 
 differed from the Federalist party on the great question of 
 State rights ; the Federalist party favoring such a con- 
 struction of the Constitution as would strengthen the 
 power of the general government; the Republican party 
 favoring such a construction as wotild protect the rights 
 and powers of the States. 
 
 There was another question of the day which touched 
 
134 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 men's hearts. In the great contest that was going on 
 across the water, England and France were about to 
 engage in a death grapple. The sympathies of this coun- 
 try were aroused, one party favoring England and the 
 other favoring France. We may well understand how 
 deeply it stirred the sympathies of our ancestors. On 
 the one side was France, our friend, the friend of our in- 
 fancy; France, who stood by us in our conflict for free- 
 dom ; France, the blood of whose sons was mingled with 
 ours upon the plains of Yorktown ; France, our sister re- 
 public, who had changed all her institutions in admiration 
 and love for the institutions and people of America. 
 Her cause was espoused by Jefferson, followed by his 
 new party. 
 
 On the other side was our mother country. The war 
 was over, and its passions were subsiding. Our inde- 
 pendence was established. Jay's treaty, although un- 
 popular at first, had served to reopen the avenues of 
 trade and communication with England, and to excite 
 hostilities with France. The hearts of our ancestors were 
 turning back with softened sentiments to the land of 
 their fathers, and were renewing the associations of 
 kindred and friendship. 
 
 It seemed that the Federalist party, the friend of Eng- 
 land, was striking the popular chord. Yet, just at this 
 critical moment, the Federalist leaders committed a polit- 
 ical blunder. They enacted what are known as the Alien 
 and Sedition laws. The great political leader, Thomas 
 Jefferson, skillfully seized the advantage. The tide was 
 turned. Jefferson was elected President of the United 
 States, and the Republican party, the friend of France, 
 came into power. Looking over the field, the chief of 
 the victorious party saw that the party triumph was but 
 temporary, and he sought for means to render it per- 
 manent. 
 
 The recent presidential election had assumed a sec- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 135 
 
 tional aspect, as may be seen from the following table of 
 tbe electoral vote of 1800: 
 
 States. 
 
 New Hampshire. 
 Massachusetts . . . 
 Rhode Island. . . . 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 Vermont 
 
 New York 
 
 New Jersey 
 
 Pennsylvania . . . . 
 
 -Delaware 
 
 Maryland 
 
 Virginia 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 North Carolina. . . 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 South Carolina. . . 
 Georgia 
 
 Total 73 
 
 oS, 
 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 5 
 21 
 
 4 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 
 
 12 
 
 "i 
 
 5 
 21 
 
 4 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 4 
 
 73 
 
 
 6 
 16 
 4 
 9 
 4 
 
 7 
 7 
 3 
 5 
 
 65 
 
 
 6 
 16 
 3 
 9 
 4 
 
 7 
 7 
 3 
 5 
 
 64 
 
 The vote of New England was a unit, 39 for the Feder- 
 alists. The vote of the South was nearly a unit, 48 for 
 the Republicans and 4 for the Federalists. The vote of 
 the Middle States was nearly equally divided, 25 for the 
 Republicans, 22 for the Federalists. Of the Republican 
 majority of 8 votes, the "West furnished 7. What was 
 known in that day as "the West," embraced the ceded 
 country between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi 
 river. In this country were two States. Kentucky had 
 been made a State by consent of Virginia in 1792, and 
 Tennessee, ceded by North Carolina in 1790, had been 
 admitted by Congress in 1796, being the first State 
 erected out of Federal territory. The rest of this country 
 was still in territorial apprenticeship, but Ohio was ap- 
 proaching statehood and other territories were growing 
 rapidly. A strong bond of sympathy, social and political, 
 bound the Western people to their parent States, while 
 Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia felt motherly pride 
 in their Western daughters. 
 
136 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 The question of absorbing interest with the Western 
 people was the navigation of the Mississippi river. They 
 resented the indifference which the United States had 
 shown to their interests, under the control of the Federal 
 party. They were indignant against the people of the 
 Northeast for the jealousy so plainly manifested toward 
 the navigation of the Mississippi. General Wilkinson and 
 others had endeavored to turn this feeling of indignation to 
 the interest of Spain. A party of Separatists was formed, 
 one faction of which desired to establish a government 
 under the protection of Spain and the other to form an 
 independent Western republic. The mass of the people, 
 however, were attached to the Union, but dissatisfied 
 with the government. They could with difficulty be 
 restrained from seizing New Orleans and forcing the 
 United States into war with Spain. 
 
 They now looked to the Republican party for relief. 
 Unless Jefferson could find a peaceable solution, he must 
 choose between a Spanish war or the disintegration of 
 his party. In addition to this, another question was 
 growing in importance and would demand attention in 
 the near future. The territory included in the Georgia 
 cession, soon to become the States of Alabama and Mis- 
 sissippi, was attracting population. The rivers of this 
 section ran through Florida directly into the Gulf of 
 Mexico. Outlets would soon be needed to the Gulf. 
 While the present pressure was directed to secure the 
 great outlet of the Mississippi river, yet the other de- 
 mands were sure to follow. 
 
 The one solution of all these troublesome questions 
 could be found in the possession of the Floridas and the 
 Island of Orleans. No way seemed open to secure this 
 much desired end except a war of conquest. The free 
 navigation of the Mississippi had been provided in the 
 treaty of 1795 with Spain, but was subject to frequent 
 infractions on the part of the Spanish authorities. The 
 West was quiet for the present, relying upon the friendly 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 137 
 
 purposes of the new administration. That Jefferson was 
 worthy of this confidence had been demonstrated by 
 his previous sympathy with Western interests, mani- 
 fested for many years. (Jefferson's Complete Works, H. 
 A. Washington, vol. 2, p. 107.) 
 
 As early as January 30, 1787, he wrote to Madison 
 from Paris: "I will venture to say that the act which 
 abandons the navigation of the Mississippi is an act of 
 separation between the Eastern and Western country. ' ' 
 His matured purpose to use peaceful means, and his 
 reasons for avoiding war, if possible, are shown in the 
 following letter to Dr. Hugh Williamson, written as late 
 as April 30, 1803: 
 
 (Jefferson's Complete Works — H. A. Washington, vol. 
 
 4, P- 483.) 
 
 "Although I do not count with confidence on obtaining 
 New Orleans from France for money, yet I am confident 
 in the policy of putting off the day of contention for it 
 till we have lessened the embarrassment of debt accumu- 
 lated instead of being discharged by our predecessors, till 
 we obtain more of that strength which is growing on us 
 so rapidly, and especially till we have planted a popu- 
 lation on the Mississippi itself sufficient to do its own 
 work without marching men fifteen hundred miles from 
 the Atlantic shores to perish by fatigue and unfriendly 
 climates." * * * 
 
 These two letters, written so far apart, clearly reveal 
 his sentiments and the fixed purpose which he stead- 
 fastly maintained and finally carried to complete success: 
 I. The navigation of the Mississippi river should never 
 be abandoned. 2. It was to be protected as long as 
 possible by negotiation and appeals to justice. 3. War 
 was to be used as the last resort, and to be avoided, if 
 possible, while the country grew in strength. 
 
 This patient policy would have secured its object, the 
 navigation of the Mississippi, but the door to far greater 
 success was unexpectedly opened. Before the end of the 
 first month of his administration as President, whispers 
 
138 CONFEDERATE MILITAR\ HISTORY. 
 
 of the sale of Louisiana to France began to circulate in 
 court circles and were communicated to the American 
 government by their foreign ministers. The first inti- 
 mation came from Mr. King, in a letter, March 29, 1801. 
 The French minister, Talleyrand, refused to throw any 
 light upon these rumors. They gained credence, how- 
 ever. (Annals of Congress, 1802-1803, p. 1017.) 
 
 Mr. Rufus King, the minister at London, in a subse- 
 quent letter, dated November 20, 1801, put all doubts at 
 rest by forwarding to the secretary of state, James Madi- 
 son, a copy of the treaty for establishing the prince of 
 Parma in Tuscany, which made allusion to the secret 
 treaty ceding Louisiana to France. 
 
 Previous to this letter, Mr. Madison, under date of 
 
 July 29, i8oi, wrote to Mr. Pinckney, minister at Madrid, 
 
 instructing him to obtain information and to use what 
 
 influence he could to dissuade Spain from the cession, if 
 
 not already completed. September 28th, Mr. Madison 
 
 wrote to Mr. Livingston, minister at Paris, instructing 
 
 him, if the cessionhad"irrevocably taken place," to make 
 
 overtures for the cession of the Floridas, especially of West 
 
 Florida, to the United States, but to be very careful to 
 
 avoid irritating France in the methods of negotiation. Mr. 
 
 Livingston, in obedience to these instructions, began the 
 
 negotiations, which lingered more than a year, receiving 
 
 no encouragement from France. (Ibid, 1013, 1014.)* 
 
 (* The student may trace the progress of the diplomatic negotia- 
 tions of the period in Annals of Congress, State Papers, etc. They 
 are related in that invaluable work, Narrative and Critical History 
 of the United States. They are discussed in Schouler's History of 
 the United States. The most detailed and exhaustive treatment of 
 the diplomatic events of this period is found in the History of the 
 United States, by Henry Adams. While not concurring in many 
 opinions expressed by this author, it is a pleasure to refer the reader 
 to this able and brilliant work. The most interesting and reliable 
 work relating to the Western people, their sentiments, their develop- 
 ment, and their relations to political questions, is The Winning of 
 the West, by Theodore Roosevelt. This work treats the diplomatic 
 negotiations incidentally and so far as they relate to the main pur- 
 pose of his work. Mr. Roosevelt shows more clearly than any other 
 author how the deeds of the Western people, at home, rendered 
 possible the success of diplomatists abroad.) 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 139 
 
 As these tidings began to spread, the Western country- 
 was thrown into a state of feverish excitement and 
 anxiety. Grave fears were entertained of the purposes 
 of Napoleon, and a sentiment of hostility to France began 
 to develop. Alexander Hamilton, in a series of newspaper 
 articles, advocated the policy of taking immediate pos- 
 session of New Orleans and the Floridas. Such a course 
 would lead inevitably to a war with France and Spain, 
 and to alliance with Great Britain, an event congenial 
 to Federalist policy. The Western excitement was in- 
 tensified by the action of the Spanish intendant, Don 
 Juan Morales, closing the port of New Orleans. 
 
 Congress convened December lo, 1802, and the ad- 
 ministration was subjected to fierce attacks from the 
 Federalist minority. The leaders of this party joined the 
 Western war cry, aiming to force on Jefferson a choice 
 between adopting the Federalist policy of hostility with 
 France and Spain or a breach with his Western allies. 
 Jefferson, however, was not to be coerced nor deceived. 
 He was firm in his own course, and it was well for the 
 country that he was firm. His policy was not only right, 
 it was successful. The dilemma on which the Federalists 
 sought to impale him was skillfully avoided. This polit- 
 ical Scylla and Charybdis had left a middle space wide 
 enough to admit of safe passage, and Jefferson had 
 learned from Ovid, in medio tuiissimus ibis. 
 
 War could be delayed for some hostile act of France, 
 while the attachment of the Western people to the Re- 
 publican party and their confidence in Jefferson were too 
 firm to be easily shaken. The temper of the West was 
 plainly shown in the debates upon the resolutions intro- 
 duced into the Senate by Mr. Robert Ross, of Pennsyl- 
 vania, February 16, 1803. These resolutions authorized 
 the President "to take immediate possession" of New 
 Orleans ; to call into service the militia of South Carolina, 
 Georgia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi 
 Territory ; to employ the military and naval forces of the 
 
140 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 United States; and use for these purposes the sum of 
 $5,000,000, appropriated from the treasury. The ad- 
 ministration opposed these resolutions, on the ground 
 that there was no cause as yet to justify an act of war, 
 and that favorable results were in prospect from negotia- 
 tion. The Western senators sustained this policy. 
 (Annals of Congress, 1802-1803, pp. 95, 119.) 
 
 Mr. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, offered a substitute 
 placing the entire control of the matter in the hands of 
 the President, and empowering him, if necessary, to call 
 out the militia, not only of the vicinity but of all the 
 States. (Ibid, p. 255.) 
 
 This substitute was finally adopted by a vote of 15 to 
 II, all the Western senators present voting in its favor. 
 The resolutions as amended were then adopted unani- 
 mously, February 25, 1803. (Annals of Congress, 1802- 
 1803, p. 107.) 
 
 It may be interesting to note the sentiment of the 
 Western people, as expressed by their senators. Said 
 Mr. Anderson, of Tennessee: "Gentlemen wished to 
 treat the people like little children. * * * He came from 
 a part of the country which was greatly interested in the 
 subject, and he knew the people were not such fools as 
 the gentlemen would make them. They will not believe 
 that those who know them, and have taken the most 
 effectual measures to procure safety and security for 
 them, are plotting evil for them. " (Annals of Congress, 
 1802-1803, p. 214.) 
 
 ' ' He knew this people and that they wished for peace, 
 though, if justice required it, they would be in the ranks 
 of battle while those who asperse them would perhaps be 
 at their toilettes. The resolutions substituted would 
 accord with the wishes of his constituents. He would 
 therefore support them. " (Ibid, pp. 140,142.) 
 
 Mr. Cocke, of Tennessee, expressed his "confidence in 
 the administration," "from real respect and knowledge 
 of the Executive for thirty years past. " He spoke taunt- 
 
COIVFEDERATE military history. 141 
 
 ingly of the newly awakened interest of the leaders of 
 the Federal party in behalf of the West, as follows: 
 
 "Why, this is very generous of them, and is more re- 
 markable because it is an uncommon thing with them. 
 But it is very certain we do not stand in need of their 
 pledges nor of their assistance. On former occasions they 
 did not display any of this liberality, and he could not 
 help suspecting their sincerity now. ' ' 
 
 Mr. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, said: "The time was, 
 indeed, when great dissatisfaction prevailed in that 
 country as to the measures of the general government." 
 * * * "Distrust and dissatisfaction have given place to 
 confidence in and attachment to those in whom the con- 
 cerns of the nation are confided." 
 
 Previous to these proceedings in the Senate, a resolu- 
 tion in the House providing for the appointment of a 
 committee to inquire what legislation is necessary with 
 reference to the navigation of the Mississippi river, had 
 been voted down. January 7th, by a vote of 50 to 25, a 
 resolution was adopted that, "relying with perfect confi- 
 dence on the vigilance and wisdom of the Executive, 
 they will wait the issue of such measures as that depart- 
 ment of the government shall have pursued. " (Ibid, pp. 
 "7, 342, 368.) 
 
 A resolution offered by Mr. Griswold, of Connecticut, 
 January 4th, calling on the Executive for information 
 with reference to the negotiations concerning Louisiana, 
 was defeated January nth by a vote of 51 to 35. An act 
 was passed by both houses and approved February 26th, 
 appropriating $2,000,000 to provide for foreign negotia- 
 tions. 
 
 Meanwhile Jefferson had been in negotiation with 
 Spain and France. These negotiations were actively 
 pressed. Spain, France and Great Britain were ap- 
 proached through the American ministers resident at the 
 respective courts, through the foreign ministers at Wash- 
 ington, and through unofficial channels. Mr. Monroe, 
 
142 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 in whom the President reposed implicit confidence, was 
 sent as minister plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary 
 to Paris to act in conjunction with Mr. Livingston. 
 (Annals of Congress, 1802-1803, pp. 1095-1108.) 
 
 The instructions to Monroe and Livingston were full 
 and were intended to cover every contingency that might 
 arise. The ministers were to urge a cession of the 
 Island of Orleans and of the Floridas. In case that 
 France should refuse a cession, they were to gain all that 
 was possible to secure the navigation of the Mississippi 
 river. The free navigation of this river was the ultima- 
 tum. The desideratum was, to make the Mississippi the 
 national boundary. Considerations were suggested 
 which might influence the French government. If they 
 should have formed any plan of seducing the Western 
 people to separate from the Union, the fallacy should be 
 pointed out. The commercial advantages of a cession 
 should be shown, etc. It was indicated that "to incor- 
 porate the inhabitants of the hereby ceded territory with 
 the citizens of the United States on an equal footing, 
 being a provision which cannot now be made, ' ' must be 
 left for future action. "The instability of the peace of 
 Europe, the attitude taken by Great Britain, and the 
 languishing state of the French finances," were men- 
 tioned, as rendering the present time favorable for nego- 
 tiation. 
 
 These instructions show that Jefferson and Madison, 
 while prudently refraining from any public expression of 
 sanguine expectation, foresaw the coming struggle in 
 Europe, and were founding hopes upon it. Yet there is 
 no evidence that either of them dreamed that the full 
 fruition of their hopes was so near at hand. 
 
 Meanwhile, the negotiations with Spain were speedily 
 successful. In April the Spanish minister, Yrugo, an- 
 nounced the disavowal by Spain of the orders of her 
 intendente in closing the port of New Orleans against 
 Aiherican commerce. Thus one cause of irritation was 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 143 
 
 removed, and interest centered in the negotiations witli 
 France. Very little confidence was felt in their success, 
 but the West was willing to wait, and Jefferson main- 
 tained his policy. Only one of his acts indicates any 
 intention of departing from it. Some restlessness is 
 shown in the instructions to Livingston and Monroe, 
 written April i8, but which did not reach Paris till after 
 the treaty had been signed. These instructions indicate 
 an apprehension of hostility on the part of Napoleon, and 
 direct the two ministers, in the event that such purpose 
 should be shown by France, immediately to open secret 
 negotiations with Great Britain with a view to alliance. 
 They are cautioned to take no such step unless a hostile 
 purpose of France is evident. This step plainly shows 
 that Jefferson intended to resort to war, if it became 
 necessary as a last resort. He would, if necessary, be- 
 come the ally of Great Britain, though preferring peace 
 and the friendship of France. 
 
 Viewed in every aspect, whether as a patriot seeking 
 the good of his country or as a political leader conducting 
 his party in the paths of patriotism and victory, Jefferson 
 undoubtedly pursued a wise and skillful course. The 
 Federalist leaders had not only been thwarted but had 
 been handicapped. If negotiation should succeed, their 
 party was ruined. If war became necessary, they were 
 committed to its support. Their course in Congress had 
 stirred up the whole country, and the war would have 
 the sanction of all sections. But the Federalist leaders 
 had aided Jefferson by their agitation in a way which 
 they had not contemplated. 
 
 Napoleon was watching American politics. The im- 
 perious will of the "proudest warrior of Europe" would 
 have brooked no threat of war from the ruling powers of 
 the United States. Jefferson could not approach him 
 with any intimation of hostile purpose. But Napoleon 
 was not only an imperious warrior. When not blinded by 
 passion or drunk with ambition, he was also the pro- 
 
144 CONFEDERATE MILITARV HISTORY. 
 
 foundest statesman o£ Europe. He was, at the time, in 
 the calmest period of his political life. He had decided 
 to be Emperor of France and to dictate to Europe. He 
 was then revolving in his mind the steps to be taken. 
 Pie was preparing for war with England. Should he 
 yield this purpose to plans which could be successful only 
 by peace with England? Just at this time threats 
 reached his ear of the prospect of war from America, if 
 he attempted to occupy New Orleans. Fortunately these 
 threats came in a form not to arouse his pride but to 
 warn his judgment. 
 
 The party which had, when in power, shown hostility 
 to France and friendship for England were now, as a 
 minority party, urging the United States to steps which 
 must involve war with France. This party had been, 
 for the time, restrained by the party in power, who were 
 recognized as friendly to France. The government of 
 the United States had made no arrogant demands. The 
 resident minister, Mr. Livingston, under instructions 
 from a friendly President, had assiduously urged that 
 the Mississippi river shotild be made the boundary line 
 between Louisiana and the United States, but had shown 
 cogent and friendly reasons for the request, and had 
 manifested no desire to acquire the entire province. 
 The whole matter had come before Napoleon in the best 
 possible form, and at the best possible time. He needed 
 money for the approaching war with England, and he 
 needed, if not the alliance, at least the neutrality of the 
 United States. His decision was made. With charac- 
 teristic impetuosity he proceeded to put his plans into 
 execution.* 
 
 The world is indebted to M. Barbe Marbois, the agent 
 
 * The reader is referred to Marbois' History ol" Louisiana, and 
 also to the admirable work of Hon. Charles Gayarre, History of 
 Louisiana — Spanish Domination. This latter work contains instruc- 
 tive discussion of the events and negotiations connected with the 
 cession. The English view of Napoleon's motives may be found in 
 Alison's History of England, vol. 8, pp. 280-282. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 145 
 
 employed by Napoleon in the subsequent negotiations, 
 for recording the private interviews in which Napoleon 
 revealed his thoughts. Ignoring Talleyrand, who had 
 heretofore been in charge of the negotiations, he sum- 
 moned two of his ministers and opened his mind. With 
 the exception of a previous conversation which he had 
 with Talleyrand, but of which no record exists, the first 
 expression of his purpose was made to Marbois and 
 Decres April lo, 1803. He thus abruptly addressed 
 them: "I know the full value of Louisiana, and I have 
 been desirous of repairing the fault of the French nego- 
 tiator who abandoned it in 1763. A few lines of a treaty 
 have restored it to me, and I have scarcely recovered it 
 when I must expect to lose it. But if it escapes from 
 me, it shall one day cost dearer to those who oblige me 
 to strip myself of it than to those to whom I wish to de- 
 liver it. The English have successively taken from 
 France, Canada, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, New Found- 
 land, and the richest portions of Asia. They are engaged 
 in exciting trouble in St. Domingo. They shall not have 
 the Mississippi, which they court. Louisiana is nothing 
 in comparison with their conquests in all parts of the 
 globe, and yet the jealousy they feel at the restoration 
 of this colony to the sovereignty of France acquaints me 
 with their wish to take possession of it, and it is thus 
 they begin the war. They have twenty ships of war in 
 the Gulf of Mexico ; they sail over those seas as sover- 
 eigns, whilst our affairs in St. Domingo have been grow- 
 ing worse every day since the death of Leclerc. The 
 conquest of Louisiana would be easy, if they only took 
 the trouble to make a descent there. I have not a 
 moment to lose in putting it out of their reach. I know 
 not whether they are not already there. It is their usual 
 course, and if I had been in their place I would not have 
 waited. I wish, if there is still time, to take away from 
 them any idea that they may have of ever possessing 
 
 that colony. I think of ceding it to the United States, 
 l-io 
 
146 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 I can scarcely say that I cede it to them, for it is not yet 
 in our possession. If, however, I leave the least time to 
 our enemies, I shall only transmit an empty title to 
 those republicans whose friendship I seek. They only 
 ask me for one town in Louisiana ; but I already consider 
 the colony as entirely lost, and it appears to me that in 
 the hands of this growing power it will be more useful 
 to the policy, and even to the commerce, of France than 
 if I should attempt to keep it. ' ' 
 
 The two ministers were requested to express their 
 opinions freely. Marbois strongly urged the cession, 
 and gave his reasons at length. Decres opposed it, and 
 favored the colonial policy of Talleyrand. The con- 
 ference lasted till midnight, when the ministers were dis- 
 missed. It will be remembered that Marbois had taken 
 an active part, in 1783, in favor of limiting the bound- 
 aries of the United States to the Alleghany mountains. 
 He was now to be the instrument for extending them 
 beyond the Mississippi. He was summoned at daybreak 
 on the following morning (April"iith), when Napoleon, 
 after alluding to what had appeared in the London papers 
 in reference to the measures proposed in the United 
 States for seizing New Orleans, thus addressed him : 
 
 "Irresolution and deliberation are no longer in season. 
 I renounce Louisiana. It is not only New Orleans that 
 I will cede, it is the whole colony without any reserva- 
 tion. I know the price of what I abandon, and have 
 sufficiently proved the importance that I attach to this 
 province, since my first diplomatic act with Spain had 
 for its object its recovery. I renounce it with the 
 greatest regret. To attempt obstinately to retain it 
 would be folly. I direct you to negotiate this affair with 
 the envoys of the United States. Do not even await the 
 arrival of Mr. Monroe ; have an interview this very day 
 with Mr. Livingston. But I require a great deal of 
 money for this war, and I would not like to commence it 
 with new contributions. For a hundred years France 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 147 
 
 and Spain have been incuiTing expense for improve- 
 ments in Louisiana, for which its trade has never indem- 
 nified them. Large sums, which will never be returned 
 to the treasury, have been lent to companies and to agri- 
 culturalists. The price of all these things is justly due 
 to us. If I should regulate my terms according to the 
 value of these vast regions to the United States, the in- 
 demnity would have no limits. I will be moderate, in 
 consideration of the necessity in which I am of making a 
 sale. But keep this to yourself. I want fifty millions, 
 and for less than that sum I will not treat. I would 
 rather make a desperate attempt to keep these fine 
 - countries. Tomorrow you shall have full power. " * * * 
 "Perhaps it will also be objected to me that the Ameri- 
 cans may be found too powerful for Europe in two or 
 three centuries; but my foresight does not embrace such 
 remote fears. Besides, we may hereafter expect rivalries 
 among the members of the Union. The confederations 
 that are called perpetual only last till one of the contract- 
 ing parties finds it to his interest to break them, and it is 
 to prevent the danger to which the colonial power of 
 England exposes us that I would provide a remedy. " * * * 
 "Mr. Monroe is on the point of arriving. * * * Neither 
 this minister nor his colleague is prepared for a decision 
 which goes infinitely beyond anything they are about to 
 ask of us. Begin by making the overture without any 
 subterfuge. You will acquaint me day by day and hour 
 by hour of your progress. * * * Observe the greatest 
 secrecy, and recommend it to the American ministers." 
 April nth, the day of the conversation between 
 Napoleon and Marbois, Talleyrand dropped a hint to Mr. 
 Livingston by inquiring whether the United States de- 
 sired the whole of Louisiana, and what price they were 
 willing to pay for it. Mr. Livingston says (Letter of 
 Livingston to Madison, Annals of Congress, 1802-3, P- 
 1 1 26): "I told him no; that our wishes extended only 
 to New Orleans and the Floridas; that the policy of 
 
148 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 France should dictate to give us the country above the 
 river Arkansas, in order to place a barrier between them 
 and Canada." Mr. Monroe, who had sailed March 8th, 
 reached Paris April 12th, the day after Napoleon's con- 
 ference with Marbois, and at once entered into confer- 
 ence with Mr. Livingston. On the night of the 12th, 
 Marbois made to Livingston the informal overtures, as 
 directed by Napoleon. (Annals of Congress, 1802-3, PP- 
 1128-9, 30, 31, 32.) 
 
 Mr. Livingston details the interview in a letter to Mr. 
 Madison. He received the overtures with caution, and 
 took occasion to repeat the assurance which he had fre- 
 quently given: "I told him the United States were 
 anxious to preserve peace with France; that, for that 
 reason, they wished to remove them to the west side of 
 the Mississippi; that we should be perfectly satisfied 
 with New Orleans and the Floridas, and had no disposi- 
 tion to extend across the river. ' ' 
 
 The negotiation now passed into the regular channels, 
 and was conducted by James Monroe, as "minister pleni- 
 potentiary and envoy extraordinary," and Robert R. 
 Livingston, "minister plenipotentiary," on the part of 
 the United States ; and ' 'the French citizen, Barbe Mar- 
 bois, minister of the public treasury," on the part of 
 France. After a few skirmishes in settling the price and 
 minor stipulations, the treaty was signed May 2d, but 
 dated April 30, 1803. The treaty consisted of three 
 separate conventions. The first ceded Louisiana to the 
 United States. The second provided for the payment of 
 60,000,000 francs to France. The third provided for the 
 assumption by the United States of claims due from 
 France to American citizens. The whole sum was 
 equivalent to 118,738,268.98, exclusive of interest. The 
 area of the whole province was 1,182,752 square miles. 
 (Pub. Domain, p. 12.) 
 
 "When the treaty was signed the ministers shook hands 
 and pronounced this the noblest act of their lives. Yet 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 149 
 
 they were not without apprehensions. They had, in- 
 deed, done a work which deserved the gratitude and ap- 
 plause of their countrymen, but they had exceeded their 
 authority. How would their action be received at home? 
 The joint letter of Monroe and Livingston, announcing 
 the treaty, reads more like a letter of apology and ex- 
 planation than a letter of triumph. 
 
 Let us see how it was received at home. At this day 
 we can hardly believe that this acquisition met with 
 active and violent opposition; yet such was the case. 
 Jefferson and the Republican leaders received the news 
 with delight. The policy of negotiation had triumphed 
 beyond their most sanguine expectations. War was 
 averted and the West was bound to them by new ties of 
 gratitude. Their party had laid the foundations of 
 future greatness for the United States and of political 
 power for themselves. Yet there was one source of dis- 
 quietude. In the contests in Washington's cabinet, be- 
 tween Jefferson and Hamilton, both of these great men 
 had gone to extremes which both were afterward com- 
 pelled to abandon. Jefferson had maintained that the 
 general government had no powers beyond thos^ enumer- 
 ated in the Constitution. The power to acquire foreign 
 territory was not so enumerated. He foresaw the opposi' 
 tion of the Federalists. He felt secure of the ratificatibh 
 of the treaty, but he was sensitive to the charge of incon- 
 sistency in reference to the construction of the Constitu- 
 tion, which he knew would be brought against him. 
 He wished to preserve the strict Construction, which he 
 believed to be the safeguard of the rights of the States. 
 Yet Louisiana was "an opportunity snatched from fate," 
 It secured the expansion of the United States and the 
 triumph of the Republican party. The opportunity 
 must not be lost. The treaty must be ratified. Cofe- 
 webs must be brushed away. 
 
 He wrote to the members of his cabinet and to tHfe 
 Republican leaders, suggesting arguments and proposing 
 
150 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 a constitutional amendment to the effect: "Louisiana, as 
 ceded by France, is made a part of the United States." 
 His letter to Senator John Breckinridge, of Kentucky, 
 explains his views (Jefferson's Complete Works, H. A. 
 Washington, vol. 4, pp. 499, 500): 
 
 "Objections are raising to the eastward against the 
 vast extent of our boundaries, and propositions are made 
 to exchange Louisiana, or a part of it, for the Floridas. 
 But, as I have said, we shall get the Floridas without, 
 and I would not give one inch of the waters of the Mis- 
 sissippi to any nation. " * * * "These Federalists see in 
 this acquisition the formation of a new confederacy, 
 embracing all the waters of the Mississippi, on both sides 
 of it, and a separation of its western waters from us. " 
 * * * "The Constitution has made no provision for our 
 holding foreign territory, still less for the incorporation 
 of foreign nations into our Union. The Executive, in 
 seizing the fugitive occurrence which so much advances 
 the good of their country, have done an act beyond the 
 Constitution. The Legislature, in casting behind them 
 metaphysical subtleties and risking themselves like faith- 
 ful servants, must ratify and pay for it and throw them- 
 selves on their country for doing for them, unauthorized, 
 what we know they would have done for themselves had 
 they been in a situation to do it. It is the case of a 
 guardian investing the money of his ward in purchasing 
 an important adjacent territory, and saying to him when 
 of age, 'I did this for your good ; you may disavow me, 
 and I must get out of the scrape as I can. I thought it 
 my duty to risk myself for you. ' But we shall not be 
 disavowed by the nation, and their act of indemnity will 
 confirm and not weaken the Constitution, by more 
 strongly marking out its limits. We have nothing later 
 from Europe than the public papers give. I hope your- 
 self and all the Western members will make a sacred 
 point of being at the first day of the meeting of Con- 
 gress; for, vestra res regitur." 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 151 
 
 Congress was convened by proclamation October 17, 
 1803. Jefferson, as we have seen, advised a constitu- 
 tional amendment. This advice was not accepted by his 
 party associates. They thought that the Constitution 
 already gave sufficient power. Under this theory they 
 proceeded to confirm the treaty, and to introduce the 
 legislation necessary to occupy and organize the territory. 
 Upon this ground the Federalists attacked them, and 
 memorable debates ensued. It would be outside of our 
 purpose to follow these debates through a detailed dis- 
 cussion of the constitutional questions involved. They 
 come within our purview only so far as they furnish testi- 
 mony of public sentiment and locate the influences which 
 aided or opposed the acquisition of Louisiana and the 
 policy of territorial expansion. A general glance at the 
 attitude of the two parties on the constitutional questions 
 will, however, conduce to a clear comprehension of the 
 sectional aspects of the contest. 
 
 The first battle came in the Senate. (Annals of Con- 
 gress, 1803-1804, p. 308.) The treaty was confirmed in 
 executive session, October 20th, by a vote of 24 to 7. Those 
 voting against confirmation were Messrs. Hillhouse and 
 Tracy, of Connecticut; Pickering, of Massachusetts; 
 Wells and White, of Delaware; Olcott and Plumer, of 
 New Hampshire ; all Federalists and from the Northeast. 
 
 The public debates occurred on the resolutions and 
 acts for taking possession of the territory, providing for 
 the expenses of the treaty, and establishing a temporary 
 government. (Ibid, p. 488.) The test vote in the 
 House was taken October 25th, on the resolutions to pro- 
 vide for carrying out the treaty. The resolutions were 
 adopted by a vote of 90 yeas to 25 nays. Of these 25 
 nays 17 were from New England, 3 from New York, i 
 from Maryland, and 4 from Virginia. Hot debates 
 ensued in the Senate and in the House, turning largely on 
 the constitutional questions ; the Federalists denying and 
 the Republicans affirming the power of the government 
 
152 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 to make a treaty annexing foreign territory to the United 
 States. All shades of opinion were expressed, but the 
 two parties have been criticised as substantially revers- 
 ing their positions as to the powers of the general govern- 
 ment. The student of history is never surprised to find 
 two political parties shifting their positions on theoret- 
 ical questions. General theories, followed out to their 
 logical consequences, invariably lead to the reductio ad 
 absurdum. Political theories form no exception. Limit- 
 ations are as necessary to theories as to all other human 
 productions. What is sometimes mistaken for inconsist- 
 ency is the necessary adaptation and amendment of 
 opinion to new environments. Yet it does seem strange 
 to view the Federalist party posing as the champion of 
 strict construction and State rights, while the party of 
 Thomas Jefferson is aggressively demanding a liberal 
 construction of the Constitution and the extension of the 
 powers of the general government. 
 
 By common consent and general custom the right of 
 being inconsistent and of throwing rocks at the majority 
 is accorded to the minority party, as a sort of political 
 license, for which they are not held responsible until they 
 come again into power. The party in power, however, 
 is subject to indictment for inconsistency, and thus the 
 Republican party has been the party on trial. 
 
 Whatever inconsistency there may have been was 
 apparent rather than real, and was applicable to the argu- 
 ments used rather than to the course pursued. The pre- 
 vious contests in behalf of strict construction had been 
 directed to protecting the States, in their domestic rela- 
 tions and individual rights, from encroachments on the 
 part of the general government. In the domestic rela- 
 tions between the general government and the several 
 States, the Republicans regarded a strict construction as 
 the palladium of freedom. It did not follow that the 
 same strict construction should be applied for enfeeb- 
 ling the operations of the general government within its 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 153 
 
 own sphere. The citizens who constituted the Republi- 
 can party had aided in establishing the Constitution. 
 They helped to create the general government for general 
 purposes, and they could have no interest in an insane 
 and unpatriotic effort to render it incapable of perform- 
 ing its functions. Expressed in homely phrase, they did 
 not wish to tie the hands of the general government, but 
 they did wish to keep its hands off the States. 
 
 There is no inconsistency in maintaining, on the one 
 hand, a rule of strict construction, as applied to conflicts 
 between the general government and the individual 
 States, concerning the powers which the United States 
 can exercise within the several State jurisdictions; and, 
 on the other hand, a rule of liberal construction for exert- 
 ing the powers of the general government in its unques- 
 tioned constitutional sphere, outside of the States. If 
 there be any real inconsistency in these two positions, it 
 has survived in the creeds of the Republican party and 
 its successor, the Democratic party, to the present day. 
 
 Among those who have blamed both parties for incon- 
 sistency, the able and brilliant author of the "Winning of 
 the West' ' has arrived at the happiest conclusion. After 
 scoring the Federalists of 1803 for their present part of the 
 "inconsistency," and the Republicans for their past part 
 of the "inconsistency," he says of the "Jeffersonian Re- 
 publicans": "Nevertheless, at this juncture they were 
 right, which was far more important than being logical 
 or consistent. ' ' 
 
 The reader who desires to pursue the investigation of 
 the constitutional questions involved is referred to the 
 Annals of Congress, 1803-1804, which contain a record of 
 the debates in the Senate and in the House on the various 
 questions connected with the acquisition of Louisiana. 
 
 From these debates it plainly appears that whatever 
 inconsistency may be chargeable to the Federalists was 
 incurred in opposition to the acquisition of foreign terri- 
 tory; and whatever inconsistency may be chargeable to 
 
154 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 the Republicans was incurred in defense of the policy of 
 foreign acquisition and territorial expansion. The fol- 
 lowing extracts from the speeches delivered in the Senate 
 during this famous debate will serve to locate the center 
 of opposition to the policy of territorial expansion, and 
 to present some of the reasons of that opposition. The 
 seven votes against the confirmation of the treaty were 
 all from the Northeast. All the opponents urged consti- 
 tutional objections. Some of them also expressed strong 
 objections to the treaty on the grounds of public policy 
 and sectional interests. (Annals of Congress, 1803- 1804, 
 PP- 33. 34-) Said Mr. Samuel White, of Delaware: 
 "But as to Louisiana, this new, immense, unbounded 
 world, if it should ever be incorporated into this Union, 
 which I have no idea can be done, except by altering the 
 Constitution, I believe it would be the greatest curse that 
 could at present befall us * * * Louisiana must and will 
 become settled, if we hold it, and with the very popula- 
 tion that would otherwise occupy part of our present 
 territory. * * * We have already territory enough, and 
 when I contemplate the evils that may arise to these 
 states from this intended incorporation of Louisiana into 
 the Union, I would rather see it given to France, to 
 Spain, or to any other nation of the earth upon the mere 
 condition that no citizen of the United States should ever 
 settle within its limits. * * * Supposing that this extent 
 of territory was a desirable acquisition, $15,000,000 was 
 an enormous sum to give." What would Senator White 
 say if he were now living and could read the tax lists of 
 the states erected from this territory for just one year? 
 
 Mr. Uriah Tracy, of Connecticut, said: "And this 
 universal consent can never be obtained to such a perni- 
 cious measure as the admission of Louisiana, of a world, 
 and such a world, into our Union. This would be absorb- 
 ing the Northern States and rendering them as insignifi- 
 cant in the Union as they ought to be if, by their own 
 consent, the measure should be adopted." 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 156 
 
 These extracts serve to illustrate the sentiment largely 
 prevailing in the Northeast. There was a determined 
 and obstinate hostility to Southern or Western expansion 
 of territory, a feeling that such a policy would lessen the 
 influence of the Northeastern States in the Union, and 
 would retard their growth in population and wealth. 
 They especially feared that the unimpeded navigation of 
 the Mississippi would injure their commercial interests. 
 
 This sentiment was no sudden ebullition of party zeal. 
 The jealousy was seen in the efforts of several of the 
 States of this section, in the formation of the Union, to 
 claim an interest in the Western lands as "a common 
 stock, ' ' secured by "the blood and treasure of all. ' ' Hav- 
 ing been ceded and made "a common stock," its. settle- 
 ment and organization into states formed from this terri- 
 tory were now in alliance with the South, and had just 
 aided in the triumph of the new party. Political power 
 seemed to be slipping away from the Northeast. Ohio 
 had just entered statehood and brought reinforcements 
 to the Republicans, and now the Mississippi was crossed 
 and the westward extension was boundless. Thus, in 
 1803, the feeling at the Northeast had reached a high 
 point of irritation.* 
 
 That it was not suddenly allayed is established upon 
 testimony which cannot be doubted. The continued op- 
 position to everything connected with the Louisiana pur- 
 chase found eloquent expression in the famous words of 
 Josiah Quincy, on the floor of Congress, as late as 181 1, 
 when speaking on the bill for the admission of the Terri- 
 tory of Orleans as the State of Louisiana. 
 
 But this sentiment was not unanimous in New England. 
 There were a few men of influence who favored the 
 
 *Mr. Fisk, in his admirable work, "The Critical Period," shows 
 the prevalence of secession sentiments in the Southwest and the 
 Northeast. Mr. Roosevelt, in the "Winning of the West," treats 
 the subject in detail and with judicial fairness. Hon. J. L. M. 
 Curry, in "The Southern States of the American Union," traces this 
 sentiment through a series of years and portrays it vividly. 
 
156 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 treaty and its policy of expansion. The people of the 
 Northeast generally were opposed to western acquisitions, 
 and were dissatisfied with the present state of political 
 affairs, but were too conservative and too much attached 
 to the United States to be hurried into any rash act. 
 Conspicuous among the first class was John Quincy 
 Adams. Worthy of his illustrious father, who had borne 
 a leading part in 1783 in extending the territorial limits, 
 and himself possessed of vigorous intellect and patriotic 
 instincts, he looked beyond the horizon of sectional 
 jealousy and petty partisan opposition. He had not 
 entered Congress in time to vote on the first test, the con- 
 firmation of the treaty, in executive session, October 20th. 
 On the next day he presented his credentials as senator 
 from Massachusetts. He voted silently, October 26th, 
 possibly for technical reasons, against the bill authoriz- 
 ing the President to take possession of the territory. 
 When the bill to create the stock and to provide for the 
 payments under treaty was put upon its passage, the 
 opponents of the measure seized the opportunity as the 
 occasion for the memorable debate to which allusion has 
 been made. While this debate was at its hottest stage, 
 Mr. Adams arose and in an able speech announced his 
 intention to vote for the measure. He agreed with 
 Jefferson in the opinion that a constitutional amendment 
 was needed. After discussing the constitutional ques- 
 tions, he thus expressed his opinion on the policy of the 
 measure : " I trust they will be performed, and I will 
 cheerfully lend my hand to every act necessary for the 
 purpose. For I consider the object as of the highest 
 advantage to us; and the gentleman from Kentucky 
 (Mr. Breckinridge) himself, who has displayed, with so 
 much eloquence, the immense importance to this Union 
 of the possession of the ceded country, cannot carry his 
 ideas further than I do." (Annals of Congress, 1803- 
 1804, pp. 65-68. History of the United States, Henry- 
 Adams, vol. 2, pp. 117, 118.) 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 157 
 
 Mr. Adams also expressed the opinion that a constitu- 
 tional amendment to provide for making Louisiana a 
 part of the United States would receive unanimotis con- 
 sent. He subsequently offered his services to the ad- 
 ministration to support such a measure. 
 
 It now became necessary for Congress to provide a form 
 of government for the acquired territory. A motion was 
 made in the Senate, November 28th (Annals of Congress, 
 1 803- 1 804, p. 106), for the appointment of a committee 
 to prepare a form of government. This motion was 
 adopted, December sth, and Messrs. Breckinridge, Wright, 
 Jackson, Baldwin and Adams were appointed as the com- 
 mittee. A bill was reported from this committee, Decem- 
 ber 30th, which, after discussion and amendments, was 
 passedby the Senate, February 18, 1804, by a vote of 20 to 5. 
 When this bill came to the House it gave rise to animated 
 .discussion and met with opposition, not only from the 
 Federalists, but from a number of staunch Republicans. 
 After important amendments, it finally passed March 
 17th by a vote of 66 to 21. These amendments were 
 rejected by the Senate, and an amendment made by 
 which the act was limited to expire at the end of one year. 
 The House refused, at first, to recede from its amend- 
 ments, but upon the report of the conference committee of 
 the two houses, it was decided to yield, and the bill was 
 passed' March 23d and became a law by the President's ap- 
 proval, which was attached March 26, 1804. (Annals of 
 Congress, 1803-1804, pp. 211, 223, 256, 1229, 1293, 1300.) 
 
 The opposition was caused by a sentiment that the act 
 gave almost autocratic powers to the President. The test 
 vote in the House, 51 to 45, shows that this opinion was 
 shared by many Republicans. This power, however, was 
 necessary to organize a territory foreign to American in- 
 stitutions, and to prepare the way for a permanent govern- 
 ment, and it expired by its own limitation in one year. 
 
 Under the act, approved October 31, 1803, the Presi- 
 dent had already taken possession of the new acquisition. 
 
158 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 The American commissioners (see Gayarre's History of 
 Louisiana), Wilkinson and Claiborne, received the 
 province from the French commandant, Laussat, Decem- 
 ber 20, 1803. Amid public demonstrations and the 
 exchange of international courtesies, the people were 
 introduced to their new rulers. The French prefect 
 declared them absolved from allegiance to France, and 
 the American governor welcomed them to the United 
 States as brothers. The French flag was lowered from 
 the staff, while the American flag ascended. When they 
 met half way, salvos of artillery resounded from the land 
 batteries and were answered from the war vessels in the 
 river. Amid all these demonstrations the people stood 
 mute and testified no emotion. On the same day, W. C. 
 C. Claiborne issued his proclamation as governor of 
 Louisiana, congratulating the people and pledging the 
 faith of the United States that they should be protected 
 for the present enjoyment of all their rights, and should 
 be admitted as soon as possible to all the rights of Ameri- 
 can citizens. Thus, without war or constitutional amend- 
 ment, "Louisiana, as ceded by France, is made a part of 
 the United States, ' ' and remains a joint monument to the 
 genius of Napoleon Bonaparte and Thomas Jefferson. 
 
 Napoleon recast the map of Europe. At his downfall 
 this map was erased, as the teacher erases from the board 
 the map which has been used by the class ; but across the 
 Atlantic ocean, far removed from the theater of his 
 exploits, still remains Louisiana, the only handwriting 
 of Napoleon now left on the map of the world. Napo- 
 leon shaped in Europe, while Jefferson shaped in 
 America, the conditions which made the acquisition pos- 
 sible. Napoleon had the power to grant or withhold it. 
 He granted it of his own volition. Jefferson had no 
 power to compel it and no grounds to demand it. He 
 could only so direct American policy that Napoleon 
 would find an advantage in conferring this mark of his 
 friendship. When it was offered, unasked, Jefferson 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 159 
 
 recognized the immense value of the acquisition and 
 snatched the opportunity from fate. He staked upon its 
 acceptance his personal and political influence and risked 
 the fate of his party. The event justified his foresight. 
 
 If what politicians call the "verdict of the country" 
 has any weight, surely Jefferson and his party were 
 acquitted on all counts in the indictment for "inconsist- 
 ency," "timidity," etc., and were awarded public approval 
 and gratitude by the sweeping victory of the next year. 
 (Annals of Congress, 1804-1805, p. 1195.) 
 
 The party which acquired Louisiana, beginning as a 
 Southern party, winning the Western States and equally 
 dividing the Middle States, had by its great act won 
 national confidence, gained the political support of all but 
 two of the States and laid the foundation for national 
 greatness. In this great national work, can it be denied 
 that the South was the leading factor? 
 
 The following table shows the electoral vote in 1804: 
 
 STATES. 
 
 New Hampshire 
 Massachusetts . . 
 Rhode Island. . . 
 Connecticut. .... 
 
 Vermont 
 
 New York 
 
 New Jersey 
 
 'Pennsylvania. . . 
 
 Delaware 
 
 Maryland 
 
 Virginia 
 
 Norih Carolina.. 
 South Carolina.. 
 
 Georgia 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 Kentucky , 
 
 Ohio 
 
 Total 
 
 President. 
 
 7 
 
 19 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 19 
 
 8 
 
 20 
 
 9 
 
 24 
 
 14 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 162 
 
 d 
 u 
 
 14 
 
 Vice-President. 
 
 7 
 
 19 
 4 
 
 6 
 19 
 
 9 
 
 24 
 
 14 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 162 
 
 14 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN— SPANISH 
 COMPLICATIONS— SPAIN CEDES FLORIDA, AND HER 
 CLAIMS TO OREGON. 
 
 IN the Presidentiar election of i8oo, which brought the 
 Republican party into power, the majority was 
 meager, and the contest was sectional. In the elec- 
 tion of 1804, the vote was nearly unanimous, and the vic- 
 tory was national. Jefferson entered on his second term 
 of office, March 4, 1805, as the leader of a party no longer 
 sectional, and now instructed by the people to continue 
 the same firm policy which had won public confidence. 
 His foreign negotiations had been eminently successful, 
 and at home his opponents had been baffled and discon- 
 certed. He had secured the navigation of the Mississippi 
 river, and had extended the western boundaries to the 
 Rocky mountains. This western territory was an 
 acquisition of immense value for future development. 
 Still, another acquisition was needed for more immediate 
 use. The rivers of Mississippi Territory flowed through 
 Florida into the Gulf of Mexico. The advance of popu- 
 lation rendered outlets to the gulf every day more neces- 
 sary. The Indians inhabiting the country were a source 
 of annoyance, continually committing depredations, and 
 furnishing a refuge for runaway slaves. Florida 
 acquirenda est. 
 
 Two courses of procedure were open: ist. To seize 
 Florida by conquest. 2d. To acquire it by negotiation. If 
 the first policy should be pursued, its natural result would 
 be war with Spain and France, and its corollary would be 
 offensive and defensive alliance " with Great Britain. 
 Such a policy would be an ungrateful return to Napoleon 
 
 160 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 161 
 
 for the recent signal mark of his favor. It would be a 
 hazardous and costly experiment, an act of robbery, and 
 even if successful, would disturb the repose of the coun- 
 try, now rapidly developing under the happy auspices of 
 peace. Jefferson was unwilling to resort to a policy of 
 war, and he was right. Adhering to the wise maxim of 
 Washington to avoid entangling alliances with foreign 
 nations, he continued the policy which had been so suc- 
 cessful in winning Louisiana — peaceful negotiation. 
 That the way was unexpectedly beset with obstacles, was 
 no fault of Jefferson's. No human prescience could fore- 
 see the approaching insanity of Europe. Through the re- 
 mainder of his administration, Jefferson appears in the 
 light of a man in perfect possession of his senses, en- 
 deavoring to avoid a free fight with a party of madmen 
 whom he tries to conciliate, waiting for their return to a 
 lucid interval. 
 
 To paint a picture of this period of European insanity, 
 roblDery and piracy, would require a lengthened treatise. 
 Our space permits only a glance at the relations of the 
 United States with the several European powers at the 
 tir&e when negotiations were in progress. 
 
 Spain was irritated and sore at the loss of Louisiana, 
 and had yielded possession under constraint. 
 
 Napoleon was lukewarm. He was disappointed at the 
 apparent indifference with which the United States had 
 received what he esteemed a signal mark of his favor, 
 and had evaded participation in European contests. 
 America, however, was beyond his reach. He could use 
 no direct coercion, and coiild only strive to involve her 
 in hostility with his enemies. 
 
 Great Britain had shown marked dissatisfaction with 
 the retrocession of Louisiana to France. The Addington 
 ministry had maintained friendly relations with the 
 United States, and had expressed sentiments favorable 
 to the efforts of the American commissioners to secure 
 the Mississippi as the national boundary. Confident in 
 
162 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 the opinion that the failure of negotiations would leave 
 the United States the natiiral enemy of France, and the 
 natural ally of Great Britain, the British statesmen used 
 expressions of politeness and encouragement to the 
 American negotiators, but prepared to execute secret 
 purposes of their own. A British fleet was sent to the 
 neighborhood, and was ready to seize New Orleans as 
 soon as the impending war with France should justify 
 the attack. Great Britain was astonished and discon- 
 certed by the news that, at the critical moment. Napoleon 
 had ceded the whole territory to a friendly power, whose 
 negotiations had been submitted to her approval, and 
 had received her sanction. Outwitted and overreached, 
 she could not now pursue a hostile policy without per- 
 fidy, and without forcing a war with the United States 
 while she was on the eve of a dangerous war with 
 France. The British lion, in the act of couching for the 
 spring, saw the prey escape, and for the moment was 
 too much surprised to growl. But it was not long before 
 the roar was heard across the Atlantic. 
 
 Such were the conditions of Europe in the latter part 
 of 1803, when negotiations for the acquisition of Florida 
 were begun. Passing briefly over the diplomatic events 
 previous to 1805,* it maybe sufficient to note that they 
 were unsuccessful, and that the United States was re- 
 pulsed at every court. These negotiations were ad- 
 dressed to asserting the claim that West Florida was 
 included in the cession of Louisiana. This claim was 
 disputed. France and Spain united in resisting it. Al- 
 though Congress had authorized the occupation of West 
 Florida, President Jefferson refrained from taking hostile 
 possession. The negotiations, however, became acri- 
 monious. Mr. Pinckney, the minister at Madrid, gave 
 
 * The reader may trace this jjeriod of diplomacy through the 
 Annals of Congress. The subject is treated in detail m the histories 
 of Schouler, McMaster, Henry Adams, and in Narrative and Critical 
 History. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 163 
 
 notice that he would demand his passports, and matters 
 assumed a threatening aspect. In November, 1804, Mr. 
 Monroe, then at London, was ordered to Madrid. He 
 passed through Paris to invoke the co-operation of Na- 
 poleon, but was coldly received. He somewhat defiantly 
 took his departure for Madrid, which place he reached 
 January 2d, and left May 26, 1805, having accomplished 
 nothing. As yet, there seemed nothing to indicate dan- 
 ger to America. 
 
 Before the close of the year, however, the war cloud 
 of Europe burst, and events took a turn which rendered 
 American relations precarious beyond all human fore- 
 sight. The wonderful achievements of Napoleon caused 
 European politics to vary with the rapidity and novelty 
 of the shifting views of the kaleidoscope, leaving only 
 one thing in Europe permanent — "the naval supremacy 
 of Great Britain. ' ' While adhering to the hope of wrest- 
 ing Florida from the necessities of Spain and France, 
 Jefferson found his negotiations complicated with ques- 
 tions growing out of foreign hostility to the rapid de- 
 velopment of the American merchant marine. Unex- 
 pectedly thrown on the defensive, his efforts must be 
 directed to thwart the hostility of Great Britain against 
 American trade, and his diplomacy must be adapted to 
 meet the fleeting conditions of European politics ; look- 
 ing now to Spain, and again to France, and again to 
 Great Britain. 
 
 In the autumn of 1805 two great events disconcerted 
 the policy of America as well as the relations of Europe. 
 October 21st, the naval victory of Trafalgar confirmed 
 Great Britain's supremacy on the ocean. December 2d, 
 Austerlitz made Napoleon dictator of continental 
 Europe, shattered the combinations of Pitt and caused 
 his premature death. Both of these events were adverse 
 to American interests. 
 
 Napoleon had applied the purchase money of Louisiana 
 to building a navy. The most magnificent army which 
 
164 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 the world had ever seen was assembled at Boulogne, on 
 the French coast of the English Channel. The French 
 admiral, Villeneuve, was ordered to feign an attack on 
 the West Indies and to decoy Lord Nelson across the 
 ocean; then to evade him, and return to throw Napoleon's 
 grand army across the channel for the purpose of moving 
 upon London and destroying the power of Great Britain. 
 Villeneuve moved as directed. Lord Nelson, completely 
 deceived, crossed the ocean, and did not discover his 
 mistake until he reached the West Indies. Villeneuve 
 was in turn deceived. Rebuffed in an indecisive action 
 with an inferior naval force under Sir Robert Calder, and 
 deceived by the maneuvers of the English Channel fleet 
 under Lord Collingwood, he steered for the coast of 
 Spain in disobedience of Napoleon's orders. While 
 waiting for reinforcements and repairing his vessels, he 
 lost the favorable moment. Lord Nelson returned and 
 was, indeed, before him. Then came the battle of 
 Trafalgar, and the navy which the purchase money of 
 Louisiana had helped to build was destroyed. 
 
 Had the genius of Napoleon been able to reach out 
 over the ocean as it reached out over the land, the his- 
 tory of the world would have been different. Hereafter 
 his thunderbolts could reach only the continent of Europe. 
 
 When he learned that Villeneuve had disobeyed his 
 orders, he burst into a vehement passion: "What a 
 navy! What sacrifices for nothing! What an admiral! 
 All hope is gone. That Villeneuve, instead of entering 
 the Channel, has taken refuge in Ferrol ! It is all over. 
 Daru, sit down and write. ' ' (Alison's History of Europe, 
 vol. 9, p. 63.) Checking his anger, he was calm upon 
 the instant and dictated to his secretary, Daru, the orders 
 by which the entire force of France was thrown with 
 rapidity and precision across the continent of Europe to 
 meet the foes which the combinations of Pitt were accu- 
 mulating in his rear. Ulm was captured and Austerlitz 
 won* 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 165 
 
 The ocean having been now abandoned to Great Britain, 
 Napoleon placed little value on the friendship of a nation 
 without a navy, three thousand miles away, and deter- 
 mined on a policy of neutrality. Such a nation could be 
 useful to him only in one way, and to a trifling extent. 
 If America would buy Florida and pay for it in such a 
 way that the money should come through his hands, he 
 was willing to dictate a sale to Spain, and to intercept 
 the purchase money. After abandoning the invasion of 
 England, and just before Austerlitz, September 4, 1805, 
 he signified his willingness to co-operate in the transfer 
 of Florida, and suggested $7,000,000 as the price. The 
 United States had heretofore demanded West Florida, 
 without price, as part of Louisiana. This new proposition 
 for its purchase must be referred to Congress. (Annals 
 of Congfress, 1805-1806, pp. 1226, 1227.) 
 
 After violent opposition, in which many of the Presi- 
 dent's former friends participated, an act was passed 
 February 13, 1806, appropriating the sum of $2,000,000 
 for foreign negotiations, and the President sent instruc- 
 tions to General Armstrong, the minister at Paris, to 
 offer $5,000,000. The instructions reached Paris in May, 
 1806, eight months after Napoleon's suggestion had been 
 made. Such dilatory proceedings were not fitted to 
 keep pace with Napoleon's rapid combinations. In the 
 meantime, he had formed new plans. He seemed now 
 to desire that affairs between the United States and 
 Spain should remain unsettled. Nothing could be 
 obtained from him except peremptory refusal to decide 
 the matter. Mr. Alison, the English historian, suggests 
 that he was even then planning to place his brother 
 Joseph on the throne of Spain. It is more probable, 
 however, that he had now conceived a plan for exercising 
 over the ocean an indirect control, which he had failed 
 to acquire by naval force. In this purpose he hoped to 
 make use of the United States. The cession of Louisiana 
 had not forced the United States from neutrality. Per- 
 
166 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 haps more might be accomplished by holding out Florida 
 as a prize than by yielding it as a purchase. 
 
 Napoleon now entered on the campaign in which he 
 crushed the power of Prussia. November 21st he issued 
 the famous Berlin decree, in retaliation for Great Britain's 
 orders blockading the French and German coast. Great 
 Britain replied by the "Orders in Council." These 
 arbitrary proceedings violated every principle of justice, 
 and especially affected the merchant marine of the 
 United States, then the main carriers of the world. They 
 fully justified war against either or both offenders. 
 
 The orders of Great Britain bore with especial hardship 
 against American trade, and were arrogantly enforced. 
 In addition, the impressment of seamen from American 
 vessels by British cruisers had long been a source of 
 irritation and humiliation to the United States. An 
 immense merchant marine, without a navy to protect it, 
 and which was rapidly supplanting English commerce, 
 excited both the en-vy and cupidity of Great Britain, and 
 led to acts which differed from piracy only in being per- 
 petrated under her title as "mistress of the seas." 
 
 The remonstrances of the United States were unheeded 
 either by France or Great Britain, and Jefferson was left 
 to choose his remedy. Great Britain seemed to invite 
 war, and Napoleon shaped his course with a view to force 
 the United States into a war with Great Britain. To find 
 redress without war was now the object of Jefferson's 
 diplomacy. The aggressive character of American nego- 
 tiation now gave way to the defensive. The acquisition 
 of Florida yielded in importance to the protection of 
 American shipping. Napoleon replied to every remon- 
 strance, that as soon as the United States should declare 
 war against the aggressor, England, he was ready to 
 grant every demand. He was ready to withdraw the 
 Berlin decrees, to assure the acquisition of Florida 
 and Canada, to enter into an alliance against Great 
 Britain. The temptation was great, but Jefferson ad- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 167 
 
 hered to the policy of avoiding entangling alliances. 
 Meanwhile, the outrages and insults of Great Britain be- 
 came intolerable. The attack on the Chesapeake, the 
 insolence of the British officers who were practically 
 blockading the coast, the continued depredations on com- 
 merce, and the impressment of American seamen, had 
 reached a pitch of arrogance and aggression to which 
 even the pacific temper of Jefferson could no longer sub- 
 mit. 
 
 It would appear the most obvious policy to accept the 
 overtures of Napoleon. A powerful ally, ready to bestow 
 the coveted prize, Florida, solicited friendship. Yet Jef- 
 ferson declined. Something, however, must be done. 
 He decided on the policy which he believed best for his 
 country, though not for himself. He believed that the 
 United States was not prepared for war. The end of his 
 term of office was approaching. He had ardently hoped 
 to be the instrument for acquiring Florida. He must 
 now sacrifice this cherished purpose. He turned from the 
 beckoning hand of Napoleon with a pang, and resigned 
 the acquisition of Florida to his successors in office. 
 The final success of his policy was reserved to crown the 
 presidential administration of the able negotiator who 
 had borne so many disappointments in urging it in for- 
 eign courts. 
 
 Yet Jefferson laid the foundation of the foreign policy 
 which finally gained Florida, and through the whole 
 course of his administration adhered to it with a firm- 
 ness which neither the taunts of political enemies nor 
 the alienation of political friends could shake. 
 
 No man ever followed the convictions of his judgment 
 with more tenacity than Jefferson. Courteous to others 
 from the native kindness of his heart, he never obtruded 
 a display of obstinacy. His judgment was illuminated 
 by the most profound intellect in America; his firmness 
 was that of conviction, and not of self-will. Pliant in 
 matters of minot import, he was as inflexible as Napoleon 
 
168 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 in his fixed purposes. He marked out for his country 
 during the trying period which convulsed Evirope, the 
 most judicious course possible 'to pursue. While the 
 statesmen of Europe were daily making disastrous mis- 
 takes, Jefferson might be accorded the post of honor if 
 he made but one. If the embargo was a mistake, which 
 is by no means certain, the mistake consisted in over- 
 estimating the willingness of all the sections to submit to 
 temporary sacrifices for the best interests of their coun- 
 try. After the resistance of the mercantile sections had 
 been demonstrated, the embargo was repealed. It may 
 not have been as good a recourse as war, but it was better 
 than submission. It wrought no permanent disaster. 
 What injury it caused has been greatly exaggerated for 
 party purposes. It produced some permanent benefits. 
 The course of those who resisted it was less patriotic 
 than the course of those who enacted it. 
 
 This persistence in the policy of neutrality with the 
 European powers, while all Europe was at war, rendered 
 Jefferson and his diplomatists unpopular in European 
 courts. They came to be regarded with jealousy, as 
 seeking to pick up advantages from the quarrels of other 
 nations. This jealousy was inflamed by the efforts to ac- 
 quire Florida, and by the wonderful growth of the Amer- 
 ican merchant marine, which thrived on European wars 
 and American neutrality. 
 
 Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, the exponents of this 
 policy, endeavored to promote this growth by preserving 
 peace. When it was unjustly assailed by European ag- 
 gression, they tried to protect it with the shield rather 
 than the sword. This course subjected them to the 
 sneers and sarcasm of foreign courts, courtiers and 
 writers. Such taunts are not surprising from European 
 sources. Europe was intoxicated, and hurled the re- 
 proaches which persons in such condition are accustomed 
 to visit upon those who decline to take part in their ex- 
 cesses. It is not surprising that political adversaries at 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 169 
 
 home should have joined in the cry. The calm Ameri- 
 can historian, however, should not be misled to censure 
 as "timid," "weak," "vacillating," "feeble," "subser- 
 vient to Napoleon," etc., the great and patriotic men 
 who guided the country with honor and safety through 
 the most dangerous period of modern times, and brought 
 it from the conflict more than doubled in territory, and 
 ready to enter upon the growing period of its history. 
 
 None of these adverse critics have explained their own 
 paradoxes : that the policy which they denounce as weak 
 ultimately attained its object over the greatest maritime 
 power of Europe, and over domestic factions; that the 
 opponents of this policy could offer only obstructions but 
 no substitute, and expressed sentiments tending to a 
 course certainly more "timid" and "feeble," if not un- 
 patriotic; that the embargo, the only part of Jefferson's 
 policy not followed to its complete conclusion, was sup- 
 planted, for the time, by a policy of despicable weakness 
 and abject submission ; that when resort was finally had 
 to war, those who had denounced the embargo and all 
 the measures of peace became violent opponents of war, 
 and threatened the dissolution of the Union; that the 
 party which sustained Jefferson's policy was endorsed at 
 every presidential election by strong majorities, finally 
 overwhelmed all opposition, and brought about the only 
 period of American history which ever resembled a 
 political millennium — "The Era of Good Feeling." 
 
 Such results are never accomplished by weak and 
 vacillating men. They come only to those who, through 
 the vicissitudes of fortune, pursue intelligent designs 
 with fixed purpose. The truth is^ the men who con- 
 trolled American destinies during that eventful period 
 were patriots and statesmen of the highest type. They 
 clung with tenacity to the wisest policy pursued by any 
 nation, and they deserve the gratitude and admiration of 
 posterity. 
 
 It is fashionable among a certain class of writers to com- 
 
170 
 
 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 ment on affairs of state very much in the style of the by- 
 standers at a game of chess. They point out moves 
 which might be made, congratulating themselves on the 
 brilliancy of their own combinations, but forgetting that 
 these combinations are not subjected to the test of an 
 adverse player. 
 
 It is, also, a modern fashion to underestimate the in- 
 telligence of the American people in the early part of the 
 nineteenth century, and to represent them as inferior to 
 the people of Europe, or to the Americans of the pres- 
 ent day. This is a serious mistake. There has never 
 been a period of history when any people evinced greater 
 native sagacity. This is especially true of the Western 
 people. Their strong common sense made them com- 
 petent judges of their own affairs. They comprehended 
 the wisdom of their leaders, and by judicious support 
 enabled them to carry their measures to successful con- 
 clusion. Their contemporaneous verdict is a vindication 
 of the policy pursued, which carries a weight more con- 
 vincing than theoretical criticism. They were voting for 
 the protection of their best interests, and they were in 
 earnest. The verdict is given in the electoral vote of 
 1808, according to the following table, one elector not 
 voting : 
 
 
 President. 
 
 Vice-President. 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 >^ 
 
 g 
 
 H 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 -M 
 
 « 
 
 a 
 
 S 
 
 p 
 
 
 
 
 States. 
 
 .2 
 ■0 
 
 a 
 
 
 fl 
 
 •3 
 
 u 
 
 g 
 
 bO 
 
 
 
 01 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 bo 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 u 
 bo 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 d 
 
 u 
 
 
 0) 
 
 e 
 
 s 
 
 s 
 
 s 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 01 
 
 1—1 
 
 
 
 d 
 
 
 
 5. 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 Pi 
 
 New Hampshire..., 
 
 . 
 
 .. 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 .. 
 
 7 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 . . . 
 
 , , 
 
 19 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 Vermont 
 
 6 
 
 • 13 
 . 8 
 
 'e 
 
 
 13 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 
 New York 
 
 
 New Jersey 
 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 . 20 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 171 
 
 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 Vice-President. 
 
 
 « 
 
 i 
 
 iy 
 
 s 
 
 % 
 
 u 
 
 g 
 
 
 States. 
 
 ■a 
 
 4-> 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 cn 
 
 U 
 
 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 bO 
 
 (L 
 
 Sj 
 
 «j 
 
 tA 
 
 ►4 
 
 cfl 
 
 
 I 
 
 OS 
 •—I 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 d 
 d 
 
 
 5 
 
 0) 
 
 •-1 
 
 a 
 
 3 
 
 Delaware 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 Maryland 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 Virginia 
 
 24 
 II 
 
 
 
 
 24 
 II 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 North Carolina 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 South Carolina 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Georgia 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 7 
 5 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 Ohio 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 122 
 
 6 
 
 47 
 
 113 
 
 3 
 
 *» 
 
 9 
 
 47 
 
 
 
 
 
 •^ 
 
 
 The Federalists had gained. Parties were again assum- 
 ing a sectional aspect. New England was nearly a unit 
 for the Federalists. The South and West were nearly a 
 unit, casting 66 votes for the Republicans and 3 votes for 
 the Federalists. The Middle States were, likewise, nearly 
 a unit, casting 56 votes for the Republicans and 5 votes for 
 the Federalists. Thus, Jefferson left his party stronger 
 than he found it, and in the hands of an able successor, 
 his personal friend and coadjutor. 
 
 The first year of Madison's administration was occupied 
 with efforts to protect American commerce from the 
 inroads of Great Britain and France. 
 
 Florida dropped out of foreign negotiations, except 
 that it was occasionally revived by Napoleon, who offered 
 it as a bait on several occasions, when pressed to repeal 
 the Berlin decrees. Meanwhile, the relations of France 
 and Spain had changed. Napoleon had invaded Spain 
 and had placed his brother Joseph on the throne. Then 
 followed the revolt of the "Spanish Patriots," and Eng- 
 land came to their rescue, claiming to be the friend of 
 liberty. The American colonies of Spain seized this as a 
 favorable opportunity for shaking off the nerveless grasp. 
 
172 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Great Britain was watching the chance to seize the 
 prey. 
 
 A new danger now threatened. Great Britain might 
 at any moment procure a cession from her ally, Spain, 
 and occupy Florida without warning. 
 
 In the summer of 1810, American immigrants in West 
 Florida rebelled against the Spanish authority and seized 
 Baton Rouge. They then held a convention, organized 
 a government, and declared West Florida a "free and 
 independent State. ' ' The President refused to recognize 
 their acts, but they had demonstrated that Spain was 
 incapable of exercising control over the province. It 
 was necessary for the United States to act with vigor. 
 Accordingly, October 27, 1810, President Madison issued 
 his proclamation, taking possession of West Florida in 
 the name of the United States. His reasons were stated 
 in the proclamation. It was claimed as a part of the 
 Louisiana cession. Although the United States had not 
 heretofore taken hostile possession, yet the time had 
 arrived when the authority of Spain had been thrown off 
 by revolt. The President, therefore, occupied it to save 
 it from anarchy, to guard against the mischief which 
 might result to the United States, and to prevent its 
 seizure by any foreign power. The territory was to be 
 held under authority of former acts of Congress, in a 
 manner friendly to Spain and subject to amicable adjust- 
 ment hereafter. The territory so occupied extended 
 from the Mississippi river to the Perdido, and was attached 
 for the present to Orleans Territory. Governor Claiborne 
 took possession December 7th, as far as Pearl river, per- 
 mitting the country between the rivers Pearl and Perdido 
 to remain in the possession of the Spanish governor. 
 Congress met Decembers, iSio, and the President's mes- 
 sage, December 5th, thus refers to his occupation of Florida : 
 
 "The Spanish authority was subverted, and a situation 
 produced exposing the country to ulterior events which 
 might essentially affect the rights and welfare of the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 173 
 
 Union. In such a conjuncture, I did not delay the inter- 
 position required for the occupancy of the territory west 
 of the river Perdido, to which the title of the United 
 States extends, and to which the laws provided for the 
 Territory of Orleans are applicable." 
 
 In the Senate, December loth, so much of the Presi- 
 dent's message as related to the occupation of West Florida 
 was referred to a committee consisting of Senators Giles, 
 Pope, Crawford, Anderson and Bradley. This committee 
 reported a bill, which passed first reading December i8th, 
 declaring the Territory of Orleans to extend to the Per- 
 dido river. The bill was debated on the 27th and 28th 
 and 31st without action. It was advocated by Senators 
 Henry Clay and Pope of Kentucky, and opposed by Sena- 
 tors Horsey of Delaware and Pickering of Massachusetts. 
 It was found to involve questions connected with the 
 admission of Orleans Territory as the State of Louisiana. 
 Its consideration was laid aside for the present. It was 
 taken up again February 8, 181 1, and recommitted. 
 (Annals of Congress, 1810-1811, pp. 12, 25, 27, 33, 129.) 
 
 Attention was now turned to the admission of Orleans 
 Territory as the State of Louisiana. Mr. John Poydras, 
 the delegate from Orleans Territory, presented a petition 
 from the Territorial legislature praying admission as a 
 State. This petition was referred to a committee of which 
 Mr. Macon was chairman, and a bill for this purpose was 
 presented by the committee December 27th. It was 
 amended and debated in its several stages January 2d, 
 4th and loth, and was put on its final passage January 14th, 
 and after a debate of much sectional bitterness, reviving 
 the old constitutional questions of 1803, was finally passed 
 by the House January 15, 181 1, by a vote of 77 yeas to 
 36 nays. (Ibid., 413, 466, 482, 493, 513 to 579.) 
 
 It was during the debate on this bill that Josiah Quincy, 
 of Massachusetts, in words of eloquence and fire, gave 
 vent to the sentiments which were widely entertained in 
 the Northeast: "If this bill passes, it is my deliberate 
 
174 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 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 for a separation, amicably if 
 they can, violently if they must." (Ibid., 525.) The bill 
 passed the Senate with some amendments, and finally 
 became a law by receiving the President's signature 
 February 20, 1811. (Ibid., 1326.) 
 
 The eastern boundary of the State of Louisiana was 
 established to follow the line fixed by the French cession 
 to Spain in 1762, the middle of the Mississippi to the 
 Iberville, thence along the Iberville and the middle of 
 Lakes Maurepas and Ponchartrain to the Gulf of Mexico. 
 Thus, West Florida was left as a separate territory, to be 
 held by the United States, subject to future negotiation 
 with Spain. 
 
 In the meantime, the President sent a secret niessage 
 to Congress (Annals of Congress, 1810-1811, p. 369), 
 stating that the portion of Florida east of the River 
 Perdido (East Florida) was in a deplorable condition, and 
 recommending the expediency of authorizing the Ex- 
 ecutive to take temporary possession, in pursuance of 
 arrangements which may be desired by the Spanish 
 authorities. The message was accompanied by com- 
 munications from the British charge d'afifaires. Vin- 
 cente Folch, Spanish governor of West Florida, addressed 
 two communications of the same date, December 2, 18 10: 
 one to the secretary of state and one to Colonel John 
 McKee. (Ibid., 1259, 1262.) These two letters set forth 
 his helpless and deserted plight. The affected condition 
 of the province forced him to invoke the assistance of the 
 United States, and to tender the temporary possession if 
 he should not receive speedy relief from Spain. The 
 letter of Mr. J. P. Morier, the British charge d'affaires, 
 written December 15, 1810, was a protest against the 
 occupation by the United States on the part of Great 
 Britain, as the friend of Spain, and was somewhat 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 175 
 
 threatening in tone. Upon receipt of the President's 
 communication the matter was referred to a committee 
 consisting of Senators Clay, of Kentucky; Crawford, of 
 Georgia; Bradley, of Vermont; Smith, of Maryland, and 
 Anderson, of Tennessee (Annals of Congress, 1810-1811, 
 pp. 370-76), and on January 7th, Mr. Clay, from this 
 committee, reported a "declaration and bill" to enable 
 the President to take possession of East Florida, which 
 passed the Senate in secret session January 10, 18 11, by 
 a vote of 23 to 7. The nays were Senators Bayard, of 
 Delaware ; Champlin, of Rhode Island ; Goodrich, of New 
 Hampshire; Horsey, of Delaware; Lloyd, of Massachu- 
 setts ; Pickering, of Massachusetts, and Reed, of Maryland. 
 (Annals of Congress, 370-376, 575, 1138.) The bill passed 
 the House January 15th and became a law by the signa- 
 ture of the President on the same day. This act author- 
 ized the President to take possession of East Florida, 
 with the consent of the Spanish authorities, or in the 
 event of an attempt by any foreign nation except Spain 
 to occupy the province. Near the same time, a resolution 
 was adopted in Congress which foreshadowed the famous 
 "Monroe Doctrine." Limited in expression to Florida, 
 it was soon to become the permanent policy of the United 
 States and to extend to the entire American continent. 
 This resolution declares: "That the United States, 
 under the peculiar circumstances of the existing crisis, 
 cannot, without serious inquietude, see any part of the 
 said territory pass into the hands of any foreign power ; 
 and that a due regard to their own safety compels them 
 to provide, under certain contingencies, for the tempo- 
 rary occupation of the said territory ; they, at the same 
 time, declare that the said territory shall, in their hands, 
 remain subject to a future negotiation. ' ' 
 
 The President at once appointed Gen. George Matthews 
 and Col. John McKee commissioners for carrying into 
 effect the provisions of Congress. (Annals of Congress, 
 j8ii-i8i2, pp. 1687, 1692.) 
 
176 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 These commissioners received instructions January 26, 
 181 1. They were directed to enter into negotiations with 
 Governor Folch for the surrender of the portion of West 
 Florida still in his possession, and with the governor of 
 East Florida for the surrender of that province. In case 
 of the amicable surrender, they were authorized to pledge 
 to Governor Folch, of West Florida, or to Colonel Estrada, 
 the acting governor of East Florida, the faith of the 
 United States for the redelivery of the province to the 
 "lawful sovereign of Spain. " They were further author- 
 ized to assume on the part of the United States "debts 
 clearly due from the Spanish government to the people 
 of the territory surrendered," to be hereafter adjusted; 
 to continue in office Spanish civil functionaries and 
 Spanish laws, as far as possible; and to advance what 
 money should be necessary for the transportation of 
 Spanish troops. On one point the instructions were 
 positive : "Should there be room to entertain a suspicion 
 of an existing design in any foreign power to occupy the 
 country in question, you are to keep yourselves on the 
 alert, and, on the first undoubted manifestation of the 
 approach of a force for that purpose, you will exercise 
 with promptness and vigor the powers with which you 
 are invested by the President to preoccupy by force the 
 territory, to the entire exclusion of the armament that 
 may be advancing to take possession of it. ' ' The com- 
 missioners were further informed that instructions had 
 been issued to the treasury department to meet their 
 drafts, and to the military and naval officers to obey their 
 orders under the specified contingencies. 
 
 The Spanish authorities refused to surrender the 
 province, and no evidence of any attempt on the part of 
 Great Britain to take possession had been found, when 
 a crisis was presented to General Matthews. (Fair- 
 bank's History of Florida, p. 253, etseq.) A number of 
 American residents, aided by Georgians living near the 
 border, organized an independent government, adopted 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 177 
 
 a constitution and elected General John Mcintosh gov- 
 ernor. Colonel Ashley was appointed commander of the 
 military forces. The patriots, as they were called, aided 
 by American gunboats, demanded from Don Jose Lopez 
 the surrender of Amelia Island and Femandina. The 
 capitulation was made March 17, 1812, to General John 
 Mcintosh, who claimed to be governor of the independent 
 State of Florida. March 19th, General Mcintosh, as 
 governor of Florida, surrendered the post to General 
 Matthews. Lieutenant Ridgely, of the United States 
 army, with a force of United States troops, was placed 
 in command. Fernandina had been for some time past 
 a depot for neutral trade and a port for smugglers avoid- 
 ing the commercial restrictions. The patriot army, num- 
 bering about 300 men, now marched to attack St. 
 Augustine. Here they were repulsed by Governor 
 Estrada and retreated to the St. Johns. 
 
 When these proceedings became known at Washington, 
 the Spanish and British ministers protested against them. 
 The United States government disavowed them. James 
 Monroe, secretary of state, wrote to General Matthews, 
 April 4, 1812 (Annals of Congress, 1811-1812, p. 1689-90): 
 "But in consideration of the part which you have taken 
 which differs so essentially from that contemplated and 
 authorized by government, and contradicts so entirely 
 the principle on which it has uniformly and sincerely 
 acted, you will be sensible of the necessity of discontinu- 
 ing the service in which you have been employed. You 
 will, therefore, consider your powers revoked on the 
 receipt of this letter. ' ' 
 
 Governor Mitchell, of Georgia, was appointed in place 
 of General Matthews, and was instructed to restore 
 Amelia Island direct to the Spanish governor. These 
 instructions were issued April loth. In consequence of 
 letters received from Governor Mitchell, Secretary Mon- 
 roe wrote again May 27th. (Ibid., p. 1692.) In this letter 
 Governor Mitchell is authorized to hold the island during 
 
 1-42 
 
178 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 conference with the Spanish authorities, or in case of any 
 attempt of British troops to enter Florida, and is notified 
 that he will be sustained by the United States forces. 
 
 In the meantime, a detachment of United States troops 
 composed of invalids was attacked by a party of negroes, 
 supposed to be instigated by the Spanish authorities at 
 St. ^LUgustine. The commander. Lieutenant Williams, 
 and seven of his men were killed. The negroes were 
 repulsed, but this act caused such indignation that 
 Governor Mitchell made preparations to attack St. Augus- 
 tine. At this point, the new Spanish governor, Kindelin, 
 arrived and made formal demand for the withdrawal of 
 the United States troops. In compliance with this 
 demand, all the military forces of the United States were 
 withdrawn from East Florida, except from Amelia 
 Island. 
 
 The Indians and negroes being now freed from all 
 restraints, commenced a series of depredations. The 
 patriot government, aided by volunteers from Georgia, 
 organized for the protection of the whites. The impotent 
 Spanish government was content to occupy a few stations 
 on the coast, claiming jurisdiction over the whole prov- 
 ince, but incapable of maintaining it. A desultory war- 
 fare -v^as maintained in the interior between the Indians 
 and negroes, led by Payne and Bowlegs, against the 
 whites, under Colonel Newman, of Georgia. 
 
 Simultaneously with these complications concerning 
 Florida, the commercial question assumed overshadow- 
 ing importance. The outrageous aggressions of Great 
 Britain forced Congress to declare war, and Florida 
 became involved in it. June i, 1812, President Madison 
 sent his war message to Congress. (Annals of Congress, 
 1811-1812, part 2, pp. 1624-1629.) This able public 
 document, after reciting the long series of injuries and 
 insults which Great Britain had heaped, and was still 
 continuing to inflict, on the United States, sums up the 
 situation in these imnrpsei\7-(» iirn-r/lo. "AX''«» \^cA^r<\A i-^ 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 179 
 
 fine, on the side of Great Britain, a state of war against 
 the United States; and on the side of the United States, 
 a state of peace toward Great Britain. Whether the 
 United States shall continue passive under these progress- 
 ive usurpations, and their accumulating wrongs, or, 
 opposing force to force in defense of her national rights, 
 shall commit a just cause into the hands of the Almighty- 
 Disposer of events, avoiding all connexions which might 
 entangle it in the contest or views of other powers, and 
 preserving a constant readiness to concur in an honorable 
 re-establishment of peace and friendship, is a solemn 
 question which the Constitution wisely confides to the 
 legislative department of the government. In recom- 
 mending it to their early deliberation, I am happy in the 
 assurance that the decision will be worthy the enlightened 
 and patriotic councils of a virtuous, a free and a powerful 
 nation. ' ' 
 
 The next day John C. Calhoun, chairman of the House 
 committee to whom the President's message was referred, 
 made a report (Annals of Congress, 1811, 1812, part 2, 
 pp. 1546-1554) stating at large the causes and reasons for 
 war. The report is an able exposition of the whole sub- 
 ject, and its conclusions are unanswerable. After review- 
 ing the course of the United States in the honorable 
 effort to seek redress by peaceful means, the report 
 says: "The time has now arrived when this system of 
 reasoning must cease. ' ' It concludes : ' ' Your committee 
 recommend an immediate appeal to arms. ' ' (Annals of 
 Congress, 1811-1812, part 2, pp. 1631-1637.) On the 
 same day, Mr. Calhoun offered a bill declaring war with 
 Great Britain, which passed the House June 4, 1812, by 
 a vote of 79 yeas to 49 nays. This bill was transmitted, 
 confidentially, to the Senate June 5th, and was referred 
 to a committee, of which Mr. Joseph Anderson, of Ten- 
 nessee, was chairman. The committee reported it June 
 8th, with amendments. After debate and amendment, 
 it finally passed the Senate, June 17th, by a vote of 19 
 
180 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 yeas and 13 nays. (Annals of Congress, 1811-1812, part 
 I, pp. 287-298.) The nays were: Senators Bayard and 
 Horsey, of Delaware; Dana and Goodrich, of Connecticut; 
 Howell and Hunter, of Rhode Island; Oilman, of New 
 Hampshire; Lloyd, of Massachusetts; German, of New 
 York; Lambert, of New Jersey; Reed, of Maryland, and 
 Worthington, of Ohio. Not a Southern or Western 
 senator is recorded as voting against the declaration of 
 war except Senator Worthington, of Ohio, and the record 
 of the vote states the nays as 13, but gives the names of 
 only 12. The bill with amendments now went to the 
 House. The amendments were concurred in June 1 8th. 
 President Madison, on the following day, June 19th, 
 issued his proclamation declaring that war exists between 
 Great Britain and the United States. 
 
 It does not pertain to the purpose of this sketch to 
 relate the events of the war which followed this declara- 
 tion. Two conclusions cannot be resisted: ist. It was 
 a just and necessary war. 2d. It was a Southern measure. 
 
 The able historian, Mr. Henry Adams, thus analyzes 
 the vote in Congress : ' ' Except Pennsylvania, the entire 
 representation of no Northern State declared itself for the 
 war ; except Kentucky, every State south of the Potomac 
 and the Ohio voted for the declaration. Not only was 
 the war to be a party measure, but it was also sectional. " 
 This statement is fully sustained by the facts and by the 
 testimony of nearly every historian who has written on 
 the subject. Public sentiment is further illustrated in 
 the presidential election which followed just after the 
 declaration, and after an exciting and bitter canvass, 
 resulting in the following electoral vote of 181 2: 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 181 
 
 
 President 
 
 Vice-Presiuent. 
 
 States. 
 
 
 ii 
 
 QC 
 
 • w 
 
 ) HO 
 
 Jared 
 Ingersoll. 
 
 New Hampshire 
 
 'a 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 15 
 II 
 
 8 
 12 
 8 
 7 
 3 
 6 
 
 a: 
 
 ( 
 
 2( 
 
 i 
 
 3 1 
 2 2 
 
 's 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 15 
 
 II 
 
 8 
 12 
 
 8 
 7 
 3 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 20 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 4 
 9 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 Vermont 
 
 New York 
 
 29 
 
 8 
 
 New Jersey 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 Delaware 
 
 4 
 
 Vireinia 
 
 North Carolina 
 
 
 South Carolina 
 
 
 Georeia 
 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 
 Ohio 
 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 
 Maryland 
 
 5 
 
 
 Total 
 
 128 
 
 8t 
 
 ) 131 
 
 86 
 
 
 
 The Federalists had made considerable gains. The 
 South and West were solid, 89 Republican ; New England 
 was nearly solid, 43 Federalists to 8 Republicans. The 
 chief Federalist gain was in the Middle States, which 
 stood Federalist 46, Republican 31. The thirty votes of 
 the four new Western States, exchanged from one side 
 to the other, would insure victory. The war was a 
 sectional measure. 
 
 Let us now revert to the condition of Florida. It has 
 already been related that West Florida was occupied by 
 the United States under the claim that it was a part of 
 Louisiana, the said claim to be adjusted by friendly 
 negotiation. Just before the war, however. Congress 
 asserted permanent jurisdiction by annexing the portion 
 west of Pearl river to the State of Louisiana. This act 
 was approved April 14, 181 2. (Annals of Congress, 
 1811-1812, part 2, p. 2270.) The plans of the administra- 
 tion for the acquisition of East Florida, though diverted 
 
182 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 for the time, were by no means abandoned. As hereto- 
 fore related, the United States troops having been with- 
 drawn from East Florida, except from Amelia island, on 
 the demand of Governor Kindelin, a state of anarchy- 
 ensued in the province. June 19, 181 2, the day following - 
 the declaration of war, the portion of the President's 
 message relative to the occupation of Florida was referred 
 to a committee. This committee reported a bill (Ibid. , 
 p. 1683, 1685) authorizing the President to take piosses- 
 sion, which passed the House June 25th. This bill was 
 rejected in the Senate by a vote of 14 yeas to 16 naj's. 
 Notwithstanding this legislative action. President Madison 
 deemed it necessary to hold Amelia island under authority 
 of former acts of Congress. 
 
 The affairs of East Florida were in this indefinite shape 
 when Congress assembled in November, 1812. Mr. 
 Anderson, of Tennessee, brought up the matter in the 
 Senate December 10, 181 2. A committee was appointed, 
 from which committee Mr. Anderson reported a bill 
 (Annals of Congress, 1812-1813, pp. 124, 127), January 
 19, 1813, to take possession of both the Floridas, East 
 Florida to be held subject to future negotiation with 
 Spain. This bill was amended so as to apply only to 
 that portion of Florida west of the river Perdido, in 
 which form it passed the Senate February 5th by a vote 
 of 22 to II, and passed the House February 8th. It 
 became a law, by the President's signa:ture, February 12, 
 1813. (Ibid., pp. 132, 133.) It was thus definitely 
 decided by Congress to occupy West Florida permanently 
 by virtue of the title derived under the cession of Louis- 
 iana in 1803, and to refuse its sanction to the occupation 
 of East Florida. This action was a disappointment to 
 the administration. Influenced by fears and rumors that 
 Great Britain, either by securing a cession or under color 
 of alliance with Spain, would seize the province and gain 
 such a foothold that her possession could not be shaken 
 off, the President had hoped that Congress would author- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 183 
 
 ize him to occupy East Florida for the double purpose 
 of restoring order and of anticipating any movement of 
 Great Britain. He had taken steps, in advance, to put 
 the measures which Congress was expected to adopt into 
 speedy execution. He had called on Tennessee for 1,500 
 volunteers, to which the state had responded by furnish- 
 ing 2,000, under Gen. Andrew Jackson, who had 
 marched to Natchez, when he unexpectedly received 
 orders to disband his troops. It was on this occasion 
 that he surprised the war department by marching his 
 men back to Nashville in defiance of orders, and disband- 
 ing them on the spot where they had entered service, 
 becoming personally responsible for their pay. His 
 spirited letter to the war department, remonstrating 
 against the injustice of the order to disband his men at 
 such a distance from their homes, with no means of liveli- 
 hood or transportation, was the first evidence of his 
 inflexible spirit, and gained the enthusiastic love and con- 
 fidence of the Tennessee soldiery. 
 
 General Wilkinson, commander at New Orleans, took 
 possession of West Florida and planted the United States 
 flag at Mobile, April 5th. The entire province of West 
 Florida was now reduced to possession, and the portion 
 between the Pearl and Perdido rivers was attached to 
 Mississippi Territory. General Pinckney withdrew the 
 United States troops from East Florida, Amelia island 
 being abandoned May 16, 1813. 
 
 Soon followed the Creek war, in which the Indians, in- 
 ' stigated and aided by Great Britain, attacked the whites, 
 beginning August 30, with the massacre at Fort Mims. 
 General Pinckney advanced against the Indians from 
 Georgia, and Gen. Andrew Jackson was again called 
 into the field with 2,500 Tennessee volunteers. In this 
 remarkable campaign Jackson crushed the Creeks in a 
 series of historic battles, closing with the battle of the 
 Horseshoe, and the capitulation of the Indians, August 
 9, 18 14. The successful issue of this campaign. won for 
 
184 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Andrew Jackson the appointment of major-general in 
 the United States army, and marked him as the man to 
 defend New Orleans and the coast of the Gulf of Mexico 
 against the threatened British invasion. He hastened to 
 Mobile, which place he reached August 15, and pro- 
 ceeded to strengthen the defenses at that point. Having 
 been reinforced by 2,800 fresh volunteers from Tennes- 
 see under General Coffee, and learning that a British 
 force was occupying Pensacola, he crossed the Spanish 
 line, in disobedience of orders, and entered Pensacola 
 November 7, 1814, driving the British from the town and 
 from Fort Barrancas. It was known that a British land 
 and naval force was collecting in the West Indies for the 
 invasion of the Southern States, but it could only be 
 conjectured at what point the landing would be at- 
 tempted. Jackson now made his dispositions to meet 
 the attack. Leaving a portion of his force at Mobile, he 
 moved with the remainder to New Orleans. The result 
 is historic and needs no recital here. Mr. Theodore 
 Roosevelt thus refers to the defense of New Orleans, and 
 its defender: "But greater credit still belongs to An- 
 drew Jackson, who, with his cool head and quick eye, his 
 stout heart and strong hand, stands out in history as the 
 ablest general the United States produced, from the out- 
 break of the Revolution down to the beginning of the 
 great rebellion. " (Naval War 1812, p. 493.) The ex- 
 pedition under Pakenham had been designed to drive 
 the United States from all Florida and Louisiana. Be- 
 fore the battle of New Orleans, however, the plans of 
 Great Britain had undergone an important change, and 
 peace had already been made. 
 
 In addition to this, events were taking place in the 
 United States, tending to a crisis in the affairs of gov- 
 ernment. New England was approaching a state of re- 
 volt. A sentiment of violent opposition to the adminis- 
 tration had grown up in the Northeast. This sentiment 
 seems to have been founded on a variety of motives. It 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 185 
 
 combined a feeling of dislike of what was called "the 
 Virginia school" of politics, jealousy at the loss of polit- 
 ical control, distrust of the policy of territorial expansion, 
 apprehensions for the future in the apparent overthrow of 
 the balance of power between the sections, hatred of 
 France and friendship for England. This detested "Vir- 
 ginia school" had routed the Federalist party in every 
 general election, had acquirfed Louisiana, was seeking to 
 acquire Florida, was establishing new states and bring- 
 ing them in as political allies, was voting down every 
 proposition that came from the North, had brought on a 
 war with England, and was suspected of favoring an 
 alliance with France. 
 
 The Northeastern States felt aggrieved, and lashed 
 themselves into abnormal fury. It may be said in their 
 defense, that a similar feeling of irritation has been 
 shown by each section of the Union, in turn, when con- 
 fronted with the prospect of political insignificance, and 
 dependence upon the forbearance of other sections in the 
 affairs of government. Such sentiments are, perhaps, 
 inherent in the Anglo- Saxon- Norman race. Yet, had 
 the people of New England looked further into the fut- 
 ure, they would have discovered the remarkable law of 
 territorial expansion; that each acquisition has ulti- 
 mately proved fatal to the political control of the section 
 which demanded it. The Northeast was now reaping the 
 fruits of the clamor which some of their States had raised 
 at the time of the foundation of the government, and 
 which led to the cessions of Virginia, the Carolinas and 
 Georgia. The new States formed from these cessions 
 were now entering the Union as allies of the Republican 
 party, and seemed uniting with Louisiana to destroy the 
 balance of power, and to rivet the control of a section 
 which New England was beginning to regard as hostile 
 to her interests. 
 
 Although the Northeast could not then lift the veil of the 
 future, yet the, time was not far off when this very policy 
 
186 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 of territorial expansion so actively pressed by the South, 
 and which New England now regarded with so much 
 aversion, would result in establishing the political con- 
 trol of the North, and would drive the Southern section 
 to the state of political helplessness, then so keenly felt 
 by New England. Yet, New England had, even at that 
 time, no just cause for resentment, except so far as loss 
 of political power and the hardships which war and com- 
 mercial restrictions entailed upon the country, may be 
 considered to justify her course. The nation was gov- 
 erned by other sections, but it was governed justly. 
 The commercial sections were subjected to evils peculiar 
 to their situation, yet no right of the States was trampled 
 on. The people of New England, however, thought 
 otherwise. They considered the war, declared against 
 their will, the culmination of a series of wrongs. They 
 made a very common mistake. They mistook their will 
 for their conscience, and viewed the infraction of their 
 wishes as a violation of their rights. They assailed 
 Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and all "the Virginia 
 school. ' ' The Constitution had been violated. The ad- 
 ministration was incompetent, entertained indefinite 
 ulterior purposes, was weak in avoiding war, was tyran- 
 nical in declaring war, the embargo was wrong, non-in- 
 tercourse was wrong. The administration ought to have 
 saved the country from foreign aggression by some un- 
 defined means, avoiding war, commercial restrictions or 
 submission. The administration ought to have prepared 
 the country for war, in spite of their own obstructions. 
 It ought to have created armies, navies, military stores, 
 and converted a peaceful nation all of a sudden into a 
 warlike power whose whole territory was an armed 
 camp, bristling with battalions and covered with fortifi- 
 cations. All this ought to be done without using coercive 
 measures, or levying taxes, or disturbing the agricult- 
 ural or commercial pursuits. The minority in Congress 
 issued an address (Annals of Congress, i8ii-i8ia, part 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 187 
 
 a, pp. 2196, 2221, 1638) to their constituents, signed by 
 thirty-four naembers, breathing dissatisfaction with the 
 administration. An intended speech of Mr. Samuel Tag- 
 gart, of Massachusetts, similar in spirit, appeared in the 
 Alexandria Gazette, June 24, 1812, published because 
 the opportunity for open debate had been denied by the 
 secret sessions. The press of the Northeast was full of 
 expressions of dissatisfaction. The most plausible of 
 these complaints related to the lack of preparation for 
 war. It was true that America was not prepared for 
 war. But the war could not be avoided. There was "no 
 retreat but in submission. ' ' The lack of preparation was 
 equally unavoidable. It was inherent in American in- 
 stitutions. Political partisans and theoretical writers 
 might declaim about converting a people from the pro- 
 found repose of peace into a martial nation by act of 
 Congress, but the idea was impracticable. Napoleon 
 had just furnished an example in the attempt to convert 
 France into a maritime nation by imperial mandate. 
 The result was seen at Trafalgar. The wise men who 
 guided the affairs of the United States knew the difi&- 
 culties in the way. They had endeavored to avoid war, 
 and they knew that the resources of the nation could not 
 be available until the pressure of invasion was upon th.e 
 country. They believed that the patriotism of all sec- 
 tions would then be aroused. No other course was pos- 
 sible. 
 
 As the war progressed, with alternate defeat and vic- 
 tory, the feeling in New England became more intense, 
 and began in the latter part of 1814 to take an organized 
 and dangerous form. The action of the New England 
 governors with reference to the state militia, the mes- 
 sage of the governor of Massachusetts to the legislature, 
 the action of that legislature in summoning delegates 
 from the New England States to meet at Ha,rtford, were 
 looked upon as steps to dissolve the Union. The Fed- 
 eralists were rapidly gaining exclusive control of New 
 
188 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 England. The delegations elected to Congress, the 
 state officers and the state legislatures, were nearly- 
 all Federalist. 
 
 The famous Hartford convention met December 15, 
 18 14. Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island 
 were represented by delegates appointed by the legis- 
 latures of those States, and thus clothed with a certain 
 amount of State authority. The legislature of Vermont 
 refused, and the legislature of New Hampshire failed to 
 appoint delegates ; yet the convention decided to admit 
 delega:tes from these two States, who had been appointed 
 by public meetings. The convention sat with closed 
 doors, and its deliberations were conducted under an in- 
 junction of secrecy. Its secret proceedings are still a 
 matter of dispute. Its published report set forth causes 
 of grievance, recognized a public sentiment in New Eng- 
 land favoring disunion, but intimated hope of concilia- 
 tion, and alluded to a "severance of the Union " as "to 
 be justified only by absolute necessity." The report 
 recommended the New England States to pass laws 
 nullifying military conscription by the United States, to 
 enlist State troops subject only to State authority, and to 
 demand that the general government should authorize 
 each State to retain from the Federal revenues "a rea- 
 sonable portion of the taxes collected from the said 
 States. ' ' If the administration should refuse these de- 
 mands, the legislatures of the States were advised to call 
 a second convention. The convention adjourned Janu- 
 ary 5, 1815. 
 
 The legislatures of Massachusetts and Connecticut 
 passed resolutions formally approving the action of the 
 Hartford convention, and appointed commissioners to 
 visit Washington, and to demand compliance with its 
 recommendations. The New England press teemed with 
 abuse of the administration, and applause of the Hart- 
 ford convention. A crisis was at hand. The people 
 were aroused, and felt that they had a grievance, al- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 189 
 
 though no one could point out any real aggression by the 
 government or any point to be gained by resistance. 
 The leaders had really aimed to break down the admin- 
 istration, but they had excited a public sentiment which 
 they could no longer control, and which was rapidly 
 tending to disunion. 
 
 Yet disloyal sentiments were, by no means, unanimous 
 in New England. "Grand Old John Adams," now an 
 octogenarian in retirement, clung fondly to the Union 
 which he had helped to create, and over whose destinies 
 he had presided. Nor was he alone. Other patriots 
 were actively working to stem the tide. Perhaps the 
 action of the legislature of Massachusetts, October 13, 
 1 814, on the resolutions preliminary to summoning the 
 Hartford convention, reflected fairly the public sentiment 
 of the state. The number in favor of the resolutions 
 was about 260, and the number opposed about 90. The 
 minority prepared a protest, severely condemning the 
 course of the majority, which the majority considered 
 disrespectful and declined to admit to record. The 
 minority, then, refused to take further part in the pro- 
 ceedings. Even the majority, though hurried into hasty 
 action, were restrained by that centripetal force which 
 never ceases to operate on all who have ever felt the bene- 
 ficent influence of American institutions — a sincere love 
 for the Union. When, in their game of bluff, they discov- 
 ered the weakness of their hand, they showed signs of vac- 
 illation — honorable vacillation. Some of their leaders 
 proposed plans which appeared like catching at straws ; 
 such as the suggestion to solve the difl&cultyby Madison's 
 voluntary retirement, etc. When finally the announce- 
 ment of "Peace" afforded honorable escape from their 
 unfortunate dilemma. New England was wild with 
 joy- 
 In February, 18 14, American affairs wore a dark and 
 gloomy aspect, which afflicted the heart of every patriot. 
 Engaged in war with the enemy who, of all the nations 
 
190 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 of Europe, possessed the greatest power to injure her 
 territory and resources, the United States was now 
 threatened with domestic revolt. The Emperor Na- 
 poleon, her only ally, was overthrown. The nations of 
 Europe were in consultation at Vienna, engaged in the 
 work of readjusting the relations of the world. If they 
 should decide to hurl against America the powerful com- 
 bination which had crushed Napoleon, what could avert 
 the destruction of republican institutions? Great Brit- 
 ain, relieved from European war, had sent to America a 
 detachment of Wellington's best troops under the com- 
 mand of his favorite general, and the fall of New Orleans 
 was hourly expected. The illustrious chief magistrate, 
 who had borne so many trials with equanimity, and had 
 conducted the national affairs with such signal firmness 
 and ability, awaiting at this dangerous crisis the visit of 
 the New England commissioners on their cruel and un- 
 patriotic mission, was oppressed with a painful anxiety 
 which he could not conceal. 
 
 But his hour of triumph was near. The hand of 
 destiny, which had led America on to greatness through 
 so many periods of difficulty and danger, was outstretched 
 to him. The judicious measures of his administration 
 were reaching the culminating point. The crisis was at 
 hand, and the plot now unfolded like the last act of a 
 drama. Great events jostled each other on the stage. 
 The clouds which had gathered around the head of the 
 hero were suddenly dissolved, while the conspirators and 
 marplots stood confounded. The news came in the form 
 of a climax. New Orleans is saved! "Old Hickory" 
 has routed the veterans of the "Iron Duke!" The war 
 is ended! Peace is made at Ghent! The New England 
 commissioners have returned home! Bonfires, rejoic- 
 ings, public applause, congratulations from friend and 
 foe now take the place of anxiety, reproaches and threats 
 of disunion. The honor of America has been redeemed. 
 Prosperity fetums with peace. New England repents. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 191 
 
 The whole nation is happy. The administration is 
 vindicated. Spared even the trial of a painful interview 
 with disaffected fellow citizens, James Madison may now 
 enjoy the serene satisfaction so congenial to his nature 
 and so nobly earned. 
 
 The opportune close of the war left the United States 
 surrounded with a halo of glory. America had won 
 honor on land and sea. Her naval victories had demon- 
 strated to Europe that Great Britain was not invincible 
 on the ocean. Her persistent adherence to a neutral 
 policy had disarmed European jealousy, and had given 
 the hint to Russia that it might be useful to cultivate the 
 friendship of a growing nation of vast resources, which 
 had already shown the ability and the disposition to curb 
 Great Britain's arbitrary control of the ocean, and 
 from whose pacific character Europe had nothing to 
 fear. 
 
 The foundation of friendship with Russia had been 
 laid in 1810 by the successful diplomatic mission so ably 
 conducted by John Quincy Adams. It had been pre- 
 vented from bearing immediate fruits by the war which 
 was precipitated by Napoleon, and which had united 
 against him all the^ great powers of Europe. The United 
 States had become involved in war with Great Britain, 
 and occupied the position of being indirectly the ally of 
 Napoleon. Russia was the temporary ally, but the per- 
 manent enemy of Great Britain. As soon as Napoleon 
 was overthrown, the emperor of Russia began to culti- 
 vate friendly relations with America. In March, 1813, 
 he offered his services to mediate a treaty of peace be- 
 tween Great Britain and the United States. This offer 
 was declined by Great Britain, but led to proposals from 
 Great Britain to treat directly with the United States, 
 and also produced important modifications of President 
 Madison's policy toward Florida. In the great European 
 conference at Vienna, the attitude and influence of Rus- 
 
192 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 sia were felt in disposing the British ministry to heal 
 their quarrel with America. 
 
 The treaty of peace at Ghent, negotiated by John 
 Quincy Adams, J. A. Bayard, Henry Clay, John Russell 
 and Albert Gallatin, was concluded December 24, 1814. 
 The news of its completion did not reach America until 
 after the battle of New Orleans. It was simply a treaty 
 of peace, and settled none of the issues on which the war 
 was fought. Practically, however, these issues were de- 
 cided favorably to the United States. The British gov- 
 ernment, while not formally yielding the points in dis- 
 pute, discontinued the objectionable practices. 
 
 The last wave from the great European conflict, which 
 had been so portentous of disaster, now receded from 
 American shores. On the whole, the United States had 
 been the gainer. Some injuries had resulted. There 
 had been important losses by the capture of vessels at 
 sea. Some hardships had been endured under embar- 
 goes and restrictions. All these had been greatly exag- 
 gerated for party purposes, and were more than repaid 
 by the vast extension of commerce, and by the growth of 
 manufactures. Louisiana had been gained, and Florida 
 was soon to be acquired. The Republican party, tested 
 by its undeviating adherence to the wise policy of Jeffer- 
 son and Madison, emerged from the struggle crowned 
 with laurels and acknowledged as the national bulwark. 
 In 1816 the popular verdict awarded to its judicious 
 administration of affairs a mark of public confidence 
 more signal than any which had been bestowed since 
 the second election of Jefferson. 
 
 The electoral vote of 18 16 was as follows: 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 193 
 
 President 
 
 States. 
 
 Connecticut. 
 
 Delaware 
 
 Georgfia 
 
 Indiana 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 Maryland 
 
 Massachusetts. . . 
 New Hampshire. 
 
 New Jersey 
 
 New York 
 
 North Carolina. . 
 
 Ohio 
 
 Pennsylvania . . . 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 South Carolina.. . 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 Vermont 
 
 Virginia 
 
 Total , 
 
 8 
 3 
 
 12 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 8 
 
 29 
 
 15 
 8 
 
 25 
 4 
 
 II 
 8 
 8 
 
 25 
 
 22 
 
 Vice-President. 
 
 25 
 
 22 
 
 183 34 I 183 22 
 
 The election of Monroe was nearly unanimous, and 
 foreshadowed the coming unanimity, when the policy of 
 Jefferson, continued by his successors, and now freed 
 from foreign compulsion, should exert its benign influ- 
 ence under its normal condition — ^peace. 
 
 The Republican party was, once more, national. 
 Every State but three said, "Well done, good and faithful 
 servant." The battle for the protection of American 
 commerce had been fought and won. The Federal party 
 had played its last card and could no longer obstruct. 
 No serious opposition was to be apprehended in resum- 
 ing the policy of territorial expansion. President Mon- 
 roe could now pursue the. measures for the acquisition of 
 Florida, the only part of the foreign policy originated by 
 Jefferson which had not yet been carried into successful 
 execution. 
 
194 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Before the expiration of Madison's term the state of 
 anarchy in East Florida, resulting from the utter in- 
 ability of Spain to maintain an adequate government, 
 had been a source of much uneasiness and annoyance to 
 the people living near the border. Florida had become 
 the refuge of fugitive Indians, lawless white men and 
 runaway slaves, who were formed into clans of robbers 
 and marauders. The most formidable of these organ- 
 ized bands occupied a fort on the Apalachicola river, at 
 the point where Fort Gadsden was afterward constructed. 
 It was at that time called the Negro Fort, and was the 
 rendezvous of Indians and negroes, led by a negro named 
 Garcia. This fort had been constructed during the war 
 by the British officer, Colonel Nichols, who had drawn 
 together a herd of desperadoes, had supplied them with 
 arms and ammunition, and aided them with a British 
 garrison. When the British troops were withdrawn at 
 the close of the war this band was furnished with a large 
 supply of arms and ammunition, and was instigated to 
 continue a predatory warfare against the Americans. 
 British adventurers remained among them, who were 
 suspected of being agents of their government. Among 
 this class were Ambrister and Arbuthnot. 
 
 Spain was unable and perhaps unwilling to punish 
 their outrages, and the United States had decided to re- 
 spect the neutrality of Spanish territory. Taking ad- 
 vantage of this situation, the band at Negro Fort com- 
 mitted depredations with impunity. In August, 1816, 
 Gen. Edmund P. Gaines, commanding United States 
 troops on the Florida frontier, sent a force under Colonel 
 Clinch against this fort. A large body of Creek Indians 
 under command of Major Mcintosh, and still another 
 body under Captain Isaacs and Kateha-Haigo, were at 
 the same time bound on the same errand. These three 
 bodies made a junction, and aided by two gunboats, took 
 the fort without difficulty. A red-hot shell from one of 
 the gunboats, taking effect in the magazine, blew up the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 195 
 
 fort with terrible slaughter. "A large amount of prop- 
 erty was found, estimated at $200,000, and 150 barrels of 
 powder were saved from one uninjured magazine." 
 (Fairbank's History of Florida, p. 263.) It is claimed 
 that this attack was secretly favored by the Spanish au- 
 thorities, who had been much annoyed by the operations 
 of these bandits. 
 
 The Seminole Indians continued a series of hostilities 
 along the borders, retreating for protection into Spanish 
 territory, until finally President Monroe decided to sub- 
 mit to this state of affairs no longer, and ordered Gen- 
 eral Gaines to attack the hostile Indians, pursuing them 
 when necessary into Florida. These orders were issued 
 in December, 1817, and General Jackson was directed to- 
 proceed to the front and take command in person. The 
 famous letter of General Jackson to President Monroe, 
 written January 6, 181 8, commonly known as the "Rhea 
 letter, ' ' and the subsequent quarrel to which it gave rise 
 between Jackson and Calhoun, are too well known to 
 need recital. "Let it be signified to me through any 
 channel, " says Mr. J. Rhea, "that the possession of the 
 Floridas would be desirable to the United States, and in 
 sixty days it will be accomplished. ' ' President Monroe 
 was sick in bed when the letter arrived. It was referred 
 to Mr. Calhoun, secretary of war, who returned it to the 
 president as a private letter, requiring an answer from 
 himself. It remained unnoticed until after the event, and 
 was never answered. Official orders authorized Jackson 
 to make war upon the Seminoles, and to cross the Span- 
 ish line, if necessary, in pursuit, but under no circum- 
 stances to attack or invest a Spanish post. 
 
 Jackson hastily enrolled 1,000 volunteers from Ten- 
 nessee, and leaving Nashville January 22, 1818, marched 
 to the frontier in Georgia, where he was joined by a body 
 of Georgia militia and 500 United States troops. A 
 little later, by treaty with the Creeks, he added to his 
 force 2,000 Indians, He at once entered the Seminole 
 
196 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 country, driving their warriors before him and burning 
 their villages. He appeared before the Spanish post, 
 St. Mark's, and demanded its surrender April 7. Upon 
 the refusal of the Spanish commander he took possession 
 without resistance. Marching thence to Suwanee, he 
 found that the Seminoles had evacuated the place and 
 taken refuge in the swamps. Jackson then marched to 
 Pensacola, the stronghold of Spain in Florida. The 
 Spanish governor surrendered under protest May 24, and 
 removed his troops to Havana. Placing Pensacola in 
 charge of a garrison of United States troops, Jackson 
 ordered General Gaines to seize St. Augustine. This 
 last order was countermanded from the war department 
 before it could be executed. 
 
 When information of General Jackson's proceedings 
 reached Washington, the government was astounded. 
 The president and cabinet were in possession of infor- 
 mation of which General Jackson was ignorant. They 
 had not authorized or contemplated hostilities against 
 Spain and they regarded the action of their general at this 
 peculiar juncture as very unfortunate. Negotiations for 
 the cession of Florida by Spain had begun informally as 
 early as January, 1816, but had reached no decisive 
 stage, although Don Luis de Onis, the Spanish minister, 
 had suggested that his Catholic majesty might be induced 
 to cede his claims. Intimations from foreign powers, in 
 alliance with Spain, had indicated a willingness to the 
 cession of Florida, but disapproved of the use of force, 
 and Monsieur de Neuville, the French minister, had 
 paved the way for negotiations between Secretary Adams 
 and Chevalier Onis. Under these circumstances the ad- 
 ministration felt sorely perplexed by General Jackson's 
 course, and feared that it would result in destroying the 
 prospects of peaceful negotiation, and might lead to 
 hostilities with Spain and her allies. 
 
 A cabinet meeting was called. It was decided that 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 197 
 
 captured posts returned to Spain — ^but what must be 
 done with the glorious, willful general? It was at this 
 meeting that Mr. Calhoun, secretary of war, expressed 
 the opinion that Jackson ought to be court-martialed. 
 Mr. Crawford and the other members of the cabinet dis- 
 approved Jackson's course. John Quincy Adams, the 
 secretary of state, alone of the cabinet defended him un- 
 reservedly. The president was opposed to any measure 
 of punishment or censure. Jackson was ordered to sur- 
 render the Spanish posts, and friendly letters of explana- 
 tion were written to him. General Jackson obeyed the 
 orders, but with deep mortification, and attributed the 
 action of the administration to the intrigues of his 
 enemies, and especially blamed Mr. Crawford. The de- 
 liberations of the cabinet being conducted under the 
 injunction of secrecy, the proceedings could not be hon- 
 orably divulged. General Jackson for many years be- 
 lieved that Mr. Calhoun had been his defender and 
 champion in the cabinet, and entertained for him the 
 most cordial friendship. Ten years later the proceedings 
 of this cabinet meeting became public and led to a rupt- 
 ure between General Jackson and Mr. Calhoun, which 
 produced important political effects. * 
 
 It was now necessary for President Monroe to enter on 
 the diplomatic task of appeasing Spain and Great Britain 
 by disavowing General Jackson's acts, without disgracing 
 or even censuring the author. This delicate task was 
 confided to the secretary of state, John Quincy Adams, 
 whose diplomatic work had heretofore been eminently 
 successful, and who had been the friend and champion of 
 General Jackson in the cabinet, and who really approved 
 his course. This duty was brilliantly performed. 
 
 * The controversies in regard to General Jackson's course in 
 Florida and the cabinet action are given at length in a pamphlet 
 published by Mr. Calhoun in 1829; in Benton's "Thirty Years in the 
 United States Senate," vol. i, p. 167, e/5i?y., containing General 
 Jackson's "Exposition;" in "History of the United States," by 
 Tames Schouler, vol. 3, p. 68, et seg. ; and in an article "Monroe and 
 Rhea Letter," Magazine American History, October, 1884, by James 
 Schouler. 
 
198 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Spain was conciliated by the prompt action in surren- 
 dering the captured territory and the frank apology of the 
 United States. The spirited representations of Mr. 
 Adams plainly pointed out the failure of Spain to com- 
 ply with her treaty obligations to restrain the Indians 
 within her borders from depredations on the United 
 States ; the situation which she occupied of giving shel- 
 ter to a nation of savages making war upon a friendly 
 nation, and the absolute necessity for General Jackson 
 to take vigorous action. Spain, therefore, refrained 
 from demanding the punishment of the offending officer 
 as a measure of national redress. 
 
 Movements of a political character were now put on 
 foot in Congress, instituted by the jealousy of rivals who 
 wished to crush the growing popularity of this rising 
 military favorite. Resolutions were introduced in the 
 Senate and in the House censuring the course of Gen- 
 eral Jackson in strong terms. In both houses these reso- 
 lutions failed; the vote in the House being io8 in Jack- 
 son's favor to 62 against him. Of this vote an analysis 
 showed, in Jackson's favor were 100 Republicans, 6 
 Federals and 2 of doubtful politics, while against him 
 were 29 Republicans, 31 Federalists and 2 of doubtful 
 politics. (See Schouler's History of the United States, 
 vol. 3, p. 90. Note.) The Senate took no final action on the 
 subject. The Seminole war and its results brought Jack- 
 son into greater prominence than did the victory of New 
 Orleans. 
 
 In the meantime, the negotiations for the acquisition 
 of Florida had been resumed and were progressing 
 favorably. * 
 
 July 19, 181 8, Don Jose Pizarro wrote to Mr. Ewing, 
 the United States minister at Madrid: "In one of our 
 late conferences I had the honor to state to you anew His 
 
 * See the admirable article of Hon. J. L. M. Curry, "The 
 Acquisition of Florida," in American Magazine of History, April, 
 
 188S. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 199 
 
 Majesty's readiness to cede both the Floridas to the 
 United States * * * jj^ consideration of a suitable 
 equivalent to be made to His Majesty in a district of ter- 
 ritory situated to ^ the westward of the Mississippi." 
 Soon after this note the news arrived that Pensacola had 
 been seized by the United States, and negotiations were 
 suspended. They were resumed at Washington, Octo- 
 ber 24, by a note from Chevalier Luis de Onis to Mr. 
 Adams, making proposals to cede the Floridas. Proj- 
 ects and counter projects were exchanged, without com- 
 ing to an agreement. At this juncture, Mr. Hyde de 
 Neuville, the French minister, took part in the negotia- 
 tions, and a conclusion was speedily reached. The treaty 
 was signed on the part of the United States by John 
 Quincy Adams, secretary of state, and on the part of 
 Spain by "the Most Excellent Lord Don Luis de Onis, 
 Gonzales, Lopez y Vara, Lord of the town of Rayaces, 
 Perpetual Regidor of the corporation of Salamanca, 
 Knight Grand Cross of the Royal American Order of 
 Isabella the Catholic, decorated with the Lys of La 
 Vendee, Knight Pensioner of the Royal and Distinguished 
 Spanish Order of Charles the Third, member of the Su- 
 preme Assembly of the said Royal Order; of the Council 
 of his Catholic Majesty; his secretary, with exercise of 
 decrees, and his envoy extraordinary and minister pleni- 
 potentiary near the United States of America. ' ' 
 
 By this treaty "his Catholic Majesty ceded to the 
 United States" * * * "all the territories which be- 
 long to him, situated to the eastward of the Mississippi, 
 known by the name of East Florida and West Florida." 
 The boundary of Louisiana is defined west of the Missis- 
 sippi. The line was to begin at the Sabine and run on 
 the west bank of that river to the 3 2d degree of latitude. 
 Its course from that point is described until it reaches the 
 Arkansas and follows the course of that river to the 42 d 
 parallel, and then follows the 42d parallel to the sea. 
 The United States cedes to his Catholic Majesty "all 
 
200 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 rights, claims and pretensions to the territories lying 
 west and south of the above described line ; and, in like 
 manner, his Catholic Majesty ceded to the United States 
 all his rights, claims and pretensions to any territories, 
 east and north of the said line. " All spoliation claims 
 were renounced, and the United States agreed to pay to 
 American citizens all claims against Spain "to an amount 
 not exceeding five millions of dollars. " The treaty con- 
 tained sixteen articles. (The Public Domain, Donaldson, 
 p. 1 08, et seq.) 
 
 Thus the United States relinquished to Spain the ter- 
 ritory from the Sabine to the Rio del Norte, or Colorado, 
 which now forms the State of Texas, and was clearly a 
 part of the Louisiana cession , and assumed the payment 
 of $5,000,000; and received in return East Florida, the 
 confirmation of her title to West Florida and the title of 
 Spain to Oregon by right of discovery. This cession of 
 the Spanish title confirmed the title to Oregon, but left 
 the northern boundary in dispute with Great Britain. 
 Its final settlement many years later threatened to lead 
 to a third war with Great Britain. 
 
 This treaty was executed by Secretary Adams and Don 
 Luis de Onis on Washington's birthday, February 22, 
 18 1 9, and was approved by the President and unani- 
 mously ratified by the Senate on the same day. It was 
 at once forwarded to Spain, and Mr. Forsyth, of Georgia, 
 was appointed minister to Madrid to secure its ratifica- 
 tion. An unexpected reluctance to its completion was 
 shown by the Spanish court. It was not until October 
 24, 1820, that Ferdinand "VII, king of Spain, finally 
 ratified it. When returned to Washington, the limita- 
 tion for the exchange of ratifications having expired, it 
 was necessary for the Senate to pass on it a second time, 
 which was done February 19, 182 1, by a unanimous vote. 
 
 Thus, after twenty years of inflexible adherence to the 
 sagacious course marked out by Jefferson, the party 
 which he founded had won the final victory of his for- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 201 
 
 eign policy. To make the victory complete, the ratifica- 
 tion had been twice unanimous. How different from the 
 reception of the Louisiana treaty! No constitutional 
 objections! No obstructions! No threats of disunion! 
 This unanimity was a fitting sequel to the recent presi- 
 dential election. Monroe had been elected without op- 
 position. Even those who had so long and so vehemently 
 opposed and obstructed the policy of expansion, now 
 united with the general voice in applauding the twenty 
 years of public administration which has never been sur- 
 passed for wisdom, virtue and patriotism. The table 
 here given shows the electoral vote of 1820: 
 
 States. 
 
 Alabama 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 Delaware 
 
 Georgia 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Indiana 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 Maine 
 
 Maryland 
 
 Massachusetts. . . . 
 
 Mississippi 
 
 Missouri 
 
 New Hampshire. 
 
 New Jersey 
 
 New York 
 
 North Carolina. . . 
 
 Ohio 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 South Carolina . . 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 Vermont 
 
 Virginia 
 
 Total 231 
 
 President. 
 
 a 
 
 Vice-President. 
 
 3 
 9 
 
 "% 
 3 
 3 
 
 12 
 
 3 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 7 
 2 
 
 3 
 7 
 8 
 
 29 
 
 15 
 8 
 
 24 
 4 
 
 II 
 7 
 8 
 
 25 
 218 
 
202 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Yet, neither Jefferson nor General Jackson were en- 
 tirely satisfied with the treaty. General Jackson yielded 
 his objections, but Mr. Jefferson could not bear to see 
 the surrender of any portion of the territory which he 
 had acquired. In 1803, when propositions had been 
 made to exchange a portion of Louisiana for Florida, Mr. 
 Jefferson wrote to Mr. Breckinridge: "Objections are 
 raising to the eastward to the vast extent of our bound- 
 aries, and propositions are made to exchange Louisiana, 
 or a part of it, for the Floridas ; but as I have said, we 
 shall get the Floridas without, and I would not give one 
 inch of the waters of the Mississippi to any foreign na- 
 tion. " He still retained in 1819 the sentiments which 
 he expressed in 1803. 
 
 Thomas H. Benton, afterward the famous senator 
 from Missouri, was at that time engaged in the practice 
 of law at St. Louis. During the period which inter- 
 vened between the execution of the treaty in 1819 and 
 its final ratification in 182 1, Mr. Benton attacked the au- 
 thors of the treaty in newspaper publications, and espe- 
 cially blamed Mr. Adams for yielding Texas to Spain. 
 In his luminous work, ' 'Thirty Years in the United States 
 Senate" written many years afterward, he makes the 
 "honorable amend" to Mr. Adams, and gives a lucid ex- 
 planation of the whole matter. (Benton's Thirty Years, 
 vol. I, p. 14, etseq.) Mr. Monroe and his cabinet found 
 a deep-seated repugnance still existing in the Northeast 
 to the southward and westward extension of territory. 
 The people of that section looked on territorial extension 
 as a Southern conspiracy to destroy the balance of power 
 between the States, and to deprive the Northeast of its 
 legitimate share in the control of the country. There 
 were, apparently, strong reasons for this apprehension, 
 and up to 1820 the effect had certainly been to give the 
 South a preponderating influence. The condition of the 
 European powers which held American territory, as well 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 203 
 
 extension to the south and west both desirable and at- 
 tainable; while extension to the north was absolutely- 
 blocked. The result had been expansion in the only- 
 possible direction, but in a direction which aroused the 
 fears of the Northeastern section. 
 
 New England was at that time powerless in the coun- 
 cils of the nation. The rights of this section depended 
 solely on the protection afforded by the Constitution, and 
 on the forbearance and justice of the party in power. 
 To those who have felt the emotioas which throb in the 
 hearts of all people of Anglo-Saxon-Norman blood, the 
 excitement in New England from 1803 to 1816 occasions 
 no surprise. The people of each section in turn have 
 been restive under like conditions. In 1820 the people of 
 New England had reflected soberly. They had become 
 convinced that the ruling sections entertained no purpose 
 of invading their liberties, or injuring their interests. 
 The policy of expansion, indeed, threatened to confirm 
 the temporary control of the party which they still con- 
 sidered the ' ' Southern party, ' ' but an examination of the 
 map pointed out the road to the future recovery of their 
 lost political prestige. Since expansion could not be re- 
 sisted, they yielded the contest, and turned attention to 
 the organization and assimilation of the territory ac- 
 quired. Even at that early day they recognized the dis- 
 advantage under which the South would be placed by its 
 institution of slavery in the race for settling and con- 
 trolling the northern portion of the new country, and 
 they entered on the work of acquiring political control of 
 the coming States with a forecast of the future. In this 
 work they displayed a persistence and resolution equal 
 to that shown by the South in the acquisition, and an 
 energy more intense. Even before the treaty with 
 Spain had been concluded in 182 1, this purpose had been 
 clearly outlined. 
 
 In this stage of affairs, the course of President Monroe 
 in shaping the Spanish cessions, was peculiarly accept- 
 
204 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 able to the North, and was satisfactory to the South. 
 The whole matter is lucidly set forth by Mr. Benton in 
 his "Thirty Years' View," in which he quotes a letter of 
 Mr. Monroe to General Jackson, dated May 22, 1820, which 
 came into Mr. Benton's possession among the Jackson 
 papers: "Having long known the repugnance with 
 which the eastern portion of our Union, or rather those 
 who have enjoyed its confidence (for I do not think the 
 people themselves have any interest or wish of that kind) 
 have seen its aggrandizement to the west and south, I 
 have been decidedly of the opinion that we ought to be 
 content with Florida for the present, and until the pub- 
 lic opinion in that quarter shall be reconciled to any 
 further change." This argument convinced General 
 Jackson, who replied, "I am clearly of your opinion that, 
 for the present, we ought to be content with the Flor- 
 idas." 
 
 Thus Texas, clearly a part of the Louisiana purchase, 
 which was conceded by Spain, was sacrificed to appease 
 Northeastern jealousy. The willingness of Spain to 
 make concessions west of the Mississippi was diverted to 
 the cession of her claims to Oregon, thus throwing to the 
 North an acquisition of territory unsought, to balance 
 southern extension. This action was voluntary and gen- 
 erous. The South had the game in her hands, but her 
 leaders refrained from pushing the advantage. As in 
 1 781 the Southern States ceded their western lands to 
 secure the formation of the Union, so in 18 19 the same 
 section yielded Texas to appease jealousy and promote 
 "The Era of Good Feeling." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 ANNEXATION OF TEXAS— WAR WITH MEXICO— MEXI- 
 CAN CESSIONS— OREGON TREATY WITH GREAT 
 BRITAIN. 
 
 EVEN before the treaty with Spain had been con- 
 cluded in 1 82 1, the slavery agitation had begun. 
 The question of slavery will be discussed here 
 only so far as its agitation became a factor in the con- 
 tending forces which caused or obstructed territorial ex- 
 pansion. 
 
 In its first stages, the slavery agitation was not directed 
 towards the abolition of slavery. It was a contest for 
 the balance of power between the States. On the question 
 of territorial expansion, the Northeastern leaders had 
 fought and lost. The result had been to isolate their 
 section. Each new State entered the Union as the friend 
 and ally of the Republican party, to whose favor they 
 owed existence. The immense area of territory, soon to 
 be organized into States, seemed to offer permanent 
 control to the allied South and West, and to leave New 
 England a helpless faction in the government. No 
 people of English blood have ever rested content with 
 such a condition. The Northeastern leaders did what all 
 sections have done when placed in similar circumstances. 
 They looked about for some means of relief. Having 
 studied the matter profoundly, they comprehended the 
 situation. The Northern States had abolished slavery, 
 and the geographical line of separation left the greater 
 area to the north. Some political issue must be found 
 which would force a new alignment of parties. This 
 issue must be geographical and aggressive. It must be 
 one on which the entire North could unite in sympathy. 
 
 205 
 
206 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 With great sagacity the issue was chosen — an issue which 
 could unite all states East and West, which were north of 
 the slave line, and which could strike a blow at Southern 
 supremacy on its most vulnerable point — the institution 
 of slavery. 
 
 Public sentiment had already undergone important 
 changes with regard to this institution. The inexorable 
 operation of the laws of nature had made slavery sec- 
 tional. It now remained to force the division of political 
 parties on the same sectional line. 
 
 All the original thirteen States had been partners in 
 the introduction and existence of slavery and its protec- 
 tion by the Constitution ; each section taking such part as 
 best suited the peculiar interests and characteristics of its 
 people. The Northeastern States took the commercial 
 part, and were largely instrumental in the slave trade, 
 for the reason that they were the chief commercial sec- 
 tion. Thus they became the carriers for imported slaves 
 as for other articles of merchandise. The Southern States 
 furnished the market and were the buyers. The slave 
 trade and the institution of slavery had been reprobated 
 by good men of all sections from the time of the revolu- 
 tion. The sentiments of Washington, Jefferson and other 
 Southern leaders are well known. 
 
 The first movement to excltide slavery from the terri- 
 tories came from the South. (See Journals of Congress ; 
 Benton's Thirty Years, vol. i ; Donaldson's Public 
 Domain.) March i, 1784, Mr. Jefferson submitted to 
 Congress his famous plan for the government of the 
 Northwest Territory, being the same day on which Con- 
 gress accepted the cession of Virginia. This plan, with 
 a few amendments, was adopted April 23d, and became 
 ' ' The Ordinance of 1 784. ' ' The ordinance, as offered by 
 Mr. Jefferson, contained the clause: "That after the 
 year 1800 of the Christian era there shall be neither 
 slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the said 
 States (formed out of Northwest Territory) otherwise than 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 207 
 
 in punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have 
 been duly convicted to have been personally guilty." 
 This clause was stricken out before the passage of the 
 ordinance on the motion of Mr. Speight, of North Caro- 
 lina. Mr. Benton explains the reason. The Southern 
 States demanded that a clause should be inserted in 
 reference to fugitive slaves, which being refused, they 
 voted against the whole provision in reference to slavery. 
 The first movement, then, to limit slavery was proposed 
 by a Southern delegate. At a later period it was renewed 
 by the South and passed by Southern votes. 
 
 July II, 1787, Mr. Carrington, of Virginia, chairman 
 of the committee on the Northwest Territory, submitted 
 the report of that committee. The other members were 
 Mr. Dane, of Massachusetts, Mr. R. H. Lee, of Virginia, 
 Mr. Kean, of South Carolina, and Mr. Smith, of New 
 York. A majority of this committee were Southern men. 
 
 Their report, after amendment, was adopted July 13th, 
 and became the "Ordinance of 1787." Article sixth of 
 this instrument is as follows: "There shall be neither 
 slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, 
 otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the 
 party shall have been duly convicted ; provided, always, 
 that any person escaping into the same, from whom labor 
 or service is claimed in any of the original States, such 
 fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the 
 person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid. " 
 There were present eight States, four Northern and four 
 Southern. The ordinance was passed by the unanimous 
 vote of these States, viz. , Massachusetts, New York, New 
 Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Caro- 
 lina, Georgia. One individual vote was cast against it, 
 and that by a Northern member. Mr. Yates, of New 
 York, voted "No," but being overruled by his colleague,' 
 the vote of New York was counted "Aye," and the vote 
 by States was unanimous. 
 
 Thus, in 1787, the provision offered by Jefferson in 
 
208 CONPEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 1 784 was adopted nearly in his original language by the 
 unanimous vote of all the States present, and the first 
 legislative restriction of slavery by the general govern- 
 ment was enacted. The evidence is conclusive that the 
 question was not, at that time, sectional, and elicited no 
 acrimony. A striking example is furnished in 1802 in 
 the convention for forming the first constitution of Ohio. 
 On the question of admitting negroes to the right of 
 suffrage the vote stood 17 ayes, 17 nays. (Life of Na- 
 thaniel Massie, p. 87.) "This convention was controlled 
 by men from the slave-holding States of Kentucky and 
 Tennessee, yet we find them badly divided on this ques- 
 tion — one of their own leaders, Charles Willing Byrd, a 
 Virginian of the Virginians, standing steadily for the 
 right of the negro to vote. On the other hand, Messrs. 
 Huntington, of Trimble county, and Mcintosh, of Wash- 
 ington county, scions of New England stock, were with 
 Massie and Worthington against negro suffrage." 
 Thomas Worthington, although opposed to negro suffrage, 
 had emancipated his slaves on leaving Virginia. 
 
 The following quotation from an author of accuracy 
 and ability shows that the slavery question had not 
 taken a form entirely sectional even as late as 1824: 
 "One thing is remarkable; East Tennessee had an 
 abolition paper nine or ten years before the advent of 
 Garrison's paper. As early as 1 814 or 181 5 an abolition 
 society, perhaps the first in the United States, had been 
 formed in East Tennessee. (See article by S. A. 
 Link, American Historical Magazine, October, 1896, 
 
 P- 333-) 
 
 In April, 1820, the first number of The Emancipator 
 was issued at Jonesboro, by Elihu Embree. After the 
 death of Embree, The Genius of Universal Emancipation 
 was published at Greenville by Benjamin Lundy. This 
 lived until 1824. Lundy induced Garrison to enter the 
 field of editorial effort in behalf of emancipation. * * * 
 (See Article by Rev. E. E. Hoss, entitled "Elihu Embree, 
 
CON-FEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 209 
 
 Abolitionist," in April number, 1897, of the American 
 Historical Magazine.) 
 
 When the slave trade was abolished in 1808, the 
 Northern States had already found slavery unprofitable. 
 There was no cogent interest to withhold them from 
 yielding to sentiments of philanthropy or from following 
 sound principles of public policy in abolishing slavery 
 and transferring their slaves to the South. They got rid 
 of slavery and they got rid of the slaves. In the South 
 a very different question was presented. Slave labor had 
 been found profitable, or at least convenient, by the 
 Southern planters. Slaves had accumulated on their 
 hands in large numbers. Even if they should be willing 
 to abolish slavery, there was no means to get rid of the 
 slave population. Thus, in 18 19, all the States north of 
 Mason and Dixon's line and the Ohio river to the Missis- 
 sippi were Free States, and all south of that line were 
 Slave States. 
 
 Simultaneously with the transfer of slavery to the 
 South, a steady stream of foreign population began to 
 flow to the North and to move over to the northwest. 
 This was due to two causes. The North Atlantic coast 
 was the commercial section and immigrants were landed 
 at the Northern ports, and naturally followed the lines 
 of latitude in moving West. It was soon found that 
 these immigrants, by a natural instinct, avoided slavery. 
 (American Politics, Johnston, p. 334.) 
 
 In 1816, the representation in Congress stood: In the 
 Senate, Free States, 24, Slave States, 24; in the House, 
 Free States, 105, Slave States, 82. The number of States 
 was twenty- four, of which 12 were Free and 12 were 
 Slave States. The preponderance of population and of 
 representation was in favor of the Free States. 
 
 Party divisions, however, were not drawn on the same 
 lines. Slavery had* followed the geographical lines, but 
 politics had not. Shrewd political leaders were now 
 planning to divide political parties along the same geo- 
 
 1-14 
 
210 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 graphical line which slavery had followed from natural 
 causes. If this could be done, the control of the Southern 
 party would be broken, the balance of power would be 
 restored, and the united North would have a preponder- 
 ance of the House of Representatives and of the electoral 
 vote. Yet,this was no easy task, and it could not be per- 
 formed by the Federalist party. It must be done by new 
 men, under new names ; for the hold of the Republican 
 party on the affections of the people was too strong to be 
 easily loosened. 
 
 The opportunity came when Missouri applied for 
 admission in December, 1818. In the House, Mr. Tall- 
 madge, of New York, offered an amendment, February 
 13, 1 8 19, to the bill for Missouri's admission, imposing the 
 restriction that all persons born in the State should be 
 free, and providing for the gradual emancipation. After 
 an exciting debate, in which Mr. Tallmadge pressed his 
 amendment with signal eloquence and ability, it was 
 adopted February i6th by a vote of 87 to 76, and the 
 amended bill passed by vote of 97 to 56. (Benton's 
 Abridgment, vol. 6, pp. 333, 356.) All party ties were 
 discarded, and new bonds of sympathy were suddenly 
 formed. The Free States were temporarily arrayed on 
 one side and the Slave States on the other. The bill 
 went to the Senate, where the slavery restriction was 
 stricken out. The House refused to concur, and the door 
 of admission was closed to Missouri for the present. The 
 news produced intense excitement throughout the 
 country and came to Jefferson "like a fire-bell in the 
 night. ' ' The action of the House was indorsed strongly 
 at the North and created alarm at the South. The first 
 effort to destroy old political ties and array parties on 
 sectional issues had been successful on an important 
 measure, but the party lines had not yet been per- 
 manently changed. 
 
 The contest was to be renewed in the next Congress. 
 Up to this time each State had been allowed to prescribe 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 211 
 
 its own domestic government, and no restrictions had 
 been placed on any State as a condition of admission 
 except the adoption of a constitution in conformity with 
 the Constitution and laws of the United States. Slavery 
 had not been prohibited in any portion of Louisiana 
 Territory, and many persons had moved into Missouri 
 with their slaves, and their interests had been identified 
 with slavery. They were now holding slaves under the 
 direct authority of Congress, and it seemed to the people 
 of Missouri a hardship that they should suddenly be sub- 
 jected to a rule which had been applied to no other State. 
 The South fully sustained Missouri in this view. 
 
 The people of the North felt differently. The exten- 
 sion of slavery must be stopped. The greater part of 
 Missouri lay north of the line which divided the present 
 free and slave area. Slavery must not be permitted to 
 cross that line. 
 
 When the next Congress assembled, the Missouri ques- 
 tion became complicated with the question for the admis- 
 sion of Maine. In the Senate, the South could put a 
 veto on the admission of the Northern applicant, while 
 the Northern majority in the House could veto the 
 admission of the Southern applicant. Massachusetts 
 had already assented to the separation, and Maine had 
 formed a constitution. The petitions for admission, one 
 from Maine and one from Missouri, were presented to the 
 House in December, 1819. A bill for the admission of 
 Maine speedily passed and was sent to the Senate, while 
 the petition of Missouri was left without action. The 
 Senate very properly amended the Maine bill by adding 
 to it clauses admitting Missouri. This action plainly 
 indicated that the South understood the Northern pur- 
 poses and did not intend to submit to the policy of admit- 
 ting Northern States while admission was refused to 
 Southern States. If Missouri was admitted, the South 
 would gladly admit Maine. If the North chose to block 
 the further admission of States, the South could not help 
 
212 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 it. This judicious action forced the admission of Mis- 
 souri, but not until the South yielded to the Missouri 
 compromise. 
 
 Looking at the matter in the light of experience, we 
 can now see what the Southern leaders of that day could 
 not foresee. The wisest course for the South to have 
 pursued would have been to offer an amendment 
 to the Constitution, providing for the gradual abolition 
 of slavery, the value of emancipated slaves to be paid by 
 the United States. Such a proposition would have tested 
 the sincerity of Northern philanthropy, and would either 
 have produced a revulsion of Northern sentiment, or 
 better still, might have averted the calamity and greater 
 expense of the Confederate war. But at that time no 
 such thought entered into the minds of the Southern 
 leaders. 
 
 The final result is well known. Our space does not 
 permit us to follow the proceedings of Congress in detail.* 
 
 The amendment offered by Mr. Thomas, of Illinois, 
 became the ultimate basis of compromise. Maine was 
 admitted. The act enabling Missouri to form a constitu- 
 tion without restriction passed the House by a vote of 90 
 to 87, and the famous Compromise clause was enacted by 
 a vote of 134 to 42. This compromise provides that in 
 all portions of the Territory of Louisiana, lying north of 
 36° 30' of latitude, slavery shall be forever prohibited, 
 but fugitive slaves shall be restored to their owners. It 
 follows closely the language of the ordinance of 1787. 
 Upon this compromise being assured, the acts were 
 separated, and the Maine bill became a law March i, 
 1820. No further act of Congress being necessary, 
 Maine became a State at once. 
 
 Missouri was doomed to further trials. The enabling 
 
 *The reader is referred to that invaluable work, Benton's Thirty 
 Years, vol. i, and to the able history of James Schouler, vols. 3 and 4. 
 Mr. Schouler looks at the subject from a standpoint favorable to the 
 abolition of slavery. While condemning the course of the Southern 
 leaders, he gives valuable testimony to the fact that the movements 
 tending to the acquisition of Texas came from the South. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 213 
 
 act of Congress became a law March 6, 1820. It was 
 necessary for Missouri to adopt a constitution which 
 must receive the approval of Congress. The territorial 
 convention adopted a constitution sanctioning slavery 
 and prohibiting the legislature from ever abolishing it, 
 and containing a further clause empowering the legis- 
 lature to prohibit the immigration of free negroes into 
 the State. These two provisions were made the occasion 
 for violent opposition to the admission of the State and 
 gave rise to other acrimonious discussion, in which the 
 opponents of admission were charged with bad faith. The 
 Senate and House again disagreed. Finally, a conference 
 committee was appointed by the House on the motion of 
 Henry Clay. This committee met a similar committee 
 from the Senate and agreed upon a joint resolution which 
 is sometimes called the Second Missouri Compromise. 
 This resolution provided for the admission of the State as 
 soon as her Legislature should, by law, declare that the 
 clause in her constitution relative to the immigration of 
 free negroes "shall never be construed to authorize the 
 passage of any law, and that no law shall be passed in 
 conformity thereto, by which any citizen of either of the 
 States of this Union shall be excluded from any of the 
 privileges and immunities to which such citizen is entitled 
 under the Constitution of the United States." Upon 
 such action of her Legislature being duly certified, the 
 President was authorized to declare the admission of the 
 State. 
 
 This resolution passed the Senate 28 to 14 and passed 
 the House by the slender majority of four, the vote being 
 86 to 82. The entire Southern delegation, with the excep- 
 tion of a few members led by John Randolph, voted 
 throughout the controversy for the Missouri Compromise. 
 In this they were aided by a small party of Northern 
 Republicans. Mr. Benton, than whom there is no higher 
 authority, either in point of accurate judgment or truth- 
 ful testimony, says of the effort to prevent the admission : 
 
214 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY, 
 
 "It was a political movement for the balance of power, 
 balked by the Northern Democracy, who saw their own 
 overthrow and the eventual separation of the States in 
 the establishment of geographical parties divided by a 
 slavery and anti-slavery line. ' ' 
 
 He says in another place : "The restriction came from 
 the North — the compromise came from the South. The 
 restriction raised the storm — the compromise allayed it." 
 
 The required action having been taken by its legisla- 
 ture, and approved by the President, Missouri became a 
 State August lo, 1821. 
 
 After the compromise had been concluded the slavery 
 agitation assumed, for a while, a calmer aspect. The 
 line of 36° 30', which had been made the dividing line 
 between the Slave and Free States, left by far the greater 
 area of unsettled territory to the North. There remained 
 now to the South only the territories of Arkansas and 
 Florida and what has since become the Indian Territory. 
 North of this line lay the immense stretch of country 
 which embraced the present States of Michigan, Wis- 
 consin, Iowa, Minnesota, the two Dakotas, Montana, 
 Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Nebraska, Kansas, part of 
 Colorado, and part of the territory of Wyoming. In 
 addition to this, as the claim of the United States to 
 Oregon extended to the parallel 54° 40'', a large and 
 indefinite area might become Northern territory. 
 
 It required no great prescience to foresee that, if polit- 
 ical parties should ever come to be arrayed on the geo- 
 graphical line which divided the Free and Slave States, 
 the time was near at hand when the South would become 
 what New England had been, a helpless faction in the 
 government. It was plain that slavery agitation was the 
 strongest lever for the hands of those who wished to pro- 
 mote the geographical alignment, and the efforts of those 
 who desired to prevent such a result must be devoted to 
 allaying the slavery excitement. As yet, the Republican 
 party, though rudely shaken, was too deeply rooted in 
 
Confederate MILITARY HISTORY. 215 
 
 pulilic confidence to be overthrown. The Missouri Com- 
 promise, which was mainly a Southern measure, had 
 allayed the storm. A majority of the Northern Republi- 
 cans exerted their influence to quiet the agitation, but 
 all felt that the hold of the Republican party had been 
 loosened. In the subsequent readjustment of parties 
 under the new names of Democrat and Whig, while sec- 
 tional influences may be traced through the several 
 Presidential elections, yet the complete division on the 
 slave line was averted until the triumph of the new 
 Republican party in i860. 
 
 Meanwhile, the slavery agitation, though not brought 
 to issue by any decisive political crisis, was continued 
 both by discussions in Congress and by irritating publica- 
 tions. The North went to work systematically to stimu- 
 late immigration. Societies, known as Immigration Aid 
 societies, etc. , devoted organized efforts to attract immi- 
 grants and to control them. The effort was soon visible. 
 The Northern area increased in population until in 1844 
 its representation in the popular branch of Congress was 
 135, while the number of representatives from the Slave 
 States was only 98. So far, the number of States on 
 each side was equal, but the Southern supply was 
 exhausted. On the Northern side of the line, a formida- 
 ble array were approaching readiness for admission. The 
 slavery agitation was becoming more threatening in tone. 
 Beginning as a movement to limit the area open to slav- 
 ery and to retard Southern emigration into the territories 
 by rendering the removal of their slaves unsafe, it now 
 began to assume the form of hostility to the institution 
 of slavery, and to threaten abolition by act of the Federal 
 government. Though in 1844 the organized movement 
 in favor of abolition was incomplete and powerless, yet 
 it was growing, and the immense expanse of territory 
 north of the line pointed out that the balance of power 
 would soon be in the hands of those who threatened the 
 Southern institution. 
 
216 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY, 
 
 The South saw no resource. As a section it was 
 sparsely peopled, and could neither supply from its own 
 population nor attract from abroad a sufficient emigration 
 to compete in the settlement of the territories. Besides, 
 the restricted area south of the compromise line of 36° 
 30' had been still further diminished in 1832 by the 
 adroit policy of Northern members of Congress. 
 
 When Georgia demanded the removal of the Indians 
 from her borders in compliance with the contract made 
 by the United States in 1802 in accepting the cession of 
 Mississippi Territory, it was decided to provide an Indian 
 reservation west of the Mississippi. Mr. Benton has 
 recorded the fact that the party in power was relieved 
 from an annoying position by the generous co-operation 
 of Northern members. This co-operation, however, had 
 the effect of settling these red men upon the Indian Ter- 
 ritory, and thus cutting off at least one State from the 
 area which had been left to the South by the Missouri 
 compromise. Florida alone remained as a Southern 
 resource. 
 
 In this extremity, the Southern States clearly saw that 
 the time was drawing near when they must lose their last 
 hold on the balance of power — the Senate. The North- 
 ern territories were rapidly approaching statehood; the 
 sentiment against slavery was growing in intensity and 
 power and was already portentous. They must prepare 
 either for the surrender of slavery or for disunion, or they 
 must find some resource to avert the danger. Their 
 thoughts turned to revive the policy which they had en- 
 grafted on the institutions of the United States and 
 which had been the foundation of their long lease of 
 power — territorial expansion. They called to mind that 
 Texas had been a part of the Louisiana cession and had 
 been bartered away to appease Northern jealousy. It 
 was now sorely needed to protect Southern equality. It 
 was larger than the whole of New England, and could be 
 made into five or six States. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 217 
 
 The people of the whole country had watched with 
 sympathy the efforts of the Spanish-American provinces 
 toward establishing themselves as independent republics. 
 The Southern people viewed with deep interest the 
 efforts of Texas to throw off the yoke of Mexico. Propo- 
 sitions had been made by the United States in 1827, dur- 
 ing the Presidency of Mr. Adams, for the purchase of 
 Texas, which had been emphatically declined by Mexico. 
 The next move was in Jackson's administration. Says 
 Mr. Schouler (Schouler, vol. 4, p. 249): "The vigilant 
 Jackson, during his first presidential term, negotiated with 
 Mexico for amity, commerce and navigation. But he soon 
 saw that the Southern bent was for territorial extension, 
 and all the more eagerly now that the Northern abolition 
 movement and British emancipation in the West Indies 
 showed that there was danger of a conscience crusade 
 against the very heart of their social system." In 1835 
 overtures were made to Mexico for the purchase of Texas 
 and the territory north of the 37th parallel from the Rio 
 Grande to the Pacific. These overtures were declined. 
 
 Meanwhile, flourishing settlements were established 
 in Texas by emigrants from the United States, mainly 
 from the Southwest. When Mexico revolted against 
 Spain, a number of ardent young men, impelled by the 
 same spirit which stirred Lafayette to fight for American 
 liberty, tendered their services to the struggling Mexi- 
 cans. Among these a large number were from Ten- 
 nessee, descendants of those pioneers who had won the 
 West. Reuben Ross, a native of Virginia, who had 
 removed to Tennessee, gained the commission of Colonel 
 in the Mexican army, and received for his gallantry an 
 extensive grant of land. Similar grants were made to 
 other American volunteers and were located in Texas. 
 Thus, the American colony gained a strong foothold. 
 Their growth was proinoted by the action of the Mexican 
 government encouraging immigration by offering for sale 
 large tracts of land to immigrant societies. Companies 
 
218 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 were formed in various parts of the United Statfes for 
 the purchase of these lands. Mr. Huntsman mentions 
 some of the companies formed in Tennessee, and gives 
 the names of their managers or representatives : Colonel 
 Andrew Erwin, Doctor Douglass, Colonel John D. Martin, 
 all men of standing and influence. These Texas settlers 
 took part in the internal struggles of Mexico during the 
 rapid succession of revolutions which placed at the head 
 of Mexican affairs Iturbide, Victoria, Pedrazza, Guerrero, 
 Bustamente and Santa Anna. During all this time, the 
 American settlers displayed the same heroic character- 
 istics which had distinguished their fathers as the pio- 
 neers of the West. They were the bulwark against 
 attacks by the Comanches and other Indian tribes, and 
 against despotic government. Thoroughly identified 
 with their new home, they resisted the tyrannical meas- 
 ures of Santa Anna. The Mexican government determined 
 to subdue them, and made war upon Texas and Coahuila. 
 Being for the time compelled to submit, the Texans 
 soon revolted. In this revolt they were aided by the 
 sjmipathy of the United States and by many volunteers 
 from the South. Among these volunteers were two 
 famous men from Tennessee; David Crockett, whose 
 tragic death at the Alamo has been made the theme of 
 song and story, and Sam Houston, who, having resigned 
 his office as governor of Tennessee, and spent a short 
 time with the Indians, suddenly reappeared as a Texas 
 volunteer. 
 
 General Cos, with a large Mexican army, moved under 
 the orders of Santa Anna into Texas to subdue all resist- 
 ance and to enforce the edict forbidding further immi- 
 gration from the United States. On the 28th of Septem- 
 ber, 1835, the Texans defeated a body of Mexican troops 
 at Gonzales, and the war for independence began. Being 
 defeated in a number of battles, at Goliad, Conception, 
 Sepanticlan and San Antonio, General Cos was forced to 
 surrender. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 219 
 
 The Texan Congress declared that the Mexican govern- 
 ment had forfeited the allegiance of Texas, invited the 
 co-operation of other Mexican States and organized a 
 provisional government, with Henry Smith as governor 
 and Samuel Houston commander-in-chief. A convention 
 was called, to meet at Washington, on the Brazos river. 
 While this convention was in session, Santa Anna, in 
 person, with a force of 10,000 troops, began the invasion 
 of Texas. As soon as information of this invasion 
 reached them, the Texas Convention, March 2, 1836, 
 made a formal declaration of independence and adopted 
 a constitution. The boundaries of Texas were defined 
 in this constitution, and the southern boundary was 
 declared to be the Rio Grande. 
 
 Santa Anna made war in the most barbarous manner. 
 Confident of crushing the Texans, he seemed determined 
 to exterminate the rebels. The massacre at the Alamo 
 and the inhuman murder of 500 soldiers, who surrendered 
 under Colonel Fannin, at Goliad, aroused the Texans to 
 efforts almost superhuman. At San Jacinto, April 21st, 
 800 Texans under General Sam Houston defeated over 
 1600 Mexicans under Santa Anna, destroying his aimy 
 and capturing the leader. A treaty was speedily made 
 with Santa Anna while a prisoner of war. The independ- 
 ence of Texas was acknowledged and the southern 
 boundary established at the Rio Grande. In the mean- 
 timcj- there was another revolution in Mexico. Busta- 
 mente came to the head of affairs. He and his Congress 
 repudiated the treaty and declared the intention of prose- 
 cuting the war. 
 
 Texas remained practically an independent State for 
 nine years. Her independence had been acknowledged 
 by the leading powers of the world. It was natural for 
 the ruling element of her people, the same race of hardy 
 pioneers who had carried the American flag to the coast 
 of the Gulf of Mexico and to the shores of the Pacific — ^it 
 was natural that these people should long to see that 
 
220 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 beloved and familiar flag float over their newly formed 
 republic, the emblem of patriotism and the guarantee of 
 protection. Why should this be refused them? It was 
 the ardent desire of a free people. It would add to the 
 greatness and luster of the United States; it would 
 assure, at least for a time, the balance of power between 
 the States. It would reunite with the growing United 
 States a people of kindred blood who would otherwise 
 found a rival republic, and were already invited to form 
 European alliances which, in a few years, might become 
 dangerous. What reason of justice, broad philanthropy, 
 or true patriotism could be alleged against the annexation? 
 It was thought suiScient by many, in the diseased state 
 of the public mind, to utter the portentous word — "Slav- 
 ery!" "It will extend the slave area and prop the totter- 
 ing slave power. ' ' 
 
 It is needless to our purposes to follow the negotiations 
 for the annexation of Texas through all the details of 
 diplomacy, Congressional debate and popular discussion. 
 It is sufficient to note that annexation was favored almost 
 universally at the South and strongly opposed by North- 
 em abolitionists. 
 
 Texas applied for annexation in 1837. The application 
 was declined by President Van Buren, but gave rise to 
 animated discussion in all parts of the country. Congress 
 was flooded with petitions and memorials. The State 
 legislatures of Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, 
 Ohio and Michigan passed resolutions opposing annexa- 
 tion; while the legislatures of Tennessee, Alabama, 
 South Carolina and Mississippi passed resolutions strongly 
 urging it. The question meanwhile remained in abey- 
 ance. But matters were brought to a crisis by the presi- 
 dential election of 1844, in which the questions of the 
 annexation of Texas and the exclusive occupation of 
 Oregon were made the leading issu-es. 
 
 The Texans had begun to show some resentment at the 
 reception of their overtures, and entertained propositions 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 221 
 
 for the acknowledgment of their independence and a 
 friendly treaty with Mexico, on the cpndition that they 
 should bind themselves never to become a part of the 
 United States. It was believed that Mexico was insti- 
 gated to demand this condition by Great Britain, who was 
 also believed to be offering inducements to Texas to 
 accept the condition by tendering favorable commercial 
 privileges^ There was, also, a rumor to the effect that 
 Great Britain was endeavoring to acquire a protectorate 
 over Texas. This rumor proved to be without evidence, 
 but it served to draw attention to the danger of European 
 interference in American affairs. It called forth meet- 
 ings in the South, some of which passed resolutions look- 
 ing to a convention of the Southern States to consider the 
 question of a peaceful dissolution of the Union in the 
 event of the refusal of Congress to annex Texas ; other 
 ■meetings in the South expressed strong opposition to the 
 disunion movement and gave utterance to sentiments of 
 warm attachment to the Union, 
 
 A meeting held in the Barnwell district of South Caro- 
 lina passed resolutions advocating "a convention of the 
 Slave States" in which "the final issue shall be made up 
 and the alternative distinctly presented to the Free States 
 either to admit Texas to the Union, or to proceed peace- 
 ably and calmly to arrange the terms of a dissolution of 
 the Union." Another convention at Beaufort, in the 
 same State, resolved "that we will dissolve this Union 
 sooner than abandon Texas. ' ' Still another convention 
 in the same State resolved, "and we hold it to be better 
 and more to the interest of the Southern and Southwest- 
 ern portions of this confederacy to be out of the Union 
 with Texas than in it without her. ' ' Similar resolutions 
 were adopted in other portions of the South. 
 
 On the other hand, the idea of disunion was repelled 
 with equal emphasis by other Southern States. Nash- 
 ville, Tenn. , and Richmond, Va. , having been suggested 
 as suitable places for holding the proposed convention. 
 
222 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 these two cities expressed their indignant dissent. The 
 Richmond newspaper press vehemently opposed the con- 
 vention and its object. Said the Richmond Enquirer: 
 "There is not a Democrat in Virginia who will encourage 
 any plot to dissolve the Union. ' ' A meeting of citizens 
 in Nashville protested against "the desecration of the soil 
 of Tennessee by having any convention held there to hatch 
 treason against the United States." A general meet- 
 ing of the citizens of Tennessee, numerously attended, 
 passed resolutions which struck the keynote of Southern 
 sentiment. These resolutions are quoted at length by 
 Mr. Benton. The following extract will be sufficient to 
 show their spirit: "The citizens here assembled are 
 Tennesseeans ; they are Americans. They glory in being 
 citizens of this great confederated republic ; and whether 
 friendly or opposed to the immediate annexation of 
 Texas, they join with decision, firmness and zeal in 
 avowing their attachment to our glorious and, we trust, 
 impregnable Union, and in condemning every attempt to 
 bring its preservation into issue or its value into calcula- 
 tion. " (Benton's Thirty Years, vol. 2, pp. 617, 618.) 
 Could words be stronger? Such were the sentiments of 
 a State which had contributed more than any other to the 
 colonization of Texas and to its ultimate independence. 
 
 Meanwhile, the annexation was vehemently opposed 
 at the North. The main argument used against it was 
 "slavery." The general Northern sentiment expressed 
 opposition to the extension of slavery, but behind this 
 was the vehement abolition party, stimulating the growth 
 of a public sentiment in favor of forcible emancipation. 
 The logic of the entire Northern opposition tended to tie 
 the hands of the South to await the admission of the 
 coming Northern States, when the South would be help- 
 less in the government, with the subversion of its domes- 
 tic institutions threatened by an aggressive party. Those 
 who expected the South to rest quiet with such a con- 
 dition of afEairs staring thera in the face surely did noj 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 223 
 
 comprehend the spirit of people of English blood. If 
 there be two distinct, well-defined characteristics which 
 have distinguished the English race wherever found, 
 these two characteristics are submission to authority which 
 they recognize, and resistance to authority which they do 
 not recognize. The Southern people recognized no 
 authority in the Federal government to interfere with 
 their domestic institution of slavery. There was no such 
 right in 1844 nor in 1861. They did not intend to submit 
 to it at either date. It could be accomplished only by 
 force of arms. In 1844, as in 1861, the Southern people 
 loved the Union, and resisted only what they believed to 
 be an arbitrary invasion of their rights. In 1844 they 
 saw a mode of maintaining the equipoise of the govern- 
 ment in the admission of Texas, and they eagerly seized 
 it. The aggressive abolition faction of the North 
 endeavored to shut the door. Fortunately for the country 
 they were unsuccessful for the time, and the "irrepressi- 
 ble conflict" was delayed until after the United States 
 was enabled to complete the extension of its territory to 
 the Rio Grande and the Pacific. The arguments on both 
 sides show that the question was regarded as a contest 
 for the balance of power in the Senate, and that the 
 slavery question was injected into the discussion to pro- 
 mote- a geographical division of parties. 
 
 Said the New York Evening Post in 1844 (^s quoted in 
 Ladd's History of the War with Mexico, p. 29): "The 
 issue is whether this government shall devote its whole 
 energies to the perpetuation of slavery; whether all 
 sister republics on this continent which desire to abolish 
 slavery are to be dragooned by lis into the support of this 
 institution. " 
 
 Said the New Hampshire Patriot: " Slavery and the 
 defense of slavery form the controlling considerations 
 urged in favor of the treaty by those who have engaged 
 in its negotiations. ' ' 
 
 Such arguments found favor with those who had been 
 
224 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 sedulously promoting the policy of immigration, terri- 
 torial settlement and slavery agitation. Their territories 
 were ready for admission as States, and public sentiment 
 was pressing the alignment of political parties on the 
 geographical line of slavery. A majority in the Senate 
 and entire control of the government was almost within 
 their grasp. Should the South be permitted to bring in 
 new territory and thus escape the net which had been so 
 ingeniously spread? They argued that the annexation of 
 Texas was a conspiracy to extend slavery. It would be 
 robbing Mexico. It would be bad faith. It would be a 
 violation of the Constitution. It would involve war. It 
 would be a ruinous policy. It was morally wrong. 
 
 The advocates of annexation used arguments much 
 stronger and more patriotic. They demonstrated the 
 right of Texas to seek annexation, the right of the United 
 States to accept it. They pointed out the many advan- 
 tages of union both to Texas and to the United States, 
 commercial, social and political ; and the many disadvan- 
 tages to both in remaining apart. They showed that 
 Texas could never again become a part of Mexico, and if 
 not annexed to the United States must become a nucleus 
 of European influence in America. Every motive of 
 interest and sentiment prompted a union with a free 
 people of our own blood who were already assimilated to 
 our institutions. It was argued that those who opposed 
 annexation under the guise of a newly aroused moral 
 crusade against slavery were mainly those who had always 
 obstructed territorial acquisition in every form. If the 
 South should gain the immediate advantage in a political 
 point of view, yet it was no dangerous advantage, and 
 could only enable that section to maintain an equipoise 
 of power ; while those who opposed annexation so vehe- 
 mently were striving to attain a complete and dangerous 
 control of every branch of the government. This reason- 
 ing convinced the American people, as the verdict of the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 225 
 
 election of 1844 plainly demonstrated, and the following 
 table of the electoral vote of that year will show : 
 
 
 President. 
 
 Vice-President. 
 
 States. 
 
 j4 
 t 
 
 M 
 
 a 
 
 ►-1 
 
 (3 
 
 6 
 
 A 
 
 6 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 "(5 
 
 Alabama 
 
 9 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 12 
 
 '6 
 
 9 
 
 5 
 6 
 
 7 
 6 
 
 36 
 
 26 
 9 
 
 17 
 
 6 
 3 
 
 12 
 
 8 
 12 
 
 7 
 
 II 
 
 23 
 
 4 
 
 13 
 6 
 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 12 
 
 6 
 9 
 
 5 
 6 
 
 7 
 6 
 
 36 
 
 26 
 9 
 
 17 
 
 
 Arkansas 
 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 6 
 
 Delaware 
 
 3 
 
 Georgia : . 
 
 
 Illinois 
 
 
 Indiana 
 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 12 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 
 Maine .... 
 
 
 Maryland 
 
 8 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 Michigan 
 
 12 
 
 Mississippi 
 
 
 Missouri 
 
 
 New Hampshire 
 
 
 New Jersey 
 
 7 
 
 New York 
 
 
 North Carolina 
 
 II 
 
 Ohio 
 
 23 
 
 -Pennsylvania 
 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 4 
 
 South Carolina 
 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 13 
 
 Vermont 
 
 6 
 
 Virginia 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 170 
 
 105 
 
 170 
 
 105 
 
 Mr. Polk, the exponent of the annexation of Texas and 
 the occupation of Oregon, the battle-cry of whose cam- 
 paign had been "Texas, and Fifty-four forty or fight," 
 was elected by a majority of 65 electoral votes over Mr. 
 Clay, whose party represented opposition to annexation, 
 although he himself had formerly been a warm advocate 
 for the acquisition of Texas by treaty, but had taken an 
 equivocal position in this campaign. Relying, however, 
 on the declaration of Mr. Clay that he would seek the 
 
226 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 acquisition of Texas by peaceful means, one of the most 
 ardent States in favor of annexation, Tennessee, gave 
 him her thirteen electoral votes over hef own fellow- 
 citizen. This election showed that parties were not yet 
 divided completely on the geographical line of slavery. 
 One point was clear. Annexation was the wish of the 
 majority. 
 
 It remained only to put the expressed wish of the 
 nation into execution. The 28th Congress convened in 
 its second session, December 2, 1844, and at once entered 
 on the work. President Tyler, in an able message, 
 placed the subject before the two houses and urged that 
 the will of the people should be speedily carried out. 
 Resolutions for annexation were introduced into the 
 House by Mr. Douglass, of Illinois, Mr. C. J. Ingersoll, 
 of Pennsylvania, Mr. Weller, of Ohio, Mr. Tibbatts, of 
 Kentucky, and others ; and in the Senate by Mr. Benton 
 and others. These resolutions differed from each other 
 in the measures proposed to accomplish the purpose. In 
 the House, the resolution of Mr. Ingersoll, amended so 
 as to exclude from slavery all territory north of 36° 30', 
 and further amended, was finally adopted January 25, 
 1845, by a vote of 120 to 97. 
 
 In the Senate, Mr. Benton and others adhered to the 
 Benton resolution and refused to concur with the House. 
 Finally a compromise was effected by adding Mr. Ben- 
 ton's resolution to that of the House as an amendment. 
 In this form the measure passed the Senate by a vote of 
 27 to 25, and was concurred in by the House February 
 28th by an increased majority, the vote being 132 to 76. 
 President Tyler approved the bill and decided, without 
 awaiting the inauguration of the incoming President, to 
 proceed at once to execute the authority conferred by 
 Congress. On the last day of his term of office he sent 
 a messenger with the official documents tendering to 
 Texas the consent of the United States to her annexation 
 as a State of the Union, 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 227 
 
 The messenger arrived just in time. He found agents 
 of Great Britain and France at work to induce Texas to 
 make a treaty with Mexico containing a solemn pledge 
 that Texas would never become a part of any other 
 nation. The fears of the intermeddling of European 
 nations were thus fully verified. So successful had been 
 the work of these European negotiators that a treaty had 
 been already signed by the secretary of the state of Texas 
 and ratified by the Mexican government. It had not yet 
 been formally ratified by the government of Texas. The 
 Texas convention met July 4th. The treaty with Mexico 
 was unanimously rejected, and annexation to the United 
 States was unanimously accepted. A constitution was 
 speedily adopted and ratified by the people of Texas by 
 a vote of 4, 174 to 312. Texas was admitted to the Union 
 by joint resolution of Congress, which was adopted in 
 the House December 16, 1845, by a vote of 141 to 56, 
 and passed the Senate by a vote of 31 to 14, December 
 2 2d, and was approved by President Polk December 29th. 
 The act extending jurisdiction over the State was 
 approved the same day. Texas was now a State of the 
 Union. Her contest with Mexico devolved upon the 
 United States. 
 
 The Mexican war followed inevitably. Much has been 
 said and written to prove that this war was precipitated 
 by the administration. Mr. Benton attributes it to Mr. 
 Calhoun. This was a mere continuation of the old Jack- 
 son-Calhoun quarrel, which had been dragged by Mr. 
 Benton and others into every phase of the Texas con- 
 troversy. The opponents of annexation assailed the 
 administration and all who had taken part in annexation, 
 using arguments familiar to those who have studied the 
 course of the opponents of all territorial expansion. 
 Slavery agitation and efforts to force geographical align- 
 ment had been added to the former implements of 
 obstruction, but had failed to prevent annexation. The 
 attack was now directed against the war. It was 
 
228 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 denounced as unnecessary. It could have been avoided. 
 It was a cruel aggression upon a weak adversary. It was 
 precipitated by the "slave power." 
 
 The war was, in truth, necessary and right. Texas 
 justly owned to the Rio Grande, and the United States 
 had assumed the obligation to defend her territory. The 
 Mexican minister had demanded his passports and left 
 Washington early in March, evidently regarding the 
 annexation of Texas as extending to the United States 
 the condition of war then existing nominally between 
 Texas and Mexico. If Mexico chose to consider that war 
 accrued by the annexation of Texas, how could the 
 United States avoid it? Yet Mr. Slidell was sent to 
 Mexico to endeavor to arrange for peace. He was rudely 
 repulsed. 
 
 President Polk wisely and justly determined to occupy 
 the territory as far as the Rio Grande. It would have 
 been weak and well nigh absurd to wait indefinitely on 
 the sullen moods of Mexico. General Taylor, in obedi- 
 ence to orders, advanced to the Rio Grande, taking posi- 
 tion opposite to the fortified Mexican town, Matamoras, 
 March 25, 1846. General La Vega, the Mexican com- 
 mander, then threw a body of troops across the river. 
 On the 24th of April a party of American dragoons under 
 Captain Thornton were surprised by a large Mexican force 
 and compelled to surrender, after the loss of sixteen men 
 out of their force of sixty -three. President Paredes now 
 appointed General Arista to command the Mexican forces 
 on the frontier. General Arista crossed the Rio Grande 
 with an army of 8,000 men and moved to attack General 
 Taylor. 
 
 It is no part of our purpose to recount the events of the 
 Mexican war. The Mexicans and the opponents of the 
 administration in the United States, notwithstanding the 
 fact that Mexico had declared the annexation of Texas to 
 be an act of war, and that her minister had demanded 
 his passports and that she had refused to entertain 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 229 
 
 negotiations, nevertheless persisted in asserting that the 
 United States had forced war and that the military occu- 
 pation by General Taylor was the beginning of it. The 
 first act of actual hostility was made by Mexico in the 
 attack upon Captain Thornton, and this was followed up 
 by General Arista in the movements against Point Isabel 
 and the attack at Fort Brown and the efforts to intercept 
 General Taylor's march to its relief at Palo Alto May 8th 
 and Resaca de la Palma May 9th. 
 
 President Polk was just and candid in his message of 
 May II, 1846: "As war exists, and, notwithstanding all 
 our efforts to prevent it, exists by the act of Mexico her- 
 self, we are called upon, by every consideration of duty 
 and patriotism, to vindicate with decision the honor, the 
 rights and the interests of our country. ' ' The opposition 
 endeavored to fasten upon this paragraph of President 
 Polk's message the charge of insincerity, together with 
 some ineffectual attempts at ridicule. This charge, how- 
 ever, is self -refuting, and the message stands a model of 
 moderation, firmness and patriotism. 
 
 Mexico pursued a defiant, unwise and sullen policy. 
 Possibly she was misled by unpatriotic expressions in the 
 public prints of the United States to suppose that resist- 
 ance on her part would defeat the annexation of Texas. 
 Certainly she had no right to obstruct this union between 
 two free governments. Her refusal to enter into negotia- 
 tions with reference to the boundary, forced the United 
 States either to abandon the just claims of Texas or to 
 adopt vigorous measures to enforce them. Thus, the 
 course of Mexico made the war necessary, and President 
 Polk's statement was strictly true. 
 
 Congress was convinced. The bill declaring war was 
 passed by an overwhelming majority. Only 14 votes 
 were cast against it in the House and only two in the 
 Senate. It became a law May 13, 1846. 
 
 The war was prosecuted with vigor and success. Vol- 
 unteers were called into the field. A single illustration 
 
230 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 will show the enthusiasm at the South. It is quoted from 
 the Official Manual of Tennessee by Charles A. Miller, 
 secretary of state, page 36: "Governor Brown made a 
 call for 2,800 volunteers — 30,000 volunteered." Says 
 Mr. Schouler: "To the call for volunteers our people 
 quickly responded. The heart-beat was passionate in 
 all sections but New England — 'our country right or 
 wrong. ' " (Schouler's History of the United States, vol. 
 
 4, p. 528.) 
 
 In addition to the movements of Generals Taylor and 
 Scott into the heart of Mexico, expeditions were planned 
 to take possession of the northern portions, which were 
 sparsely settled and undefended. The remarkable 
 marches and the bloodless conquests of Fremont and 
 Kearney, with insignificant forces, and the occupation of 
 San Francisco by Commodore Sloat, placed California and 
 all the northern portion of Mexico in the possession of 
 the United States at the close of the war. Her military 
 power had been crushed by Scott and Taylor, and Mex- 
 ico was helpless. 
 
 It now remained for the victors to dictate terms. 
 Should these terms be imposed in accordance with the 
 custom of victorious nations, or upon the unusual and 
 American principle of moderation and generous sym- 
 pathy for a prostrate foe? If there be any force in the 
 charges made by the opponents of the war, they belong 
 here. The war was necessary and right, and was forced 
 by Mexico. Not the war, but the use of the victory, should 
 be the true test. Those who so effusively censured the 
 course of the United States in dealing with Mexico might 
 perhaps have studied with profit the history of nations. 
 It might have served to soften their aspersions if they 
 had made an examination of the course uniformly pur- 
 sued under similar circumstances by those European 
 nations which they seemed to regard as models. It is the 
 custom of such nations to apply to the conquered coun- 
 try the same rule which the courts apply to the losing 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 231 
 
 party in litigation — "pay the costs of the suit. " It might 
 be difficult for these critics to find an example in Europe 
 Cvhere any victor nation voluntarily paid its own costs, 
 md also paid indemnity to the vanquished. 
 
 A late example of European methods is furnished in 
 the terms imposed by Germany on vanquished Prance — 
 1 1, 000,000,000 indemnity. Had the United States im- 
 posed on Mexico the accustomed indemnity, possibly we 
 might have escaped criticism by pleading European pre- 
 :edent. The United States, however, has a way of 
 chalking out her own paths. She dealt with prostrate 
 Mexico according to a novel rule among victors. She 
 Dffered terms after victory more liberal than any she had 
 proposed before the war. She took measures to heal the 
 wounded pride of her vanquished foe. She withdrew 
 her armies from Mexican territory. She required no in- 
 demnity. She paid her own costs of war. She released 
 to Mexico the acknowledged indebtedness of $3,250,000, 
 partly in default of which the war was fought. She 
 paid Mexico $15,000,000 for the territory acquired, which 
 was the same price paid for Louisiana. 
 
 The United States was certainly in a position to de- 
 spoil Mexico of her territory, or even to subvert her in- 
 dependence. Yet such was not the purpose of the victor. 
 (Donaldson's Public Domain, pp. 126-134, and Arts. XIII, 
 XIV and XV of the Treaty.) The treaty of Guadalupe 
 Hidalgo was concluded February 2, 1848, between 
 Nicholas P. Trist, on the part of the United States, and 
 Don Luis Gonzaga Cuevas, Don Bernardo Couto and Don 
 Miguel Atristain, on the part of Mexico. President Polk 
 submitted it to the Senate, February 23, recommending 
 amendments. It was amended by the Senate, and rati- 
 fied as amended, March 10, by a vote of 39 to 14. Hon. 
 Ambrose H. Sevier, of Arkansas, and Hon. Nathaniel 
 Clifford, as envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipo- 
 tentiary, carried the ratification of the amended treaty to 
 Mexico with full powers. The treaty, with a protocol 
 
232 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 attached by the two ministers, was accepted by the Mex- 
 ican senate by a vote of 33 to 5, ratifications were ex- 
 changed May 30, 1848, and the treaty was promulgated 
 by proclamation, July 4. 
 
 By this treaty the boundary was established at the 
 Rio Grande, and all claims of Mexico to Texas, New 
 Mexico and California were ceded to the United States. 
 In consideration of these cessions, the United States 
 agreed to pay $15,000,000 to Mexico, and to assume debts 
 of Mexico to citizens of the United States, not to exceed 
 $3,250,000. The treaty contained twenty-three articles, 
 all of which were liberal. The area of the ceded terri- 
 tory was 522,568 square miles. (Donaldson's Public Do- 
 main, p. 136.) 
 
 A little later the Gadsden Purchase was added to the 
 previously acquired territory. The cession of this terri- 
 tory was a corollary to the cessions of Mexico, and was 
 made for the benefit of American settlers along the rich 
 Mesilla valley and the Gila river, and to afford a better 
 line for the southern boundary. It was signed by James 
 Gadsden, on the part of the United States, and Manuel 
 Diaz de Bonilla, Jose Salazar Ylarregui, and J. Mariana 
 Monterde, on the part of Mexico. It was concluded De- 
 cember 30, 1853, and was ratified and promulgated June 
 30, 1854. The ceded territory cost $10,000,000, and con- 
 tains about 45,535 square miles. It is the smallest of the 
 acquisitions. The treaty by which it was acquired was 
 signed in ratification by President Franklin Pierce, of 
 New Hampshire, being the only instance in which the 
 ratification of any treaty for the acquisition of foreign 
 territory was signed by a president residing north of 
 Mason and Dixon's line. But Franklin Pierce was the 
 representative of the party which had always favored 
 expansion. 
 
 Thus the total cost of the Mexican cessions was, 
 exclusive of interest, about $28,000,000, for 568,103 
 square miles of land, not including Texas, which con- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 233 
 
 tained 274,356 square miles, and which was annexed to 
 the United States previous to the war. Louisiana con- 
 tained 1,182,752 square miles, and cost, exclusive of in- 
 terest, $18,738,268.98. Those who accuse the United 
 States of rapacity and robbery may find it difficult to ex- 
 plain, in accordance with their theories, why the United 
 States paid prostrate Mexico at the rate of $49.29 per 
 square mile for land not so valuable as that for which she 
 paid the great Napoleon at the rate of $15.85 per square 
 mile. 
 
 The same political party which had successfully advo- 
 cated territorial extension in a southern direction, now 
 manifested an equal zeal in the extension of territory to- 
 ward the north. Heretofore, expansion had been possi- 
 ble only to the west and south. Of the acquired terri- 
 tory the larger part was north of the line 36° 30'. Even 
 if this line should be extended to the Pacific, it would 
 avail the South nothing. She was not in condition to 
 compete with the North in territorial settlement. The 
 acquisitions from Mexico, except Texas, were really in- 
 jurious to her sectional interests. Yet, during the cam- 
 paign of 1844, one of the party cries had been "Fifty- 
 four forty or fight. " 
 
 Previous to this political campaign very little popular 
 interest had been manifested in the affairs of Oregon. 
 The claims fouhded on Captain Gray's discovery in 1792 
 were allowed to sleep. Yet, even before Captain Gray's 
 discovery, the Columbia river had appeared to the men- 
 tal vision of Thomas Jefferson. When minister to 
 France, being convinced by the profound reasoning of 
 his own mind that there must be a great river to convey 
 the waters from the western slope of the Rocky mount- 
 ains to the Pacific ocean, he persuaded Mr. Ledyard, the 
 famous traveler, to undertake an expedition to cross the 
 ocean from Russia, and to locate the great western river. 
 A comic play represents the Spanish Queen as ordering 
 Columbus to cross the Atlantic and discover America, 
 
234 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 but there was philosophy and not comedy in the instruc- 
 tions which Jefferson gave to Ledyard to discover the 
 Columbia river. The expedition was prevented by the 
 jealousy of Russia. Mr. Ledyard was arrested in Siberia 
 and forced to abandon the project. Thus Jefferson's 
 mental vision remained unverified by physical demon- 
 stration until the discovery by Captain Gray. 
 
 No effort was made to utilize this discovery until after 
 the cession of Louisiana. Seizing the opportunity to 
 recur to plans long before cherished, Jefferson organized 
 the expedition of Lewis and Clark in 1804. Their ex- 
 plorations were valuable in supporting the claims of the 
 United States, and in blazing the track for the coming 
 pioneers. In 181 1 the settlement of Astoria strength- 
 ened the American claims and stimulated immigration. 
 In 1818 the United States and Great Britain entered into 
 a treaty for the joint occupation of an indefinite territory 
 to which Spain and Russia still held undefined claims. 
 This joint occupation was to last for ten years. In 1821 
 the title of the United States was greatly strengthened 
 by the cession of "all rights, claims and pretensions" of 
 Spain, whose claims were the most ancient, extending 
 back to the voyages of Caprillo in 1543. The northern 
 boundary was indefinite, and Great Britain and Russia 
 had claims likewise indefinite. Russia having withdrawn 
 her claims in 1824 to all territory south of 54° 40', the 
 United States and Great Britain were left as the only 
 claimants to the territory between 42° and 54° 40'. 
 
 In 1827 the joint occupancy was continued by agree- 
 ment, to be terminated upon one year's notice by either 
 party. The matter continued to appear before Congress 
 in various forms, and at different times, and became a 
 subject of diplomatic negotiations with England, but 
 without result until public attention was attracted by the 
 emigration of 1842, and public sentiment was aroused by 
 the presidential canvass of 1844. In this canvass the 
 generous spirit of the South and West, and their sincerity 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 235 
 
 in advocating the general policy of territorial expansion, 
 were clearly demonstrated. Although self -protection de- 
 manded increase of territory toward the South, and sec- 
 tional interests would seem to render the Slave States the 
 natural enemy of northern extension, yet they were true 
 to the impulses of patriotism. They rose superior to 
 sectional considerations, and were zealous to uphold the 
 honor of the nation, and to defend the title to northern 
 territory. 
 
 While fighting the battles of Texas with Mexico, they 
 were ready to fight Great Britain to enforce the title of 
 the United States to Oregon. In this movement Mis- 
 souri was, perhaps, the most active and ardent factor, 
 and she was warmly sustained by the South and West. 
 The advance guard moved promptly to the front. This 
 advance guard was the same indomitable, picturesque, 
 unique corps of patriots who had won so many victories 
 — the conquerors of the wilderness — the American pio- 
 neers. The great event of planting the American flag 
 permanently on the Pacific ocean, says Mr. Benton, "was 
 not the act of the government, leading the people and 
 protecting them, but like all the other great emigrations 
 and settlements of that race on our continent, it was an 
 act of the people, going forward without government aid 
 or countenance, establishing their possession and com- 
 pelling the government to follow with its shield and 
 spread it over them." This movement of immigration to 
 Oregon began in 1842, and was greatly increased in 1843. 
 It was the moving cause of the party zeal in the presi- 
 dential election of 1844. 
 
 President Polk came into office March 4, 1845, pledged 
 to assert the American claim to the exclusive possession 
 of Oregon, even if its enforcement should involve war 
 with Great Britain. The matter was speedily brought 
 to the attention of Congress and was made the subject of 
 diplomatic negotiation. From 1820, when Dr. Floyd, of 
 Virginia, had introduced a bill in Congress relative to 
 
236 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Oregon, to 1843, when the bill of Mr. Linn passed the 
 Senate, the action of Congress had been inefficient, and 
 the diplomatic negotiations had been puerile. But now 
 the people had spoken in no uncertain tones, and decisive 
 action, backed by resolute purpose, was demanded. 
 
 The face of affairs began to wear a new aspect. A 
 joint resolution of notice to Great Britain to terminate 
 the joint occupation at the end of one year, passed the 
 House by a test vote of 154 to 54, and after amendment, 
 passed the Senate by a vote of 40 to 14, and was finally 
 adopted April 23, 1846. (Benton's Thirty Years, vol. 2, 
 p. 673.) Diplomatic negotiations, also, progressed 
 rapidly. June 6, Sir Richard Pakenham, the British 
 minister at Washington, submitted a draft of a treaty to 
 which Great Britain was willing to agree, making the 
 parallel of 49° the northern boundary of Oregon; thus 
 compromising the question at issue by dividing the terri- 
 tory between the two nations. This compromise seemed 
 the natural and equitable result of the controversy. It 
 continued to the Pacific ocean the long line which sepa- 
 rated the possessions of the two nations, and gave to each 
 the territory which seemed to belong to it geograph- 
 ically. 
 
 President Polk, however, was pledged by his party 
 platform to assert claim to the entire country. While his 
 judgment approved the compromise, he thought it hon- 
 orable, as far as possible, to consult the wishes of the 
 country. He, therefore, availed himself of the unused 
 constitutional privilege of asking the advice of the Sen- 
 ate. He laid the proposed treaty before them June 10, 
 in a message, requesting advice and stating: "Should 
 the Senate, however, decline by such constitutional ma- 
 jority to give such advice, or to express an opinion on 
 the subject, I shall consider it my duty to reject the 
 offer." The Senate, June 12th, on motion of Mr. Hay- 
 wood, of North Carolina, by a vote of 38 to 12, passed a 
 resolution, advising the acceptance of the British offer. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 237 
 
 It only remained to complete the formalities of diplo- 
 macy. June IS, the treaty was signed by James Bu- 
 chanan on the part of the United States, and Richard 
 Pakenham on the part of Great Britain. It was laid be- 
 fore the Senate for ratification June i6th and was ratified 
 June 1 8th. Ratifications were exchanged at London, July 
 17th, and the President, in a message to Congress, August 
 5th, communicated the exchange of ratifications and re- 
 commended "the organization of a territorial government 
 for Oregon." (See Benton's Abridgment, vol. 15, pp. 
 652, 653, 641.) 
 
 The several measures proposed for the government of 
 Oregon and the territories formed from the Mexican 
 cessions of 1848, and for the further admission of States, 
 aroused anew the slavery agitation, and provoked the 
 "irrepressible conflict." These questions, leading to the 
 Confederate War, are discussed in another chapter of this 
 work. Our investigation terminates with the acquisition 
 of the territory.* 
 
 No argument is needed to show that the South was 
 the leading factor in the acquisition of Texas, in the 
 Mexican War, in the cessions from Mexico, in securing 
 from Spain the cession of her claims to Oregon, and in 
 the final settlement of the Oregon question with Great 
 Britain. In all this great work, the co-operation of the 
 West was cordial and active. Even that portion of the 
 
 (*The works mentioned below will be interesting and instructive 
 to the reader, but are not intended to include an exhaustive bib- 
 liography of this period. Benton's Thirty Years' View treats at 
 large the several subjects connected with Texas, the Mexican War 
 and Oregon. Schouler's History of the United States, vols. 3, 4, 
 treats the same subjects at large, and with great ability, but strong 
 sectional bias. Narrative and Critical History of America is an in- 
 valuable work, Vol. 7 contains a clear and succinct treatment of the 
 "Territorial Acquisitions and Divisions." The notes to this article 
 (Appendix i, p. 527, et seg.) furnish a valuable bibliography on the 
 subject. Barrow's Oregon (American Commonwealth Series) is an 
 able and instructive work. Benton's Abridgment of the Debates 
 in Congfress places these debates in convenient form for reference. 
 Vols. 15 and 16 cover the period under discussion. Donaldson's 
 Public Domain siipplies compendious statements of legislative acts, 
 quotes treaties and ordinances, etc., and gives statistics.') 
 
238 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 West which was soon to become alienated from the South 
 gave, during this important period, under such able lead- 
 ers as Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, and Lewis Cass, 
 of Michigan, strong and vigorous support to the policy 
 of territorial expansion. 
 
Chapter vi. 
 
 CONFEDERATE WAR— ACQUISITION OF ALASKA. 
 
 IN i860 the Presidential election showed that political 
 parties were at length arrayed on the geographical 
 line which divided the Free and Slave States. 
 (American Politics, Johnston, p. 334.) The representa- 
 tion in Congress stood: In the Senate, Free States, 36, 
 Slave States, 30; in the House, Free States, 147, Slave 
 States, 90. Thus, the Free States cast an electoral vote 
 of 183 and the Slave States a vote of 120. The South 
 had been outstripped in the race for winning political 
 control of the territories. The slavery agitation had 
 assumed the form of a movement for forcible abolition. 
 The election of Mr. Lincoln by a vote of 180 in his favor 
 to 1 23 against him, placed the entire machinery of gov- 
 ernment in the hands of the Free States. The South 
 was now in the position which New England had occupied 
 in 1814. 
 
 There were in the positions of the two sections two 
 important points of difference: ist. In 18 14, the South 
 was in possession of the legislative and executive 
 branches of the government, but made no effort to disturb 
 the domestic institutions of New England; now, when 
 the Free States were in power, an aggressive party- 
 threatened the overthrow of the institution of slavery, 
 which was the foundation of the industrial system of 
 the South. 2d. In 1814, New England would have been 
 permitted to leave the Union had she persisted in carry- 
 ing out her threats of secession, and no efforts at coercion 
 would have been attempted; now, a national sentiment 
 in favor of coercion had developed. This sentiment 
 was the unforeseen outgrowth of the Southern policy of 
 
240 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 territorial expansion. The thirteen original States had 
 existed as separate and independent sovereignties before 
 the completion of the general government, and their 
 people had not forgotten that they were the makers of 
 the Constitution and of the United States. The new 
 States, however, had been severally carved out of Federal 
 territory, had been nurtured under the paternal colonial 
 policy of the United States, and had received statehood 
 as a gift from Congress. The people of these created 
 States, therefore, looked to the general government as 
 the source of power and the creator of States. Thus, the 
 theory of "consolidated government," aided by the prog- 
 ress of the slavery agitation, ignoring the testimony of 
 history and the deductions of logic, grew as a national 
 sentiment. 
 
 In 1861, the Southern people realized that their equality 
 in the Union was lost, that their domestic institutions 
 were threatened, that the construction of the Constitution 
 on which they relied for protection was overthrown. The 
 alternative was presented of secession from the Union, 
 or a precarious dependence on the justice and forbearance 
 of the hostile party about to assume the reins of govern- 
 ment, with every prospect of permanent control. The 
 South chose the first alternative. Then came the great 
 American tragedy — secession — coercion — war — emanci- 
 pation — ^reconstruction. 
 
 It does not pertain to the purpose of this chapter to 
 discuss either the causes or the conduct or the con- 
 sequences of the Civil war. It was certainly not under- 
 taken for foreign conquest ; yet, it was followed by the 
 uniform result of all our wars — the acquisition of foreign 
 territory. It was concluded in 1865, and was followed 
 in 1867 by the acquisition of Alaska. 
 
 Shall we assign to the chronological sequence between 
 the war of 1861-65 and the acquisition of Alaska the log- 
 ical relation of cause and effect? It was certainly not an 
 accidental coincidence. The acquisition of Alaska was 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 241 
 
 not altogether a new idea. Negotiations for ceding it to 
 the United States were begun at the instance of Russia 
 in 1854, during the Crimean war, and in the administra- 
 tion of President Pierce. They were renewed by the 
 United States during President Buchanan's administra- 
 tion, but were then declined by Russia. In 1867 negotia- 
 tions were renewed between Secretary of State William 
 H. Seward, and Baron Edouard Stoeckl, minister of 
 Russia, which resulted in the cession of Alaska by 
 the treaty made at Washington, March 30, 1867, which 
 was ratified and proclaimed on the 20th day of June 
 following. 
 
 Russia had long evinced the purpose of curbing the 
 territorial acquisitions of Great Britain. Alaska was not 
 useful as a possession, and any hope that Russia may 
 have ever entertained of acquiring valuable American 
 possessions was frustrated by the Monroe doctrine. 
 Alaska had been retained for many years only to keep it 
 from the grasp of Great Britain. The wonderful power 
 displayed in the Confederate war had the effect of allay- 
 ing any apprehension which Russia may have entertained 
 that the cession of Alaska to the United States might 
 result in its ultimate acquisition by her rival. Great Brit- 
 ain. The cordial relations established between Russia 
 and the United States during the progress of the Con- 
 federate war also contributed to the same result, and 
 inclined Russia to entertain views similar to those ex- 
 pressed by Napoleon after the cession of Louisiana. 
 
 The peculiar relations of the European powers to each 
 other made this war, like all our other wars, the cause 
 and occasion of the cession of territory. Great Britain, 
 France and Austria seized upon the American war as the 
 opportune time to establish the monarchy of Maximilian 
 upon "the ruins of the Mexican republic." In pur- 
 suance of this policy it was suspected by the United 
 States that these powers would acknowledge the inde- 
 pendence of the Confederate States and would form an 
 
 1-16 
 
242 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 alliance for the purpose of breaking the blockade of the 
 Confederate coast and of supporting Maximilian. 
 
 At this point Russia sent a large naval force to winter 
 in American waters. The presence of this Russian fleet 
 in American harbors was a menace to the European 
 powers and perhaps defeated the combination. Great 
 Britain and Spain withdrew their support and the empire 
 of Maximilian remained under the protection of France. 
 The close of the Confederate war left the United States 
 free to act. France withdrew her troops and Maximilian 
 was left to his fate. 
 
 Those who controlled the policy of the United States 
 at this critical juncture, believed that the timely inter- 
 position of Russia had averted a serious danger. Says a 
 distinguished participant in the affairs of this period: 
 "Russia was our friend and the only friend we had 
 among the great nations of Europe during the War of 
 the Rebellion. 
 
 "When Great Britain, France and Austria confederated 
 for the purpose of establishing a monarchy in Mexico on 
 the ruins of the Mexican republic, and as subsidiary 
 thereto had secured, as was believed, the consent of the 
 so-called 'Confederate States of America,' on condition 
 that their independence as a nation should be speedily 
 acknowledged by the gr^at powers, who were being 
 urgently pressed for concurrence by these triumvir 
 States, Russia not only refused to sanction our humilia- 
 tion, but promptly, and, as it were, in the 'nick of time," 
 sent part of her great navy to winter in our harbors, 
 which resulted in the decisive defeat of this adverse 
 diplomacy, a result most gratifying to our government ; 
 achieved by the expenditure of large sums of money for 
 the maintenance of her navy in foreign waters in excess 
 of what would have been needed at their home stations. 
 
 "Russia may have had, and probably did have, other 
 reasons for this naval campaign than a simple manifesta- 
 tion of friendship for the United States, but the benefit 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 243 
 
 derived by us was the same as if done solely on our 
 account. 
 
 "It was, therefore, natural that our government should 
 feel a desire to return, in some inoffensive method, to 
 our benefactor at least the pecuniary cost of the bene- 
 faction. The cession of Alaska furnished this oppor- 
 tunity. Russia possessed almost boundless tracts of this 
 sort of uninhabited (if not uninhabitable) territory in the 
 north of Europe and Asia; she could spare Alaska with- 
 out inconvenience, and probably needed ready money; 
 and the United States may have seen some possible fut- 
 ure advantage in becoming the owner of the territory 
 lying north of British Columbia and stretching northwest 
 to the Straits of Bering, and accepted the cession at the 
 price named without reference to the commercial value 
 of the territory acquired. In fact, its intrinsic commercial 
 value was hardly alluded to during the discussion of the 
 treaty in the Senate. 
 
 "It is not probable that any formal treaty or bargain, 
 express or implied, was ever made between the United 
 States and Russia on this subject, ♦ * * that is not 
 the way in which great nations manifest and reciprocate 
 sentiments of friendly regard for each other. To pre- 
 suppose that Russia had to be bargained with and prom- 
 ised remuneration for the moral support of her navy, 
 would have robbed this friendly act of its imperial grand- 
 eur. " (From MSS. letter of Hon. James Harlan — with 
 consent to use.) 
 
 The above quotation clearly sets forth the connection 
 between the Civil war and the acquisition of Alaska. 
 This acquisition, then, followed the remarkable general 
 law of American territorial expansion. It was the corol- 
 lary of a great war, and it came to the United States as a 
 result of the peculiar complication of European affairs. 
 In one respect it differed from the other acquisitions ; it 
 was the only acquisition in which the South was not the 
 leading factor. The South was then powerless, and if 
 
244 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 not hostile, certainly not influential in national affairs. 
 The foundation was laid by President Lincoln and his 
 advisers in the conduct of the war and the foreign policy 
 of the United States. The consummation was effected 
 by the diplomacy of Secretary William H. Seward. Yet, 
 by a remarkable coincidence, when the treaty came to be 
 approved, it bore the signature of a Southern president 
 — Andrew Johnson. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Whatever criticisms or eulogies, just or unjust, patri- 
 otic or partisan, may be pronounced upon the actors or 
 the agents in our several wars and acquisitions of terri- 
 tory, all must recognize the hand of destiny which led 
 America through the several steps of development to her 
 present sublime position among the nations of the world. 
 None can deny, perhaps none will wish to deny, that the 
 corner stone in the foundation of the greatness of our 
 country is its wide extent of territory. Beginning with 
 the sparse settlements stretched along the Atlantic coast, 
 the thirteen original States, bom in revolution, and un- 
 willing to surrender their separate existence, were drawn 
 together by a wonderful law of attraction. They 
 founded a government of which the vital principle was 
 compromise. This principle, not deduced from the 
 formulas of philosophers, but evolved from the logic of 
 events, and utilized by the practical common sense of 
 the American people, has demonstrated itself to be the 
 true principle of free government. 
 
 The Union, thus constructed, owed its marvelous de- 
 velopment, and the catholicity of its institutions, to the 
 compromise of the varied interests and diverse senti- 
 ments of its constituent sections. The people of this 
 self-made nation have cause to rejoice that the United 
 States was built by many factors, each of which has per- 
 formed a distinctive, honorable, and necessary part in its 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 245 
 
 upbuilding. History, while dwelling with admiration 
 on the grand result, the joint work as well as the joint 
 heritage of all, should accord to each factor the appro- 
 priate meed of praise. 
 
 To the South belongs the award of being the leading 
 factor in territorial expansion. Beginning with the 
 sacrifice of any plans they may have formed for State 
 aggrandizement, the Southern States surrendered their 
 extensive western possessions to the general govern- 
 ment. Advocating the policy of expansion at each stage 
 of growth, overcoming the obstacles of sectional oppo- 
 sition and foreign diplomacy, persistently and success- 
 fully the South has forced the United States to all its 
 acquisitions of territory, except Alaska. 
 
 At this day, few persons will be found to dispute the 
 wisdom or the justice of this policy. 
 
 Sending forth its missionary pioneers to win the wil- 
 derness, the. great Republic, following their footsteps, 
 received the adopted territories, reared them into state- 
 hood under the nurture of its beneficent institutions, and 
 protects them with the shield of a nation whose bound- 
 aries have never receded. 
 
 Note. The foregoing chapter was completed by the author and 
 delivered to the publishers more than a year before the beginning 
 of the Spanish war of 1898. It is limited to the discussion of the 
 South as a factor in the territorial growth of the United States from 
 the formation of the Union to the end of the Confederate war, and 
 therefore closes with the acquisition of Alaska as a corollary of that 
 war. All events subsequent to that period pertain to another chap- 
 ter. 
 
 The Spanish war, accompanied by the acquisition of Hawaii, 
 Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and the liberation of Cuba, will not, 
 therefore, be discussed here. It is, however, proper to note: 
 
 1. The Spanish war has been attended by the uniform result of 
 all our wars— the acquisition of foreign territory. 
 
 2. The period of 31 years, from the acquisition of Alaska in 1867 
 to the acquisition of Hawaii in 1898, is the longest period between 
 
246 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 the acquisitions of foreign territory in the history of the United 
 States, as will appear from the following: 
 
 Date. Period. 
 
 Final Treaty of Paris 1783 
 
 Acquisition o£ Louisiana 1803 SO years 
 
 Acquisition of Florida and Oregon 1821 18 years 
 
 Acquisition of Texas 1845 24 years 
 
 Acquisition of Mexican Cessions 1848 3 years 
 
 Acquisition of Gadsden Purchase 1853 5 years 
 
 Acquisition of Alaska 1867 14 years 
 
 Acquisition of Hawaii, etc 1898 31 years 
 
 Total 115 years 
 
 3. The Spanish war differs from all our wars, since the Revolution, 
 in its inception and in its effects. All our other wars have been con- 
 ceived in sectional policy, and have produced the effect of alienat- 
 ing the sections. The Spanish war was inspired by the spontaneous 
 outburst of patriotism of a reunited people. No voice of sectional 
 strife was heard, and no sectional advantage was sought Its 
 effects have been happy in restoring confidence and cordiality be- 
 tween the sections. 
 
 4. The acquisitions of 1898 mark the adoption by all sections of 
 the beneficent policy of expansion so early instituted and so per- 
 sistently pursued by the South, and at one time so violently opposed 
 by other sections. The great object lesson has been learned. The 
 success of our territorial policy, the prosperity and grandeur which 
 our acquired territory has brought to the United States, have dem- 
 onstrated the wisdom of the policy of expansion, and have allayed 
 all apprehensions founded upon sectional jealousy. Whatever oppo- 
 sition is now offered is free from sectional rancor and is based on 
 broad, national grounds. 
 
 5. The Spanish war has furnished to the people of the South the 
 opportunity to demonstrate to all the other sections, and to the world, 
 that they have always loved the Union as it was established by their 
 fathers, and that they are as ready now to fight its battles as their 
 fathers were in the early days of its history, when Southern influence 
 dominated its policy, -and Southern men directed its destinies and 
 expanded its territory. 
 
CLEMENT A. EVANS 
 
THE CIVIL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CONFEDERATE STATES 
 
 BY 
 
 Brig.-Gen. Clement A. Evans. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 NORTH AND SOUTH. 
 
 THE SETTLEMENT OF 1850 — PREVIOUS SECTIONAL 
 QUESTIONS— ORIGIN OF THE TERMS NORTH AND 
 SOUTH— EXTENT OF "OLD SOUTH"— SECTIONAL 
 RIVALRIES— SLAVE-HOLDING NEARLY UNIVERSAL 
 —OBJECTED TO BY THE SOUTH AND INSISTED ON 
 BY THE SLAVE TRADERS— "PROFIT AND LOSS," 
 AND NOT CONSCIENCE— CAUSES WHICH NECES- 
 SITATE THE CONFEDERATE STATES. 
 
 THE political history of the Confederate States of 
 America somewhat distinctly begins in 1850 with 
 "the Settlement" of sectional agitation by the 
 Compromise measures of that year, enacted by the Con- 
 gress of the United States, approved by the President, 
 confirmed by decisions of the Supreme court, endorsed 
 in resolutions, political platforms and general elections 
 by the people. The "Settlement" thus solemnly or- 
 dained by and among the States composing the Union, 
 became equal in moral and political force, to any part of 
 the Constitution of the United States. Its general object 
 was to carry out the preamble to the Constitution, viz. : 
 "We, the people of the United States, in order to form a 
 more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic 
 tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote 
 the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty 
 to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish 
 this Constitution for the United States of America. ' ' Its 
 avowed special object was to settle forever all the dis- 
 turbing, sectional agitations concerning slave labor, so as 
 to leave that question where the Constitution had placed 
 it, subject to the operation of humanity, moral law, 
 
 249 
 
250 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 economic law, natural law and the laws of the States. Its 
 patriotic purpose was to eliminate sectionalism from the 
 politics of the whole country. 
 
 Grave questions of sectional nature had arisen during 
 the colonial period on which the colonies North and the 
 colonies South divided by their respective sections. The 
 original division of the British territorial possessions on 
 the American continent into the geographical designa- 
 tions, North and South, occurred historically in the grants 
 made by King James, 1606; the first to the London Com- 
 pany of the territory south of the 38th degree north lati- 
 tude, and the other to the Pl3miouth Colony of the terri- 
 tory north of the 41st degree north latitude. Both 
 grants extended westward to an indefinite boundary. 
 The Plymouth Settlement afterward subdued the Dutch 
 possessions lying to the south, thus including that terri- 
 tory in the general term North. The settlements of 
 Delaware and Maryland covered the areas lying north of 
 Virginia and they were embraced in the section termed 
 South. The general line of division, somewhat indis- 
 tinct, lay between the 38th and the 39th degrees north 
 latitude. The Mason and Dixon line — 39° 43' 26' — was 
 established by subsequent surveys and was designed to 
 settle certain boundary disputes. In the eighteenth cen- 
 tury the original partition of King James was changed by 
 various grants and the English possessions were also ex- 
 tended far down the Atlantic coast by grants of the Caro- 
 linas and Georgia. The original "Old South" extended 
 by all these grants along the Atlantic shore from the 
 south line of Georgia to the north of Delaware, and west- 
 ward from that wide ocean front certainly to the French 
 possessions on the Mississippi river, including the terri- 
 tory of Virginia in the northwest and embracing a vast 
 area of the best part of America; but by proper con- 
 struction of these and other original charters which made 
 the western limit "the South sea," meaning the Pacific 
 ocean, the vast domain of the Old South embraced also 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 251 
 
 all Texas and much of the territory acquired from 
 Mexico. 
 
 The rivalry of the colonies included in these two sec- 
 tions in their struggle for population, commerce, wealth 
 and general influence in American affairs, arose early and 
 continued during the century preceding the American 
 Revolution, each section becoming accustomed to a 
 geographical and sectional grouping of colonies and each 
 striving to advance its own local interests. Thus the 
 colonies of both sections grew robustly as separate organ- 
 izations into the idea of free statehood, but at the same 
 time fostered the dangerous jealousies of sections. The 
 sectional spirit grew alongside the development of 
 colonial statehood. The colonies north became a group 
 of Northern States, and the colonies south a group of 
 Southern States. 
 
 The conflict with Great Britain, which had been long 
 impending, brought the sections together in a common 
 cause as against the external enemy, but the achieve- 
 ment of the independence of the several colonies was ac- 
 companied by the quick return of the old antagonism 
 which had previously divided them into geographic sec- 
 tions. The loose Union, which had been created pend- 
 ing the Revolutionary war, through Articles of Confed- 
 eration, was found inefficient to control or even to direct 
 the irrepressible conflict of opposing or emulating inter- 
 ests. Hence the Constitution of the United States was 
 substituted for the Articles of Confederation and "a 
 more perfect Union" was ordained, expressly to prevent 
 or at least to modify sectional conflicts by the constitu- 
 tional pledge to promote domestic tranquillity and pro- 
 vide for the general welfare. 
 
 During all these struggles of the colonies among them- 
 selves, caused by commercial rivalries, the slavery of 
 any part of the population was not the cause of danger- 
 ous disagreement anywhere. The British colonies were 
 all slavie-holding. Negroes were bought and sold in Bos- 
 
252 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 ton and New York as well as in Richmond or Savannah. 
 The Declaration of Independence, written by Jefferson, 
 who was opposed to slavery, and concurred in by the 
 committee of which Adams, Sherman, Livingston and 
 Franklin, all Northern men, were members, made no 
 declaration against slavery and no allusion to it, except 
 to charge the King of Great Britain with the crime of 
 exciting domestic insurrection. In framing the Consti- 
 tution all sectional differences, including the subject of 
 slavery, were compromised. "The compromises on the 
 slavery question inserted in the Constitution were," as 
 Mr. Blaine correctly remarks, "among the essential con- 
 ditions upon which the Federal government was organ- 
 ized. " (Twenty Years, vol. i, p. i.) 
 
 Sectional conflicts, subsequent to the formation of the 
 Constitution from which the Union resulted, were also 
 mainly caused by similar commercial rivalries and am- 
 bitions for political advantage. The maintenance of the 
 political equilibrium between the North and the South 
 occupied at all times the anxious thought of patriotic 
 statesmen. In the contests which threatened this 
 equality slavery was not the only nor at first the main 
 disturbing cause. It was not the question in the war of 
 1 812 upon which the States were divided into sections 
 North and South, nor in the purchase of Louisiana Terri- 
 tory, as the debates show ; the real ground of opposition 
 being the fear that this vast territory would transfer 
 political power southward, which was evidenced by Josiah 
 Quincy's vehement declaration of his "alarm that six 
 States might grow up beyond the Mississippi. ' ' Nor was 
 the acquisition of Florida advocated or opposed because 
 of slavery. The tariff issue, out of which the nullification 
 idea arose, was decidedly on a question of just proced- 
 ure in raising revenue, and not on slavery. The question 
 was made suddenly and lamentably prominent in the 
 application of Missouri to be admitted into the Union, 
 but the agitation which then threatened the peace of the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 253 
 
 country was quelled by the agreement upon the dividing 
 line of 36° 30'. "The Missouri question marked a dis- 
 tinct era in the political thought of the country, and made 
 a profound impression on the minds of patriotic men. 
 Suddenly, without warning, the North and the South 
 found themselves arrayed against each other in violent 
 and absorbing conflict. ' ' The annexation of Texas was 
 urged because it increased the area of the Union, and 
 was opposed because its addition to the States gave pre- 
 ponderance to the South. 
 
 Thus it is seen that the early sectional rivalries had 
 no vital connection with slavery, and it will appear that 
 its extinction will not of itself extinguish the fires that 
 have so long burned between North and South. The 
 great American conflict began through a geographical 
 division of America made by the cupidity of an English 
 king. It was continued for financial, economic, com- 
 mercial and political reasons. A false idea of duality — a 
 North and South — in the United States has been deeply 
 rooted in the American mind. 
 
 To understand the causes which produced the Confed- 
 erate States of America, all the various incidents which 
 successively agitated the fears of either section that the 
 other would gain an advantage, must be held steadily in 
 view. This sectional ambition to secure and maintain 
 the preponderance of political power operated through 
 various incidents in colonial times, then in those which 
 attended the formation of the Constitution, also in 
 subsequent incidents — such as the location of the capital ; 
 the appropriations of money for internal improvements; 
 the war of 1812; the acquisition of Southern territory; 
 the tariff issue and the distribution of government offices 
 and patronage. One after another of these controversies 
 subsiding, a period approached when slavery itself be- 
 came the main incident of this long-continued sectional 
 rivalry. Slavery, on coming so conspicuously into notice 
 as to be the main ground of contention between North 
 
254 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 and South, was, therefore, regarded as the chief distrac- 
 tion to be removed by the settlement effected in 1850. 
 
 Briefly stating the case in 1850, let it be considered 
 that the old sectional differences on account of commer- 
 cial rivalry and political supremacy had at length become 
 hostilities, which for the first time seriously threatened 
 the Union of the States. Let it also be understood that 
 the agitation which immediately preceded the settlement 
 of 1850 was caused directly by differences of views as to 
 the proper disposition of the national institution of 
 slavery. 
 
 The statesmen of 1850 knew the foUow^ing facts: The 
 United States had indorsed the existence of slavery and 
 authorized the importation of enslaved Africans; the 
 colonies, separately acting previous to their Union, had 
 established the institution in their labor systems. The 
 European governments which held paramount authority 
 over the colonies had originated it. The chiefs of Afri- 
 can tribes enforced it by their wars, and profited by it 
 in the sale of their captives to foreigners. The world at 
 large practiced it in some form. Thus the African kings, 
 the governments of Europe and America, the ship own- 
 ers, slave traders, speculators and pioneers of the New 
 World conspired to initiate a wrong, from which a retri- 
 bution at length followed, in which the innocent slave 
 with his last Southern owner suffered more than all the 
 guilty parties who had profited by his bondage. 
 
 The hardy and adventurous settlers in the American 
 colonies permitted themselves after occasional protests,- 
 such as occurred in Virginia, and afterward in Georgia, to 
 be seduced into the buying of negroes from the artful and 
 avaricious slave traders of England, Holland and New 
 England. The importations, however, were few, be- 
 cause the European possessions in the semi-tropics were 
 the first takers of this species of property. Tidings of 
 the evils of the system in its barbarous stages, and stories 
 all too true of the horrors of the middle passage aboard 
 
CONFEDERATE MTLITARY HISTORY. 255 
 
 the ships of the inhuman slave importers, made the col- 
 onies reluctant to engage in the traffic. Nevertheless, 
 the colonies experimented with this form of labor, Massa- 
 chusetts beginning in 1638 and South Carolina thirty- 
 three years later, and the conclusion was reached before 
 the close of the eighteenth century that the slavery sys- 
 tem of labor could be made useful in some latitudes, but 
 could not be made profitable in all sections of America. 
 Therefore, Massachusetts, following a Canadian prece- 
 dent, abolished slavery after being a slave holding 
 State over a hundred years, and soon after the American 
 Revolution several States in the higher latitudes, all in- 
 cluded in the old North Section of the original Plymouth 
 colony, adopted the same policy. 
 
 But it will be observed that generally this Northern 
 abolition was to take effect after lapse of time, and thus 
 notice was given to the owners sufficient to enable them, 
 if so disposed, to sell their property to purchasers living 
 farther South who still found such labor remunerative. 
 Some availed themselves of this privilege and converted 
 their slaves into other more productive property. Some 
 were conscientious or were attached to their negroes and, 
 therefore, cheerfully gave them freedom. Others were 
 philanthropic enough to keep the old and infirm, who on 
 reaching liberation would be cared for by the State, only 
 selling the young and the strong for a good price. 
 Through these sales and the continuance of the slave 
 trade, both foreign and domestic, the people in the South- 
 em States were induced to invest their money largely in 
 negroes, thus greatly increasing the population of that 
 class within the boundaries of those States. 
 
 In all these changes of the labor system — this abolish- 
 ing of slavery in several States — the moral side of the 
 question does not appear to have had the uppermost 
 consideration. The moral question certainly did have 
 influence in Massachusetts and to some extent in other 
 States ; but the main reason for this early emancipation 
 
256 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 was the commercial and social disadvantages of slavery.' 
 As the South is said to have been awakened to the im- 
 morality and the blighting hindrances of slavery to its 
 prosperity, after emancipation was enforced by armies, 
 so the North saw the same immorality and general hurt 
 to the Union only after proofs of the unprofitableness of 
 the institution to that section. Both sections abolished 
 slavery under duress — one under duress of unprofitable- 
 ness , the other vi et armis. 
 
 The law of profit and loss controlled the origin and ex- 
 tension of slavery; sectional rivalries seized upon it as 
 an incident in the strife for supremacy ; political party 
 purpose at length found it to be an available means to 
 partisan successes, and the moral side of it shone forth 
 upon the whole nation only after a bloody war between 
 the old sections. Eyes were opened by the shock of bat- 
 tle. The moral sense stood godfather to "military 
 necessity. ' ' 
 
 At the organization of the United States, slave-holding 
 was legal everywhere in the Union except in Massa- 
 chusetts, because at that time it bore some profit every- 
 where. It is a suggestion of Mr. Greeley in his Ameri- 
 can Conflict "that the importation of Africans in slave 
 ships profited New England;" the labor of the slaves 
 thus imported at a profit was valuable to their owners 
 who bought them from the slave traders, and also to the 
 manufacturers and sellers of the products of their toil. 
 Trading in human flesh was, therefore, insisted on as a 
 proper business demanding constitutional enforcement 
 for twenty years. The following "States voted for the 
 continuance of the slave trade for twenty years until 
 1808: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
 Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. 
 The following voted nay: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
 Delaware and Virginia. 
 
 Slave labor, therefore, must be treated historically as 
 
CONPEDBRATB MILITARY HISTORY. 257 
 
 an institution sustained by the Constitution of the United 
 States ; the domestic trade in slaves, as a business sanc- 
 tioned by that august instrument ; and the foreign slave 
 trade — to which the chief ignominy of the institution at- 
 taches — as a traffic expressly protected against the 
 wishes of the majority of the States holding slaves. Each 
 State was left by the Constitution with full power to dis- 
 pose of the institution as it might choose, and the ter- 
 ritory acquired as common property was open to settle- 
 ment-by slave-holders with their property. The African 
 bondsman was classed as property by United States law. 
 He was property to be acquired, held, sold, delivered on 
 bills of sale which evidenced title. He could be be- 
 queathed, donated, sold as part of an estate, or for debt, 
 like any other property. The Federal and State govern- 
 ments derived revenue from his labor. For over a cen- 
 tury the Southern States were encouraged to invest in 
 him and his race as property. Not one government, 
 European, Asian or African, declared against the en- 
 slavement of the negro by the United States ; and not 
 one State among those which had fought together to gain 
 a common independence of England refused to enter the 
 Union on account of the constitutional recognition and 
 encouragement of the institution. If there be any wrong 
 in all their action, the South was not more responsible for 
 it than their Northern associates in what has been called 
 the great crime of the United States. 
 
 The evils of slavery, its wrong of any character, moral 
 or political, were the result of an international co-opera- 
 tive action, and of an agreement among the States of the 
 Union, the original motive of which was the cupidity of 
 powerful African tribes and Caucasian slave dealers with 
 the subsequent motive of profit and loss to the buyer. 
 Such being its historical origin, it will be seen that the 
 subsequent effort to destroy it was not mainly moral but 
 partisan, and that the blow which struck it down fell on 
 the lawful holders of inherited property, and was struck 
 
258 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 by the people of the Old World and the New, whose an- 
 cestors first inflicted the great wrong against humanity. 
 
 The labor of the negro being more profitable in the 
 mild climate, and on the more fertile and cheaper land of 
 the South, his transference from the bleaker clime and 
 less generous as well as higher priced soil of New En- 
 gland became commercially inevitable. The negro be- 
 came unsalable where he was at first enslaved. He 
 brought a good price south of 36° 30', and hence by the 
 course of interstate commerce many thousands (not all, 
 but thousands) of this class of national property changed 
 owners as well as States, the original masters taking the 
 purchase money to reinvest in land, merchandise, fac- 
 tories, stocks and bonds or other prudent ventures, while 
 the new master invested in the coerced labor which cut 
 down his forests and tilled his soil, holding the laborer 
 "bound to service" under the laws of his State made pur- 
 suant to the Constitution of the United States. 
 
 The same commercial considerations which induced the 
 enslavement of the unfortunate African caused his sale 
 and removal from those sections of the Union where his 
 enslavement was found to be unprofitable and his pres- 
 ence at least a social inconvenience. Accordingly the 
 steady deportation of the race southward began during 
 the close of the eighteenth century and was accelerated 
 through the early years of the nineteenth century. The 
 slave market was opened in the city of Washington and 
 other Southern cities. Traders bought in Northern 
 markets and sold for profit in the Southern. The domes- 
 tic slave trade was thus inaugurated to compete with the 
 African slave trade then in full blast and which could 
 not be suppressed by any Southern State until the year 
 1808. Now and then a Southern State endeavored to 
 hinder the infamous traffic, but the ship owners and 
 slave traders were shielded by the supreme law of the 
 land. The United States government was meanwhile 
 entitled to revenue at the rate of $io for each imported 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 259 
 
 African. All the powers of the Union were put in opera- 
 tion to induce the people of the Southern States to invest 
 their capital in this species of property. From this re- 
 ■view of the slavery evil, it appears that the States in the 
 South cannot be charged with the responsibility of its 
 introduction, nor for the continuance of the slave trade, 
 nor for the extension of it by the increase of negro 
 population in the South, nor for the agitations which on 
 this account disturbed the harmony of the sections, nor 
 for the bloody mode adopted for its extinction. 
 
 Jefferson Davis said: "War was not necessary to the 
 abolition of slavery. Years before the agitation began 
 at the North and the menacing acts to the institution, 
 there was a growing feeling all over the South for its 
 abolition. But the abolitionists of the North, both by 
 publications and speech, cemented the South and crushed 
 the feeling in favor of emancipation. Slavery could have 
 been blotted out without the sacrifice of brave men and 
 without the strain which revolution always makes upon 
 established forms of government. I see it stated that I 
 uttered the sentiment, or indorsed it, that 'slavery is the 
 comer stone of the Confederacy. ' That is not my utter- 
 ance. " "It is not conceivable," said General Stephen D. 
 Lee, in 1897, "that the statesmen of the Union were in- 
 competent to dispose of slavery without war. " 
 
 It will become clear to any who will conserva- 
 tively reflect on the conditions existing at the beginning 
 of the present century, that if the opposition to slavery 
 had been firmly based on the principle that it was a vio- 
 lation of the first law of human brotherhood, and also on 
 its breach of the economic principle that enforced labor 
 should not compete with the labor of the free citizen — if 
 the appeal for its discontinuance had been made to the 
 public conscience and the private sense of right, and the 
 just claims of honest free labor, the institution would 
 have passed away in less than a generation from the date 
 of the Declaration of Independence. Had all the New 
 
260 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 England States, with all other Northern slave -holding 
 States, in 1776 (following the course of Massachusetts) 
 abolished slavery without the sale of a single slave ; had 
 the slave trade been discontinued as the Southern States 
 (except Georgia and South Carolina) desired; had the 
 views of Virginia, Kentucky and North Carolina been 
 fostered and made effective by Northern hearty co-opera- 
 tion, it is entirely reasonable to believe that the freedom 
 of all the slaves would have been rapidly secured. 
 
 An emancipation measure was proposed in the Vir- 
 ginia Legislature as late as 1832 and discussed. The gen- 
 eral course of the debate shows a readiness in that day to 
 give freedom to negroes, and was of such strength that a 
 motion to postpone with a view to ascertain the wishes 
 of the people was carried by a vote of 65 to 58. In Dela- 
 ware, Maryland and Kentucky legislation leading to 
 emancipation had already been under consideration. 
 North Carolina and Tennessee contained large popula- 
 tions of whites averse to slavery, and no doubt exists as 
 to the action of those States at any time during the first 
 years of the century. The Louisiana and Florida pur- 
 chase and- the Texas annexation having not yet taken 
 place, and nearly the entire West and Southwest being a 
 wild, the question of emancipation with moderate com- 
 pensation would have easily prevailed through the South. 
 The barrier in the beginning was the profitable sale of 
 the slaves from Northern States, and from the slave trade 
 carried on in the ships of foreign nations, and Ne"w En- 
 gland, and the commercial advantage of the trade in the 
 products of slave labor. 
 
 The interests of all Southern States except South Caro- 
 lina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, only 
 thirty years prior to the election of Lincoln, lay on the 
 side of emancipation. The first named States were alone 
 dependent for their development on the labor of the 
 slave, and even in those States only their southern areas 
 demanded slave labor. The northern parts of these 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 261 
 
 five States were even then better adapted to free white 
 labor. In the light of the years which close this century, 
 it is seen that no part of the South was dependent on 
 slave labor, and that such supposed dependence was im- 
 aginary, not real. Therefore, it may be fairly inferred 
 from the sentiment of the South in the beginning of this 
 century, from the conditions of labor and commerce then 
 existing, from the political considerations then at work, 
 the South, in the first years of this century, would have 
 begun the emancipation of its slaves upon a plan of 
 compensation to the owner, justice to the negro and 
 safety to society, had not the interests of other sections 
 demanded the continuance of the domestic and foreign, 
 trade in man. 
 
 The period of twenty years granted by the Constitu- 
 tion for the continuance of the slave trade, was occupied 
 actively in the importation of Africans throughout the 
 Atlantic Southern States. During the same period the 
 invention of the cotton gin increased vastly the com- 
 mercial value of negro labor, not only to the producer, 
 but most of all to the shipper and manufacturer of cot- 
 ton. As a consequence, "the prosperity and commercial 
 importance of a half dozen rising communities, the in- 
 dustrial and social order of a growing empire, the great- 
 est manufacturing interest of manufacturing England, a 
 vast capital, the daily bread of hundreds of thousands of 
 free artisans, rested on American slavery. ' ' This new 
 condition occurred at the period when the South was 
 protesting against the African slave trade, and was ex- 
 hibiting an increasing willingness to continue the eman- 
 cipation movement, which had previously extended 
 southward as far as Delaware, and had induced Virginia 
 to include the anti-slavery clause in its great cession of 
 Northwestern Territory. But the outlook of the cotton 
 trade and the immense business arising from the in- 
 creased production and manufacture of the staple were so 
 beneficial to vast numbers in England and the United 
 
262 CONFEDERATE MILITARY^ HISTORY. 
 
 States, that tlie emancipation sentiment died down un» 
 der the pressure of commercial considerations not only 
 in the Cotton States, but also in the manufacturing and 
 commercial centers of the world. (Greg's History, 
 351.) After the year 1808 (cessation of the legalized 
 slave trade) the national increase of the enslaved race 
 exceeded in percentage that of any free people on earth. 
 Freed from care, fed, clothed and sheltered for the sake 
 of their labor, protected from hurtful indulgence and 
 worked with regularity — the physical conditions were all 
 favorable to increase in numbers, stature, longevity and 
 strength. It is clearly just to admit that such an im- 
 provement in the race imported from the African wilds 
 undoubtedly proves the humanity with which . these 
 captured bondsmen were treated by the people of the 
 United States. 
 
 It was this commercial value of the slave to the South- 
 em planters of cane, cotton, rice and tobacco, and to the 
 Northern and European shippers, manufacturers, mer- 
 chants and operatives — a value caused by the crude, ele- 
 mentary materials of wealth which negro labor produced 
 — a value that grew in great proportions for commerce — 
 a value that began to assume political importance because 
 of the power that it gave the slave-holding States — it was 
 this factor which on the one hand blinded many in all 
 sections to those moral and economic fallacies on which 
 African slavery really rested, and on the other hand 
 finally excited political jealousy and sectional fears of the 
 power which the Southern section might acquire in the 
 control of the Union. 
 
CHAPTER TL 
 
 AGITATION AND SETTLEMENT. 
 
 FIRST ORGANIZED ATTACK— GARRISON THE ORIGI- 
 NAL AND ABLE REPRESENTATIVE— POLITICIANS 
 EMBRACE SECTIONALISM— NATIONAL REBUKE AND 
 LOCAL INDORSEMENTS OP THE AGITATORS— THE 
 FIGHT AGAINST THE GREATNESS OF THE UNION 
 BY THE SECTIONALISTS— SECESSION THREATENED 
 —MEXICAN WAR AND ITS RESULTS— SUDDEN AND 
 FIERCE ATTACKS ON SOUTHERN POLICY IN 1849-50 
 —THE SOUTH'S PACIFIC SENTIMENT— UNION IM- 
 PERILED BY MEN OF SECTIONAL VIEWS— CLAY 
 AND WEBSTER, DOUGLAS AND DAVIS WORK TO- 
 GETHER FOR A NATIONAL SETTLEMENT — THE 
 COMPROMISE OF 1850. 
 
 THE first agitation of the slavery question as a 
 ground of controversy, distinctly separated from 
 . all other questions, appears immediately after the 
 settlement of the tariff issue between the State of South 
 Carolina and the administration of President Andrew 
 Jackson. It must be observed that this original agita- 
 tion was professedly and doubtless really based on the 
 moral and humane, not the political aspects of the ques- 
 tion. At least this political aspect affected very limited 
 localities. The first organized movement was by the 
 formation of an anti-slavery society in Boston in the 
 year 1832, in which the leader was Mr. William Lloyd 
 Garrison, and of which his newspaper, the Liberator, was 
 the organ. Mr. Garrison must ever be regarded as a sin- 
 cere extremist whose principal thought regarding slavery 
 was correct, but who was not qualified for leadership in 
 a movement involving such great consequences as the 
 emancipation of millions of slaves. It is sometimes said 
 
 263 
 
264 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 that he was ahead of his age, but, in fact, he was more 
 than thirty years behind the spirit of an age when a true 
 leader sustained by the States which first abolished 
 slavery would have secured an influential following in 
 nearly every slave-holding State. His doctrine of the im- 
 mediate and uncompromising abolition of slavery in the 
 precise period of its agitation by the anti-slavery societies, 
 was declared impracticable by the vast majority of his 
 own people in New England, and he suffered no modifi- 
 cation of his plan. He had left the South where he 
 should have remained, and made the vain attempt to 
 revolutionize Northern action by the force of moral 
 suasion. His peaceable moral policy and his submission 
 to the authority of a Constitution which he despised, and 
 to a Union which he derided, are creditable to his con- 
 scientious feeling, but his blindness to the powerful hold 
 which slavery had on the New England money power 
 and the general Northern politician is apparent. For 
 about six years, from 1833 to 1839, he was able to hold 
 his followers together compactly organized, although 
 few in numbers, but divisions began to take place, 
 fomented by men who saw no practical result in moral 
 suasion, and whose ambition moved them to take the 
 slavery question into the arena of politics. The Liberty 
 party was accordingly formed by seceders from the Gar- 
 rison following, and the inflammable question now threw 
 its political shadow before the coming events of Ameri- 
 can history. His own society retained existence as the 
 center of moral agitation. From 1843 to 1865 he was its 
 earnest and honest president, constantly opposing slavery 
 at every turn, and finally going fully into the bloody war 
 against the South. 
 
 In the new turn now given to the agitation of slavery, 
 a class of politicians secured seats in Congress who used 
 their privileges in order to transfer the agitation from 
 the platform, the pulpit and the press, to the great legis- 
 lative body created by the Constitution. The beginning 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 265 
 
 of the political aggression was made under cover of the 
 sacred right of petition, secured by a special clause of 
 the Constitution and regarded by the people as an in- 
 alienable right which should not be abridged. With this 
 instrument in hand the agitators placed before Congress 
 and the country their views of slavery in an insulting 
 form, accompanied by hinted threats should their pe- 
 titions be denied. Such petitions began with the pre- 
 amble, "Whereas, Slavery is an abomination and slave 
 holders accursed before God and man * * * your 
 petitioners respectfully entreat, etc. ' ' Calhoun declared 
 that such petitions were libels on himself, his State and 
 his country, and demanded that they should be rejected 
 on account of their insulting terms. Jackson agreed with 
 Calhoun. Congress saw the injustice thus attempted 
 through the exercise of the right of petition and passed 
 a series of resolutions virtually condemning the intro- 
 duction of petitions of that nature. But the agitators 
 seized upon the popular reverence for the "right of pe- 
 tition, ' ' and, denouncing the action of the House as "gag- 
 ging resolutions," fired New England afresh in oppo- 
 sition to what was called the arrogance of the Slave- 
 holding Oligarchy. 
 
 The agitation of the slavery question under the aus- 
 pices of the anti-slavery societies and the Liberal party 
 met with little favor throughout the North, although it 
 served an end in producing irritation in the South. In 
 1848 the Free Soil candidate for the presidency polled 
 less than 7,000 votes, and the purposes of the agitators 
 were very bitterly denounced. The annexation of 
 Texas, advocated by Calhoun, opposed by Clay and hesi- 
 tatingly objected to by Van Buren, was bitterly assailed 
 by the Free Soilers because the acquisition of the Re- 
 public would increase largely the area of the slave-hold- 
 ing South. Yet with all the power of this special objec- 
 tion pressed upon the Northern States, the total strength 
 of the fanatics shown in 1844 in thirteen States, all 
 North, was less than 60,000 votes. 
 
266 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 The election of Mr. Polk, in 1844, to the presidency, 
 was a decisive verdict of the people in favor of the an- 
 nexation of Texas, the chief reason of which, as stated by 
 statesmen of the period, probably was that it was wiser 
 to annex Texas and incur war with Mexico than to aban- 
 don that rich empire to the control of England. The 
 question of slavery was not so seriously involved as to be 
 the sole reason why the South wanted it, or to override 
 in the North the great considerations of public policy in- 
 volved in this indispensable addition to the area of the 
 Union. 
 
 But, unfortunately, the North began to suspect that all 
 the annexation measures of 1844 were scarcely anjrthing 
 more than a purpose of "the slave power" to acquire ter- 
 ritory in order to add more slave States to the Union. 
 "As soon as this impression or suspicion got abroad, the 
 effect was an anti-slavery revival, which enlisted the 
 feelings and influenced the political action of many who 
 had never sympathized with the Abolitionists, and of 
 many who had steadily opposed them. " (Blaine, I, 42.) 
 Leading politicians seized on this suspicion and made the 
 most of it for creating public sentiment North against 
 any extension of the territorial limits of the United 
 States in Southern latitudes. Among these were men of 
 great astuteness, such as John Quincy Adams, Seward, 
 Wade, Giddings, Thaddeus Stevens, Hale, Hamlin and 
 Wentworth. Through their exertions political party 
 lines began to break down in the Northern States. 
 Slavery and anti-slavery wings appeared in the two great 
 political parties, Whig and Democratic. 
 
 In fact. Southern statesmen were simply striving to 
 maintain the sectional equilibrium which had so long 
 been the policy. With only three States anticipated 
 from the great Northwest, it was the evident expecta- 
 tion of the Southern men who then (1844) had control of 
 the government, that if war with Mexico should ensue, 
 the result would inevitably be the acquisition of suffi- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 267 
 
 cient territory to form Slave States south of the line of 
 the Missouri Compromise as rapidly as Free States could 
 be formed north of it, and that in this way "the ancient 
 equality of North and South could be maintained." 
 (Blaine, vol. I, 46-7.) 
 
 As soon as it became evident that new territory ad- 
 ditional to Texas would be acquired as the result of the 
 Mexican war, the anti-slavery agitation appeared sud- 
 denly, August 8, 1846, in a proviso offered by Wilmot to 
 the bill for appropriation of $2,000,000, designed to be 
 used in concluding a peace with Mexico, that "neither 
 slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist 
 therein. " "This Wilmot Proviso absorbed the attention 
 of Congress for a longer time than the Missouri Compro- 
 mise ; it produced a wider and deeper excitement in the 
 country and it threatened a more serious danger to the 
 peace and integrity of the Union. The consecration of 
 the territory of the United States to freedom became 
 from that day a rallying cry for every shade of anti-slavery 
 sentiment. If it did not go as far as the Abolitionists, in 
 their extreme and uncompromising faith might demand, 
 it yet took a long step forward and afforded the ground 
 on which the battle of the giants was to be waged and 
 possibly decided. ' ' Mr. Webster, who voted for the pro- 
 viso with evident reluctance, said: "All I can scan is 
 contention, strife, agitation. The future is full of diffi- 
 culties and full of dangers. We appear to be rushing on 
 headlong and with our eyes all open." After several 
 vicissitudes the Wilmot Proviso was defeated. 
 
 In the progress of these sectional discussions in Con- 
 gress, a noteworthy vote was taken on the motion of Mr. 
 Douglas to insert in the bill to organize a territorial gov- 
 ernment for Oregon, a clause "that the line of 36° 30', 
 known as the Missouri Compromise line, approved 
 March 6, 1820, be, and the same is hereby, declared to 
 extend to the Pacific ocean." Mr. Douglas said sig- 
 nificantly that "the coqipromise therein effected is here- 
 
268 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 by revived and declared to be of full force and binding 
 for the future organization of territories of the United 
 States in the same sense and with the same understand- 
 ing with which it was originally adopted." (Cong. 
 Globe.) This proposition to revive the Missouri Com- 
 promise so as to make it effective in settling the disputes 
 on slavery by extending the line from ocean to ocean, 
 was resisted in the Senate by 21 Northern senators and 
 defeated in the House by 114 members, every vote ex- 
 cept one against the pacific measure being from the 
 Northern States. The record shows the abandonment 
 of the Missouri Compromise on August 12, 1848. "On 
 that day it fell and was buried in the Senate, where it 
 had originated twenty-eight years before, but had never 
 quieted the Abolitionists a day. It fell, too, not by 
 Southern, but by Northern votes. The very State to 
 which it owed its paternity struck the last decisive 
 blow." (A. H. Stephens Hist, I, 173.) The treaty 
 with Mexico was finally made, through which the terri- 
 tory acquired passed to the United States with no specific 
 provisions restrictive of slavery, and was ratified in 1847 
 by the United States Senate. The brilliant war was 
 concluded with great advantages to the country, fort- 
 unately with a temporary check upon the sectional ag- 
 gressions which had threatened the domestic peace. The 
 presidential canvass of 1848 was conducted upon lines 
 which were drawn to avoid complication with the slavery 
 question. Zachary Taylor became a candidate almost 
 solely on the renown acquired in the recent war and was 
 successful over Cass, who was handicapped by the un- 
 friendliness of Van Buren. For local political reasons 
 solely, the faction of the New York Democracy known 
 as Barnburners, openly revolted and led in an anti- 
 slavery agitation, which soon involved prominent poli- 
 ticians of all parties. The Barnburners, the anti-slavery 
 Whigs and the old Abolitionists co-operated with appar- 
 ent harmony under the general name of the Free Soil 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 269 
 
 party. Van Buren was their nominee for the presidency 
 and Charles Francis Adams for the vice-presidency. 
 Seward, Greeley and Thurlow Weed, on account of dis- 
 like to Van Buren, the anti-slavery candidate, supported 
 Taylor with such earnestness and skill as to carry New 
 York and thus make Taylor president. Webster took 
 decided ground for Taylor and Clay came also to his sup- 
 port. The contest between Cass and Van Buren finally 
 became in New York, in a very large degree, a struggle 
 between Democratic factions in which the anti-slavery 
 feeling was "an instrumentality to be temporarily .used 
 and not a principle to be permanently upheld. " This 
 truth, stated by an eminen): New England statesman,may 
 be held in mind as evidence that the issues of 1848 did 
 not honestly involve any principle on the slavery ques- 
 tion. No moral, or economic, or social principle pre- 
 vailed, but almost entirely the conflict occurred in New 
 York State, especially on the lower fields of local politics. 
 Van Buren, the nominee of the anti-slavery party, had 
 no moral convictions on slavery. His record was such 
 as to provoke the distrust of the anti-slavery Whigs. 
 The Democrats of New York sustained him because he 
 was the leader of a State faction in their party. The 
 Barnburners against the Hunkers was the real issue, and 
 the prize contended ioj was not freedom for the slave, 
 but supremacy of a faction in the politics of a State. 
 "Truthful history will hold this to have been the chief 
 object of the struggle with many who vowed allegiance 
 at Buffalo to an anti-slavery creed strong enough to 
 satisfy Joshua R. Giddings and Charles Sumner. With 
 Cass defeated and the Marcy side of the party severely 
 disciplined, the great mass of the Van Buren host of 1848 
 were ready to disavow their political escapade at Buf- 
 falo." 
 
 Analysis of the political issues and elections of 1848 
 clearly discloses the subordination of the great slavery 
 question to the demands of personal antagonisms. Con- 
 
270 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 ceding that the question was of the great importance in- 
 sisted on not two years later and made the basis of a vast 
 political organization scarcely a half decade later, it must 
 appear as singular that it should be so much ignored in 
 this campaign. The suddenness with which this ques- 
 tion leaped in several instances into fierce agitation and 
 as suddenly subsided, and the fact that in every instance 
 the excitement arose when a possible advantage in 
 political and commercial power might be gained by the 
 southward side of the Union, betrays the insanity of the 
 agitation and its want of moral and patriotic principle. 
 
 The "public policy" outlined by Taylor, the President- 
 elect from the South, in the beginning of the administra- 
 tion, March, 1849, indicated the national conservative 
 spirit. In his cabinet were such Southerners as Reverdy 
 Johnson, John M. Clayton, George W. Crawford and 
 William Ballard Preston. Nothing in the general po- 
 litical canvass of 1848 had indicated any certain early 
 dangerous uprising of the old sectional dispute. A great 
 stretch of new territory,spreading from the Gulf of Mexico 
 northward to an undefined boundary and westward to the 
 Pacific ocean, lay open to occupancy, subject to the opera- 
 tion of the Constitution and the laws regulating the creation 
 of territorial and State governments. Sectional political 
 ascendency might be sought and determined by the set- 
 tlements effected within this common property by the 
 Union, but if fairly done there could be no complaint. 
 Even if the line of 36° 30' with its prohibitory principle 
 should be extended to the Pacific ocean, as Southern 
 congressmen had voted for, there would still remain a 
 great territory that could be included within the old 
 Southern section. Above that line the South then pro- 
 posed to make no effort to introduce the labor of slaves. 
 Below that line which had been agreed on in the Mis- 
 souri Compromise, the Southern States thought they had| 
 under a compact, the conceded right to employ slave 
 labor until newly formed States should decide upon its 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 271 
 
 use or disuse. Southern statesmen believed that the 
 prohibition north of 36° 30' was extra-constitutional, and 
 agreed to it strictly as a compromise in order to abate 
 agitation, cement the Union and leave slavery to work 
 out its own problem. With these views uppermost in 
 mind the elections of 1848 had progressed in favor of a 
 patriotic adjustment of the question of sectional equilib- 
 rium. Upon that idea Taylor's administration began. 
 
 But a rush for the gold of California in 1848 pre- 
 cipitated a peculiar population into that territory which 
 poured in from the autumn of that year so rapidly as to 
 acquire immediate civil government. These spirited ad- 
 venturers, determining on political organization of some 
 sort, convened, organized a State government, pro- 
 hibited slavery by their constitution and prepared to 
 apply for immediate admission into the Union. Presi- 
 dent Taylor recommended the admission of the State of 
 California, and the continuance of New Mexico under 
 the existing military government. 
 
 In the Congress of 1848-9 were Clay, Webster, Cass, 
 Benton, Calhoun, Houston, Foote, Douglas, Jefferson 
 Davis, Seward, Chase, Bell, Berrien, W. R. King, Hale, 
 Hamlin, Badger, Butler of South Carolina, Mason, 
 Hunter, Soule, Dodge, Fremont, Toombs, Stephens, and 
 other statesmen of experience and ability to whom may 
 be appropriately added Millard Fillmore, President of 
 the Senate. 
 
 The question of sectional preponderance came again 
 into hot discussion as suddenly as it had done on former 
 occasions. But the conflict was fiercer and for a time 
 seemed uncontrollable. Slave labor in the new territory 
 was made the main incident of the gigantic battle. 
 Slavery in general soon became the prominent subject of 
 angry debate. The South found itself pressed to defend 
 its hold upon the institution at all points. The line of 
 North and South became again as distinctly apparent as 
 the long and lofty crest of the Alleghany and Blue Ridge 
 
272 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 mountains. In the contest for speakership, only 20 scat- 
 tering votes out of 221 in the House of Representatives 
 had indicated the presence of any decided aggressive 
 anti-slavery sentiment in Congress. But now, within a 
 month afterward, the Congress and the country were 
 again arrayed sectionally into Northern and Southern 
 opponents. Henry Clay, as the recognized representa- 
 tive of conservative sentiment — a Southerner from the 
 middle western border State of Kentucky — came for- 
 ward promptly in January, 1850, to offer terms of settle- 
 ment. His warmly expressed patriotic purpose was to 
 effect "an amicable arrangement of all questions in con- 
 troversy between the free and slave States growing out 
 of the subject of slavery." Moved by this spirit, the 
 great Kentucky statesman presented in January, 1850, 
 a series of resolutions covering the admission of Cali- 
 fornia, territorial government for the territories ac- 
 quired from Mexico; the Texas boundary — the appro- 
 priation of ten millions to Texas for payment of its debt ; 
 the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Colum- 
 bia, and a law for rendition of fugitive slaves. 
 
 Mr. Clay's plan of settlement differed from that of 
 Taylor, and his administration actively opposed it. Ben- 
 ton vigorously assailed the scheme. Calhoun at first 
 opposed the plan of Clay and was supported in the op- 
 position by Seward, the leader of the administration. 
 Mr. Calhoun, in the course of an elaborate speech, said : 
 "How can the Union be saved? There is but oneway 
 by which it can with ^ny certainty, and that is by a full 
 and final settlement on the principle of justice of all the 
 questions at issue between the two sections." Mr. 
 Webster made his great Union speech on the ^th of 
 March, 1850, taking ground against Congressional re- 
 striction as to slavery in the territories, thereby offend- 
 ing a large portion of his constituency. Mr. Toombs, 
 repl3^ng to the charge that the Southern members op- 
 posed the admission of California because its constitu- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 273 
 
 tion prohibited slavery, said: "We do not oppose Cali- 
 fornia on account of the anti-slavery clause in her con- 
 stitution. It was her right, and I am not even prepared 
 to say she acted unwisely in its exercise. That is her 
 business ; but I stand upon the great principle that the 
 South has right to an equal participation in the terri- 
 tories. I claim the right for her to enter all with her 
 property and securely to enjoy it. She will divide with 
 you if you wish it, but the right to enter all or divide I 
 shall never surrender. ' ' Mr. Toombs stated the general 
 Southern idea in the words — "the right to enter all or 
 divide, ' ' by which he meant the right of each section to 
 enter with recognized property all the territories, or a 
 division of the territories on the old line of 36° 30', or 
 any fair and equal partition. Mr. Jefferson Davis and 
 Mr. Douglas worked together to secure a Congressional 
 declaration against Congressional restriction on the local 
 action of territories, and succeeded in securing an agree- 
 ment -to a motion to that effect made by Mr. Norris, of 
 New Hampshire. Mr. Green, of Missouri, proposed the 
 recognition of the old Missouri Compromise line through 
 all the new territory, but his proposition was rejected. 
 Mr. Stanton, of Tennessee, then asked for a law that the 
 admission of no State out of territory south of 36° 30' 
 should be objected to because its constitution authorized 
 slavery, which was refused by nearly an exclusively sec- 
 tional vote. At this juncture Mr. Soule, of Louisiana, 
 proposed a test vote by an amendment to Utah Terri- 
 torial bill simply declaring that Utah shall be received 
 into the Union with or without slavery as its constitu- 
 tion may prescribe at the time of its admission. This 
 raised the question whether under any circumstances, . 
 another State authorizing the use of slave labor would 
 be allowed to emerge from the Territorial into State 
 government. It has been said that the fate of the com- 
 promise, with all its happy consequences, rested at that 
 hour on one man. That man was the august Senator 
 
274 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 from Massachusetts — Daniel Webster. Upon his speech, 
 and, as Mr. Stephens says, "even on his vote," the great 
 issue hung suspended. The great patriot announced his 
 conviction that this simple constitutional proposition 
 should pass, closing his speech with words worthy of be- 
 ing heard still throughout the Union. "Sir, my object 
 is peace. My object is reconciliation. My purpose is 
 not to make up a case for the North or to make up a case 
 for the South. My object is not to continue useless and 
 irritating controversies. I am against agitators North 
 and South; I am against local ideas North and South, 
 and against all narrow and local contests. I am an 
 American, and I know no locality in America. That is 
 my country. My heart, my sentiments, my judgment 
 demand of me that I should pursue such a course as shall 
 promote the good and the harmony and the Union of the 
 whole country. This I shall do, God willing, to the end 
 of the chapter. ' ' The vote was taken, and the amend- 
 ment of Soule was adopted in the Senate by a vote repre- 
 senting two-thirds of the States. 
 
 President Taylor's death in July, 1850, at the moment 
 of the controversy's highest heat, simply changed the 
 situation sufficiently, through the influential aid of Fill- 
 more, to permit the passage in separate bills of the 
 compromise measures which Clay desired to group in one 
 act. The policy of Clay was, in fact, carried out with no 
 significant changes from the general plan he had proposed. 
 These measures in general effect secured to California its 
 right to be a State with a constitutional prohibition of 
 slavery, removed the domestic slave trade from the 
 District of Columbia and rendered the operation of the 
 Missouri compromise line, so often proposed by Southern 
 men as the partition line of the common territory, incon- 
 sistent with its avowed principle of non-intervention. In 
 regard to the States, the measures declared their right 
 to regulate their domestic institutions, and as to the use 
 of the territories, the citizens of all States were placed. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 275 
 
 as they should have been placed, on equality of privilege. 
 To the South was conceded the fugiitve slave law. 
 
 The settlement was not wholly satisfactory to the 
 minority North and South. The dissatisfied Northern 
 minority, led by Thaddeus Stevens, Seward, Wade and 
 Greeley, opposed the compromise because it effectually 
 denied the power of Congress to prohibit slavery in the 
 territories, and provided for the return of escaped slaves 
 to their owners in compliance with a plain requirement 
 of the Constitution. Southern opposition showed itself 
 in the rise of a "Southern Rights" party in several State*. 
 whose platform declared that the North gained every, 
 thing and the South nothing by the compromise. Bu\ 
 the opposition was defeated everywhere. In Mississippi 
 -^General Quitman was compelled to retire from his can- 
 didacy for the oifice of Governor because of his disunion 
 antecedents, and Jefferson Davis, late in the canvass, was 
 required to take his place on account of his conservative 
 position, yet even he was defeated by a small majority. 
 Howell Cobb, Toombs, and Stephens united in support of 
 the compromise. Their state, Georgia, overwhelmingly 
 endorsed the measure, presenting through the convention 
 called by the Legislature a notably patriotic document 
 called the Georgia Platform. 
 
 The South heartily agreed to stand by the settlement, 
 even South Carolina refusing to take action against it. 
 Not a State attempted to nullify any of its provisions, 
 not a citizen rebelled against any of its parts. Greeley 
 said the triumph in the South was complete. (American 
 Conflict, 211.) 
 
 The South acquiesced fully even where it did not 
 approve. Not all agreed with Mr. Cobb's statement 
 that the measures were "wise, liberal and just," nor 
 with Mr, Davis in his mild propositions and speeches of 
 1850. There were "fire-eaters," so called, who heartily 
 despaired of equality in the Union and urged a conven- 
 tion of Southern States in order to further settle the 
 
276 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 sectional dispute or to provide for the division of the 
 United States. But the year 1851 saw the thorough 
 acceptance by the vast majority of Southern people of 
 this great "Settlement" as a finality. No State legisla- 
 tion nor any other form of active opposition to any 
 feature of the compromise was tried anywhere South. 
 
 It is a pity that this triumph was not as complete at 
 the North. Greeley, editor of the powerful Tribune, 
 denounced the compromise with great violence and 
 upbraided the Northern statesmen who were supporting 
 it as truculent to the slave-holding lords. The embittered 
 leader went so far as to accuse some of these statesmen 
 of duplicity in loudly declaiming that constitutional 
 obligations required the surrender of fugitive slaves while 
 they secretly gave money to aid the runaway in escaping 
 to Canada. In vigorous language he wrote concerning 
 the "great Peace measures, "The net product was a cor- 
 rupt monstrosity in legislation and morals which even 
 the great name of Clay should not shield from lasting 
 opprobrium." (American Conflict, I, 210.) 
 
 Great leaders with a large and excited following be- 
 gan at once an active and bitter agitation in many North- 
 ern States. Seward in New York, Stevens in Penn- 
 sylvania, Wade, Pessenden, Giddings and others equally 
 eminent, provoked a popular hostility which displayed 
 itself not in harmless, local mass meetings only, but in 
 positive revolutionary legislation by States. A Massa- 
 chusetts convention was called to denounce all who were 
 concerned in securing the passage of these compromise 
 bills, and the noble Webster, greatest of New England 
 men of any age, fell under condemnation. A New En- 
 gland republic was so much talked about as to draw out 
 from Caleb Cushing an eloquent appeal on Julv 4, 1851, 
 for the Union. "I have endeavored to picture to my- 
 self," he said, "that republic of New England to the 
 adoption of which the inconsiderateness of many among 
 us, the perverseness of others, and the criminally ambi- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 277 
 
 tious vanity of a few are, by their assaults on the Union, 
 endeavoring to bring the people of Massachusetts. We 
 dissolve the Union under the impulse of a blind, bigoted 
 and one-sided zeal in the pursuit of our own opinions. ' ' 
 But the New England republic which had been talked of 
 for fifty years among the sagacious people of that section 
 was not wholly impracticable. All that was lacking was 
 the co-operation of the great part of New York, with the 
 control of the Hudson, and the accession of Pennsyl- 
 vania, with the control of the Susquehanna. 
 
 The Northern States were inflamed by the leading op- 
 ponents of the compromise through special denunciations 
 of the fugitive slave law. In the opinion of these agita- 
 tors, the entire compromise was tainted by the act which 
 prescribed the mode by which an escaped slave might be 
 recovered by his owner. The appeal to the human love 
 of liberty, to natural pity for the distressed, to the lauda- 
 ble admiration of any one who makes a bold break for 
 freedom, was not unavailing. Such discussion of the 
 obnoxious, though most clearly legal, statute of all the 
 compromise bills, led on to an antagonism of the whole 
 settlement, and directly to strong denunciation, not only 
 of the institution of slavery, but of the Southern people 
 themselves, who were supposed to be profiting by "the 
 sum of all villainies. ' ' Thus the wise plans of venerable 
 statesmen, on whose names this generation look with a 
 reverence which no later names inspire, were exposed to 
 the hot fire of Northern as well as Southern assailants, 
 resulting in the South in no hostile acts, but unfortu- 
 nately followed in Northern States by nullification laws 
 such as they had once denounced. 
 
 For practical work against the efficiency of the fugitive 
 slave law an organization was formed to encourage es- 
 capes and aid in the flight of negroes, through which 
 relays conveyed the fleeing bondsmen to the land of 
 British freedom in Canada. This lawless institution was 
 petted by the name of the Underground Railroad, and 
 
278 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 was systematically supported through collections taken 
 from benevolent people. It is " never wrong to do 
 right' ' was a truth shrewdly used to justify actions which 
 the law of the United States called a crime. Resistance 
 through legislatures, courts, societies and popular meet- 
 ings obstructed the attempt of any owner of the flying 
 negro to recover his property. The Supreme Court of 
 Wisconsin ventured to say in the case of Booth, who was 
 tried for aiding in the rescue of Glover, that the fugitive 
 slave law was unconstitutional, but, after due hearing, 
 the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously 
 afiSrmed its validity. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 ATTEMPTS TO NULLIFY THE COMPROMISE. 
 
 POLITICAL ALIGNMENT IN 1852— DEMOCRAT, WHIG AND 
 FREESOILER— THE SETTLEMENT OP 1850 RATIFIED 
 —PIERCE PRESIDENT— NULLIFICATION MEASURES 
 IN NORTHERN STATES— RENEWAL OF AGITATION 
 BY FREESOILERS— SHADOWS SHOWING A COMING 
 EVENT— SECTIONAL DISCORD NECESSARY TO THE 
 FREESOIL FACTION— KANSAS TROUBLES AND EMI- 
 GRANT AID SOCIETIES— THE SHAPING OF A PARTY 
 STRICTLY NORTHERN— LOCAL SUCCESSES. 
 
 WHILE this apparently factious but dangerous op- 
 position to the stability of the compromise settle- 
 ment was being thus pressed among the Northern 
 States, the political parties were preparing for the Presi-- 
 dential election of 1852. 
 
 The Democratic State conventions sent delegates to 
 the national convention at Baltimore June i, 1852, 
 thoroughly impressed with the view that the settlement 
 was fully agreed to by the people of the United States, 
 and consequently political controversies must be caused by 
 questions not so sectional as that of slavery. Resolutions 
 were passed re-affirming the principles of the compromise 
 and pronouncing against further slavery agitation in 
 Congress. 
 
 The Whig party, meeting in national convention the 
 same month, passed strictly State Rights resolutions and 
 also resolved that the compromise was a settlement in 
 principle and substance of the dangerous and exciting 
 questions thus settled. The resolutions pledged the 
 Whig party to "discountenance all efforts to continue or 
 
 279 
 
280 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 renew such agitation, whenever, wherever or however 
 the attempt may be made. ' ' 
 
 Unfortunately the national Whig party was rendered 
 powerless by divisions. Greeley condemned the patriotic 
 resolutions as a Southern platform imposed on the con- 
 vention by the Southern delegates. . Mr. Stephens, how- 
 ever, declares it as his memory that "the resolutions 
 were prepared by the Northern friends of Mr. Webster 
 at his house, and met with his full concurrenee. " The 
 platform was voted for by 227 yeas against 65 nays. 
 New York, Ohio and Michigan voted against it; Maine 
 divided equally upon it — thus showing that twenty-seven 
 States agreed to it out of the thirty-one represented. 
 Greeley and his faction having condemned the settle- 
 ment were now agitating the slavery question afresh, 
 and saw no virtue in any movement which separated the 
 sectional question from party politics. 
 
 In both of these conventions there were delegates who 
 had shown great hostility to slavery. Some were in the 
 Democratic convention who had earnestly supported 
 Van Buren in 1848 against the nominee of their party. 
 Others had been extremists in their antagonism to the 
 settlement of 1850. But the hitherto contestants were 
 now marshaling again into old party affiliations to renew 
 party contests without the obstruction of sectional ques- 
 tions. Marcy men and Wright men harmonized. In the 
 Whig convention were many men who, being opposed to 
 the compromise measures, united in presenting the name 
 of General Winfield Scott, of Virginia, to the convention 
 as their favorite for the presidency. Scott had himself 
 opposed the settlement and was still regarded as being 
 among the dissatisfied members. He was, however, a 
 Southerner, a Whig, an illustrious soldier, and popular 
 in the Northern States. A class of conservatives led by 
 the Massachusetts delegation offered the great name of 
 Webster, claiming his nomination as due to his abilities, 
 his services and his leadership in pacifying the country. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY: 281 
 
 Fillmore was the favorite of the South, which gave its 
 entire vote to him with a single exception. The North- 
 ern vote cast on first ballot divided between Fillmore, 
 i6; Webster, 29, and Scott, 130. The final vote ended 
 in the nomination of Scott by defection from the Fill- 
 more ranks, a nomination which proved to be unfortu- 
 nate, chiefly on account of the suspicion that Scott was 
 hot heartily in sympathy with the compromise. Mr. 
 Blaine suggests, with political shrewdness: "The people 
 Boon perceived that, if there was indeed merit in the 
 compromise measures, it would be wise to entrust them 
 \o the keeping of the party that was unreservedly — North 
 and South — in favor of upholding and enforcing them. 
 On this point there was absolutely no division in the 
 Democratic ranks. " (Blaine, vol. i, p. 104.) 
 
 Scott was defeated by the course of his most prominent 
 supporters. At the outset of the canvass Greeley ac- 
 cepted the candidate, but violently abused the platform. 
 Seward supported him in public^ speeches which con- 
 tained the old agitating elements that were now sup- 
 posed to be eliminated from national politics. Offen- 
 sively declaring they spat upon the platform of their 
 party, many of these advocates of Scott's election ruined 
 his candidacy. 
 
 The Free Soil party, which had at no time discontinued 
 the sectional war, were urging Hale for the presidency, 
 and were drawing their strength from the ultraists of 
 both parties, but generally from the Whigs. 
 
 As a consequence of their political folly, the Whig 
 party, the true national antagonist of the national Dem- 
 ocratic party, was overwhelmed by defeat in a contest 
 in which they carried the electoral votes of only four 
 States. Twenty-seven States voted for Pierce. 
 
 The inexcusable folly of the Whig convention may be 
 regretfully contemplated as one of those strangely re- 
 curring political blunders which led at last to the disrup- 
 tion of the Union. Fillmore and Webster were both 
 
282 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 great leaders in effecting and sustaining the "settlement 
 of 1850." Their combined strength would have nomi- 
 nated either. By opposition both lost. It is not im- 
 probable that either might have been elected, but if 
 defeated the vote would have been close enough to have 
 prevented the disbanding of the great old Whig party 
 which had triumphed in 1840 and 1848. Clay and Web- 
 ster died with their expiring party. Fillmore's followers 
 rowed away quickly from the sinking ship. Webster's 
 devoted friends, mourning his death and resenting his 
 rejection by the people whom he had served, went sul- 
 lenly into other affiliations. 
 
 The ruins of this magnificent party furnished the best 
 material of a new hostile, determined organization. 
 Scott's friends, angered by their stinging defeat; the 
 adherents of Fillmore and Webster, thoroughly disgusted 
 with old party alliance — all were now out of national 
 power and held even their States precariously. They 
 were ready for a new agitation by which power might be 
 regained. 
 
 The Whig vote for Scott was 1,386,580; the agitators' 
 vote for Hale was only 155,825 ; Pierce's vote of 1,601,274 
 exceeded the Whig poll by only a little more than 200,- 
 000. It will be seen that, while this analysis shows the 
 Whig strength, it also discloses the strength of public 
 sentiment against further sectional agitation. Only a 
 few more than 155,000 votes out of over 2,000,000 de- 
 clared in 1852 for a continued sectional contest. The 
 popular verdict showed unmistakably that the people 
 designed to let the sectional question of slavery work out 
 its own destiny on the principles of the settlement of 
 1850. In this contest the South voted unanimously 
 against sectional agitation. 
 
 Only one threatening cloud hung in the sky. The 
 Free Soilers, though few in numbers, were a resolute, 
 conscience-stricken brotherhood who were posted in 
 various sections of the North, readers of but one clas§ pf 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 283 
 
 literature, and holding themselves above party obliga- 
 tions, still in the main regarded the Constitution as an 
 immoral instrument and the Union as the pernicious 
 machinery invented to promote a great national sin. 
 For these men the attempts made under the rendition 
 law — the so-called fugitive slave law — to recover the 
 absconded negro held to service by statutes of several 
 States, were opportunities which they quickly seized to 
 stir afresh the fires of sectional hate. Disturbances in 
 several localities arising out of arrests and trials under 
 the act referred to, although for the time local, were 
 published by pen and voice with all the exciting addi- 
 tions of appeal to humanity on behalf of the fugitive, 
 and fiery denunciations of the slave catchers who had in- 
 vaded free States to assert their titles to property in hu- 
 man beings. These exciting causes were only sufficiently 
 numerous to bring into prominent notice throughout the 
 South the nature of the nuUif jang laws passed by North- 
 em States, and to inform Southern readers of the press 
 concerning the determined hostility toward the institu- 
 tion of slavery. They were also sufficient to furnish the 
 Free Soilers with grounds for hope that agitation on this 
 account would so influence the Northern mind again as 
 to increase the power of that sectional party. 
 
 A reference here is both necessary and proper to the 
 singularly popular book called "Uncle Tom's Cabin," 
 written by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe and published 
 during the campaign of 1852 and pending the growing 
 excitement over the fugitive slave law. The reference 
 is made to that work only to further show the fact that 
 the "settlement" was not allowed to be a "finality," and 
 to point out one of the methods used to destroy the work 
 of patriotic statesmen, and to intimate the coming of 
 Southern secession. The book was designed to aid and 
 abet the renewed conspiracy against that "more perfect 
 Union," which now existed by virtue of the compromise 
 of 1850 and the national fraternal alliance of the North 
 
284 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 and South. Its direct aim was to make slavery so odious 
 as to cause any rendition of slaves under the fugitive 
 slave law to be impossible. Its political use was to de- 
 stroy both the Whig and Democratic parties, so as to 
 erect from their ruins a powerful anti-slavery associa- 
 tion, which then meant an anti-Southern party. For all 
 these purposes the story told by Mrs. Stowe was ingen- 
 iously constructed, and opportunely given to the Northern 
 public in conditions that secured for it immediate, wide 
 and even astounding success. The story has been justly 
 called by anti-slavery critics "a monstrous caricature," 
 and it will not escape the condemnation of the future 
 historian as a libel on the Southern people. The intelli- 
 gence and Christian character of the author, together 
 with the remarkable influence of the book upon the 
 masses in New England and Great Britain, will be fully 
 acknowledged, but the book itself, as to its political and 
 incendiary purpose, its suggestions of infidelity to legal 
 obligations, its unjust and untrue descriptions of South- 
 em society, its inspirations of sectional discord, will in all 
 fairness be consigned to the purgatory of pernicious 
 literature. 
 
 The Free Soil leaders made extensive use of "Uncle 
 Tom's Cabin" as a campaign document. Its sale in a 
 few months reached to many thousands, and its readers 
 were perhaps more than double the editions published. 
 "The storm of anti-slavery demonstration, the tempest 
 of invective, denunciation and menace which swept the 
 North," says an English historian, "the counter-blast of 
 indignation and resentment provoked in the South, terri- 
 fied politicians who had inherited from Clay, Calhoun 
 and Webster the traditions of a mightier generation and 
 the task of saving the Union. Now for the first time 
 their object was called in question. That the Union was 
 worth saving was openly denied by thousands; that it 
 could be saved was inwardly doubted by millions. ' ' 
 
 All the advantages gained by the Northern section 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 285 
 
 through the measures of 1850, and all the national unity 
 which it was designed to produce, became of no con- 
 sideration in the minds of many who constituted the 
 centers of ceaseless hostility. These centers of agitation 
 were not like circles of waves growing wider but weaker 
 from the axis of expansion, but they were veritable 
 storm centers, breeders of agitations which grew in in- 
 tensity as they enlarged their spheres of activity.' All 
 respect for the "settlement went down as this new agita- 
 tion of 1852 progressed, and, while the aggression did 
 not gain strength soon enough to defeat Pierce, it 
 entered among the broken hosts of the Whigs and the 
 discordant ranks of the Democrats with force sufficient 
 to inaugurate with new combinations another and a fatal 
 era of the irrepressible conflict." 
 
 Under this state of feeling produced by the agitations 
 immediately following the passage of the compromise 
 measures, and intensified by the mortifications incurred 
 in the campaign of 1852, the administration of Fill- 
 more closed and that of Pierce began. The year 1853 
 has been likened to the era of good feeling during the 
 first years of Monroe's presidency. But the likeness was 
 not real. Monroe could say of the people of the United 
 States: "We are all Democrats! We are all Republi- 
 cans!" Of the people of the same country in 1853 no 
 such words of praiseworthy unity could be spoken. The 
 country at large was participating in a great degree of 
 material prosperity. The South was enjoying the re- 
 pose which followed the political victories in 185 1 and 
 1852 of the Constitutional Union party over the alarmed 
 Southerners who had formed the Southern Rights party. 
 Whigs and Democrats in Southern States had coalesced 
 into one party whose cohesive principle for the time be- 
 ing was acquiescence in and maintenance of the settle- 
 ment of 1850. That one political feature swept into 
 power and office in the South a controlling body of men 
 devoted to the Union and determined to check all move- 
 
286 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 ments that threatened its dissolution. The Southern 
 people elected Union legislatures and sent Union men to 
 Congress. The States of the South where slavery was 
 most firmly set, were as staunchly Union as those which 
 had most vehemently denounced them and their domes- 
 tic institutions. 
 
 The inaugural of President Pierce pleased all Conserv- 
 atives throughout the Union, and sectional agitation 
 being now removed from Congress, the administration 
 concerned itself with affairs entirely national. But the 
 agitation ceasing in Congress, was pressed locally to in- 
 fluence elections in the States. Congressional candidates 
 were required to avow their positions on slavery. Legis- 
 latures were elected hostile to the fugitive slave law. 
 Personal liberty bills were enacted and enforced. Mu- 
 nicipal governments were constituted with reference to 
 the slavery question. A social and religious horror was 
 excited concerning the arrest now and then of an unfort- 
 unate bondsman. Mr. Greeley names only twenty-eight 
 cases of slaves sent back into servitude, although he says 
 in the "American Conflict" that the arrests were more 
 in one year after the passage of the Compromise Acts 
 than in all the previous sixty years. In explanation it 
 may be stated that though the escapes had been many, 
 the arrests for sixty years had been few, and they were 
 not surprisingly increased even after the passage of the 
 fugitive slave law. 
 
 Two malign stars came into conjunction when the 
 nullification of the fugitive slave act by the personal 
 liberty bills of States, and intervention by congressional 
 action with the institutions of Kansas, imited in steadily 
 increasing disunion influences from 1853 to the sequence 
 of the Confederacy. 
 
 Kansas and Nebraska were a part of the immense 
 Louisiana purchase from France. It contained in 1853 
 a small white population, whose plea for territorial gov- 
 ernment was the necessary protection from the adjacent 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 287 
 
 Indians of these white settlers, who had been moving 
 into the territory for several years. After the Settle- 
 ment of 1850 it was considered that the prohibition line 
 of 36° 30' was no longer operative, and consequently 
 men from Missouri and Kentucky, owners of slaves, or 
 favoring the institution of slavery, entered the southern 
 part of the fertile territory. This Southern movement 
 to share the lands of Kansas was met promptly and en- 
 ergetically by a well organized counter movement to 
 secure a majority of anti-slavery territorial voters. It 
 was fair rivalry at first, notwithstanding the advantages 
 which the Northern section had on account of its superi- 
 ority in emigrative population, and it might have been 
 reasonably conjectured that if the question had been left 
 to the simple operations of the Settlement of 1850, the 
 non-slave-holding interest would have secured a blood- 
 less victory. The opportunity was, however, seen by the 
 politician as well as by the enthusiast, to make the local 
 contest a national issue over remote and obscure Kansas, 
 distant though it was from the East and the South. 
 
 Early in 1854 emigrant aid societies were chartered in 
 several Northern States, whose agents actively canvassed 
 their section, and producing great feeling, raised large 
 sums of money for use in paying the expenses of the 
 anti-slavery emigrant. Their agitation was met by reso- 
 lute action in Missouri, and the Kansas war began. 
 
 These troubles being often referred to as the stimulat- 
 ing cause of disunion, it is pertinent to ask whether those 
 Southern States, which subsequently created the Con- 
 federate States, initiated the unhappy conditions in Kan- 
 sas? The answer from all records appears that not one 
 of these States embroiled itself in the Kansas war. 
 Few, indeed, of their people either went to Kansas or 
 desired to go. The Kansas war was almost wholly a 
 conflict between the people of the Northern States, and 
 a part of the people of the border slave-holding States. 
 The Southern Atlantic States looked directly westward 
 
288 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 for expansion through Alabama, Tennessee and Missis- 
 sippi to the vast territory southwest beyond the Missis- 
 sippi river, caring little for Kansas, although its south- 
 ern half was invitingly fertile. The political situation 
 in these States did not at any time require the expedient 
 of agitation over the wealth or the woes ol Kansas. 
 The Democratic party in those States, thoroughly 
 Union, and led by Mason, Toombs, Stephens, Cobb, 
 Jefferson Davis and the like, was content to have the 
 policy of the three successive Northern presidents, Fill- 
 more, Pierce and Buchanan, the views of Webster and 
 Clay, and the doctrine of the "Settlement" carried out. 
 The situation in 1854 does not make it reasonable for the 
 historian to record that these States or their leaders de- 
 sired any sectional conflict over Kansas, much less that 
 they desired disunion. But the political situation in the 
 States North was somewhat different. 
 
 Whig leaders North, unnecessarily disheartened by 
 the defeat of 1852, and suffering from the inroads made 
 by the Free Soil faction, threw overboard the great 
 economic questions, on which they might have gained 
 the victory in 1856, and many surrendered to the spirit 
 of sectionalism. Northern Democratic leaders, being 
 hard pressed with charges that they were the vassals of 
 the slave power, fell here and there out of the ranks, or 
 else adopted a line of argument as to Kansas and other 
 territories, designed to show that there could not be any 
 further extension of slavery. The agitation thus be- 
 came strictly a feature in Northern politics, distressful 
 to the administration of Pierce, and fatal to that of Bu- 
 chanan. 
 
 Evidently the Southern States had no power to arrest 
 these political developments. They could not stop either 
 the Kansas war nor prevent the organization of the ele- 
 ments at that time opposing the administration which 
 had come into power on the popularity of the Compro- 
 mise of 1850. The question of the time as it appeared to 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 289 
 
 the Southern mind, was simply that a constitutional 
 right existed for their benefit. It may be a barren ab- 
 straction so far as Kansas was concerned, but to yield it 
 was to invite aggression that would be effectively de- 
 structive of a vast investment the Southern people had 
 made under the encouragement of the Union. So far as 
 "the Kansas imbroglio" was concerned, they had ex- 
 pressed willingness to accept the line of 36° 30' extended 
 to the Pacific ocean, or to repeal it altogether ; and as 
 they were divided on the views of Mr. Douglas and Mr. 
 Buchanan in regard to the meaning of intervention, they 
 could have been induced to adopt either view, had the 
 great leaders at the North agreed upon a settlement of 
 the Kansas question. 
 
 Under these circumstances the new agitation began to 
 assume definite form in a political party of opposition 
 composed of all the Free Soilers, and "Old Guard," as 
 Mr. Giddings called the Abolitionists ; scattered Whigs ; 
 the anti-slavery Democrats and the anti-Pierce men gen- 
 erally. Fusing without a distinct party name as yet and 
 fighting under the one rallying cry of free Kansas, with- 
 out any regard to old party principles of a national char- 
 acter, the new combination swept over the North in 1854, 
 while anarchy reigned in Kansas. 
 
 Sectionalism thus became successful. The speaker of 
 the Thirty-fourth Congress was, for the first time in the 
 history of the government, elected by a strictly sectional 
 vote. "It was," says an eminent authority of New En- 
 gland, "^a distinctive victory of the Free States over the 
 consolidated power of the Slave States. It marked an 
 epoch." And so it did. It made it clear that the 
 "fixed geographical majority" had been nearly obtained. 
 It indicated the possibility that a Southern Confederacy 
 and a Northern United States might be the necessitated 
 remedy for the irrepressible antagonism that had so long 
 existed between "the Old North and the Old South" 
 created by King James, The Southern States, however, 
 
 i-w 
 
290 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 closely united in support of their views, were powerless 
 in the Union whenever the questions were sectional 
 which Congress must determine. It was this startling 
 fact which gave such serious interest to the approaching 
 election in 1856 for the presidency. Should the same 
 spirit prevail in the national election for the office of the 
 chief executive which had secured the speakership (the 
 next highest office), the South would have reason to fear 
 that its peculiar interests would not be respected. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE NEW ANTI-NATIONAL MOVEMENT. 
 
 SECTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1856 — AGGRESSIVE AS- 
 SAULT ON THE UNION BY THE FREMONT PARTY- 
 ITS STRENGTH ALARMS THE SOUTH— "ALL NEW 
 ENGLAND SOLID"— SOUTHERN VOTE GIVEN TO NA- 
 TIONAL NORTHERN MEN— BUCHANAN ELECTED BY 
 ONLY NINETEEN STATES — THE ELECTION EN- 
 DORSED THE COMPROMISE OP 1850— KANSAS AGITA- 
 TION RENEWED BY THE SECTIONALISTS— DEMO- 
 CRATIC LEADERS DIVIDE THE PARTY — LINCOLN 
 AND DOUGLAS — THE UNION IMPERILED FOR 
 PARTY SUCCESS— THE CRISIS IMPENDING— DISUN- 
 ION BECOMING EVIDENT— JOHN BROWN'S RAID A 
 RESULT OF METHODIC MADNESS— PULPIT, PRESS 
 AND PLATFORM STIR UP PASSIONS— HELPER'S IM- 
 PENDING CRISIS REINFORCES UNCLE TOM'S CABIN. 
 
 THE controversy over the Settlement of 1850 which 
 had begun with limited popularity, persisted 
 through the defeats of five years, until now, under 
 the political conditions of parties North and with the 
 opportunity furnished by the Kansas question, it sud- 
 denly enlarged into such proportions as to create among 
 its leaders the sanguine hope of political success through 
 a party under a new and attractive name taken from the 
 early days of the republic. 
 
 The exciting debates in Congress on questions relating 
 to geographical supremacy, the eager discussions among 
 the people, the election of Congressmen opposed to the 
 administration, the increasing control of State govern- 
 ments in the North, encouraged a combination powerful 
 enough to confront aggressively the national party, whose 
 leaders then controlled the government. The grounds 
 
 291 
 
292 CONFEDERATE' MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 of the new party affiliation were : resistance to the fugitive 
 slave law, the non-extension of the Missouri Compromise 
 line, with opposition to its repeal, rescue of Kansas from 
 the slave power, and the general overthrow of the 
 haughty domination of the South. The movement could 
 not include any specific national policy, was necessarily 
 sectional, and its promoters looked only to the Northern 
 people for support. No Southern State could join it ; 
 none was expected to do so — and none did. By a cool 
 calculation of political influences and resources, it was 
 considered that the more numerous and richer North 
 could attain a settled ascendancy, if the proposed combi- 
 nation could be secured. Good practical politicians like 
 Giddings, Seward, Chase, Hale, Sumner, Banks, Weed 
 — all men of eminent abilities, long used to political 
 strategy — saw an opportunity to regain the governmental 
 influence which they had lost since 1850. They were 
 warned by Northern leaders that this movement por- 
 tended disunion, and by the alarmed South that it pre- 
 destinated secession, but they felt no fright, and at least 
 would risk the issue. 
 
 Committees appointed by eight Northern States issued 
 in 1855 a call for a general convention, which assembled 
 at Pittsburg, February 22, 1856, and erected a party plat- 
 form in which aggressive war was declared against the 
 general policy of Pierce, and definitely in favor of all 
 measures that would confine slavery within the limits of 
 the slave-holding States. Upon this basis of agreement 
 the convention ordered an election of delegates from the 
 States to a party convention to assemble at Philadel- 
 phia, June 17, 1856. The convention thus called assem- 
 bled, nominated Fremont, of California, for the presi- 
 dency, and Dayton, of Ohio, for the vice-presidency — 
 both from the North, thus violating the custom unbroken 
 to this time to divide these offices between the North and 
 the South. The single avowed purpose of the new asso- 
 ciation was to aim at and look for the extinction of what 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 293 
 
 the platform offensively called "the twin relics of bar- 
 barism — polygamy and slavery. ' ' The inventors of this 
 sharp-pointed and irritating thrust at the South did not 
 consider that these twins were both the progeny of 
 Northern loins. It is therefore fair to make the historic 
 note that one of these odious twins was conceived in the 
 iniquity of the African slave trade, in whose generating 
 the South did not share, and that the other offspring of 
 barbarism was born in social conditions — certainly not 
 common in the North — but existing wholly outside the 
 Southern States. The platform thus justly condemned 
 the men who originated the twin evils, and if it had de- 
 nounced the slave trade itself together with polygamy, 
 the applause of the South would have followed. Slavery 
 was the unfortunate relict of the horrible trade in human 
 flesh which, for the sake of gain, deprived the helpless 
 African of his freedom. (American Conflict, p. 255.) 
 
 The American party, composed largely of patriotic 
 Whigs who would not yield to the sectional spirit nor 
 ally themselves with their old Democratic antagonist, 
 nominated Fillmore. In the ballot Fillmore was sup- 
 ported by 886,000 voters, of whom about 500,000 were 
 from the South, and one Southern State — Maryland — 
 honored him with its electoral vote, and 1 14 electoral 
 votes from eleven States. Buchanan was elected by 
 1,851,000 popular votes, 174 electoral votes, and the suf- 
 frage of nineteen States. The result astonished the 
 Democrats, dissolved the American party, encouraged 
 the sectional movement, and dismayed the South. Ten 
 States which Pierce had carried in 1852 were lost. New 
 York and Ohio voted for Fremont, while Pennsylvania 
 was barely saved. "All New England was consolidated. ' ' 
 More than a million and a quarter of Northern dtjizens 
 had cast their votes deliberately for the sectional candi- 
 dates of a sectional party on a sectional issue, and against 
 a Northern statesman of exalted character, the nominee 
 of a national party on a national plattorm. The Southern 
 
294 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 vote was cast unanimously for the two Northern men, 
 Fillmore and Buchanan, both representing the cause of 
 the Union, the Constitution and the Compromise of 1850. 
 
 The political situation was evident. "The distinct and 
 avowed marshaling of a solid North against a solid South 
 had begun," says Senator Blaine, "and the result of the 
 Presidential election of 1856 settled nothing except that 
 a mightier struggle was in the future." These words of 
 the great Senator from Maine, written nearly thirty 
 years after this election, express the conclusion which at 
 once heightened the fever of Southern anxiety. 
 
 Buchanan — inaugurated March 4, 1857 — sincerely 
 hoped that his administration would allay the agitation 
 which had sprung up fiercely three years before. His 
 election was regarded by the country as another signifi- 
 cant endorsement of "the finality" of 1850, and he offi- 
 cially declared his desire that such action should be taken 
 in the management of the territories as would avoid all 
 national controversy between "North" and "South." 
 In this desire he clearly had the sincere sympathy of all 
 political parties in the South. The feeble resistance first 
 made in parts of the South to the compromise was fully 
 overcome in 1851, and it ceased to be a question. The 
 practical danger to Buchanan's election had come in 1856 
 alone from Fillmore men whose platform agreed with his 
 own views on the sectional question. Their party dis- 
 solved like a mist immediately after Fillmore's defeat, 
 and its members in the South, though a half million 
 strong, had no grounds of contest except such as might 
 be found on local issues. Their leader, Mr. Fillmore, 
 had written a remarkable letter in July, 1856 — the pro- 
 test of a patriot against sectional partyism — concerning 
 which Mr. Greeley commented that it plainly declared 
 the success of the Republicans would "not only incite, but 
 justly cause a rebellion of the Southern States." (Amer- 
 ican Conflict, 248.) Heeding the words of these great 
 Northerners, the Southern Americans stood together in 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 295 
 
 support of any measures that would secure the cessation 
 of further dangerous agitation. 
 
 The Buchanan administration inherited the Kansas 
 trouble and was plagued in the beginning with unex- 
 pected developments. The settlers in Kansas had be- 
 come stimulated into actual war, and there seemed to be 
 no desire among these squatter sovereigns to come to a 
 square and peaceful vote. But even these internal diffi- 
 culties could have been settled if the partisan pressure 
 from without had been withdrawn. Successful party 
 effort to overthrow the administration plainly required 
 that Kansas should not be quieted on any plan that per- 
 mitted the toleration of the slave-holding influence. But 
 even these animosities of the settlers, and these partisan 
 maneuvers, would not have destroyed the peace of the 
 Union, if the perilous disagreement had not occurred be- 
 tween the two great Northern leaders, one being the 
 President, and the other the eminent Senator from the 
 West, Mr. Douglas. These two statesmen, each possess- 
 ing commanding influence North and South, combatted 
 alike the sectional position taken by their common ad- 
 versary, and in this they were sustained by the Fillmore 
 men as well as by their own party. But they chose to 
 differ irreconcilably on the construction of the doctrine 
 of non-intervention by Congress as to the local institu- 
 tions of a territory. The exact point of their difference 
 at the time was the application of the principle of non- 
 intervention by Congress as to slavery in Kansas and 
 Nebraska. Mr. Douglas held that the voters in the ter- 
 ritory had power over that question through their terri- 
 torial legislature; Mr. Buchanan's view was that the 
 power to exclude slave property by the people of a terri- 
 tory could be exercised constitutionally only through 
 their legally framed State constitution. The Republi- 
 cans held that Congress could prohibit slavery in the ter- 
 ritory with or without the consent of the inhabitants. 
 With this trident of political opinions the South was 
 
296 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 thrust through its vitals, seeing nothing good coming to 
 itself out of Kansas, but everything important, in view 
 of the national and constitutional principles involved. 
 
 The Southern idea of Statehood raised the political 
 character of the State far above that which could be law- 
 fully assumed by the people of a territory. It was clear 
 to Southern men that any State constitution legally 
 adopted could authoritatively prohibit or abolish slavery. 
 The people of any State whose laws provided for the ex- 
 istence and protection of ownership in the labor of the 
 negro could at any time abolish the institution through 
 a constitutional convention. There was a vast differ- 
 ence, however, between territorial government and State 
 government. Territorial government was the creature 
 of Congress — merely a servant of the congressional ser- 
 vants belonging to the brotherhood of States ; but State 
 governments were ordained by the people in whom re- 
 posed the last analysis of sovereignty, viz. , the makers of 
 the Union and the masters of its Congress. No powers 
 under the Constitution were reserved to the territories, 
 but to the States respectively. No sovereign powers 
 were reserved to the people of territories as such, but to 
 the people of the United States. The Southerner felt 
 that he was a defender of the State against the usurpa- 
 tions of the settlers in a territory, when he objected to a 
 final decision as to the greatest of property rights recog- 
 nized by the Constitution being made absolute by a ter- 
 ritorial legislature. Upon these and similar principles 
 Southern statesmen and jurists generally held that the 
 time when the allowance or disallowance of slave labor 
 should be determined, was at the making of a State 
 constitution by the bona fide resident voters of a territory 
 through their legally elected representatives, assembled 
 lawfully in a convention, called for that purpose, under 
 the authority of the United States. The compromise meas- 
 ures of 1850 in their opinion contained that doctrine, and 
 with them many Northern statesmen and jurists agreed. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 297 
 
 The ill-starred excitement over Kansas arose out of 
 political circumstances, from which the Southern States, 
 which subsequently seceded, were free. "The contro- 
 versy in its early stages was pressed upon the South. " 
 Northern leaders, contending with each other, disturbed 
 the Southern repose more than the "Old Guard" of sin- 
 cere and impotent Abolitionists ; and the fighting factions 
 springing out of the dismemberment of old parties 
 brought on the bedlam in national policies from which 
 the South was directed to see finally no escape, except by 
 the way of a Southern Confederacy. 
 
 If the Kansas bill, including the repeal of the Missouri 
 Compromise, was a fire-brand as alleged — that brand was 
 not cast by a Southern, but by a Northern statesman, and 
 it is no compliment to Northern leaders to explain that 
 they were subjects of magnetic Southern influence. If 
 the attempts of Southern citizens in the border States to 
 occupy land in a near territory and to cultivate it by 
 uniting their own labor with that of their bondsmen was 
 an injury to the Free State neighbor who had no ne- 
 groes, it was just such an injury as could be peacefully 
 removed by the majority vote when the territory became 
 a State. These Southern settlers were not border 
 ruffians and should not have been stigmatized as such. 
 If the fugitive slave law was an outrage, the makers of 
 the Constitution, Northern as well as Southern patriots 
 of the Revolution, are responsible for creating the obli- 
 gation of Congress to pass it, as well as the duty of the 
 States not to nullify it. Admitting slavery was a sin, 
 the South caught it by contagion, and reproaches came 
 with evil grace from those who imported the virus that 
 tainted the blood of a nation. In the very midst of this 
 heated controversy the Dred Scott case was brought to 
 final decision by the Supreme court of the United States, 
 March 7, 1857, in which it was determined by the ju- 
 diciary department of the government that Congress had 
 no power to prohibit slavery in any territory belonging 
 
298 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 to the Union, and hence the restrictive section of the 
 Missouri Compromise was void. (19 Howard, 393. See 
 American Conflict, 253, 256.) The executive, the legis- 
 lative and the judicial departments of the Union were 
 brought into perfect accord upon the one constitutional 
 view always held by the South^ and almost if not quite 
 equally held by the conservatives of the North, that the 
 power to exclude slavery from the common territories had 
 not been granted to Congress in the Constitution. The 
 decision was made by able lawyers after principles 
 strictly legal. The bar of the Union, by great majority 
 at least, agreed with the court so far as that particular 
 dictum was concerned. 
 
 But the decision of the Supreme court was directly in the 
 way of agitatioh and hence it was at once assailed with a 
 violence never before shown against any opinion of that 
 august body. (American Conflict, 251; Stephens, 200.) 
 
 Coincident with the troubles in Kansas, occurred the 
 great contest between Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Douglas for 
 the Senatorship of Illinois. Mr. Douglas had dulled the 
 ax of Republican resentment by his opposition to the 
 admission of Kansas with a pro-slavery constitution, 
 which he regarded as irregular ; but his views did not 
 accord with theirs in regard to Congressional interven- 
 tion, and besides he had declared in public speech that 
 he "cared not whether slavery was voted up or voted 
 down." They were, therefore, not inclined to allow his 
 return to the Senate if he could be successfully opposed. 
 Abraham Lincoln was persuaded to meet him in a con- 
 test for the Senatorial responsibility, and the warm dis- 
 cussion between these well matched debaters soon drew 
 not only great crowds in Illinois, but, through the pub- 
 lic press, the whole Union was included in the audience 
 and involved in the heat of the strife. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln was then and continued to be the ablest 
 politician produced by the anti-slavery agitation. More 
 prudent than Garrison or Giddings, wiser than Hale or 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 299 
 
 even Seward, "Honest Abe" was not always consistent, 
 not always logical; often used political expedients, but 
 was always true to his party and its main ideas. His 
 characteristic traits, as they were in time revealed to the 
 country, won for him something akin to general national 
 ailection felt by the Southern as well as Northern peo- 
 ple. In his discussion with Mr. Douglas, Mr. Lincoln 
 made slavery the issue, and with terse, striking and 
 popular remarks pressed his antagonist hard. One 
 series of sentences, which he persisted in uttering against 
 the advice of his friends, became the subject of uneasy 
 comment through the South. He said: "I believe this 
 government cannot endure permanently half slave and 
 half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved, I 
 do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect it will 
 cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all 
 the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest 
 the further spread of it and place it where the public 
 mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of 
 absolute extinction, or its advocates will push it forward 
 till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as 
 well as new, North as well as South." Southern men 
 were astounded by these sentences. The possibility of 
 encroaching upon the Free States with the slavery in- 
 stitution had never been under discussion, from the day 
 that the receding of the slavery line southward had be- 
 gun in Massachusetts. They had contemplated the abo- 
 lition of slavery by Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Ken- 
 tucky, North Carolina and its flow South and West. 
 They had in the early days discussed favorably its 
 gradual extinction and the return of the negroes to 
 Africa. But the wildest fire-eaters had not ventured 
 the suggestion of forcing slavery northward on any 
 States. These sententious statements of Mr. Lincoln 
 sounded in their ears like the blasts of the bugle sound- 
 ing an advance on all the Southern States, and Mr. 
 Blaine thought in 1884 that this was the meaning which 
 
300 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln attached to his own words. Mr. Douglas 
 charged that utterances of this character made Mr. Lin- 
 coln "an enemy of the Union and an advocate of an in- 
 ternecine conflict in which the Free States and the Slave 
 States should wrestle in deadly encounter. " The gen- 
 eral impression on the Northern mind made by these say- 
 ings of Mr. Lincoln was that slavery must be destroyed. 
 The Southern impression was that it would be the policy 
 of the new sectional party to remove by law or by force 
 the obstruction to harmonious Union which slavery pre- 
 sented. There was another distinct impression that un- 
 less slavery could be prevented in all the territories, and 
 then abolished in all the States, the Union must be di- , 
 vided into halves by some movement. If the new party 
 fail to destroy slavery, then the States without slaves 
 must separate from the States with slaves. If it should 
 come into power to carry out its platform, secession by 
 the Southern States might be attempted. The Union 
 "cannot endure permanently half slave and half free." 
 Mr. Douglas insisted with great force that this declara- 
 tion meant disunion. 
 
 Following this turgid current to its debouch in dis- 
 union, we see a new move in 1859 designed to make sec- 
 tional agitation effective in the approaching political 
 battle of i860. 
 
 A small book, called by some "a document" prepared 
 by a former citizen of North Carolina, Hinton Rowan 
 Helper, which contained an arraignment of the class of 
 Southern slave owners then living in the United States in 
 coarse and slanderous language, was published. The South 
 was threatened in the document with "confiscation, servile 
 insurrections, invasion and maneuver." The inhuman 
 book has long since gone to its own place justly consigned 
 to everlasting shame and contempt, but when it appeared 
 in this excited period of frenzied partyism it met an 
 astounding welcome from many of the most eminent and 
 virtuous people of the North. It was taken in hand as a 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 301 
 
 political document, and sent broadcast over the North 
 indorsed by Speaker Colfax, sixty-four distinguished 
 members of Senate and House, as well as by the leaders 
 generally of the Republican party. The book was well 
 adapted to incense the South, but its special purpose was 
 to inflame the Northern mind. It was a long stride be- 
 yond Uncle Tom's Cabin in its incendiary aim. It pro- 
 scribed the slave owner as ineligible for any office. It 
 declared against all patronage of slave-holding mer- 
 chants, lawyers, physicians, editors or hotels, and de- 
 nounced all political and religious communion with the 
 whole class. This incendiary work of a malicious en- 
 thusiast was reduced into convenient form, printed and 
 circulated as a campaign document by the hundred thou- 
 sand at a time, when the slavery struggle had actually 
 ceased in Kansas, and the South was presenting no 
 scheme of slavery extension. The ill-timed production 
 was designated by the pompous superscription — "A 
 Manifesto," and its title, "The Impending Crisis." 
 
 There was no crisis impending of which the Southern 
 people had any knowledge. The records of the winter 
 of 1858 and the spring of 1859 entirely failed to disclose 
 a disposition of the South to engage in any agitation in 
 which the North might not freely and fraternally par- 
 ticipate. There was a lull in crisis-producing causes. 
 Minnesota had just come, May, 1858, into the sisterhood 
 of States with an anti-slavery constitution. Oregon was 
 admitted also as a Free State, February, 1859. The 
 first cable had been recently stretched across the Atlan- 
 tic, over which the Queen of England talked with Presi- 
 dent Buchanan. The only impending crisis was the 
 trouble with the other twin relict of barbarism, the 
 polygamous Mormons, which General Albert Sidney 
 Johnston was adjusting. There was, however, a crisis 
 impending of which the South had no suspicion. Across 
 the Potomac lurked one of the Kansas fighters who had 
 become notorious there as Ossawatomie Brown, the 
 
302 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 leader of a bloody night attack on a Southern force. 
 John Brown having fled from Kansas, conceived a plan 
 which he secretly but not fully divulged in a meeting of 
 a few fanatics like himself. (American Conflict, 287.) 
 In pursuance of his scheme to excite an insurrection of 
 slaves in one State of the South, and to place himself at 
 the head to organize a general uprising, he chose Vir- 
 ginia as the location of his first blow. He conceived the 
 bold plan of attacking Harper's Ferry, and to prepare 
 for the surprise, he rented a small farm in Maryland, 
 July, 1858, under an assumed name, and collected a small 
 amount of fire arms and ammunition, besides i, 00a pikes. 
 A few followers, part of them his sons, gathered at his 
 residence and were secreted until the hour came to strike 
 his blow which captured Harper's Ferry, October, 1859. 
 Brown held his captured garrison for a day and night, 
 put out pickets, distributed arms for the use of negroes 
 and for the short while terrified the citizens. He was, 
 however, soon attacked and driven into an engine house. 
 Part of his small force of twenty men were killed, in- 
 cluding his two sons. Some others escaped and he him- 
 self was wounded, but he continued his defiant resistance 
 until overpowered by a force of United States marines 
 sent from Washington. He and six of his companions 
 were lawfully tried, condemned and hung the following 
 December. 
 
 This small affair had no significance apart from the 
 general agitation which had pervaded a large part of the 
 Union for several years. It was merely an awkward but 
 fierce single bolt hurtling from a political sky charged 
 with explosives by other men who had method in their 
 madness. (American Conflict, 278-287.) Had the event 
 been treated as the act of a fanatic, whose madness no 
 more exempted him from death than the fanaticism of 
 Booth could shield him from an assassin's fate, there 
 would have been no serious fears felt in the South. In- 
 surrections — very few in number — ^had been attempted 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 303 
 
 and foiled before. There was scarcely any apprehension 
 in the South of a negro uprising, and none of servile war. 
 The act of a wretched rowdy, imbued with the spirit of 
 hate which had been intensified in bloody Kansas, was 
 turned into political account. It is scarcely credible, 
 although true, that public meetings, composed of good 
 patriotic citizens, were held, speeches made and resolu- 
 tions passed in approval of the purpose, or at least the 
 motive, of John Brown. Wendell Phillips , speaking in 
 Mr. Beecher's church, eulogized what he called the 
 glorious deed. Clergymen compared the gallows of 
 Brown with the Cross of Christ. A great audience 
 crowded Tremont Temple on the day of the hanging in 
 order to express a public sympathy. Meetings of like 
 import were held in many other places and bells were 
 tolled at the hour of execution. There was, in truth, no 
 general indorsement by the people or the statesmen of 
 the North of the insurrectionary designs of John Brown. 
 There was no common Northern sentiment justifying the 
 murderous act. His deeds were characterized as inde- 
 fensible even by many who avowed their pity, but there 
 were expressions, suificiently strong and exasperating, 
 to provoke the people of the South. The secret methods 
 of the invader of Virginia reminded them of the covert 
 proceedings of the emissaries who had occasionally in 
 former times sought to distribute incendiary literature 
 among the negroes. The manner of the attack, with 
 weapons and ammunition sufficient for a thousand slaves, 
 pointed out the bloody purpose of the assailant. Help- 
 er's book, "The Impending Crisis," recently pamphleted 
 and indorsed by sixty-seven prominent Congressmen and 
 scattered broadly over the land, had commended just 
 such an act of war. The alarm in the South was cer- 
 tainly real, because it was based on the declared doc- 
 trines of the anti-slavery sectionalists, who were appar- 
 ently growing in power and increasing in aggression. 
 Their political fears were not allayed by any statement 
 
304 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 that this powerful organization did not intend to oppose 
 slavery anywhere except in the territories, for one of 
 their leaders had declared the issue to be an irrepressible 
 conflict ; another, the greatest among them, had said not 
 a year before John Brown's invasion, that "the Union 
 could not exist half slave and half free;" great Senators 
 had commended the Manifesto of Helper, and in all 
 views it was evident that there was no practical differ- 
 ence between the creed of Seward and the creed of Gerrit 
 Smith. They justly charged that the insurrection was 
 the legitimate result of continued and recent fierce anti- 
 slavery agitation. If the raid of Brown had occurred in 
 1851, during the administration of Fillmore and in that 
 era of fraternity and peace, it would have provoked no 
 political disturbances, for there was then no mighty po- 
 litical organization confronting the South, and no counter 
 organization forming in the South to meet the North. 
 The course of politics had been running four or five years 
 threateningly toward a catastrophe, from which the 
 Southern people shrank, and this "episode," as it has 
 been flippantly termed, seemed to the South as the be- 
 ginning of horrors. No political ends whatever could be 
 served with advantage in the South itself by overesti- 
 mating the dangers which this event portended. It must 
 be apparent to intelligent men that the South needed no 
 strengthening of its political adherence to the principles 
 it had avowed. On certain questions the South was 
 practically solid. The Northern mind had been sedu- 
 lously trained in thoughts of the Southern people as a fire- 
 eating class, ready to commit the act of disunion and 
 constantly seeking to create a quarrel. Politicians, 
 fiction writers, lecturers and excellent clergjonen per- 
 sisted in portraying the worst side of Southern character. 
 Northern opinion was formed in part by teachers un- 
 worthy of a hearing, but unfortunately the error was 
 "stimulated and developed for political ends by many 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 305 
 
 whose intelligence should have led them to more enlight- 
 ened views." (Blaine, 157.) 
 
 While John Brown was plotting his invasion of Vir- 
 ginia, and the Helper Manifesto was rekindling the sub- 
 siding Kansas local animosity into the wider aggression 
 on the slavery institution everywhere, the dissension in 
 the ranks of the controlling men who had hitherto balked 
 the progress of disunion causes, now more seriously and 
 vividly portrayed the coming Confederation of seceded 
 Southern States. The increasing Southern alarm caused 
 several prominent statesmen of the South to declare 
 their despair of the Union, and to announce themselves 
 in favor of secession. Among them was Mr. Iverson, 
 senator from Georgia, who predicted in 1859 that a sec- 
 tional President would be inaugurated in 1861, which he 
 affirmed would be such a declaration of war as to justify 
 an independent Southern Confederacy, but his extreme 
 ideas caused his defeat by the Georgia legislature for 
 the Senate. His views were opposed by Mr. Stephens, 
 who regarded the differences North and South constitu- 
 tionally settled, and uttered his hope that an institution, 
 "National and State, may long continue to bless millions 
 yet unborn as they have blessed us. ' ' Mr. Toombs, of 
 the same State, made also in 1859 a conservative speech 
 advising against all extreme action, and especially op- 
 posing the particular demand by his party for national 
 protection of slavery in the territories. Mr. Jefferson 
 Davis was uttering the same hopeful opinions in Missis- 
 sippi, and the Southern members of Buchanan's cabinet 
 were advising against dissensions on the sectional ques- 
 tion. There was no ''Southern Rights" party. Broken 
 down in 1851, it had no existence in 1859. 
 
 1-20 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 THE CONFLICT OVER THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 THE AGITATORS OP SECTIONALISM COMBINE IN 1859— 
 THE CONSTITUTIONAL UNIONISTS DIVIDE — THE 
 SOUTH UNABLE TO CONTROL THE QUESTION- 
 RESOLUTIONS OF MR. DAVIS, i860— STRONG UNION 
 FEELING IN THE SOUTH— PARTY CONVENTIONS IN 
 i860— PLATFORMS, NOMINATIONS AND CANVASS FOR 
 THE PRESIDENCY— NATIONAL UNION SENTIMENT 
 OVERTHROWN— MR. LINCOLN ELECTED— THE FIXED 
 SECTIONAL MAJORITY OF STATES ATTAINED. 
 
 THE Thirty-fiftli Congress met in 1859, and it soon 
 appeared that aggressive anti-slavery agitation 
 was now moving its line forward toward a more 
 commanding position. Kansas had been relegated to the 
 care of the people of the territory, who had made an anti- 
 slavery constitution, and secured control of the territorial 
 government. In due time it would surely be marshaled 
 into the columns of the Northern States. Agitation in 
 that center could now no longer produce political re- 
 sults. There was a broader field of operations inviting 
 the renewal of aggression. The control of the national 
 government secured by "a fixed sectional majority,' 
 which would make the nation strong, centralized and su- 
 preme in its sovereignty over all States, was the crown to 
 be placed on the political association that had grown 
 from a handful of despised Abolitionists to a multitude 
 — a million and a half strong — in one-half the States, 
 whose concentrated vote would be so used as to carry 
 enough States of the North in a solid body to control the 
 electoral college. The antagonists of this combination 
 for sectional power were so divided as to inspire the 
 
 306 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 307 
 
 aggressive agitators with confidence in their ability to 
 cause their certain overthrow. Douglas and Buchanan 
 were expected to fight each other to the bitter end, and 
 so they did. The great Presidential contest of i860 was 
 now at hand, to be waged almost exclusively on issues 
 and principles which were regarded as vital to the Union. 
 The position of the South is thus stated by an eminent 
 statesman whose views have generally been adverse to 
 those held by Southern leaders : "The Southern delegates 
 (to the Charleston convention of i860) demanded a plat- 
 form which should embody the constitutional rights of 
 the slave-holder, and they would not qualify or conceal 
 their requirements. If the North would sustain those 
 rights all would be well. If the North would not sustain 
 them, it was of infinite moment to the South to be 
 promptly and definitely advised of the fact. The South- 
 em delegates were not presenting a particular man as a 
 candidate. On that point they would be liberal and con- 
 ciliatory. But they were fighting for a principle, and 
 would not surrender it or compromise it." (Blaine, p. 
 
 158.) 
 
 Mr. Jefferson Davis offered a series of seven resolu- 
 tions in the Senate, February, i860, in order to define the 
 position of his associates, on which the division of opinion 
 among Senators, as shown by the vote on the first of the 
 series, was wider than the slavery question. That reso- 
 lution prescribed the principles which had early separated 
 the Federalists and the old "Constitutional Republican 
 party" led by Jefferson. The resolution re-affirmed the 
 doctrine that the Union resulted from a Constitution rati- 
 fied by States as independent sovereignties equal in all 
 rights, and that no States could intermeddle with the 
 domestic institutions of other States. They expressly 
 asserted that the Union existed by a constitutional com- 
 pact, which the Senate of the United States was specially 
 charged with preserving. Upon taking the vote this 
 first resolution was affirmed by the solid vote of the 
 
308 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Southern States joined by California, Indiana, Minnesota, 
 Oregon and Pennsylvania. It was as solemnly denied 
 by ten Northern States in solid array, with Ohio and 
 New Jersey divided, and with Delaware and Illinois not 
 voting. 
 
 Conservatives divided on the fourth resolution, which 
 denied the power of the people of a territory to abolish 
 slavery except in framing a State constitution, but there 
 was no portion of the seven resolutions which in any 
 degree prepared the way for any further action through 
 which disunion could be effected. The passage of the 
 resolutions was a political movement, simply designed to 
 draw the lines strictly between the States upon that 
 issue, although it incidentally at that period, in the 
 course of the long-continued controversy between the two 
 ideas of our confederate Union, closed in around the 
 question of the interference with slave property by the 
 general government. Upon that issue the Democratic 
 party fully expected at that time to make another suc- 
 cessful canvass in i860 for the Presidency, as had been 
 done in 1856, when Buchanan was elected. The resolu- 
 tions were voted for by many who remained supporters 
 of the Union through the entire Confederate war. Five 
 Northern States gave them their full votes. Three bor- 
 der States which did not secede voted for them. Mr. 
 Douglas would have voted for the first resolution which 
 contained the main issue if he had been present. There 
 could have been no revolutionary intent in the minds of 
 the Senators North and South, who were so earnestly 
 advocating principles on which they hoped to achieve 
 success before the people and pacify the country. The 
 vote, in fact, was not strictly a party vote, although de- 
 signed especially to favor one particular party organiza- 
 tion. Crittenden, Pearce and Kennedy, Old Line Whigs, 
 supported the first resolution with as much heartiness as 
 any Senators. That there were individual disunionists 
 who were favorable to disunion per se, there can be no 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 309 
 
 doubt. New England had contained many of that class, 
 and fully as many could be found in the South. But dis- 
 union as the remedy for agitation was not then declared 
 by any influential body of Southern people, and certainly 
 it does not appear in any sense concealed or patent in 
 this action of the United States Senate. Mr. Davis, the 
 mover of the resolutions, was a Union man. The North- 
 ern people did not then and have not since understood 
 Mr. Davis' position, because their judgment has not been 
 fully allowed that fair play which will eventually set him 
 in clear light before young men, as Mr. Lincoln has long 
 since been made known to the South. Mr. Stephens, 
 whose just judgment no man can question and whose 
 political relations to Mr. Davis were not of such an inti- 
 mate and cordial character as to place him under suspi- 
 cion of speaking from undue partiality, says of Mr. 
 Davis, as he viewed him at the date of this action of the 
 Senate and since: "I always regarded him as a strong 
 Union man in sentiment so long as the Union was main- 
 tained on the principles upon which it was founded. He 
 was without doubt a thorough State rights, State sov- 
 ereignty man. He believed in the right of secession, 
 but what I mean to say is, that in my opinion he was an 
 ardent supporter of the Union on principles as he under- 
 stood them, upon which and for which the Union was 
 formed. There were, as I have said, many public men 
 among us who, after these resolutions passed the Senate, 
 and after the Presidential canvass was opened upon 
 them, and the various issues presented in the party plat- 
 forms of the day, were openly for secession in case 
 Mr. Lincoln should be elected upon the principles upon 
 which he was nominated. But Mr. Davis, so far as I 
 know or believe, did not belong even to this class. If 
 he was in favor of secession upon the grounds of Mr. 
 Lincoln's election, I am not aware of it. He certainly 
 made no speeches or wrote any letter for the public dur- 
 ing that canvass that indicated such views or purposes, 
 
310 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 I never saw a word from him recommending secession as 
 the proper remedy against threatening dangers until he 
 joined in the general letter of the Southern senators and 
 representatives in Congress to their States advising 
 them to take that course. " (Stephens' War Between the 
 States, vol. 2, p. 416.) Mr. Davis, in his short history of 
 the Confederate States, mentions a fact bearing directly 
 on his general political reputation as a Union man. Re- 
 ferring to the pending gubernatorial election in Missis- 
 sippi, 1 85 1, he recalls the fact that when an attempt was 
 made to fix on the Democracy the reputation of a purpose 
 of disunion, General Quitman withdrew from the race on 
 account of his unpopular disunion antecedents, and he 
 himself was induced to take his place because of his more 
 pronounced advocacy of the Union. His own language is 
 as follows: "My own devotion to the Union of our 
 fathers had been so often and so fully declared, my ser- 
 vices to the Union, civil and military, were so extended 
 and well known, that it was believed my nomination 
 would remove the danger of defeat which the candidacy 
 of a less pronounced advocate of the Union might pro- 
 voke. Then, as afterward, I regarded the separation of 
 the States as a great, though not the greatest, evil. ' ' 
 
 At this critical period — the spring of i860 — there were 
 notable men in the South who favored disunion. But 
 they were not in power. They were men of command- 
 ing intellect, exalted patriotism, and noble character, 
 worthy of any station. Among them Mr. Yancey, who 
 could not control Alabama for secession ; Mr. Quitman, 
 who was set aside by Mississippi ; Mr. Iverson, defeated 
 in Georgia, and Mr. Rhett, whom South Carolina had 
 not followed. All of these were favorites in their States, 
 but so far as they advocated secession they were sub- 
 jected to defeat. There was not one disunionist gover- 
 nor in the South — not one secession legislature — not one 
 disunion judge — not a disunionist in the cabinet, or as 
 far qs was kjiQWTi, not one in any service of the govern- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 311 
 
 ment. The political control in the South was in the 
 hands of men who had safely guided the "Southern 
 Rights" movement of 1851 into the paths of acquiescence 
 and satisfaction with the Settlement of 1850. Southern 
 sentiment for the Union, the Constitution, the star span- 
 gled banner, the traditions and the glory of the country, 
 prevailed with a strength, unanimity and unselfishness 
 never appreciated. This sentiment was well enough 
 understood by one leader, Mr. Greeley, whose facilities 
 for gathering information were so peculiarly great as to 
 authorize him to say that "the South cannot be kicked 
 out of the Union." Without designing to speak offen- 
 sively he thus flatly ridiculed the warnings of i860 
 uttered by Northern conservative statesmen. 
 
 Another event which familiarized yet more the public 
 mind with the idea of division of the States was the dis- 
 ruption of the Democratic national convention, which 
 met in Charleston, S. C, April 11, i860. There were 
 present at this convention complete delegations from all 
 the States, South as well as North, representing the 
 nationality of the great party then in power, and har- 
 monious on all questions, except on the application of the 
 doctrine of non-intervention by Congress with slavery in 
 the territories. The power to legislate against slave 
 property by the territorial legislature was affirmed by a 
 close majority vote in somewhat evasive language, thus 
 endorsing the doctrine of Mr. Douglas as against the 
 position of the administration. Debate, dissension and 
 further conventions followed, resulting in the antagon- 
 ism of two Democratic candidates for the Presidency — 
 Mr. Douglas and Mr. Breckinridge. 
 
 The Republican party convention met in Chicago in 
 May, i860, actually representing only seventeen States, 
 all Northern. Three others were nominally represented, 
 but in fact there was no representation of any Southern 
 State. Thus, seventeen of the thirty-three States with- 
 qlrayring froiyj party affiliation with the unrepresented 
 
312 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 sixteen again distinctly familiarized the public mind with 
 the idea of secession. The convention was composed 
 of mixed and apparently incongruous political elements. 
 The Democratic party was agreed on all points except 
 one, while the Republican party disagreed on all policies 
 except the one which they made the polar purpose of the 
 campaign. The ultras of several parties, and of no 
 party, were present in force. The spirit of control was 
 necessarily sectional and against nationalism. The reso- 
 lutions as read for discussion named the organization the 
 National Republican Party, but Jesui>, of Pennsylvania, 
 objected to the word "national, ' ' and it was stricken, thus 
 emphasizing the feeling that for this campaign at least 
 the party should be sectional. The Union was riven by 
 a convention aspiring to its control into two parts, and 
 the sole reliance for victory was placed on the Northern 
 part. Thus the idea developed still clearer that "the 
 Union could not exist half free and half slave." A dis- 
 tinguished jurist of New York said — August, i860 — that 
 this political action "is a conspiracy under the forms but 
 in violation of the Constitution of the United States." 
 Its success assured the control of the government, not by 
 the will of the majority of the people, nor by a majority 
 of the States located in all sections, but by the power of 
 a unified geographical area whose strength in combina- 
 tion could seize and use the powers of the government. 
 The United States are governed by party. If the party 
 in power be sectional, the use of the powers of the Union 
 and the distribution of its benefits will be mainly sec- 
 tional. The country generally and the South uneasily 
 understood this to be the result when the government 
 passed out of the hands of national statesmen. 
 
 The salient statements in the platform were against 
 the "peculiar Southern institution," as slavery was un- 
 fairly called, for it was not instituted by the South but 
 was most properly a trust cast upon its care by the 
 authors of it. On the third ballot Mr. Lincoln, of lUi- 
 
CONFEDERA TE MILITARY HISTORY. 813 
 
 nois, was nominated for the Presidency, and immediately 
 afterward Mr. Hamlin, of Maine, was named for the 
 second office. 
 
 A patriotic attempt was made, chiefly by the Whigs 
 and Americans, to make a fight for the Union under the 
 name of the Constitutional Union Party, whose brief plat- 
 form merely committed their candidates to "the Consti- 
 tution, the Union, and the enforcement of the laws." 
 The nominees of this body of conservative men were 
 John Bell, of Tennessee, and Edward Everett, of Massa- 
 chusetts. Their party and its platform were fully and 
 fairly national. 
 
 Thus it appears that all national conservatives were 
 scattered among divided parties, while the threatening 
 opposition was made by one compacted organization. 
 The canvass following these nominations differed in the 
 South from the canvass in the North in the one circum- 
 stance, that there were no electoral tickets for Mr. Lin- 
 coln. The Southern vote was divided among Bell and 
 Everett, Southern and Northern Whigs ; Douglas and 
 Johnson, Northern and Southern Democrats; Breckin- 
 ridge and Lane, Southern and Northern Democrats. 
 These nominees represented the East, West, North and 
 Middle States by four candidates, and the South by two. 
 The opposition represented the North and West alone. 
 No platform nor speaker advocated disunion as the de- 
 sire of his party, notwithstanding the prominence of that 
 question in the general canvass. There were more 
 avowed disunionists personally supporting Breckinridge, 
 but, as the course of events showed, Douglas men and 
 Bell men became secessionists as soon as "coercion" was 
 declared. The resentment of the attempt to gain the 
 Presidency by the calculated strength of combined con- 
 tiguous States, through appeals to sectional feeling, was 
 warmly felt and boldly declared throughout the North by 
 the advocates of Bell, Douglas and Breckinridge, but at 
 the South this resentment was far stronger, because all 
 
314 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 the influence and interest of that section were felt to be 
 involved. 
 
 The great campaign speech of Mr. Seward, August 14, 
 i860, designed to be representative of the policy of the 
 new party, excited the fears of the Southern people, and, 
 as the information reached them through the Northern 
 papers of the progress of the canvass, their despair of the 
 election increased. Mr. Toombs, in repeating the idea 
 that we may have to give up constitutional safeguards 
 in order to save the government, declared that "Our 
 greatest danger today is that the Union will survive the 
 Constitution." Mr. Davis and Mr. Stephens reiterated 
 the warnings which were being given by Northern states- 
 men that sectional success portended the separation of 
 North and South. Mr. Banks in answer had said, "Let 
 the Union slide"; Mr. Greeley, that "the South cannot 
 be kicked out' ' ; while public speakers favoring the new 
 party made a jest of the so-called threat of disunion. 
 During the whole term of this contest Mr. Lincoln's per- 
 sonality was not in issue. His character was above re- 
 proach, and, while his course had been partisan and free 
 soil, it was never vindictive. The South would have 
 chosen him in a personal contest against Seward, Gid- 
 dings. Banks, Hale, Stevens, and a hundred others. It 
 was not Mr. Lincoln's election, but the domination of one 
 area in the Union over all the Union, that the South re- 
 garded as a just cause for seeking a division of the 
 United States. 
 
 In October it l^became apparent that the divided con- 
 servatives would be beaten. Attempts made too late 
 to organize a fusion unfortunately failed, and the spirit 
 of secession advanced rapidly throughout the South. It 
 was at first vague, somewhat irresolute, and always con- 
 ditional. But the signs of its presence became clear 
 enough before the election in November to produce 
 uneasiness throughout the North — ^yet nothing more. 
 General Scott, being in chief command of the army and 
 looking at the question from the military point of view, 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 315 
 
 began in October to counsel the administration of Bu- 
 chanan in writing to make certain dispositions of the 
 armies which would prevent secession. (Life of Buchan- 
 an, 1866.) A communication October 31st from Colonel 
 Craig, ordnance oificer, to Secretary Floyd, that the 
 officer in charge of Fort Sumter desired a few small 
 arms to be given the workmen in the fort for protection 
 of government property, and asking authority to issue 
 forty muskets, was approved by Floyd and the order 
 issued. (Rebellion Rec, vol. 2, p. too.) A meeting 
 of a few prominent politicians at the home of Senator 
 Hammond in South Carolina, October 25, i860, to discuss 
 secession, has been often named as one of the prelimin- 
 aries of that event. In the meantime the fight was made 
 most aggressively by Northern leaders. (Sherman's 
 Recollections, vol. 2, pp. 199-203.) The States of Penn- 
 sylvania, Indiana, New Jersey and Delaware were con- 
 sidered doubtful, and in them the contest was warm even 
 to violence. The strong denunciations of Southern arro- 
 gance and open criticisms of Buchanan's administration 
 is "broken down, corrupt and demoralized," with never 
 ceasing appeals to the anti-slavery feeling by public 
 Speakers, were reproduced in hundreds of Northern news- 
 papers, which were circulated among Southern subscrib- 
 ers. The South saw itself already set aside so far as the 
 Presidential race was concerned. It was cut off from 
 practical participation in the election where the issue was 
 sectional, for whether it would or would not vote could 
 make no difference. A solid electoral Southern vote 
 could be only its protest in the Union under the Consti- 
 tution. The actual severance of the inter-state comity 
 which made North and South one country had already so 
 far happened that the executive and legislative policies 
 of the United States were dependent upon the result of 
 the conflict raging in the Northern States. It was evi- 
 dent that the North was about to decide the important 
 question whether the whole country composed of all the 
 States shall be ruled by a part of the States. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 THE CRISIS PRODUCED BY SECTIONALISM. 
 
 THE EFFECT PRODUCED BY THE PRESIDENTIAL CON- 
 TEST OF i860— NORTHERN RECOIL FROM THE 
 YAWNING BLOODY CHASM— COMMERCIAL INTER- 
 EST—SOUTHERN ALARM— SOUTHERN EFFORTS TO 
 AVOID SECESSION— RALLY OF THE NORTHERN EX- 
 TREMISTS—BUCHANAN'S PERPLEXITY— BEGINNING 
 OF FEDERAL MOVEMENTS TO HOLD THE SOUTH 
 BY FORCE — SECESSION MOVEMENTS IN THE 
 SOUTH. 
 
 nR. LINCOLN was elected to the Presidency by a 
 majority of the electoral votes of the States ex- 
 clusively North, but his electoral vote repre- 
 sented only about one-third of the individual voters of 
 the Union. He received 1,857,610 votes out of a few 
 less than 5,000,000 total cast. The section which had 
 gained a "fixed majority" of the electoral votes by 
 States, put a President and Vice-President in office 
 against the protesting votes of nearly three millions of the 
 voting people of the United States, and it should be ob- 
 served that even a united vote of the anti- Lincoln elect- 
 ors would not have changed the result. A minority of 
 States and of people placed a new administration in 
 power. The election was legal according to the letter 
 of the law, but this singular subjection of majority to 
 minority with its coincident paralysis of theVoting power 
 of the States in the South, occurred through the divisions 
 of the national conservative voters. The official count 
 of the votes was made in due time according to estab- 
 lished usage, whereupon Vice-President Breckinridge 
 made the announcement of Mr. Lincoln's election amid 
 
 316 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 317 
 
 the profound silence of assembled Congress, nor was the 
 proclamation saluted by a single cheer from the multi- 
 tude present in the capital at the time. More than re- 
 gret was felt at the result of this election in quite every 
 part of the United States. The feeling that a wrong had 
 occurred in the Republic under legal procedure at the 
 ballot box prevailed North as well as South. The na- 
 tional sense of propriety, of fairness, of generosity was 
 wounded. Northern States had banded together to use 
 the power of the State electoral vote under constitutional 
 forms in order to acquire political ascendency; giving 
 only the one reason for this movement, that the South- 
 em States possessed property under the same Constitu- 
 tion which ought not to be recognized. Regret was 
 quickly followed by anxiety for the consequences. The 
 North became excited with apprehensions of danger to 
 the Union, and public meetings were held in Northern 
 cities to express the sentiments of the people. (Lunt, 
 382.) The imports of specie, always sensitive, began to 
 decrease. Orders from America to Europe counter- 
 manded the orders previously sent, and foreign trade fell 
 off. Southern buyers of Northern goods, and Northern 
 sellers were in mutual distress. The tremblings of gen- 
 eral intersectional trade manifested the dangers into 
 which the peculiar system of interstate commerce had 
 been precipitated. The prices of securities fell and gov- 
 ernment credit went down. All business became de- 
 pressed. The mails bore tons of letters and circulars 
 from manufacturers and merchants deprecating disunion, 
 and presenting in strong terms the damage that would 
 follow sectional divisions. Business men publicly stated 
 the great value of the South to the Union and to the 
 trade of the North. "The North derives from forty to 
 fifty millions revenue annually from Southern consump- 
 tion through the tariff. The_ aggregate trade of the 
 South in Northern markets was estimated at $400,000,000 
 every year. " One statement was made that the North 
 
318 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 enjoyed a profit of $200,000,000 per annum out of its 
 Southern business. 
 
 Within five weeks after the election Northern efforts 
 were strenuously put forth to avert secession. (Blaine. ) 
 Chief Justice Shaw, lately of the Supreme court of 
 Massachusetts, united with about thirty eminent citizens 
 of his State in an address, strong in declarations of exist- 
 ing perils, and urging State action to soften the blow 
 which had fallen. A great mass meeting was held in 
 Philadelphia to assure the South that the impending 
 dangers would be averted. Jere Black, of Pennsylvania, 
 denounced "the success of the Republican party as a 
 portent of direst evil," pronouncing the fears of the 
 South natural, and their serious protest to be justifiable. 
 (Blaine, 231.) The elections in December in many 
 places showed a decrease of Republican strength. This 
 meager summary imperfectly shows the apprehensions 
 of civil trouble which now startled the thoughtful non- 
 partisan Northern population. 
 
 But in these thirty critical days, following the presi- 
 dential election, the disunion spirit both North and 
 South countervailed the conciliatory efforts of patriots 
 everywhere. There was a strong sentiment for separa- 
 tion existing in the North as well as the South. Its pres- 
 ence was evinced by the declarations of leaders like Sena- 
 tor Wade, who said in public speech to his people: "You 
 have no Union today worthy of the name. I am here a 
 conservative man, knowing as I do that the only salva- 
 tion to your Union is that you divest it entirely of the 
 taint of slavery. If we cannot have that, then I go for 
 no Union at all, but I go for a fight. " Mr. Chase advised 
 that "the South is not worth fighting for." Andrew 
 Johnson declared that Mr. Sumner wanted to break up 
 the government. Mr. Beecher pronounced the Constitu- 
 tion as the foundation of the troubles because it attempt- 
 ed to hold together two opposing principles which will 
 not agree. The Tribune, while ridiculing the Southern 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 319 
 
 people as "misguided, excited brethren," announced 
 that "if they choose to form an independent nation they 
 have a moral right to do so. " 
 
 The recoil, however, from the commercial results of 
 sectional ascendency, and the manifestations of angry 
 willingness in the North to have the Union relieved of 
 the South and its institutions, were by no means univer- 
 sal. Exasperating expressions uttered by the rallying 
 supporters of the new policy still more counteracted the 
 sincere endeavors of many great leaders North and 
 South to allay the engendered feeling. The spirit of 
 coercion, if that should become necessary, very quickly 
 answered the fears expressed that the valuable South 
 might be lost. (American Conflict, 356, 397.) Politics 
 of a party character began to work. (Blaine, 274.) The 
 radical press ridiculed the address of Judge Shaw and 
 his distinguished associates, and the great war Governor 
 of Massachusetts recommended in his message no con- 
 cessions to the rebellious South, intimating that if the 
 South seceded it would suffer the bloody fate of St. 
 Domingo. ''The sentiment of nine-tenths of the Free 
 States," said another leader, "is opposed to. compromise 
 of principle. These men want no compromise with slave 
 labor, no unfair competition between their adventurous 
 toil and the investments of Southern capital." Mr. Sher- 
 man, who was decidedly the most intellectual statesman 
 of his party, and a strong partisan as he states for him- 
 self, submitted to the Philadelphia meeting his opinion 
 that the Union of all the States must be maintained "un- 
 der all circumstances against all enemies at home or 
 abroad. Disunion is war ! God knows I do not threaten 
 it, for I will seek to prevent it in every way possible." 
 (Sherman's Recollections, p. 208.) A horrible suggestion 
 was made by others in order to show how powerless the 
 South was, that when the United States made war upon 
 seceded States servile insurrections would secure a 
 speedy subjugation. But this suggestion was promptly 
 
320 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 rebuked by such men as Edward Everett, who pronounced 
 the reliance on butchery of Southerners by negroes as 
 monstrous. Even this abated discussion of any sup- 
 posed rising of the Southern slaves shows the inflamed 
 condition of public sentiment, while it also disclosed the 
 general ignorance of the relations existing between mas- 
 ter and slave in the South. The waiting of the negroes 
 for war to end, while remaining faithful to the close, 
 surprised the North and evoked the generous spirit of 
 the South. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that there was no universal 
 hostility existing between the people at large of the two 
 sections. The angry fires burned at first in the hearts 
 of the few, who in sheer partisanship or in some degree 
 of fanaticism, regarded the issues North and South as 
 an irrepressible conflict indeed. 
 
 But there were many strong ties binding the citizenry 
 of the two sections in friendly unity. Business relations 
 may be mentioned first as extending into every Southern 
 town whose merchants traded in the Northern cities. 
 Social ties, formed among families, who by the thou- 
 sands had mingled in the summer months especially. 
 There were also strong political affinities of Southern 
 and Northern politicians. College attachments began 
 in many Northern colleges where the Southern youths 
 were sent to be educated. Army and navy comradeship 
 existed among the ofiicers. Intermarriages were numer- 
 ous. Northern born men who had come South left be- 
 hind them great numbers of kindred. 
 
 Turning from consideration of the public apprehen- 
 sions existing in the North, and surveying the South, we 
 discover equal evidences of alarm. The South saw that 
 it was a loser whether it remained in the Union or sepa- 
 rated from it. An uneasy feeling pervaded the masses 
 and extended among the commercial men in Southern 
 towns. Capital became alarmed. All classes of busi- 
 ness felt the shock of the apprehension of evil. Trade 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 321 
 
 was disturbed, investments ceased and general com- 
 merce was restrained. Money was hoarded and a cloud 
 of financial distress began to rise. The banks of the 
 South, being in close correspondence with those of the 
 North, gathered in their resources and looked forward to 
 necessitated suspension. The South had cherished an 
 idea that Lincoln could not be elected. The possibility 
 was at first contemplated, and urged as a ground of op- 
 position to him, by all lovers of fraternal Union through- 
 out the United States. His party was regarded awhile 
 by all political bodies South as their common enemy. 
 But divisions having taken place, and the sectional hos- 
 tility developing more and more, the possibility grew 
 rapidly during the canvass into a saddening probability, 
 ending at last in a despairing certainty. The extreme 
 Southern States especially were shocked by the news of 
 the disastrous defeat of all conservative candidates by 
 the one sectional candidate. Indignation and fears ex- 
 pressed by individuals, were taken up by the crowds 
 which met in the streets of towns and cities. Public 
 meetings were called to consider the situation. Legis- 
 latures in session at the time took up the dreadful ques- 
 tion. Governors of States either sent special messages 
 to the assembled legislators, or in States where the 
 legislature was not in session, the governors took other 
 official notice of the event. Governor Brown, of Georgia, 
 advised a restraining course of legislation against such 
 States in the North as had enacted laws hostile to the 
 South, and also a discrimination against the manufact- 
 ures or other products of such States. The election ol 
 Lincoln was held even by Union men in the South to be 
 a violation of national comity that should be submitted 
 to only temporarily. The election was conceded to be 
 constitutional, although effected by scarcely more than 
 one-third of the popular vote, and hence could not be 
 resisted on the plea of illegality. They agreed, that in- 
 asmuch as the whole South was not united on secession, 
 
 1-21 
 
322 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 it would be wise to wait long enough to secure co-opera- 
 tion. It was also hoped that the delay of a few months 
 would increase sympathy on behalf of the South, and the 
 North would have time to do justice. The South was 
 not prepared to go to war and in the opinion of many 
 "Secession meant war and war only." Some thought 
 that sufficient efforts for reconciliation had not been 
 made and urged the exhaustion of every remedy prior to 
 secession. "It is our duty," said these earnest men, "to 
 preserve our government for the sake of its example to 
 all people desiring the benefit of our free institutions. ' ' 
 Their plan was to call State conventions with the pur- 
 pose of sending authorized delegates to a general con- 
 vention of Southern States, which would make the 
 Southern demand for a fraternal settlement. If such a 
 settlement be refused then the whole South should with- 
 draw together and form a separate government. 
 
 "The time has come," said these Southern Union 
 men, "for the settlement finally of sectional questions 
 upon an enduring and unequivocal basis," and they pro- 
 posed to entrust to a general conference of Southern 
 States the duty of declaring what that basis should be. 
 Mr. Toombs, in a letter to citizens of Virginia early in 
 December, recommended delay of separate State seces- 
 sion until after the fourth of March, the day of Mr. Lin- 
 coln's inauguration, and also that some immediate action 
 be taken by Northern States favoring new constitutional 
 guarantees, and other evidences of their purpose to cease 
 sectional hostility. Within the four months yet before 
 the inaugural, the South could be made contented to re- 
 main in the Union, even under a sectional administra- 
 tion, but if no such action be taken, if this test should 
 fail to show Northern fraternal spirit, then the time for 
 action would be brought on. Mr. Toombs also thought 
 at that time, early in December, that this much of delay 
 was due the hopeful men who believed redress could be 
 obtained without disunion. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 323 
 
 These views in the South concerning co-operation of 
 Southern States in common policy were exceedingly- 
 popular during November and December, i860. Their 
 popularity, however, was decreased by the open oppo- 
 sition to any compromise by the controlling radical ele- 
 ment in the victorious new party. The conciliatory 
 voice of the commercial interests, and the pathetic plead- 
 ings of such men as those who had assembled in various 
 Northern cities to allay the unseemly strife, were 
 drowned by the cry that the party which had won the 
 fight must dictate the policy of its administration. It 
 was further answered that the action of a convention of 
 States to secede together, would be a combination vio- 
 lating the expressed prohibitions of the Constitution, and 
 that there was, according to the judgment of jurists, no 
 legal secession except by separate State ordinance. Dis- 
 union by separate secession, therefore, grew rapidly in 
 the favor of several States before the date of Carolina's 
 ordinance of secession. 
 
 The month of November was crowded with significaiit 
 events, which may be mentioned in brief terms: In ac- 
 cordance with its own law the legislature of South Caro- 
 lina met November sth to choose its presidential electors, 
 but the absorbing question was the course the State 
 should pursue. Resolutions were offered in the Senate 
 proposing secession by co-operation with other States 
 which were supported by a few members. (Am. Con- 
 flict, 333, 335.) Meanwhile an inspection of the forts 
 was going on by orders of Mr. Floyd, secretary of war, 
 who was known to be opposed to secession. (Records, 
 II, 70, 74, 76.) The United States officers in Forts 
 Moultrie and Sumter displayed unusual activity in work 
 upon their respective positions. The Georgia legis- 
 lature met on the Sth and the message of its governor 
 foreshadowed to South Carolina the co-operation of his 
 State. Mr. Stephens threw all his influence against 
 secession in a speech of remarkable power, and opened an 
 
324 CONFEDERA TE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 unsatisfactory correspondence with Mr. Lincoln in regard 
 to his policy. The Louisiana legislature, after discus- 
 sion, proposed a convention to be held at once. Greeley 
 so severely attacked the South as to draw out replies 
 from Governor Seymour and others. The reports made 
 daily by the Southern press of proceedings at the North, 
 and the unsatisfactory course of the Buchanan adminis- 
 tration, only deepened the convictions of South Carolina, 
 and amidst the conditions of public sentiment no other 
 course except that of a call for a convention of the State 
 could have been taken. By the mere accident that un- 
 der the old usage of this State its legislature met at the 
 time of the presidential election, the responsibility of 
 leading in secession fell upon South Carolina, and hence 
 on the 1 2th of November the legislature passed the bill 
 to call a convention, but placed the time of its assem- 
 bling December 17 th, more than six weeks from the 
 presidential election, giving ample time in the emer- 
 gency for a full vote of its people. 
 
 The legislatures of Georgia, North Carolina, Missis- 
 sippi and Alabama met during November, and were fol- 
 lowed by other States in the call for separate State con- 
 ventions. Thus early, and in ample time for initiating 
 an adjustment, the administration of Buchanan was sum- 
 moned to the high duty of making the Union secure, 
 and the interests of all sections safe, even under the rule 
 of the geographical party by which it had been defeated. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 OPPORTUNITY TO STAY SECESSION LOST. 
 
 YET FOUR MONTHS OF POWER— BUCHANAN'S VAC- 
 ILLATION—OPINION AGAINST COERCION— SCOTT 
 PROPOSES FORCE— MAJOR ANDERSON INSTRUCTED 
 —REINFORCEMENT OF SUMTER CONSIDERED- 
 UNITED STATES CONGRESS TAKES UP THE CRISIS 
 —CRITTENDEN, STEPHENS AND DAVIS IN AND OUT 
 OF CONGRESS PLEAD FOR AN ADJUSTMENT— COM- 
 MITTEE OF THIRTY-THREE AND COMMITTEE OF 
 THIRTEEN. 
 
 THERE were yet four months of the Buchanan ad- 
 ministration, from November 3, i860, to March 4, 
 1 86 1, during which time the majority of the peo- 
 ple favorable to the peaceful settlement of all issues 
 between themselves and the South had control of the 
 government and power to define its policy. The folly of 
 division among those who had supported national parties 
 was now clearly seen, and early in November the temper 
 of the North was conciliatory, and the sentiment in the 
 South, except South Carolina, was stronger for the 
 Union than against it. President Buchanan had already 
 suffered by the breach in his party, and now had suffi- 
 cient cause to fear that a broken Union would pass from 
 his hands into the direction of the triumphant Republi- 
 cans. Unfortunately, he seems to have despaired at 
 once of any arrest of the progress of secession, and only 
 hoped to cast the responsibility of making war upon his 
 successor. In this condition the South was without 
 power over the Northern States and without substantial 
 influence in the general government. Although its 
 friends were victorious in the general ballot, they were 
 
 325 
 
326 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 beaten in the electoral vote, and now the South was in a 
 fixed minority, utterly unable to pass any resolutions in 
 Congress, or direct any act of the President. 
 
 It has been unjustly said of President Buchanan that 
 "not a step was taken by his administration before the 
 meeting of Congress in December to arrest the progress 
 of secession. " It is true that the President manifested 
 irresolution as to the methods he should adopt to stay 
 the movement of the South, but there is no proof that he 
 was influenced to consent to the withdrawal of any State. 
 His apparent vacillations were those of a man whose 
 purpose was fixed, but whose mind failed to comprehend 
 the means that should be used. Hence he threaded his 
 way painfully through an ever-thickening maze of diffi- 
 culties, until he wearily dragged himself to the mark 
 where his official responsibility ceased. His cabinet, 
 with a controlling majority composed of anti-secessionists, 
 had consulted often on the policy of the government in 
 the one absorbing question. Even in October Gen. 
 Scott's plans to make secession impossible, were respect- 
 fully considered and rejected because they were imprac- 
 ticable. Such a movement of the United States troops, 
 as proposed by Gen. Scott, toward the forts and garrisons 
 in the South, making plain the purpose " to pin the South 
 to the Union by bayonets, ' ' would have precipitated war 
 before the election, and resulted in the capture of the 
 entire regular army in detail. It was therefore declined, 
 and the attention of the administration was turned to- 
 ward the abandonment of South Carolina to its secession 
 purposes, in the hope of confining the movement to that 
 one State. The resignations of Federal judicial officers 
 in South Carolina occurred in November, but so far as 
 other functions of government could be performed they 
 were still executed as if no discontent prevailed, and in 
 the meantime Mr. Floyd, secretary of war, ordered Col. 
 Porter, November 6th, to inspect troops and fortifications 
 in Charleston Harbor, who made the inspection and re- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 327 
 
 turned a full report on the following week. The work 
 on the several forts was increased through the energies 
 of Captain Foster and Major Robert Anderson. Major 
 Anderson, Under instructions from Secretary Floyd, re- 
 ported the improved condition of the forts, made further 
 suggestions as to the best means of making any attack 
 from Charleston futile, and said significantly, ' ' There is 
 not so much feverish excitement as there was last week, 
 but that there is a settled determination to leave the 
 Union and to obtain possession of this work (Fort 
 Moultrie) is apparent to all. . . I do, therefore, most ear- 
 nestly entreat that a reinforcement be immediately sent 
 to this garrison, and that at least two companies be sent 
 at the same time to Fort Sumter and Castle Pinckney — 
 half a company under a judicious commander sufficing, I 
 think, for the latter work. I feel the full responsibility 
 of making the above suggestions, because I firmly be- 
 lieve that as soon as the people of South Carolina learn 
 that I have demanded reinforcements and that they have 
 been ordered, they will occupy Castle Pinckney and 
 attack this fort. It is, therefore, of vital importance that 
 the troops embarked, say in war steamers, shall be des- 
 ignated for other duty. " (Records, I, 75.) 
 
 Thus early the administration was brought to consider 
 the question of reinforcement as an act of war. Maj. 
 Anderson advised the reinforcement secretly by the 
 strategy of designating in public orders the expedition 
 for other duty, but in reality to relieve and strengthen 
 the forts in Charleston Harbor. Captain Foster advised 
 that " in case the department does not consider it ex- 
 pedient to send troops ' ' there should be a corps of em- 
 ployes armed to be effective as soldiers in an emergency. 
 The administration adopted Foster's suggestion at once 
 and took that of Maj. Anderson into the consideration 
 which its gravity demanded. (Records, I, 77.) 
 
 It thus appears that during two months before the 
 withdrawal of South Carolina, the administration, through 
 
328 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 the energetic action of the general-in-chief and its mil- 
 itary officers in South Carolina, did whatever was in its 
 power short of an open act of hostility to make the 
 secession ineffective. What it did, however, was irritat- 
 ing to the people since all the proceedings of the govern- 
 ment were well understood in Charleston and all 
 exhibited the purpose of Mr. Buchanan to hold the forts if 
 possible against any attempt of South Carolina to occupy 
 them. It is just to say that the administration of 
 Buchanan did enough in November toward strengthening 
 the harbor defenses in its possession, to justify the ap- 
 prehensions of the people of Charleston that their city 
 might be cut off from the world, and.be made defenseless 
 in the event that South Carolina seceded. (Life of 
 Buchanan.) 
 
 President Buchanan fortified his policy by asking very 
 early in November the official opinion of Attorney-Gen- 
 eral Black, which was delivered on the 20th of the month. 
 According to that opinion the President had only the duty 
 of executing the laws of the Union, without resorting to 
 military force against a State declaring its withdrawal from 
 the Union. He said, " If it be true that war cannot be de- 
 clared nor a system of general hostilities carried on by 
 the General Government against a State, then it seems to 
 follow that an attempt to do so would be ipso facto an ex- 
 pulsion of such State from the Union. Being treated as 
 an alien and an enemy she would be compelled to act 
 accordingly ; and if Congress shall break up the present 
 Union by unconstitutionally putting strife and enmity 
 and armed hostility between different sections of the 
 country instead of the ' domestic tranquillity ' which the 
 Constitution was meant to insure, will not all the States 
 be absolved from their Federal obligations? Is any por- 
 tion of the people bound to contribute their money or 
 their blood to carry on a contest like that?" Upon the 
 legal opinion of this great constitutional lawyer from 
 Pennsylvania and on the judgment of his cabinet, com- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 329 
 
 posed of Cass of Michigan, Floyd of Virginia, Toucey of 
 Connecticut, Cobb of Georgia, Holt of Kentucky, Thomp- 
 son of Mississippi, and Black of Pennsylvania, none of 
 whom were disunionists, unless Mr. Cobb of Georgia be 
 so considered, the President held to his declared policy 
 until the assembling of Congress. 
 
 In addition to these efforts to preserve the status quo, 
 President Buchanan called to Washington from various 
 sections of the Union a number of patriotic and eminent 
 men to get their counsel on the grave situation. This was 
 done also in November, previous to the assembly of Con- 
 gress, and among the number thus summoned was Mr. 
 Jefferson Davis, senator from Mississippi. Mr. Davis, in 
 speaking of events preceding hostilities and of the promin- 
 ent civil actors remarked, "Mr. Buchanan was an able man 
 but a timid one. If he had had the nerve to deal with 
 the situation as its gravity demanded, I doubt exceedingly 
 whether any other State South would have followed 
 South Carolina into secession. Had he withdrawn the 
 troops from Sumter, it would have been such a conspic- 
 uous act of conciliation that the States would not, I be- 
 lieve, have called conventions to consider the act of 
 secession, or if they had, the ordinances would not have 
 passed. I was not one of those who believed that there 
 could be a peaceable separation of the States but could 
 not convince our people of it. ' ' 
 
 The United States Congress met December 3rd, i860, 
 all States being represented in the House, and all in the 
 Senate except South Carolina, whose senators did not 
 occupy their seats. The message of President Buchanan, 
 after describing the great prosperity of the United 
 States, asks the question, "Why is it then that discon- 
 tent now so extensively prevails?" And the true answer 
 is given that ' ' the long continued and intemperate inter- 
 ference of the Northern people with the question of 
 slavery in the Southern States has at last produced its 
 natural effects. The different sections of the Union are 
 
330 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 now arrayed against each other and the time arrived so 
 much dreaded by the 'Father of his Country' when hos- 
 tile geographical parties have been formed." The mes- 
 sage discussed with clearness the just complaint made by 
 the Southern people against the sectional and meddle- 
 some legislation of Northern States and on this the lan- 
 guage of this Northern-born President is as strong in its 
 presentation of Southern views as can be found in any 
 speech made by such representative leaders as Mr. 
 Crittenden, Mr. Stephens, Mr. Mason and Mr. Jefferson 
 Davis. Referring to the ease with which the disturbing 
 cause could be removed and peace restored to the dis- 
 tracted country, the venerable President said, " How easy 
 would it be for the American people to settle the slavery 
 question forever and to restore peace and harmony to 
 this distracted country ! They, and they alone can do it. 
 All that is necessary to accomplish the object and all for 
 which the slave States have ever contended is to be let 
 alone and permitted to manage their domestic insti- 
 tutions in their own way. As sovereign States, they, 
 and they alone are responsible before God and the world 
 for the slavery existing among them. ' ' The message 
 censured the nullification laws of several Northern States 
 called Personal Liberty bills and declared that the other 
 States had the right to demand their repeal as an act of 
 justice. " Should this be refused, then the Constitution 
 to which all the States are parties will have been willfully 
 violated by one portion of them in a provision essential 
 to the domestic security and happiness of the remainder. 
 In that event the injured States, after having used all 
 peaceful and constitutional means to obtain redress, 
 would be justified in revolutionary resistance to the gov- 
 ernment of the Union." The position taken in the 
 message that secession was unconstitutional but coercion 
 was equally so, subjected the President to severe criti- 
 cism. He was accused of evading the duty devolved on 
 him of settling the dispute by a vigorous resistance to 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 331 
 
 the spirit of secession, or by the acquiescence of the 
 United States in an act which was deemed deplorable 
 but nevertheless constitutional. The South rested its 
 case on the justification of resistance and not on the form 
 of resistance. If revolutionary resistance was justifiable, 
 the justification of secession was proved, since in its 
 worst aspect secession by States can only be revolution 
 by their people. 
 
 These official declarations of the President were re- 
 garded as of somewhat doubtful interpretation and there- 
 fore did not give satisfaction. Yet the general effect of 
 the message throughout the South was to induce further 
 effort in the direction indicated by the Virginia speech 
 of Mr. Toombs to secure protection against sectional 
 aggression by the new administration before the final 
 step of revolution or secession should be taken. It 
 strengthened the hope of the Union men in the South, 
 that speedy action might be taken in accordance with the 
 plan of the President, to make such constitutional amend- 
 ments and such State legislation as would secure the 
 Southern States against external assaults upon their 
 property, leaving them to deal with the troublesome 
 problem in their own way. 
 
 The message was referred to the House committee of 
 thirty-three, one from each State appointed by the 
 speaker, but this committee was regarded by many mem- 
 bers as being unfortunately or ominously constructed, 
 since there were sixteen members taken from the sup- 
 porters of Mr. Lincoln who represented a little more than 
 one-third of the voters in the United States, and also 
 because "there was not a single representative of the 
 National Democratic party on the committee from the 
 sixteen free States. ' ' Mr. McClernand, of Illinois, de- 
 nounced the manner in which the committee had been 
 constituted by Speaker Corwin as an offensive discrimi- 
 nation against the Northern Democracy. (Cong. Globe.) 
 
 When the Senate received the message, an intensely 
 
332 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 interesting discussion occurred at once. Mr. Clingman, 
 of North Carolina, said that " the general tone of the 
 message is eminently patriotic, but it falls short of stating 
 the case now before the country. It is not merely that a 
 dangerous man has been elected to' the Presidency of 
 the United States. We know that under our complicated 
 system that might very well occur by accident and he be 
 powerless ; but I assert that the President-elect has been 
 elected because he was known to be a dangerous man. 
 He avows the principle of the 'Irrepressible conflict;' 
 he declares that it is the purpose of the North to make 
 war upon my section until its social system has been 
 destroyed and for that he was taken up and elected. 
 That declaration of war is dangerous because it has been 
 endorsed by a majority of the votes of the free States in 
 the late election. It is this great, remarkable and dan- 
 gerous fact that has filled my section with alarm and 
 dread for the future. ' ' Mr. Lane, of Oregon, said, ' ' It 
 is the principles upon which the late election has taken 
 place that have given rise to the trouble. Never in any 
 previous presidential election has the issue been so fully 
 put, so directly made as in the late one. ' ' Mr. Brown, 
 of Mississippi, asked, " Do you mean to say that we shall 
 neither have peace in the Union, nor be allowed the poor 
 boon of seeking it out of the Union? " Mr. Douglas de- 
 clared that he was ' ' willing to act with any party, with 
 any individual of any party who will come to this ques- 
 tion with an eye single to the preservation of the Con- 
 stitution and the Union. " Mr. Jefferson Davis, following 
 Mr. Douglas, stated that he did not intend to enter into 
 a statement of grievances. " I do not here intend to 
 renew the war of crimination which for years past has 
 disturbed the country and in which I have taken a part 
 perhaps more zealous than useful ; but I call upon all men 
 who have in their hearts a love of the Union, and whose 
 service is not merely that of the Up, to look the question 
 calmly but fully in the face that they may see the true 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 333 
 
 cause of our danger, which from my examination I believe 
 to be that a sectional hostility has been substituted for a 
 general fraternity and thus the government rendered 
 powerless for the ends for which it is constituted. Then, 
 where is the remedy? the question may be asked. In the 
 hearts of the people, is the ready reply ; and therefore it 
 is that I turn to the other side of this chamber, to the 
 majority section, to the section in which have been com- 
 mitted the acts that now threaten the dissolution of the 
 Union. I call on you, the representatives of that sec- 
 tion, here and now to say so if your people are not hos- 
 tile, if thej' have the fraternity with which their fathers 
 came to form the Union ; if they are prepared to do jus- 
 tice ; to abandon their opposition to the Constitution and 
 the laws of the Union; to recognize, and to maintain, 
 and to defend all the rights and benefits the Union was 
 designed to promote and to secure. Give us that declar- 
 ation ; give us that evidence of the will of your constitu- 
 ency to restore us to our original position when mutual 
 kindness was the animating motive and then we may 
 hopefully look for remedies which may sufiice ; — not by 
 organizing armies, not so much by enacting laws, as by 
 repressing the spirit of hostility and lawlessness, and 
 seeking to live up to the obligations of good neighbors 
 and friendly States united for the common welfare. ' ' 
 
 Pending the general discussion a resolution was offered 
 to appoint the Senate committee of thirteen to consider 
 and report on the present agitated and distracted condi- 
 tion of the country, which was at length adopted. The 
 committee was appointed December 20th, composed of 
 Powell, Hunter, Crittenden, Seward, Toombs, Douglas, 
 Collamer, Jefferson Davis, Wade, Bigler, Rice, Doolittle 
 and Grimes. Mr. Crittenden also offered his celebrated 
 resolutions, upon which the eminently patriotic senior 
 senator hoped that peaceful agreement might be reached. 
 These resolutions provided that certain amendments to 
 the Constitution prohibiting slavery in all territories 
 
334 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 north of 36° 30' ; and allowing its existence in territories 
 south of that line, but requiring admission of States with 
 or without slavery as the constitution of new States may- 
 provide. Also forbidding Congress to abolish slavery in 
 any place within the limits of the slave States, or in the 
 District of Columbia as long as it exists in Maryland or 
 Virginia. The resolutions also provided for paymeiit to 
 the owner of a fugitive slave the value of his property 
 where the restoration was prevented, and expressly 
 reaffirmed that Congress had no power to interfere with 
 slavery in the States. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SECESSION MADE INEVITABLE. 
 
 VIGOROUS WORK TO STRENGTHEN FORT SUMTER— 
 CABINET OFFICERS RESIGN— BUCHANAN'S POLICY 
 LOOKS WARLIKE— SEWARD CALLS SECESSION A 
 HUMBUG— LINCOLN INSTRUCTS AGAINST COM- 
 PROMISE—ELECTION IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND 
 SECESSION ORDINANCE PASSED— COMMISSIONERS 
 PROM SOUTH CAROLINA SENT TO WASHINGTON- 
 ANDERSON'S STRATEGY IN MOVING FROM FORT 
 MOULTRIE AN ACT OF WAR— LINCOLN IN DECEM- 
 BER ADVISES SCOTT TO HOLD THE 1 ...PS OR 
 RETAKE THEM— FAILURES OF PEACE MEASURES 
 IN CONGRESS— THE DARK DAY. 
 
 SUSPENDING attention to the action of Congress 
 during December, it will be observed that events 
 were thickening the political sky of the Union, of 
 which a mere summary is all that need be given. De- 
 cember ist, Maj. Anderson informs Adjutant-General 
 Cooper that South Carolina regards the landing of stores 
 at the forts, and the proposed vigorous work to put 
 them in a state of defense as acts of aggression and advises 
 the government to determine at once its course in the 
 event of the secession of the State. Mr. Floyd, secretary 
 of war, instructs Anderson, December i ith, to avoid every 
 act which would provoke aggression, but to hold posses- 
 sion of the forts and if attacked to defend them to the last 
 extremity. The South Carolina State government resolves 
 to permit no assault by any unorganized body of men on 
 the forts and to await the assembling of the convention. 
 Mr. Cobb, secretary of the treasury, resigns, assigning as 
 his reason that his duty to Georgia demanded it, and the 
 vacancy was supplied by the appointment of Mr. Philip 
 
 335 
 
336 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 F. Thomas. Mr. Cass, soon afterward, December 12th, 
 resigned the portfolio of state on account of his disagree- 
 ment with the administration on the question of rein- 
 forcement of Anderson at Charleston Harbor, and 
 Attorney-General Black assumed his place. Mr. Stanton 
 enters the cabinet as attorney-general. Public discuss- 
 ions take place in many Southern States and elections 
 are held for delegates to State conventions. A public 
 meeting was held in Baltimore to hear the speech of a 
 commissioner from Mississippi. The State of South Caro- 
 lina secedes December 20th, and appoints Barnwell, 
 Adams and Orr commissioners to proceed to Washington 
 to treat for the possession of the United States property 
 within the limits of that State. A public me ' ' 2; held 
 in New York City, December 2 2d, was addressed by Mr. 
 Seward, in which he expressed the opinion that the ex- 
 ample of South Carolina would not be followed by many 
 other States and that for every State that will go out there 
 will be two to take its place glad to come in. ' ' You will 
 see Canada and all the Mexican States rushing in to fill up 
 the vacancy. ' ' Pronouncing secession a humbug and a 
 delusion, he avowed that no State should be allowed to 
 secede, advised coolness and kindness, with the predic- 
 tion that the suns of sixty days will give a brighter 
 atmosphere. (Ency. Am. of 1861, p. 530.) During this 
 eventful month the President-elect, Mr. Lincoln, was in 
 active correspondence with the leaders of his party in 
 which he early gave the advice, " prevent as far as possi- 
 ble any of our friends from demoralizing themselves and 
 our cause by entertaining propositions for compromise of 
 any sort on slavery extension. There is no possible com- 
 promise upon it but which puts us under again and all 
 our work to do over again." (Reminiscences, p. 30.) 
 
 The secession of South Carolina from the United 
 States was effected by the ordinance of a convention 
 elected by qualified voters of the State under the provis- 
 ions of the act of its legislature. The act of the conven- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 337 
 
 tion is properly called an ordinance because of its 
 supremely important character, and it is noticeable that 
 all measures were adopted which would give dignity to 
 this extraordinary assertion of the sovereignty residing 
 in the people of the State. It was by the accident of its 
 legislature being assembled according to the usage of 
 South Carolina to choose presidential electors, that this 
 State gained its distinctive precedence in the procession 
 of States into the Confederacy. In the report of one of 
 the committees of the convention the belief is expressed 
 that " the sister States of the South will correctly inter- 
 pret our action in taking the initiative as arising by no 
 means from any presumptuous arrogance, but from the 
 
 advanced position which circumstances have gf to this 
 
 State in the line of procedure for the great design, the 
 rights, the security and the very existence of the slave- 
 holding South." 
 
 The South Carolina legislature being in session on the 
 presidential election day directed the vote of the State 
 to be cast for Breckinridge and proceeded on the next 
 day to consider the grave situation created by the success 
 of the sectional party. An act carefully worded was 
 passed calling for a convention of the State to meet at 
 Columbia, December 17 th, and providing for the election 
 of delegates. The retiring governor. Gist, in his final 
 message expressed his trust that " by the 28th of Decem- 
 ber, no flag but the Palmetto will float over any part of 
 South Carolina, ' ' and his successor, Governor Pickens, in 
 his inaugural condemned " the great overt act of the peo- 
 ple in the Northern States at the ballot box in the exercise 
 of their sovereign power at the polls from which there is 
 no higher appeal recognized under our system of gov- 
 ernment in its ordinary operations. ' ' After passing the 
 convention bill and a few other measures called for by 
 the proposed secession the legislature took a recess until 
 the 1 7th day of December, which had been designated 
 as the day on which the convention was to assemble. 
 
 1-22 
 
338 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Immediately after the adjournment of the convention 
 the people of the State nominated candidates and pro- 
 ceeded with the election according to the law of the 
 State. The most eminent and conservative citizens 
 were selected as delegates and when the convention 
 assembled at noon, December 17th, 1861, it was found to 
 be composed of the most intelligent members of the 
 commonwealth. Mr. David Jamison was selected as 
 president and the convention adjourned to meet at 
 Charleston the next day. On assembling in Charleston 
 a committee to draft an ordinance of secession was 
 appointed composed of Inglis, Rhett, Chestnut, Orr, 
 Maxcy Gregg, Dunkin and Hudson. In addition to this 
 committee others were appointed on relation' —'th the 
 Southern States, on foreign relations, on the State con- 
 stitution and one to prepare an address to the people of 
 the South. 
 
 After two days the first committee appointed to draft 
 an ordinance of secession made their formal report, sub- 
 mitting with it for the consideration of the convention 
 the following measure : 
 
 " An ordinance to dissolve the Union between the State 
 of South Carolina and other States united with her under 
 the compact entitled, ' The Constitution of the United 
 States of America. ' 
 
 " We, the people of the State of South Carolina, in con- 
 vention assembled, do declare and ordain and it is hereby 
 declared and ordained that the ordinance adopted by us 
 in convention on the twenty-third day of May in the 
 year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and 
 Eighty-eight, whereby the Constitution of the United 
 States was ratified, and also all acts and all parts of acts 
 of the General Assembly of the State ratifying amend- 
 ments of the said Constitution, are hereby repealed, and 
 the Union now subsisting between South Carolina and 
 other States under the name of the United States of 
 America is hereby dissolved. " 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 339 
 
 The convention was fully prepared to vote and the 
 ordinance was passed unanimously. Thus South Caro- 
 lina was placed in political relations where the State 
 stood on the date of the Declaration of Independence, 
 July 4th, 1776. The passage of the act was followed by 
 a ceremonial signing, which was done in the presence of 
 the governor and both branches of the legislature, after 
 which President Jamison announced, ' ' The Ordinance of 
 Secession has been signed and ratified, and I proclaim 
 the State of South Carolina an independent common- 
 wealth. " On the 24th Governor Pickens issued his 
 formal proclamation, announcing the same event and 
 declaring to the world that South Carolina " is, as she 
 has a right to be, a separate, sovereign, free ' inde- 
 pendent State. ' ' 
 
 The " Address of the convention to the Southern 
 States " and the " Declaration of the causes which justify 
 the secession of South Carolina from the Union " were 
 read and adopted after full debate. The committee on 
 relations with Southern States advised the appointment 
 of a commissioner to each State convention as the 
 bearer of our invitation to unite in forming a Southern 
 Confederacy under a Constitution similar to that of the 
 United States. The convention passed provisional reg- 
 ulations for continuing commerce and administering 
 State government in all departments, thus securing the 
 people against anarchy. 
 
 The distinguished commissioners to the United States 
 appointed by the convention — Mr. Barnwell, Mr. Adams 
 and Mr. Orr, reached Washington on the 26th, and on 
 the 28th sent in their credentials with a letter to the 
 President. By the untimely and unadvised maneuvre 
 of Maj. Anderson at this juncture, December 27th, in 
 removing his command from Fort Moultrie to Fort 
 Sumter, spiking the guns, burning the carriages and 
 cutting down the flag staff, the situation was suddenly 
 and fatally changed. This warlike strategic movement 
 
340 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 caused the South Carolina military to occupy Port Moul- 
 trie and Castle Pinckney, producing a movement of 
 troops under arms and placing them at once in hostile 
 attitude. This movement was made by the gallant 
 Anderson under a rumor that he was about to be 
 attacked. He acted under a mistake but nevertheless 
 his maneuvre was an act of military hostility. It was 
 doubly unfortunate because it violated the understanding 
 between the President and the South Carolina authorities, 
 and now broke off the negotiations between the commis- 
 sioners and the President Mr. Buchanan stated that 
 Maj. Anderson acted upon his own responsibility and 
 without instructions and that his first promptings were 
 to command him to return to his former pc n, but 
 now he accepted the act and declared he would defend 
 Fort Sumter. 
 
 It is probable that verbal interviews with Maj. Ander- 
 son were more extensive than appears in the written 
 memorandum, and that this officer had been impressed 
 with the fact that the responsibility would be laid upon 
 him as the military commander in order that the civil 
 authorities might escape without reproach. It is inferred 
 from the last clause of the instructions to Anderson that 
 the pledge not to change the military status of the forts 
 should be broken whenever he deemed it prudent to 
 evacuate one or more forts in order to concentrate upon 
 another. 
 
 South Carolina, however, was relying upon no reinforce- 
 ment being attempted and no changes taking place in the 
 military status. The Federal administration was there- 
 fore compelled to defend itself against the charge that 
 the pledge had been secretly disregarded and was now 
 openly broken. Buchanan assured the commissioners 
 that when he learned that Anderson had left Fort Moul- 
 trie for Sumter his first promptings were to command 
 him to return, but excused his neglect to pursue this wise 
 course on the plea that this could only have been done 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 841 
 
 with any degree of safety to the command by the concur- 
 rence of the South CaroHna authorities. He does not 
 state that he knew of this movement on the morning of 
 the 27th and that he could have sent instructions to 
 Anderson by telegram within an hour. His hesitation 
 throughout the days of the 27th and the 28th and even 
 to the 31st, which is the date of his reply, to take the 
 step dictated by the promptings of his best judgment, 
 put him and his government in the wrong, and justified 
 Carolina in the general belief that the plighted faith of 
 the United States had been violated. On the 27th the 
 South Carolina flag was raised over Pinckney and on the 
 night of the 2 7th South Carolina troops occupied, without 
 firing a gun, the abandoned Moultrie. The State was at 
 that time claiming to be an independent repubL^ entitled 
 to occupy all the forts within its territory. It was peace- 
 fully waiting for them to be evacuated. It had kept its 
 plighted word to the United States government. There 
 appeared to be no other course to pursue except the 
 occupation of the deserted fort. Buchanan complains 
 that the State without waiting for or asking for any ex- 
 planations and doubtless believing that the officer had 
 acted not only without but against the President's orders, 
 on the very next day after the night when the removal 
 was made, seized by a military force two of the three 
 Federal forts in the harbor of Charleston and covered 
 them under their own flag instead of that of the United 
 States. The State of South Carolina and the South gen- 
 erally construed this movement of Maj. Anderson as an 
 act of war, a hostile maneuvre, authorized by his own 
 understanding of the real intentions of his government. 
 Anderson desired to avoid bloodshed by an act in itself 
 hostile but which would deter the Carolinians from mak- 
 ing an attack. He gave up two forts to make himself 
 strong in the third and by doing so committed the act of 
 war. The citizens of a peaceful town can be so invested 
 by guns as to force a surrender without bloodshed and 
 
342 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 without the firing of a gun by either party. The invest- 
 ment would nevertheless be an act of war. The move- 
 ment of troops to take a better position in view of hostili- 
 ties would be war. The order to move would be the first 
 act of war. The official inauguration of war may be 
 made by one party, and the first gun may be fired and 
 the first blood may be drawn by the other. An assault 
 with intent to murder may precede any blow. The 
 defense by the assailed party may be the first blow 
 struck. The justification is that the blow was struck 
 against one who manifestly intended to kill. Anderson 
 expressed the wish that "South Carolina will not attempt 
 to take the forts by force but will resort to diplomacy to 
 secure them. (Records I, 76.) He also asked '— special 
 instructions, " As my position here is rather a politico- 
 military than a military one. ' ' The conclusion from all 
 these occurrences is, that the State intended to secede 
 peaceably, and " that the United States intended to 
 make secession impossible. ' ' 
 
 The commissioners of South Carolina, having wholly 
 failed in the negotiations with which they were intrusted, 
 reported the entire correspondence between themselves 
 and the United States executive, and the convention 
 having concluded its work adjourned the 5th of January, 
 1861. 
 
 It is a noteworthy incident of the times that on the 21st 
 of December, the day after the secession of South Caro- 
 lina, and nearly a week before the occupation of any fort 
 by South Carolina, Mr. Lincoln wrote the following 
 letter to Mr. E, B. Washbume, marked " Confidential " 
 but given to the public in 1885 : 
 
 " Springfield, Dec. 21, i860. 
 Hon. E. B. Washburne, 
 
 My Dear Sir : — Last night I received your letter giv- 
 ing an account of your interview with Gen. Scott, for 
 which I thank you. Please present my respects to the 
 General and tell him confidentially I shall be obliged to 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 343 
 
 him to be as well prepared as he can to either hold or 
 retake the forts as the case may require at and after the 
 inauguration. 
 
 Yours, as ever, 
 
 A. Lincoln." 
 
 On the next day, December 2 2d, i860, Mr. Lincoln 
 wrote to Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, a letter marked ' ' For 
 your eye only, " in which he asks, " Do the people of the 
 South entertain fears that a Republican administration 
 would directly or indirectly interfere with the slaves, or 
 with them about their slaves? If they do I wish to assure 
 you as once a friend and still I hope not an enemy, that 
 there is no cause for fears. ' ' (War between the States 
 I, 267.) 
 
 Taking up again the proceedings of Congre£_ ..r brief 
 review, the severe charge made against it by President 
 Buchanan may be recalled that it ' ' deliberately refused 
 throughout the entire session to pass any act or resolution 
 either to preserve the Union by peaceful measures or to 
 furnish the President or his successor with a military 
 force to repel any attack which might be made by the 
 Cotton States." In his opinion the opposing parties 
 instead of presenting the peaceful aspect becoming the 
 representatives of a great confederacy assembled to 
 promote the various interests of their constituency, 
 breathed nothing but mutual defiance. Severe as this 
 indictment is, it was evidently made upon the evidence 
 furnished by speeches and ballots influenced rather by 
 ambitious dreams of party supremacy, than by patriotism. 
 Northern statesmen either did not appreciate the danger 
 or were willing to hazard everything on the chances of 
 war. Yet the charge is too generally sweeping to be 
 accepted as history. Resolutions were offered, other 
 forms of legislation were attempted and there were 
 occasions when the change of a few votes would have 
 stayed secession and restored the Union. 
 
 The most prominent of these opportunities were fur- 
 
344 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 nished by the resolutions offered in the Senate and also 
 to the committee of thirteen by the venerable Critten- 
 den. This Senate committee of thirteen unfortunately 
 met late in December, not assembling until action had 
 been taken by South Carolina. In fact not only the 
 preceding three weeks of the congressional session, but 
 months of irritating canvass for the presidency, had been 
 employed more in facilitating the disruption, than in 
 efforts to restore the distracted country to a state of har- 
 mony. The President next waited for Congress, and 
 Congress on assembling threw the responsibility upon 
 the Northern States, without considering that these 
 States had already acted and could not now be brought 
 to consider a compromise early enough to arrest the 
 movement of secession which was necessarily swiiL. 
 
 The Senate committee of thirteen was composed of 
 five Republicans from the North, three Northern Dem- 
 ocrats and five senators from the South, eight members 
 of the committee being from the North, three from the 
 border States of Kentucky and Virginia and the other 
 two from the Cotton States, Georgia and Mississippi. 
 Only three of the committee were from the States which 
 united in the Confederacy. Thus it may be seen that the 
 committee as appointed by Breckinridge was constituted 
 to prevent secession. Upon assembling the committee 
 agreed that the sanction of at least a majority of five 
 Republican committeemen was absolutely required to 
 any report. It was therefore ' ' resolved that no proposi- 
 tion shall be reported as adopted unless sustained by a 
 majority of each of the classes of the committee. " This 
 resolution placed the responsibility together with the 
 power of controlling the action of the committee on only 
 three Republican supporters of the President-elect. 
 
 Mr. Crittenden submitted to the committee the same 
 joint resolution which he had presented to the Senate, 
 and which is known in the history of the times as the 
 Crittenden Compromise. The resolutions "proposed 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 345 
 
 that the South should surrender their adjudged right to 
 take slaves in all our territories, provided the North 
 would recognize this right in the territories south of the 
 old Missouri Compromise line. ' ' This amendment offered 
 terms to the North far less favorable to the South than 
 their existing rights tmder the decision of the Supreme 
 Court, and ' ' yielded everything to the North except a 
 mere abstraction." (Buchanan.) Mr. Crittenden said: 
 ' ' Peace and Harmony and Union in a great nation were 
 never purchased at so cheap a rate as we now have it in 
 our power to do. " In legal effect the Crittenden Com- 
 promise proposed to restore and make constitutional the 
 old Missouri Compromise, and in practical operation it 
 turned " over all the vast territories of the Un^"*-°'^ States 
 to perpetual freedom with the single exception of New 
 Mexico." (Buchanan.) The pitiable treatment in com- 
 mittee and Congress of the pacific propositions of the 
 senior senator demonstrated the irrepressibility of the 
 conflict, and made the existence of the Confederate States 
 an inevitable event. The five Republican senators on 
 the committee without exception voted down the Com- 
 promise. Mr. Toombs and Mr. Davis, from the Cotton 
 States, voted with these five Republican senators because 
 of the rule established by the committee requiring a 
 majority of these five to vote in favor of any proposition 
 to have it embodied in the report. Under this rule the 
 vote of these five would alone have defeated any action 
 of the committee, without the vote either way of the 
 two senators from the extreme South. Mr. Douglas 
 said, "In the committee of thirteen every member from 
 the South, including those from the Cotton States, 
 Messrs. Toombs and Davis, expressed their readiness to 
 accept any proposition of my venerable friend from 
 Kentucky as a final settlement of the controversy if 
 tendered and sustained by the Republican members. 
 Hence the sole responsibility of our disagreement and 
 the only difficulty in the way of an amicable adjustment 
 
346 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 are with the Republican party. " (Douglas in appendix to 
 Cong. Globe, p. 41.) The speeches and votes of these 
 two Southern senators confirmed the statement made by 
 the distinguished Illinois senator and justified the 
 declaration made by Senator Pugh, of Ohio, and other 
 Northern statesmen that ' ' if the Crittenden Compromise 
 had been passed early in the session it would have saved 
 all the States except South Carolina. " 
 
 A dark hour befell the country on the reading in the 
 Senate December 31, i860, of the following report of the 
 Committee : " The Committee of Thirteen appointed by 
 the order of the Senate on the 20th inst. have agreed on 
 the following resolution and report the same to the Sen- 
 ate : Resolved, That the committee have not i->«»«>n able 
 to agree upon any general plan of adjustment ana report 
 that fact to the Senate together with the journal of the 
 Committee." 
 
 It is unnecessary to follow the action of Congress on 
 the renewed efforts made to pass the Crittenden Com- 
 promise in any form, it being enough to record in ad- 
 vance that on the i6th of January, 1861, three days before 
 the secession of Georgia, the whole question was dealt 
 with in cruel frivolity by a strict party vote on a motion 
 to strike out the entire preamble and resolution of Mr. 
 Crittenden and insert as a substitute a preamble and 
 resolutions of a directly opposite character and in ac- 
 cordance with the Chicago platform on which Mr. Lincoln 
 had been elected. (Con. Globe, 409.) It was the spirit 
 and purpose of such action as this which forced further 
 secession and the consequent confederation of seceded 
 States, 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 COERCION AND ITS CONSEQUENCE. 
 
 POLICY FORESHADOWED IN DECEMBER, i860— WAR 
 LIKE PREPARATIONS— STAR OP THE WEST HIRED 
 TO REINFORCE SUMTER— SOUTHERN LEADERS 
 GROW HOPELESS OF PEACE— NORTHERN LEADERS 
 OPPOSE C O M P R O M I S E— CRITTENDEN, DAVIS, 
 TOOMBS AND OTHERS URGE CONCILIATION— VIR- 
 GINIA TO THE RESCUE— BORDER STATES DE- 
 CLARE AGAINST COERCION— SECESSION OP SEV- 
 ERAL STATES— PEACE CONGRESS— "PEACE HATH 
 NO VICTORIES." 
 
 THE last weeks of the year i860 produced no event 
 which betokened a peaceful solution of the contro- 
 versy between North and South. On the contrary, 
 nearly all events combined to increase the discontent and 
 make secession and a Southern Confederacy certain. For 
 nearly a decade the causes had been accumulating with 
 convergent tendency to the result now near at hand. 
 The Union was the resultant force of compromises 
 ordained in the Constitution. Disunion was the effect 
 produced by unpatriotic breach of these unifying princi- 
 ples. The Union was made possible in its beginning by 
 the superintending presence of non-partisan patriotism. 
 Disunion was decreed in i860 by the necessities of party 
 policy. There was good practical politics in the earnest 
 charge, December, i860, of the President-elect, Mr. 
 Lincoln, to Senator Washbume, to prevent all compromise 
 which would demoralize the party. The advice meant 
 that there should be no settlement except on the terms 
 of the late party platform, — a political manifesto made 
 by a bare majority of States, all Northern, assembled in 
 
 347 
 
348 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 a party convention, and voted down by nearly two- 
 thirds of the people of the Union. The platform must 
 now be taken as the condition of agreement and accepted 
 as the policy of the general government. It must be 
 insisted on as the substitute for the Crittenden Compro- 
 mise ; and it was thus presented as appears by the vote on 
 the Clark amendment. The Buchanan cabinet had been 
 first discordant, then disintegrated and afterward unified 
 upon the policy finally adopted by the President. Gen- 
 eral Scott, the head of the army, had actively urged his 
 proposition to relieve the President, Secretary of War and 
 Congress from political responsibility by a movement on 
 his own official account to strengthen the garrison at Fort 
 Sumter. On the 30th of December, he wrote to the 
 President for permission " without reference to the war 
 department and otherwise as secretly as possible to send 
 two hundred and fifty recruits from New York harbor to 
 reinforce Fort Sumter, together with some extra mus- 
 kets, rifles, ammunition and subsistence stores, ' * and next 
 day, the 31st, he sent an order to the commanding officer 
 at Fort Monroe "to put on the sloop of war, Brooklyn, 
 four companies of at least four hundred men with twenty- 
 five extra stands of arms complete, destined to reinforce 
 Fort Sumter, " adding, " manage everything as secretly 
 and confidentially as possible. " It is presumable that his 
 suggestions of the day before had been agreed to. 
 
 The policy of coercion by sea having clearly been fore- 
 shadowed by the course of the administration, the secre- 
 tary of war, Mr. Floyd, sent in his resignation, and the 
 position was filled at once by Mr. Holt, who favored the 
 President's plans. Thus the year 1 860 closed with a hostile 
 order from the general commanding and a change in the 
 head of the war department, which produced excitement 
 and fears throughout the South. Mr. Wigfall tele- 
 graphed at once from Washington, " Holt succeeds 
 Floyd. It means war. Cut off supplies of Anderson 
 and take Sumter as soon as possible. " 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 349 
 
 Reinforcement of Fort Sumter being determined and 
 the policy officially declared by Cabinet vote, January 2, 
 1 86 1, the warlike preparations were at once hastened. 
 Propositions made by Mr. Schultz, of New York, to fur- 
 nish a vessel had already been made during December, 
 and he was notified on January ad, that a staff ofScer 
 would see him the next day ' ' to conclude arrangements. " 
 The staff officer. Colonel Thomas, hired the " Star of the 
 West " from Mr. Schultz for $1,250 per day because the 
 movement could be made with this vessel, the " Star of 
 the West, ' ' without suspicion. On the same day Gen- 
 eral Scott directed Colonel Thomas to have three officers 
 and two hundred troops with one hundred extra stands 
 of arms and ample ammunition to be embarked. The 
 orders enjoined complete concealment of the troops when 
 approaching the Charleston Bay, and that Maj. Anderson 
 be instructed to use the guns of Sumter to silence 
 any injurious fire that should be opened upon any vessel 
 bringing reinforcement or supplies to his fort. 
 
 These preparations were complete on January 5 th, and 
 the "Star of the West" with the troops and supplies 
 sailed, followed by the warship Brooklyn. On the 
 nioming of the 9th the well-armed vessel steamed into 
 the bay toward Port Sumter, and was turned back by the 
 fire of a South Carolina battery. The whole affair was a 
 trivial play that might be classed as comic were it not a 
 part of an awful national tragedy. The scheme con- 
 certed between the administration and General Scott was 
 to use, not the Brooklyn, a warship of the navy, but a 
 hired vessel, and thus convey reinforcements secretly 
 into Sumter. If the vessel was permitted to pass the 
 Carolina batteries, Sumter would be reinforced by 200 
 rtien, with 300 arms and ample ammunition, and three 
 months' supplies. If fired on the cry would be raised 
 that South Carolina had begun war on the United States 
 by firing on an unarmed vessel carrying provisions to a 
 starving garrison. 
 
350 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 These coercive demonstrations beginning during the 
 last days of i860 and openly pressed in January, 1861, 
 were made known through many sources to the people of 
 the South, and very rapidly increased the strength of the 
 secession movement. The governors of the South sea- 
 board States being fully informed of the purpose of the 
 administration to hold and to garrison the forts on their 
 coasts, took possession of such of them as could be re- 
 duced to possession without bloodshed. Elections for 
 delegates to State conventions were held in several 
 States, during these threatening movements of the Fed- 
 eral administration, resulting in the secession of Missis- 
 sippi January 9th, Florida and Alabama January nth, 
 Georgia January 19th and Louisiana January 26th. So 
 well satisfied in the beginning of this year were the 
 Southern members of Congress as to the hopelessness of 
 any compromise and the purpose of the new secretary of 
 war to use all the force he could command to coerce the 
 States that certain senators from Georgia, Alabama, 
 Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi and Florida held 
 a meeting in Washington, on January 5 th, and agreed to 
 a set of resolutions asking for instructions from their 
 respective States whether they should remain in Congress 
 until the 4th of March, and also declared themselves in 
 favor of immediate State secession, and the early forma- 
 tion of a Confederacy. Mr. Jacob Thompson, secretary 
 of the interior, resigned his office January 8th, as also 
 did Governor Thomas, of Maryland, secretary of the 
 treasury, and General Dix was appointed to the place. 
 The new Cabinet was now composed of Messrs. Black, 
 Dix, Holt, Toucey, Stanton and King, who served in 
 apparent harmony to the end of the term. 
 
 The affairs of the United States were in such disorder 
 that on January 8th, the President sent to Congress a 
 message urging its attention to the helplessness of the 
 executive. The treasury was empty and lenders de- 
 manded twelve per cent interest ; the army was chiefly 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 351 
 
 in the West, defending the people of the frontier from 
 the Indians ; and the vessels of the navy required repairs. 
 He complained again that Congress was delaying the 
 Legislation which would enable him to make aggressive 
 war against States whose hostile attitude, as he termed 
 the procedure of secession conventions, and military prep- 
 arations in the South, had assumed alarming propor- 
 tions. He earnestly urged Congress to consider its re- 
 sponsibility, either to declare war or "to remove the 
 grievances that might lead to war. ' ' 
 
 Mr. Jefferson Davis addressed the Senate on the gen- 
 eral issue, proposing to Congress as the proper remedy 
 "to assure the people of the South that you do not 
 intend to use physical force against them, that you 
 intend calmly to consider all the propositions which they 
 make and to recognize the rights which the Union was 
 established to secure ; that you intend to settle with 
 them upon a basis in accordance with the Declaration of 
 Independence and the Constitution of the United States. 
 When you do that peace will prevail over the land and 
 force become a thing that no man will consider neces- 
 sary. ' ' No one among the conservative Northern states- 
 men listening at that moment doubted his sincerity in 
 uttering these words of peace. That he preferred 
 settlement on some basis like that proposed by Senator 
 Crittenden to the secession of Mississippi, whose con- 
 vention was at the same time debating secession, is be- 
 yond all doubt. His overtures in these general terms 
 were in fact understood to mean that he would accept 
 the Crittenden compromise, but to that pacific measure 
 the majority in Congress was unalterably opposed. Had 
 Mr. Trumbull, Mr. Seward, Mr. Fessenden, Mr. Collamer 
 and Mr. Hale or other five only, of such statesmen re- 
 sponded to this spirit of Jefferson Davis, by declaring their 
 readiness to put the Crittenden resolutions in force, it is 
 reasonable to say that secession would have ceased that 
 day, January 8th, the anniversary of Jackson's victory at 
 
362 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 New Orleans, from which dates the rise of the United 
 States to political ascendancy. The number five is 
 named because on the will of no greater number the same 
 compromise had been crucified in the Senate committee 
 of thirteen. 
 
 But notwithstanding the threatening aspect now pre- 
 sented by both sides, the legislature of Virginia adopted 
 resolutions January 19th, 1861, inviting all States to ap- 
 point commissioners to meet in Washington February 4th, 
 to consider and if practicable agree upon some suitable 
 adjustment of the existing unhappy controversies in the 
 spirit in which the Constitution was originally formed. 
 As evidence of its earnestness the legislature appointed 
 from among its most eminent and conservative citizens ex- 
 President John Tyler, William C. Rives, Judge Brocken- 
 brough, George W. Summers, and James A. Seddon to 
 act as commissioners ; and in addition selected ex-Presi- 
 dent Tyler as special commissioner to the President of 
 the United States, and Judge John Robertson to the 
 seceded States. The resolutions were promptly laid 
 before Congress by President Buchanan, accompanied by 
 a message of cordial approval in which he advised 
 Congress to abstain from passing any law calculated to 
 produce a collision of arms pending the contemplated 
 proceedings. But the discussions in Congress were not 
 peace preservative. Mr. Mason expressed his pride in 
 the honorable office which his State had undertaken, but 
 he warned the Senate that collisions of arms would end 
 all negotiations, and declared that no seceded State had 
 withdrawn nor assumed possession of any forts with war- 
 like intent. Mr. Seward on presenting a memorial from 
 citizens of New York praying for Congress to adopt some 
 adjustment, made remarks which excited warm replies. 
 He defined his position in four propositions, which he 
 had recommended to his people as the means for restor- 
 ing the breaches made in the Union. First, to speak for 
 the Union ; next, vote for the Union ; third, give money 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 353 
 
 for the Union; and last, fight for the Union. Mr. 
 Douglas condemned the extremists whose joint efforts, 
 he said, led to the same end. Mr. Clingman, of North 
 Carolina, argued that one of the three contingencies was 
 before the country, either a satisfactory settlement, or a 
 recognition of a peaceful separation, or thirdly, war. 
 The best course, he believed, was to " make an adjust- 
 ment, next to that, the recognition of the seceding 
 States as independent republics, and the worst of all is 
 war." 
 
 The naval appropriation bill contained a clause that 
 authorized the construction of seven ships of war, the 
 passage of which was regarded as irritating the disunion 
 sentiment. Another bill proposed to abolish the ports of 
 entry on the Southern coast, and was resented as an 
 attempt to coerce the South by congressional legislation 
 against the commerce of the South. Mr. Andrew 
 Johnson, of Tennessee, offered amendments to the Con- 
 stitution providing for election of the president, vice- 
 president, and senators by the people, and to select 
 Supreme Court judges equally from the North and the 
 South. 
 
 The Kentucky legislature having assembled on the 
 1 7th, adopted the Virginia resolutions, resolved to resist 
 the invasion of the South, but urged the Southern States 
 to arrest the progressing revolution. The legislature 
 declined to call a convention but advised the holding of 
 a national convention to pass resolutions, amending the 
 Constitution. The Missouri legislature passed a bill 
 calling a convention and other measures looking to 
 secession. The governor of North Carolina opened cor- 
 respondence with President Buchanan on the 8th, involv- 
 ing the subject of the rumored reinforcement of the forts, 
 through which the governor was persuaded that the status 
 quo would be observed. The sentiment of the State was 
 described at the time by one of its well-informed citizens 
 as follows: " She would respond to any fair proposition 
 
 I-2S 
 
364 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 for an equitable adjustment, but will insist on her rights 
 at all hazards ; " and to do this the legislature on the 
 24th, called a convention. In Arkansas the general sen- 
 tim.ent favored the call of a convention, which the legis- 
 lature on January i6th unanimously ordered. The 
 Union feeling in East Tennessee was strong enough to 
 hold the secession movement under restraint until the 
 invasion of the South was proclaimed by Mr. Lincoln. 
 Texas assembled in convention on the 28th of January, 
 and a few days afterward passed its ordinance of secession. 
 Strong efforts were made in Maryland to induce the gov- 
 ernor to call the legislature together, but he was opposed 
 to secession, and refused to issue the proclamation. The 
 other States of the South, South Carolina, Mississippi, 
 Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana, had already 
 seceded. 
 
 The Peace Conference, composed of twenty-one sepa- 
 rate States, met at Washington simultaneously with the 
 assembling of delegates of the seceded States in Mont- 
 gomery, February 4th, 1861. The seceding States were of 
 course not represented. But the remaining seven States 
 of the South, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North 
 Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri, had their 
 ablest men present as commissioners. The six New 
 England States had sent such statesmen as Fessenden, 
 Morrill, Crittenden, Boutwell, Tuck, Ames, Baldwin; 
 New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania from the 
 middle Atlantic seaboard had their embassadors, while 
 Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas stood for the 
 West. Wisconsin, Iowa, .Michigan, Minnesota, Ca,lifomia 
 and Oregon sent no delegates. , . 
 
 The venerable John Tyler, ex-President of the United 
 States, W3.S chosen president and made ^ strpng, patriotic 
 address, cont3,ining the pertinent remark, '' Your patri- 
 otism will surmount the difficulties, however great, if you 
 will accomplish but one triumph in advance, and that is 
 a triumph over party. And what is ' party when com-. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 355 
 
 pared to the task of rescuing one's country from dan- 
 ger! " Mr. Guthrie, of Kentucky, opened the important 
 business of the body by moving the appointment of a 
 committee composed of one member from each State to 
 consider all propositions and to report on or before 
 Friday. The committee was appointed, but unfortu- 
 nately delayed its report ten days, which at last was 
 unanimously agreed to, and was contested in the main 
 body. The first resolution provided for the adoption of 
 the old Missouri Compromise line, absolutely prohibiting 
 slavery north of the line 36° 30' and leaving its existence 
 in territories south of that line subject to judicial cogni- 
 zance in Federal courts according to the course of the com- 
 mon law. This proposition received the votes of four 
 Northern States, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and 
 Rhode Island. On the other hand, it was objected to on 
 the first vote by three Southern States, Virginia, North 
 Carolina, and Missouri ; Virginia and North Carolina ob- 
 jecting because of the clause which referred the legal 
 status of slavery south of the line to the decisions of Fed- 
 eral courts, while the first clause made prohibition abso- 
 lute without such reference; while Missouri disliked it be- 
 cause of its old hostility to the dividing line. On the 
 second vote the section was adopted, with New England 
 against it. Important sections of the report which related 
 to the jurisdiction of Congress over slavery in the States 
 and District of Columbia, and to compensate the owners 
 of fugitive slaves where their property could not be re- 
 possessed, together with other minor sections of the 
 series, were discussed and variously determined until 
 finally seven sections were passed' and presented to the 
 Senate of the United States. The plan 'differed in sev- 
 eral features frdm the Crittenden resolutions, being still 
 more favorable, as Mr. Buchanan states, to the North, 
 yet the distinguished senator from! Kentucky prorpptly 
 accepted it as a substitute for his own proposition, and 
 eloquently urged its adoption. But the arrogance of a 
 
356 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 sectional majority, inflated by the recent triumpli, was 
 too powerful to be allayed by the appeals of patriotism or 
 the counsels of wisdom. (Jefferson Davis. ) 
 
 The communication of the Peace congress was received 
 by the Senate on the 28th of February and referred to a 
 committee, which immediately reported it back without 
 change by a majority vote. Mr. Seward and Mr. Douglas 
 joined in offering a substitute to invite the legislatures 
 of the States to take the subject under consideration and 
 express their will to Congress. Mr. Hunter, of Virginia, 
 moved to substitute the report of the Peace Conference 
 by the Crittenden Compromise. Mr. Crittenden appealed 
 for a vote favorable to either his own plan or that of the 
 Peace congress. " I am for peace, I want to save the 
 country and adjust our present difficulties. I shall vote 
 for the amendments to the Constitution proposed by the 
 convention, and there I shall stand. ' ' Mr. Mason de- 
 clared that his State would deeply deplore that its media- 
 tion had not been effective. He believed that in the 
 short time the convention had to deliberate they had 
 done the best they could, but their action would place 
 the Southern States in greater peril if the Constitution 
 were amended as proposed. Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, 
 rebuked Mr. Crittenden for talking to the North about 
 compromise when there was nothing to compromise 
 about, and said that if he had appealed to the South, 
 which was in rebellion and painted before them the hid- 
 eousness of the crimes they were committing, calling on 
 them to return to their allegiance and on the government 
 to enforce its authority, we would have a very different 
 state of things in the country.' Mr. Pugh, of Ohio, 
 entered the debate with a speech of great force, one 
 statement of which caught particular attention. This 
 was Sunday evening, toward the midnight of the session, 
 when the hours were few until the new administration 
 would be inaugurated. After referring to the fact 
 -that the Crittenden resolutions had been endorsed by 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 357 
 
 several States, he said, " It has been petitioned for by a 
 larger number of electors of the United States, than any 
 proposition that was ever before Congress, and I believe 
 in my heart to-day, that it would carry an overwhelming 
 majority of the people of my State, and of nearly every 
 other State in the Union. Before the senators from 
 Mississippi left the chamber, I heard one of them,who 
 now assumes at least to be President of the Southern 
 Confederacy (Mr. Davis), propose to accept it and to 
 maintain the Union if that proposition could receive the 
 vote it ought to receive from this part of this chamber 
 (the Republican side). Therefore of all your proposi- 
 tions, of all your amendments, knowing that the historian 
 will write it down that at any time before the first of 
 January (1861) a two-thirds vote for the Crittenden reso- 
 lutions in this chamber would have saved every State in 
 the Union but South Carolina, — Georgia would be here by 
 her representatives, and Louisiana also — those two 
 great States which would have broken the column of 
 secession. Yet, sir, it has been staved off, staved off for 
 your futile railroad bill, and where is it to-night? Staved 
 off by your tariff bill ; staved off by your pension bill ! ' ' 
 Mr. Douglas concurred in the opinion of Senator Pugh 
 and confirmed the statement that Mr. Jefferson Davis 
 when on the committee of thirteen, was ready at all 
 times to compromise on the Crittenden proposition, and 
 that Mr. Toombs was also. 
 
 One vote after another was taken in both houses during 
 the last hours of the session, of which it is remarked " a 
 more conclusive proof of a determination somewhere to 
 prevent every settlement of difficulties by any concession 
 on the part of the North could not be furnished." 
 (American Encyclopedia, 1861, p. 225.) 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE CONFEDERATION OP THE SOUTHERN 
 
 STATES. 
 
 DELEGATES OP SECEDED STATES MEET IN MONT- 
 GOMERY—ADOPTION BY CONVENTION OF A PRO- 
 VISIONAL GOVERNMENT— ELECTION OF OFFICERS 
 —INAUGURATION OF MR. DAVIS AS PRESIDENT- 
 MEASURES ADOPTED— COMMISSIONERS SENT TO 
 WASHINGTON AND TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES-THE 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF 
 AMERICA. 
 
 ON the 4th day of February, 1861, the date on which 
 the Peace Conference met, the delegates from se- 
 ceded States gathered in the city of Montgomery, 
 Alabama. Seven Independent Republics, each covering 
 territory nearly the extent of some European kingdoms, 
 while all united would make an empire, had commissioned 
 their delegates to form a Union under a written constitu- 
 tion. These Republics were South Carolina, Alabama, 
 Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. By 
 separate, independent action, each had withdrawn from 
 the United States, and each had determined to form by 
 the union of all in a national form, a Republican Gov- 
 ernment of Confederate States, whose right to exist 
 should be peaceably recognized by all nations. The 
 Convention was at first composed of forty-three delegates 
 from six States, but subsequently Texas entered, making 
 the seven States of the provisional Confederacy. Within 
 the hall where they assembled were suspended the por- 
 traits of Washington, Marion, Andrew Jackson, Clay, 
 and other deceased distinguished American patriots, 
 while living actors in the present great civic event were 
 
 358 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 359 
 
 among the . most eminent of American citizens. The 
 city was full of visitors and the hall was thronged. The 
 occasion was felt throughout the South to be momentous. 
 " Perhaps no assembly of men ever took place under 
 circumstances of greater anxiety and higher responsi- 
 bility than those which surrounded and pressed upon this 
 convention." Mr. Howell Cobb, who was a leading 
 advocate of the compromise of 1850, elected by the Con- 
 stitutional Union party of 1851, governor of Georgia, 
 subsequently Democratic member of Congress, and 
 lately Secretary of the treasury of the United States, 
 was chosen chairman of the convention. Mr. J. J. 
 Hooper, of Alabama, an editor and author of fame, was 
 elected secretary. Being notified of his election, and 
 assuming the chair, Mr. Cobb, in a brief address, marked 
 by its absence of all passion, said that the great duty was 
 now imposed upon the convention to provide for the 
 States represented, a good government which will main- 
 tain with the United States, "our former confederates, 
 as with the world, the most peaceful and friendly rela- 
 tions, both political and commercial." 
 
 The convention adopted rules for its Government 
 which recognized the separate sovereignty of the States 
 and required that the voting shall be done by Sta,tes. 
 A committee was appointed to present a plan of govern- 
 ment for consideration, which reported on the 7th of 
 February a form of constitution for the Provisional Gov- 
 ernment of the Confederate States of America, by which 
 the country was to be governed until the permanent Gov- 
 ernment was formed. After a brief discussion, the Con- 
 stitution was unanimously adopted February 8th, and on 
 the day following, Mr. Cobb, the President of the Con- 
 vention, was sworn by Judge Walker to support it. The 
 oath was then formally administered to all members on 
 the call by States, and the convention was fully organ- 
 ized for business. 
 
360 CONFEDERA TE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 The convention was composed of the following mem- 
 bers: 
 
 South Carolina. — R. B. Rhett, James Chestnut, Jr., 
 W. P. Miles, T. J. Withers, R. W. Barnwell, C. G. Mem- 
 minger, L. M. Zeitt, W. W. Boyce. 
 
 Georgia. — Robert Toombs, Howell Cobb, Benjamin H. 
 Hill, Alexander H. Stephens, Francis Bartow, M. J. 
 Crawford, E. A. Nisbett, A. R. Wright, T. R. R. Cobb, 
 A. H. Kenan. 
 
 Alabama. — Richard W. Walker, J. L. M. Curry, 
 Robert H. Smith, C. J. McRae, John Gill Shorter, S. T. 
 Hale, David P. Lewis, Thomas Fearn, W. P. Chilton. 
 
 Mississippi. — W. P. Harris, Walter Brooke, A. M. 
 Clayton, W. S. Barry, J. T. Harrison, J. A. P. Campbell, 
 W. S. Wilson. 
 
 Louisiana. — John Perkins, Jr., D. F. Kenner, C. M. 
 Conrad, Edward Sparrow, Henry Marshall, A. DeClouett. 
 
 Florida. — ^Jackson Morton, James Powers, J. P. Ander- 
 son. 
 
 Texas.— L. T. Wigfall, J. H. Reagan, J. Hemphill, 
 T. N. Waul, John Gregg, W. S. Oldham, W. H. Ochiltree. 
 
 Under the adopted Provisional Constitution the Con- 
 gress proceeded at noon, February 9th, to elect the Presi- 
 dent and Vice-President of the new Republic. The 
 ballots were taken by States, and Mr. Jefferson Davis, 
 vi^ho was at his home in Mississippi, received the entire 
 vote for the presidency, as also did Mr. Alexander A. 
 Stephens for the vice-presidency. It may be noted 
 that while the names of other great men of the South had 
 been most favorably mentioned, among them prominently 
 that of Mr. Howell Cobb and Mr. Toombs, yet this prudent 
 Convention turned at length without dissent to the two 
 men who fully represented the cool, firm, conservative 
 sentiment of their section. Mr. Davis had despairingly 
 pleaded before the United States, within less than a 
 month of the assembling of this Southern Congress, for 
 a compromise that would arrest the pending secession of 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 361 
 
 his State ; had given his word to Senators Pugh, of Ohio, 
 and Douglas, of Illinois, specially, that he was ready to 
 vote for the Crittenden resolutions and stand by the 
 Union; and but two weeks before had delivered his 
 calm, courteous and able speech of withdrawal from the 
 Senate in obedience to the will of the State. At the 
 moment of his election to the presidency, he was on his 
 farm, preferring not to be the civic head of the Confeder- 
 acy, but offering himself if needed, to its military service. 
 Mr. Davis had only followed the secession popular move- 
 ment. He did not lead it. He was thoroughly convinced 
 of the legality of secession and in complete sympathy 
 with Southern feeling, but he was among the last of the 
 statesmen from the Confederate States to abandon all 
 hope of an adjustment which would save the country from 
 the horrors of war. Mr. Stephens was the leader in the 
 South in i860 of those who counseled political battle in 
 Union against the triumphant sectional party. To the 
 last moment he stood in Georgia against the passage of 
 the act of separate State secession. He was National in 
 his true sentiment as well as in reputation — a thorough 
 devotee of the Union under the Constitution, and con- 
 sistently a firm believer in the legal principles of the 
 State-rights school. Upon the secession of his State, 
 he did not hesitate as to his allegiance, but at once 
 heartily and powerfully entered upon the patriotic duty 
 of assisting in directing the actions of States and people 
 to the establishment of constitutional free Government. 
 Upon such men the seceded States placed administrative 
 power, under a constitution like that which the fathers 
 of the great American Union had fashioned. Their elec- 
 tion was greeted with great applause by the crowded 
 assembly which witnessed the voting, and was received 
 in all the South with demonstrations of delight. It 
 satisfied the nations of the world that intelligent states- 
 men were guiding secession, and should have satisfied 
 the North that the Southern States proposed no act of 
 rebellion, nor anv hostilitv to the United States. 
 
362 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 The Provisional Congress began at once the operation 
 of government. The President was directed to appoint 
 committees on Foreign Affairs, Finance, Judiciary, Mili- 
 tary and Naval Affairs, Commerce, Postal Affairs, Patents 
 and Printing. All laws of the United States in force 
 November, i860, and not inconsistent with the Provis- 
 ional Constitution, were continued in operation, and all 
 revenue officers in the States were continued in office. 
 A tariff for raising revenue was put under the immediate 
 consideration of the finance committee. Committees 
 were appointed to notify Mr. Davis and Mr. Stephens of 
 the elections which had taken place. Mr. Stephens 
 being in the Convention as a delegate from Georgia, 
 announced on the i ith his acceptance in a short address 
 declining to discuss the general policy prior to the arrival 
 of the President-elect, and advising attention by the 
 Congress to matters of present practical importance, 
 after which the prescribed oath was administered. 
 
 The Vice-President in his address said to Congress, 
 " We can be devoting our attention to the constitution 
 of a permanent government, stable and durable, which 
 is one of the leading objects of our assembling. " This 
 great duty was accordingly assigned to a special com- 
 mittee, of which Mr. Rhett was chairman, formed by the 
 appointment of two members from each State, which 
 began its deliberations without delay. A resolution 
 which changed the relations of the separate seceded 
 States to the government of the United States was 
 passed February 12 th, providing that the Confederate gov- 
 ernment takes under its charge all questions now existing 
 between the States of the Confederacy and the United 
 States relating to the occupation of forts, arsenals, and 
 all other public establishments. The States were all 
 requested to cede the forts and other public property of 
 like character to the Confederate government. 
 
 The flag of the Confederacy became the subject of 
 some debate on the report of the Flag committee, during 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 363 
 
 which respectful references were made to the flag of the 
 United States. It was generally argued that the Confed- 
 erate flag should differ from the Stars and Stripes only- 
 enough to make it easily distinguishable. The commit- 
 tee recommended that the flag should be formed of a 
 blue union in the upper left hand corner containing 
 seven stars, and three bars, the central being white, and 
 the upper and lower red. Their recommendation was 
 adopted. 
 
 The committee on Military and Naval Affairs was 
 directed to make provisions for such officers as might 
 tender their resignations from the United States army or 
 navy; and the committee on Commerce was instructed to 
 inquire into the subject of navigation laws. Measures 
 were adopted to admit without payment of duties all pro- 
 visions, agricultural products, living animals and muni- 
 tions of war. Goods, wares and merchandise purchased 
 in the United States and imported before March 14th, were 
 to enter duty free. Officers connected with the collec- 
 tion of customs at the time of organization of the Con- 
 federacy were continued with the salaries and duties 
 attaching to their positions. Collectors and their subor- 
 dinates were required to give bonds to the Confederate 
 government and to take the oath to discharge their duties 
 and support the Constitution. 
 
 The inauguration of Mr. Davis took place on the i8th 
 of February, according to the arrangements of the Con- 
 gress, and as his enemies at Washington were then charg- 
 ing him with ambition, it is just to let him testify for 
 himself in regard to his elevation to this high position. 
 He says: "As my election had been spoken of as a 
 probable event, and as I did not desire that or any other 
 civil office, but preferred to remain in the post to which 
 I had been elected and still held at the head of the army 
 of Mississippi, I had taken what seemed to me ample 
 precautions to prevent my nomination to the presidency. 
 I accepted the position because I could not decline it, 
 
364 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 but with the expectation and intention of soon returning 
 to the field. On my way to Montgomery brief addresses 
 were made by me at various places which were grossly 
 misrepresented at the North as invoking war and threat- 
 ening devastation. Not deemed worthy of contradiction 
 at the time when problems of vital public interest were 
 constantly presented, these false and malicious reports 
 have since been adopted by partisan writers as authentic 
 history. It is sufficient to say that no utterances of 
 mine, private or public, differed in tone and spirit from 
 my farewell address to the Senate or my inaugural 
 address at Montgomery." (Short History of the Con- 
 federacy, p. 60.) On the way from Mississippi to Mont- 
 gomery Mr. Davis was made the object of the most pa- 
 triotic demonstrations, which must have satisfied him that 
 the Southern public was gratified by his election. He 
 arrived at Montgomery on Saturday, the i6th, and was 
 welcomed by a popular demonstration marked by enthusi- 
 asm well-tempered with the spirit which the gravity of 
 the situation produced. His address from the balcony of 
 his hotel the evening of his arrival was made in response 
 to a general call, and it revealed the flow to which his 
 feelings had risen at the close of his journey. Beginning 
 with " Brethren of the^ Confederate States of America," 
 as the opening words of the speech, he described the 
 unity of the Southern people in blood and principles and 
 purposes, from which he inferred a government of do- 
 mestic peace and increasing growth. Touching on " a 
 possible storm of war ' ' he predicted that the clouds would 
 be dispersed and the sun outlive the storm. " If war 
 should come, if we must again baptize in blood the prin- 
 ciples for which our fathers bled in the revolution, we 
 shall show that we are not degenerate sons, and prove 
 that Southern valor still shines as bright as in 1776, in 
 1 81 2, and in every other conflict." 
 
 The Capitol hill in the fair city of Montgomery was 
 almost literally covered, early in the morning of the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 365 
 
 1 8th, with companies of soldiers from several States, with 
 citizens from all parts of the South, and adorned by the 
 presence of large numbers of graceful Southern women. 
 The inauguration ceremonies made an imposing pageant, 
 but the interest of the public centered on the inaugural 
 address, whose temperate tone and statesmanlike tenor 
 disappointed such leaders as had hoped the President 
 would be betrayed into some angry utterances. Men- 
 tioning the act of secession by the States, he said that 
 "In this they merely asserted the right which the Declar- 
 ation of Independence of 1776 defined to be inalienable. 
 Of the time and occasion of its exercise, they as sov- 
 ereigns were the final judges, each for itself. The im- 
 partial enlightened judgment of mankind will vindicate 
 the rectitude of our conduct, and He who knows the 
 hearts of men will judge of the sincerity with which we 
 labored to preserve the Government of our fathers in its 
 spirit. Thus the sovereign States, here represented, 
 proceeded to form this Confederacy, and it is by the 
 abuse of language that their act has been called a revolu- 
 tion. They formed a new alliance, but within each State 
 its government has remained. As a necessity, not of 
 choice, we have resorted to the remedy of secession, and 
 henceforth our energies must be directed to the conduct 
 of our own affairs, and the perpetuity of the Confed- 
 eracy which we have formed. We have changed the con- 
 stituent parts but not the system of our government. 
 The Constitution framed by our fathers is that of these 
 Confederate States. In their exposition of it, and in the 
 judicial construction it has received, we have a light 
 which reveals its true meaning. ' ' The President plainly 
 declared that the Confederacy would meet war with war, 
 and advised Congress to make military and naval pre- 
 paration for it, but averring his own wishes to be for 
 peace, he said, "If it be otherwise, the suffering of mil- 
 lions will bear testimony to the folly and wickedness of 
 our aggressors." 
 
866 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 The Cabinet was soon organized, being composed as 
 follows : Department of State — Mr. Robert Toombs, of 
 Georgia; Department of War — Mr. Leroy P. Walker, of 
 Alabama; the Treasury Department — Mr. Charles G. 
 Memminger, of South Carolina; the Post-office Depart- 
 ment — Mr. John H. Reagan, of Texas; the Navy De- 
 partment — Mr. Stephen R. Mallory, of Florida; the De- 
 partment of Justice — Mr. Judah P. Benjamin, of Louis- 
 iana. 
 
 Questions of inter-state commerce somewhat perplexing 
 in their nature demanded immediate solution by the 
 Confederate government. Among them, the most 
 important was the trade that floated on the Mississippi 
 river. The prospect of the shutting up of that river to 
 western trade was alarming and irritating to the States 
 lying above the Confederate border line. The Louisiana 
 convention in appreciation of this alarm had pledged the 
 faith of the State to preserve the navigation of the 
 Mississippi free. Kentucky expressed the fear that 
 unless the free trade policy be adopted the Confederacy 
 will exact duties on goods passing up the Mississippi. 
 This question proved to be one of the most difficult 
 which the Confederate government had to determine; 
 but the knot was cut by an act on February 2 2d, declaring 
 the free navigation of the river. 
 
 A resolution instructing the committee on finance to 
 inquire into the expediency of placing a duty on cotton 
 exported to a foreign country was introduced by Mr. 
 T. R. R. C9bb, of Georgia, who remarked on the p,Qwer 
 which the South held, in its haiids as the piroducer of ' a 
 staple so necessary to the world. He thought that by 
 embargo we could; soon place the Unite4 St§.te's,ahd 
 Europe under the necessity of recognizing th^ independ- 
 ence of the Confederacy. Southern cotton Was at that 
 time seeking new channels to the sfeaV It" w^s, going t^p 
 the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and ,by rail through 
 Tennessee and Virginia to Norfolk, Railroad managers 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 367 
 
 were beginning to offer inducements to the shipment of 
 cotton, the result of all which would make the blockade 
 of Southern ports by the United States navy of no im- 
 portance to foreign nations as long as they could get the 
 cotton tjirough these new channels. The question was 
 referred to the Finance committee. 
 
 The future relations between the Confederate States 
 and the United States were altogether unascertainable. 
 On the part of the Confederacy it was determined to seek 
 on the first opportunity the establishment of peaceful 
 intercourse between the two nations. Accordingly it was 
 made unofficially public that the Confederate authorities 
 would send commissioners to Washington as soon as it 
 should be intimated that they would be received, and 
 that in the meantime nothing would be done to precip- 
 itate hostilities. Mr. Buchanan was understood as desir- 
 ous at this time, after the affair of the " Star of the 
 West ' ' had failed, to preserve the status quo of affairs until 
 the close of his term on the 4th of March. The policy 
 of Mr. Lincoln had not been clearly divulged. But 
 President Davis, acting on the authority given him by 
 the Confederate Congress February isth, appointed 
 three commissioners to the United States, " clothed with 
 plenary powers to open all negotiations for the settle- 
 ment of all matters of joint property of any kind, within 
 the limits of the Confederate States, and all joint liabil- 
 ities with their former associates upon principles of right, 
 justice, equity, and good faith." These distinguished 
 Southern embassadors awai^ted instructions as to the time 
 of their departure, and when, President Davis reQgived 
 late in the month from President .Buchauan ".through a 
 distinguished senator, '' ah intimation that he )wpuld be 
 "pleased to receive a commissioner or commission from 
 the Confederate States, and would be willjng tp.JTransniit 
 to the Senate any " communicdtioBi received from tljem," 
 President Davis hurried Mr. Crawford to Washington^ to 
 "act as special commissioner. Mr. Forsyth immediately 
 
368 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 followed, but reached Washington after Mr. Crawford 
 had ascertained that President Buchanan had in a panic 
 recalled his promise and now declined either to receive 
 him or to send any message to the Senate. The worried 
 President said that he had only three days of official life 
 left, and could incur no further dangers and reproaches 
 from the North. (Davis, History of the Confederacy, 
 p. 68.) 
 
 President Davis also appointed by authority of the 
 Congress a commission to Europe to represent the Con- 
 federate States, especially in England and France, com- 
 posed of the brilliant William L. Yancey and his 
 associates, Mr. A. Dudley Mann, of Virginia, an accom- 
 plished diplomat, and Mr. Yost, of Louisiana. 
 
 Further measures were enacted during February and 
 early in March to exempt certain goods from duty; to 
 modify navigation laws ; to punish persons convicted of 
 being engaged in the slave trade ; to establish additional 
 ports of entry ; to perfect the postal system ; to provide 
 money for the government; and to raise provisional 
 military forces. An act designed to raise money author- 
 ized the President to borrow $15,000,000 payable in ten 
 years, at eight per cent interest, and placed an export 
 duty on cotton to create a fund to pay off the principal 
 and interest of the loan. The military bill authorized the 
 President to employ the militia, military and naval forces 
 of the Confederate States, and ask for and accept the ser- 
 vices of not exceeding 100,000 volunteers to serve for 
 twelve months " to secure the public tranquillity and inde- 
 pendence against threatened assault." 
 
 The Constitution by which the permanent government 
 of the Confederate States of America was formed was 
 reported by the committee and adopted by the Provis- 
 ional Congress on the i ith of March, 1861, to be submitted 
 to the States for ratification. All States ratified it and 
 conformed themselves to its requirements without delay. 
 The Constitution varied in very few particulars from 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 369 
 
 the Constitution of the United States, preserving 
 carefully the fundamental principles of popular repre- 
 sentative democracy and confederation of co-equal States. 
 The changes which substantially improved the United 
 States system were as follows : The official terms of the 
 President and Vice-President were fixed at six years, and 
 the President was made ineligible for re-election. In all 
 cases of removals, except those of cabinet officers and 
 diplomatic agents, the cause was required to be reported 
 to the Senate by the President. Congress was authorized 
 to admit cabinet officers to seats in either house, with the 
 privilege of debate but without a vote, on any measures 
 affecting their departments. The President was given 
 power to disapprove any appropriation in a bill and 
 approve others in the same bill. The States as such, 
 were empowered to join in improving navigable rivers 
 flowing between or through them. New States were 
 admissible into the Confederation by vote of two-thirds 
 of each house, the Senate being required to vote by 
 States. A Confederate official exercising his functions 
 within any State was subject to impeachment by its leg- 
 islature, as well as by the House of Representatives of the 
 Confederate States, but in all cases the trial was to be 
 by the Confederate Senate. No act of bankruptcy 
 would be permitted to discharge the debtor from con- 
 tracts made before the passage of the act. General 
 appropriations of money must be estimated for by one of 
 the heads of the departments, and when this was not 
 done, the appropriation could not be made except by 
 two-thirds vote in both houses. Internal improvements 
 by Congress, and protection to foster special branches of 
 industry were forbidden. Citizens of the several States 
 could not sue each other in the general Confederate 
 courts, but were confined in such suits to the courts of 
 the States. The power of Congress over the territories 
 and the right of citizens of one State to enter any other 
 State with his slave or other property were settled accord- 
 
 1-24 
 
370 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 ing to the views of the South under the United States 
 Constitution. In other respects the compact thus written, 
 from which resulted the Confederate States of America, 
 was modeled upon the great instrument adopted by the 
 founders of the United States. Mr. Davis, who had no 
 direct part in framing this supreme law of the govern- 
 ment, declared his belief that it was a model of wise, 
 deliberate statesmanship, and referring to the question 
 so prominent in the discussions of North and South, he 
 remarks, ' ' With regard to slavery and the slave trade 
 the provisions of the Constitution furnished an effective 
 answer to the assertion so often made that the Confeder- 
 acy was founded on slavery and intended to perpetuate 
 and extend it. Property in slaves already existing was 
 recognized and guaranteed just as it was by the Consti- 
 tution of the United States, and the rights of such prop- 
 erty in the common territories were protected against 
 any such hostile discrimination as had been attempted in 
 the Union. But the extension of slavery, in the only 
 practical sense of that phrase, was more distinctly and 
 effectually precluded by the Confederate than by the 
 Federal Constitution. The further importation of 
 negroes from any country other than the slaveholding 
 States and territories of the United States was perempto- 
 rily prohibited, and Congress was further endowed with 
 the power to prohibit the introduction of slaves from any 
 State or territory not belonging to the Confederacy. Mr. 
 Stephens, next in official rank, said concerning this con- 
 stitution, " The whole document negatives the idea which 
 so many have been active in endeavoring to put in the 
 enduring form of history, that the Convention at Mont- 
 gomery was nothing but a set of conspirators, whose 
 object was the overthrow of the principles of the Consti- 
 tution of the United States and the creation of a great 
 slave oligarchy instead of the free institutions thereby 
 secured and guaranteed. ' ' 
 
 Having completely organized the government and put 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 371 
 
 in operation all measures necessary for its maintenance, 
 the Confederate Congress adjourned on the i6th of 
 March, at a time when the prospects of a peaceful termi- 
 nation of the questions between the two governments 
 were so strong as to lull the South into an inactivity from 
 which it was soon destined to be disturbed. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 SECTIONAL ADMINISTRATION AT WASHING- 
 TON. 
 
 PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S INAUGURATION — MILITARY 
 DISPLAY — CABINET — CONFED ER ATE COMMISSION- 
 ERS AT WASHINGTON— MR. SEWARD'S DOUBLE 
 DEALING WITH THEM— THE FORT SUMTER REIN- 
 FORCEMENT QUESTION. 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN was inaugurated President of 
 the United States on Monday, March 4th, 1861. For 
 four months the country had been in a state of 
 unrest in consequence of his election difficult to portray 
 so as to be well understood at a date removed by a third 
 of a century from those times of painful occurrences. 
 
 Preparations for the inauguration of an unusual and 
 dangerous military character had been made by General 
 Scott to protect the President-elect from dangers wholly 
 imaginary, as has been abundantly proved. Other 
 preparations accorded with the dignity of the occasion 
 when an eminent citizen, duly elected, was to be installed 
 in an office equal to any which a nation may create. 
 Mr. Lincoln's route from Springfield to the capital was 
 made the scene of popular demonstrations, particularly 
 in Philadelphia, where it was determined to convey him 
 secretly into Washington " because General Scott feared 
 he would be assassinated. ' ' Mr. Lincoln did not share 
 in these anxieties, as he himself stated, and that there 
 were no " plotters of assassination " is evidenced by the 
 positive testimony of men competent and credible. The 
 lack of proof that any plot of this dastardly kind existed 
 — a plot which would at that time have been utterly 
 
 372 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 373 
 
 disastrous to the secession movement, if proof of it could 
 have been produced — confirms Mr. Lincoln's sensible 
 opinion of the sensational story. 
 
 The President, undisguised, unless a mere cloak and 
 hat be called a disgfuise, and accompanied by Mrs. Lin- 
 coln, made the night journey undisturbed, arriving in 
 Washington unheralded. A sensational correspondent 
 of the Northern press made up the story of the " Scotch 
 cap and the long cloak, ' ' as the concealing garb worn to 
 disguise the President-elect, which report was repeated 
 until the equally false invention of the story of the cap- 
 ture of Mr. Davis in disguise was made as an offset. 
 
 On inauguration morning regular troops were stationed 
 on Pennsylvania avenue, sharpshooters were posted on 
 the roofs of houses, mounted men were distributed at all 
 corners, policemen had special orders to make arrests, 
 and detectives in ordinary clothes moved among the 
 masses which thronged the avenue. President Buchanan 
 and Mr. Lincoln rode in an open carriage together, pre- 
 ceded by mounted marshals, and escorted by regular 
 cavalry; behind them armed infantry and marines 
 marching by regiments, all of which gave to the scene, 
 says Mr. Stephen Fiske in 1897, an appearance " more 
 like escorting a prisoner to his doom than a President to 
 his inauguration." For this unsightly employment of 
 military force Mr. Lincoln was not responsible. It served 
 to gratify General Scott's love of military display and was 
 of practical political use in impressing the Northern peo- 
 ple. Secession was then called the ' ' conspiracy of a cabal, ' ' 
 " the plot of traitors," and it had been rumored that the 
 assassination of Mr. Lincoln and the Ariolent seizure of 
 Washington would be the first mad act in the tragedy of 
 the rebellion. It suited the managers of the coercion 
 policy to have this scenic display. 
 
 " Little cheering and no enthusiasm greeted the pro- 
 cession," says an intelligent Northern spectator whose 
 sympathies were with the new President. "As they 
 
374 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 (President Suchanan and Mr. Lincoln) left the barouche 
 at the steps of the capitol, Buchanan looked very grave, 
 Lincoln, pale and anxious, and both were covered with 
 dust. ' ' The inaugural was read distinctly, but without 
 special emphasis, closing with the words: " We are not 
 enemies, but friends ; we must not be enemies ; though 
 passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds 
 of affection. ' ' By the irony of fate. Justice Taney, who 
 had pronounced the Dred Scott decision, administered to 
 Mr. Lincoln the oath of his office to support the Con- 
 stitution of the United States. 
 
 The inaugural, as it was afterwards understood by the 
 South, set forth the purpose of Mr. Lincoln to prevent 
 the dividing of the Union, but its declarations as inter- 
 preted by many at the time gave ground for the illusive 
 hope that war would not be made upon the Confederate 
 States. Members of the Confederate Congress on ad- 
 journing a week later, impressed by the inaugural with a 
 hope of peace generally expressed this confidence in 
 their States, and thus in some degree arrested Southern 
 military preparations. 
 
 The new cabinet was formed by the appointment of 
 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 Smith, of Indiana, Secretary of the Interior; 
 Montgomery Blair, of Maryland, Postmaster General; 
 and Edward Bates, ,of Missouri, Attorney General. The 
 selections made by President Lincoln from among his 
 recent rivals in the contest for the presidential nomination 
 created some comment. Thaddeus Stevens pronounced 
 the new cabinet an assortment of rivals appointed from 
 courtesy, an Indiana stump speaker, and two members of 
 the Blair family. Cassius Clay said that Lincoln had 
 offered him in writing the post of secretary of war, and 
 that he had relied on the promise, but Seward and the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 375 
 
 Southern Whigs persuaded the President not to make 
 the appointment. Weed, Wade and Lovejoy feared that 
 the cabinet would " surrender to the South, " while border 
 State supporters of Mr. Lincoln did not like the selection 
 of Blair or Bates. But although Mr. Lincoln had many- 
 cabinet troubles, there was evident shrewdness in this 
 selection of his advisers. 
 
 The commissioners from the Confederate States, 
 Crawford and Forsyth, lost no time in pressing upon 
 the attention of the new administration the adjustment 
 of existing difficulties " upon terms of amity and good 
 will ' ' which they had been appointed to negotiate. 
 Their communication which was properly addressed to 
 Mr. Seward, secretary of state, set forth the recent facts 
 of secession and then announced that " with a view to a 
 speedy adjustment of all questions growing out of this 
 political separation upon such terms of amity and good 
 will as the respective interests, geographical contiguity 
 and future welfare of the two nations may render 
 necessary, the undersigned are instructed to make to the 
 government of the United States overtures for the open- 
 ing of negotiations, assuring the government of the 
 United States, that the President, Congress and people 
 of the Confederate States earnestly desire a peaceable 
 solution of these great questions ; that it is neither their 
 interest nor their wish to make any demand which is not 
 founded in strictest justice, nor do any act to injure their 
 late confederates. ' ' 
 
 Mr. Seward had declined on the nth of March to see 
 Mr. Crawford and Mr. Forsyth even unofficially, and 
 the official communication referred to was delivered 
 sealed on the 13th and on the 15 th a " memorandum " 
 by the Secretary was filed in his own office but not deliv- 
 ered to the Southern commissioners in which the view is 
 set forth that the secretary of state cannot in any way 
 admit that the so-called Confederate States constitute a 
 foreign power, and that as his duties are confined to the 
 
376 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 conducting of the foreign relations of the country and do 
 not at all embrace questions arising between the several 
 States and the Federal government he cannot hold cor- 
 respondence with them. The "memorandum" also 
 referred the Confederate commissioners to the inaugural 
 of the President for information as to the policy of his 
 administration. Thus it appears that all negotiation 
 would be waived away by a decision that a State had no 
 way of official access to the general government. The 
 " memorandum, " alleged to have been filed on the 13th, 
 was withheld from the public and also from the commis- 
 sioners, although they were urging an answer. The 
 commissioners were told that " Mr. Seward desired to 
 avoid making any reply at that time. ' ' Mr. Justice Nel- 
 son, a personal friend of Mr. Seward, gave this information 
 to Mr. Justice Campbell, his associate in the same court, 
 with the assurance that Mr. Seward had a strong dispo- 
 sition for peace. This information caused Judge Camp- 
 bell, who was a personal friend of the commissioners, to 
 agree to meet Mr. Seward. The meeting took place and 
 after the conference. Judge Campbell informed the com- 
 missioners in writing that he " felt entire confidence that 
 Fort Sumter would be evacuated in ten days, and that no 
 measures prejudicial to the Southern Confederate States 
 is at present contemplated. ' ' Mr. Seward was informed 
 of this assurance given Mr. Campbell after the inter- 
 view, and in consequence of this understanding thus 
 brought about, the commissioners ceased all pressure for 
 the answer, meanwhile assuring President Davis of the 
 progress of their mission, and restraining General Beau- 
 regard from all military demonstrations at Charleston. 
 At a second later interview, Judge Campbell was again 
 assured by the Secretary that the continued occupation 
 of Fort Sumter was attributable to causes consistent with 
 the intention to fulfill the engagement. . The commis- 
 sioners confiding in these assurances awaited the action 
 of the administration until, alarmed by the outfitting of 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 377 
 
 a squadron in New York harbor, they again availed of 
 the patriotic mediation of Justice Campbell on the 7th 
 of April, and through him, even after the fleet was on its 
 way to Charleston with instructions to reinforce peace- 
 ably or by force, they received from Mr. Seward the mis- 
 leading message which has gone into history," Faith as to 
 Sumter fully kept — wait and see. ' ' 
 
 On the next day, April 8th, the eyes of the commis- 
 sioners, which had been blinded for twenty-three days, 
 were opened, and they saw that they had been delib- 
 erately duped. Another communication was therefore 
 sent by them on the 9 th, addressed to Mr. Seward, which 
 recapitulated the transactions of their official sojourn in 
 Washington, and in indignant language boldly said to the 
 Secretary, " had you met these issues with the frankness 
 and manliness with which the undersigned were in- 
 structed to present them to you and treat them, the un- 
 dersigned had not now the melancholy duty to return 
 home and tell their government and their countrymen 
 that their earnest and ceaseless efforts in behalf of peace 
 had been futile and that the government of the 
 United States meant to subjugate them by force of arms. 
 Whatever may be the result, impartial history will 
 record the innocence of the government of the Confed- 
 erate States and place the responsibility of the blood and 
 mourning that may ensue upon those who have denied 
 the great fundamental doctrine of American liberty that 
 ' Governments derive their just powers from the consent 
 of the governed,' and who have set naval and land 
 armaments in motion to subject the people of one portion 
 of the land to the will of another portion." 
 
 Judge Campbell also discovered his own embarrassed 
 position at the same time the eyes of Crawford and For- 
 syth were opened. On the 7th of April, Mr. Seward had 
 said to him : ' ' Faith as to Sumter fully kept— wait and 
 see." On the next morning he read in the newspaper 
 that a messenger from President Lincoln had already 
 
878 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 given notice to Governor Pickens, of South Carolina, 
 that Fort Sumter would be relieved " peaceably or by- 
 force. ' ' He states in his indignant letter to Mr. Seward 
 that the same paper informed him that Mr. Fox, who had 
 been allowed to visit Maj. Anderson, on the pledge that 
 his purpose was pacific had, on returning to Washington, 
 presented a plan for reinforcing Fort Sumter which had 
 been considered several days by the Cabinet, had been 
 adopted and was being actually put in execution at the 
 moment when Mr. Seward had declared to him " Faith 
 as to Sumter fully kept. " Judge Campbell disclosed that 
 in the first conference between himself, Justice Nelson 
 and Mr. Seward, he was much pleased with the Secre- 
 tary's observations as to the course of the administration. 
 At that interview the general subject of the withdrawal 
 of Maj. Anderson being under consideration, and a prop- 
 osition being made by Judge Campbell to write to Mr. 
 Davis, the exact words of Mr. Seward in his answer 
 were, ' ' before this letter reaches him Fort Sumter will 
 have been evacuated. ' ' Mr. Stephens, whose information 
 may be accepted, gives his opinion that President Lin- 
 coln changed his policy as to the inauguration of coercion, 
 and that in the first days of his administration he 
 intended to withdraw the garrison from Fort Sumter. 
 This view is supported by the statement made by an 
 equally observant and intelligent actor in the events of 
 the time, Mr. John Sherman, who says in his " Recollec- 
 tions, " page 442, " The period between the 4th of March 
 and the 12th of April was the darkest in the history of 
 the United States. It was a time of humiliation, timidity 
 and feebleness. ' ' Rumors were getting abroad that the 
 administration was about to surrender to the South. 
 The war faction in the Republican party was becoming 
 restive on account of the inactivity of the government. 
 Mr. Douglas was ably arguing in the Senate in favor of 
 his resolution of March 15 for amendment to the Consti- 
 tution and against a war of subjugation. Breckinridge 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 379 
 
 and Clingman, whose States had hitherto refused to 
 secede, were pleading for the withdrawal of troops from 
 the South with a view to negotiations. The peace feel- 
 ing was moving northward and invading the ranks of the 
 party of the administration. Intelligence was also given 
 both North and South by telegraph March 14th Fort 
 Sumter would be evacuated. It was from about this date 
 that a change, according to Mr. Stephens' observation, 
 began to take place in the policy of the Federal admin- 
 istration. 
 
 Mr. Stephens, in agreement with others, attributes this 
 alteration in the mind of Mr. Lincoln to the pressure 
 brought upon him by that extreme wing of his party 
 which had been already offended by his apparent neglect 
 of them in the formation of his cabinet. An imposing 
 meeting of the war governors of seven States was held 
 to organize a coercive movement by tendering to the 
 President their military and financial support, thus induc- 
 ing him to adopt a policy which would inevitably lead to 
 war between the States North and South. Mr. Stephens 
 expresses his belief that previous to this organized press- 
 ure Mr. Lincoln had determined on at least withdrawing 
 Anderson from Fort Sumter as a tentative movement 
 toward peace and reunion, that course being, according 
 to a Cabinet member's statement, " all the administration 
 can bear." President Lincoln was probably misin- 
 formed as to, the extent to which Mr. Seward had com- 
 mitted himself and may have been unaware of the double 
 dealing which was being practiced. The commissioners, 
 however, were left without intimation until the 8th of 
 April that their peaceful mission would be rudely 
 thwarted. Mr. Seward stands in the history of this trans- 
 action unrelieved from the charge of duplicity. His de- 
 fense may be on the doctrine that " all is fair in war " 
 and that in diplomacy " words may be used to conceal 
 the truth," but the evidence is ample that he dealt with 
 Judge Campbell and Judge Nelson, and with Messrs. 
 
380 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Crawford and Forsyth in the same manner that he said h© 
 himself had once dealt with Jefferson Davis. Mr. Usher, 
 formerly secretary of the interior, tells the following story 
 (in " Reminiscences of Lincoln,"p. 80) about a speech 
 made by Mr. Seward: " Referring to a speech that Mr. 
 Oakley Hall had then lately made in the city of New 
 York, Seward said, 'Oakley Hall says that I said in the 
 winter before the war in a speech at the Astor House 
 that the trouble would all be over and everything settled 
 in sixty days. ' I would have Mr. Oakley Hall to know that 
 when I made that speech the electoral vote was not 
 counted and I knew it never would be if Jeff Davis be- 
 lieved there would be war. We both knew that he was 
 to be president of the Southern Confederacy and that I 
 was to be secretary of state under Mr. Lincoln. I 
 wanted the vote counted and Lincoln inaugurated. / 
 had to deceive Davis, and I did it. That's why I said 
 it would be all settled in sixty days. ' ' 
 
 It is presumable that the wily secretary of state 
 reasoned again in the same manner only three months 
 later, "I had to deceive these confiding Southern gentle- 
 men, and I did it." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 ACTUAL WAR INAUGURATED. 
 
 THE FIGHT FOR FORTS — PROCEEDINGS AGAINST 
 FORT SUMTER — THE SOUTH DELUDED — THE 
 ASTUTE SCHEME TO REINFORCE— THE FLEET, THE 
 DEMONSTRATION, THE SURRENDER— PURPOSE TO 
 PUT THE SOUTH IN A FALSE POSITION. 
 
 THE " State of war " which had practically existed at 
 least from the date of the approval by the United 
 States of Anderson's destruction of property in 
 Fort Moultrie and his tragic concentration in Fort Sum- 
 ter, was now advanced to, and assumed the condition of, 
 actual hostilities. The quasi truce suggested through 
 the mediation of Justices Campbell and Nelson which 
 had been faithfully kept by South Carolina and the Con- 
 federate government, was broken by the Federal adminis- 
 tration, through preparations continuously made to 
 invade the harbor of Charleston. Precisely when active 
 hostilities between the States began has not been clearly 
 determined, but war was flagrant even before the arrival 
 of- the Federal ships to reinforce Fort Sumter, and was 
 especially manifested by the venture of the Star of the 
 West to land troops with arms and ammunition. The 
 old- custom of nations to issue formal " declarations of 
 war" had gone into disuse. (Scott's Mil. Diet., 1861, 
 title " War. ") Public war is now manifested by the hos- 
 tile acts and declarations of one Government against 
 another. South Carolina was a government de facto if 
 not de jure on the 20th of December, i860. The act 
 of Maj. Anderson in destroying the armament of 
 Moultrie and concentrating at Sumter was avowedly a 
 
 381 
 
382 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 military movement of a hostile intent, so construed by 
 South Carolina, and in that light was consented to by 
 the United States.- The secret proposition of the com- 
 manding general of the United States armies, General 
 Scott, made in December after South Carolina became a 
 government de facto, and which was acted upon by 
 President Buchanan with the intention to throw troops, 
 arms, ammunition and supplies into Fort Sumter, was 
 itself an ofiEicial institution of belligerency ; and the pass- 
 ing of the ' ' Star of the West ' ' from the high seas into the 
 bay of Charleston with these troops and war stores 
 aboard, and within range of the batteries of South Caro- 
 lina, with actual professed intention to effect a landing at 
 the fort, was open war made manifest by the act. 
 
 It will be observed that no forts or other property 
 formerly belonging to the United States were taken in 
 the possession of the seceding States until after the con- 
 centration of Maj. Anderson's command at Fort Sumter, 
 and after the information of the preparations made by 
 General Scott for coercion by way of the sea had reached 
 the authorities of these Southern States. The ordinance 
 of secession being wholly civil was in no sense a mani- 
 festo of war, whether it was legal or illegal. If illegal, it 
 was void, without force and irrecognizable by any court 
 or nation until some act of war was committed. If legal, 
 then any armed resistance to its proper operation con- 
 ditioned hostilities. South Carolina did not interfere in 
 any respect with the exercise by the Federal government 
 of any of its functions until after the people of the State 
 had by the formal act of their convention withdrawn from 
 the Union and declared to the world the independent 
 nationality of their State. Nor did the State take 
 possession of the forts in its harbor until they were 
 abandoned in a hostile manner, and even then a com- 
 mission was sent to Washington by South Carolina pre- 
 pared to negotiate all questions between the two Govern- 
 ments. No blood was shed, no violence done, no force 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 383 
 
 used, no movement made beyond what was necessary to 
 gain the occupancy of its undefended property. It is 
 certainly well understood that peace and not war would 
 contribute to the interests and gratify the desire of the 
 State. Its military measures, such as the organizing 
 and drilling of troops, the repairing and construction of 
 its harbor defenses and the manufacture of munitions, 
 indicated apprehensions that the war begun by the 
 events of the Fort Moultrie affair might be continued, 
 but they were the ordinary and reasonable measures ad- 
 opted by every nation for defensive purposes; and in addi- 
 tion its agreement faithfully observed, to make no attack 
 on Fort Sumter on account of promises made to evacuate 
 the premises, as well as its permission, continued into 
 April, 1861, for Maj. Anderson to purchase fresh provis- 
 ions in the markets of Charleston, point out a peaceable 
 disposition which cannot be misunderstood. 
 
 After the Confederate States assumed control of the 
 harbor defenses of Charleston, General Beauregard was 
 assigned March ist, 1861, to command of the troops, and 
 all questions were now properly transferred from the 
 State of South Carolina so that they should lie between 
 the Federal and Confederate Governments, but the peace 
 status remained unchanged by any act of the latter 
 nation. The opinion extensively prevailed that Major 
 Anderson's command would be withdrawn. Mr. Forsyth 
 telegraphed March 14th to Governor Pickens, " I confi- 
 dentially believe Sumter will be evacuated and think a 
 government messenger left here yesterday with orders to 
 that effect for Anderson." On the same day Captain 
 Foster, U. S. Engineer, who was in charge of the works 
 at Fort Sumter, writes to the chief engineer of the U. S. 
 army at Washington, * ' The news received here yesterday 
 by telegraph to the effect that orders were issued to 
 evacuate this fort seems to have caused an almost entire 
 cessation of work on the (Confederate) batteries around 
 us." On March 12th, President Lincoln addressed to 
 
884 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 General Scott a communication asking for information as 
 to the means it would require to reinforce Port Sumter, 
 and on the 15th asked the secretary of war, Mr. Cameron, 
 to give his opinion in writing on the question, "Assuming 
 it to be possible to now provision Fort Sumter, under all 
 the circumstances is it wise to attempt it?" In his answer,- 
 delivered March 17th, the secretary of war says: " My 
 mind has been most reluctantly forced to the conclusion 
 that it would be unwise now to make such an attempt All 
 the ofificers within Fort Sumter, together with Generals 
 Scott and Totten, express this same opinion. I am 
 therefore of the opinion that the cause of humanity and 
 the highest obligation to the public interest would be best 
 promoted by adopting the counsels of -those brave and 
 experienced men whose suggestions I have laid before 
 you." Two days later, March 19th, President Lincoln 
 directed General Scott to send to Fort Sumter some 
 suitable person who would get accurate information in 
 regard to the command of Maj. Anderson and report the 
 result, upon which General Scott selected Captain G. V. 
 Fox, formerly of the navy, indorsing the order with the 
 note: "The within may do good and can do no 
 harm. It commits no one. " On the 20th a telegram 
 sent to Mr. Toombs, the Confederate secretary of state 
 at Montgomery, from the Confederate commissioners, 
 Roman, Crawford and Forsyth, contained the following 
 cheering intelligence : "If there is faith in man we may 
 rely on the assurances we have as to the status. Time 
 is essential to a peaceful issue of this mission. In the 
 present posture of affairs precipitation is war. We are 
 all agreed." The next day General Beauregard was 
 informed by telegram from Mr. L. P. Walker, the Confed- 
 erate secretary of war, that ' ' the probability is if there be 
 any reliance on rumors, semi-official in their character, 
 that Fort Sumter will be shortly abandoned. " It was at 
 this date, March 21st, that Mr. Seward repeated to 
 the Confederate commissioners through Judge Campbell 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 385 
 
 " that the failure to evacuate Fort Sumter was not the 
 result of bad faith, but was attributable to causes con- 
 sistent with the intention to fulfill the engagement." 
 On the same day, Captain Fox arrived at Charleston, 
 and calling on Governor Pickens obtained from him a 
 passport to Sumter, expressly upon the pledge of 
 " pacific purposes, "and going at once, arrived at the fort 
 late at night. Here he held a confidential interview 
 with Maj. Anderson, and on the zzd left for Washing- 
 ton. Mr. Ward H. Lamon came two days afterward 
 and by the same courtesy and confidence which had been 
 extended to Captain Fox was escorted to Fort Sumter 
 by Colonel Duryea, a member of the staff of Governor 
 Pickens, and after delivering special dispatches from 
 President Lincoln, and having an interview with Ander- 
 son, returned to Charleston. General Beauregard having 
 heard a rumor that he would require of Maj. Anderson 
 a formal surrender, hastened on the 26th, as he states in 
 a communication to him, to say that "having been in- 
 formed that Mr. Lamon, the authorized agent of the 
 President of the United States, advised Governor Pick- 
 ens, after his interview with you at Fort Sumter that 
 your command would be transferred to another post in a 
 few days, and understanding that you are under the im- 
 pression I intended under all circumstances to require of 
 you a formal surrender or capitulation, I hasten to dis- 
 abuse you, and to inform you that our countries not being 
 at war and wishing so far as lies in my power to avoid 
 the latter calamity, no such condition will be exacted of 
 you, unless brought about as the natural result of hostil- 
 ities. " During this chronological tracing of events that 
 concerned the peaceful evacuation of Fort Sumter, the 
 reports of Maj. Anderson and Captain Foster show a 
 state of inactivity on the part of the Confederates. 
 Such expressions as, " Their works seem to be at a stand- 
 still," and " All operations looking to an attack on this 
 fort have ceased," " There seems to be a general lack of 
 
 1-25 
 
386 coif FEDERATE MILITARY HISTOkY. 
 
 activity," and even to the 6th of April the same reports 
 of Confederate quietness and inactivity were transmitted 
 regularly from Fort Sumter to Washington. 
 
 But in the meantime Captain Fox had returned with 
 whatever information he had gained by his special visit 
 to Maj. Anderson, who had been kept in ignorance of the 
 purposes of the administration, but was " in daily expec- 
 tation since the return of Colonel Lamon to Washington, 
 of receiving orders to vacate this post. ' ' Political ferment 
 was occurring which threatened the repose of the Presi- 
 dent. General Totten, chief engineer, U. S. A., quar- 
 tered at Washington, seemed to understand the situation, 
 as it may be inferred from a sentence in his communica- 
 tion to the secretary of war, Mr. Cameron, " under the 
 strongest convictions on some military questions upon 
 which great political events seem about to turn, I feel 
 impelled to state them, " and proceeds to advise against 
 an attempt to reinforce by exposing vessels to the fire of 
 Charleston batteries. But, he says, "should the above 
 reasoning not meet acceptance, or for political reasons 
 should it be decided to hold and defend this fort (Sumter) 
 to the last, then I have to say that every soldier that can 
 be spared should be sent to its relief with the utmost dis- 
 patch, accompanied by military supplies of every kind 
 and in the greatest abundance. Having no personal 
 ambition or party feeling to lead or mislead me to con- 
 clusions, I have maturely studied the subject as a soldier 
 bound to give all his faculties to his country, which may 
 God preserve in peace." 
 
 The Fort Sumter reinforcement question was deter- 
 mined finally on partisan political considerations. Party 
 pressure overcame the " faith as to Sumter" as " mili- 
 tary necessity " subsequently recognized no constitutional 
 restraint. The advice of experienced and able military 
 officers as to the futility of the attempt to reinforce Sum- 
 ter by the employment of a few vessels went for nothing 
 with the politicians, and since the attempt itself would 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 38'? 
 
 satisfy party clamor and strengthen the administration 
 they were determined to make it. The South could at 
 least be forced to fire the first gun, and that would be 
 worth the cost of the expedition and the destruction of a 
 fleet. The border States were also insecure and must 
 be conciliated. Kentucky, which President Lincoln 
 declared was " the key of the situation," had asked for a 
 convention of all States to agree on the Crittenden Com- 
 promise, and resolved to remain in the Union only on 
 the condition that Mr. Lincoln would not make war on 
 the seceded States. Virginia was still interceding for 
 peace through her committee which was in Washington, 
 and to this committee Mr. Lincoln proposed that if the 
 State convention then in session would bind the State 
 not to secede under any circumstances and adjourn sine 
 die he would order the evacuation of Fort Sumter; a 
 condition that no free people would accept, and which 
 the commissioners had no authority to consider. (Re- 
 miniscences of Lincoln, p. 87.) 
 
 President Lincoln entered into the views of Captain 
 Fox notwithstanding the opposition of General Scott, 
 and as valuable time was being lost in the discussion, he 
 directed Captain Fox to prepare for the voyage, but to 
 make no binding engagements. In his first efforts he 
 met with the opposition of Mr. Marshall, on whom he 
 had relied. Mr. Marshall declined to aid him because the 
 attempt to reinforce Sumter would not only thwart the 
 proposed loan, but " would bring on civil war. " Delays 
 which Captain Fox says " belong to the secret history of 
 this period, prevented a decision until on the afternoon 
 of the 4th of April, when the President sent for me and 
 said that he had decided to let the expedition go, and 
 that a messenger from himself would be sent to the 
 authorities of Charleston before I could possibly get 
 there to notify them that no troops would be thrown into 
 Sumter, if provisions were allowed peacefully to be sent 
 to the garrison." 
 
388 CONFEDERATE MiLlTAkY UlSTORV. 
 
 The " Powhatan," the " Pocahontas," the " Pawnee," 
 and the " Harriet Lane " were placed at the disposal of 
 Captain Fox by the secretary of the navy. On the 5 th 
 of April he engaged the " Baltic " to carry supplies and 
 recruits, hired three steam tugs, and rapidly fitted out 
 an expedition. The command of the naval force was 
 tendered to Commodore Stringham, a naval officer of 
 high authority, but he declined because he considered 
 the expedition to be too late to be successful. Colonel 
 H. L. Scott, aide to General Scott, was directed by confi- 
 dential orders to supply recruits, but he ridiculed the 
 idea of the government relieving Sumter and the owners 
 of tugs so generally refused to risk their vessels that only 
 three could be hired at exorbitant rates. Supplies, 
 however, were easily purchased, and the expedition was 
 thoroughly provisioned. All being made ready, the 
 " Powhatan " sailed on the 6th. TJhe messenger from 
 Washington was started the same day to Governor Pick- 
 ens to notify him that ' ' faith as to Sumter fully kept ' ' 
 meant that the fort would be provisioned as soon as he 
 would consent for it to be done ; otherwise the fleet and 
 Maj. Anderson were prepared to see that the fort was 
 held and reinforced. The tug "Uncle Ben" steamed 
 out on the 7th, the " Harriet Lane " and the tug " Yan- 
 kee " on the 8th, the " Pawnee " and the " Baltic "on the 
 9th, the " Pocahontas " on the loth. This considerable 
 fleet, commissioned to execute the plan of Captain Fox, 
 encountered a heavy gale, which continued during the 
 whole passage, delaying the voyage so much that the 
 rendezvous at Charleston did not begin until the nth or 
 12th, the " Harriet Lane " being the first vessel to arrive. 
 All finally arrived, and in addition to the fleet, the 
 steamer " Nashville " and a number of merchant vessels 
 anchoring near the bar increased the imposing naval 
 demonstration. A portion of the war ships stood in 
 towards the bar at sunrise of the 1 2th but the captain of 
 the ' ' Pawnee ' ' refused the request of Captain Fox to 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 389 
 
 Stand in to the bar with him because his orders required 
 him to remain and await the ' ' Powhatan ; ' ' and besides 
 he "was not going in there to inaugurate civil war." 
 Other vessels steamed in and as they neared the land the 
 smoke and shells from the Confederate batteries, which 
 had just opened, became visible. The sound of war at 
 once drew the remark from the gallant commander of 
 the " Pawnee," Captain Rowan, that he would " stand in 
 with his ship and share the fate of the army." The 
 weather was bad and the sea was heavy, the warships 
 inside the bar had no boats nor men to carry in supplies, 
 the " Powhatan " had not arrived, the "Baltic" could 
 not withstand the very heavy swell, first running ashore 
 on a shoal and then anchoring far out in deep water. 
 One of the tug boats had been driven by the gale into 
 the hands of the ' ' rebels " ' at Wilmington, and the others, 
 had not arrived. But the indomitable Fox persisted in 
 hoping that all the elements of his carefully planned 
 attack on Sumter would yet get together. Pursuing this 
 hope he organized a boat's crew, pulled in to the " Paw- 
 nee " from the " Harriet Lane, " purposing to make an 
 effort to reach Sumter with provisions even in the 
 absence of the tug boats, but the heavy sea forbade the 
 venture. An ice schooner was then captured and loaded 
 for entering the harbor at night. 
 
 But in the afternoon the fort was surrendered. On 
 the 14th it was evacuate'd, on the 15th the garrison was 
 taken to the ' ' Baltic, ' ' and Fort Sumter went into the 
 peaceable possession of the Confederacy. Captain Fox's 
 plan was designed to secure the reinforcement of Fort 
 Sumter peaceably if the Confederates consented, but 
 forcibly if they objected. The objections of South Car- 
 olina at first and the subsequent declarations of the Con- 
 federate States had been very plainly made. It was 
 understood on both sides that the attempt to reinforce by 
 provisions and troops, or by either, would provoke war. 
 The steaming into the harbor of Charleston was under- 
 
390 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 stood by the well-informed captain of the " Pawnee " as 
 ' ' the inauguration of war. ' ' The political maneuver of 
 the expedition was to gain an advantage whether the 
 fort was reinforced or compelled to surrender. But 
 Captain Fox cared little for the politics in the question 
 and therefore planned for a successful, forcible, hostile 
 reinforcement with provisions and troops. His plan 
 required three hundred sailors, a full supply of armed 
 launches, three tugs, and the support of the ships of war 
 assigned him by the Secretary, and the "Baltic" 
 freighted with stores and recruits. The expedition 
 meant war as far as evidences by preparation can ptove 
 the warlike intent. The expedition was as warlike as 
 the Spanish Armada, and its failure does not defend it 
 from the true charge that it was designed to institute 
 war against the Confederate States. 
 
 It is not to be presumed that the policy of Mr. Lincoln 
 in this special expedition had no outlook beyond the 
 provisioning of Fort Sumter. Success in that venture 
 would have necessitated, upon the same policy, the 
 reduction of the other forts and the occupation of 
 Charleston. In the changes in the plan, which were 
 ordered in Washington, Mr. Lincoln was not conscious 
 that his signature to the orders would deprive the ex- 
 pedition of the means to accomplish an object which he 
 held to be of vital importance. The feebleness therefore 
 with which hostilities were inaugurated was owing to 
 the storms of the sea, and the interference at Washing- 
 ton while the expedition was in progress, but not with 
 any intent that ample force should not be used. 
 
 The political aspect of this event reveals an astute cal- 
 culation of consequences following the failure or the 
 success of the expedition. If successful, Charleston 
 must fall into Federal control ; if unsuccessful, the Con- 
 federates, having been forced to fire the first gun, would 
 be at disadvantage before the country on that account. 
 In either case the result could be turned to profit. The 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 391 
 
 timely letter written from Washington May ist, by Mr. 
 Lincoln to console Captain Fox, sustains this view. In 
 this cordial letter the sympathizing President says to 
 Captain Fox: " I sincerely regret that the failure of the 
 late attempt to provisjion Fort Sumter should be a source 
 of any annoyance to you. The practicability of your plan 
 was not in fact brought to a test. By reason of a gale, 
 well-known in advance to be possible and not improb- 
 able, the tugs, an essential part of the plan, never 
 reached the ground, while by an accident for which you 
 were in nowise responsible, and possibly I to some 
 extent was, you were deprived of a war vessel with her 
 men which you deemed of great importance to the enter- 
 prise. I most cheerfully and truly declare that the fail- 
 ure of the undertaking has not lowered you a particle, 
 while the qualities which you developed in the effort 
 have greatly heightened you in my estimation. For a 
 daring and dangerous enterprise of a similar character 
 you would to-day be the man of all my acquaintances 
 whom I would select. You and I both anticipated that 
 the cause of the country would be advanced by making 
 the attempt to provision Fort Sumter even if it should 
 fail, and it is no small consolation now to feel that our 
 anticipation is justified by the result. ' ' The calculation 
 was thus coolly made by President Lincoln and Captain 
 Fox that the mere attempt itself to reinforce Sumter 
 would accomplish a desired political result. If it caused 
 the firing of a single gun by the Confederates, if the 
 attempt caused the military reduction of the fort by the 
 secessionists, or if the expedition composed of strong 
 ships, manned by disciplined, well-armed troops, should 
 succeed; in any event " the cause of the country would 
 be advanced by making the attempt to provision Fort 
 Sumter." The consolation of the administration came 
 with the fulfillment of the anticipation shown in the 
 issue of the President's proclamation, the firing of the 
 Northern heart on account of the firing of the first gun 
 
392 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 on the flag, and the consequent response to the call for 
 seventy-five thousand volunteers to invade the South 
 and put down "the rebellion." 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 THE CALL TO ARMS. 
 
 LINCOLN'S CALL FOR 75,000 VOLUNTEERS— RESPONSES 
 OF GOVERNORS — CONFEDERATE PREPARATIONS 
 FOR DEFENSE— POLITICAL EFFECT IN THE NORTH 
 -CONFEDERATE CONGRESS SUMMONED TO MEET 
 —LETTERS OF MARQUE— BLOCKADE— MEASURES 
 OF CONFEDERATE CONGRESS. 
 
 PRESIDENT Lincoln was evidently prepared to hear 
 that the Confederates had resisted his warships and 
 that Fort Sumter had surrendered. His proclamation 
 calling for 75,000 volunteers for three months to suppress 
 the insurrection and summoning Congress in extra session 
 on the 4th of July was promptly written on the 14th of 
 April and dated as being issued April i sth, within a day 
 after the delivery of Port Sumter to General Beauregard. 
 The proclamation recited that the combinations formed 
 by seven States were too powerful to be suppressed by 
 judicial proceedings, and it was therefore thought fit to 
 call out the militia of all the States to the number of 
 seventy- five thousand. The persons composing the ' ' com- 
 binations " were also commanded to "disperse within 
 twenty days. ' ' On the same day the secretary of war 
 made his formal requisition for three months' militia on 
 the governors, assigning to each the quota of his State. 
 Fort Sumter was surrendered on Saturday the 13th, 
 evacuated on Sunday the 14th, on Monday the 15th these 
 documents were spread throughout the country by the 
 press, and on Wednesday troops were put in motion toward 
 Washington. This extraordinary celerity is evidence of 
 the well-devised plan to produce an issue on which coercion 
 
 393 
 
394 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 could be made popular on the plea that the South had 
 fired the first gun and begun the war. 
 
 The responses to the call for troops from the "war 
 governors" were as prompt as the proclamation itself; 
 but the governor of Kentucky replied, " Kentucky will 
 furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her 
 sister States. " The governor of Virginia responded that 
 "the militia of Virginia will not be furnished to the 
 powers at Washington for any such use or purpose as 
 they have in view." The governor of Tennessee said, 
 " Tennessee — not a man for coercion, but 50,000 for de- 
 fense of our rights and those of our Southern brothers." 
 The governor of North Carolina replied tartly, " I can be 
 no party to this wicked violation of the laws of the country 
 and to this war upon the liberties of a free people. You 
 can get no troops from North Carolina." Missouri's 
 governor answered, " The requisition is illegal, inhuman, 
 diabolical and cannot be complied with. ' ' Governor Hicks, 
 of Maryland, replied by stating the condition of affairs in 
 his State. 
 
 The proclamation dispelled all doubt of the purpose of 
 the administration at Washington to enforce the claims 
 by actual war by land as well as by sea, and preparations 
 were therefore at once made in the Confederacy to defend 
 the States from invasion. Virginia, South Carolina, Ten- 
 nessee and Arkansas necessarily seceded, while Missouri 
 and Kentucky announced their purpose to be neutral. 
 The States thus late in the Southern movement against 
 Sectional abuse of the United States government held to 
 and maintained the right of resistance even by separation 
 but their actual exercise of the right was a forced and 
 emphatic denial of coercion and a firm refusal to be made 
 parties to an unlawful attempt to subjugate the Southern 
 States which had seceded. They joined these States in 
 secession, not to make war for conquest, nor for National 
 aggrandizement, nor to destroy the Union, but to rep el 
 an invasion already imminent and to defend themselves 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 396 
 
 against armies already in the field, ready to march upon 
 campaigns for conquest. 
 
 The Confederate Congress was not in session during 
 these exciting events and President Davis with his entire 
 cabinet and executive oificials was still at Montgomery. 
 The States were barely adjusted to their new relations and 
 it was not possible for the Confederate States to do more 
 than to rapidly gather together their men to defend their 
 soil. No hostile movement against Washington was 
 feasible, but the cry of danger to the capital was shrewdly 
 used at once to rally the North. While Virginia, North 
 Carolina and Maryland were yet in the Union on the date 
 of the proclamation of Lincoln, they would unquestion- 
 ably have refused permission for the transportation of 
 any troops of the existing Confederacy across their terri- 
 tory to attack Washington. Probably the secession of 
 Maryland would have imperiled the capital but it was in 
 no wise endangered even after the secession of Virginia 
 by the prompt movement of that State to gain possession 
 of Harper's Ferry. Yet the politic appeal for troops to 
 rally for defense of the nation's capitol was made with 
 good effect, and the excitement was increased in conse- 
 quence of the position taken by Maryland that the United 
 States ought not to use that State in conveying armed 
 men to invade Virginia. Governor Hicks had consented 
 to ask the administration to respect the wishes of Mary- 
 land to have no Federal troops sent over its territory to 
 invade Virginia, and on April i6th Mr. George P. 
 Kane telegraphed to know whether an attempt would be 
 made to pass volunteers from New York intended to make 
 war upon the South. - On the 19th General Thomas, ad- 
 jutant-general, wired that " Governor Hicks has neither 
 right nor authority to stop troops coming to Washington. 
 Send them on prepared to fight their way through if 
 necessary," which message was sent "by order of the 
 Secretary of war." The military department of Wash- 
 ington was at once extended over Maryland, Delaware and 
 
396 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORV. 
 
 Pennsylvania, by General Scott, and posts were ordered 
 to be established ' ' all along the road from Wilmington, 
 Delaware, to Washington City. ' ' Citizens of Baltimore 
 sent telegrams to Mr. Cameron, April 19th, imploring 
 him not to send troops through their city. The Baltimore 
 and Ohio railroad refused to transfer the troops. But 
 notwithstanding all these precautions the issue was made 
 by pressing a body of Massachusetts soldiers into the city 
 and the tragedy of April 1 9th followed. Citizens resented 
 this invasion, the Federal soldiers fired and thus the first 
 battle of the Confederate war in which blood was shed, 
 was fought on the soil of a State which had not seceded. 
 
 The political effect, however, was satisfactory to the 
 administration for the time, and an agreement was then 
 made with the mayor of Baltimore that troops should not 
 be sent through the city. Annapolis was then substituted 
 as the rendezvous en route to Washington, but finally the 
 occupation of Maryland was made complete. Orders 
 rapidly followed to place troops in position to advance on 
 Baltimore and for a short time the war on the Confederacy 
 was concentrated against Maryland. In less than five 
 days after the unfortunate occurrences on the 19th of 
 April in Baltimore, the Federal troops were passing 
 through Annapolis to Washington. " A joint movement 
 was contemplated from Philadelphia and Annapolis 
 against Baltimore. The legislature was called to meet 
 at Frederick City and the spirit of resistance pervaded 
 many parts of the State. But the disadvantages were too 
 great to be overcome and in a few weeks Baltimore was 
 held by the Federal army." 
 
 President Davis issued a proclamation on the 12 th of 
 April previously to the fight for Fort Sumter, convening 
 the Congress on the 29th, " prompted by the declaration 
 of hostilities contained in the message sent by President 
 Lincoln to the governor of South Carolina delivered on 
 the evening of April 8th. ' ' He stated as a ground of 
 apprehension of trouble that the naval expedition fitted 
 
CONFEDERA TE MILITARY HISTORY. S97 
 
 out in New York to operate against the Southern coast 
 was already out at sea, and " according to the usual course 
 of navigation the vessels designed for Fort Sumter might 
 be looked for on April 9th. ' ' Hence the promised notice 
 by President Lincoln was not communicated to the com- 
 missioners at Washington, although dated April 6th, but 
 was timed to reach Charleston at a late hour on the eve on 
 which the fleet was scheduled to arrive at that port. 
 A storm delayed the expedition. The delay gave time 
 for communication between Charleston and Montgomery, 
 which resulted in the defeat of the hostile descent, and 
 thus the immergent proclamation by President Davis 
 of April 12th to assemble the Confederate Congress, 
 antedated the call of President Lincoln on the States for 
 75,000 volunteers. The Confederate government now 
 saw that the design of the Washington administration was 
 to " place the besieging force at Charleston between the 
 simultaneous fire of the fleet and the fort, ' ' and hence it 
 was necessary to reduce the fort before that purpose could 
 be effected. Congress was therefore called; war had 
 been commenced by the United States and action thereon 
 had to be taken at once. 
 
 Two days after the call of President Lincoln for 75,000 
 troops the Confederate President issued his proclamation 
 oflfering letters of marque and reprisal to all who may 
 desire by service in private armed vessels on the high seas 
 to aid the government in resisting aggression, basing his 
 proclamation on the declarations in President Lincoln's 
 call to arms. The seriousness of the situation was deeply 
 felt throughout the Sotith, amidst the general rejoicing 
 over the accessions of border States, and the earnest prep- 
 arations made by the Southern governors to meet all 
 requisitions for troops. Planters realized that the need of 
 food and forage supplies would be great, and while contin- 
 uing to plant cotton they enlarged the area of com. 
 Merchants were crippled in business and commerce was 
 
398 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 already stayed, but the realities of war were net yet expe- 
 rienced. 
 
 President Lincoln followed his call for the militia of 
 the States by another proclamation issued April 19th de- 
 claring a blockade of the ports and promising to make it 
 eEEective. Among other war measures the United States 
 government caused to be seized at once all original and 
 copied dispatches which had accumulated for twelve 
 months in the telegraph offices. " The object of the gov- 
 ernment in making this seizure was to obtain evidence of 
 the operations of Southern citizens with their Northern 
 friends. "(Amer. Ency., 1861, p. 718.) A few days later 
 another call was made for additional troops. 
 
 The Confederate Congress assembled at Montgomery 
 in obedience to the proclamation of the President on the 
 2 9th of April, 1861, two weeks after the surrender of Fort 
 Sumter. The permanent constitution had been ratified 
 by all the States and the pleasing fact was stated by Pres- 
 ident Davis in the first sentence of his message. The 
 declaration of war made by President Lincoln in his proc- 
 lamation demanded congressional action to provide for the 
 defense of the country. The able message fully reviewed 
 the history of the issues which had disturbed the peace of 
 the country as well as the unavailing efforts of the Con- 
 federate government to effect a peaceful settlement. 
 Referring to the patriotic response of the people to the 
 call for troops, the message declared that requisitions for 
 troops had been met with such alacrity that the numbers 
 tendering their services have in every instance greatly 
 exceeded the demand, and that men of the highest official 
 and social position are serving as volunteers in the ranks. 
 " In independence we seek no conquests, no aggrandize- 
 ment, no cession of any kind from the States with which 
 we have lately confederated. All we ask is to be let 
 alone — ^that those who never held power over us shall not 
 now attempt our subjugation by arms. This we will, 
 we must resist to the direst extremity. The moment this 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY UlSTORY. 39d 
 
 pretension is abandoned the sword will drop from our 
 hands and we shall be ready to enter into treaties of amity 
 and commerce that cannot but be mutually beneficial." 
 
 The Confederate Congress proceeded earnestly to do 
 the important work for which it was assembled. Acts 
 were passed recognizing the state of war existing with the 
 United States, authorizing the issue of letters of marque 
 by the President and authorizing him to accept the services 
 of volunteers in the Confederate army without regard to 
 the place of enlistment. Arkansas was admitted into the 
 Confederacy, and Virginia being also recognized as one 
 of the Confederate States, the members elect, Mr. J. W. 
 Bockenbrough and Mr. Waller R. Staples, took their 
 seats. Mr. T. J. Clingman, of North Carolina, present as a 
 commissioner from that State, was invited to attend all 
 sessions of Congress and participate in its deliberations. 
 The appointment by the President of judges and marshals 
 in Confederate courts were confirmed. On the ist of 
 April a bill was passed which gave authority for 
 the issue of fifty millions of dollars in bonds, running 
 twenty years at eight per cent interest or in lieu of 
 these bonds twenty millions of treasury notes in small 
 denominations without interest. The "produce loan" 
 was devised upon the idea that cotton could be made a 
 basis of security, the Confederate government proposing 
 by this measure to take a loan in produce from the plant- 
 ers and issuing its bonds in payment. In response to the 
 plan, conventions of planters were held in various States, 
 committees to take subscriptions were appointed and 
 within a few months the entire amount was subscribed. 
 The device brought very little money into the Confederate 
 treasury, but proved to be greatly useful in furnishing 
 supplies for the army. President Davis remarked con- 
 cerning its utility : " Scarcely an article required for the 
 consumption of our army is provided otherwise than by 
 subscription to the produce loan so happily devised by 
 Congress. " 
 
400 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Another bill provided that persons indebted to creditors 
 in the Northern States may pay the claim into the Con- 
 federate treasury and were prohibited from making 
 payment otherwise pending the existing war. The tariff 
 bill was passed ; but the blockade, although it was as yet 
 ineffective, began to diminish foreign commerce to such 
 extent that little revenue was obtained from that source. 
 Mr. Stephens proposed at Montgomery to make substantial 
 use of the " cotton power " of the Confederacy by a pur- 
 chase on its part of the entire annual crops as they should 
 become prepared for market and to pay the planters in 
 eight per cent bonds running not over thirty years. The 
 plan included the use of this cotton as security for gov- 
 ernment loans. The estimate was that four million bales 
 would come into the possession of the Government before 
 the close of the year 1861, and upon this basis the Confed- 
 erate finances would be safe. 
 
 The sessions of Congress were usually held in secret in 
 order to discuss fully the important practical war measures 
 necessary for the defense of the Confederacy, among 
 which was the question of removing the seat of govern- 
 ment to Richmond. This necessary step having been 
 taken on the 2 2d of May, a committee composed of Mr. 
 Rives, Mr. Hunter, and Mr. Memminger was appointed 
 to transfer the military department, and when all other 
 arrangements for the change were made Congress 
 adjourned. The reasons for this transfer of the Confed- 
 erate capital to Richmond are given in a patriotic speech 
 made by Mr. Howell Cobb, president of the convention, 
 at Atlanta, Georgia, May 22nd: "I will tell you," said 
 he, " why we did this. The Old Dominion has at last 
 shaken off the bonds of Lincoln and joined her noble 
 Southern States. Her soil is to be the battle ground and 
 her streams are to be dyed with Southern blood. We felt 
 that her cause was our cause, and that if she fell we 
 wanted to die by her. We have sent our soldiers on to 
 the posts of danger and we wanted to be there to aid and 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 401 
 
 counsel our brave boys. In the progress of the war 
 further legislation may be necessary, and we will be there 
 that when the hour of danger comes we may lay aside the 
 robes of legislation, buckle on the armor of the soldier, 
 and do battle beside the brave men who have volunteered 
 for the defense of our beloved South. " 
 
 Mr. Blaine remarks concerning the state of affairs at 
 this date: " The Confederacy was growing in strength 
 daily, State after State was joining it; energy and con- 
 fidence prevailed throughout all its borders. " (Twenty 
 Years, p. 314) In addition to the important accessions 
 already named North Carolina joined the Confederacy; 
 Tennessee authorized a military league with it ; Maryland 
 divided and enthralled made a protest against secession, 
 but still opposed coercion; the governor of Kentucky 
 issued a proclamation of neutrality ; and Missouri was for- 
 bidding hostilities inside its limits. Foreign nations were 
 laeginning to manifest a purpose to maintain neutrality 
 and recognize the belligerency of the two governments. 
 There was a great lack in the South of arms and ammuni- 
 tion, but none of volunteers ; the food supplies were as yet 
 abundant; the Southern people were united, and " the 
 flower of their youth " were eagerly pressing into military 
 .service. 
 
 l-2« 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 MILITARY AND POLITICAL ACTIVITY. 
 
 CONFEDERATE WAR FOLIC Y — PRESIDENT DAVIS' 
 PROCLAMATION — SYMPATHY FOR MARYLAND- 
 VIRGINIA FORCES ORGANIZED BY LEE— FEDERALS 
 CROSS THE POTOMAC— CONFEDERATE GOVERN- 
 MENT TRANSFERRED TO RICHMOND— CONGRESS 
 OP THE CONFEDERATE STATES AND THE UNITED 
 STATES — MESSAGES — PERPLEXING QUESTIONS — 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 THE Confederate policy was to conduct the war de- 
 fensively. President Davis had sufficiently inti- 
 mated his own views through his message of April 
 29th, 1861, and while there was no little popular call for 
 immediate relief of Maryland, the counsel for a defensive 
 policy prevailed. The Vice-President, Mr. Stephens, who 
 had negotiated with Virginia the immediate union of that 
 great State with the Confederacy, said in a public speech 
 April 30th, " A general opinion is that Washington City is 
 soon to be attacked. On this subject I can only say that 
 our object is peace. We wish no aggressions on any 
 one's rights, and will make none. But if Maryland 
 secedes, the District of Columbia will fall to her by 
 reversionary right, the same as Sumter to South Caro- 
 lina, Pulaski to Georgia, and Pickens to Florida. When 
 we have the right, we will demand the surrender of Wash- 
 ington, just as we did in the other cases, and will en- 
 force our demand at every hazard, and at whatever cost. " 
 President Davis, perceiving that the main attack by land 
 would be made upon Virginia, was actively co-operating 
 with Governor Letcher to meet the threatened invasion 
 of his State. His unavailing sympathy for Maryland is 
 
 402 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 403 
 
 at this day expressed in his correspondence with the 
 Virginia authorities in which he urged them to ' ' sustain 
 Baltimore if practicable. ' ' But it was not practicable. 
 Virginia, on adopting the ordinance of secession April 
 1 7th, organized the State forces, and after his resignation 
 from the United States army, appointed General Robert E. 
 Lee to the command of the Virginia army and navy. An 
 " advisory council " was also selected, who had charge 
 under Governor Letcher, of military affairs. Harper's 
 Ferry, abandoned April i8th, was occupied by Virginia 
 soldiers under Colonel Thomas J. Jackson, and General 
 Taliaferro was placed in command at Norfolk. General 
 Joseph E. Johnston was assigned to command of the 
 forces of the State near Richmond. There was doubtless 
 an enthusiastic feeling among the Virginia troops to 
 " make a dash into Maryland, capture Washington and 
 end the war." But the natural impulse was kept under 
 the control of the leaders, and no such movement was 
 seriously considered, although the " advisory council " 
 requested the governor to send a commissioner to Mary- 
 land to ascertain the condition of affairs in that State, and 
 endeavored to supply the requisition of General Steuart 
 for arms. 
 
 The Federal forces, which had been assembled at Wash- 
 ington, began to cross the Potomac on the 24th of May, 
 and meeting no resistance, took possession of Alexandria. 
 Time had been taken to bring Maryland under military 
 control, and Baltimore had been under the command of 
 Federal officers since the 13th of May, after which the 
 policy of the administration was now to reduce Virginia 
 to submission and overthrow the Confederacy by the 
 capture of Richmond. Troops were also ordered accord- 
 ing to this plan into Western Virginia and steamers with 
 reinforcements appeared at Old Point and Newport 
 News, while the main army crossed the Potomac. 
 
 President Davis and his executive assistants arrived at 
 Richmond from Montgomery as these movements began. 
 
404 CONFEDERA TE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 and entered actively upon measures to meet the formid- 
 able invasion. But by successive advances the confident 
 Federals pressed their advantages, notwithstanding the 
 checks they received and their signal repulse at Big 
 Bethel on the loth of June. The war cry " On to Rich- 
 mond " was started by the Northern press to arouse en- 
 thusiasm in that section, and the meeting of the Confed- 
 erate Congress at the Virginia capital was to be prevented, 
 or if it should assemble the Confederate government 
 must be dispersed. A quick crushing of the rebellion 
 was declared to be the policy of the Federal adminis- 
 tration. 
 
 The Confederate government now presented to the 
 world the aspect of a well-organized nation attacked by 
 another nation seeking its subjugation. Its people had 
 expressed their will by unconstrained ballot in favor of 
 secession — the States had acted in accordance with this 
 popular expression — the written Constitution evidenced 
 the wisdom of their Statesmen — and the organization of 
 all departments of civil government was complete. The 
 change from association with the United States to the 
 Confederate States had produced no popular outbreak, 
 nor embarrassed the administration of justice in the 
 courts. Commerce was interrupted only on account of 
 the hostility of the United States to the withdrawal of 
 the seceded States, but in all other respects the great 
 event was unattended by any circumstances that occur 
 in violent revolutions. 
 
 The Confederate Congress assembled in the hall of the 
 House of delegates, Richmond, Virginia, on Saturday, 
 July 2oth, 1 86 1. President Davis' message was read and 
 referred to appropriate committees. The secretary of 
 war asked for the call of three hundred regiments addi- 
 tional to the one hundred and ninety-four regiments and 
 thirty-two battalions already accepted, which Congress 
 met by providing for 400,000 additional troops, and the 
 issue of $100,000,000 in bonds, and the same amount in 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 405 
 
 treasury notes to carry on the war. Official reports show 
 that all Confederate troops at this time enrolled consti- 
 tuted a force entirely insufficient to meet the large armies 
 which the United States were calling into the service. 
 
 Confederate finances required the attention not only of 
 Congress but of the experienced financiers of the Confed- 
 eracy. A convention of bankers had met in Atlanta, 
 June 3rd, and after electing Mr. G. B. Lamar, president, 
 and Mr. James S. Gibbs, secretary, passed resolutions to 
 advance funds to the government until its treasury notes 
 could be issued, and then adjourned to meet in Rich- 
 mond, July 24th, during the sitting of Congress. At that 
 time the patriotic bankers again met, in larger numbers, 
 comprising representatives from all the principal banks of 
 the South, and pledged their full financial support of the 
 government. 
 
 The Congress laid a direct tax assessed by States which 
 it supposed would yield fifteen millions, and authorized 
 the issue of one hundred millions in treasury notes, but 
 the fifteen millions borrowed in February, the loans on 
 produce, and the measures of the former and the present 
 Congress, all combined, placed at the control of the gov- 
 ernment very little above two hundred millions of dol- 
 lars to carry on the war. The States, however, acting 
 separately, made special and large appropriations, and 
 individual resources were used in generous donations for 
 the equipment of volunteers. Confederate money was 
 freely received and used everywhere by the banks, and 
 in commerce by the people. So great, however, was the 
 paper issue even in 1861, by States, counties and corpo- 
 rations, which could not be absorbed in trade, on account 
 of the blockade, that depreciation took place at once. In 
 the summer of 1861 specie went to a premium of 15 per 
 cent for the best currency, and at the close of the year 
 the depreciation had gone to nearly fifty cents on the 
 dollar. Congress endeavored to preserve the Confeder- 
 ate credit by all measures it could devise. Sustained by 
 
406 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 the banks it made its loans at what should be considered 
 a low rate of interest, and attempted to provide for the 
 pajmient of that interest by special tax of fifty cents upon 
 each one hundred dollars in value upon nearly all real 
 and personal property. 
 
 The United States Congress met in extra session " in 
 a fortified city " on the 4th of July, 1861. Among the 
 distinguished leaders who supported war measures with 
 vigor were Sumner, Fessenden, Chandler, Trumbull, 
 Wade, Hale, Wilson, Sherman and Chase. The conserv- 
 atives were represented by Pearce, Polk, Richardson of 
 Illinois, Saulsbury, Bayard and Bright. Every New 
 England senator except Morrill was given chairmanship 
 of some committee. Sixteen States were put in complete 
 control of the government. By a political understanding 
 during these early months of the war, neither party was 
 to take political advantage and endeavor to gain party 
 credit by the success of coercion. Hence it happened 
 that the disturbing slavery question was kept in abey- 
 ance except to agree by resolutions that the war was not 
 waged to emancipate the slaves. The public declaration 
 was to be made that the safety of the capital from the 
 assaults of the insurgents, the saving of the Union, the 
 rescue of Southern Union people from the control of the 
 disunionists, the recovery of the forts and the honor of 
 the flag, were to be the grounds of armed invasion in the 
 Southern States. (Blaine, "Twenty Years," pp. 323, 
 353.) The House organized by electing Mr. Grow, 
 speaker, defeating Mr. F. P. Blair, of Missouri. The war 
 leaders were Stevens, Conkling, Washburne, Lovejoy, 
 Morrill and Colfax. Opposed to them were English, 
 Voorhees, Pendleton, Corning, Richardson, Cox, Val- 
 landigham, and Crittenden. 
 
 The message of President Lincoln related almost wholly 
 to matters of the war then in progress. The two things 
 uppermost for earnest consideration were the armies 
 and the money necessary to conduct a vigorous war. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 407 
 
 Referring to the occupancy of Fort Sumter by the Federal 
 garrison, he claimed this to be necessary in order to 
 maintain " visible possession " and that the Confederate 
 Government desired to reduce the fort for a similar 
 reason. It also wanted the advantage of visible posses- 
 sion. The President attacked Virginians with a severity 
 which betrayed the disappointment of his desires to con- 
 trol that State, and with some evidence of anger signified 
 a purpose to make the State suffer for its action. (Blaine, 
 335') ".The people of Virginia," saidhe, " have allowed 
 this giant insurrection to make its nest within her borders 
 and this Government has no choice left but to deal with 
 it where it finds it. " The President asked Congress to 
 furnish him for this purpose " four hundred thousand men 
 and four hundred millions of money." Congress legis- 
 lated on scarcely any matters except s^h as affected the 
 conduct of the war. Within a month after the message 
 was read seventy war bills were passed. The President's 
 unauthorized proclamations were confirmed, and his de- 
 mands for men and money were complied with. All these 
 extreme measures were not passed, however, without the 
 resolute opposition of statesmen who desired to see the 
 Union preserved without the destruction of the Constitu- 
 tion. The suppression of the writ of habeas corpus in 
 Maryland was attacked from many quarters. Mr. Latham, 
 of California, would not " indorse blindfold everything the 
 government might do." Mr. Kennedy, of Maryland, pro- 
 tested against the proclamation as unnecessary and with- 
 out warrant of law. Mr. Polk, of Missouri, urged that the 
 President's conduct was perilous, and particularly charac- 
 terized his interference with commerce as a crime which 
 the secession of the States did not mitigate. Mr. Powell, 
 of Kentucky, opposing the resolution to legalize the Presi- 
 dent's acts, charged the supporters of the administration 
 with the responsibility for disunion and war. ' ' I think, ' ' 
 he said, " that in this age as a Christian, enlightened peo- 
 ple we should settle these difficulties without a resort to 
 
408 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 arms. If senators on the other side of the chamber last 
 winter had co-operated with senators on this side, and we 
 could have had a corresponding action in the House, I 
 have no doubt all these difficulties could have been settled. 
 * * * When the warlike spirit that now sweeps over this 
 land shall have subsided, the people of this country will 
 calmly and dispassionately look into the history of the 
 times, and if this government be overthrown, impartial 
 history will hold you responsible for it; for you could 
 have settled the controversy; you could have settled it 
 peaceably ; you could have settled it without impairing 
 any rights of any man or any State in the North by grant- 
 ing proper guarantees to the South which would do you, 
 your property or your States no harm. You declined to 
 do it; the responsibility is with you." The defense of 
 the President was equally strenuous, and the resolution 
 confirming his acts was agreed to. 
 
 Perplexing questions confronted both governments 
 immediately upon the institution of hostilities between 
 States which had so long continued in the Union together, 
 under their constitutional agreement. Among them were 
 the " war " power of the President of the United States, 
 or of Congress, the extent of the authority of military 
 commanders, the disposition of captured or refugee 
 slaves, the relation of the people of a seceded State 
 to the State government, the treatment of persons cap- 
 tured in arms on land or sea, and such like. The Federal 
 Government caused all these questions to become all the 
 more perplexing by its persistence in assuming that the 
 secession of the States was a mere insurrection and their 
 confederation was only a combination of individuals. Cer- 
 tain constitutional difficulties that stood in the way of coer- 
 cion were so plainly pointed out by jurists who were accus- 
 tomed to construe the law without regard to political neces- 
 sities that for a time the administration moved with some 
 care in military operations against the Southern States. 
 A few of these questions are here briefly mentioned 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 409 
 
 as examples of a large number which constantly arose 
 and required immediate solution : 
 
 The "Savannah," a small schooner, was the first to 
 sail June 3rd, under a Confederate commission as a 
 privateer, and being soon captured by the U. S. brig 
 "Perry, "its crew were put in irons as pirates. Mr. 
 Davis made an immediate demand that they should be 
 treated as prisoners of war, stating to President Lincoln 
 that "if driven to the terrible necessity of retaliation by 
 your execution of the officers and crew of the 'Savan- 
 nah, ' that retaliation shall be extended so far as shall 
 be requisite to secure the abandonment of a practice un- 
 known to the warfare of civilized man." European 
 nations agreed with the views held by President Davis, 
 and by this course in the case of the " Savannah," as 
 well as of the " Jefferson Davis," the United States'gov- 
 ernment was compelled to respect the belligerency of 
 the Confederate States. 
 
 Another troublesome question concerned the negroes in 
 Federal lines. Immediately after the invasion of Vir- 
 ginia many negroes escaped from their owners into the 
 Federal camps, — an occurrence which raised in General 
 Butler's opinion, " questions of very considerable import- 
 ance, both in a military and political aspect." Since 
 these negroes would come into his lines. General Butler 
 determined " until better advised, as these men were very 
 serviceable, and he had great need of labor in his quar- 
 termaster's department, to avail himself of their serv- 
 ices. " He accordingly resolved to receipt for them as 
 he would " for any other property of a private citizen 
 which the exigencies of the service seemed to require. ' ' 
 Another question raised by Maj. Carey in an interview 
 with General Butler was the transit of persons and fam- 
 ilies northward from Virginia, which General Butler also 
 settled by declining to permit their removal through the 
 blockade on the ground that these families should be 
 kept in Virginia as hostage for the good behavior of the 
 
410 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 citizens, and for the further reason that this removal 
 would reduce the number of consumers of provisions. (II 
 Records 650.) A proposition was made by Governor 
 Letcher to Mr. Hemeken, the agent of the New York 
 and Virginia steamship company, to purchase the steam- 
 ships " Yorktown " and "Jamestown," which he had 
 already seized. The acceptance of this proposition by 
 Mr. Hemeken raised a question in Mr. Seward's mind 
 which he solved by declaring that the acceptance of the 
 proposition was an act of treason. On the 25th of May, 
 Mr. John Merryman, a reputable citizen of Maryland, 
 was arrested at night in his home by an armed force and 
 conveyed to Fort McHenry, where he was imprisoned. 
 He sought liberation at once by his petition to Chief Jus- 
 tice -Taney, praying the issuance of the writ of habeas 
 corpus. Justice Taney took the customary legal pro- 
 ceedings against the military commander, but his writ 
 being refused, and his order of attachment disregarded, 
 the venerable head of the judiciary of the Union found 
 the civil government powerless, and could merely record 
 his decision that " upon the face of the returns the de- 
 tention of the prisoner was unlawful on two grounds:" 
 I. The President under the Constitution and laws of 
 the United States cannot suspend the privilege of the 
 writ of habeas corpus or authorize any military officer to 
 do so. 2. A military ofl&cer has no right to arrest and de- 
 tain a person not subject to the rules and articles of war, 
 for an ofifense against the laws of the United States, except 
 in aid of the judicial authority and subject to its control. 
 General Scott impatiently rebuked General Butler by 
 telegram for his "hazardous occupation of Baltimore," 
 which was made without his knowledge and approbation, 
 commanded him to " issue no more proclamations," to 
 which Butler replied that he acted on " verbal directions 
 received from the war department." An order from 
 General Scott quickly followed removing General Butler 
 to Fortress Monroe, on account of which the t^iuoyecl 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 411 
 
 officer complained to Mr. Cameron that he was quite con- 
 tent to be relieved altogether, but " will not be dis- 
 graced." Mr. Ross Winans, of Baltimore, had been 
 arrested by General Butler on the isth of May and sent 
 to Fort McHenry, but he was promptly released by Gen- 
 eral Cadwallader, who succeeded Butler in command. 
 The Union defense committee, of New York, through 
 its chairman, Mr. J. J. Astor, Jr., proposed to send a 
 number of rifled cannon to Fort Pickens, but Secretary 
 Cameron would ' ' give no such authority as is therein 
 asked for, and informed the committee that the war 
 department would act through the agency of its own 
 proper officers. " On the 2 1 st of May, the " Nightingale, ' ' 
 of Boston, sailing under American colors, was captured 
 by Alfred Taylor, U. S. Navy, with a cargo of 961 
 slaves, presenting the singular projection of the unlawful 
 slave trade by a Boston ship into the great crisis of the 
 slavery institution. 
 
 General Scott ordered the arrest of the Baltimore police 
 board by General Banks, successor to General Cadwal- 
 lader. They were accordingly seized and imprisoned in 
 Fort McHenry, their powers suspended, and a provost 
 marshal appointed. Marshal Kane had been previously 
 arrested. These illegal and violent proceedings of Gen- 
 eral Banks were resented with warm indignation by the 
 respectable officials who were thus taken from their 
 homes by military force at night and confined in prison 
 without information of the cause of their arrest. Having 
 no redress by any court, they forwarded an able memorial 
 to the United States Congress, accompanied by another 
 from the mayor and council of the city. Congress 
 received these memorials and by resolution called on the 
 President to explain the arrest and imprisonment of these 
 police commissioners. The President replied with the 
 brief and formal answer that "the public interest for- 
 bade compliance with the request of Congress. " 
 
 These very troublesome domestic questions were 
 
412 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 matched by foreign affairs equally perplexing. Mr. 
 Seward, as secretary of state, in charge of foreign 
 affairs, had on the 9th of March addressed a circular 
 letter to all the ministers of the United States in foreign 
 nations urging them to counteract the designs of those 
 who would invoke foreign aid in their attempts to over- 
 throw the Republic, and describing the disturbance at 
 home as a transient affair. Again on April 24th the Sec- 
 retary forwarded a more formal and impressive letter to 
 those ministers who were appointed to Great Britain, 
 France, Russia, Prussia, Austria, Belgium, Italy and 
 Denmark, specially relating to the question of neutrality 
 in war. This diplomatic correspondence exhibits the 
 early anxiety of the United States concerning the atti- 
 tude of these great nations. "It is understood, " he 
 wrote to Mr. Judd, who was appointed to the court of 
 Prussia, " that the so-called Confederate States of Amer- 
 ica have sent or are about to send agents to solicit recog- 
 nition in Europe. * * * Your most efficient and unfailing 
 efforts must be put forth directly and even indirectly to 
 prevent the success of that ill-starred design." He con- 
 tinued and cautioned the minister at Belgium against the 
 probable promise of the Confederates to make a tariff 
 better suited to manufacturing interests than the existing 
 United States tariff, and instructed him to say that "the 
 tariff is not permanent and will certainly be modified if it 
 should prove to be onerous to foreign commerce." The 
 general correspondence with Great Britain was not pleas- 
 ing to Mr. Seward, and Lord John Russell's remark to 
 Minister Adams about the first of April that the matter 
 was not ripe for decision one way or the other, was by no 
 means satisfactory. 
 
 France was disposed to take no hasty action, but inti- 
 mated quite early in April, 1861, that the Confederate 
 government might be able to claim belligerent rights as 
 a nation de facto ; finally saying that the commercial in- 
 terests at stake were so great that France was compelled 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 413 
 
 to join with Great Britain in meeting the condition of 
 things which imperiled those interests. Mr. Dayton, 
 the new minister, was promptly instructed to protest 
 against any,even unofficial, intercourse between Confed- 
 erate agents and the French government, and to declare 
 that the United States cannot be content with any con- 
 cert among foreign nations to recognize the insurgents as 
 a belligerent power. 
 
 The Confederate government had sent Major Caleb 
 Huse to Europe to make contracts for the manufacture of 
 arms, and Captain Semmes had also gone into the North- 
 ern markets to make purchases of munitions of war. A 
 more formal effort to gain access to the governments of 
 Europe was made in March by the appointment of three 
 commissioners, William L. Yancey, P. A. Yost and 
 A. Dudley Mann, who went without delay to England. 
 Afterward two other embassadors were appointed, James 
 M. Mason and John Slidell, and eventually distribution of 
 these eminent men among the foreign courts was made 
 by sending Mr. Mason to England, Mr. Slidell to France, 
 Mr. Yost to Spain, and Mr. Mann to Belgium. Mr. 
 Yancey returned home and was elected to the Confeder- 
 ate Senate. 
 
 These representatives of the Confederacy abroad were 
 all able and experienced statesmen. Mr. Yancey, a 
 lawyer and political leader in Alabama, possessing the 
 gift of remarkable eloquence, had often discharged posi- 
 tions of public trust. Mr. Mason had become an 
 experienced legislator in the House and Senate of the 
 United States; Mr. Slidell, also a member of Congress 
 from Louisiana, a minister to Mexico, and United States 
 Senator, and Judge Yost, a distinguished jurist from the 
 same State, were all competent to discharge the duties 
 assigned to them. Mr. A. Dudley Mann had gained ex- 
 tensive diplomatic experience in negotiation of treaties 
 with the German states, and as special commissioner to 
 Switzerland in 1850. He was also the private secretary 
 
414 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 of President Pierce for a short time in 1853, and had 
 afterward given his services to development of Southern 
 resources. 
 
 The manufacturing and general commercial interests 
 of European nations began to suffer, especially from the 
 anticipated want of the usual cotton supply. The block- 
 ade was not regarded with favor nor a long continuance 
 of hostilities in America, which had already suspended 
 the profitable commerce of England and France. The 
 Confederate commissioners pressed their claims upon the 
 attention of the sovereigns to whom they were sent by 
 all the indirect channels through which they could 
 operate, and secured the sympathy of large numbers of 
 men of prominence in commercial and political life. On 
 the 13th of May, the decision of Great Britain to main- 
 tain strict neutrality and to accord to both contending 
 parties the rights of belligerency was announced by the 
 proclamation of the Queen. France had been inclined to 
 tender its good offices to adjust American troubles, but 
 had refrained from the fear of being misunderstood, and 
 now simply adopted the course of England. No applica- 
 tion in form had as yet been made by the Confederate 
 commissioners for any purpose of recognition, but as 
 Minister Dayton writes in June, there was a fear felt that 
 a military reverse at this time, if it were to occur, would 
 very decidedly incline France and England to recognize 
 the Confederacy. Mr. Seward therefore directed all 
 his efforts with great ingenuity, to prevent any foreign 
 encouragement to the Confederate movement, constantly 
 urging that it was " casual and ephemeral, a mere insur- 
 rection, ' ' such as European governments could not afford 
 to encourage; one while threatening war on Europe 
 and then making concessions even to a reluctant acces- 
 sion to the declaration of the Congress at Paris, pure and 
 simple. The position that privateersmen were pirates 
 was also abandoned, and the claim of a right to close part 
 of its ports by a paper blockade was withdrawn upon the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 415 
 
 significant declaration by the European powers that the 
 execution of privateersmen would be inhuman, and an 
 ineffective blockade would not be tolerated. Spain and 
 Portugal published brief proclamations of neutrality, 
 but the Emperor of Russia through a letter of Gortscha- 
 koff to the Russian minister at Washington, expressed 
 his unfriendliness to secession and conveyed his assur- 
 ance that " in every event the American nation may 
 count upon his most cordial sympathy during the import- 
 ant crisis through which it is passing. ' ' Thus stood the 
 relations of the two contending governments with 
 the nations. The Confederacy had won its right to be 
 known as a government de facto and to be treated as a 
 lawful belligerent. Its proceedings had commanded the 
 respect of statesmen, and its able commissioners were in 
 position to present its cause to public consideration. On 
 the other hand it was at disadvantage in the estimation 
 of European courts in being classed among revolutionary 
 governments, and was to great extent debarred public 
 sympathy because of the slavery question. Its ability to 
 maintain its independence by military resources had not 
 yet appeared, while the widely published preparations of 
 the United States impressively pointed out the military 
 strength which was about to be employed to crush the 
 rebellion. The status was expectant; events were not 
 even foreshadowed; uncertainty prevailed while the 
 armies of the two contestants were drawing toward the 
 battle ground on the soil of Virginia. 
 
CHAPTER XV- 
 FEDERAL RELIANCE ON PHYSICAL FORCE. 
 
 COMPARISON OP RESOURCES — THE ADVANCE TO- 
 WARD RICHMOND— CURIOUS STORY OP THE PIRST 
 MANASSAS TOLD IN THE RECORDS— THE DIS- 
 COMFITURE TURNED TO POLITICAL ADVANTAGE 
 —CONFEDERATE FLAGS IN PULL VIEW PROM 
 WASHINGTON— QUESTION OF OFFENSIVE OR DE- 
 FENSIVE WAR— ADDITIONAL COMMISSIONS FROM 
 THE CONFEDERACY TO EUROPE— ACTS OP CON- 
 FEDERATE CONGRESS— THE TRENT AFFAIR. 
 
 ALL civil movements of the period centered on the mil- 
 itary situation. War was fully on between two power- 
 ' ful nations having the same civilization, language, re- 
 ligion and general ideas of government, and both unpre- 
 pared to fight. The North with twenty million population, a 
 regular army and navy, many manufactures of munitions, 
 superiority in wealth, and with free access to the world by 
 land and sea, was arrayed against the South with its six 
 million white population, army and navy to create and 
 to arm, without war supplies and with ports nearly closed. 
 In intelligence, courage, energy, morality and devotion 
 to country let it be conceded simply that the two peoples 
 were equal. In physical resources it is plain that the 
 superiority was with the North in the lowest proportion 
 of three to one — ^but more accurately, five to one. En- 
 thusiasm in its cause pervaded the South so that on the 
 venture for independence its people in rare unity pledged 
 all they possessed ; while opposing appeals for the preser- 
 vation of the Union and defense of the capital, coupled 
 with the avowal that these alone were the objects of the 
 
 416 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 417 
 
 war, were answered at the North by an immediate flow 
 of money and men to sustain the administration. 
 
 Four Federal armies of 100,000 men were now deployed 
 upon the territory of Virginia, all disposed so as to bear 
 upon Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy. Fewer 
 than two-thirds that number of Confederate troops were 
 maneuvered by their skillful officers to resist the invasion. 
 At the first encounter misfortune befell the Confederacy 
 in western Virginia, and notwithstanding the Southern 
 victories at other points the Federal armies advanced from 
 the Potomac during the first summer months of 1861, 
 deeper into the heart of Virginia. 
 
 The battle of Manassas, July 21st, became the climax of 
 these movements of the Federal and Confederate armies, 
 in which the combatants actually engaged were nearly 
 evenly matched, the Confederates putting into the fight 
 a total of about 28,000 and the Federals assaulting with 
 about 35,000 men. Whether by superior skill of Confed- 
 erate generals and harder fighting by the soldiers, or any 
 other cause, the fact of a most thorough and mortifying 
 defeat of the Federals remains as the ineffaceable result 
 of this early encounter between the two armies. The 
 political purpose of the battle, based upon undue confidence 
 in the immense preparations for overwhelming victory, 
 also broke down completely, and the promoters escaped 
 indignation only by the loud cry which they uttered for a 
 vast army and unlimited expenditures to save the capital. 
 
 The story of this remarkable first campaign against 
 Richmond is well told by the following extracts from the 
 official dispatches as they appear in the " Records," the 
 dates of which should be noticed : 
 
 Gen. Scott to McClellan, July 18: " McDowell yester- 
 day drove the enemy beyond Fairfax court-house. He 
 will attack the entrenched camp at the Manassas junction 
 to-day. Beaten there the enemy may retreat both upon 
 Richmond and the Shenandoah valley. I may reinforce 
 him (Patterson) to enable you to bag Johnston. " 
 
 1-27 
 
418 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Secretary Cameron to Governor Curtin, July i8: 
 " The Pennsylvania troops were expected to have joined 
 the forces going iato battle this week. I trust there will 
 be no delay to prevent them sharing the honors of the 
 expected battles." 
 
 General Scott to McClellan, July 21, a. m. : "Johnston 
 has amused Patterson and reinforced Beauregard. Mc- 
 Dowell this morning forcing the passage of Bull Run. 
 In two hours he will turn the Manassas Jimction and 
 storm it to-day with superior force. " 
 
 Mendell to Gen. Thomas, July 21, 4 p. m. : " General 
 McDowell wishes all the troops that can be sent from 
 Washington to come here without delay. " 
 
 Gen. Scott to the general commanding at Baltimore, 
 July 21: " Put your troops on the alert. Bad news from 
 McDowell's army, not credited by me. " 
 
 Capt. Alexander to Washington: "General McDowell's 
 army in full retreat. The day is lost. Save Washington 
 and the remnants of this army. The routed troops will 
 not reform." 
 
 Gen. Scott to McClellan: "McDowell has been 
 checked. Come down to the Shenandoah valley and 
 make head against the enemy in that quarter. Banks 
 and Dix will remain in Baltimore, which is liable to re- 
 volt" 
 
 Gen. Scott to McDowell: " Under the circumstances 
 it seems best to return to the line of the Potomac. " 
 
 Jefferson Davis to Gen. Cooper, Manassas, July 21: 
 " Night has closed upon a hard fought field. Our forces 
 have won a glorious victory. The enemy was routed and 
 fled precipitately, abandoning a very large amount of 
 arms, munitions, knapsacks and baggage. The pursuit 
 was continued along several routes toward Leesburg and 
 Centerville until darkness covered the fugitives. Our 
 force engaged not exceeding fifteen thousand; that of 
 the enemy estimated at thirty- five thousand." 
 
 Col. Kerrigan, at Alexandria, to Cameron, July 22: 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 419 
 
 " There are about 7,000 men here without officers. 
 Nothing but confusion. " 
 
 Gen. Mansfield to Capt. Mott at the Chain Bridge, July 
 22: " Order the Sixth Maine to keep these demoralized 
 troops out of their camp. " 
 
 Gen. Mansfield to Gen. Runyan, July 22: " Why do 
 the regiments I sent to you yesterday return so precip- 
 itously to Alexandria without firing a shot?" 
 
 Col. Thomas A. Scott to Gen. Mansfield, July 22: 
 " Allow me to suggest that you man the forts and pre- 
 vent soldiers from passing over to the city. Their arrival 
 here would produce a panic on this side. The enemy is 
 still pressing McDowell and you need every man in the 
 forts to save the city. " 
 
 W. T, Sherman to the adjutant general, July 22: 
 " I have at this moment ridden in with, I hope, the 
 rear men of my brigade, which in common with 
 our whole army has sustained a terrible defeat and 
 has degenerated into an armed mob. " 
 
 Townsend to MicDowell, July 22: " General Scott says 
 it is not intended you should reduce your command to 
 the minimum ttumber of regiments mentioned by him 
 to-day, but if the enemy will permit, you can take to-mor- 
 row or even the next day for that purpose. " 
 
 Secretary' Cameron to Moses H. Grinnell, July 22 : 
 "The capital is safe." 
 
 Gen. Scott to Gen. McDowell at Arlington, July 23: 
 " It is reported that Mr. Jefferson Davis or the enemy 
 is advancing on your lines. This is possible. Rally and 
 compact your troops to meet any emergency. ' ' 
 
 These few extracts from the records exhibit the utter 
 rout of the Federal army in a state of panic which was 
 tfaottsmitted even to the Congress at Washington. Mr. 
 Crittenden, on the 2 2d of July, seized the opportunity 
 to propose a declaration, afterwards called the ' ' panic 
 resolution, ' ' of certain good intentions of the government 
 in making the aggression upon the South, which was passed 
 
420 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 without delay. A determined effort was made to cast the 
 blame of the battle upon General Scott, but in his own 
 defense he at once declared that he had fought the battle 
 against his judgment. He said in the presence of Wash- 
 burne, Logan, McClemand and Richardson, who were 
 conferring with President Lincoln and the secretary of 
 war, " After my superiors had determined to fight it I 
 did all in my power to make the army efficient. ' ' Mr. 
 Lincoln replied: " Your conversation seems to imply 
 that I forced you to fight this battle. " To which General 
 Scott responded: " I have never served a President who 
 has been kinder to me than you have been. ' ' This evasive 
 answer was accepted as an exoneration of the President, 
 but the secretary of war and the cabinet generally were 
 understood as having insisted on a forward movement and 
 a successful battle at that time. Mr. Richardson, of 
 Illinois, in addressing the House on this question, said : 
 
 " Mr. Speaker, standing here in my place, I desire to 
 say of Abraham Lincoln — If you let him alone he is an 
 honest man ; but I am afraid he has not the will to stand 
 up against the wily politicians who surround him and 
 knead him to their purposes. " 
 
 The Southern people were enthusiastic in their first 
 congratulations at the result of this great encounter of 
 the armies, but as they learned more of the disintegration 
 of McDowell's army there was much criticism of the 
 cessation of pursuit. It appeared to many that Maryland 
 might have been occupied, Washington captured and the 
 war ended. The question, however, may never be settled, 
 since even the participating generals and intelligent civil 
 officials disagree. It is in evidence, however, that the 
 Southern army lacked sufficient cavalry, that the troops 
 had been engaged for two days and sank down in weari- 
 ness to rest at midnight after their great victory, that 
 they fought their battle against odds and it was not 
 known, even the next day, that the rout was so complete. 
 Besides, heavy rains set in, rendering the Virginia roads 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 421 
 
 impassable, while sickness had withdrawn at least twenty 
 per cent from the effective force. President Davis per- 
 sonally testifies that he himself did not antagonize the 
 wishes which any officer expressed to make an immediate 
 advance into Maryland. The Confederate army was, 
 nevertheless, in fact, moved far forward and occupied 
 Munson's Hill, where the inhabitants of Washington 
 could see its flags waving. After a few days' rest and 
 recruits having arrived, the Confederate army favored 
 the forward movement with an eager desire to liberate 
 Maryland, believing that bold aggression would speedily 
 terminate hostilities. Another view was held, that the 
 change of the Confederate war policy from the defensive 
 to the offensive would arouse the North, break down the 
 peace party and overthrow all influential men in the 
 North who were seeking an opportunity to bring the war 
 to a close, honorable to both sides. From this class of 
 Northern men the most earnest appeals were made to 
 Southern leaders to prevent invasion. At the same time 
 it was known that England and France, after according 
 belligerent rights, had intimated, much to the indignation 
 of Mr. Seward, that possibly the Confederate States might 
 be able to make a case demanding the recognition of its 
 nationality. It was thought advisable to press at once 
 this claim because from the date of the victory at Manassas 
 the Confederate government was rightfully entitled to 
 this foreign courtesy. In its official offices it was admin- 
 istering wisely all the regular functions of the good 
 government of a people who were united in its support. 
 It had tendered its hand to be taken into the fellowship of 
 nations by regular appointment of eminent embassadors. 
 It had large territory, ample resources and all possessions 
 needful to sustain its population and contribute to the 
 commerce of the world. And now it had demonstrated 
 its military ability by assembling a strong army and 
 achieving a success in battle of an imposing magnitude. 
 But the appeal was made in vain. The European powers 
 
422 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 merely seized upon this and other successes of the Con- 
 federates to worry the Washington administration and to 
 hold a position from which either side could be taken as 
 the war might turn. 
 
 The belligerent effect on the Northern mind by the 
 battle of Manassas appears to have been really produced 
 by the boldness displayed by Mr. Lincoln. He rallied the 
 terrified Congress to provide for an army of 500,000 men, 
 stirred up the war governors and called General McClellaa 
 to Washington to take charge of the work of organizing, 
 equipping, and disciplining the great force with which he 
 proposed to renew the contest. The fears of "a border 
 outbreak, ' ' which had in part caused the passage of the 
 panic resolution of Mr. Crittenden, contributed, however, 
 to a change of the field of military operations from the 
 ill-fated territory of Virginia to the Southern coast and the 
 Western States, thus diverting the thoughts of the Fed- 
 erals from their bad fortune at Manassas. In August 
 strong naval expeditions were sent southward, which 
 succeeded in securing a foothold on the coasts of North 
 Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia; armies were col- 
 lected in the West for the purpose of holding Missouri and 
 Kentucky ; and with an ever-present fear that Washington 
 might be captured, it was carefully curtained with an in- 
 creasing number of defenses. 
 
 The hope of the Southern people that peace would fol- 
 low this bloody battle was deferred by these Northern 
 preparations for more powerful and extensive invasions. 
 The Confederate States after uttering their congratula- 
 tions found it to be necessary to prepare again for battle, 
 and although Congress recorded its gratitude for victory 
 and its hope for peace, the demand for war legislation 
 was as great as ever. President Davis nominated Beau- 
 regard for the rank of general, which was at once 
 unanimously confirmed by Congress. As a special dis- 
 tinction the commission was dated July 21, 1861, the 
 date of the Confederate victory at Manassas. Two ad- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 423 
 
 ditional commissioners to Europe were authorized by- 
 Congress to be appointed by the President, and he was 
 also empowered to determine the destinations of com- 
 missioners already appointed under former congressional 
 action. Congress recognized the State government of 
 Missouri with Claiborne F. Jackson, governor, and pro- 
 vided for its admission into the Confederacy when the 
 Constitution should be ratified by the legally constituted 
 authority. The same act provided for material aid to be 
 given to the State while defending itself against invasion 
 by the Federal armies. The Confederate government 
 was also constrained in view of the full development of 
 the war policy of the United States to adopt such a line 
 of legislation as its necessities demanded. An act passed 
 by Congress in May prohibited debtors from making pay- 
 ment to their creditors in the United States except such 
 as resided in Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri 
 and the District of Columbia. Payment generally ceased 
 in accordance with this act, but the indebtedness was not 
 transferred to the Confederate treasury as the act pro- 
 vided, the debtors preferring to let their debts stand and 
 await the result of the war. At its close these debts were 
 generally settled on terms satisfactory to the Northern 
 creditors, and former business relations resumed. Another 
 act was entitled ' ' An act concerning alien enemies, ' ' under 
 which President Davis issued his proclamation, August 
 14, 1861, requiring all alien enemies of the Confederacy 
 to depart from the Confederate States within forty days 
 of the date of the proclamation. The proclamation, 
 however, was not applicable to citizens of the United 
 States who would make declaration of intention to become 
 citizens of the Confederacy, nor was it extended to citi- 
 zens of the States of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Mis- 
 souri, District of Columbia ; the territories of Arizona and 
 New Mexico, and the Indian Territory south of Kansas 
 were also excepted. Very few persons left the Confed- 
 erate States in consequence of this act, and its practical 
 effect was merely to unify the population. 
 
424 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 The Confiscation bill introduced in the United States 
 Congress early in July produced debate, but was at 
 length passed and approved by the President on the 8th 
 of August. In retaliation the Confederate Congress 
 subsequently enacted the Sequestration law. This Con- 
 federate sequestration act, although it was thought to be 
 necessary to parry the force of similar legislation by the 
 United States, was not favored throughout the States. 
 The feature objected to most strenuously was that which 
 required the receivers appointed under the act to apply 
 for writs of garnishment for the purpose of enforcing 
 answers from garnishees as to their possession of any 
 property of the alien enemy. The law ceased to be 
 enforced as the war progressed, although it had been 
 pronounced constitutional by the courts. Another act 
 was passed on account of the abduction of slaves by the 
 enemy, which prescribed a uniform mode of preserving 
 the evidence of the abduction and the value of the prop- 
 erty to the end that indemnity might be exacted. 
 
 In accordance with the authority conferred by this 
 Congress, the Confederate President appointed John 
 Slidell and James M. Mason diplomatic agents in October, 
 1 86 1, with power to enter into conventions for treaties 
 with England and France. They were commissioned to 
 secure from these European powers recognition of the 
 Confederate government as a nation, based upon the vast 
 extent of territory, its large and intelligent population, its 
 ample resources, its importance as a commercial nation, 
 and withal the justice of its separation from the United 
 States. It was expected that these statesmen would be 
 able to convince Europe of the ability of the Confederate 
 States to maintain a national existence, as belligerent 
 rights had already been accorded. With all the usual 
 credentials and necessary powers the commissioners de- 
 parted for Havana, Cuba, on the blockade-runner "Theo- 
 dora, ' ' where they arrived in safety and were presented to 
 the captain-general of the island by the British consul. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 425 
 
 not in official capacity but as gentlemen of distinction. 
 Afterward they went as passengers aboard a British 
 merchant vessel, "The Trent," carrying English mails, 
 and sailed for England. In the meantime Captain Charles 
 Wilkes, U. S. N. , commanding the United States sloop- 
 of-war, "San Jacinto," carrying thirteen guns, who ap- 
 pears to have had a zeal not according to knowledge, was 
 busy in carrying out a purpose to capture the Confederate 
 commissioners and executed his designs with success 
 enough to produce a sensation which involved his govern- 
 ment in a serious difficulty with England, from which 
 extrication was gained only by very mortifying explana- 
 tions. Cruising near the island on the alert for the 
 "Trent," Captain Wilkes sighted the approaching vessel 
 on the high seas, and gave the command to "beat to quar- 
 ters, hoist the colors and load the guns. ' ' The next pro- 
 ceeding was to fire a shot across the bow of the "Trent," 
 which caused that vessel to display the British colors with- 
 out arresting its onward speed. A shell from the "San 
 Jacinto" across her course brought the "Trent" to 
 without delay and Captain Wilkes then sent his executive 
 officer with a guard of marines and a full armed boat crew 
 to board the British ship. Lieutenant Fairfax, the ex- 
 ecutive officer, went aboard, and informing Captain Moir 
 of the "Trent" as to the object of his visit, asked for the 
 passenger list, saying that he would search the vessel to 
 find Mason and Slidell. But while the English captain 
 was protesting against this breach of international law and 
 refusing to show any papers, the two Confederate com- 
 missioners with their associates, Eustis and McFarland, 
 appeared and united with the British officer in his protest. 
 At this juncture the other Federal officers in the armed 
 cutter came aboard with a number of marines and other 
 armed men of the boat's crew and the second cutter also 
 appearing alongside Captain Wilkes formed a line outside 
 the main deck cabin into which the Southern passengers 
 had retired to pack their baggage. This show of force 
 
426 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 was followed by the actual compulsion which it was de- 
 manded should be used and by which the commissioners 
 were forcibly transferred from under the English flag to 
 the boat for confinement aboard the "San Jacinto." 
 The "Trent" was then permitted to pursue her voyage, 
 while the "San Jacinto" steamed away with her prisoners 
 to Fortress Monroe, and on arrival was hailed with the 
 hearty laudations of Congress and the compliments of 
 some portions of the press. Captain Wilkes for a brief 
 moment was the pride of the nation. But in a few days 
 he heard himself condemned for his officiousness in terms 
 which showed very clearly that he had involved his gov- 
 ernment in a ver}' disagreeable and dangerous contro- 
 versy with Great Britain. 
 
 The boarding of the "Trent" was an outrage of national 
 amity which could not escape the indignation of all mari- 
 time nations. It was perpetrated by a zealot who was too 
 stupid to foresee its ill effect on the relations which his 
 own country was endeavoring to maintain with Europe, 
 and it produced a sensation which for awhile seemed to 
 threaten the total failure of coercion. It is not surpris- 
 ing that on getting the full news of the event President 
 Lincoln said to the attorney general: "I am not getting 
 much sleep out of that exploit of Wilkes, and I suppose 
 we must look up the law of the case. I am not much of 
 a prize lawyer, but it seems to me pretty clear that if 
 Wilkes saw fit to make that capture on the high seas, he 
 had no right to turn his quarter-deck into a prize court." 
 The shrewd President saw that Wilkes could not let the 
 "Trent" go free, while he bore away from her the Ameri- 
 can passengers as "contraband, "or as "conspirators, ' ' thus 
 choosing to determine himself a question which only an 
 admiralty court duly constituted could adjudicate. The 
 President also soon realized that the rash act was very 
 inopportune as well as illegal. Mr. Seward hurried to 
 communicate with Mr. Adams, the United States minister 
 at London, the shrewd suggestion that "in the capture 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 427 
 
 of Messrs. Mason and Slidell on board a British vessel, 
 Captain Wilkes having acted without any instructions 
 from the government, the subject is therefore free from 
 the embarrassment which might have resulted if the act 
 had been especially directed by us. " "I trust," he 
 wrote, "that the British government will consider the sub- 
 ject in a friendly temper and it may expect the best dis- 
 position on the part of this government. ' ' The penetrat- 
 ing mind of Lincoln had reached the core of the outrage, 
 and the cunning Secretary saw the only way out of the dif- 
 ficulty. Mr. Adams was therefore immediately instructed 
 as to his line of diplomatic work, even before the British 
 government had communicated its indignation to its 
 minister at Washington. But Earl Russell was soon 
 ready to inform Lord Lyons officially that intelligence of 
 a very grave nature had reached her Majesty's govern- 
 ment concerning "an act of violence which was an affront 
 to the British flag and a violation of national law. " The 
 Earl further expressed the trust that the United States 
 will of its own accord offer to the British government 
 such redress as alone could satisfy the British nation, 
 namely, the "liberation of the four gentlemen and their 
 delivery to your Lordship in order that they may again 
 be placed under British protection, and a suitable apology 
 for the aggression which has been committed. Should 
 these terms not be offered by Mr. Sev/ard, you will pro- 
 pose them to him. " It should be borne in mind that the 
 report of the affair made by Commander Williams, the 
 British agent, to the admiralty must be accepted as the 
 unprejudiced account of the events which transpired 
 aboard the "Trent." With very slight protest Mr. Sew- 
 ard in answer to Lord Russell's letter admitted the facts 
 to be as stated, and based the defense of his government 
 mainly on the fact that Wilkes acted "without any direc- 
 tion or instruction or even foreknowledge on the part of 
 the United States government. ' ' Upon all grounds the 
 best course to be pursued was the one suggested kindly 
 
428 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 and firmly by the Eaglish government, but Mr. Seward 
 proceeded to write, after nearly a month's delay, an elab- 
 orate argument ending only as it must have ended, in 
 his repeating that "what has happened has been simply 
 inadvertence," and that for "this error the British gov- 
 ernment has the right to expect the same reparation that 
 we as an independent state should expect from Great 
 Britain or from any other friendly nation on a similar 
 case. " After this explanation and apology the Secretary 
 concluded his remarkable document by writing that "the 
 four persons in question are now held in military custody 
 at Fort Warren in the State of Massachusetts. They will 
 be cheerfully liberated. Your Lordship will please indi- 
 cate a time and place for receiving them. " Mr. Seward 
 must have felt the sting which was put in the acceptance 
 of his apology by the English government. That final 
 rejoinder which went through the hands of Lord Lyons 
 to the table of the secretary of state very coolly declared 
 the apology to .be full and the British demand complied 
 with. Such pungent sentences as the following appeared 
 in the final British communication: "No condition of 
 any kind is coupled with the liberation of the prisoners" 
 — "The secretary of state expressly forbears to justify 
 the particular act of which her Majesty's government 
 complained" — and Lord Russell threateningly says that 
 if the United States had sanctioned the action of Wilkes, 
 it "would have become responsible for the original vio- 
 lence and insults of the act" — "It will be desirable that 
 the commanders of the United States cruisers be in- 
 structed not to repeat acts for which the British govern- 
 ment will have to ask for redress and which the United 
 States government cannot undertake to justify." The 
 illustrious prisoners were placed under the British pro- 
 tection with as little parade as possible and Captain Wilkes 
 was left to enjoy as best he could the compliments hastily 
 voted by Congress. The Confederate hope that European 
 nations would unite with England in some policy severer 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 429 
 
 than the demand for apology and restitution which Mr. 
 Seward could so easily make was dissipated. The threaten- 
 ing affair produced a ripple, became a mere precedent in 
 national intercourse, and passed away. Lord Russell 
 and Mr. Seward were alike gratified by the termination 
 of the trouble. These upper and nether millstones then 
 went on grinding the Confederacy which lay between. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE PERMANENT CONFEDERATE STATES OF 
 AMERICA 
 
 CHARACTER OP THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT- 
 MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT — CONGRESSIONAL 
 DEBATES ON WAR POLICY— USE OF COTTON, TO- 
 BACCO, ETC.— FOREIGN AFFAIRS— PEACE RESOLU- 
 TIONS—FREE TRADE DEFEATED. 
 
 ALL these historical transactions of the Federal 
 Government in 1861, the relations of foreign na- 
 tions, the military movements, the actions of Con- 
 federate and Federal citizens, have been marshaled in or- 
 der, so as to furnish a medium through which a clear and 
 just view may be had of the civil action of the Confed- 
 erate authorities amidst the great difficulties which beset 
 the cause they were chosen to manage. 
 
 We now enter into a further special investigation of 
 the executive and legislative departments of the Confed- 
 erate government in 1862, under the permanent Consti- 
 tution, which had been ratified by the States, — the Con- 
 gress in session, the President inaugurated, and all the 
 orderly machinery of a well-established government in 
 full operation, obstructed only by the coercive measures 
 of the United States. We have under consideration a 
 republican government, based on the confederated 
 principle, exactly like the United States — a government 
 formed by the agreement unanimously of several great 
 States in a time of profound peace, which perfected a 
 national union without insurrection or rebellion and 
 without the arming of a regiment with intent of making 
 war — a great government in extent of territory, in the 
 
 480 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 431 
 
 numbers and qualities of its people, in resources of pros- 
 perity, and with the prospects of exerting a wholesome 
 international influence. It was now a little beyond one 
 year old as a Confederacy, but many of its constituent 
 States were among the oldest on the American continent, 
 and all of them were habituated to the restraints as well 
 as the advantages of free constitutional government. 
 The ancestors of its people had framed the Declaration 
 of Independence and the Constitution of the United 
 States, while as jurists they had construed the funda- 
 mental law, and as soldiers had led great armies on 
 behalf of the common country. Such were the people 
 who formed the Confederate States of America. 
 
 Within a few days after his formal inauguration, Mr. 
 Davis sent in to Congress February 25, 1862, his first 
 message under the permanent organization which has all 
 the features of the grace and force which characterized 
 the State papers produced by him. Its value as a his- 
 torical document fairly exhibiting the state of the Con- 
 federate movement as well as its general principles is 
 sufficiently great to authorize its introduction without any 
 abbreviation, into general political literature. 
 
 The message was received with favor by the Congress 
 and people of the Confederate States, and was closely 
 read both in Europe and the United States by those who 
 were greatly interested in the events transpiring on the 
 American continent. Congress, as usual, distributed the 
 able paper appropriately among the committees and then 
 addressed itself earnestly to the consideration of all 
 measures necessary to the conduct of the internal 
 affairs of the Confederacy as well as to such as were re- 
 quired to meet the pressure of the war waged by the 
 United States. 
 
 Congress, having assembled and organized in February, 
 had under consideration a resolution offered by Mr. 
 Foote, of Tennessee, declaring against the defensive 
 policy of the Confederate administration, and in favor of 
 
432 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 decided aggressive activity. The resolution read, 
 ' ' That whatever propriety there may have been in the 
 original adoption of what is known as the defensive pol- 
 icy in connection with the prosecution of the pending war 
 for Southern independence, recent events have already 
 demonstrated the expediency of abandoning that policy 
 henceforth and forever, and that it will be the duty of 
 the government of the Confederate States to impart all 
 possible activity to our military forces everywhere, and 
 to assail the forces of the enemy wherever they are to be 
 found whether upon the land or the water, with a view 
 to obtain the most complete security for the future." 
 The resolution was understood by many as designed to 
 impugn the policy of the administration, as there had 
 been in those States which were overrun by Federal 
 armies very open complaint against the supposed purpose 
 of the Confederate government to wear out coercion by 
 what is called the Fabian plan of defense. These com- 
 plaints now began to find an utterance in Congress itself. 
 Mr. Foote very warmly urged the hearty adoption of his 
 resolution, which expressed, as he believed, the convic- 
 tion of the country. " No people in revolution, " he said, 
 " could be successful by adopting the defensive policy." 
 Instead of his resolution being aimed at the President, 
 as Mr. Jenkins, of Virginia, had asserted, Mr. Foote 
 declared that he had high authority for saying here that 
 Mr. Davis was opposed to that defensive policy which 
 " somebody," he knew not who, had imposed upon the 
 country. He proceeded to announce that Judge Harris, 
 of Mississippi, who was the President's intimate friend, 
 had authorized him to say that President Davis had no 
 participation in stopping the onward movement of the 
 Confederate armies. Mr. Foote insisted that a vigorous 
 onward movement immediately after the battle of Ma- 
 nassas would have been advantageous to the Southern 
 cause, and he now favored some similar movement. He 
 believed that we should enter upon the soil of the enemy 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 433 
 
 and win an indemnity along with independence, but 
 above all things that the war should be kept outside our 
 borders. Another object contemplated through the reso- 
 lutions was to let other nations know that the Southern 
 people were resolved to achieve their independence. Mr. 
 Boyce, of South Carolina, supported the resolution with 
 a vigorous speech advocating " all possible energy in 
 prosecuting an offensive warfare. We should have pur- 
 sued from the first a more aggressive policy which would 
 have given position to the Southern States, encouraged 
 our friends, and discouraged our enemies. Such a 
 policy had been indicated by the President when on his 
 way to be inaugurated as President of the provisional 
 government. Mr. Walker, the former secretary of war, 
 had said that the flag should float over the Capitol at 
 Washington. The expression was thought at the time to 
 be unwise and that we should have used peaceful words 
 while preparing for the war that might come. But the 
 war should now be prosecuted with vigor. ' ' There was 
 decided opposition expressed from many quarters to the 
 resolution. Mr. Jenkins, of Virginia, led, declaring that 
 the change of policy proposed would necessitate the in- 
 crease of an army to double its present strength. Mr. 
 Machen, of Kentucky, said: " I come from a land which 
 is now resonant with the fife and drum from Yankeedom. 
 Still I am not in favor of adopting a new policy, or 
 having Congress dictate what shall be the disposition of 
 our forces with regard to the enemy. Congress should 
 not usurp the military power. " The resolution was laid 
 on the table. 
 
 Four days later Congress came readily to unanimous 
 agreement upon another proposition concerning the 
 unaltered purpose of the Confederates to effect a political 
 separation from the United States. The resolution to 
 this effect was offered by Mr. Rowe in the House, Feb- 
 ruary 24th, as follows : ' ' Whereas, the United States are 
 waging a war against the Confederate States with the 
 
 1-28 
 
434 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 avowed purpose of compelling the latter to reunite with 
 them under the same Constitution and government, and 
 Whereas, the waging of war with such an object is in 
 direct opposition to the sound Republican maxim that 
 ' all government rests upon the consent of the governed,' 
 and can only tend to consolidation in the general govern- 
 ment and the consequent destruction of the rights of the 
 States ; and Whereas, this result being obtained, the two 
 sections can exist together only in the relation of the 
 oppressed and oppressor because of the great preponder- 
 ance of power in the Northern section, coupled with 
 dissimilarity of interests, and Whereas, we, the repre- 
 sentatives of the people of the Confederate States in 
 Congress assembled may be presumed to know the sen- 
 timents of the said people, having just been elected by 
 them; therefore be it Resolved, that this Congress do 
 solemnly declare and publish to the world that it is the 
 unalterable determination of the people of the Confed- 
 erate States (in humble reliance upon Almighty God) to 
 suffer all the calamities of the most protracted war ; but 
 that they will never, on any terms, politically affiliate 
 with a people who are guilty of an invasion of their soil 
 and the butchery of their citizens. " This bravely uttered 
 declaration against all terms of political reunion with 
 the States from which secession had been effected, thus 
 unanimously and officially announced, came nearly four 
 months after the tabling of all conciliatory resolutions 
 which had been offered in the United States Congress, 
 and occurred during the heated discussion in Washing- 
 ton over the invasive army operations under cover of the 
 new doctrine of " war powers." Its general tone was 
 temperate indeed, except in the use of the term 
 "butchery," as the killing of soldiers in battle was 
 termed. This may be charitably regarded as an excus- 
 able reproach in view of the frequent application of sim- 
 ilar epithets to Confederate people by their adversaries. 
 The disposition of the cotton, tobacco and other 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 435 
 
 products of the soil so as to prevent their falling into the 
 hands of the Federal armies, and to make them available 
 on the Confederate side, drew out the various views of 
 members of Congress in frequent and extended discussion. 
 The Senate had adopted the bill reported by its commit- 
 tee on military affairs by which it was made the duty of 
 all military commanders in the service of the Confeder- 
 ate States to destroy all cotton, tobacco and other prop- 
 erty that may be useful to the enemy, if the same cannot 
 be safely removed, whenever in their judgment the said 
 cotton, tobacco and other property is about to fall into 
 the hands of the enemy. It was stated that not more 
 than five per cent, of the cotton and tobacco in the Con- 
 federacy would probably be liable to destruction under 
 this law. In the House, on March 3d, a resolution was 
 passed advising all growers of cotton and tobacco to 
 withdraw from cultivation of these products and to 
 devote themselves to the production of provisions, cattle, 
 sheep, hogs, and the like, in order to sustain the armies. 
 But the resolution was earnestly opposed after it had 
 reached the Senate. Mr. Brown thought that an advis- 
 ory resolution would have no good effect. On the con- 
 trary it virtually offers a premium on treachery. Patri- 
 otic citizens would obey it, but the.Shylocks bent on gain 
 would pay no attention. He favored a compulsory 
 law, and intended to introduce a bill of that nature. If 
 there was evil in the cotton crop, we should take it by 
 the throat. The vigorous prohibition under penalties 
 proposed by the senators was declared by others to be 
 violation of the Constitution, inasmuch as it worked a 
 forfeiture, created a new crime for that purpose, and as 
 a revenue measure, could not originate in the Senate. 
 
 Besides, Mr. Wigfall, senator from Texas, was not 
 sure that it was good policy to neglect raising cotton. 
 Unless we continue to raise it, England would foster its 
 cultivation, and after the war the South could no longer 
 control the market. This is the policy desired by Eng- 
 
436 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 land, and it is that which has prevented the raising of 
 the blockade. During the discussion, Senator Brown 
 fell into the line of reasoning which was being so strongly 
 followed in the United States Congress, that in time of 
 war the powers of Congress were augmented, and that it 
 was quite different from peace. To this remark Mr. 
 Clay, of Alabama, soon replied that he must deny that 
 the Constitution was so elastic as to be able to expand its 
 powers in war and contract them in peace. The Con- 
 stitution was the same always. The senator from South 
 Carolina, Mr. Barnwell, was not ready to abandon the 
 production of cotton, because it is not only a great source 
 of wealth, but it increases our importance among the 
 nations. He urged that we must raise it, hold it, and 
 fight for it. The South must let the world know that 
 we have it and will sell it cheap. The current of opin- 
 ion seemed to set strongly against both the House reso- 
 lution of advice and the compulsory proposition of Sen- 
 ator Brown. The senator from Virginia, Mr. Hunter, 
 objected to the bill for compulsory legislation for the two 
 reasons that it taxed the patriotism of the planter, and 
 that Congress had no power to interfere with the internal 
 affairs of any State. He did not believe that reduction 
 of the quantity of cotton would be any inducement to 
 foreign nations to raise the blockade. Great Britain 
 desires to become the main producer of cotton, and is 
 willing for it to be kept for years at a high price. 
 Cotton is the source of power in the Confederacy so long 
 as we can raise it in large quantities at low prices. On 
 the constitutional question Senator Hunter held that the 
 Confederate States government had not the least right to 
 go into any of the States and say how much cotton should 
 be raised. The sovereignty of the States themselves 
 hardly dared do this, much less the delegated power of 
 the Confederacy. The reasons given by Senator 
 Semmes, of Louisiana, for his vote in favor of compul- 
 sory legislation, were that "the South must abandon all 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 437 
 
 flependence on foreign intervention for any cause. Cot- 
 ton is not king. The English will not interfere, because it 
 is not to their interest. Rather than make war on the 
 United States, she would pay for the maintenance of her 
 horde of starving operators in order to gain time to foster 
 the growth of cotton in her colonies. Warning should 
 be given to the South to prepare for a lengthy war, and 
 that produce must be raised for subsistence. ' ' Mr. Wig- 
 fall suggested that England wished to see the South- 
 ern production of cotton destroyed in order to become 
 both spinner and raiser and thus command the world. 
 She abandoned the West Indies to abolition in order to 
 foster cotton raising in India. The resolution was lost 
 upon the final vote, but the debate showed on the one 
 hand a conscientious and delicate regard for constitu- 
 tional safeguards, even in doubtful questions, and on the 
 other hand the admitted necessity for the production of 
 ample supplies out of the soil to sustain the Confederacy. 
 The allusions to England indicated the growing distrust of 
 the policy of that influential power and the waning of 
 the only hope that the Confederacy would have her 
 sympathy. 
 
 In the matter of foreign affairs the Congress declined 
 to send commissioners to the industrial exhibition to be 
 held at London, and also refused to pass a resolution re- 
 questing the President to recall at once the Confederate 
 commissioners who had been sent to Great Britain. The 
 resolution further proposed to abandon all further 
 attempts to conciliate the favor and secure the recogni- 
 tion of that government. The resolutions were not re- 
 ceived with favor and failed to pass by a decided majority. 
 
 The policy of the Confederate States on the question 
 of peace was indicated by a resolution unanimously adopt- 
 ed by the Senate, declaring that no peace propositions 
 would be entertained which excluded any portion of the 
 soil of the Confederate States. This was probably 
 designed to reassure certain States which had at first 
 
43S CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 attempted to be neutral, that the Confederacy would not 
 abandon them for the sake of securing peace. In West 
 Virginia there was also a large number of adherents to 
 the South who objected to the proposed dismemberment 
 of Virginia. The resolution gave to them also a similar 
 pledge that Virginia should not be divided by the con- 
 sent of the Confederate States. 
 
 Another bill containing a retaliatory clause against the 
 United States failed to pass. It was a House bill on free 
 trade, repealing the tariff and throwing open the Confed- 
 erate ports to the commerce of the world, except the 
 United States. Congress adjourned on April 21st, to 
 meet again on the i8th of August. 
 
 The privations resulting from the interruptions of 
 foreign trade which caused the Confederates to practice 
 the closest economy also gave a remarkable stimulation 
 to all kinds of domestic manufacturing. Saltpeter and 
 salt works were established, salt mines were opened, ex- 
 tensive tanneries were put in operation, foundries 
 especially for cannon and for making swords and for 
 altering and repairing guns were erected. Cotton mills 
 were worked to their utmost, small woolen mills were 
 built, and the manufacturing of boots, shoes, clothing 
 and blankets sprang up in every State. The common 
 domestic looms supplied with thread from the cotton 
 cards, the reel and the warping bars, were built and oper- 
 ated by the Southern women in every county. Plain, of 
 course, were many of the fabrics thus produced, but they 
 sufficed to work up the raw material rapidly and contrib- 
 uted largely to meet the pressing wants of the armies. 
 
 A convention of representative business men from sev- 
 eral States assembled February 26, 1862, in Richmond, 
 to consider the uses to which the production of cotton 
 and tobacco might be put in aiding the Confederacy. 
 The question was under consideration in Congress, and 
 its difficulties had not been solved. But the convention, 
 with patriotic fervor, determined to devote these two 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 439 
 
 great crops " to the cause of independence," as the chair- 
 man termed the military defense of the Confederate 
 States. Congress afterward legalized the destruction of 
 cotton " whenever it was about to fall in the hands of the 
 enemy," and this destruction for the general welfare 
 created, of course, a claim on the Confederate govern- 
 ment for the value of the destroyed product; but whether 
 the claim would be met or remain forever unpaid did 
 not prevent the ready sacrifice of the great staples by 
 fire, as the Federal armies advanced into the Confederate 
 territory. 
 
 The pressure of the Federal armies in all directions 
 began to be so serious that the necessity arose for making 
 use of the labor of negroes on fortifications. General 
 Magruder had called the attention of the authorities at 
 Richmond to this important means of constructing the 
 needed defenses with sufficient rapidity to make them 
 available, and after deliberation the measure was adopted 
 authorizing the impressment of slaves for the purpose 
 and providing for compensation to their owners. 
 
 Martial law was declared February 27th by President 
 Davis over Norfolk and Portsmouth, and some months 
 later over Richmond. 
 
 The reverses occurring during the early spring in the 
 West produced disappointment at Richmond. Fort 
 Donelson had fallen, the Confederate defenses were 
 threatened in all Western points, and a general alarm 
 was felt that the Confederacy would be split in halves by 
 the resolute advances made from the Ohio river, and 
 along the Mississippi. The governors of Tennessee and 
 Georgia were aroused to special activity, the latter on 
 account of the invasion threatening the seaboard, and 
 the other by the invasion of his State. 
 
 The Confederates were cheered in the midst of the 
 reverses they were suffering at many points by the re- 
 nowned achievements of the naval gunboat, the "Vir- 
 ginia, " in its victory at Hampton Roads over five Federal 
 
440 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 vessels. The U. S. frigate " Merrimac" had been scut- 
 tled by the Federals on the first evacuation of Norfolk, 
 but the Confederates raised her, and with ingenuity which 
 confounded their adversaries, converted her into a ship 
 of war, roofed and ribbed with iron, and floating deep in 
 water. Dropping down the Elizabeth river into 
 Hampton Roads March 8th, this strange ironclad, now 
 called the " Virginia" and commanded by Captain Buch- 
 anan, destroyed the U. S. sloops "Cumberland " and 
 "Congress," stuck the "Minnesota" aground in shallow 
 water where she could not be reached, and ran off the other 
 two Federal frigates. This gallant vessel next day attack- 
 ed the newly arrived " Monitor" with daring gallantry, 
 but being unable to break through the invulnerable 
 armor by which she was protected, withdrew disabled to 
 her former moorings. 
 
 The Confederacy will always be accorded the credit of 
 having produced, in an extremity, with rough materials, 
 and in a short time, a revolution in navies and maritime 
 war. The ironclad ram now entered conspicuously upon 
 the attention of all governments. 
 
 Another cheering event occurred which gratified the 
 Confederate administration as a valuable auxiliary 
 brotight into action through the agencies which had 
 been early established in Europe. The construction of 
 the " Oreta " at Liverpool had been contracted for by the 
 Confederate authorities in strict compliance with the 
 laws respecting the obligations of neutral governments, 
 but the building of the ship had been objected to by the 
 United States government, and its movements were 
 subjected to the closest scrutiny. At length, on March 
 23rd, the " Oreta," without anything aboard which could 
 prove her to be a war vessel, sailed from Liverpool, 
 arrived safely at Nassau, and was taken charge of by 
 Captain Maffit, who had escaped with a cargo of cotton 
 from the South. Under his command the name of the 
 vessel was changed to " The Florida," and it became a 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 441 
 
 ship of war, subsequently doing great damage to Federal 
 commerce. 
 
 The Confederate war department was now the center 
 of busy and extensive preparations to meet the evidently 
 powerful invasions of the South from all available points 
 of its circumference toward and into the centers of its 
 territory. General Lee was placed in charge of military 
 affairs on the 13th of March. All furloughs for whatever 
 cause were revoked by a general order issued by 
 Adjutant and Inspector-General S. Cooper. The order 
 recited that " the enemy presses on every side and the 
 necessities of the service demand new illustrations of 
 that noble self-denial which has been so many times 
 evinced since the commencement of our struggle for 
 independence. ' ' At Richmond it was acknowledged that 
 the disasters we have suffered are mortifying to us and 
 exhilarate our enemies, but they have startled without 
 crippling the Confederacy. Severe criticism said, " Had 
 the government lain still two months more, with the 
 army dwindling daily under the furlough system, dis- 
 gusted with the inaction of stationary camps, while it was 
 quarreling with the generals and the people sinking 
 under indifference, we would have been overrun between 
 the isth of April and the first of May." The harshness 
 of this censure merely reveals the impatient temper as 
 well as the alarm of many who did not fully understand 
 the difficulties which prevented a more aggressive con- 
 duct of the defensive war. 
 
 The efforts put forth by the Confederate war manage- 
 ment to procure arms for the men already enlisted, 
 appear pitiful in any present view of the appeals made 
 for any arm that would serve the purpose of a military 
 weapon. The ordnance department was wholly stripped 
 at this early date of all supplies, and the government 
 as an expedient only caused a call to be made by Mr. O. 
 Dimmock, colonel of ordnance of Virginia, upon the 
 people to sell their double barreled shot guns, sporting 
 
442 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 rifles or " any kind of weapon that will be useful in the 
 field. " Agents were appointed in various central posi- 
 tions to collect and forward these private arms. Regi- 
 ments were recruited and mustered into service armed 
 with guns suitable only for the sports of the forest. 
 
 Similar calls were also made for sulphur, lead and 
 saltpeter. Speculation in these articles had occurred and 
 was officially condemned. Bells were asked for to be 
 converted into cannon. General Beauregard made his 
 own special appeals for the gift of the bells of the 
 churches. Women gave up their kettles and other cop- 
 per utensils ; country forges turned steel files into rude 
 bayonets and useless pikes. Every available piece of 
 metal capable of being used in increasing the munitions 
 of war was brought into the common stock. 
 
 But it will be observed that in the meanwhile the ad- 
 ministration was availing of every opportunity to get 
 cargoes of cotton out to sea, and to bring in through 
 blockade a return cargo of arms, clothing and blankets. 
 Some of these returns came into obscure ports while 
 others came by way of Mexico, overland, through Texas. 
 The large quantity of arms which had been captured 
 from the Federals was now in Confederate service, and 
 manufacturing was urged and established to provide the 
 supplies needed by armies in the field. 
 
 By the first of April the general condition of the Con- 
 federacy for defense was greatly improved. The 
 absentees from the armies had returned, new recruits 
 had come in, the short term regiments had re-enlisted, 
 and the general spirit of the army and the people 
 improved. 
 
 One event scarcely known, however, throughout the 
 Confederacy, was the enforced abandonment,, by the 
 direction of the war department, of all lower Florida. 
 The State had enjoyed a general exemption from inva- 
 sion until the naval expeditions under Dupont resulted 
 in the capture of the towns on the Atlantic side with little 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 443 
 
 resistance. Fernandina, Jacksonville and St. Augustine 
 fell into the hands of the United States. Finally the 
 entire coast of Florida was under Federal control. The 
 war department removed munitions from the State and 
 transferred the troops to Tennessee. 
 
 A singular scheme for the armed colonization of this 
 State is described by a Federal authority of that date 
 and is here reproduced to show the extent to which it 
 was then supposed that the United States government 
 might exercise the power of subjugation. " A scheme 
 for the armed colonization of Florida was brought to 
 the notice of the Federal government by Eli Thayer, 
 of Massachusetts, during the year. It consisted of a 
 proposition for an expedition of 10,000 colonists enlisted 
 for six months, and to be supplied with arms, sixbsistence 
 and transportation by the government, and a com- 
 mander whose business it should be to occupy and hold 
 the public lands of the State, and the lands of disloyal 
 ■citizens which were to be seized for the non-payment of 
 taxes under a law of Congress passed at the session then 
 <;losed. It received some consideration by the govern- 
 ment, but was not adopted." A resemblance appears 
 between this scheme and a plan urged by General Sher- 
 man in a letter to his brother, the eminent statesman. 
 
 The military operations for the next two months, April 
 and May,- 1862, show advances made by the Federal 
 armies and navies, and the skill, both civil and military, 
 with which the invasion was met. McClellan, on the 
 first of April, made a change of base and concentrated 
 his forces near Fortress Monroe to advance on Richmond 
 from the peninsula with a fully equipped command con- 
 sisting of over one hundred thousand men. He was con- 
 fronted by the Confederate armies under General John- 
 ston, who at length evacuated Norfolk and fell back 
 slowly on a well-chosen line of retreat toward the 
 defenses around Richmond. In the West the Confeder- 
 .ate lines of defense were totally changed by the battles 
 
444 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 of SWloh and Corinth and the fall of Nashville, nearly 
 all Tennessee falling into Federal possession. Naval 
 expeditions captured orbeleaguered the coast towns, in- 
 cluding the important captures of Fort Pulaski and New 
 Orleans. Meanwhile McClellan was steadily forcing his 
 way toward Richmond and a crisis in Confederate afiEairs 
 appeared to be coming. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 THE CONFEDERATE STATES' POLICIES. 
 
 SECOND SESSION OF CONGRESS— MESSAGE— BILLS IN- 
 TRODUCED—DISCUSSIONS OF MILITARY EVENTS- 
 LINCOLN'S FIRST EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION 
 —RETALIATION— SEQUESTRATION— C AL I F O R N I A 
 AND OREGON— COUNTERFEIT MONEY— COMMIS- 
 SIONS TO WASHINGTON TO PROPOSE PEACE— THE 
 LOAN— IMPORTANT BILLS— APPROPRIATIONS. 
 
 THE second session of the Confederate Congress 
 began August i8, 1862, under the buoyant influ- 
 ences of the late victories achieved by the Southern 
 army, relieving Richmond from siege and again driving 
 the invading army back to the protection of the Potomac. 
 The United States Congress had adjourned July 1 7th, one 
 month before, and the Confederate States government 
 was in full possession of all its proceedings. 
 
 The message of President Davis was read to both houses 
 without delay. In its opening, the sufferings endured 
 by the people, and the gallantry of the troops on hard- 
 fought battle fields, were referred to with grateful 
 expressions. Our army had not faltered, and the great 
 body of the people had continued to manifest zeal and 
 unanimity. The vast armies which threatened the capital 
 of the Confederacy, had been defeated and driven from 
 the lines of investment, and the enemy repeatedly foiled 
 in his efforts for its capture, is now seeking to raise new 
 armies on a scale such as modern history does not record 
 to effect that subjugation of the South so often proclaimed 
 as on the verge of fulfillment. With vigorous language 
 the message described ' ' the changed character of the 
 hostilities waged by the enemy, ' ' reciting the destruction 
 
 445 
 
446 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 of private property, the arrests of noncombatants, orders 
 of banishment against peaceful farmers, confiscation bills 
 designed to ruin the entire South, and many other acts 
 which the message stigmatized as contrary to the usages 
 of civilized warfare. The President also called the atten- 
 tion of Congress to the unchecked forgeries by citizens of 
 the United States of the moneyed obligations of the 
 Confederacy, suggesting that the United States civil 
 government and the military officers must have knowl- 
 edge of these crimes since the invading armies are found 
 to be supplied with the spurious currency. Two generals, 
 says the message, are arming the trained slaves for war- 
 fare against the citizens of the Confederacy, and the 
 message points plainly to General Butler as one who " has 
 been found of instincts so brutal as to invite the violence 
 of his soldiery against the women of a captured city. ' ' 
 
 In considering these acts the message states that re- 
 monstrances made to the commander-in-chief of the 
 United States armies had been evaded and that retaliation 
 in kind in many cases is not only impracticable, but, as 
 was remarked in an earlier message, " under no excess 
 of provocation could our noble hearted defenders be driven 
 to wreak vengeance on unarmed men, on women or on 
 children. ' ' Yet stern and exemplary punishment can 
 and must be meted out to the murderers and felons who, 
 disgracing the profession of arms, seek to make of public 
 war the occasion for the commission of the most mon- 
 strous crimes. The criticism that had been made on 
 conscription had impaired the efficiency of the law, and 
 in view of the necessity of harmonious action the Presi- 
 dent called on Congress to devise means for establishing 
 that co-operation of the States and the Confederate States 
 which was indispensable to success, declaring it to be his 
 pleasure and duty to aid in measures that would reconcile 
 a just care for the public defense with a proper deference 
 for the most scrupulous susceptibilities of the State auth- 
 orities. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 447 
 
 The credit of the government was reported as being 
 well sustained. The accumulated debt was still small, 
 notwithstanding the magnitude of the military operations 
 in which the Confederate States were involved. Congress 
 at its last session had_ provided for an issue of bonds, to 
 be used in the purchase of supplies, but sellers of produce 
 had shown such a decided preference for treasury notes 
 as to encourage the increased issue of that kind of cur- 
 rency. In answer to the apprehension that this inflation 
 might produce a hurtful depreciation, the message pro- 
 posed that the notes should be convertible into eight per 
 cent bonds of the CShfederate States, which was consid- 
 ered as a sufficient and permanent safeguard. 
 
 The war department earnestly advised additional 
 legislation to promote the proper execution of the con- 
 script act, and particularly to unite depleted companies 
 and regiments by some fair system of consolidation. 
 Some important railroads had become greatly impaired 
 by the heavy demands for transportation, and it was be- 
 coming necessary for the government to take control of 
 military transportation, and to put the roads into good 
 serviceable condition. The President recommended an 
 increase of the army to meet the large accessions recently 
 called into the field by the President of the United States. 
 Further enrollment may not become necessary, but that 
 necessity might possibly arise during recess of Congress, 
 and hence legislative authority should be given for calling 
 such forces at once into the field. Referring to the ex- 
 change of prisoners he was able to state that the long 
 denied object had been recently effected, and was being 
 executed, and he expressed the hope that the cartel would 
 speedily restore " our brave and unfortunate countrymen 
 to their places in the ranks of the army from which by 
 the fortunes of war they have for a time been separated. ' ' 
 The navy department had been actively engaged in at- 
 taining the best possible results by the use of all the 
 means it could command. Part of its effective work was 
 
448 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 done ashore and part afloat. A few vessels had been 
 constructed and equipped both at home and abroad. 
 Ordnance and ordnance stores had been manufactured, 
 coal and iron mines had been developed, and workshops 
 established. 
 
 Mr. Miles, of South Carolina, introduced a variety of 
 bills designed to extend the application of the conscription 
 law to all citizens under forty-five years of age ; to retaliate 
 where partisan rangers captured by the enemy were not 
 treated as prisoners of war, to enforce the laws on felonies 
 against any soldier of the United States army committing 
 felony by delivering the offender if captured to the civil 
 courts for trial ; to prevent the arming of negroes ; to 
 retaliate for the seizure of private citizens of the Confed- 
 erate States by the enemy; to put an export duty of 
 twenty per cent on cotton and tobacco as a fund to in- 
 demnify losses of citizens by the acts of the enemy. 
 These bills show the nature of the legislation suggested 
 by the events then passing rapidly into history. They 
 were referred to committees, discussed and determined 
 according to the judgment of Congress as hereinafter 
 stated. 
 
 The increase in the army being the subject of discus- 
 sion, the conscription law and its workings were discussed 
 at length with considerable spirit. Mr. Foote called 
 attention to the doubts of its constitutionality existing 
 at the time of the passage of that measure, and expressed 
 his opinion that if the expedient should be allowed to be 
 established as a permanent system, the result would be 
 the subversion of State sovereignty and popular freedom. 
 The necessity under which the act was passed had grown 
 out of neglect by the provisional government to legislate 
 at the beginning of war so as to provide for deficiency 
 in the army, and he alleged that no such necessity now 
 existed because the States stood ready to respond to all 
 requisitions. Collision with State authorities would cer- 
 tainly occur if the new law asked for by the war secretary 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 449 
 
 should be passed, as it would sweep into the Confederate 
 army all the militia away from State control. Mr. Foote ' s 
 views were sustained by some others in Congress, but 
 the general course of the debate developed the disposition 
 to coincide with the urgent request of the war depart- 
 ment. 
 
 The bill extending the conscript liability beyond thirty- 
 five years of age caused a very warm discussion, involv- 
 ing all general principles, as well as the details of the 
 bill, bringing into permanent view the controversies 
 which had occurred between the Confederate authorities 
 and the executives of two or three States. The two 
 houses disagreed and a committee of conference became 
 necessary, which finally reported favorably to a concur- 
 rence of the House with the amendments of the Senate. 
 The necessity, however, for a speedy enactment of the 
 proposed extension appeared to be so great that Mr. 
 Boteler, of Virginia, immediately after the report of the 
 committee, called for the question in order to prevent 
 delay by further discussion. On an appeal to him by 
 Mr. Foote not to make the call, Mr. Boteler declared that 
 whatever his desire might be to extend the courtesy 
 asked for, he was now blind to everything except the 
 welfare of his country. He had recently heard the army 
 of Virginia appealing for reinforcements and it was now 
 time for the eternal talk on the bill to cease. The call 
 was sustained by the House, and the bill passed, where- 
 UT3o n Mr. Kenan, of Geor^a... j noved to reconsider the 
 vote. He said that the act prevented an adjustment that 
 could have been made to establish peace between the 
 State and the Confederate States. The provision stricken 
 from the House bill was that which authorized the Pres- 
 ident to make requisition for needed troops through the 
 governors of States. The discussion on account of the 
 conscript law had been created chiefly by its ignoring 
 the control of the governor over the citizen militia in the 
 States. He believed that requisitions on the governors 
 
460 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 would be complied with and appealed for reconsideration 
 in order that this cause of internal trouble be removed. 
 
 Mr. Foote sustained the member from Georgia in his 
 motion, remarking that a state of dissatisfaction with the 
 conscript law similar to that which existed in Georgia 
 existed elsewhere. " Why should the consqlidationists 
 in the State dictate to the House the course it should 
 pursue?" After further debate in which the propriety 
 of the measure was carefully set forth, the House refused 
 to reconsider by a decided vote of 53 to 24. 
 
 These congressional proceedings occurred amidst mili- 
 tary events which brightened the Confederate prospect. 
 Following the brilliant battle of Second Manassas, by 
 which General Pope was dismounted from his " headquar- 
 ters in the saddle, ' ' came the steaming of the Alabama out 
 upon the high seas to become the terror of the United 
 States shipping. Kentucky was entered by Bragg, and Lee 
 was marching across the Potomac. Fright at Washington 
 again disturbed the administration, and hope at Rich- 
 mond shone like a star overhead guiding the Confederacy 
 to success. The capture of Harper's Ferry by Jackson 
 increased the Confederate expectations, but the battle of 
 Sharpsburg and the withdrawal of Lee from Maryland 
 tempered their joy. 
 
 By evident preconcert the governors of several North- 
 em States assembled to advise President Lincoln and to 
 renew their former pledges of support. This meeting 
 was made contemporaneous with the issuance, September 
 22, 1862, a few days after the battle of Sharpsburg, of 
 the first tentative emancipation proclamation, and also 
 of the proclamation [of general martial law by the 
 President of the United States — the two documents ex- 
 pediently going together, since it was not yet clear that 
 the radical change in the object of the war would be well 
 received throughout the North, or be pleasing to the 
 Union soldiers. 
 This first emancipation proclamation of President Lin- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 451 
 
 coin, taken in connection with the arming of negroes for 
 military service, and the attempted breaking up of planta- 
 tion work, was construed throughout the South as the 
 initiative of a policy designed to instigate servile insur- 
 rection. Southern people were alarmed at the atrocious 
 results that could ensue through the United States military 
 under some officers who had already manifested the 
 desire to use negro insurrection as a means to a quick 
 though horrible suppression of the rebellion. The soldiers 
 being absent from their unprotected homes were also 
 greatly incensed by a war measure so violative of the 
 usages of civil war. These fears felt at home by defense- 
 less women, and the indignation of the armies in the 
 field, demanded the attention of the Confederate Presi- 
 dent and Congress. 
 
 The question was raised in Congress for the first time 
 by the introduction by Mr. Semmes, of Louisiana, of the 
 following strong resolution : 
 
 Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States. 
 That the proclamation of Abraham Lincoln, President 
 of the United States of America, issued in the city of 
 Washington in the year 1862, wherein he declares " that 
 on the first of January in the year of our Lord 1863, all 
 persons held as slaves within any State or designated 
 parts of a State whereof the people shall be in rebellion 
 against the United States shall be henceforth and forever 
 free," is leveled against the citizens of the Confederate 
 States, and as such is a gross violation of the usages of 
 civilized warfare, and an invitation to an atrocious servile 
 war, and therefore should be held up to the execration of 
 mankind, and counteracted by such retaliatory measures 
 as in the judgment of the President may be best cal- 
 culated to secure its withdrawal and arrest its execution. 
 
 Very violent speeches were made, and some indefen- 
 sible measures of retaliation were proposed during the 
 discussion of the preliminary emancipation measure. The 
 earliest impulses of the South, under the feeling that a 
 
m conpederate Military history. 
 
 great wrong was to be attempted against the people in 
 their homes, were to manifest resentment by re- 
 taliation of such a severe kind as to arrest at once the 
 insurrectionary design. The most violent advocated 
 the raising of the black flag and the discontinuance of 
 all the courtesies of war, as soon as this attempt to employ 
 the negroes against the people of the South should be put 
 into execution. The majority, however, counseled mod- 
 eration in view of the faith that the negroes would not be 
 seduced in any great numbers to accept this method of 
 securing their freedom. The resolution of Mr. Semmes 
 was therefore referred to the judiciary committee which 
 recommended the passage of a bill reciting in preamble 
 the rights of the States to withdraw from the United 
 States, denouncing the war of subjugation, and the man- 
 ner in which it had been conducted, especially in the 
 "war power" acts of confiscation, banishment, imprison- 
 ment, burning of dwellings, organization of slaves by 
 military officers, blockading harbors with stone instead of 
 ships, besides many other acts therein enumerated, con- 
 cluding with the declaration that it is the evident purpose 
 of emancipation by military force to excite servile in- 
 surrection, and that justice and humanity required the 
 government to endeavor to repress the lawless practices 
 and designs of the enemy, by inflicting severe retribution. 
 The bill proposed to treat as felons officers of the Federal 
 army who shall command, arm, organize or prepare 
 negroes for military service ; also all such officers who 
 incite slaves to rebellion, or induce them to abscond under 
 the acts of the United States Congress and proclamation 
 of the President of the United States, providing that 
 every such person when captured shall be tried by such 
 military courts as the President shall direct ; the Presi- 
 dent also being empowered to commute the punishment 
 or pardon unconditionally or on such terms as he may 
 see fit. 
 This bill reported by the committee, although guarded 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 453 
 
 in the violent provisions which were produced by the 
 excited temper of the moment, was considered by Mr. 
 Hill, of Georgia, and others as dignifying the proclama- 
 tion beyond its real importance. Its author, President 
 Lincoln, intended it as a brutem fulmen, and so Mr. Hill 
 regarded it. He favored the simplest legal action of 
 Congress in taking notice of it. In his opinion, the right 
 existed to declare certain acts as crimes, and the actors 
 as criminals, and a criminal cannot escape on a plea of 
 being a soldier. As a member of the committee and in 
 accordance with the understanding of the committee, he 
 reported another bill, to be printed and considered by 
 the Senate. Mr. Hill's bill, in two short sections, defined 
 the injuries done to unarmed citizens under pretense of 
 waging war, and the inciting of slaves to insurrection, 
 or to abandon their owners, as crimes subjecting the 
 offenders to be treated as criminals, and not as prisoners 
 of war. - The presumption would be against soldiers cap- 
 tured on Southern soil aftfer the emancipation proclama- 
 tion should be put into eflEective action, that they were 
 there with intent to incite insurrection. 
 
 These bills and other resolutions were introduced and 
 printed for consideration, all of which evinced the 
 Southern feeling against any war measures which brought 
 these unusual auxiliaries to the Federal armies against 
 the lesser number of armed men which the South could 
 bring into the field. But as the subject fully developed 
 the extreme retaliation at first proposed grew into dis- 
 favor, so that on the last day the question was disposed 
 of satisfactorily by referring the entire matter of retalia- 
 tion to the discretion of the President. 
 
 The sequestration act proposed at this session author- 
 izing.the President by proclamation to direct all persons 
 who adhere to the United States government to leave the 
 Confederacy on pain of forfeiture of their property elicited 
 discussion as to the powers of the government in time of 
 war. The bill was opposed on account of the hardships it 
 
454 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 would work upon good citizens who were inside the Fed- 
 eral military lines, and under duress had acquiesced in 
 the rule of the United States. 
 
 Mr. Wigfall regarded the bill as of doubtful constitu- 
 tionality because it invaded the right of the States to 
 which their citizens were responsible and not to the 
 Confederate States. Mr. Hill argued that under the 
 circumstances of secession every citizen had the right to 
 elect with which of the two governments he would act. 
 The Confederate States had also the right to say that 
 every citizen deciding to be a citizen of the United States 
 should leave the Confederate States and go to the United 
 States. But that decision once made by word or act to 
 be a citizen of the Confederate States could not be 
 changed at the pleasure of the citizen. The Confederate 
 government had the right to define by law who are aliens 
 and who are alien enemies. The Georgia senator had 
 casually used the word revolution in referring to seces- 
 sion, which caused Mr. Wigfall to exclaim that Mr. Hill 
 was agreeing with Lincoln and Seward in calling this a 
 revolution. This, said he, is no civil war. There was an 
 example of civil war in the State of Kentucky, where the 
 citizens of the same State were organized in fighting 
 each other. This is a war made by certain States against 
 other States. He also insisted that there was no such 
 person as a citizen of the Confederate States. Citizenship 
 is by States, the Confederate citizenship comes through 
 the States. There was no legal "allegiance" to the 
 Confederate States. Mr. Hill replied at length that the 
 citizen of the State did owe allegiance to the Confederate 
 States. The first allegiance is due the State and through 
 the State he owes allegiance to the Confederate govern- 
 ment. Resuming his first proposition that the individual 
 resident of the South at the outset of secession had the 
 right to choose his government and go to its support, he 
 said, " If this were not true the United States could hang 
 General Buckner, of Kentucky, for violating an allegiance 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 455 
 
 with the United States, and the Confederate government 
 could hang Andrew Johnson for violating an allegiance 
 to this government. The old doctrine that allegiance 
 once is allegiance always has been exploded. Citizenship 
 is made up of the consent of the individual as well as of 
 the government." 
 
 Mr. Oldham entering into the discussion expressed the 
 view that every citizen of a political community owes al- 
 legiance to the sovereign power. In this country the 
 people are the sovereign power, and every citizen owes 
 allegiance to the political community that constitutes his 
 State. He owes similar allegiance to this sovereign power 
 that English people owe to the English government. 
 Mr. Oldham's idea was that obedience was due to the 
 Confederate government by the citizens of the State, but 
 that his " allegiance " was due the State. The State 
 could direct him as to his duty to the general government 
 which it commanded him to obey. Mr. Hill answered 
 that he would not quibble over words. All he had to say 
 was that every citizen of the Confederate States owes 
 allegiance to the Confederate States. Call it allegiance 
 or obedience. His idea was that the States were orig- 
 inally sovereign and they are so still. As such they had 
 the right to exercise sovereign power. By their own 
 consent they delegated sovereign power to a common 
 government, not to an agency, but a government, which 
 they call a government in the compact, and in that com- 
 pact they say that all citizens of States are citizens of the 
 Confederate States. The men who were originally citi- 
 zens of the States, and who are yet citizens of the States, 
 owe their first allegiance to the States, but through the 
 States theyowe allegiance to the Confederate government. 
 The Senator said that the State had the power to qualify 
 that allegiance to the common government, but that when 
 the compact was dissolved, the citizen had the right to 
 elect. Alluding to the origination of secession, Mr. Hill 
 showed that by recurring to the history of the United 
 
466 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 States government it would be found that the great cause 
 of disruption was the interference by States with a com- 
 pact into which they had solemnly entered. " No man 
 found cause for dissolution in anything that the Federal 
 government did, for all declared that they wanted to 
 preserve the Union until Lincoln was elected; nor in 
 the decisions of the supreme court ; nor could any objec- 
 tion be laid against the Federal Congress, for there the 
 conservatives had a majority. What was the difficulty, 
 Mr. President? The Northern States, sir, passed their 
 personal liberty bills and nullified the acts of Congress. 
 The State governments would not render up fugitives, 
 declaring they were not criminals in withholding the 
 escaped negroes, alleging they were not property; and 
 the State judges took it upon themselves in their State 
 courts to set aside the acts of Congress passed to carry 
 out the fugitive slave law. These were the enormities 
 that drove the South to her condition of determined 
 secession. And when Mr. Lincoln was elected, it was 
 thought he was seeking not to continue the Federal gov- 
 ernment, but to pervert the government and to accomplish 
 through Federal agency what the Northern States had 
 already sought to do by State action. That perfected the 
 argument." Mr. Wigfall, expressing with some indig- 
 nation his surprise at Mr. Hill's statement that the 
 Federal government never trespassed upon the rights of 
 the Southern States, brought out Mr. Hill's explanation 
 that the trespasses of the Federal government were not 
 the evils alleged by the people in seceding. It was the 
 trespasses committed by the States in the North in their 
 faithlessness to the common compact. " I held the Mis- 
 souri Compromise was unconstitutional, but the Federal 
 government as such did not commit the trespasses which 
 drove the Southern people into secession. " Mr. Wigfall, 
 interrupting with questions and remarks, denied very 
 decidedly the observation of Senator Hill that there had 
 been no cause of complaint against Congress on the ground 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 457 
 
 that the aggressors on the South were in the minority. 
 " Why, sir," he exclaimed, referring to the last Congress 
 under Buchanan's administration, " in that Congress the 
 Black Republicans had an overwhelming majority in 
 the House against us, and a tie vote in the Senate, with 
 a Republican casting vote." The debate, wandering 
 over a wide field of theories touching here and there the 
 measure under discussion, was terminated by laying the 
 bill on the table. 
 
 The foreign affairs committee had for some days under 
 consideration a plan for establishing at least a sympa- 
 thetic connection between the Confederate States and 
 the States of California and Oregon and all territories 
 beyond the Rocky Mountains. A league, offensive and 
 defensive, was embodied in a series of resolutions which 
 had been previously presented by Mr. Foote. California 
 this year was entirely in the control of the Republican 
 party. Leland Stanford was elected governor in 1861, 
 defeating the two Democratic candidates. The united 
 Democratic vote in 1861 was over 63,000 and Stanford's 
 vote was 56,000, so that if Democrats had united Stanford 
 would have been defeated. The party continued its 
 divisions and was defeated again in 1862, when the legis- 
 lature was strongly Republican. In Oregon similar 
 divisions of the Democrats took place, and the old desig- 
 nations of "Douglas Democrats" and "Breckinridge 
 Democrats" were used. The "Douglas" Democrats 
 united with the Republicans in the ' ' Union ' ' party, and 
 elected Governor A. C. Gibbs. The Democratic ticket 
 polled 34,000 votes. 
 
 The counterfeiting of the Confederate treasury notes 
 by parties in the United States (referred to in the Presi- 
 dent's message) who sold them in quantities to United 
 States soldiers and others for use among the ignorant 
 and unsuspecting people of regions over-run by the Fed- 
 eral armies, had become such a serious evil as to provoke 
 strong remonstrance against the practice as being contrary 
 
458 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 to the usages of enlightened nations when at war with 
 each other, and to require the Confederate Congress to 
 declare counterfeiting and passing counterfeit money by 
 the armies of the United States a felony. This counter- 
 feit money was styled by the counterfeiters " fac similes ' ' 
 of Confederate money, and was sold by them under that 
 pretense, but the counterfeiting was so close as to be 
 capable of ready use as money and was in fact so em- 
 ployed. Senator Clay, of Alabama, declared that " the 
 enemy by counterfeiting our currency had aimed one of 
 the deadliest blows at our cause. They had boldty ad- 
 vertised these counterfeits for sale and among their dead 
 who fell in battle it was rare to find one who had not on 
 his person more or less of spurious Confederate treasury 
 notes. Some law to repress this counterfeiting by pro- 
 viding a speedy punishment should be passed. " The bill 
 was passed October ii, 1862. 
 
 The signal military successes of the Confederate armies 
 occurring through 1862 encouraged the Confederate Con- 
 gress to hope that a just and honorable peace might be 
 concluded. There was always a general popular opinion 
 that the Confederate government should seize every op- 
 portunity to bring the issue between the two governments 
 to a peaceful solution. The government was constantly 
 made aware of this disposition of the people, and was as 
 constantly on the alert to find the occasion when the Con- 
 federate authorities could get access to the government 
 at Washington. Such an occasion, in the opinion of Mr. 
 Foote, had come in the result of the conflicts between 
 the two armies during the summer. He therefore intro- 
 duced a resolution to dispatch commissioners to Washing- 
 ton empowered to propose the terms of a just and 
 honorable peace. Mr. Holt, of Georgia, also ofiEered the 
 following expressive substitute : 
 
 ' ' The people of the Confederate States are and have 
 been from the beginning anxious that this war with the 
 United States should be conducted according to the rules 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 469 
 
 established by civilized and Christian nations, and have 
 on their part so conducted it ; and the said people ardently 
 desire that said war should cease and peace be restored, 
 and have so announced from the beginning : Therefore, 
 Resolved, that whenever the United States government 
 shall manifest a like anxiety and a like desire it shall be 
 the duty of the President of the Confederate States to 
 appoint commissioners to treat and negotiate with the 
 said United States government upon said subjects or 
 either of them. " 
 
 These resolutions embraced the views of perhaps the 
 entire body of Congress. Mr. Foote had been one of the 
 most aggressive among the members of the Confederate 
 Congress representing the iiery element, and Mr. Holt 
 had been among the most reluctant to engage his State 
 in secession. Together they represented a popular 
 Southern sentiment that prevailed from the beginning to 
 the close of the war. The resolution and substitute were 
 tabled together pending the military events then rapidly 
 following each other in Virginia. 
 
 The forced loan, as the bill was called to collect in 
 kind one fifth in value of all produce and of all increase 
 of live stock, the value of which was to be receipted for 
 and the receipt to be exchangeable for six per cent income 
 tax bonds, failed to pass, though earnestly pressed. Sev- 
 eral important bills passed, such as the act to encourage 
 the manufacture of shoes and clothing for the army, 
 which provided for the admission free of duty of cotton 
 cards, card cloth, machinery, and other articles required 
 for manufacturing purposes. Another bill was passed to 
 raise troops in Kentucky and Missouri, authorizing the 
 President to appoint general and field officers for the or- 
 ganization of such forces. The rate of interest on the 
 funded debt of the Confederate States was reduced, to- 
 gether with amendments to fix the rate of interest on the 
 new issue of bonds at seven per cent, also to authorize 
 the issue of six per cent convertible bonds. The appro- 
 
460 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 priation bill provided for the following expenditures: 
 For ordnance service, $2,500,000; pay of the army, $18,- 
 660,189; transportation of troops, etc, $7,404,075; sub- 
 sistence of prisoners of war $200,000; bounty of $50 to 
 soldiers $3, 000, 000 ; medical and hospital supplies $400, 000 ; 
 deficit in postoffice department $800,000; deficit in quar- 
 termaster's department $39, 000, 000; interest on the public 
 debt $2,500,000; subsistence of the army $6,571,672. 91. 
 The total appropriation was $85,000,000. Having been 
 in laborious session during two months of great excite- 
 ment Congress adjourned October 13, 1862. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 UNITED STATES MEASURES, CIVIL AND MILI- 
 TARY. 
 
 EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION— THE NECESSITY OF 
 IT— EFFECT— THE SOUTHERN VIEW— NEGRO EN- 
 ROLLMENT IN NORTHERN ARMIES— MEETING OF 
 CONFEDERATE CONGRESS — MESSAGE — DEBATES- 
 RESOLUTIONS— ARMY MOVEMENTS— THE CONFED- 
 ERATE SITUATION. 
 
 THE proclamation of September, 1862, was designed 
 by President Lincoln as the precursor of the procla- 
 mation of emancipation dated to begin with the 
 year 1863. "Mr. Lincoln was himself opposed to the 
 measure, " says Mr. Julian, of Indiana, "and when he 
 very reluctantly issued the preliminary proclamation in 
 September, 1862, he wished it distinctly understood that 
 the deportation of the slaves was in his mind inseparably 
 connected with the policy." His doubts as to his right 
 to emancipate embarrassed him, and his fears as to the 
 change of the war policy from " saving the Union " to 
 freeing the negro, delayed his action. The humane view 
 of the question was not the most vivid. Political consid- 
 erations alone brought on the determination to place the 
 war " on a clearly defined anti-slavery basis." 
 
 Even then the philanthropic impulse which (if un- 
 hindered by selfish interests) might have controlled all 
 parties, exerted no influence which can entitle the eman- 
 cipation proclamation of January i, 1863, to veneration 
 as one of the magna documenta of human freedom. 
 It was not, as it should have been, a courageous declara- 
 tion that every negro had the right, if any had, to be set 
 
 461 
 
462 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 free on fair terms, and that therefore the government 
 which had caused his enslavement must rescue him from 
 that condition. There was no frank concession that 
 capital had been lured by the nation into a vast invest- 
 ment in slave labor which was entitled to protection, not- 
 withstanding secession had resulted from the fear of its 
 destruction. The tremendous reform was in fact pre- 
 ceded by frantic declarations that the purpose of the war 
 was not to raise the negro to the common brotherhood 
 of " equality before the law " nor to condone the mutual 
 error of slavery by satisfying all just demands which 
 emancipation exacted. It was even trifled with by the 
 authorized statement of the head of the nation to Greeley, 
 August 22, 1862, one week before the preliminary 
 proclamation, as follows: " If I could save the Union 
 without freeing any slaves, I would do it. If I could 
 save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it ; and if I 
 could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I 
 would doit." The President's devotion to the view he 
 entertained of the Union, and which he afterward ex- 
 pressed in his memorable short speech during the dedica- 
 tion of the national cemetery at Gettysburg, is well 
 worthy of profoundest national respect, but he was not 
 the emancipator of the negro race. 
 
 The proclamation only went so far as to serve a mili- 
 tary purpose. It simply called a reserved instrument of 
 war into a field of operations where the battles of two 
 years, with the customary array of resources, still left 
 the Union armies defending Washington. With flagrant 
 denial of the right of every negro in the slaveholding 
 sections to emancipation if any were set free, the procla- 
 mation left slavery untouched in whole districts of the 
 border States. "It did not pretend," says Mr. Julian, 
 of Indiana, " to operate upon the slaves in other large 
 districts in which it would have been effective at once, 
 but studiously excluded them while it applied mainly to 
 States and parts of States within the military occupation 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 463 
 
 of the enemy (the Southern armies) where it was neces- 
 sarily void. ' ' It proclaimed freedom where it cciald not 
 operate, and left slavery in States where military power 
 could enforce a decree of emancipation. 
 
 The emancipation policy was adopted as a political as 
 well as a military necessity. The humanity of freedom 
 was only an incident of the policy. The pressure of the 
 most active wing of Mr. Lincoln's party had borne upon 
 him with such increasing violence that the President was 
 compelled to explain to the border States, and to his 
 conservative friends, that the proclamation had become 
 " a necessity to prevent the radicals from openly embar- 
 rassing the government in the conduct of the war." 
 Governor Andrews, of Massachusetts, had begun ear- 
 nestly to demand the privilege " to fire on the enemy's 
 magazine," by which he was supposed to mean an explo- 
 sion throughout the South of negro insurrection. The 
 Massachusetts convention had not voted a resolution of 
 confidence in the administration, and Mr. Chase was 
 writing of Mr. Lincoln's recreancy to the party which 
 had elected him. The " pressure " prevailed and the 
 " war policy " took a new turn. 
 
 The general effect at the North of this distinct change 
 of war policy was at first a revolt of the conservatives 
 through which the administration suffered defeats at the 
 fall elections of 1862 in the great States, New York, Ohio, 
 Indiana and Illinois. Uneasiness pervaded the popular 
 mind and the soldiery were disturbed by this new reason 
 for the sacrifice of their lives. Europe also became " cold 
 and menacing. " Lord Lyons dispatched to his govern- 
 ment that the President " had thrown himself into the 
 arms of the radicals." Yet the measure compacted 
 about the President a body of men who rallied from the 
 temporary disasters which followed the adoption of their 
 policy and gave him a support which at length drew to 
 their line almost the entire population of the Northern 
 States. 
 
464 CONFEDERAtS. MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 The Southern people read the proclamation as evidence 
 that the radical measures which had been long threat- 
 ened would now be attempted as far as they could be 
 made effective by military force. The conservatives 
 in the Border States were astounded, and now realized 
 the situation into which they had come by the drift of 
 events. The slaves, however, did not rise in arms nor 
 organize the exodus that had been predicted, but they 
 pursued the plow in peace, and protected the homes 
 where they had been reared. One ardent advocate who 
 was helping to make the pressure on Mr. Lincoln effect- 
 ive, had written of the negroes that " one universal 
 hallelujah of glory to God, echoed from every valley and 
 hilltop of rebellion, would sound the speedy doom of 
 treason." But while the hallelujahs of this class of 
 Southern population were certainly heard, they were 
 such as had been sounding for a century at the camp- 
 meetings and com shuckings. Where the Federal armies 
 spread over the plantations there was indeed such a con- 
 siderable flocking of the slaves into the Federal camps, 
 that the increasing numbers of all ages more than sup- 
 plied the demand for camp labor and created open com- 
 plaint against the colored camp followers. 
 
 Southern resentment of the emancipation policy was 
 not aroused so much by the attempt to proclaim a free- 
 dom which could not, as confessed by jurists, be thus 
 conferred, as it was by the declaration of the intention to 
 reinforce the armies of the United States with regiments 
 of negroes. The use of this means to bring the South to 
 terms had begun to be vehemently urged early in 1862. 
 Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, the leader of the "war 
 power ' ' wing, had openly advocated at the outset of the 
 war " the arming of the negroes who were the slaves of 
 the rebels," and at this date declared in Congress that 
 "it is the only way left on earth in which these rebels 
 can be exterminated." The United States Congress 
 very rapidly moved up to this advanced line and adopted 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 465 
 
 measures for the enrollment of one hundred and fifty- 
 thousand negro soldiers to suppress the rebellion. But 
 this mortifying concession that the Union armies were 
 unable to end the war, and that the Southern slaves 
 must now save the Union, was not reached in legislation 
 without the earnest and indignant protests of Northern 
 statesmen. Mr. Cox, of Ohio, Mr. Thomas, of Massa- 
 chusetts, Mr. Richardson, of Illinois, and many others, 
 joined the representatives from the Border States in 
 resistance to this radical and dangerous change in the 
 objects of coercion. During the debate on the general 
 conscription bill pending an amendment offered by Mr. 
 Cox, of Ohio, " That no one shall be enrolled under this 
 act except able bodied white male citizens of the United 
 States, ' ' Mr. Mallory, of Kentucky, said, ' ' Why is this 
 measure called for at this time? The answer is one 
 which is very galling to the pride of the administration 
 and its supporters. It is a complete confession of incom- 
 petency to manage the stupendous war in which it finds 
 itself involved — a most humiliating and reluctant 
 acknowledgment that its measures have been mistakes — 
 its policy a blunder. " But notwithstanding these protests 
 the measure was adopted and enrollment soon began, 
 influenced somewhat by a strong reason in favor of the 
 enrolling of negroes in Federal regiments which was 
 given by an influential Northern man in the following 
 language : ' ' The approach of a draft which would fall 
 heavily upon the workshops, manufactures, and farmers 
 of the North, already depleted of their operatives to such 
 an extent as to greatly enhance the price of skilled labor, 
 led to the conviction on the part of the great body of the 
 people of the North that these thews and sinews (i. e. 
 negro men) thus at their command, and for the most part 
 ready and willing for their service, might as well be em- 
 ployed as their own, so far as they would go toward filling 
 up the ranks of the armies east and west. " 
 
 In January, 1863, Governor Andrews, of Massachusetts, 
 
 1-30 
 
466 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 was authorized to raise regiments of negroes. In March, 
 George L. Thomas, adjutant-general, was sent West to 
 organize the colored fugitives into military commands. 
 General Prentiss formed two regiments at Helena ; General 
 Thomas five at Milliken Bend, three at Grand Gulf, and 
 before leaving the West in June organized twenty more. 
 General Banks chose to call the colored body which he 
 also organized, the Corps dJAfrique. Over 15,000 were 
 quickly mustered in the Gulf department, to which 
 adding the regiments raised in South Carolina, North 
 Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland, the total soon reached 
 50, 000 men. This was conceived to be a very appreciable 
 relief from the burden of the impending draft, and an 
 important accession to the necessary military strength of 
 the Federal armies. It was found necessary very soon to 
 put these negroes, who were enlisted to do only post and 
 garrison duty, into the forefront of battle, even ' ' in 
 several instances in the lead in assaulting columns, ' ' — as 
 at Port Hudson and Fort Wagner, on which occasions 
 their white commanders bear testimony to the efficiency 
 with which they fought. The negroes are entitled to 
 the credit of vindicating the statement as to a military 
 necessity for their enrollment to enable the Federal 
 armies to match the Confederate. 
 
 No danger from servile insurrections was seriously 
 apprehended even in the sections most densely occupied 
 by the negroes, but there were well-grounded fears of 
 outrages that could be perpetrated by negroes collected 
 at random, armed, undisciplined, and officered by white 
 men of vindictive mood and avaricious mind. Southern 
 people saw in this use of the negroes as soldiers the 
 willingness of the extremists to make a war of havoc, 
 resulting in the extermination of white and black alike ; 
 — into which lurid aspect of the question they were led 
 by speeches in Congress, the tone of the press, and the 
 recommendations of prominent army officers. In 
 addition to these fears there was the powerful Southern 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 467 
 
 repugnance, which the administration at Washington dis- 
 regarded, to an armed conflict between the two races. To 
 the influences of these fears, and of resentment to the 
 indignity thus offered, must be credited the first out- 
 bursts through the South, while the subsequent conserva- 
 tive action of the Confederate authorities will commend 
 the wisdom with which the " new policy " was treated. 
 When the Confederate Congress assembled, President 
 Davis called attention in his message of. January 12, 
 1863, to the emancipation proclamation as a war measure 
 which encouraged a servile population to a course of 
 action which would doom them to extermination. In its 
 political aspect the Confederate President regarded the 
 proclamation as a justification of the earliest fears felt by 
 the South on the ascendency into power of the new 
 sectional power, and that it created an insurmountable 
 barrier to the reconstruction of the Union. " So far as 
 regards the action of this government on such criminals 
 as may attempt its execution," the message proposed to 
 deliver to State authorities all commissioned officers of 
 the United States captured thereafter in any of the 
 States embraced in the proclamation that they may be 
 dealt with in accordance with the laws of those States 
 providing for the punishment of criminals engaged in 
 inciting servile insurrection, but enlisted soldiers were to 
 be discharged on parole according to the customs of war. 
 The President thus treated the new measure as an 
 attempt to excite insurrection of slaves, which was con- 
 trary to the penal statutes of the Southern States, and 
 proposed to leave the offenders to the action of the State 
 courts. Congress having already the exciting question 
 under consideration, adopted the course which has been 
 mentioned. 
 
 Amidst these civil proceedings in the beginning of 
 1863 the Confederate armies were considerably strength- 
 ened by the operation of the several enrollment acts, 
 although bounties for enlistment had been discontinued. 
 
468 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 and no inducement for volunteering was offered except 
 the choice of the company in which the recruit desired to 
 serve. The Federal and Confederate army operations in 
 the West are shown by the army orders and reports in 
 January, 1863, of General Sherman and of General 
 Pemberton. Of the first Federal attempt General Sher- 
 man says, " We failed in one great purpose of our move- 
 ment — the capture of Vicksburg. ' ' General Pemberton 
 from headquarters at Vicksburg congratulates his army 
 for " their gallant defense of the important position." 
 These orders- and reports refer to the defeat of the strong 
 movement begun November 28, 1862, under Grant, 
 Sherman, McClernand and other skillful Federal com- 
 manders to capture the important positions in the West 
 defended by Pemberton, S. D. Lee and Forrest. In the 
 East the Federals had recoiled from their bloody defeat 
 at Fredericksburg, in December, 1862, and with a change 
 of commanders were organizing the next advance on 
 Richmond. The Confederate armies were likewise con- 
 centrating all available forces to renew the combat as 
 soon as the Virginia winter surrendered to the spring. 
 Army operations in the West after January 8, 1863, in- 
 cluded a variety of engagements, culminating in the dis- 
 astrous surrender of Vicksburg; while in the East the 
 army of Lee fought the battles of Chancellorsville, and, 
 marching again across the Potomac, lost the battle of 
 Gettysburg. These two events occurred simultaneously 
 the first week in July, 1863, and considered together 
 foretokened the ultimate defeat which the Confederacy 
 at last sustained. 
 
 The embarrassments of the Confederacy were not 
 diminished by the successes of 1862, nor by the increase 
 during that and the following year of the Southern mili- 
 tary force. The first impression that the war would be 
 short was now changed early in 1863 into a doubt 
 whether it would end in several years. In consequence 
 of the uncertainty of the struggle Confederate finances 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 469 
 
 which were based necessarily on the success of secession 
 could not be managed so as to avoid the depreciation of 
 the currency. The expenses had increased, the public 
 debt was becoming enormous, and tUe Confederacy was 
 already moving on without the " sinews of war. " There 
 was a vast excess of paper money and yet there seemed 
 no other way to sustain the government. Some financiers 
 proposed the discontinuance instantly of any further 
 issue. Taxation and loans were urged as the only means 
 of reaching a safe financial footing. The issue of 
 bonds with interest payable in coin, the interest to be 
 assured by a lien on a specific part of the revenue, was 
 suggested, and it was also insisted that all outstanding 
 treasury notes and other government securities should be 
 heavily taxed. The secretary of the treasury found it 
 a difficult task to provide a sufficiency of money for the 
 extraordinary demands of the government, and saw with 
 chagrin the Confederate notes depreciate until they be- 
 came nearly unavailable for the purchase of food and 
 clothing for the army. 
 
 In the extremity many expedients were tried. Among 
 them an act was passed during the early part of 1863 by 
 which the government was authorized to seize or to im- 
 press produce necessary for the army. The act provided 
 for payment at a price fixed by State commissioners and 
 the impressment officials were forbidden to take supplies 
 which were necessary for family use or on the way to 
 market for immediate sale. But the enforcement of the 
 impressment created excitement and produced discontent. 
 Producers accustomed to sell their products at the market 
 price were not satisfied with the rate fixed by gov- 
 ernment, and while the majority obeyed the law there 
 were evasions which greatly embaiTassed the ofiicers in 
 charge of its execution. Delays and waste, with occa- 
 sional abuses, hindered the operation of this plan to reg- 
 ulate prices and to sustain the Confederate currency. 
 
 The strain of two years on the machinery of railroads 
 
470 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 had also worn down tlie facilities of transportation to 
 such an extent as to make it already difficult to haul 
 troops and supplies with sufficient rapidity and safety. 
 The rate of speed was now reduced to ten miles per 
 hour, and the tonnage lessened nearly fifty per cent. All 
 railroads had become necessarily part of the military 
 organization, so that their condition was to be considered 
 in estimating the efficiency of the military corps. Be- 
 sides this disadvantage the area of food supply had 
 shrunken one half. At first nearly the entire country 
 south of the Ohio river, and even in some measure 
 beyond, could be relied on for the means of subsistence. 
 But now a large part of Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee 
 and North Carolina were occupied or raided by Federal 
 commands, and the blockade shut out the world. Un- 
 fortunately, also, the wheat crop of 1862 had failed to an 
 unusual extent, so that with insufficient supplies and 
 a deficiency in the means of transportation the Confeder- 
 ates went forward into the year 1863 with many misgiv- 
 ings but not without a hope of achieving the independ- 
 ence for which they ventured on secession. 
 
 Congress took up the serious question of supplies early 
 in the session and by resolution requested President 
 Davis to issue an address to the people. The address 
 was accordingly issued April 10, 1863, containing a 
 frank statement of the situation and appealing patheti- 
 cally " in behalf of the brave soldiers now confronting the 
 enemy, and to whom the government is unable to furnish 
 all the comforts they so richly merit. " The address of 
 President Davis was followed at once by similar appeals 
 from the governors of the several States, and by resolu- 
 tions which were passed at public meetings. The com- 
 missary general suffered great anxiety and sought by 
 personal travel throughout the South to secure effective 
 answer to the appeals thus made. The agitation 
 preceding and following these appeals fortunately occurred 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 471 
 
 during the spring planting season and to it may be 
 attributed the improved food supply for that year. 
 
 The accumulation of government cotton had in the be- 
 ginning of 1863 amounted to about a half a million bales, 
 stored generally in sheds at the distance of five or more 
 miles from any railroad, and the principal agent of the 
 government appointed to purchase cotton issued a circu- 
 lar July 25, 1863, in which he stated the policy of 
 the government to be the same as to private or public 
 cotton, viz. : " Apply to it the torch whenever in immi- 
 nent and manifest danger of falling into the hands of the 
 enemy, but only in such cases. ' ' The advice was most 
 patriotically followed in many cases by the owners 
 themselves. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 INTENSIFIED HOSTILITY. 
 
 MEDIATION ATTEMPTED— FOREIGN AFFAIRS— PEACE 
 SPIRIT— PRISONERS OF WAR— AMNESTY ON CON- 
 DITIONS—RECONSTRUCTION ON A WAR BASIS- 
 CLOSE OF 1863. 
 
 r RANGE had proposed in 1862 to England and Ger- 
 many tliat the three nations whose commerce was 
 being injured most by the Confederate war join in 
 suggesting an armistice between the Federal and Confed- 
 erate governments with a view of settling their difficulties, 
 and the friendly proposition was declined. 
 
 But in November, 1862, after the elections had gone 
 against the Washington administration, the letter from 
 Lord Lyons, British minister, to Earl Russell, disclosed 
 a reopening of the question of foreign mediation. This 
 interesting letter, describing very fully the effect of the 
 victory of the peace party and referring to the dismissal 
 of McClellan by Mr. Lincoln in the midst of these Dem- 
 ocratic exultations as a sign that the President had thrown 
 himself entirely into the arms of the extreme radical 
 party, proceeded to discuss the prevailing views of medi- 
 ation. Many of the conservative leaders who were 
 seeking for means to secure peace feared " that a pre- 
 mature proposal of foreign intervention would afford the 
 radical party a means of reviving the violent war spirit," 
 and that the present moment was peculiarly unfavorable 
 for such an offer. The conservative policy was — an 
 armistice to be proposed by the United States;- a con- 
 vention of States, also to be proposed by the United 
 States, to reconstruct the Union and to offer amendments 
 
 472 
 
CONFEDERA TE MI LIT A R V HIS TOR Y. 473 
 
 to the Constitution. Lord Lyons wrote his own opinion 
 " that the present moment is not a favorable one for 
 making an offer of mediation. It might embarrass the 
 peace party." " It would," he says, " in all probability 
 be rejected by the President, who appears to have thrown 
 himself into the arms of an extreme radical party." 
 The views of that party, thus mentioned by the British 
 minister, were clear and defined. " They declared that 
 there was no hope of reconciliation with the Southern 
 people, that the war must be pressed per fas et nef as until 
 the disloyal men of the South shall be ruined and subju- 
 gated, if not exterminated ; that not an inch of the old 
 territory must be given up, and that foreign intervention 
 in any shape must be rejected and resented. ' ' Comment- 
 ing on the war policy, his Lordship remarks, " the polit- 
 ical interests of the party now in power render the 
 continuance of the war a necessity for it. Its only chance 
 of regaining its lost popularity lies in successful military 
 operations. Unless it can obtain a much higher place in 
 public estimation than it now occupies, not only will its 
 tenure of power become extremely precarious, but some 
 of its leading members may be called to a severe account 
 for their extra-legal proceedings." 
 
 The French secretary for foreign affairs sent a note on 
 the part of his government to the French minister at 
 Washington in January, 1863, restating the desire of 
 France to proffer its offices in restoring peace and regret- 
 ting the little success which its overtures had gained at 
 Washington. On receiving the note M. Mercier, the 
 French minister, made a special visit to Mr. Seward, to 
 present the dispatch, the reply to which was made in the 
 United States secretary's letter to Mr. Dayton, minister 
 at Paris. Mr. Seward answered the French suggestion 
 that commissioners be appointed by the two peoples 
 at war to meet on neutral ground and adjust their diffi- 
 culties, by saying that however benevolent the desire of 
 France, the suggestions which it has proposed " amount 
 
474 CONFEDERA TE MILITAR Y HIS TOR V. 
 
 to nothing less than a proposition that, while this govern- 
 ment is engaged in suppressing an armed insurrection, 
 with the purpose of maintaining the constitutional na- 
 tional authority, and preserving the integrity of the coun- 
 try, it shall enter into diplomatic discussion with the insur- 
 gents whether that authority shall not be renounced, and 
 whether the country shall not be delivered over to dis- 
 union to be quickly followed by an ever-increasing 
 anarchy." Replying further, Mr. Seward objected to 
 the mode of reconciliation by a board of commissioners, 
 and called attention to the existence of the Congress of 
 the United States as the proper body where all the inter- 
 ests of all States could be debated. The congi'essional 
 form of conference, and not the commission proposed by 
 France, would be in his opinion in compliance with the 
 Constitution of the United States. The United States 
 Congress immediately discussed the correspondence and 
 passed resolutions to be transmitted to all foreign coun- 
 tries, declaring "every proposition of foreign interference 
 in the present contest as so far unreasonable and inad- 
 missible; that its only explanation will be found in a 
 misunderstanding of the true state of the question and 
 the real character of the war in which the Republic is 
 engaged. ' ' Thus a blundering diplomacy conspired with 
 the behests of party policy to cut down the growing hope 
 of national peace. 
 
 The relations between the Confederate States and 
 foreign nations had grown more unsatisfactory to the 
 struggling people of the new nation, notwithstanding the 
 several controversies which at times threatened conflict 
 between the United States and Great Britain. The Con- 
 federate government and people became convinced that 
 Mr. Yancey correctly stated their case on his return from 
 Europe, in saying that no hope of aid from foreign sources 
 could be entertained until the South had virtually won 
 the battle by its armies. 
 
 One apparently serious and early subject of diplomatic 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 475 
 
 correspondence was caused by the construction at British 
 ship-yards of vessels reported to be designed for the use 
 of the Confederacy. The steamers Alabama and Florida, 
 first floated as harmless trade vessels, had soon appeared 
 in the character of destructive battleships, and the fear 
 was reasonable that an increase of the Confederate navy 
 of that pattern might effectually ruin all commerce by 
 vessels bearing the United States flag. Mr. Adams, the 
 American minister at London, raised the question with 
 Lord Russell during the latter part of 1862, submitting 
 formally to him the views of the United States govern- 
 ment on the rights and obligations of neutrals. The 
 reply of Lord Russell sharply reminded Mr. Adams that 
 the Queen's neutrality proclamation of May 13, 1861, had 
 been set at naught by the agents of the United States, 
 who had bought and shipped from British ports to New 
 York, " vast supplies of arms and warlike stores. " The 
 Confederacy had likewise procured munitions of war in 
 the same way, but his Lordship writes that "the party 
 which has profited by far the most by these unjustifiable 
 practices has been the government of the United States. " 
 After which rebuke the British earl formally stated the 
 history of the " Alabama's " construction under the name 
 of " 290 " and denied all liability for its operations on the 
 high seas. Further correspondence contained the declar- 
 ation of Lord Russell that "it is notorious that large 
 bounties have been offered and given to British subjects 
 residing in the United States to engage in the war on the 
 Federal side. " The settlement of the " Alabama " ques- 
 tion was postponed, and the subsequent actions of the 
 British government do not appear to have given any con- 
 siderable irritation to the United States. 
 
 The Confederacy had been disappointed also by the 
 action of the French government, whose emperor had at 
 first openly adopted the current opinion of European 
 statesmen that secession would become successful. This 
 early prejudgment caused the United States to make 
 
476 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 unceasing efforts to thwart any combination of European 
 powers in the least degree favorable to the Confederate 
 movement. France, more conspicuously than any other 
 power, had also intimated the desire for foreign inter- 
 vention as the means to bring the American war to a 
 speedy close. Upon this view of the emperor, and the 
 certainty that foreign intervention would result in the 
 partition of the United States, the Confederate authorities 
 indulged for two years the dream of independence, while 
 the fear of that result caused Mr. Seward to express his 
 views in amiable phrase like this : " We wish to avoid 
 anything calculated to irritate France, or to wound the 
 just pride and proper sensibilities of that spirited nation, 
 and thus to free our claim to her forbearance in our pres- 
 ent political emergency from any cloud of passion or 
 prejudice. Pursuing this course the President hopes 
 that the prejudgment of the emperor against the stabil- 
 ity of the Union may the sooner give way to convic- 
 tions which will modify his course. " Other countries had 
 exerted no influence favorable to the Confederacy, and 
 the impression prevailed, especially after the battles of 
 Gettysburg and Vicksburg, that no positive step would 
 be taken toward interference in the American strife un- 
 less some decided and well- sustained advantage should 
 be gained by the Confederacy. 
 
 But amidst all the heartless movements of diplomacy, 
 amidst all the violences of war — the tread of troops, thfe 
 beat of drum, the roar of deadly guns, the outcry of as- 
 sault and defense, the groaning of dying soldiers and the 
 moans of the bereaved at home — amidst all those there 
 was not a day during the horrible conflict when there was 
 not heard the voice of the angels of reason and humanity 
 calling for peace. Both nations had ofScially declared 
 the desire for peace from first to last, and both nations 
 maintained war from beginning to end ; but the main 
 question was constantly and unhappily restricted to the 
 terms of peace and on conditions which involved scarcely 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 477 
 
 more than the fate of political parties. The peace feeling 
 after nearly three years of fighting was still repressed 
 into impotency by the same spirit which had at first " let 
 loose the dogs of war." Two samples of the maneuver- 
 ing which meant no more than those plays with pawns 
 designed to draw out more potent pieces, are here given 
 to show that the " son of peace " did not rule over the 
 American house. 
 
 President Lincoln had made proclamation calling on 
 the people to give thanks to God for recent victories, 
 reciting the advantages belonging to a united country, 
 whereupon Mr. Wood, of New York, offered a resolution 
 in Congress that " Whereas, in view of these triumphs it 
 is no longer beneath our dignity, nor dangerous to our 
 safety to evince a generous magnanimity becoming a 
 great and powerful people, by offering to the insurgents 
 an opportunity to return to the Union without imposing 
 upon them degrading and destructive conditions ; there- 
 fore, resolved, that the President be requested to appoint 
 three commissioners who shall be empowered to open 
 negotiations with the authorities at Richmond to the end 
 that this bloody, destructive and inhuman war shall cease, 
 and the Union be restored upon terms of equity, frater- 
 nity and equality under the Constitution." The res- 
 olution was laid on the table by a party vote of 98 
 yeas and 59 nays. On the same day Mr. Green Clay 
 Smith offered resolutions that " believing as we do that 
 the only hope of saving this country and preserving this 
 government is by the power of the sword, we oppose any 
 armistice, or intervention, or mediation, or proposition 
 for peace from any quarter so long as there shall be found 
 a rebel in arms against the government, ' ' and this res- 
 olution was agreed to by a similar vote of 96 yeas against 
 65 nays. Mr. Rogers offered resolutions declaring that 
 the States in rebellion have the right to reorganize their 
 State governments, to elect representatives in Congress 
 and to be represented in the Union with all the rights of 
 
478 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 the people of the several States, without any condition 
 precedent except liability to be punished according to the 
 laws ; Mr. Dawson, of Pennsylvania, proposed that the 
 President make a proclamation that hostilities cease 
 against any State whenever it shall submit to the authority 
 of the Federal government; and Mr. Long, of Ohio, 
 afterward pushed these proffers of peace by a resolution, 
 earnestly and respectfully requesting the President to ap- 
 point Franklin Pierce, Millard Fillmore, and Thomas 
 Ewing, and such others as he may select to meet a like 
 commission from the Confederate States " for the purpose 
 of ascertaining before the renewal of hostilities shall have 
 again commenced whether the war shall not now cease, 
 and the Union be restored. ' ' These laudable efforts to 
 bring together in amity the wearied contestants were 
 made during a long lull of active war produced by the 
 snows and sleets of winter, but they all fell one by one 
 beneath the relentless axe of this same party vote. 
 
 On the other side we find a manifestation of Confed- 
 erate feeling in the consideration during the year 1863 
 of " peace resolutions " by the legislatures of the States 
 and the press of the South, as well as in the public ad- 
 dresses of common statesmen. Mr. Stephens, the Vice- 
 President, whose course indicates throughout an earnest 
 desire on his part to be an agent in the pacification of the 
 country and even in the restoration of the Union, began to 
 say at this period that " the only terms on which we can ob- 
 tain permanent peace are final and complete separation 
 from the North. ' ' Mr. Herschel V. Johnson, who was the 
 running mate of Mr. Douglas in i860, said to the Georgia 
 legislature, " There is no step backward, we cannot yield 
 if we would." The feeling grew to be general that 
 neither aid from foreign nations nor the fraternal efEorts 
 of the peace party in the Northern States could be relied 
 on, but that physical force alone, or some possible 
 accident, must determine the great issue. Later on, how- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 479 
 
 ever, peace efforts were renewed (as we shall see), and 
 with the same disappointing result. 
 
 The position assumed by the Federal administration in 
 the beginning of the conflict of the armies in i860 that 
 the struggle was not public war, but was only an insur- 
 rection, involved it in a series of perplexities. Among 
 these the proper treatment of persons captured with arms 
 in their hands was a question of great difficulty unless 
 the admission of public war was allowed. Upon the insur- 
 rection theory it was broadly said in Washington that 
 those who were captured should be tried as traitors and 
 suffer the penalties prescribed against rebels, and un- 
 fortunately it was at first feared that any concession of 
 belligerent rights made by the United States would en- 
 courage European nations to go further and recognize 
 the Confederate States government. The weakness of 
 President Buchanan in attempting to counterpoise seces- 
 sion and coercion as coequally wrong, was followed by 
 the double dealing of Seward in the peace negotiations, 
 and then after battle had begun the most momentous 
 interests were made to turn on political phrases which 
 were carefully employed. Thus, Confederate privateer- 
 ing was officially called piracy, notwithstanding the pro- 
 test of every court in Europe, and the first crews captured 
 were ironed as felons. From this first false position the 
 administration was compelled to retreat. In pursuance 
 of this mistaken policy the Southern soldiers first cap- 
 tured in battle were denied exchange as such because of 
 the same fear that the exchange of prisoners according 
 to the usages of war might in some way be regarded as 
 a concession that public war existed. The cruel course 
 produced hardships which brave men suffered, and em- 
 barrassed military officers who preferred to wage war in 
 due form. Humanity required the evasion of this polit- 
 ical policy, and under its inspiration swaps were made by 
 commanders on the field instead of exchanges, which the 
 common law of all great wars requires. After many 
 
480 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 months of this trivial by -play, during which the Confed- 
 erate authorities constantly sought to place the struggle 
 fully within the control of the usages in public war, ne- 
 gotiations concerning prisoners were allowed, which 
 resulted in an arrangement for general exchange, by 
 which large numbers of soldiers were released and re- 
 turned to the field. The wise arrangement, however, was 
 disturbed by various insufficient causes, and even broken 
 off entirely by the United States authorities until the 
 unpopularity of the suspension brought about the formal 
 cartel of July 22, 1862, through which exchanges were 
 once again for a time resumed. Certain orders of Gen- 
 eral Pope, then commanding in Virginia, in which citizens 
 were threatened with arrest as spies and held as hostages 
 against "bush-whackers" and the case of Mumford at 
 New Orleans, executed by order of General Butler, pro- 
 voked retaliatory orders by President Davis, to which 
 President Lincoln responded with orders of a similar na- 
 ture, all of which, with other difficulties in the execution 
 of the cartel^ induced President Davis to send the Vice- 
 President of the Confederacy, Mr. Stephens, to seek an 
 adjustment of these difficulties by a personal interview 
 with the President of the United States. 
 
 The letter of instructions given to Mr. Stephens by 
 President Davis stated: "You will perceive from the 
 terms of the letter that it is so worded as to avoid any 
 political difficulties in its reception. Intended as one of 
 those communications between belligerents which public 
 law recognizes as necessary and proper between hostile 
 forces, care has been taken to afford no pretext for refusing 
 to receive it on the ground that it would involve a tacit 
 recognition of the independence of the Confederacy. 
 Your mission is simply one of humanity and has no polit- 
 ical aspect. ' ' The distinguished commissioner was author- 
 ized to negotiate fully in settlement of all the difficulties 
 of exchange of prisoners and to make any arrangements 
 that would place the mode of warfare on a humane 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 481 
 
 basis. Going with this authority Mr. Stephens reached 
 Newport News, and there asked permission to proceed to 
 Washington, but upon the reference of his mission to 
 the authorities at the Federal capital the reply was re- 
 turned: "The request is inadmissible. The customary 
 agents and channels are adequate for all needful military 
 communications and conferences between the United 
 States forces and the insurgents. ' ' Thus at the moment 
 when Lee had been repulsed at Gettysburg and was now 
 recrossing the Potomac a mere technical objection was 
 again raised and an opportunity for an important confer- 
 ence between Mr. Stephens and Mr. Lincoln was thrust 
 aside. Contemporaneous, too, with this mission of the 
 Vice-President new orders were issued from Washington 
 relating to the cartel, and a new section was added 
 to former general orders which produced still further 
 embarrassments. 
 
 The disposition of negroes captured in battle still fur- 
 ther disturbed the regular process of exchange, there 
 being on the side of the Confederates an outstanding 
 menace, which was met on the side of the Federals by 
 the firm declaration that " the law of nations and the 
 -usages and customs of war as carried on by civilized 
 powers permit no distinction as to color in the treatment 
 of prisoners of war as public enemies. ' ' In this singular 
 course of the questions involved in the treatment of white 
 prisoners of the same country it came to pass that the 
 condition of the negro brought about the concession by 
 the North at last, which should have been made at the 
 outset of the struggle, and produced an appeal to the 
 laws of public war which the South had made in vain. 
 A record of that year recites that " not a single instance 
 has occurred of a negro soldier or a commissioned officer 
 of a negro regiment being exchanged or recognized as a 
 prisoner of war. On the other hand no instance has 
 come to light of the execution by the Confederate author- 
 ities of the death penalty upon prisoners of this class. 
 
 1-81 
 
482 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 In October, 1863, the number of Confederate prisoners 
 in possession of the Federal government amounted to 
 about 40,000 men. The Federals in the Confederate 
 hands were only 13,000. This excess had been gained 
 by the battles since the spring of the year and became a 
 reason urged by General Hitchcock why he would not 
 accept Mr. Quid's proposition in October " that all ofiScers 
 and men on both sides be released in conformity with the 
 provisions of the cartel, the excess on the one side or the 
 other to be on parole. " This proposition of Mr. Ould to 
 relieve the prisons of their burden in the beginning of 
 winter and to release nearly sixty thousand sufEerers by 
 exchange or on parole found great favor in many parts of 
 the North. Pressure for its acceptance was made in 
 earnest by the North, but the reply was final that the 
 effect would be to release 27,000 more Confederates than 
 Federal soldiers from the restraints of prison life. From 
 this date general exchange was. discontinued, although 
 certain special deliveries were effected. General Butler 
 by his own request was appointed agent of exchanges at 
 Fortress Monroe in December, thus closing the year 1863 
 with a total cessation of an arrangement which was indis- 
 pensable as means to mitigate the horrors of war. 
 
 An amnesty proclamation was issued by President Lin- 
 coln December 8, 1863, as a part of the scheme adopted 
 at Washington for reconstruction of the States. The 
 proclamation offered Federal protection to such State 
 governments as should be set up according to the mode 
 prescribed by the general government and to them only. 
 The President frankly gave as a reason " why this benefit 
 was tendered only to State governments set up in this 
 particular way ' ' that otherwise the majorities in the 
 States sought to be reconstructed were averse to the 
 " particular way " proposed. The part of the proclama- 
 tion tendering the pardon to individuals prescribed an 
 oath required to be taken and registered to support the 
 Constitution, all acts of Congress, and all proclamations 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 483 
 
 of the President having reference to slaves. Pardon was 
 given to all persons on taking this oath except civil or 
 diplomatic agents, judges, congressmen, military officers 
 above the rank of colonel in the army or lieutenant in the 
 navy, officers who had resigned from the United States 
 army to enter Confederate service, and all persons who 
 had treated captured colored soldiers otherwise than as 
 prisoners of war. 
 
 The plan of reconstruction proposed in connection with 
 the proffered amnesty provided that whenever in any 
 seceded State a number of voters not less than one-tenth 
 in number of the votes cast in such State in the presi- 
 dential election of i860 have taken the amnesty oath and 
 re-established a State government, which accords with 
 the terms of the oath, the State so re-constructed shall 
 be reorganized and protected. The purpose made evi- 
 dent by this empowering of one-tenth of the voters to 
 construct State governments according^to a plan by which 
 even the one-tenth were bound by oath made reconstruc- 
 tion more objectionable to the South than it was before 
 the proclamation of amnesty. The iron-clad oath, the 
 proscription of so large a class, and the commission of 
 State government to a tenth only of the voters of a State, 
 all of whom were put in one class by the required oath, 
 gave the Confederates no encouragements to trust the 
 restoration of the old constitutional relations of the States. 
 The plan, however, was put into operation in such States 
 as could be brought in part or entirely under military 
 control. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE INHUMANITIES OF WAR. 
 
 EXCHANGES— PRISONS AND PRISONERS— ANDERSON- 
 VILLE IN THE SOUTH— ELMIRA, JOHNSON ISLAND 
 AND FORT DELAWARE IN THE NORTH— CONFED- 
 ERATE GOVERNMENT NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR DIF- 
 FICULTIES OF EXCHANGE. 
 
 THERE were two obstacles to exchange of prisoners 
 from the outset of the war, one of which was theo- 
 retical, and is noticed by Hon. S. S. Cox fn his 
 ■" Three Decades of Federal Legislation." It was the 
 theory that the fighting which was going on was not 
 public war, but only an insurrection. Dilemmas occurred 
 almost daily in the career of this theory,out of which the 
 only extrication was to affirm the singular doctrine that 
 the United States had the privilege of saying when the 
 fighting was public war and when it was only insurrec- 
 tion. The facility with which statesmen accommodated 
 -principles to conditions in those dreadful days of peril to 
 life and liberty, now astounds sober reason. The other 
 ■obstacle was that practical one, appearing later in the 
 struggle, which General Grant presented from the military 
 standpoint in opposition to exchange of prisoners near 
 the opening of the spring campaign of 1864, in these 
 Tvords: " I did not deem it advisable or just to the men 
 who had to fight our battles to reinforce the enemy with 
 thirty or forty thousand disciplined troops at that time." 
 Grant's view was practical military cruelty, while the 
 theoretical idea was the product of the combined genius 
 for extricative expedients for which Mr. Seward and Mr. 
 Stanton had no equals. Mr. Cox punctured the theory at 
 the outset in 1861 when Mr. Lincoln applied it to the case 
 
 484 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 485 
 
 of the seamen of the "Savannah," who had been tried 
 and convicted as pirates, but whose peril was retaliated 
 by the Confederate threat to hang certain Federal 
 officers if these seamen were hung. Mr. Cox argued the 
 cause of the limited exchange before the President until 
 he cried out: "Ah, there it is — you would have me 
 recognize these pirates as belligerents. Remember that 
 to fight on land is one thing, but on an unstable element 
 like the sea where men are isolated and helpless, it is an- 
 other." Mr. Cox says he considered the answer as hav- 
 ing in it no element of humanity or international law, 
 and replied, "Where is the difference, in intent or con- 
 duct? Does the difference consist in one shot being fired on 
 the land and the other on the sea?' ' There was of course 
 no reasonableness in the position assumed by the admin- 
 istration and it was compelled to yield. Seward ordered 
 the special exchange of the prisoners and Mr. Cox after- 
 ward pressed to passage his resolutions at the second 
 session of the Thirty-seventh Congress for general 
 exchange. 
 
 It is clear that the interest of the Confederacy was on 
 the side of quick exchanges of prisoners and equally so 
 that it was ready to make them for humane reasons. 
 Difficulties were presented alone by the Federal view of 
 the conflict which Confederate determination overcame 
 or obviated from time to time. The care of Federal 
 prisoners was a burden to the Confederacy since it was 
 found to be easier to fight than to feed them. Hence all 
 concessions were made for the sake of exchange, man for 
 man, until at length the peremptory cessation of compli- 
 ance with the cartel of 1862 forced the construction by 
 both sides of prison dens. Elmira prison, Johnson's 
 island prison, Fort Delaware prison, with all their som- 
 ber annals were the inevitable results of the cessation of 
 regular exchanges. And so was Andersonville on the 
 Southern side. Andersonville prison in Georgia, Elmira 
 prison and Johnson's island. Fort Delaware and the 
 
486 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 prison ships were the inevitable results of the cessation 
 of the exchanges of prisoners usual in wars. It became 
 plain to the Confederate government in January, 1864, 
 that it would be compelled to guard and support for an 
 indefinitely prolonged time the increasing numbers of 
 prisoners taken by its armies in battle, and in view of its 
 diminishing resources, as well as its inability to certainly 
 hold any positions securely, except such as were within 
 the most central part of the South, at a distance from the 
 Federal fleets and armies, the situation was embarrassing. 
 After careful consideration the principal site selected 
 for the construction of a prison was in the upper central 
 part of south Georgia, in precisely the region chosen 
 more than thirty years after as a suitable location for a 
 large colony of pensioned Union soldiers and their fami- 
 lies and friends emigrating chiefly from the West. The 
 new city of Fitzgerald, said to contain in 1897 several 
 thousand Northern colonists, was built in the section 
 where the Andersonville prison was constructed. This 
 location was chosen as a prison site on account of its 
 salubrity, mild winter climate, the nearness to saw mills 
 and grist mills, the large area ]of food-producing country 
 in southwest Georgia, and certainly also because it was 
 little exposed to raiding forces such as threatened the 
 Libby prison at Richmond. In constructing this prison 
 an enclosure of thirty acres in shape of a parallelogram 
 surrounded two hills, and a box canal was built through 
 which a bold stream of clear, pure water was made to 
 flow with conveniences for bathing, the lowest outlet being 
 arranged for proper police purposes. "Several bold 
 springs of pure water emerged from the north bank of 
 the stream and numerous wells of pure water were made 
 inside the prison. ' ' The camp was laid off by streets, 
 and sheds were constructed for protection against rain 
 and cold. It does not appear that there was any neglect 
 of precautions against disease, or any failure of effort to 
 render the unavoidable horrors of prison life bearable. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 487 
 
 A competent authority declares," if it had not been that 
 the fortunes of war crowded the prisoners to this spot, 
 producing the direful effects of an unforeseen pestilence, 
 a better selection could not have been made in this part 
 of the South for the health and comfort of the captives. " 
 It will be considered that no mountainous section of the 
 South, nor any portion of its sea-coast was at this time so 
 securely in the possession of the Confederates as to jus- 
 tify the location in such sections. The Confederates were 
 compelled to go into the interior for the site of their 
 prison under so many disadvantages that the exchange 
 man for man as was proposed would have been greatly in 
 their interest. The rations were chiefly cooked in the 
 bakery outside the walls, and issued regularly ' once a 
 day, all faring alike, — the Confederate troops on duty 
 and the prisoners receiving the same rations. The hos- 
 pital, like all the structures, was a rude inclosure of 
 five acres, well shaded and watered, and furnished with 
 tents, and it would have been ample in ordinary circum- 
 stances, but was suddenly made insufficient by great out- 
 breaks of diseases of the bowels. Every comfort, how- 
 ever, was provided for the sick and wounded that could 
 be obtained within the limited means of the Confederate 
 government. The greatest difficulty was experienced in 
 procuring medicines and anti-scorbutics, which were 
 inhumanly made contraband of war by an order of the 
 Federal government, and the most rigid discipline failed 
 to make the prisoners pay that attention to cleanliness 
 which was absolutely necessary. Even the guards on 
 duty and several Confederate officers were attacked by 
 the diseases of the camp. 
 
 It will be noted that the selection of this prison was 
 made in the beginning of 1864, after the fatal decision of 
 the Federal administration against exchanges, and that 
 with all the hurried efforts of the Confederates the place 
 was scarcely ready when on the first of March a body of 850 
 unfortunate foreigners were necessarily sent from cap- 
 
488 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 tured New England regiments whom the Confederate gov- 
 ernment would have gladly released by exchange. Very 
 soon thereafter the prisoners taken from Sherman by the 
 Confederate army under General Johnston began to come 
 in, with many from other sources, until in May the prison 
 was crowded. The advance of Grant on Richmond also 
 made it necessary to empty Libby prison on the States 
 farther south instead of sending them as President Davis 
 earnestly desired into their own lines in exchange for 
 Confederate equivalents. The removal of this body 
 required transportation, guards and rations which were 
 very greatly needed by General Lee, and their ' ' equiva- 
 lents " from Johnson's Island or other Northern prisons 
 would have given the Confederate commander several 
 more divisions of gallant soldiers. Whatever else is 
 doubtful about the prison question it is well ascertained 
 that the Confederate President craved his imprisoned 
 legions while his antagonist thought it " better to feed 
 them than to fight them. ' ' 
 
 The total number of prisoners in this prison of 1864 
 appears to have been increased about as follows: In 
 April, 10,000; May, 18,000; June, 26,000; July, 31,000; 
 August, 31,000. After this date the number was sud- 
 denly decreased to 8,000 in September, and to 4,000 in 
 October, by the removal of all the prisoners except in- 
 valids and nurses to Millen in the eastern part of Georgia. 
 This change was made in consequence partly of the 
 advice of General Winder, and also because of a threat- 
 ened raid from Sherman's army then at Atlanta. The 
 deaths during five months from March ist to August ist, 
 were only 4,485, about ten per cent. But on the occur- 
 ring of a pestilence in the form of dysentery, scurvy and 
 gangrene, the deaths increased greatly during the months 
 of August, September and October. In consequence of 
 the dangerous nature of the diseases appearing in the 
 camp the Confederate government directed the above 
 stated removal of at least 20,000 prisoners to other points 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 489 
 
 remote from Andersonville as soon as barrack accommo- 
 dations could be built and supplies collected. The re- 
 moval was effected as rapidly as possible and by the last 
 of September all were gone except such as were in the 
 hospitals unable to travel. It thus appears that Ander- 
 sonville was used as a main prison not more than six 
 months, during the first four of which the percentage of 
 mortality did not reach the average rate at which Con- 
 federate prisoners died in Northern hands, and that as 
 soon as possible the prisoners were removed. The 
 medical corps detailed to remain with the great body of 
 the infected, struggled with the desperate disease with 
 all odds against them. The camp being relieved of all 
 except about 5,000 invalids and nurses, besides laborers 
 and a small guard, the surgeons were enabled to impiwve 
 the general sanitary conditions and to erect new and 
 large hospital sheds. Confederate surgeons " remained 
 by their dying patients when even their own countrymen 
 had deserted them," some dying at their posts, and all 
 evincing a devotion to professional duty and humanity 
 which merits the linking of Andersonville prison and 
 the heroic charity of their profession together. But with 
 all their care the progress of death was terrible for two 
 months. In fact, " at one time it had been thought by 
 the medical officers that nearly all the infected would die, 
 but by the use of vegetables in such quantities as could 
 be procured and an acid beer made from commeal and 
 sorghum molasses, the death rate fell from about 3,000 in 
 August to 160 in December." 
 
 In the beginning of these horrors the Confederate gov- 
 ernment renewed the efforts for exchange of prisoners for 
 at least the one good reason that the captives on their 
 hands were an immense disadvantage. Supposing that 
 the South had no humane feelings toward Northern cap- 
 tives and cared nothing for the appeals of its own brave 
 soldiers suffering at Elmira, Johnson's Island and 
 elsewhere, it will still appear that there were military 
 
490 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 and civic reasons for the humane efforts so zealously put 
 forth to relieve the brave men held in such prolonged 
 and fatal bondage. This fact is sufficient answer to all 
 statements that the South obstructed exchanges, just as 
 a New England audience was once convinced that 
 Southern planters did not use negroes in place of mules 
 at the plow, since the negro had a money value of $1,500 
 and mules could be bought for $150. 
 
 Senator Hill, of Georgia, in his crushing, unanswered 
 reply to Senator Blaine in the House of Representatives 
 January 11, 1876, collates the efforts to facilitate ex- 
 changes, and coming to this period of horrors, says: 
 "Then again in August, 1864, the Confederates made 
 two more propositions. I will state that the cartel of 
 exchange was broken by the Federal authorities for cer- 
 tain alleged reasons. Well, in August, 1864, prisoners 
 accumulating on both sides to such an extent, and the 
 Federal government having refused to provide for the 
 comfort and treatment of these prisoners, the Confeder- 
 ates next proposed, in a letter from Colonel Ould dated 
 the loth of August, 1864, waiving every objection the 
 Federal government had made, to agree to any and all 
 terms to renew the exchange of prisoners, man for man 
 and officer for officer, as the Federal government should 
 prescribe. Yet, sir, the latter rejected that proposition. 
 It took a second letter to bring an answer to that proposi- 
 tion. Then again in that same month of August, 1864, the 
 Confederate authorities did this: Finding that the Fed- 
 eral government would not exchange prisoners at all, 
 that it would not let surgeons go into the Confederacy, 
 finding that it would not let medicines be sent into the 
 Confederacy, meanwhile the ravages of war continuing 
 and depleting the scant supplies of the South, which was 
 already unable to feed adequately its own defenders, and 
 much less able to properly feed and clothe the thousands 
 of prisoners in Confederate prisons — what did the Con- 
 federates propose? They proposed to send home the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 491 
 
 Federal sick and wounded prisoners without equivalent. 
 Now, sir, I want the house and the country to under- 
 stand this: That in August, 1864, the Confederate gov- 
 ernment officially proposed to Federal authorities that if 
 they would send steamships or transportation in any 
 form to Savannah, they should have their sick and 
 wounded prisoners without equivalent. That proposition 
 communicated to the Federal authorities in August, 1864, 
 was not answered until December, 1864. In December, 
 1864, the Federal government sent ships to Savannah. 
 Now the record will show that the chief suffering at 
 Andersonville was between August and December. 
 The Confederate government sought to avert it by asking 
 the Federal government to come and take its prisoners 
 without equivalent — without return, and it refused to do 
 that until four or five months had elapsed. '' 
 
 The efforts of the Confederate government to have the 
 imprisoned soldiers of both armies released were stren- 
 uously supported by their friends at home and by the ap- 
 peals of the prisoners themselves. The Richmond gov- 
 ernment was beset with communications from citizens 
 inclosing distressing accounts of the treatment to which 
 Confederate prisoners were subjected in Northern pris- 
 ons, and violent censures of Mr. Davis became common 
 because he did not enforce better treatment on Confed- 
 erate soldiers in these Northern prisons by retaliation, 
 since he was unable to effect the customary exchanges. 
 In the same way the administration at Washington was 
 besieged by the friends of Federal prisoners, and by 
 appeals from prisoners themselves, urging that no party 
 or military considerations should doom the Union troops 
 to the continued horrors of prison life. The pressure 
 grew as the summer came on and the numbers of these 
 unfortunate heroes of both armies had increased until it 
 became necessary for the Washington administration to 
 give a reason for the refusal of these powerful appeals. 
 The reason was given by the military chieftain, but a 
 
492 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 better should have been discovered and announced by 
 the civil authority at Washington. General Grant was 
 compelled to assume the responsibility and having no 
 other ground to stand upon he placed the denial of all 
 these appeals upon "military necessity. " The same plea 
 of military necessity having been used to excuse all the 
 early measures which the conservative statesman at 
 Washington had opposed, was now employed to defend a 
 policy which according to Junius Henri Browne, a 
 Northern gentleman, cost the Republic at least twelve 
 or fifteen thousand heroic lives. He might have added 
 the same number of equally heroic Confederates, and 
 given 30,000 as the total life-loss by the cruelties of "mil- 
 itary necessity." The reason given by General Grant 
 was sound enough from the ferocious military idea that 
 "war must be made terrible," and his justification rests 
 upon his obligations as the lieutenant-general com- 
 manding all the armies of the Union to destroy the Con 
 federate forces as quickly as possible. Influenced by this 
 view of war General Grant sent a dispatch to General 
 Butler August 18, 1864, in the midst of the Andersonville 
 horrors, containing these words: "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 at once, either directly or in- 
 directly. If we commence a system of exchange 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 insure Sherman's defeat and would compromise 
 our safety here. " This remarkable confession was made 
 with thorough knowledge of the vast resources of the 
 United States. 
 
 But General Grant did not assume this responsibility 
 without the previous sanction pf the civil government. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 493 
 
 The policy had been fixed at Washington, and the cab- 
 inet secret was divulged in a speech by General Butler at 
 Lowell, Massachusetts, August, 1865, in which he in- 
 formed the public that this continued imprisonment of 
 Union as well as Confederate soldiers was the policy of 
 Mr. Stanton, the secretary of war. In the speech he 
 " stated positively that he had been ordered by Mr. Stan- 
 ton to put forward the negro question to complicate and 
 prevent exchanges," and he boastfully declared at another 
 time that he had discharged this task so offensively as to 
 produce the required result, thus justifying the charge 
 made by other Northern men that the miseries and 
 deaths of these Union soldiers were ' ' due alone to Edwin 
 M. Stanton's peculiar policy and dogged obstinacy. " In 
 addition also to Grant's military reasons for desiring that 
 no prisoners of war should be exchanged, there is given 
 by General Butler in his official report to the committee 
 on the conduct of the war a very remarkable personal 
 objection to exchange, as follows: " In case the Confed- 
 erate authorities should yield to the argument, and form- 
 ally notify me that their former slaves captured in our 
 uniform would be exchanged as other soldiers were, 
 and that they were ready to return us all our prisoners 
 at Andersonville and elsewhere in exchange for theirs, 
 then I had determined with the consent of the Lieutenant 
 General (Grant), as a last resort to prevent exchange, to 
 demand that the outlawry against me should be formally 
 reversed and apologized for before I would further 
 negotiate the exchange of prisoners." General Butler 
 coolly excuses himself in the same reports for complicity 
 in the schemes of cruelty, by the statement " that those 
 lives were spent as a part of the attack upon the rebellion 
 devised by the wisdom of the general-in-chief of the 
 armies to destroy it by depletion, depending on our 
 superior numbers to win the victory at last. ' ' The battle 
 for the Union was accordingly transferred in 1864 from 
 the soldiers in the field to the sufferers in the prisons. 
 
494 CONFEDERATE MILITARY 'HISTORY. 
 
 Victory was to be won over the South by the confinement 
 of fighting men in prisons, although they should die 
 there like sheep in the shambles. 
 
 A statement of Colonel Ould, agent of exchange, was 
 made and published in 1868, verifying the facts concern- 
 ing the questions relating to prisoners between the two 
 governments and his testimony remains unimpeached. 
 He says that the first cartel of exchange, which bears date 
 July 22, 1862, was designed to secure the delivery of all 
 prisoners of war, the fourth article providing that all 
 prisoners of war should be discharged on parole in ten 
 days after their capture. From this date until the sum- 
 mer of 1863 the Confederacy held the excess of prisoners, 
 and during that interval of about a year the Confederate 
 authorities made prompt deliveries of all prisoners except 
 the few held under charges. On the other hand, during 
 the same time the cartel was notoriously violated by the 
 Federal authorities on various pretexts. In the summer 
 of 1863, the Federal authorities insisted on limiting ex- 
 changes to such prisoners as had been placed in confine- 
 ment, which was in violation of the cartel, and was pro- 
 posed after the excess of prisoners had changed to the 
 Federal side. The new proposition nullified that part of 
 the cartel which required the discharge on parole or de- 
 livery of prisoners within ten days after capture. The 
 cartel was thus for a time interrupted, but in August, 
 1864, the Confederate government, moved by the suffer- 
 ings of prisoners, abated their demand for the delivery of 
 the excess on parole according to the cartel, and formally 
 consented to exchange officer for officer and man for 
 man. The official note to General Mulford, then assist- 
 ant agent of exchange, containing this consent to the ex- 
 change, was unanswered, and after two weeks, the same 
 proposal was forwarded to General Hitchcock, the Fed- 
 eral commissioner of exchange. No answer to either 
 letter was received. General Mulford, on August 31, 
 1864, informed Ould that he had no communication from 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 496 
 
 his government on the subject. An offer which would 
 have released within ten days every Northern soldier in 
 the Confederate prisons, but at the same time have left 
 a large number of Southern soldiers in Northern prisons 
 because the excess was then on the Federal side, was 
 not even noticed. 
 
 In January, 1864, and even before that date it was 
 feared by the Confederate authorities that prisoners of 
 war on both sides would be held in captivity without the 
 benefits of exchange. Colonel Ould, the Confederate 
 agent of exchange, therefore wrote, January 24, 1864, 
 officially to General Hitchcock, the Federal agent of 
 exchange, a formal proposal to have surgeons appointed 
 by both governments to take charge in the prisons of the 
 health and comfort of the prisoners. The surgeons were 
 also to act as commissaries with power to receive and 
 distribute money, food, clothing and medicines. But 
 even this very humane offer was not answered, although 
 its acceptance would have alleviated the sufferings and 
 saved the lives of thousands of brave men. In the sum- 
 mer of 1864, Colonel Ould was instructed by Mr. Davis 
 to offer to deliver all sick and wounded prisoners with- 
 out any exchange whatever, and accordingly he did offer 
 to send ten or fifteen thousand to the mouth of the 
 Savannah river without requiring any equivalents, but 
 the acceptance of this noble proposal was delayed for 
 months. Finally, about the last of the year, vessels 
 were sent to receive this free offering, and Ould turned 
 over as many as could be transported — some thirteen 
 thousand — among whom were over five thousand well 
 men. In return the Federal agent sent in at the mouth 
 of the Savannah river about 3,000 sick and wounded Con- 
 federates from Northern prisons. 
 
 During this same summer the deficiency in medical 
 supplies became so embarrassing that the Confederate 
 administration offered to buy from the United States, 
 payable in gold, cotton or tobacco, these needed medi- 
 
496 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 cines, stipulating that they might be brought into the 
 Confederate lines by United States surgeons and dis- 
 pensed by them solely for the benefit of Union prisoners. 
 To this offer there was no reply. In the meantime the 
 blockade was effective and medicines were contraband. 
 
 Colonel Ould declares concerning Colonel Mulford that 
 " while he discharged his duties with great fidelity to 
 his own government he was kind and tender to Confed- 
 erate prisoners — an honorable and truthful gentleman to 
 whom he could appeal for the truth of statements with 
 which he was familiar," and other corrobo^-ations of 
 Ould's testimony are to be found in the report of Major 
 General Butler to the committee on the conduct of the 
 war. Ould was subpoenaed to testify in the trial of 
 Wirts and expressed his intention to tell the whole 
 story as to the conduct of the two administrations in the 
 matter of the treatment of prisoners, but his subpoena 
 was revoked by the prosecution. Mr. Stephens, Vice- 
 President of the Confederacy, was conspicuously active 
 from the beginning to the close of the Confederate war 
 in attempts to secure the usual exchanges of prisoners 
 common among civilized nations at war, on which ac- 
 count he was particularly qualified to speak as a credible 
 witness. Condemning the cruel and untenable position 
 of the Federal administration that the crew of the Savan- 
 nah and all other ships of the Confederate navy were 
 pirates, he expresses the opinion in his work prepared 
 since the war that the desistance of the authorities at 
 Washington from this position was due alone to fear of 
 England, and that the cartel for general exchange after- 
 ward agreed to was forced by public sentiment. The 
 policy pursued by the administration at Washington as 
 he viewed its effects, produced the difl&culties of ex- 
 change, and the consequent intolerable sufferings and 
 deaths in Northern and Southern prisons. The question 
 of exchange was treated by the Federal authorities al- 
 most solely as a policy of war, by which captured men 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 497 
 
 should be made to sufEer for their cause in prison when- 
 ever such suffering contributed to the crushing of the re- 
 bellion. Confederate sentiment unvaryingly required 
 the opening of the prisons by equal exchange and the 
 settlement of the issue by treaty or battle. " I insist, " 
 says Mr. Stephens, " upon irreftitable fact that but for 
 the refusal of the Federals to carry out an exchange, 
 none of the wrongs or outrages, and none of the suffer- 
 ings incident to prison life on either side could have 
 occurred. " 
 
 There is no purpose in this history to recount the cruel- 
 ties practiced during the great struggle of the South for 
 independence, and hence no account will be given of the 
 atrocities at Camp Douglas, Rock Island, Elmira, Point 
 Lookout or anywhere perpetrated by Federal subordi- 
 nates in charge of Confederate prisoners. There were 
 sufferings in all prisons and brutalities perpetrated in 
 this as in other wars, but the proofs furnished by the 
 evidence of General Butler, by the orders of Federal 
 military officers, by the orders and communications of 
 General Grant, and by the reports of Secretary Stanton, 
 all of which are of record, fix the responsibility of this 
 uncivilized mode of war upon the Federal administration. 
 Secretary Stanton's report of July 19, 1866, shows that 
 26,246 Confederate soldiers died in Northern prisons, 
 and 22,576 Union soldiers died in Southern prisons. 
 Twelve per cent of the Confederate prisoners who fell 
 into Northern captivity died notwithstanding all the 
 facilities for receiving food, clothing, medicines and 
 healthful conditions which the United States unquestion- 
 ably possessed, while in the absence of these requisites 
 on the part of the Confederacy the astonishing fact 
 appears that less than nine per cent of the Union sol- 
 diers in Southern hands died in prisons. It is indisput- 
 ably established that the Confederate authorities con- 
 stantly pressed exchanges on equal terms, that they 
 acceded to terms that were unequal for the sake of ex- 
 
 1-32 
 
498 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 change, that they proposed many measures of relief which 
 were denied, that at length the most pitiable and unusual 
 of all spectacles occurred when a deputation of Union 
 soldiers appeared in Washington, sent by Mr. Davis to 
 plead for release by fair exchange, and to plead in vain. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE POLITICS OF 1864 AS A FACTOR IN THE 
 
 WAR. 
 
 ARMIES EAST AND WEST— UNITED STATES CONGRESS 
 —MESSAGE OP PRESIDENT LINCOLN— THE CON- 
 FEDERATE STATES CONGRESS— MESSAGE OP 
 PRESIDENT DAVIS— NO SIGN OF YIELDING— ALL 
 MALE CITIZENS IN THE SOUTH ENROLLED— 
 OTHER ACTS OF CONGRESS— POLITICS IN THE 
 UNITED STATES— THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT PRO- 
 POSED—A PEACE MOVEMENT — WAR PREPARA- 
 TIONS—CONFEDERATE VICTORIES. 
 
 AFTER the battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg the 
 movements of the armies in various parts of the field 
 brought on a number of conflicts, especially in the 
 West. The main Confederate army had fallen back to 
 Chattanooga and thence to Chickamauga valley, where it 
 was followed by the Federal forces. Upon this ground 
 the battle of Chickamauga was fought September 20th, 
 and a technical victory won by the Confederates. The 
 Federals were forced back to Chattanooga, whence, after 
 two months' delay, they advanced again, and achieving a 
 victory at Missionary Ridge, closed active operations for a 
 time, with the general situation in the entire West de- 
 cidedly advantageous to the United States. In the East 
 the Federal use of the signal advantages gained by the 
 defeat of Lee at Gettysburg was chiefly for some time in 
 congratulations at the escape Washington had made, and 
 the delivery of Pennsylvania from the " tread of the hos- 
 tile invader." With a slowness that seems remarkable 
 the Union armies along the Potomac were employed in 
 what has been called " a campaign of strategy," which 
 
 499 
 
500 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 permitted Lee to send Longstreet to Chickamauga, and 
 in the last days of November, 1863, produced the abortion 
 of Mine Run. 
 
 The United States Congress assembled at this juncture, 
 December 8, 1863, and received the President's congrat- 
 ulations on the favorable aspect of affairs. The message 
 announced that by the complete opening of the Mississippi 
 river the Confederacy was divided into two distinct parts. 
 Tennessee and Arkansas had been cleared of insurgent 
 control ; emancipation was accepted in Maryland and mis- 
 souri; one hundred thousand negro slaves were in the 
 United States military service, and "the annual elections 
 of 1863 are highly encouraging." The President pro- 
 nounced the period as "the new reckoning — the crisis 
 which threatened to divide the friends of the Union is 
 past. " Mr. Lincoln had sufficient grounds for the exult- 
 ant tone of his message. 
 
 The President of the Confederate States addressed the 
 Southern Congress which assembled December 7, 1863, 
 in his annual message admitting the "grave reverses," 
 but called attention to the victories won by the gallant 
 troops so ably commanded in the States beyond the Missis- 
 sippi over the invaders of Louisiana and Texas, and to the 
 successful defense of Charleston against the joint land and 
 naval operations of the enemy, while on more than one 
 occasion the army in Virginia had forced the invaders to 
 retreat precipitately to their entrenched lines. "If we 
 are forced," says the Confederate President, " to regret 
 losses in Tennessee and Arkansas, we are not without 
 ground for congratulation on successes in Louisiana and 
 Texas." And to further encourage the South in its 
 struggle for independence the message earnestly insisted 
 that "whatever obstinacy may be displayed by the enemy 
 in his desperate sacrifices of money, life and liberty in 
 the hope of enslaving us, the experience of mankind has 
 too conclusively shown the superior endurance of those 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 501 
 
 who fight for home, liberty and independence, to permit 
 any doubt of the result. " 
 
 No signs appeared anywhere in the beginning of 1864 
 that the seceded States were willing to abandon the Con- 
 federacy unconditionally. In some quarters there were 
 demonstrations in favor of a renewal of attempts to pro- 
 cure peace and restoration of the Union. " But as 
 the friends of reconstruction could promise nothing from 
 the Federal government except submission and emanci- 
 pation, and as they possessed no control of any political 
 organization which could sustain their views, they seem 
 to have become finally silent. ' ' There was in fact a general 
 acceptance of the view that the war must proceed, that 
 political questions were settled, and the result must be 
 left to arms. " We cannot contemplate, " says one public 
 appeal of that date, " the coming of the next and fourth 
 campaign of the pending war without solicitude. Our 
 enemies will commence the next campaign with some ad- 
 vantages of position which they did not have in the be- 
 ginning of 1863. It will be incumbent upon us during 
 the current year to call out all our resources and put forth 
 all our strength. " 
 
 The Confederate Congress, which was now in session at 
 Richmond, was composed of many able statesmen. -In 
 the Senate were Clay and Jemison from Alabama ; John- 
 son and Mitchell from Arkansas ; Baker and Maxwell from 
 Florida; Hill and Johnson from Georgia; Burnett and 
 Sims from Kentucky ; Symmes and Sparrow from Louis- 
 iana; Brown and Phelan from Mississippi; Clark from 
 Missouri ; Davis from North Carolina ; Barnwell and Orr 
 from South Carolina ; Haynes and Henry from Tennessee ; 
 Oldham and Wigfall from Texas ; Hunter and Caperton 
 from Virginia. In the House the members were dis- 
 tinguished for conservatism and ability, among whom 
 were Curry, Clopton, and Pugh, Garland, Trippe, Ewing, 
 Breckinridge, Conrad, Davis, Barksdale, Vest, Ashe, 
 Boyce, Gentry, Vaughn, Bocock, and Boteler. Mr. 
 
502 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Bocock was speaker and Albert Lamar clerk. The gravity 
 of the situation evidently impressed the Confederate Con- 
 gress, and in appreciation of the peril of the government 
 immediate attention was given to filling up the thinned 
 ranks of the armies. In the Senate Mr. Brown, of Mis- 
 sissippi, offered resolutions declaring that every male 
 citizen should be enrolled in military service ; that all 
 laws authorizing substitutes be repealed ; that foreigners 
 should leave the country or take up arms to defend it , 
 and that necessary civil positions should be filled by de- 
 tails. In addition to these measures he proposed to levy 
 direct taxes sufficient to conduct the war ; to make Con- 
 federate notes a legal tender ; to prohibit trading in gold, 
 silver and United States currency, and to make these laws 
 " war measures " so that offenders should be tried by court 
 martial. The military committee reported a bill to repeal 
 *all former laws which permitted the emplojrtnent of sub- 
 stitutes, which was passed. Mr. Foote proposed resolu- 
 tions requesting the President to withdraw diplomatic 
 agents and dismiss all foreign consuls from the Confed- 
 eracy. He also asked for investigation into the charges 
 which had been made by the Northern press that the 
 Confederacy was starving Federal prisoners, which was 
 agreed to. Bills were passed prohibiting all traffic in 
 United States currency. The conscription act was dis- 
 cussed at length and finally passed, declared all men be- 
 tween eighteen and fifty-five years of age subject at once to 
 military duty, and required them to report within a cer- 
 tain time or be liable to trial for desertion. All mechanics 
 would be detailed as well as railroad men, telegraph 
 operators and miners. The country was thus placed 
 under general military control and the Confederacy girded 
 itself to renew the contest in 1864. 
 
 The political temper at Washington was sufficiently 
 threatening to let the Confederacy understand that all of 
 these preparations to exhaust the resources of the South 
 in the cause it had espoused would be unavailing. The 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 503 
 
 year 1864 was opened with a number of Federal resolu- 
 tions indicating the purpose to meet every demand of 
 war in order to subdue the seceded States. Some of these 
 were insanely violent. Such, for example, as the resolu- 
 tion offered by Mr. Myers to ' ' prosecute the war until the 
 rebellious States be conquered, and when the people have 
 taken the oath they shall be pardoned, their leaders hung 
 and the war cease. " Similar ill-tempered resolutions were 
 proposed and passed, and while they were softened by 
 others of a more conciliatory character, yet none which 
 opened the way to any peace negotiations found favor 
 with the Congress. The contest for the party control of 
 the government was near at hand and the preliminary 
 movements having been already made these congressional 
 resolutions were designed to have a bearing upon the 
 ballots in Northern States rather than to show any patri- 
 otic purpose to bring the war to speedy and just conclu- 
 sion. Mr. Chase, lately secretary of the treasury, was 
 an aspirant to the Presidency even while serving in the 
 cabinet, and had united with the ultra radicals of his 
 party in an effort to secure the nomination. His charge 
 against Mr. Lincoln was incompetency and conservatism ; 
 but it is diificult even at this date to see how the President 
 could have been less conservative unless he would issue 
 a proclamation of extermination, nor how any other could 
 have better managed the extraordinary difBculties which 
 he encountered in subduing the South. Mr. Chase soon 
 discovered that he had placed himself in a false position 
 and withdrew his name from the contest. 
 
 But the Presidential election of 1864 had engaged the 
 attention of the anti-administration leaders of other 
 parties who had been seeking during 1863 some common 
 basis of opposition upon which they might make a suc- 
 cessful race. Democrats calling themselves war Demo- 
 crats and announcing their devotion to the Union held a 
 party conference at Chicago November 24, 1863, prelim- 
 inary to the call for a national Democratic meeting in 
 
504 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 May, 1864. Another convention of Union men had as- 
 sembled at Rochester, who also denounced secession and 
 declared their opposition to the unconstitutional acts of 
 the administration, and this was followed by still another 
 convention held in Cincinnati December 4th, and again in 
 Philadelphia December 24th, at which the conservative 
 platform adopted by the legislature of Kentucky January 
 II, 1863, was made the basis of party union, and General 
 McClellan was recommended as a candidate for the Pres- 
 idency. There were enough elements of dissatisfaction 
 in these various conventions to give Mr. Lincoln some 
 fears and the Confederacy some hope that the party in 
 power could be overthrown. The Congressional ma- 
 neuvers for party advantage appear in the yet more distinct 
 avowals made by the administration party of the war- 
 power policy, and the settled purpose to crush the rebel- 
 lion. Retracting nothing that had been avowed or done 
 the administration resolved to stand or fall upon the 
 emancipation proclamation ; the passage of the Thirteenth 
 Amendment to the Constitution , and unconditional sub- 
 mission of the seceded States to the authority of the 
 Federal Union. 
 
 The Confederate Congress had little to do. Its meas- 
 ures for prosecuting the war were quickly passed and the 
 burden of the execution thereof rolled upon the Confed- 
 erate executive, the governors of the States and the ever- 
 faithful soldiery. The general principle of the war had 
 been settled. The " war power" had become incorpo- 
 rated at Washington as a new force among the powers 
 conferred by the Constitution. Mr. Lincoln had concluded 
 the angry controversy on this subject by his simple, terse 
 declaration that ' ' the Constitution conferred the war 
 power in time of war." After this the Confederates 
 knew that their States might be overturned, their prop- 
 erty confiscated, and themselves banished according to 
 this view of the Constitution. The Northern States also 
 knew that this meant the use of force to keep down any 
 
CONFEDERA TE MI LI TAR Y HISTOR Y. 505- 
 
 recusants who might desire to secure peace contrary to 
 the policy of the administration. It was definitely settled 
 that slavery would be abolished without compensation to 
 the owners of negroes, and whatever else might be done 
 under the war power was left to conjecture of no pleas- 
 ing kind. Whether there would be any public exchange 
 of prisoners, or how hostilities would be conducted, de- 
 pended wholly upon the preponderance of power. With 
 the political questions or war policy of the Washington 
 administration the Confederates had nothing to confront 
 except their armies. These questions had been in review 
 before both nations for three years and decision had been 
 made by Presidential proclamation, congressional legis- 
 lation, military orders, and even judicial decisions against, 
 the Confederate States. 
 
 There was left, however, the faint hope that the election, 
 of 1864 would show gains even over the vote of i86z 
 against the administration, and bring the people of the 
 United States to consideration of the terms of peace. 
 Speeches were therefore made by President Davis, Vice- 
 President Stephens, and Governor Letcher, of Virginia, 
 and various editorials were published in Southern news- 
 papers, to arouse the people to make the most resolute 
 resistance until these questions could be passed upon at 
 the ballot box by the people of the United States. An 
 amendment of the Constitution of the United States was. 
 proposed January 11, 1864, to abolish slavery in all the 
 States, which failed to pass the U. S. Senate, and became 
 one of the main issues in the ensuing presidential election. 
 A resolution declaring the constitutional objects of the 
 war to be simply the restoration of the Union on the 
 basis of the Constitution, and requesting President Lin- 
 coln to issue a proclamation inviting the revolted States 
 to repudiate their secession ordinance upon the pledge of 
 restoration to all their rights under the Constitution, 
 was merely ordered to be printed, and another resolution 
 in February, 1864, requesting the President to appoint 
 
606 CONFEDERA TE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Pierce, Fillmore and Ewing commissioners to meet Con- 
 federate commissioners before hostilities commenced, to 
 ascertain whether honorable peace may not be made, was 
 voted down, yeas 26, nays 96. These and other resolu- 
 tions offered in the U. S. Congress were forecasts of the 
 issues on which the battle for political supremacy, now 
 near at hand, was to be fought. 
 
 Preparations were meanwhile made during the winter 
 for battle along all the lines of the interior of the Confed- 
 eracy to which the Federal armies had penetrated, and 
 with equal vigor the Confederates prepared for either 
 offensive or defensive war, as they might have opportun- 
 ity. The Confederate enrollment contained a few above 
 400,000 men, of whom it is stated that about one half 
 were effective and in the field. The Federal force on 
 duty at various places is officially reported as over a 
 million men. This disparity of numbers though great, 
 was less important than the difference in the resources 
 of the two governments, and the only advantage which 
 can be placed to the account of the South was its position 
 as the defender of its soil. 
 
 The fighting opened for the year with surprising vic- 
 tories for the Southern armies. At Olustee, Florida, 
 General Finegan and General Colquitt signally defeated 
 General Seymour, and rescued a large part of that State. 
 General Sherman had captured Meridian, in Mississippi, 
 but was forced to beat a retreat to Vicksburg on account 
 of the destruction of his cavalry by Forrest. In April 
 Taylor attacked Banks at Mansfield, Louisiana, and drove 
 him with great loss back to New Orleans. Hoke captured 
 Plymouth, North Carolina, and the raid of Kilpatrick, 
 with the disreputable accompaniment of the Dahlgren 
 effort to bum Richmond and murder President Davis and 
 his cabinet, were both defeated. 
 
 But these affairs did not affect the general course which 
 military events were now taking. The two great armies 
 of the Union, one in Virginia, the other in the West, in 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 607 
 
 Georgia, and Tennessee, both under the direction of 
 General Grant, were the instruments by which the Con- 
 federacy was to be dissolved. These twin armies were 
 so disposed by the plan of General Grant as to act in con- 
 cert, in order that if both were victorious the Confederacy 
 would be overwhelmed, and if either was defeated the 
 other could render assistance. Defeat of both was not 
 contemplated, but even in that contingency Grant had 
 the pledge of his government to honor his further requisi- 
 tions without question. The official control of the gov- 
 ernment by the result of the pending presidential election 
 depended apparently on the success of these armies. 
 " It is going on well," said Mr. Lincoln some months 
 afterward, as the political campaign progressed, " a little 
 more luck in our battles will make it all right. ' ' The 
 forces of these great dependencies were well distributed. 
 General Butler with 30,000 men had charge of the line 
 along the James ; General Sigel marched into the famous 
 valley of Virginia, and General Meade with the main 
 command under the immediate eye of Grant, amounting 
 to about 125,000 men, occupied the north bank of the 
 Rapidan. The other great army, commanded by General 
 Sherman, extended from Dalton westward among the 
 hills of Georgia, with instructions to force General Johns- 
 ton, the Confederate commander, through Georgia, or to 
 destroy his command in battle. The collision in Virginia 
 between the armies of Lee and Grant began May 4th and 
 continued nearly every day through the bloody series of 
 engagements called "the battles of the Wilderness. " 
 The campaign of a month brought the Federal army to 
 the McClellan position of 1862, but with losses from all 
 sources which would have barred further progress had 
 not reinforcements been freely furnished according to the 
 pronaise of his government. The estimates are that 
 Grant's army had contained 192,160 men, of which he 
 had lost 60,000; Lee had 78,400 men and had lost nearly 
 20,000 in killed and wounded. In Georgia the two an tag- 
 
508 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 onists at first confronted near Dalton, but by a series 
 of flanking movements which he was able to make with 
 his superior force, General Sherman followed the retreat 
 of Johnston from the 4th of May until he reached Atlanta 
 the following July, timidly consuming two months in 
 traversing less than one hundred miles, the rate of speed 
 being not quite two miles per day and meanwhile suffer- 
 ing severe punishment in all battles fought during his 
 advance. 
 
 On reaching the vicinage of Richmond and Petersburg 
 the Federal commander, after making desperate efforts 
 in vain to break Lee's lines for three days in June, began 
 a plan of intrenchments from which to conduct the slow 
 siege of the Confederate capital, on a line of operations 
 which not only took all the summer, but exhausted the 
 succeeding winter. President Lincoln saw the situation. 
 His best general — the best at least, for the present stage 
 of the war, had " hammered " Lee for months, only ta 
 wear out the splendid army which had begun the spring 
 movement, in getting again on the ground from which 
 Lee and Jackson had driven McClellan two years before, 
 Butler had been bottled up on the James by Beauregard, 
 Sigel defeated in the valley by Breckinridge, and after 
 all, Grant's army had been compelled to intrench and 
 await reinforcements on the ground most unfavorable for 
 assault on the Confederate capital. Mr. Swinton, the 
 historian, says " so gloomy was the military outlook after 
 the action of the Chickahominy (second Cold Harbor, June 
 2), and to such a degree, by consequence, had the moral 
 spring of the public mind become relaxed, that there was at. 
 this time great danger of a collapse of the war. " And 
 besides all this, the Democratic National Union conven- 
 tion was about to assemble. The President looked over 
 the despairing field, and complying with the request of 
 his deeply impressed Congress appointed for the first time 
 since the war began a day of public prayer for the sup- 
 pression of the rebellion. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 THE DECISIVE YEAR— 1864. 
 
 POLITICAL BATTLE OF 1864 IN THE NORTH— PEACE 
 CURRENTS— SOUTHERN PEACE MOVEMENTS— WAR 
 OR PEACE DISCUSSED IN UNITED STATES 
 CONGRESS— THE SITUATION IN JULY— NIAGARA 
 CONFERENCE. 
 
 THE political battle of 1864 set in array at the North 
 on the side of the administration was vehemently 
 pronounced to be based on condemnation of seces- 
 sion, vindication of coercion, abolition of slavery and sub- 
 jugation of the seceding States. It was urged that the 
 defeat of Lincoln would be a Northern approval of dis- 
 union, a rebuke of the armies, and re-establishment of 
 the arrogant slave power. In the temper of the times 
 there was but a little chance of so directing Northern 
 popular sentiment as to change the administration of the 
 government in the midst of war. War was party neces- 
 sity and the source of its power. An armistice as sug- 
 gested by the opposition might be fatal to party suprem- 
 acy. It might afford occasion to arouse the supposed 
 latent Union sentiment in the Southern States. It 
 inight give time for sober reflection in the conditions of 
 1864 which were different from those of 186 1. It might 
 result in divisions among Southern leaders and Southern 
 States. Mr. Davis favored an armistice but if it had 
 been agreed on his Confederate presidency would have 
 been imperiled. Probably the Confederate government 
 would have dissolved. On the other hand, Mr. Lincoln 
 was even at the point of a fierce earnestness opposed to 
 any armistice— Grant's hammering must not cease, 
 
 509 
 
510 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Sherman must push on. The press must give daily 
 notice of the speedy subjugation of the rebellion. A 
 truce pending the canvass for the presidency might 
 result in peace, reunion, overthrow of the Confederacy, 
 abolition of slavery, but these gracious results would be 
 brought about by parties opposed to the administration. 
 
 An armistice in order to dissolve the Confederacy and 
 restore the Union without further bloodshed was the 
 policy of the Northern conservatives. No Southern 
 representative men have been suspected of any complicity 
 with these fraternal and patriotic designs further than 
 to suggest that fighting should cease and peace confer- 
 ences be held. Fidelity to the Confederacy distinguished 
 Confederate leaders. But this policy was openly and 
 honestly avowed by eminent Northern leaders who held 
 that it was not treasonable to the Union to suspend 
 coercion and test the sincerity of Southern declarations 
 in regard to peace. The openly stated position of North- 
 ern leaders who favored a temporary ^eace was that 
 secession must be abandoned or the war would be pressed 
 to the utmost subjugation. But with this outspoken notice 
 to the South these patriotic leaders avowed their belief 
 that the South would surrender to overtures of honorable 
 peace and therefore they proposed to make them. 
 
 But while this agitation of the armistice plan was 
 under discussion, Mr. Lincoln was at the Philadelphia 
 Fair, June 15, 1864, and speaking to the people he said, 
 " This war has taken three years. It was begun or 
 accepted upon the line of restoring the National author- 
 ity over the whole National domain, and for the Ameri- 
 can people, as far as my knowledge enables me to speak, 
 I say we are going through on this line if it takes three 
 years more." The armistice policy had been often 
 brought forward in Congress and by portions of the pub- 
 lic press, only to be invariably treated as if it were a 
 truculent submission to the South. Mr. Lozier asked 
 consent, May 30, 1864, to offer resolutions that the Pres- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 511 
 
 ident be required to adopt measures to suspend hostili- 
 ties for a limited time, and to provide for a general con- 
 vention through which the differences may be settled 
 and the Union restored, but objection was made and the 
 resolution was not proposed. Mr. Le Blond, of Ohio, two 
 weeks later offered an amendment to the enrollment bill 
 then pending in the U. S. Congress that compulsory en- 
 rollment be suspended till such time as the President 
 shall have made a request for an armistice and shall have 
 made such efforts as are consistent with honor to restore 
 harmony among the States by the appointment of com- 
 missioners empowered to negotiate for peace upon the 
 terms of a restoration of the Union under the Constitu- 
 tion and until such offer shall have been rejected by the 
 so-called Confederate government. This reasonable 
 and patriotic resolution received only thirteen votes. 
 Ninety-one votes were recorded against even a suspen- 
 sion of the draft preliminary to the offer of an armistice 
 and the appointment of commissioners. 
 
 There were undoubtedly very powerful peace currents, 
 genial as the gulf stream, setting in at this date from 
 many sources upon the great throbbing bosom of the 
 American people. They are all perceptible now by 
 every one who reads the signs of those times. Those 
 officials to whom the great interests of the South had 
 been committed spoke of peace with due caution, some- 
 times uttering defiance and high resolve to maintain the 
 Confederate cause at every cost, and yet it must be re- 
 membered that disunion for its own sake was never the 
 " cause of the South." A Confederate senator from 
 Georgia, one who was the right hand supporter of Mr. 
 Davis, said in public speech to his people at home that 
 slavery should be surrendered before constitutional rights 
 were abandoned. All the declarations of eternal fealty 
 to the Confederacy made in 1864 must be read and un- 
 derstood as expressions conditional upon the persistent 
 maintenance by the administration at Washington of the 
 
512 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 principles and policy it had adopted under the so-called 
 war power. Mr. Stephens has recorded in his work on 
 " The War Between the States " that he was at any time 
 ready to advocate the reunion of the States upon the 
 single but fundamental principle that the States were to 
 have supreme control of their domestic affairs. It was 
 under the influence of this genial current that the 
 Georgia resolutions of March, 1864, were passed which 
 gave warm color to the report that a Peace party move- 
 ment was not only contemplated but actually organized 
 in the South. These resolutions set forth very power- 
 fully the ultra State Rights theory of Federal govern- 
 ment and arraigned the Federal Constitution for its 
 "monstrous usurpations of power, and undisguised repu- 
 diation of the Constitution, ' ' but they also declare that 
 ^' while we regard the present war between these Confed- 
 erate States and the United States as a huge crime whose 
 Ijeginning and continuance are justly chargeable to the 
 government of our enemy, yet we do not hesitate to 
 affirm that if our own government and the people of 
 both governments would avoid all participation in the 
 guilt of its continuance, it becomes all of them on all 
 proper occasions and in all proper ways — the people 
 acting through their State organizations and popular 
 assemblies, and our government through its appropriate 
 departments — to use their earnest efforts to put an end 
 to this unnatural, unchristian and savage work of carnage 
 and havoc. And to this end we earnestly recommend 
 that our government immediately after signal successes 
 of our arms, and on other occasions, where none can im- 
 pute its action to alarm instead of a sincere desire for 
 peace, shall make to the government of our enemy an 
 official offer of peace on the basis of the great principle 
 declared by our common fathers in 1776, accompanied by 
 the distinct expression of willingness on our part to fol- 
 low that principle to its true logical consequences." 
 The resolutions concluded with the avowal that defensive 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 513 
 
 war must be sustained by all the resources of the State 
 and ' ' until the independence and nationality of the 
 Confederate States is established upon a permanent and 
 enduring basis." These Georgia resolutions were in 
 general accordance with a peace policy which had been 
 constantly urged by Soiithern statesmen. They were 
 designed to make an impression upon the Northern 
 mind during the early stages of the presidential campaign 
 which would affect the election so as to change the con- 
 trol of national afEairs from the radical to the conserva- 
 tive element. The worthy object was held, however, 
 throughout the South, to be doubtful of attainment. 
 " The peace talk," said an influential paper, " is designed 
 to help the Northern Democrats, but it is a great mis- 
 take. It helps Lincoln, as we shall see to our sorrow. " 
 About the same time resolutions of like import were 
 considered in the North Carolina legislature, declaring 
 that " formal negotiations for peace on the basis of separ- 
 ation from the United States, should be instituted, " and 
 further recommending that proposals from the Confed- 
 erate authorities be made to the Federal Congress looking 
 to the holding of a peace convention for the adjustment 
 of difficulties whose action shall be subject to ratification 
 by the people. Mr. Wright, of Georgia, introduced reso- 
 lutions in the Confederate Congress which seemed neces- 
 sary on account of a public utterance by President Lin- 
 coln that no proposition for peace had yet been made by 
 the Confederate government. The resolutions after 
 referring to the statement declared that such proposi- 
 tions were prevented from being made by the President 
 of the United States in that he refused to hear or to 
 receive two commissioners appointed to treat expressly 
 for the preservation of amicable relations between the 
 two governments. Nevertheless, that the Confederate 
 States may stand justified in the sight of the conservative 
 men of the North of all parties, the resolutions proposed 
 a meeting of representatives of all States to consider 
 
 I-3S 
 
514 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 whether an agreemeiit can be entertained to recogfnize 
 the Confederate States, and then the formation of a new 
 government of all the States founded on the equality 
 and sovereignty alike of all the States, but if this last 
 object cannot be effected then an agreement to be made 
 upon treaties, offensive, defensive and commercial be- 
 tween the two governments. Mr. Leach, of North Caro- 
 lina, in May of the same year, offered other resolutions 
 which recited that the administration at Washington had 
 by legislation subverted the original Union, and that all 
 the States should fall back upon the rights for which the 
 Revolution had been fought. Upon this view his resolu- 
 tions proposed that the delegates from each Southern 
 State acting in sovereign and independent character ap- 
 peal to the Confederate President to appoint commission- 
 ers to propose an armistice of ninety days, and report the 
 answer received from the Federal government. If the 
 armistice should be agreed to, the details of further ne- 
 gotiations were to be provided for through commissioners 
 appointed by the States. Objection was raised that the 
 resolutions provided for separate State action on a ques- 
 tion constitutionally committed to the Confederate gov- 
 ernment. The general views expressed in the resolutions 
 met with some favor but they were laid on the table by a 
 decided vote of 62 yeas to 22 nays. 
 
 The United States Congress was not unaffected by 
 these undercurrents of the peace movement. Prominent 
 Northern leaders were saying, " Let commissioners be 
 appointed without waiting for an armistice. Let nego- 
 tiations begin. " They were further urging that the ille- 
 gal proclamations of Mr. Lincoln should be declared null 
 and void. Mr. Long, of Ohio, boldly advocated a policy 
 of peace which brought on his head the censure of the 
 radical majority, and Harris, of Maryland, nearly shared 
 the same distinction. The magnificent Voorhees ex- 
 claimed with burning eloquence that the baleful hand of 
 political destructionists, who then unhappily possessed the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 515 
 
 high seats of national authority, did not want peace. In 
 a notable speech on the state of the Union in March, 
 1864, he charged that these destructionists " invoked the 
 storm which had rained hlood upon the land. They 
 courted the whirlwind. They danced with hellish glee 
 around the bubbling caldron of civil war. They wel- 
 comed with ferocious joy every hurtful mischief which 
 flickered in its lurid and infernal flame. ' ' No Confeder- 
 ate oratory exceeded the vehemence with which the 
 "War Power party" was assailed by members of Con- 
 gress who saw the peril of liberty amidst the fierce strife 
 between the sections. The press also ventured to assail 
 the ultraists in an occasional exercise of its guaranteed 
 freedom, notwithstanding frequent suppressions by mili- 
 tary orders. 
 
 In fact, the general situation through the first half of 
 1864 was exceedingly favorable to the institution of a 
 policy which it would seem, in the light now shining on 
 that eventful period, might have stopped the " carnage 
 and havoc ' ' and re-introduced all States without dishonor 
 of any into the enjoyment of " a more perfect union," 
 than that from which they sought separation. The cir- 
 cumstances grew more and more auspicious even amidst 
 the great battles between Lee and Grant until they cul- 
 minated in July. Taking a view of the situation on the 
 Fourth day of July, 1864, that day sacred to the patriot- 
 ism of the whole country, it is seen that it might have 
 been set apart for a conference between Grant, Sherman, 
 Farragut, and Sheridan on behalf of the Northern army 
 and navy, and Lee, Johnston, Buchanan and Forrest on 
 behalf of the South. At that time Grant had reached 
 the suburbs of Richmond but had paused to institute his 
 siege. Sherman had passed Kenesaw mountain, and was 
 on the northern side of the Chattahoochee. The block- 
 ade was practically eflEective along the entire Confederate 
 coast, and the Western as well as the Trans-Mississippi 
 States were debatable ground. Mr. Lincoln's proclama- 
 
516 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 tion for 500,000 troops was ready to go before the 
 country, and notwithstanding the discouragement on 
 account of the prolongation of war the North showed no 
 weakening in purpose to at least maintain the integrity 
 of the Union. Even the so-called " Copperhead " was 
 as resolute on that point as the most vicious radical. 
 The Southern side showed the army of Lee sustaining 
 every assault and so far able to maintain the defense of 
 Richmond against great odds as to permit the dispatching 
 of Early and Breckinridge to drive Hunter from Lynch- 
 burg and to march to the Potomac where the Fourth of 
 July found them ready to cross for the purpose of attack- 
 ing Washington. Johnston had preserved his army and 
 was crossing the Chattahoochee to defend Atlanta, at 
 which point a concentration of State troops was contem- 
 plated. Kirby Smith, Taylor, Stephen D. Lee and Forrest 
 were still in position to protect the West and even to ad- 
 vance northward if Sherman should be checked. The 
 Confederacy was not yet exhausted and popular faith in 
 success had not died out. The two great antagonists were 
 thus confronted in July, 1864, with the possibilities of 
 devastation, death and suffering such as only a civil 
 war can cause, all of which were unhappily realized by 
 the neglect of this opportunity to secure peace. 
 
 Even the political situation was in great degree favor- 
 able to an honest, patriotic effort at reconciliation. Only 
 two conventions had been held, one of these representing 
 the most irritating and vicious extremists of the North, 
 who could be content with nothing except the degrada- 
 tion of the South at large by military subjugation, includ- 
 ing the rape of its lands, the burglary of its homes, the 
 murder of its leaders and the exile of its noble people. 
 This mob which met on May 31st, put Fremont at their 
 head, and their action only intensified the critical favor- 
 ableness of the hour for patriotism to act. The other 
 convention which met in June at Baltimore, a Southern 
 city, had actually discarded the name of the party that 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 517 
 
 had inaurguated war and with at least a seeming desire 
 to abandon sectionalism had assumed the title of ' ' The 
 National Union Party," although the platform certainly 
 belied the name, and lacked the one plank for which 
 North and South were yearning. It lacked the plain 
 declaration that all the States could at once resume to- 
 ward each other and toward the government their former 
 co-equal relations, a distinct negativing of the policy of 
 'conquest and military reconstruction. On the contrary 
 it emphasized subjugation by arms, and denounced with 
 vigor any compromise with rebels or any offer to them 
 of terms of peace except such as may be based on uncon- 
 ditional surrender. It even assumed the responsibility 
 of endorsing all the war measures, notwithstanding the 
 courts had in some form expressed judicial condemnation 
 of them. Yet notwithstanding these flies in the pot of 
 ointment the way to peace was not entirely closed. Mr. 
 Lincoln on his first response to the nomination shrewdly 
 avoided committing himself to the platform and in his 
 formal letter merely said," the resolutions of the conven- 
 tion, called the platform, are heartily approved. ' ' Doubt- 
 less he meant a full approval without subjecting himself 
 to the iron-clad restraints of a document manifestly de- 
 signed to catch the votes of extremists without losing the 
 support of the " war democracy." 
 
 Nearly two important months followed before the 
 meeting of the third or Democratic convention, during 
 which time the whole question of peace went under 
 formal review. 
 
 The Southern aspect of the peace question at this 
 juncture may now be considered. On account of infor- 
 mation early in 1864 that there was a state of political 
 feeling favorable to the termination of the war, a special 
 commission was sent to Canada as a position where inter- 
 views might be held which could lead to an amicable 
 settlement. Clay, of Alabama; Holcombe, of Virginia; 
 and Thompson, of Mississippi, three among the most 
 
518 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 eminent men of the South, constituted the committee on 
 the part of the South, and selected Niagara Falls, on the 
 border, as the place where they might meet such North- 
 ern statesmen as would interest themselves in the cause 
 of peace. Horace Greeley at that time devoted his great 
 influence to the efEort to gain peace together with a 
 restored Union. His idea was that a frank interchange 
 of views would bring the two parties to a state of com- 
 plete reconciliation in which he certainly had at first the 
 sympathy of Mr. Lincoln. But at an interesting junc- 
 ture, propitious indeed for adjustment, President Lincoln 
 withdrew his recognition of the friendly movement, caus- 
 ing by this withdrawal of his favor an unfortunate and 
 deeply regretted failure. 
 
 The conference proposed to be held at Niagara Falls 
 was of much greater significance than any peace move- 
 ment of this important date. The action of the Confed- 
 eracy in stationing the three eminent statesmen in a 
 position where they could be easily reached betrayed a 
 desire for conference whose purpose could not be mis- 
 taken. Mr. Greeley was well advised that this overture 
 by Mr. Davis could be turned to advantage by meeting it 
 fully, whatever the result. With great carefulness he 
 protected himself against all charges of disloyalty to the 
 Union, while with enthusiasm equally great he pressed 
 Mr. Lincoln to sanction and foster the proposed inter- 
 view. If the South was for peace they must abandon 
 secession, if for independence they must expect subjuga- 
 tion. On this basis Mr. Greeley could not see any reason 
 why the administration might not develop the Southern 
 ultimatum. But the party managers became frightened. 
 The opposition was preparing for the Chicago convention 
 in August. After wavering a while the President called 
 off the interview and the budding peace withered at the 
 touch of political necessity. 
 
 The history of this Clifton House procedure for the 
 settlement of the war, as it was told by the testimony of the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 519 
 
 actors, warrants the strong expressions of regret at the 
 failure made by Mr. Greeley and the Southern commis- 
 sioners. No peace movement appears to have so much 
 embarrassed Mr. Lincoln's administration. Greeley had 
 called the special attention of the President to the pres- 
 ence of these Southern gentlemen who were in the confi- 
 dential employment of the Confederate government, and 
 could at any time be invested with the authority to act on 
 questions of peace. He declared that tmless Mr. Lincoln 
 met these commissioners "in the same spirit he would 
 be held personally responsible by his countrymen and by 
 posterity for every drop of blood that was thereafter shed 
 and every dollar that was thereafter spent." Thus 
 urged, the President requested Greeley to go quietly to 
 Niagara Falls and find out what he could ; a request which 
 the great peacemaker eagerly accepted. Mr. George 
 N. Sanders, a prominent politician of the Douglas school, 
 was found to be at the Clifton House, from whom it 
 appears the first communication was made July 12, 1864, 
 to Mr. Greeley that Hon. Clement C. Clay, James P. Hol- 
 combe and George N. Sanders were ready to go to 
 Washington if granted a safe passport. Mr. Greeley re- 
 plied July 17th to the note of Mr. Sanders by addressing 
 his letter to Clay, Jacob Thompson and Holcombe, and 
 stating that he was informed they were "duly accredited 
 from Richmond as the bearer of propositions looking to 
 the establishment of peace, ' ' and tendering safe conduct. 
 Immediately on receiving this communication Clay and 
 Holcombe responded that they were not "duly accred- 
 ited," as stated, but that they were authorized to declare 
 that if the circumstances disclosed in the correspondence 
 were communicated to Richmond, the credentials would 
 be given either to themselves or that "other gentlemen 
 clothed with full powers would be immediately sent to 
 Washington to terminate at the earliest possible moment 
 the calamities of the war. ' ' This important information 
 that the specific authority to propose terms of peace had 
 
520 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 not been conferred, but that full powers would be con- 
 ferred at Richmond, was telegraphed by Mr. Greeley to Mr. 
 Lincoln, with request for further instructions. The in- 
 structions were brought by Colonel Hay and were of such 
 a nature that all negotiations were abruptly ended. Mr. 
 Lincoln's letter on this grave matter in which the vast 
 interests of the people of the North and South were 
 greatly concerned, began with an inexcusable flippancy 
 like the heading of an advertisement of strayed cattle. 
 This official letter of the President, dated July i8th, from 
 the executive mansion, to be brought by Colonel Hay for 
 delivery through Mr. Greeley to gentlemen who would be 
 accredited by the belligerent Confederacy to propose 
 peace was addressed : "To whom it may concern. " The 
 body of the " instructions " following this promiscuous 
 superscription merely authorized safety passports to 
 accredited persons bringing the unconditional surrender 
 of the Confederate armies. The Confederate represent- 
 atives, in indignation at receiving a paper so different 
 from the safe conduct they expected, as accredited bearers 
 of propositions looking to the establishment of peace, 
 left on record, July 21st, their judgment concerning the 
 ' ' sudden and entire change in the views of the President 
 and of his rude withdrawal of a courteous overture for 
 negotiation at the moment it was likely to be accepted. 
 Mr. Greeley's disappointment was severe. He at least, 
 believed the moment had come when honest diplomacy 
 would restore the Union, and expressed his regrets 
 of " the sad termination of the steps taken for peace from 
 the change made by the President in his instructions 
 given him to convey commissioners to Washington for 
 negotiations unconditionally." Mr. Lincoln chose to 
 make no public statements, and the Confederate author- 
 ities had none to make except the fact that once more 
 their attempts to approach the Washington administration 
 had been thwarted. The issue the same day on which 
 he signed the " To whom it may concern " paper, of his 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 52L 
 
 proclamation calling for 500,000 naen for one year to be 
 drafted after September sth, if not furnished before, 
 sufficiently explained the position of the administration. 
 A condition was now created which made the theory of 
 " a Union as it was and a Constitution as it is," imprac- 
 ticable. The conditions existing in i860 could not be 
 restored by even the combined wisdom and power of all 
 parties in both sections. Human events in their course 
 create political relations wholly new. It was unfortunate 
 for the cause of peace that party fortunes prevented the 
 application of the truths of the times to the facts which 
 had appeared. Reverence for constitutional restrictions 
 on Federal power had fallen in the exigencies of war 
 among the thieves who left it half dead. It was yet but 
 half dead, and might have been restored to life, but it 
 was left on the waysid^ where it still lies awaiting the 
 coming of a patriotism which will displace the usurpations 
 of the " higher law " and enthrone constitutional law in 
 the hearts of the American people. Slavery was also as 
 much doomed in July, 1864, as it was at Appomattox in 
 1865. Neither peace and Union, nor peace and disunion, 
 could have saved the institution. This fact had become 
 so apparent to the Confederate leaders that they would 
 have abolished slavery in order to secure independence. 
 But the words which should have been bravely spoken 
 from housetops on both sides at the risk of imprisonment,, 
 banishment and death, were whispered only in closets. 
 Mr. Lincoln whispered union and Mr. Davis called for 
 peace. But the two magnates supreme in the realm of 
 influence stood before the public on only two terms : Mr. 
 Lincoln said " Submission; " Mr. Davis said " Independ- 
 ence." Probably neither meant all these two words- 
 implied. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 THE CRITICAL SITUATION. 
 
 HE-SURVEY, MILITARY AND POLITICAL— RADICAL CON- 
 VENTION IN MAY— REPUBLICAN CONVENTION IN 
 JUNE— SOUTHERN VIEW OF NORTHERN POLITICS 
 —FAILURE OF THE ARMISTICE — PEACE PROPOSI- 
 TIONS IGNORED — NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CON- 
 VENTION IN AUGUST— SOUTHERN DESIRE FOR 
 McCLELLAN'S ELECTION— THE CANVASS FOR PRES- 
 IDENCY— LINCOLN RE-ELECTED. 
 
 A RE- SURVEY of the same period already consid- 
 ered will be taken in this chapter on account of the 
 supremely important civil history made during the 
 critical summer months of 1864. These four central 
 months of May, June, July and August, were replete 
 with events both military and political, by which the 
 destiny of the Confederacy was determined. Grant 
 began in May that military policy which appeared to his 
 mind to be the sure winner in a long struggle. All 
 through May and June he "hammered" against Lee's 
 lines and through July and August laid siege against 
 Richmond with some desperate and unsuccessful assaults. 
 Through the first three months Sherman crept after 
 Johnston with a caution which evinced his esteem of that 
 Southern general's reputation, and in September entered 
 Atlanta, from which he drove the citizens and afterward 
 burned their homes. The Confederate war ship " Ala- 
 "bama " on June 19, 1864, fought the "Kearsarge," whose 
 concealed armor resisted the guns of the Confederate 
 vessel, and at the end of the daring duel the " Alabama " 
 went down, having made its name illustrious in naval 
 story. Early and Breckinridge entered Maryland, de- 
 
 522 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 523 
 
 Seated Wallace at Monocacy on July 9, 1864, and formed 
 line in sight of the national Capitol to the consternation 
 -of the administration. Admiral Farragut steamed into 
 Mobile Bay with his fleet the first week of August, cap- 
 tured the Confederate ship " Tennessee," drove the other 
 vessels up the river and reduced the forts but failed to 
 take the city. Meanwhile Forrest in June put Sturgis to 
 rout at Tishomingo Creek and Morgan re-entered Ken- 
 tucky, while Price again marched into Missouri. Alto- 
 gether the Confederacy was showing a wonderful amount 
 ■of energy in the employment of its daily lessening re- 
 sources. Mr. Lincoln felt and expressed in August his 
 -discouragement on account of the failure to secure any 
 decided victories, and especially that Richmond was so 
 successfully defended. He then turned for consolation 
 to further enrollment of the negro slaves, and in his 
 August interview with Judge Mills, of Wisconsin, he 
 cried out: "Abandon all the posts now garrisoned by 
 black men, take 200,000 men from our side and put them 
 in the battlefield or cornfield against us and we would be 
 compelled to abandon the war in three weeks ! ' ' General 
 Grant at this time built his expectations of success on 
 the approaching exhaustion of Confederate fighting men. 
 Writing from his headquarters to Washburne, August 16, 
 1864, he comforts the administration with these words: 
 " The rebels have now in their ranks their last man. 
 The little boys and old men are guarding prisoners, 
 guarding railroad bridges and forming a good part of 
 their garrisons for entrenched positions. A man lost by 
 them cannot be replaced. They have robbed alike the 
 cradle and the grave to get their present force. Besides 
 what they lose in frequent skirmishes and battles, they 
 are now losing from desertions and other causes at least 
 one regiment per day. With this drain upon them the 
 end is not far distant if we will only be true to our- 
 selves." The letter of the great Union general was 
 written to a great politician and was designed for political 
 
524 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 use, but it makes some singular military confessions. 
 With the immense resources of the Union to draw upon 
 even by the pending draft the excited President pinned 
 his own hope to the sleeve of uniformed colored troops, 
 two hundred thousand strong. With the same resources 
 at his unquestioned requisition and with great armies 
 East and West obedient to his sole command, the lieu- 
 tenant-general allows himself to be defeated for eight 
 months after discovering that the small force in his own 
 front was composed of the last men that could be armed, 
 a force whose loss could not be replaced, and daily dimin- 
 ishing by desertions and other causes at the rate of a reg- 
 iment per day. Supposing that Lee had 50,000 men in 
 small regiments of 500 men each, his army at this rate of 
 desertions and other causes would all be gone in one 
 hundred days, or reckoning as General Grant meant, 
 1,000 men as a regiment all would be gone in fifty days. 
 It is very plain that the statement was grossly erroneous. 
 All these extraordinary statements, however, serve to 
 show not only the extremity of the South at this period, 
 but also the masterful management by Lee of the heroic 
 armies under his command, and as well the fortitude of 
 a people who contributed for their defense the fruits of 
 the cradle and the withered leaves of the grave, as well 
 as " the flower of their chivalry." 
 
 The political campaign consentaneous with the military 
 movement of this period, fairly opened on the last of May 
 as heretofore mentioned, in a convention of the extreme 
 radical part of the Republican party, held in Cleveland, 
 Ohio, which in a brief platform declared in favor of the 
 most ultra war measures, even to the immediate confis- 
 cation of Southern lands and a division of them among 
 Federal soldiers. This, however, was not a new view, as 
 confiscation had often been urged in Congress before,, 
 and as far as possible had been put in practice under the 
 war power. Even General Sherman had written a 
 recommendation of this measure as the surest way of 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 525 
 
 ending the rebellion. -The convention merely repeated 
 this old and strong appeal to the mercenary spirit and 
 nominated very appropriately General John C. Fremont 
 as their candidate, who, however, disappointed them at 
 the beginning by dissenting from their confiscation 
 policy, and in finally abandoning the canvass. Very 
 marked opposition had been displayed to Mr. Lincoln's 
 re-election by many who had been his supporters. 
 Chase, as has been remarked, schemed for the succession. 
 Dissatisfaction existing in New York had led to a public 
 meeting in honor of Grant with an ulterior purpose of 
 projecting his name upon the attention of the Union, 
 which purpose met its defeat in Grant's open declaration 
 for Lincoln. In fact, there was no one who stood so 
 prominently forward as Lincoln, with whose candidacy 
 the party in power had won its first victory, and this be- 
 came evident even before the convention met. 
 
 On the 7th of June, 1864, the delegates to the Republi- 
 can convention assembled in Baltimore according to the 
 authorized call. The week immediately preceding had 
 been employed in highly exciting military demonstra- 
 tions, in the midst of which the delegates were assembling 
 to consider the nomination of their party for the Presi- 
 dency. Sherman was giving battle at New Hope church 
 in Georgia and Grant was making his grand general 
 assault on Lee's lines at Cold Harbor. Both generals 
 received their punishment at the hands of the Confeder- 
 ate armies. Sherman recoiled from Johnston and once 
 more glided around the flank of an army whose front he 
 could not break. Grant made storming assaults until 
 12,737 of his brave men were put out of line, and the 
 remainder stubbornly but wisely refused to charge again. 
 *' Another charge being ordered," says Swinton, " no man 
 stirred, and the immobile lines pronounced a verdict 
 silent yet emphatic against slaughter." To this date 
 General Grant's losses for the campaign as stated footed 
 up sixty thousand men. 
 
526 CONFEDERA TE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Under these conditions tlie convention met, and dis- 
 carding its old name of Republican, called itself 
 " Union; " thus for the first time confessing to a yearning 
 to be considered "National." The "Union National 
 Convention;" — with this superscription the delegates 
 from all parties enrolled their names, among whom were 
 many of the most distinguished men of the nation. 
 Several war governors were prominent among other 
 eminent leaders, such as Cameron, Thaddeus Stevens, 
 Dickinson, Grow, Dennison and Preston King. Dele- 
 gates from the manipulated Southern States were after 
 parley allowed to vote, except those from Virginia and. 
 Florida. The platform was composed of trenchant and 
 defiant declarations against any terms of peace with 
 the South except such as would be based upon an uncondi- 
 tional surrender, and it demanded also a vigorous prose- 
 cution of the war. The complete extirpation of slavery 
 was of course to be effected, and the emancipation proc- 
 lamation was adopted as the fixed policy of the party. 
 Mr. Lincoln's measures were endorsed and the Monroe 
 doctrine was thrown in as a hint to Maximilian in Mex- 
 ico. The platform was so satisfactory to the extremists- 
 that it was adopted by acclamation and upon it Mr. Lin- 
 coln was nominated without dissent. The choice of a 
 candidate for the vice-presidency resulted in the rejec- 
 tion of Daniel S. Dickinson, of New York, through the 
 politicians of his own State, and the nomination of An- 
 drew Johnson, of Tennessee. This nomination from a 
 Southern State was urged on the ground that it would 
 nationalize the Republican party, which in itself was a 
 confession that the claim to the recently adopted name 
 needed at least this shadowy support. 
 
 The platform and the nomination of Mr. Lincoln were 
 expected by the South and the announcement of the 
 event produced no special comment in Richmond. The 
 Confederate Congress continued its legislation on the 
 currency and the means of obtaining supplies. A bill 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 52T 
 
 was passed allowing further time to persons within the 
 enemy's lines to fund their treasury notes, which the 
 President failed to approve. A new tax act was passed 
 levying an additional one-tenth tax required by former 
 acts to be paid in kind and confirming the impressment 
 laws. Supplies necessary for the support of the producer 
 and his family, and to carry on his ordinary business were 
 exempted. The secretary of war was given the discre- 
 tion to collect or not to collect the additional one-tenth in 
 particular localities, and also the privilege of selling the 
 products received under the act, to State officers for the 
 use of the families of soldiers. Impressment of 
 supplies was authorized to be made only by officers and 
 agents appointed for the purpose. The Confederate 
 Congress then adjourned, June 15 th, to meet again in the 
 following November. 
 
 The period so auspicious for truce and peace passed on 
 into the meeting of the National Democratic party in 
 Chicago, August 31, 1864, to formulate a platform and 
 put out opposition candidates pledged to invite the 
 Southern States to resume their former relations as far 
 as the new conditions created by the war would permit. 
 The time for the assembling of this convention had been 
 first fixed for the Fourth of July but was wisely postponed 
 in view of the pending efforts to secure peace. It now 
 assembled after these efforts had failed and while new 
 and gigantic measures were in progress to carry on the 
 war. The general, central principle which this assembly 
 seems to have desired to put in issue at the ballot box, 
 was that the Southern States should have the option of 
 reconstruction and resumption of their places in the 
 Union on the old constitutional basis, or on refusing that 
 they should be subjugated by war. The other side was 
 already before the country upon the proposition that the 
 South must first unconditionally surrender, must be 
 subjugated and then reconstructed. Both parties 
 
S28 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 were for war to preserve the Union. The issue was on 
 the mode of restoration. 
 
 The convention was called to order by August Bel- 
 mont, chairman of the National Democratic convention. 
 Governor Bigler, of Pennsylvania, was made temporary 
 chairman, and Governor Seymour, of New York, was 
 elected permanent president. Among the hundreds of dis- 
 tinguished statesmen who came as delegates were Tilden, 
 Pendleton, Hunt, Guthrie, Stockton, S. S. Cox, Voorhees, 
 Saulsbury, Vallandigham and Allen. The speeches of 
 Governor Bigler and Governor Seymour before the great 
 body surveyed the rise and progress of alienation be- 
 tween the sections, the efforts to keep the peace, the 
 congressional battle for constitutional liberties, and the 
 overthrow of the Constitution in the needless exercise of 
 the war power by the administration. The platform 
 began with a patriotic resolution of unswerving fidelity 
 to the Union, which was followed by another containing 
 the expression "that after four years of failure to restore 
 the Union by the experiment of war," during which 
 public liberty and private right had been trodden down 
 and the Constitution disregarded in every part, immediate 
 efforts should be made for a cessation of hostilities with 
 a view to a convention of States or other means to 
 restore peace on the basis of the Federal Union of the 
 States. This resolution was drawn with care, but it 
 contained one word on which the party was assailed with 
 a success which proves how easily popular prejudices 
 may be played upon. That word was "failure." "Four 
 years of failure to restore the Union by war' ' was a fact 
 upon which it was proposed to try a conference of all 
 the States as a means to restore the Union. But in the 
 campaign which followed the party had to meet the 
 charge that they had dishonored the brave armies of the 
 Union by pronouncing all their valor and their blood "a 
 failure." Certainly this was not in the letter or the 
 spirit of the platform, and was disavowed by every 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY .HISTORY, 529 
 
 Speaker on that side, nevertheless it went into the popular 
 mind that the opposition had denounced the soldiery of 
 the Union. The platform declared for an unimpaired 
 Union and indicted the administration on all the grounds 
 of usurpation which had become familiar by frequent use. 
 The arraignment was startlingly terrible, and being true, 
 justified secession before every popular tribunal in the 
 world. These fearful counts in the accusation of this con- 
 vention of eminent men against the administration were as 
 follows: Usurpation of extraordinary and dangerous 
 powers not granted by the Constitution ; the subversion 
 of the civil by military law in the faithful States ; arbitrary 
 military arrest, imprisonment, trial and sentence of 
 American citizens in States where the civil law exists in 
 full force ; suppression of freedom of speech and of the 
 press ; denial of the right of asylum ; open and avowed 
 disregard of State rights; emplojTnent of unusual test 
 oaths; interference with and denial of the right of the 
 people to bear arms in their defense ; direct interference 
 of the military in elections and disregard of the Constitu- 
 tion in every part. This burning impeachment exceeded 
 all the causes set forth by the Colonies in the Declaration, 
 of Independence to justify their rebellion against King 
 George. They were deliberately published by a vast 
 convention composed of men who were among the ablest 
 and most conservative in the Union, and they were 
 applauded in every State of the Union. The evidence to 
 sustain every charge was at the command of these dis- 
 tinguished Northern men, all of whom were devotees of 
 the Union and many of them actual soldiers in the army. 
 The reading of the lurid lines so long after the restora- 
 tion of the Union produces a shudder because it is thus 
 made to appear that on the holiest of pleas the most 
 tyrannical acts can be perpetrated in a republic as well 
 as in a monarchy. The Confederate leaders said in i860: 
 " We fear that these things will be done." The most 
 
 1-34 
 
530 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 patriotic of Northern men said in 1864: " They have 
 been done. ' ' 
 
 The convention nominated McClellan, a great soldier 
 of unquestioned devotion to the Northern side of the se- 
 cession question. He did not suit the Maryland delega- 
 tion on account of certain military orders, but his unmis- 
 takable purpose to fight the South unless her States came 
 back into the Union pleased the convention, and those 
 Confederate leaders whose ultimatum was independence 
 took no comfort from his nomination. If they had 
 inclined to indulge a hope of success through McClellan 
 one line in his letter of acceptance would have banished 
 the illusion : — ' ' The Union must be preserved at all 
 hazards. ' ' But there was one other remark in the same 
 letter which drew the line sharply between McClellan 
 and the party supporting Lincoln. That remark, full of 
 wisdom, is in this language: " When any one State is 
 willing to return to the Union it should be received at 
 once with a full guarantee of all its constitutional 
 rights. ' ' The utterance was wise, but it was dangerous 
 to the Confederacy, for it avowed a policy which at that 
 juncture might have had responses from some Confeder- 
 ate States or parts of States. It was patriotic and 
 humane ; but it beat the brave man who uttered it. It 
 was not in line with the proposed radical reconstruction 
 of the entire theory of constitutional government. 
 
 No one who candidly surveys the political field of the 
 Confederate war period will fail to see that the Northern 
 Democrats were compelled by their political interests and 
 by their Union record to be the most incorrigible, 
 unyielding opponents of permanent secession. The 
 party record from the days of Jackson through the period 
 of the Texas annexation, when their freesoil opponents 
 were threatening to cause a New England secession, and 
 through the days of the compromise of 1850, when the 
 party alignment was on concession and conciliation, as 
 against sectional obstinacy; and through the battles of 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 531 
 
 their chieftains against the sectional party of 1856, as 
 they had fought the abolitionists because of their disun- 
 ionism; and finally their stand for true Nationalism in 
 i860; — all this record made it certain that the Democracy 
 of the North would not agree to separation — would 
 agree to anything that was honorable, but would not con- 
 sent to separation. It can be recalled in this connection 
 that no Democratic editor nor statesman advised the gov- 
 ernment to "let the wayward sisters go in peace." Not 
 in a single instance did one of their statesmen urge oppo- 
 sition to the measures of the radicals except on the main 
 ground that they were rendering the restoration of the 
 Union more and more difficult. The most vigorous 
 appeals made during any Congress on behalf of legisla- 
 tion that would quickly bring back the seceded States 
 came from Democratic members. Not even Mr. 
 Vallandigham, who was banished South for denouncing 
 the policy of the administration in public speech, ever 
 uttered a word which signified his willingness to any 
 terms which included the success of secession. On 
 being thrust by a military Union guard against and 
 across the military secession line, he surrendered himself 
 as a prisoner, announcing to his captors unmistakably 
 his determination to stand by the Union. General 
 McClellan also, as the nominee of the Democratic party in 
 1864, just as clearly and forcibly declared that the war 
 should proceed even to subjugation, unless the Southern 
 States consented to cease hostilities and return to the 
 Union under the protection of well-understood constitu- 
 tional provisions. Some Southern leaders deceived them- 
 selves with the hope of such sympathy from the Demo- 
 cratic statesmen who withstood the encroachments of the 
 executive and Congress upon the plea of "military 
 necessity, ' ' as would help the South finally to a recogni- 
 tion of its independence; but the most careful search 
 does not betray the Northern Democracy in any counsel or 
 co-operation with the South at any time, in any scheme 
 
532 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 to close the war by consenting to secession. The position 
 of the Democrats was, in fact, the precise ground taken by- 
 Mr. Lincoln at the beginning of his administration and 
 from which he receded under radical pressure. That 
 position was ' ' the Union without slavery, or with slavery 
 —but the Union must not be dissolved. ' ' The leading 
 proposition which they brought forward at various times 
 during four. years was that this single question be sub- 
 mitted in any feasible way to the Southern people — Are 
 you resolved on attempting only one end, to establish an 
 independent government? If the answer should be in 
 the negative, the government would then hear the griev- 
 ances which had caused secession, would redress every 
 wrong, and disarm the spirit of disunion. If, on the 
 contrary, a separate nation was proposed without regard 
 to any adjustment of grievances. Democracy would 
 oppose against it all the entire resources of the United 
 States. 
 
 Confederate leaders were greatly influenced from the 
 beginning of the trouble, by proper consideration for the 
 position of the large majority at the North who like them- 
 selves opposed the sectional policy of the party which 
 bore Mr. Lincoln into the presidency. It was the ear- 
 nest desire of this vast Northern conservative element, as 
 was evinced by hundreds of popular demonstrations, to 
 have all hostilities averted with the hope that by lapse of 
 time and mutual forbearance secession could be arrested 
 and the Union preserved. There was undoubtedly very gen- 
 eral sympathy at the South with this view of the situation, 
 notwithstanding the fears of the radical aims of the new 
 party. The same consideration for these Northern pa- 
 triots caused the Confederate authorities to announce that 
 their policy was defensive. The opposition to invasion 
 of Maryland or attack on Washington immediately fol- 
 lowing the great Confederate victory at Bull Run, was 
 based partly on this policy. Hesitation to cross the 
 Potomac or the Ohio is attributed to the same desire not 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 633 
 
 to arouse the war spirit of the North. Mr. Stephens, the 
 Vice-President, was decided in his views that the Con- 
 federacy should ally itself with the anti- Republicans and 
 demonstrate a willingness to even reform the Union 
 upon the basis of the Constitutional recognition of the 
 sovereignty of States in matters purely domestic. The 
 rapid development of the coercion and subjugation poli- 
 cies to which Mr. Lincoln yielded dissipated the early 
 hope of reconciliation, and yet the overtures for adjust- 
 ment were suggested from year to year at every favorable 
 turn in the current of hostile encounter. The Confeder- 
 ate States had looked with eager concern upon the first 
 political skirmishing of 1863 and 1864 preliminary to 
 the great battle for the presidency of the United States. 
 Settlement with a new administration was now believed 
 to be feasible — with the existing administration im- 
 possible. 
 
 Within a week after the adjournment of the Chicago 
 convention there were sufficient successes of the Federal 
 forces in various places to be utilized for popular demon- 
 strations which instantly and powerfully aided the can- 
 vass for Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Seward said, " Sherman and 
 Farragut have knocked the planks out of the Chicago 
 platform. ' ' President Lincoln also saw that it was ad- 
 vantageous on many accounts to issue a Thanksgiving 
 proclamation. National salutes from military head- 
 quarters and navy yards were fired with a fervor which 
 stirred the orators of the hustings. Reverses in the 
 field, said Mr. Lincoln, will make our case doubtful, but 
 with victory the election will take care of itself. 
 
 The political campaign grew to its highest heat very 
 rapidly in September. During that month Confederate 
 leaders were desirous to impress the Northern mind with 
 the belief that McClellan's election would bring about a 
 cessation of hostilities, and lead to some bloodless settle- 
 ment of the disputes between the sections. That view 
 was also urged by Northern speakers and editors who 
 
534 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 supported McClellan upon their belief that the Southern 
 States would willingly return to the Union on the 
 defeat of the sectional party. Resolutions debated in 
 State legislatures and public meetings encouraged that 
 hopeful aspect of the question, particularly certain reso- 
 lutions in Alabama, which declared in reference to the 
 overtures of the Chicago convention that " if the aforesaid 
 party is successful we are willing and ready to open 
 negotiations for peace on the basis indicated in the plat- 
 form adopted by said convention — our sister States of this 
 Confederacy being willing thereto." In the Georgia 
 legislature a series of resolutions offered by Linton 
 Stephens defined very clearly the position of the South, 
 and said, " We hail with gratification the just and sound 
 sentiment coming from a large and growing party in the 
 North that all associations of these American States must 
 be voluntary and not forcible, and we give a hearty re- 
 sponse to their proposition to suspend the conflict of arms 
 and hold a convention of States to inaugiirate a plan of 
 permanent peace. " In North Carolina a disposition to 
 bring about peace through the encouragement of the 
 conservatives of the North became apparent as the Presi- 
 dential canvass proceeded. Mr. Boyce, in an open letter, 
 urged that ' ' the only political organization which pro- 
 poses to intervene between us and the war party North 
 is the party which adopted the Chicago platform. Now 
 should we pursue a policy to build up that party or not? 
 I think most decidedly we should. My great purpose is 
 to break down the wall of fire which separates us from 
 the influences of peace in the North. I have great faith 
 that if Lincoln and his policy were once repudiated 
 and negotiations for peace entered upon, that very mo- 
 ment we would approach nearer to an auspicious result. ' ' 
 Vice-President Stephens zealously supported the policy 
 that some decided and prominent action should be taken 
 by the Confederate government toward meeting the 
 overtures of the Chicago resolutions. His reasons were 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 535 
 
 that the conservatives of the North still outnumbered the 
 radicals notwithstanding the prejudices created since the 
 war commenced, and that it was expedient to let them 
 know the reasonable terms on which the South was will- 
 ing to stop the further shedding of fraternal blood. The 
 only objection to these views was made that Southern 
 overtures of any decided character would certainly be 
 construed in the South as evidence that the Confederate 
 government was despairing of success, which would dis- 
 courage the armies, while they would also increase the 
 growing confidence at the North that the rebellion was 
 nearing its end. They would encourage the Northern 
 war party. Therefore nothing was done of an official 
 nature by the Confederate government. Perhaps noth- 
 ing could have been attempted. President Davis and 
 other Confederate leaders had already openly signified 
 their preference for the success of McClellan on the 
 ground that peace on proper terms could be secured if a 
 change of administration at Washington should take 
 place. This was as far, they thought, as prudence would 
 permit them to go. Herschell V. Johnson, who had been 
 the candidate for Vice-President of the United States 
 with Stephen A. Douglas for President, entered with 
 sympathetic earnestness into the policy of co-operation 
 with the Chicago convention, but declared his conviction 
 that any movement proceeding from the South "would 
 be regarded as our confession of overthrow, and the pre- 
 monitory symptoms of our readiness to sue for mercy on 
 the bended knees of unconditional surrender. We have 
 avowed our desire for peace and our readiness for nego- 
 tiations from the very beginning of the war, in every 
 form in which organized communities can give expression 
 to their will. We have avowed it in executive messages, 
 in legislative resolves and congressional manifestations. 
 What more can we do in our situation? * * * In view of 
 the avowed object of the war on the part of the Northern 
 Government it is very certain that there can be no peace 
 
538 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 upon any honorable terms so long as its present rulers 
 are in power. * * * Subjugation is no worse than the sub- 
 mission offered to us as the only condition of peace. It 
 would at least save us our honor. ' ' Alluding to the pos- 
 sibility of the election of McClellan he said that " it will 
 bring the two contending parties together face to face in 
 the arena of reason and consultation. Then and there 
 can be discussed the history of all our difficulties, the 
 principles involved in the bloody issue, and the respec- 
 tive interests of both governments. Such is my convic- 
 tion of the omnipotence of truth and right that I feel an 
 abiding confidence that an honorable peace would ulti- 
 mately spring from such deliberations. * *. * I would not 
 be understood as standing on any point of etiquette as 
 to who should take the initiative. All I mean to say is that 
 in view of the avowed policy of the United States govern- '• 
 ment any advance on our part is already rejected before 
 made and that we cannot make any upon the conditions 
 announced by its President. I would not hesitate to take 
 the initiative if there was the least hope of a favorable 
 response or an honorable result. Such I believe to be the 
 temper of our people. Such I am satisfied is the senti- 
 ment of the President of the Confederate States. He 
 has avowed it on every occasion w^j^, rehired him to 
 allude to the subject." -^ '-" """*■" 
 
 It must be kept clearly in mind that Mr. Stephens and 
 others who associated with him in urging the Confederate 
 administration to initiate during this canvass a movement 
 to assemble an independent Congress or convention of 
 all the several States immediately after the election of 
 McClellan, entertained no design of abandoning the Con- 
 federacy. On the contrary they urged with emphasis 
 that the success of the peace party at the North would 
 secure the independence of the South or a reorganization 
 of the Union, which would "secure peace on this conti- 
 nent for ages to come. ' "In every view I can take of 
 the subject," said Mr. Stephens, "I regard the success 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 537 
 
 of the State Rights party at the North of the utmost im- 
 portance to us. With these views you readily perceive how 
 I regarded the action of the Chicago convention as a 'ray 
 of light, ' the first ray of real light I had seen from the 
 North since the war began. * * * The issue of this war, 
 in my judgment, was subjugation of independence. I so 
 understood it when the State of Georgia seceded, and it 
 was with a full consciousness of this fact with all its 
 responsibilities, sacrifices and perils, that I pledged my- 
 self then and there to stand by her and her fortunes 
 whatever they might be in the course she had adopted. ' ' 
 But the South was as unable to relax the political grasp 
 of the administration as it now was to resist the great mili- 
 tary resources which were pressing it toward inevitable 
 defeat. The elections went on with the usual incidents 
 of a presidential campaign, but also with the additional 
 circumstance that the military began now to be made 
 useful in their management of elections to high civil 
 office. The newly constructed governments of Tennes- 
 see and Kentucky found that they had been formed for 
 special political purposes and the Federal military were 
 on duty to see that the ballots were cast to suit. The 
 army vote itself was given almost unanimously for Lin- 
 coln, and while in New Hampshire, Connecticut, New 
 York, Deleware, Oregon, New Jersey, Maryland and 
 Pennsylvania the vote was close it yet appeared in the 
 final count that Lincoln had carried all Northern States 
 except New Jersey, together with the votes of Missouri 
 and West Virginia, which were plundered for the occa- 
 sion. The peace party thus went down in overwhelming 
 disaster. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE LAST STAGES OF THE STRUGGLE. 
 
 CONFEDERATE CONGRESS, NOVEMBER, 1864— MESSAGE 
 —QUESTION OP ENROLLING NEGROES IN SOUTH- 
 ERN SERVICE— MEASURES OF THE CONGRESS- 
 NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE PROPOSED BY CON- 
 GRESS. 
 
 IN this state of affairs the Confederate Congress met in 
 Richmond November 7, 1864, for its last session. The 
 message of President Davis treated especially on the 
 general state of the war, the emplo3mient of negroes in 
 the army and negotiations for peace. The message said 
 on the negro question, that the employment of slaves with 
 the army as teamsters or cooks or in the way of work on 
 fortifications, or in the government workshops, or in hos- 
 pitals or other similar duties was authorized by the act of 
 February 1 7th last, and that provision was made for their 
 impressment to a number not exceeding twenty thousand 
 if it should be found impracticable to obtain them by con- 
 tract with the owners. The law contemplated the hiring 
 only of the labor of these slaves and imposed on the gov- 
 ernment the liability to pay for the value of such as might 
 be lost to the owners from casualties resulting from their 
 employment in the service. This act had produced less 
 results than was anticipated, and further provision was 
 required to render it efficacious. " But my present pur- 
 pose," said the President, " is to invite your consideration 
 to a radical modification in the theory of the law. ' ' The 
 modification referred to was explained to consist in the 
 view that the slave bore the relation of a person to the 
 State, while under the Confederate as well as the United 
 
 538 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 539 
 
 States law he was viewed also as property subject to im- 
 pressment. On account of this relation and because many 
 questions arising under the existing law which authorized 
 contracts and impressments for short terms the President 
 suggested that the government acquire by purchase the 
 entire property in the labor of the slave. "Whenever 
 the entire property," says the message, " in the service 
 of a slave is thus acquired by the government, the ques- 
 tion is presented. By what tenure should he be held? 
 Should he be retained in servitude or should his emanci- 
 pation be held out to him as a reward for faithful service, 
 or should it be granted at once on the promise of such 
 service?" The policy of engaging to liberate the negro 
 on his discharge after service faithfully rendered seemed 
 to the President preferable to that of granting immediate 
 manumission or to that of retaining him in servitude. 
 An enlargement of negro enrollment on this plan to forty 
 thousand in the number of negroes to be used for speci- 
 fied purposes and additions to the duties already per- 
 formed by them of service as pioneers and engineer 
 laborers was regarded by President Davis as desirable. 
 The President carefully distinguished between employing 
 negroes in defense of the homes where they were reared 
 and the inciting the same negroes to insurrection and mur- 
 der. He regarded it as justifiable if it became necessary to 
 organize the negroes to repel the invasion of the country 
 in which they lived, and that their freedom would be 
 justly won by such emplojmient of their services. On the 
 other hand the incitement of negroes to insurrection was 
 iniquitous and unworthy of a civilized people. " Such is 
 the judgment of all writers on public law as well as that 
 insisted on by our enemies in all wars prior to that now 
 waged against us. By none have the practices of which 
 they are now guilty been denounced with greater severity 
 than by themselves in the two wars with Great Britain in 
 the last and in the present century ; and in the Declara- 
 tion of Independence of 1 776 when enumeration was made 
 
540 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 of the wrongs which justified the revolt from Great 
 Britain, the climax of atrocity was deemed to be reached 
 only when the English monarch was denounced as hav- 
 ing incited domestic insurrection against us. " President 
 Davis did not favor any general arming of the slaves for 
 the duty of soldiers. The white man of the South who 
 was accustomed to bear arms should be in the army and 
 the negro accustomed to labor should be employed in 
 that species of service. "But," said he, "should the 
 alternative ever be presented of subjugation or the em- 
 ployment of the slave as a soldier there seems no reason 
 to doubt what should then be our decision. " 
 
 Mr. Davis made a further remark in this message of 
 November, 1864 which exhibits the trend of his own 
 thoughts and the views of others like himself who were 
 then contemplating the possibility that slavery would 
 finally be discontinued. Referring to the freedom that 
 could thus be acquired through military service by at least 
 forty thousand able-bodied young negro men, he said : 
 
 ' ' The social and political question which is exclusively 
 under the control of the several States has a far wider and 
 more enduring importance than that of pecuniary inter- 
 ests. In its manifold phase it embraces the stability of 
 our republican institutions, resting on the actual political 
 equality of all citizens, and includes the fulfillment of the 
 task which has been so happily begun, that of Christian- 
 izing and improving the condition of the Africans who 
 have »y the will of Providenc^been placed in our charge. 
 Comparing the results of our own experience with 
 those of the experience of others who have borne similar 
 • relations to the African race, the people of the several 
 States of the Confederacy have abundant reason to be 
 satisfied with the past and use the greatest circumspection 
 in determining their course. " 
 
 Congress proceeded to legislate so as to remove the evils 
 of exemptions and details ; also to authorize and regulate 
 sequestration and to provide for raising revenue by direct 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 5« 
 
 taxation. The existing- tax laws on incomes and salaries 
 were continued in force. Strong independence resolutions 
 were unanimously passed, and a bill, apparently unneces- 
 sary, defined and provided for the punishment of conspir- 
 acy against the Confederate States. Nothing definite was 
 done in making effective the employment of negroes. 
 
 The subject of negotiations for peace engrossed the 
 attention of Congress, to a large degree, excluding other 
 discussions. The President said in his message that "the 
 disposition of this government for a peaceful solution of 
 the issues which the enemy has referred to the arbitra- 
 tion of arms has been too often manifested and is too 
 well known to need new assurances. But while it is true 
 that individuals and parties in the United States have 
 indicated a desire to substitute reason for force and by 
 negotiation to stop the further sacrifice of human life and 
 to arrest the calamities which now afflict both countries, 
 the authorities who control the government of our enemies 
 have too often and too clearly expressed their resolution 
 to make no peace except on terms of our unconditional 
 submission and degradation, to leave us any hope of the 
 cessation of hostilities until the delusion of their ability 
 to conquer us is dispelled. * * * Peace is manifestly 
 impossible unless desired by both parties to this war, and 
 the disposition for it among our enemies will be best and 
 most certainly evoked by the demonstration on our part 
 of ability and unshaken purpose to defend our rights and 
 to hold no earthly price too dear for their purchase. 
 Whenever there shall be on the part of our enemies a 
 desire for peace there will be no difficulty in finding means 
 by which negotiations can be opened, but it is obvious 
 that no agency can be called into action until this desire 
 shall be mutual. When that contingency shall happen, 
 the government to which is confided the treaty making 
 power can be at no loss for means adapted for accomplish- 
 ing so desirable an end. In the hope that the day will 
 soon be reached when under Divine favor these States 
 
542 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 may be allowed to enter on their former peaceful pursuits 
 and to develop the abundant natural resources with which 
 they are blessed, let us then resolutely continue to devote 
 our united and unimpaired energies to the defense of our 
 homes, our lives and our liberties. This is the true path 
 to peace. Let us tread it with confidence in the assured 
 result." 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE LAST GREAT PEACE EFFORTS. 
 
 MISSION OF MR. BLAIR— DAVIS AND LINCOLN EX- 
 CHANGE LETTERS THROUGH BLAIR— FAILURE OP 
 BLAIR DISCUSSED — THE HAMPTON ROADS CON- 
 FERENCE. 
 
 AMONG all the efforts to bring the leaders of the two 
 governments together so as to have a consultation, 
 none excited more hope than the informal under- 
 taking by the venerable Francis P. Blair, of Maryland. 
 During the latter part of December, 1864, he proposed, 
 in confidential conversations with his friends to go to Rich- 
 mond and see Mr. Davis, whom he had long known, and 
 there initiate a movement by which the armies of Grant 
 and Lee would cease fighting each other and march togeth- 
 er against the French emperor of Mexico. On the 28th of 
 December this venerable and patriotic enthusiast obtained 
 from President Lincoln a brief pass to " go South and 
 return." Two days later President Davis received his. 
 request to be permitted to visit Richmond, which was at 
 once granted, but for some unexplained reason the letter 
 of the Confederate President was delayed in "Washington, 
 though at last delivered after having been opened. 
 Failing after two efforts to see President Lincoln before 
 leaving for the South Mr. Blair proceeded to Richmond, 
 and held a confidential interview with President Davis- 
 on the 12th of January, 1865. The Confederate President- 
 received his distinguished visitor with cordiality as an 
 old acquaintance and also with the consideration due the 
 great mission on which he had volunteered. Mr. Blair 
 had come only as a private gentleman, with neither- 
 
 543 
 
544 CONFEDERA TE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 credentials nor instructions, merely proposing to present 
 a plan of his own, the chief feature of which was to make 
 a diversion which would result in peace and reunion by- 
 turning the two armies against the Emperor Maximilian 
 in assertion of the Monroe doctrine which was popular 
 South and North. In addition to the unfolding of this 
 plan of peace he replied to a question of Mr. Davis by 
 stating that he had no assurance that President Lincoln 
 would receive commissioners from the Southern States, 
 but offered his opinion that he would do so at this junc- 
 ture. The Confidential interview was protracted until a 
 thorough comprehension of the mission was obtained by 
 President Davis, and it was closed by his writing the fol- 
 lowing significant letter at once, which he submitted to 
 Mr. Blair and signed. It will be read with interest as 
 manifesting the mind of the Confederate President at that 
 time, as showing his disposition to make peace, and as 
 exhibiting his carefulness in the use of words so as to 
 avoid giving offense. One phrase only seemed to imply 
 independence as his ultimatum. That was the expres- 
 sion: "The two countries. "- The following is the letter 
 addressed to Mr. Blair : 
 
 "Richmond, Va., January 12, 1865. 
 
 "Sir: I have deemed it proper and probably desirable 
 to you to give you in this form the substance of remarks 
 made by me to be repeated by you to President Lincoln. 
 
 "I have no disposition to find obstacles in forms and am 
 willing now as heretofore to enter into negotiations for 
 the restoration of peace ; and am ready to send a commis- 
 sion whenever I have reason to suppose it will be received, 
 or to receive a commission if the United States govern- 
 ment shall choose to send one. That, notwithstanding 
 the rejection of our former offers, I would, if you could 
 promise that a commissioner, minister, or other agent, 
 would be received, appoint one immediately, and renew 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 545 
 
 the effort to enter into conference with the view to secure 
 peace to the two countries. 
 
 Jefferson Davis." 
 
 With this important letter Mr. Blair returned to Wash- 
 ington, and showing it to President Lincoln, obtained 
 from him a communication designed to be read by the 
 Confederate President. This letter, also addressed to 
 Mr. Blair, and dated at Washington, January i8, 1865, 
 was as follows: 
 
 "Sir: You having shown me Mr. Davis' letter to you 
 ■of the 1 2th instant, you may say to him that I have con- 
 stantly been, am now and shall continue ready to receive 
 any agent whom he or any other influential person now 
 resisting the national authority may informally send to 
 me with the view of securing peace to the people of our 
 one common country. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln." 
 
 Thus far the preliminaries seemed to gratify Mr. Blair. 
 "It was well you wrote me that letter," he said to Mr. 
 Davis when he reached Richmond, on his second visit 
 Tjearing the letter from Mr. Lincoln, and on which action 
 was taken at once notwithstanding its careful avoidance 
 of all recognition of Confederate States officials, its char- 
 acterization of the Confederate President as simply one 
 of a number of "influential persons engaged in resisting 
 the national authority," and its plain foil of the intima- 
 tion of Mr. Davis that there were two countries. 
 
 What prevented the success of this mission? President 
 Davis thought that during Blair's stay in Richmond he 
 discovered more than ought to have been known abroad 
 concerning the weakness of the Confederacy, and the 
 anxiety for peace which disturbed men's minds. His 
 visits excited great interest and great hopes in Richmond. 
 His high character, his Southern blood, his sage-like ap- 
 pearance, his supposed influence at Washington, all con- 
 tributed to make him and his objects deeply interesting 
 
 1-85 
 
546 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 to the prominent leaders of the Confederacy. It does not 
 appear, however, in any way, that Mr. Blair sought or 
 took advantage of the courtesies which he received. His 
 " visits, however, did indeed encourage the hope that sub- 
 jugation with military force could be averted, a result 
 which was generally regarded as a calamity to be fol- 
 lowed by the total overthrow of all liberties. 
 
 Looking into Washington at the same period for insight 
 into influences employed against this mission, there ap- 
 peared two movements — one in Congress and the other 
 from without — which obstructed the pending negotiations. 
 That which occurred in Congress and so fully described 
 in the work of the Hon. S. S. Cox, " Three Decades in 
 Federal Legislation," was the sudden resurrection, Jan- 
 uary 6, 1865, of the Thirteenth amendment to the Consti- 
 tution which had been slumbering on the table since the 
 last Presidential campaign. Mr. Cox says of this amend- 
 ment that " it was a part of the program for strengthen- 
 ing the Federal cause. Mr. Seward and the President 
 considered it worth an army. Whether they were right 
 or not the amendment was not pressed until just before 
 the negotiations at Hampton Roads. " It was bruited 
 around Washington about the first of January that Blair 
 was entertaining the President with a scheme by which 
 it was proposed to terminate the awful strife of North 
 and South by negotiations with the " insurgents. " It 
 was time, therefore, to interpose some obstacle which 
 would make the Confederacy unwilling to negotiate. The 
 Thirteenth amendment would accomplish the purpose. 
 It was therefore called up, and pressed with vehemence 
 while the great peace mission of Mr. Blair was pending, 
 and was yet more warmly urged when the commissioners 
 from President Davis were actually seeking access to the 
 President of the Union. Mr. Pendleton, Mr. Voorhees, 
 and other statesmen, opposed the amendment because 
 they doubted its constitutionality. Mr. Cox opposed its 
 consideration then as being inopportune. The rumor 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 547 
 
 was abroad, said he, that "a commissioner of the United 
 States was then in Richmond (Mr. Blair) with the con- 
 fidence and assent of the administration to meet a com- 
 missioner on the part of the Confederate authority, and 
 that they had agreed to call a national convention in cor- 
 respondence with the Chicago platform. ' ' Mr. Cox did 
 not doubt the power to make this amendment, but he 
 urged with great force the impropriety of raising this 
 impediment to peace. Said he: " So long as there is a 
 faint hope of a returning Union I will not place obstacles 
 in the path. I would rather illuminate, cheer and clear 
 the pathway to the old homestead. All I do and all I 
 forbear to do is to save our imperiled government and 
 restore our priceless Union. Show me that, and I will 
 vote for your amendment. But, as it stands to-day, I be- 
 lieve that this amendment may be an obstacle to the 
 rehabilitation of the States." 
 
 This debate went on while Mr. Blair was prosecuting 
 his plan of negotiations. He had returned to President 
 Davis, delivered to him the letter of President Lincoln 
 and on the i8th of January was again in Washington. 
 Immediately after he left. President Davis called Vice- 
 President Stephens into his counsel, informed him con- 
 cerning all that had passed, and having his concurrence 
 as to the main fact that a commission should be sent to 
 Washington, appointed as that commission Mr. Stephens, 
 Mr. Campbell and Mr. Hunter. These gentlemen pro- 
 ceeded at once on their embassy and reached the head- 
 quarters of General Grant on the day that the decisive 
 hour arrived on which the amendment was pressed to vote, 
 
 " Every radical was in his seat and for the amend- 
 ment. " The majority favored its passage. But a minority 
 insisted that it was designed to defeat, and would defeat, 
 the peace which Confederate commissioners were at that 
 moment seeking. It is strangely true that at that hour 
 " high officials stated that no further negotiations were 
 possible; that so Mr. Blair had reported, who had just 
 
548 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 come from Richmond." The President's private secre- 
 tary declared that he knew of no such commission. The 
 President himself wrote a note, January 31, 1865, to Mr. 
 Ashley, the mover of the amendment, that he knew " of 
 no such commission or negotiation. " Mr. Cox excused 
 these singular declarations from high quarters, but was 
 so well convinced that they were mistaken as to cast his 
 vote against the amendment which in his opinion was 
 perilous to peace. ' ' It was an obstacle, as it turned out, ' ' 
 he says, "notwithstanding Mr. Seward's belief that it 
 was an aid. " It is to be noted as a significant circum- 
 stance that the amendment passed while General Grant 
 was detaining the commissioners by special instructions 
 from Washington, that it was promptly approved, that 
 the interview of the commissioners was then allowed, and 
 that they were quickly confronted with the embarrassing 
 information that this amendment to abolish slavery had 
 passed. Even that, however, did not drive them back 
 to Richmond. 
 
 Another influence which contributed to blight the 
 budding promise of the flower of peace, was the 
 anxious gathering of partisans at Washington to 
 prevent such a collapse of war. One of these obstruc- 
 tionists, Mr. Henry Ward Beecher, was a fair 
 representative of that class of radicals who were 
 in perpetual dread lest the goodness of Mr. Lincoln 
 would in some way be the undoing of their cause. He 
 came and thus tells his own story: He had been in 
 England and returned in 1864 to find that "there was 
 some talk," as he says, " of compromise with the South. 
 Mr. Blair had told the President that he was satisfied if 
 he could be put in communication with some of the lead- 
 ing men of the South, in some way or other, that some 
 benefit would accrue. Lincoln had sent a delegate to 
 meet Alexander Stephens and that was all the North 
 knew. We were all very inuch excited over that," said 
 Mr. Beecher. "The war had lasted so long, and I was 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 549 
 
 afraid Lincoln would be anxious for peace, and I was 
 afraid he would accept something that would be of ad- 
 vantage to the South, so I went to Washington and called 
 upon him. I said to him, ' Mr. Lincoln, I come to know 
 whether the public interest will permit you to explain to 
 me what this Southern commission means. ' He went to 
 his little secretary, and came out and handed me a little 
 card as long as my finger and an inch wide, and on that 
 was written, ' You will pass the bearer through the lines. 
 A. LINCOLN. • ' There. ' he said, ' that is all there is of 
 it. Now, Blair thinks something can be done, but I don't, 
 but I have no objection to have him tiy his hand. He has 
 no authority whatever but to go and see what he can do. ' " 
 All efforts to restrain Mr. Blair, or to prevent 
 the Confederate President from making another attempt 
 at negotiation, entirely failed. Notwithstanding all dis- 
 advantages he appointed a commission from which 
 resulted the Hampton Roads conference, as history 
 designates the informal conversation between the Con- 
 federate commissioners, as heretofore named, on the one 
 part, and President Lincoln and Mr. Seward on the other 
 part, which was held on board a United States steamer 
 in Hampton Roads, February, 1865. It will be seen on 
 review of the entire history of the event that the United 
 States carefully and firmly held all advantages in the 
 conference while admitting the commissioners to an 
 interview. This is made evident by the following facts : 
 It appears that Mr. Blair left Washington for Richmond 
 without the privilege of a final conversation with the 
 President which might give color to any rumor that he 
 went by authority. Without credentials or instructions 
 his visit to Richmond was to present his own plan, gain 
 knowledge of the mind of Mr. Davis, ascertain the temper 
 of Confederate leaders, and to close his work without 
 committing Mr. Lincoln to anything whatever. The let- 
 ters to himself which he procured from President Davis 
 first, and next from President Lincoln, were dangerour; 
 
550 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 documents, but the Federal President wrote briefly, 
 avoiding the slightest reference to Mr. Davis as an official, 
 and only noticing his letter as coming from an influential 
 insurgent. So far as receiving an agent was concerned 
 it was of no consequence to the Federal President whether 
 he came from President Davis or any other influential 
 person engaged in resisting the Federal authority. He 
 was even so particular as to rebuke the harmless words, 
 " two countries," as used by the Confederate President, 
 and to require Mr. Blair to bear witness to that particular 
 fact. After the three " influential persons " appointed 
 as Confederate commissioners were on the way towards 
 Washington, he also so far ignored their business as to 
 declare on January 31st, that he knew of " no commission 
 and no negotiations, ' ' evidently meaning that he did not 
 look upon them as the commissioners of any government. 
 The interchange of official telegrams between the civil and 
 the military authorities from January 29th further show 
 an absurd continuance of all this trivial caution, while the 
 modes adopted to let these " persons " come on without 
 their presence having any significance, were too puerile 
 to have so seriously engaged the attention of the secretary 
 of state and the secretary of war who had contrived 
 them. Then again, in further purpose to allow no pos- 
 sible equality in the conference to be considered, and no 
 official character to exist, the influential trio were first to 
 be interviewed and their dignity lessened by a mere 
 messenger from the President. They were then]required 
 to say to this messenger in writing that they were coming 
 only to have an informal colloquy, and finally to signify, 
 before they could get any further, that they fully under- 
 stood the ultimatum of President Lincoln. The com- 
 missioners had expected to go to Washington, as Mr. 
 Blair had been to Richmond, but they were met aboard a 
 United States steamer with no one to hear them but Pres- 
 ident Lincoln and Mr. Seward, his secretary of state. 
 Keeping in view these circumstances under which the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 651 
 
 Confederate States President sought for peace, the detailed 
 account of the famous Hampton Roads conference will be 
 interesting. 
 
 The following events re-stated with their dates will 
 show the progress of this peace movement and assist in 
 understanding it: On December 28th, the pass of President 
 Lincoln was delivered to Mr. Blair; December 30th, Presi- 
 dent Davis received Mr. Blair's request to visit Rich- 
 mond, which was immediately granted; January 12, 1865, 
 the first interview between Davis and Blair took place, 
 at the conclusion of which the letter already quoted was 
 written; January i8th, the letter of Lincoln to Blair, writ- 
 ten to be read by Davis, was delivered, with which the 
 peacemaker went back to Richmond ; January 21st, the 
 second conference took place between Blair and Davis, 
 after which Blair returned to Washington. Davis con- 
 sulted Stephens, and the three commissioners, Stephens, 
 Campbell and Hunter were appointed. The commission 
 or certificate of appointment signed by Mr. Davis for the 
 guidance of these statesmen read simply that " in con- 
 formity with the letter of Mr. Lincoln of which the fore- 
 going is a copy, you are requested to proceed to Washing- 
 ton City for an informal conference with him upon the 
 issues involved in the existing war, and for the purpose 
 of securing peace to the two countries. " The use of the 
 words " two countries " instead of " two governments " 
 was discreetly and delicately made by the Confederate 
 President in avoidance of any question which might be 
 raised by the Washington administration, the " country " 
 being a region, a territory, a people and their institutions, 
 while a "government " is a body politic, governed by 
 one authority. In fact the point was considered by the 
 United States officials and fully waived. Rumor went 
 out after the fall of the Confederacy and continued afloat 
 for many years, notwithstanding its refutation, that the 
 commissioners were trammeled by imperative instruc- 
 tions which required them to treat only on the basis of 
 
552 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 independence, and that in consequence of these instruc- 
 tions their mission failed. This rumor had its origin in 
 the disappointments and sufferings which followed the 
 dissolution of the Confederacy, but afterward was used 
 in justification of the action of the United States author- 
 ities at Hampton Roads, and in derogation of the char- 
 acter of President Davis. The certificate, however, as 
 Mr. Davis calls it, contained nothing more than is above 
 quoted, and aside from what is there written no instruc- 
 tions were given. On this question Mr. Stephens says: 
 " The reports were utterly unworthy of notice. * * * 
 We had no written instructions upon that subject, or any 
 other except what were contained in the letter of appoint- 
 ment,, nor any verbal instructions on that subject incon- 
 sistent with the terms of that letter. " With considerable 
 emphasis Mr. Stephens repeated the statements contained 
 in his " War Between the States " through a public letter 
 in 1874, saying again " there were no instructions what- 
 ever given by Mr. Davis to the commissioners as to the 
 terms on which they should agree to treat upon the sub- 
 ject of peace. ' ' The report of the commissioners explains 
 fully why their efiforts failed, and each has with some in- 
 dignation resented the imputation on their judgment in 
 accepting a trust with conditions which, as alleged, barred 
 its execution. In President Lincoln's brief explanation 
 to Congress of the conference, he remarks that it was not 
 said by the other party that in any event or any condition 
 they ever would consent to reunion, and "yet they 
 equally omitted to declare that they never would so con- 
 sent. ' ' This omission itself entirely refutes the rumor 
 and no declarations of President Davis were needed to 
 show that such terms were included in this remarkable 
 commission which was entrusted to three eminently wise, 
 discreet and patriotic men. As became his office, the 
 Confederate President certainly desired, even passionate- 
 ly, to secure the success of the secession ordained by the 
 States. Independence out of the Union because their 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 653 
 
 constitutional equality in it was imperiled was the simple 
 object aimed at in the formation of the Confederacy, to 
 attain which all energies were directed. Even in Jan- 
 uary, 1865, this object was not considered by Mr. Davis, 
 Mr. Stephens and the large majority of the Confederate 
 Congress, as unattainable. Neither the army nor the 
 citizens of the South were ready for unconditional sub- 
 mission and they would have been astounded by any in- 
 structions to the commissioners to surrender without 
 terms before striking another blow for independence. 
 Mr. Davis says in a public letter in reference to his sense 
 of official responsibility, " I do not know how any one 
 could have expected me, under the trust which I held 
 from the people of the Confederate States, to propose to 
 surrender at discretion the rights and liberties for which 
 the best and bravest of the land were still gallantly 
 struggling, and for which so many had nobly died. " 
 The testimony clearly disposes of the rumor concerning 
 instructions, and after this examination of it a further 
 view of events may be taken of the history of the Hamp- 
 ton Roads conference. 
 
 On the 29th of January the commissioners, having 
 reached that part of the Federal front which was occupied 
 by the Ninth army corps, made their presence and busi- 
 ness known with request to cross the lines at once on 
 their way to Washington. After passing the military 
 channel of communication their note reached the Secre- 
 tary of War, Mr. Stanton, and the same day was at once 
 referred to President Lincoln, and at the same time 
 General Ord, commanding at the front during General 
 Grant's temporary absence, was directed by the secretary 
 of war not to allow the commissioners to enter the lines 
 unless by instructions from the President. On January 
 30th President Lincoln telegraphed General Ord, through 
 Secretary Stanton, to inform the " three gentlemen, 
 Messrs. Stephens, Hunter and Campbell, that a messenger 
 will be dispatched to them at or near where they now are 
 
564 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 without unnecessary delay." The messenger to be sent 
 •was Major Thomas T. Eckert, who was given very pre- 
 cise instructions to first secure from the commissioners an 
 agreement in writing that if they are allowed to pass 
 through the United States military lines it will be under- 
 stood that they do so for the purpose of an informal con- 
 ference on the basis of the letter dated January 1 8th, of 
 Mr. Lincoln to Mr. Blair. General Grant, however, had 
 returned to the army and had received direct another ap- 
 plication on January 30th, by the commissioners to pass his 
 lines under safe conduct, and without waiting for direc- 
 tions from Washington directed them to be received at 
 his headquarters and await instructions. This unexpected 
 action caused President Lincoln to telegraph to Grant to 
 detain the gentlemen in comfortable quarters, and mean- 
 while Major Eckert reached him with a special dispatch 
 to have an interview secured between himself and the 
 ■Confederate commissioners. Mr. Seward followed on the 
 31st, bearing explicit instructions from the President to 
 make known to them that three things are indispensable , 
 to- wit: (i) the restoration of the national authority 
 throughout all the States ; (2) no receding by the executive 
 of the United States on the slavery question from the 
 position assumed thereon in the late annual message to 
 Congress ; (3) no cessation of hostilities short of an end 
 of the war, and the disbanding of all forces hostile to the 
 government. They were to be informed that all proposi- 
 tions of theirs not inconsistent with the above would be 
 considered and passed in a spirit of sincere liberality, but 
 Mr. Seward was commanded not to definitely consummate 
 anything. This letter of instructions was given on the 
 afternoon of January 31st, at the time when the Thir- 
 teenth amendment was on its passage in Congress, and it 
 was followed early next morning, February ist, by a tele- 
 gram to Grant from Lincoln — " Let nothing which is 
 transpiring change, hinder or delay your military move- 
 ments or plans. ' ' Another dispatch of the same date re- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 555 
 
 quired Major Eckert to place himself under direction of 
 Mr. Seward, who reached Fortress Monroe on the evening 
 of that day. Major Eckert had already communicated 
 with the commissioners the terms on which they might 
 remain within the lines on their mission, but Mr. Stephens 
 and his associates regarded this reception of their over- 
 tures as designedly contrived to embarrass if not to humil- 
 iate them. They placed their case again directly before 
 General Grant, who checked the President in a resolution 
 hastily formed to recall Seward with Eckert, by a tele- 
 gram on the night of February ist, in which he informed 
 the President of his fear that the return of the commis- 
 sioners without a hearing would have a bad influence ; 
 that he was satisfied of their good intentions and their 
 sincere desire to restore peace and union, and he sug- 
 gested an interview between them and Lincoln himself. 
 This dispatch of General Grant changed the President's 
 purpose, and the commissioners having further considered 
 their situation signed the terms prescribed for their ad- 
 mission to the conference. The President resolving now 
 to be present in person at the conference came to Hamp- 
 ton Roads where he joined Secretary Seward on the night 
 of the 2nd and next day received the commissioners on 
 board a steamer. 
 
 The conference took place February 3, 1865, to the 
 result of which two countries at least were looking with 
 great solicitude, but the history of what was said and 
 done can be gathered alone from the earliest accounts of 
 it given carefully to the world by all the five great actors ; 
 since by agreement not a line was written in the confer- 
 ence room nor a witness admitted to be present. The 
 distinguished parties themselves have all spoken and 
 from these sources the record is made. It appears that 
 the first words bearing on the objects of the meeting 
 were uttered by Mr. Stephens in the form of a question 
 addressed to President Lincoln, whether there was any 
 way to put an end to the present trouble. To this broad 
 
556 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 and significant inquiry the President at once replied! 
 that there was but one way that he knew of and 
 that was for those who were resisting the laws of the 
 Union to cease that resistance. But Mr. Stephens 
 sought again to know if there was no plan on which ex- 
 isting hostilities might cease and the attention of both 
 parties be turned from the questions involved in the strife 
 and diverted to some great common aim which might- 
 lead to the restoration of the Union. 
 
 The evident allusion of the second question to the plan 
 of Mr. Blair to divert the two armies into an invasion of 
 Mexico, which the Confederate commissioners themselves 
 did not favor, brought from the President a distinct dis- 
 avowal of having given Mr. Blair an authority to speak 
 for him and an earnest declaration that he could entertain 
 no proposition for ceasing active military operations 
 which was not based upon a pledge first given for the- 
 ultimate restoration of the Union. The Confederate 
 commissioners had not expected such an immediate and 
 flat statement, and were without authority or inclination 
 to give a pledge unaccompanied with any understanding 
 whatever as to the course the United States would pur- 
 sue toward the States and the people of the South in re- 
 spect to their lives, property^ and local government. 
 Judge Campbell therefore interposed at this point with 
 a direct inquiry as to the plan on which the re-establish- 
 ment of national authority would take place in the event 
 the South agreed to the general terms as stated by Mr. 
 Lincoln, thus presenting a question which the commis- 
 sioners had previously considered as one to be asked, 
 provided the armistice should be refused. It was, in fact, 
 the precise pivot on which the issue could be made to turn 
 toward peace with a Union promptly restored, or war 
 with distraction long continued. It was reasonable be- 
 yond all question that these three eminent statesmen 
 should have the fair, explicit and reliable answer from 
 President Lincoln: — that secession be abandoned, that 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 557 
 
 the Thirteenth amendment be added to the Constitution, 
 or at least be fairly voted upon by all the States ; that the 
 Federal civil authority be completely restored in all re- 
 spects everywhere ; that the seceded States repeal for legal 
 reasons the ordinances of secession and resume fully by 
 their own immediate action their constitutional relations 
 in the Union ; that general amnesty be proclaimed and all 
 minor legal questions be remanded to the judiciary for 
 adjustment. Whether these terms would have been 
 agreed to so that they could have been satisfactorily ex- 
 ecuted is not known, yet if they had been sincerely agfreed 
 on and honorably carried out by the rapid method of 
 State conventions, the political as well as the military 
 disturbances between the sections would have ended 
 within a few months. But they were not offered. 
 
 Upon several of these questions intimations were made 
 which very nearly approached all that the Confederate 
 commissioners could have demanded. As to the aban- 
 donment of secession that was positively required by the 
 President. The ratification by the States of the Thir- 
 teenth amendment . was taken into discussion during 
 which the President with caution expressed an individual 
 willingness on his own part to be taxed to remunerate the 
 Southern people for their slaves and that he should be in 
 favor individually of the government paying a fair in- 
 demnity for the loss to the owners. He knew of some 
 ; persons who favored an appropriation of four hundred 
 millions for that purpose. But he declared that he would 
 give no assurance and make no stipulation. Mr. Seward 
 accepted this general intimation of the President that the 
 Northern people would be willing to pay about the 
 amount as an indemnity to the owners of emancipated 
 slaves, which would be required to continue the war. To 
 this extent and no farther went even the hint of compen- 
 sated emancipation. There was no offer either express 
 or implied by the President and his secretary of state to 
 guarantee such a result, and the commissioners under- 
 
558 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Stood the intimation as a vague suggestion on which they 
 could base no proposition. Their action was accordingly 
 unaffected by it, nor were they trammeled in any degree 
 by instructions which prevented their consideration of it. 
 The abolition of slavery they clearly understood to be 
 one of the terms of peace, especially since Congress had 
 at this particular juncture passed the necessary amend- 
 ment to enforce the emancipation proclamation, from 
 which Mr. Lincoln plainly stated he would not recede ; 
 but they were not invited to trust that negro property 
 would be paid for upon the abandonment of secession. 
 No part of the accounts given by any of the parties to the 
 Hampton Roads conference authorized this view. 
 
 But still more important to the South and the Union 
 itself than slaves or their value was the question of the 
 status of the States and people of the States upon sur- 
 render by negotiation. What position would the States 
 of the South occupy on their abandonment of secession? 
 To what extent would the Federal majority assume the 
 attitude of a conqueror? To this vital question the Pres- 
 ident answered as to his own opinion the States would be 
 restored to their practical relations to the Union, but said 
 emphatically he could not enter into any stipulations upon 
 the subject, and in reply to the urgency of Mr. Stephens 
 on this matter " persisted in asserting that he could not 
 enter into any agreement upon this subject or upon any 
 other matters of that sort with parties in arms against the 
 government." Mr. Stephens still insisted that if the 
 President could issue a proclamation of emancipation as 
 a war measure of doubtful constitutionality he could cer- 
 tainly enter into a stipulation to preserve the statehood 
 of the States and carry it out as a war measure also ; but 
 on the exhaustion of all suggestions the President still, 
 returned firmly to his first and only proposition — an un- 
 conditional surrender of the States and their people.. 
 Not the slightest deviation from this was admissible. 
 
 The conference had reached the line where it seems the- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 559 
 
 Southern commissioners would have taken a step com- 
 mitting their government to dissolution without another 
 battle, provided only they had been fully and frankly 
 assured by authority to be trusted that the Union even 
 without slavery would be at once re-established, the States 
 with all their rightful relations restored, the people of 
 the South protected, the Constitution respected and sec- 
 tionalism ended forever. But around the form of the 
 President was the portentous shadow of the radical war 
 cloud, an iniiuence that he could not withstand at that 
 time. His ultimatum was dictated by a fierce policy that 
 does not clearly appear to have been his own, and even 
 his hint that he would temper wrath with mercy was 
 given with qualifications. He could give no assurances, 
 make no stipulations, enter into no agreement, and have 
 no understanding as to the result of surrender. 
 
 The commissioners returned to Richmond and made 
 their report, with which every one was disappointed, and, 
 says Mr. Stephens, "no one more so than Mr. Davis." 
 The Confederate President transmitted the report to 
 Congress and all plans for negotiation being thwarted 
 addressed himself to the means at his disposal for defend- 
 ing the South by arms. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 THE SITUATION IN 1865. 
 
 MILITARY DISPARITIES— WISE ON THE PART OF THE 
 SOUTH TO REFUSE UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER 
 —WHY THE FINAL FIGHT WAS MADE — CLOSELY 
 ALLIED MILITARY AND CIVIL EVENTS— LAST MES- 
 SAGE OF PRESIDENT DAVIS TO CONGRESS— LAST 
 ACTS OF CONGRESS— PATRIOTIC ACT OF VIRGINIA 
 AND OTHER STATES— GRANT BREAKS THE LINES 
 AT LAST — RICHMOND EVACUATED— THE PRESI- 
 DENT AND CABINET MOVE TO NORTH CAROLINA 
 AND GEORGIA — CAPTURE OF THE PRESIDENT — 
 ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN — MALI- 
 CIOUS PROSECUTION OF PRESIDENT DAVIS— THE 
 DISSOLUTION OF THE ; CONFEDERATE STATES OF 
 AMERICA. 
 
 THE military situation of the Confederacy in 1865 
 must be considered in connection with the effort 
 made by its leaders on behalf of peace, as previ- 
 ously related. From the most available data it is ascer- 
 tained that the total of the Confederate troops in and 
 around Richmond and Petersburg present for duty Feb- 
 ruary 20, 1865, was in round numbers 57,000 of all arms 
 and branches of service. Of this total 45,567 were in- 
 fantry, the remainder cavalry and artillery. From this 
 date losses occurred which could not be replaced and at 
 the time of Grant's final and successful assault Lee had 
 in his line of thirty- five miles only about 38,000 infantry. 
 The cavalry were reduced to a small body mounted mainly 
 on broken-down horses. This estimate is made on the 
 reports of the army of Northern Virginia, also the con- 
 clusions of Major-General Humphreys of the Federal army 
 and of Swinton, the Northern historian. The United 
 
 660 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 561 
 
 States secretary of war, Mr. Stanton, reports that Grant's 
 available force at the same period, March i, 1865, was 
 162,239. According to General Humphrey's calculations 
 Grant's total on the morning of his final assault on Lee's 
 lines was 124,700 present for duty, equipped in line of 
 battle. This is exclusive of officers, details, sick and 
 non-combatants. The fairest comparison of forces at 
 that time, March 31, 1865, is made by the respective 
 reports of both armies, which show in round numbers on 
 the Confederate side 38,000 muskets, 5,000 artillery, 3,000 
 cavalry, 46,000 effectives as the highest total, and on the 
 Federal side 125,000 as the lowest available total in actual 
 line of battle. Thus it appears indisputable that Grant 
 had three lines of battle each the equal of one under 
 command of Lee. He was enabled thereby to cover 
 Lee's entire front with a line as strong as his own and 
 still could move two nearly equally strong armies on his 
 flanks. With this advantage on the morning of April i , 
 1865, the attack was made by three men against one, and 
 at the close of the day that ratio was largely increased 
 through Confederate losses. 
 
 This, however, was not the only disparity between the 
 two armies. Perhaps no armies had been so well equipped 
 as those which Grant commanded in his advance on Rich- 
 mond during 1864, but the preparation for the final as- 
 sault in 1865 exceeded all equipment which had been 
 made during the war. Lee had met these armies through 
 the preceding years with constantly decreasing numbers 
 and daily diminishing supplies. Hence his army was 
 in all extremities from the ist of January, 1865. 
 
 Thus it appears even from the military situation around 
 Richmond that the Confederate States government had 
 now no adequate military support, and its attempts to 
 negotiate a peace on terms which ought to be understood 
 before surrender had wholly failed. Its life, like that of 
 every other civil government, was dependent upon military 
 resources. Its civil authority was obeyed indeed to the 
 
 I-3« 
 
562 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 last by its patriotic people because they loved the gov- 
 ernment itself and respected their noble leaders. But 
 while all the functions of the great civil government 
 were in complete operation as to its own people wherever 
 the army of invasion had not obtained possession of the 
 territory, yet there was a total deficiency of resources to 
 withstand the military forces pressing from without 
 against the life of the new Republic. Still it was consid- 
 ered wise as well as brave to continue in the struggle. 
 Surrender immediately after the Hampton Roads con- 
 ference — an unconditional surrender such as Mr. Lincoln 
 flatly proposed with reliance upon only such liberal treat- 
 ment as the radical Congress would allow — would have 
 been forever questionable. Its consequences no one can 
 declare. Such a surrender in March, 1865, would have 
 been the submission of one to three in numbers ready for 
 battle, and at least one to ten in the general sinews of 
 war, a disproportion ordinarily warranting capitulation, 
 but that preponderance was not regarded as such a reason 
 for unconditional surrender as could be accepted by the 
 people of the South or the intelligent people of other 
 nations. There were many able men who foresaw the 
 approaching disaster, and who regarded the defeat of the 
 Confederacy as inevitable, but their prevision was founded 
 on theory. Their reasoning was indeed logical, and their 
 predictions were literally fulfilled, but it was necessary 
 to show not by theory, not by argument, but by a fact 
 which all the people South and North would clearly un- 
 derstand, that the South was beaten beyond remedy by 
 the overwhelming superiority of its opponents. Appo- 
 mattox and Bentonville made this demonstration. Ten 
 thousand men whose commissariat had been collapsed 
 twenty-four hours leaving them without rations, but who 
 moved in line of battle on the morning of April 9th to 
 beat out of their way one hundred thousand other men, 
 each of which mighty host was well-fed, well-armed, 
 well-rested and all buoyant with the victories of the past 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 563 
 
 few days — this picture settled the question. ' ' The South 
 lost all but honor, ' ' is therefore a phrase her orators can 
 repeat with pride through all the ages. " Fought to a 
 frazzle " was the graphic word Gordon sent to Lee, only 
 a few hours before actual surrender, which determines the 
 time when the proud spirit yields to physical force. ' ' We 
 wore ourselves out whipping you," said a Southerner in 
 quick reply to a Northern inquirer as to the reasons why 
 the cause was lost. 
 
 But aside from the necessity to preserve the self-respect 
 of those valiant Americans of the South who were the 
 equals of all others in the government to which they 
 surrendered, it was not expedient to leave the readjust- 
 ment of the Union to the sentimental liberality which 
 political partisans might choose to affect. There was no 
 partisan liberality needed and there was no ground nor 
 call for magnanimity. The crushing of the gallant armies 
 which had fought to the last left all the great principles 
 of our government unsurrendered. Nothing passed away 
 but slavery — which itself was not a principle, but only a 
 dispensable feature in the government of the United States 
 and of the Confederate States. Nothing visible was 
 surrendered except the worthless arms and worn out 
 property of the Confederate army. Even slavery was 
 extinguished by the civil process of Constitutional amend- 
 ments by the States ; and the right of secession, which 
 New England people so early and fondly cherished, came 
 to be denied to them even by the post-bellum action of 
 the Southern people. The vast armies which invaded 
 the South returned enriched only by relics gathered in 
 their campaigns and the civil government of the Union 
 had gained no power to oppress any section. 
 
 It is well that all this is true. It is best that no treaty 
 stipulations immediately after Hampton Roads conference 
 were entered into which could involve our free principles 
 or betray the nation into reliance on that treaty as a sup- 
 plement to the constitution. As the question stood at the 
 
664 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 end of the battle strife, the law remained regnant instead 
 of a discretionary power. The tyrannical dogma of mil- 
 itary necessity was at once abrogated. Readjustment 
 must therefore be made legally and constitutionally or it 
 would not stand. Reconstruction or any plan that de- 
 prived intelligent, law-abiding citizens of the South of 
 their power in the Nation would involve its projectors as 
 the unrighteous subverters of government in an odium 
 from which there can be no recovery. The preservation 
 of the liberties for which the Union was at first formed 
 demanded obedience by the North which had conquered, 
 as well as by the South which had been subjugated. 
 That duty of obedience to the fundamental truths on 
 ■which our government is founded remained unchallenged 
 when the last Confederate soldier gave up his gun. 
 
 It was for this great result that the final fight was made. 
 This saving of the Southern equality in the Union, and at 
 the same time the saving of the North from the evils 
 that would come to it from any agreement which gave 
 them authority to dominate any part of the Union, was 
 surely an achievement which gave to Appomattox a glory 
 in defeat greater than the glory even of First Manassas, 
 where such a superb victory was won. The blood which 
 brave men shed in March and April, 1865, was not poured 
 in vain. North and South have gained alike by the last 
 sacrifices of the Confederate people. Free government 
 "by a firm Constitution and wise statute law is not lost. 
 The seceded States returned to the Union, but surren- 
 dered no right of man by treaty with a superior power — 
 as they had suffered no dishonor in defeat upon the battle 
 field. 
 
 Resuming consideration of closely allied military and 
 civic events we see that on the third of March, the day 
 preceding the inauguration of President Lincoln for the 
 second term, he instructed General Grant through the 
 secretary of war to have no conference with General Lee 
 unless for the capitulation of his army or some purely 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 565 
 
 military matter, which order was probably given because 
 of the report that Lee was seeking a conference with 
 Grant to arrange for an honorable peace. The military 
 convention, which many trusted in as a mode by which 
 the two great commanders could bring war to a close, did 
 not enjoy the favor of Secretary Stanton. Military oper- 
 ations consequent^ became more decidedly vigorous 
 immediately after the inauguration, the Confederacy oh 
 its part exhausting every source from which its armies 
 could be recruited or supplied, and the United States 
 pouring from its abundance whatever the armies of Grant 
 required. Lee had well matured plans both for meeting 
 battle along his lines around Richmond and for retreating 
 further into the interior. Grant naturally expecting that 
 his sagacious foe would attempt to elude him if resistance 
 became futile, provided all means at his command to make 
 defense disastrous and retreat impossible. Fighting 
 along the line with constant extensions beyond the Con- 
 federate front occupied the month of March, and it was 
 in the midst of these military movements that President 
 Davis sent in his last message to the Confederate Con- 
 gress, March 13th, very near the day of its adjournment, 
 but not a line of it betrays to the public the uncertainty 
 of the imminent issue. The perils of the Confederacy 
 were frankly stated in the message, but the President pro- 
 ceeded with suggestions for maintaining Confederate in- 
 dependence. He proposed that two millions in coin be 
 raised for purchasing army supplies, that revenue meas- 
 ures be adopted, impressment of provisions and clothing 
 be regulated, that a general militia law be enacted and 
 that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus be sus- 
 pended. Once more he repeated the account of the 
 efforts made to stop the war by any form of negotiations 
 and made in vain, since the administration at Washington 
 had declined peremptorily every plan presented except 
 the one of unconditional submission. "There remains 
 then for use no choice but to continue this contest to a 
 
566 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 final issue. " The Confederate Congress delayed its ad- 
 journment beyond the appointed time, at the President's 
 request, and with some modifications converted his sug- 
 gestions into laws. One act provided for raising coin to 
 furnish necessary supplies for the army, and generous 
 Virginia advanced at once $300,000 in specie for that pur- 
 pose. The banks in other States were likewise put in 
 readiness to meet the requisition. A general militia law 
 was also enacted, and after considerable hesitation author- 
 ity was given to suspend the writ of habeas corpus in 
 certain cases for a limited time. Then Congress ad- 
 journed the latter part of March to assemble no more. 
 
 Only a few days later Grant broke Lee's lines, forcing 
 his retreat and causing the removal of the Confederate 
 government from Richmond. The surrender of Lee's 
 army at Appomattox and of the army of General Johnston 
 in North Carolina quickly followed. President Davis 
 having gone into North Carolina, understood the situa- 
 tion of the civil government and expressed to his Attor- 
 ney-General, George Davis, his conception that he was 
 himself now more of a soldier than anything else. In 
 answer to the inquiry of the attorney-general whether 
 it was possible to serve him officially any further, the 
 President replied on April 25, 1865 : " It is gratifying to 
 me to be assured that you are willing at any personal 
 sacrifice to share my fortunes when they are least promis- 
 ing. * * * It is due to such generous friendship that 
 I should candidly say to you that it is not probable that 
 for some time to come your services will be needful. 
 * * * Should you decide (my situation having become 
 rather that of a soldier than a civil magistrate) to retire 
 from my cabinet, my sincere wishes for your welfare and 
 happiness will follow you. ' ' 
 
 Notwithstanding its precarious situation the Confeder- 
 ate States had still a legal existence although its military 
 support was gone. Every State ordinance of secession 
 was still in force. The Constitution of the Confederate 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 567 
 
 States still evidenced the compact by which the States had 
 confederated. The State governments under that Con- 
 stitution were still operating except where they were 
 obstructed by military authority. Jefferson Davis was 
 still President and commander-in-chief. His cabinet in 
 part, as far as he required, were with him, and a small 
 military body was detailed to escort him. Thus he passed 
 through South Carolina into Georgia, held his last cabinet 
 council in Washington, Georgia, and then, anxious for the 
 safety of his family, pushed on westward designing to 
 cross the Mississippi river. While thus seeking to reach 
 the western Confederacy Mr. Davis was captured, 
 imprisoned, bound in chains and closely guarded. 
 
 In the meantime a most deplorable event happened in 
 the unexpected assassination of President Lincoln, con- 
 cerning which it may be earnestly said that all verbal 
 resentment of that crime was paralyzed by the inexpres- 
 sible horror of it. The shame of it still disgraces the con- 
 tinent. It was a disreputable American event, when the 
 elected head of a free people fell by the hand of an 
 assassin whose lips profaned a sacred State motto in the 
 very act of hideous murder. ' Complicity with such a 
 crime could only occur among demons of the most vicious 
 class, and it is unthinkable by any brain untempered by 
 hate and unswayed by excitement that men of established 
 good fame would share with the chief criminal the guilt 
 of a murder so hurtful to public interests, so foul in its 
 motive, so base in its execution. Not far away from the 
 guiltiness of actual complicity with this chief crime of the 
 American continent lies the guiltiness of the slanderers 
 who falsely accused innocent men of aiding and abetting 
 this desperate deed. It is not easy to distinguish be- 
 tween the offense by which the innocent Lincoln lost his 
 valuable life and the offense of the attempt to murder the 
 character and then take the life of the innocent Davis. 
 Much mitigation, however, of the offense against justice 
 at this moment, when a whole land was in a storm of 
 
568 CONFEDERA TE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 passion on account of the enormous crime of Booth, must 
 be admitted. Some cool men were for the hour set 
 aflame. Some fair men were borne out on the wave of 
 public resentment to speak and act unjustly. But it can- 
 not be conceived that many men of reason and reflection 
 joined and remained in the view that such men as Jeffer- 
 son Davis and Clement C. Clay were in any respect ac- 
 cessory to the assassination of Mr. Lincoln. In fact, such 
 men very soon recovered themselves and protected the 
 national honor against the projectors of the shame of an 
 effort to connect President Davis and other Confederate 
 leaders with the assassin and his guilt. Soon after his 
 arrest Mr. Davis was shown the proclamation of Andrew 
 Johnson, accusing him of being accessory to the murder 
 of President Lincoln, and he at once said to the United 
 -States officer who had him in charge, " There is one man 
 who knows that this proclamation is false, and he is the 
 man who signed it, for he knows that I preferred Presi- 
 dent Lincoln to himself. " President Davis again said in 
 referring to one very important bearing of the assassina- 
 tion, that " but for the untimely death of Mr. Lincoln the 
 agreement between Generals Sherman and Johnston 
 would have been ratified and the wounds inflicted on civil 
 liberty by the reconstruction measures might not have 
 left their shameful scars on the United States. " In small 
 atonement for this gross blunder the accusation was soon 
 abandoned. 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 The Confederate States of America soon ceased icy 
 exist. The overthrow and disbanding of its armies 
 destroyed its belligerency; its civil authority becoming 
 scattered and powerless could not operate, and therefore 
 its position as a government de facto became untenable ;. 
 what it still was de jure on account of the demands of Con- 
 stitutional law was practically determined by the neces- 
 sary resort to State action for the abrogation of the 
 secession ordinances, also to State consent to the Con- 
 stitutional amendments then proposed. Thus it was dis- 
 solved by war and by the action of the States which had 
 formed it. The Confederacy had won the encomium of 
 eminent publicists as having the best form of Constitutional 
 government the world ever saw. Its administration had 
 been able, humane, and considerate of the common wel^ 
 fare. Its leaders were among the most intellectual, cult- 
 ured and patriotic of mankind. Its people enjoyed the 
 highest civilization, and its soldiers were as brave as 
 any legions ever led in patriotic war. It now ceased to 
 have political existence, but remaining as a memory of 
 noble things; well deserving the esteem which great 
 nations gave it, and the fame which history preserves. 
 
 The course to be pursued in restoring all the States to 
 their true relations in the Union was indicated by the 
 Constitution of the United States, and this method was 
 so obvious to the Southern seceded States that they pro- 
 ceeded at once to resume their practical duties which the 
 Union under the Constitution required. Unfortunately, a 
 theory of Reconstruction was adopted by Congress, in 
 the place of Restoration, which led to consequences, 
 deplored by the best citizens of the whole country.. 
 
 569 
 
-570 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 This history, however, closes without entering upon the 
 period of Reconstruction. It concludes in concurrence 
 with the familiar encomium on the Confederate govern- 
 ment by an Englishman of distinction : 
 
 " No nation ever rose so white and fair, 
 None fell so pure of crime." 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL 
 
 571 
 
OFFICERS OF CIVIL AND MILITARY 
 ORGANIZATIONS. 
 
 Jefferson Davis was born June 3, 1808, in that portion 
 of Christian county, Kentucky, which was afterwards set 
 off as Todd county. His grandfather was a colonist from 
 Wales, living in Virginia and Maryland, and rendering 
 important public service to those southern colonies. His 
 father, Samuel Emory Davis, and his uncles, were all 
 Revolutionary soldiers in 1776. Samuel Davis served 
 during the Revolution partly with Georgia cavalry and 
 was also in the siege of Savannah as an ofi&cer in the 
 infantry. He is described as a young officer of gentle 
 and engaging address, as well as remarkable daring in 
 battle. Three brothers of Jefferson Davis, all older than 
 himself, fought in the war of 1812, two of them serving 
 directly with Andrew Jackson, and gaining from that 
 great soldier special mention of their gallantry in the 
 battle of New Orleans. 
 
 Samuel Davis, after the Revolution removed to Ken- 
 tucky, resided there a few years and then changed his 
 home to Wilkinson county, Mississippi. Jefferson Davis 
 received his academic education in early boyhood at 
 home, and was then sent to Transylvania university in 
 Kentucky, where he remained until 1824, the sixteenth 
 year of his age. During that year he was appointed by 
 President Monroe to West Point military academy as a 
 cadet. A class-mate at West Point said of him, "he was 
 distinguished in his corps for manly bearing and high- 
 toned and lofty character. His figure was very soldier- 
 like and rather robust ; his step springy, resembling the 
 tread of an Indian 'brave' on the war-path." He was 
 graduated June, 1828, at twenty years of age, assigned 
 
 573 
 
574 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 at once to the First infantry and commissioned on the 
 same day brevet second-lieutenant and second-lieutenant. 
 His first active service in the United States army was at 
 posts in the North-west from 1828 to 1833. The Black- 
 hawk war occurring in 1 831, his regiment was engaged in 
 several of its battles, in one of which the Indian chieftain, 
 Blackhawk, was captured and placed in the charge of 
 Lieutenant Davis; and it is stated that the heart of the 
 Indian captive was won by the kind treatment he re- 
 ceived from the young officer who held him prisoner. In 
 1833, March 4th, Lieutenant Davis was transferred to a 
 new regiment called the First Dragoons, with promotion 
 to the rank of first-lieutenant, and was appointed adju- 
 tant. For about two years following this promotion he 
 had active service in various encounters with the Paw- 
 nees, Comanches and other tribes. 
 
 His sudden and surprising resignation occurred June 
 30, 1835, with an immediate entrance upon the duties of 
 civil life. His uncle and other attached friends were 
 averse to his continuance in military life, believing that 
 he was unusually qualified to achieve distinction in a 
 civil career. For some time he hesitated and then 
 yielded to their wishes. Perhaps also the attractions of 
 Miss Sallie Knox Taylor, daughter of Zachary Taylor, 
 commanding the First infantry, to whom, he became 
 affianced, contributed to the decision. The marriage 
 between them has been often spoken of inaccurately as 
 an elopement, but it was solemnized at the house of the 
 bride's aunt, near Louisville, Kentucky. Mr. Davis now 
 became a cotton planter in Warren county at the age of 
 twenty-seven, and while engaging successfully in this 
 pursuit he devoted much of his time to studies that would 
 prepare him for public life. His first appearance in 
 political strife on a general field was in the gubernatorial 
 canvass of 1843. He was sent as a delegate to the Dem- 
 ocratic convention of that year and made such impressions 
 by his speeches as to cause a demand for his services on the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 575 
 
 hustings. In 1844 his abilities were again in requisition 
 as an elector for Polk and Dallas. In this canvass he 
 took a firm position for strict construction, the protection 
 of States from Federal encroachment, and incidentally 
 advocated the annexation of Texas. The reputation 
 which he made during this year as a statesman of the 
 State rights school bore him into the Congfress of the 
 United States as the representative of Mississippi from 
 his congressional district. Mr. Davis took his seat in 
 Congress December 8, 1845, at a period when certain 
 great questions were in issue, and with only a brief and 
 commendable delay, took a foremost place in the discus- 
 sions. The Oregon question, the tariff, the Texas ques- 
 tion, were all exciting issues. It is especially noticeable 
 in view of his after life that in these debates he evinced 
 a devotion to the union and glory of his country in elo- 
 quent speeches, and in a consistent line of votes favorable 
 to his country's growth in greatness. One of his earliest 
 efforts in Congress was to convert certain forts into 
 schools of instruction for the military of the States. His 
 support of the "war policy," as the Texas annexation 
 measure was sometimes designated, was ardent and un- 
 wavering, in the midst of which he was elected colonel of 
 the First Mississippi regiment of riflemen. His decision 
 to re-enter military life was quickly carried into effect by 
 resignation of his place in Congress June, 1846, and the 
 joining of his regiment at New Orleans, which he con- 
 ducted to the army of General Taylor on the Rio Grande. 
 He had succeeded in arming his regiment with percussion 
 rifles, prepared a manual and tactics for the new arm, 
 drilled his officers and men diligently in its use, and thus 
 added to Taylor's force perhaps the most effective regi- 
 ment in his little army. He led his well disciplined com- 
 mand in a gallant and successful charge at Monterey, 
 September 21, 1846, winning a brilliant victory in the 
 assault on Fort Teneria. For several days afterwards his 
 
576 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 regiment, united with Tennesseeans, drove the Mexicans 
 from their redoubts with such gallantry that their leader 
 won the admiration and confidence of the entire army. 
 At Buena Vista the riflemen and Indiana volunteers 
 under Davis evidently turned the course of battle into 
 victory for the Americans by a bold charge under heavy 
 fire against a larger body of Mexicans. It was immedi- 
 ately on this brilliant success that a fresh brigade of Mex- 
 ican lancers advanced against the Mississippi regiment 
 in full gallop and were repulsed by the formation of the 
 line in the shape of the V, the flanks resting on 
 ravines, thus exposing the lancers to a converging fire. 
 Once more on that day the same regiment, now reduced 
 in numbers by death and wounds, attacked and broke the 
 Mexican right. During this last charge Colonel Davis 
 was severely wounded, but remained on the field until 
 the victory was won. General Taylor's dispatch of 
 March 6, 1847, makes special complimentary mention of 
 the courage, coolness and successful service of Colonel 
 Davis and his command. The Mississippi regiment 
 served out its term of enlistment, and was ordered home 
 in July, 1847. President Polk appointed Colonel Davis 
 brigadier-general, but he declined the commission on the 
 ground that that appointment was unconstitutional. 
 
 In August, 1847, the governor of Mississippi appointed 
 Mr. Jefferson Davis to the vacancy in the United States 
 Senate caused by the death of Senator Speight, and he took 
 his seat December 6, 1847. The legislature elected him 
 in January for the remainder of the term, and subse- 
 quently he was re-elected for a full term. His senatorial 
 career, beginning in December, 1847, extended over the 
 eventful period of 1849 and 1850, in which the country was 
 violently agitated by the questions arising on the disposi- 
 tion of the common territory, and into which the subject 
 of slavery was forcibly injected. The compromise 
 measures of 1850 proposed by Mr. Clay, and the plan of 
 President Taylor's administration, were both designed 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 577 
 
 to settle the dangerous controversy, while extreme 
 radicals opposed all compromise and denounced every 
 measure that favored slavery in any respect. Senator 
 Davis advocated the division of the western territory by 
 an extension of the Missouri Compromise line to the 
 Pacific ocean,, because it had been once accepted as a set- 
 tlement of the sectional question. A majority refused 
 this mode of settlement. On this proposition to adhere 
 to the old Missouri Compromise line of settlement the vote 
 in the Senate was 24 yeas and 32 nays. All the yeas were 
 cast by Southern senators. All nays were by Northern 
 senators except Kentucky one, Missouri one and Del- 
 aware two. Mr. Davis thought that the political line 
 of 36° 30' had been at first objectionable on account of 
 its establishing a geographical division of sectional inter- 
 ests, and was an assumption by Congress of a function 
 not delegated to it, but the act had received such recog- 
 nition through quasi-ratifications by the people of the 
 States as to give it a value it did not originally possess. 
 "Pacification had been the fruit borne by the tree, and 
 it should not have been recklessly hewn down and cast 
 in the fire." He regarded this destruction of the Mis- 
 souri Compromise line in 1849-50 by Northern votes in 
 Congress as dangerous to the peace of the country. In 
 his opinion at that time the theory of popular sovereignty 
 in the territories "was good enough in itself, and as an 
 abstract proposition could not be gainsaid," but its prac- 
 tical operation, he feared, would introduce fierce territo- 
 rial strife. He now saw very little in the compromise 
 legislation of 1850 favorable to the Southern States. 
 According to his view it "bore the impress of that sec- 
 tional spirit so widely at variance with the general pur- 
 poses of the Union and destructive of the harmony and 
 mutual benefit which the Constitution was intended to 
 secure." He did not believe the Northern States would 
 respect any of its provisions which conflicted with their 
 views and interests. His attitude, however, toward the 
 1-37 
 
578 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 measures of Mr. Clay was not positively hostile, though 
 it was emphatically distrustful. But during the perilous 
 discussions of those times Mr. Davis did not align him- 
 self with any disunionists North or South. He says for 
 himself, "My devotion to the Union of our fathers had 
 been so often and so publicly declared ; I had on the floor 
 of the Senate so defiantly challenged any question of my 
 fidelity to it; my services, civil and military, had now 
 extended through so long a period and were so generally 
 known, that I felt quite assured that no whisperings of 
 envy or ill-will could lead the people of Mississippi to be- 
 lieve that I had dishonored their trust by using the power 
 they had conferred on me to destroy the government to 
 which I was accredited. Then, as afterward, I regarded 
 the separation of the States as a great, though not the 
 greater evil." The votes and speeches of Mr. Davis 
 accorded with the instruction of the Mississippi legisla- 
 ture, and his public record is entirely consistent with this 
 avowal of his devotion to the whole country and his 
 patriotic desire to preserve it from the evils of fanaticism. 
 Reference to this Union sentiment is not made' in this 
 sketch or elsewhere in this general work as apologetic in 
 its bearings. But it is in rebuke of those careless or 
 vicious statements often made against Mr. Davis and 
 other Confederate leaders that they were for many years 
 engaged in a conspiracy to break up the Union. 
 
 Senator Davis entered upon his new and full term as 
 senator from Mississippi March 4, 1851, from which date 
 there were before him six years of honor in the position 
 he preferred to all others. There was a strong probabil- 
 ity also that if living he would be continued in the Sen- 
 ate, since the Southern States were accustomed to the 
 retaining of their eminent men in office. No man had 
 less reason than himself for conspiracy against the govern- 
 ment. With this advantage and under the influence of 
 strongly conservative feeling he canvassed the State of 
 Mississippi in 1851, bravely advocating the policy of de- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY, 579 
 
 termined resistance to sectional aggressions, and insisting 
 that the country should be defended from the perils of Con- 
 gressional usurpation. His argument was that rever- 
 ence for the constitutional reservations of power would 
 alone save the Union, and upon this view he taught that 
 statesmen who revered the Constitution most, loved the 
 Union best. The overwhelming sentiment of Mississippi 
 that year was to accept the compromise measures of 1850 
 as a finality, and consequently the State rights party 
 which had been organized upon a vague platform propos- 
 ing to devise some undefined method of securing guaran- 
 tees against sectional usurpations, was defeated. Missis- 
 sippi accordingly joined the other Southern States in 
 acquiescence with the settlement of 1850 "as a finality." 
 The election for governor of the State was to occur 
 later in the same year. Governor Quitman had been 
 nominated for re-election, but his political antecedents so 
 decidedly committed him to disunion as to imperil his 
 success. Therefore he withdrew from the nomination, 
 and Senator Davis was called on by the executive com- 
 mittee to take his place, because his conservative record 
 accorded more nearly than Governor Quitman's with the 
 recent ballot of the people. It was only six weeks to the 
 day of the election, the State rights party had been 
 lately beaten by a majority of over 7,000 votes, Davis was 
 at that time too sick to leave home, and acceptance of 
 the nomination required his resignation of the high office 
 he then held secure for nearly six years. Nevertheless 
 he accepted the trust, resigned the senatorial office and 
 was defeated by less than one thousand votes. Mr. 
 Davis retired for a short time to private life, from which 
 he was called by President Pierce, who had been elected 
 to the presidency in 1852. At first the tender of a place 
 in the cabinet of the new President was declined, but on 
 further consideration he accepted the office of secretary 
 of war, Mr. Davis had ably supported Pierce in the race 
 of the previous year upon the platform which emphasized 
 
580 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 beyond all else the finality of the compromise measures, 
 and the cessation of sectional hostilities. He was there- 
 fore in this as in other respects in complete agreement 
 with the President from the beginning to the closing of 
 his administration. The duties of the war ofiSce were 
 discharged with characteristic energy and ability, and at 
 its close his portrait was added to others of eminent men 
 who had enjoyed the same distinction, and it remains sus- 
 pended in its proper position to this day. A few years 
 later the friendly and confiding letter of the President to 
 Mr. Davis expressed his painful apprehension concerning 
 the Southern movement for secession, accompanied 
 with the kindest expressions of regard for his former able 
 associate in the executive department of government. 
 
 Mr. Davis went now from the cabinet of President 
 Pierce, March 4, 1857, to re-enter the United States Sen- 
 ate by the election of the legislature of Mississippi. He 
 was there assigned to the chairmanship of the committee 
 on military affairs, opposed the French spoliation meas- 
 ures, advocated the Southern Pacific railroad bill, and 
 antagonized Senator Douglas on the question of popular 
 or "squatter" sovereignty in the territories, while on 
 the other hand he disputed the claim set up by the Pree- 
 soilers of power in Congress to legislate against those ter- 
 ritorial domestic institutions which were not in conflict 
 with the Constitution. During the Kansas troubles he 
 aligned himself with those who endeavored to prevent 
 the dangerous hostilities which the opening of that section 
 to occupation had produced, and when the settlement of 
 1858 was made by the passage of the conference Kansas- 
 Nebraska bill, he wrote hopefully to the people of Missis- 
 sippi that it was "the triumph of all for which he had 
 contended." At that moment he believed that the dan- 
 ger of sectional discord was over, that peace would reign, 
 and the Union be saved through the policy pursued by the 
 Buchanan administration. From this date, 1859, he was 
 nationally acknowledged as a statesman in counsel, a 
 
CONFEDERA TE MILITARY HISTORY 581 
 
 leader of the people, ranking among the most eminent 
 living Americans. 
 
 With this standing among the counselors of the gov- 
 ernment, Senator Davis endeavored in the beginning of 
 i860 to lay the foundation for a policy which would pre- 
 vent sectional agitation and unite ^inseparably all the 
 States in friendly union. This policy was defined in a 
 series of seven resolutions introduced by him in 
 the Senate February 2, i860, which were debated 
 three months and adopted in May by a majority 
 of that body as the sense of the Senate of the 
 United States upon the relation of the general govern- 
 ment to the States and territories. They were opposed 
 en masse by senators who were allied with the new sec- 
 tional policy upon which the presidential campaign of 
 that year was projected. In the great conflict of that 
 year he was mentioned extensively as a statesman suit- 
 able for the presidency, but it was fully announced that 
 he did not desire the nomination. Regretting the breach 
 which occurred at Charleston in his party, he sought to 
 reconcile the factions, and failing in that, endeavored to 
 gain the consent of Douglas and Breckinridge to with- 
 draw their names in order that union might be secured 
 upon some third person. On the election of Mr. Lincoln 
 he sought with others who were alarmed by the situation 
 some remedy other than that of immediate and separate 
 State secession. He was appointed a member of the 
 Senate committee of Thirteen and was willing to accept 
 the Crittenden resolutions as a compromise if they could 
 have the sincere support of Northern senators. His 
 speeches in the Senate were distinguished for their frank- 
 ness in portraying the dangers of ^sectionalism, but 
 through the debates of that session he was careful to utter 
 no words which could produce irritation. Mr. Stephens 
 says that Mr. Davis indicated no desire to break up the 
 Union. Mr.^Clay, of Alabama, said, "* Mr. Davis did not 
 take an active part in planning or hastening secession. 
 
582 CONFEDERA TE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 I think he only regretfully consented to it as a political 
 necessity for the preservation of popular and State rights 
 which were seriously threatened by the triumph of a sec- 
 tional party who were pledged to make war upon them. 
 I know that some leading men and even Mississippians 
 thought him too moderate and backward, and found fault 
 with him for not taking a leading part in secession. ' ' 
 Mr. Buchanan sent for him on account of his known 
 conservatism to secure his advice as to the safe course 
 which the administration should pursue, and he promptly 
 complied with the summons. Another fact bearing 
 forcibly on his position while the States were preparing 
 to secede is the meeting of Mississippi congressional del- 
 egation at Jackson, called together by the governor, in 
 which the course of their State was the subject of confer- 
 ence. " Mr. Davis with only one other in that conference 
 opposed immediate and separate State action, declaring 
 himself opposed to secession as long as the hope of a 
 peaceable remedy remained." After the majority de- 
 cided on separate State secession Mr. Davis declared he 
 would stand by whatever action the Mississippi conven- 
 tion would take, but several members in that conference 
 were dissatisfied with his course, suspecting that he was at 
 heart against secession, and desired delay in order to pre- 
 vent it. The State convention adopted the ordinance of 
 secession January 9, 1861, and immediately after re- 
 ceiving the official notice Mr. Davis made an exquisitely 
 appropriate and pathetic address to the Senate, taking 
 leave of it in compliance with the action of his State, 
 which he fully justified. " I do think, " said he, " she has 
 justifiable cause, and I approve of her act. I conferred 
 with her people before that act was taken, counselled 
 them that if the state of things which they apprehended 
 should exist when their convention met, they should take 
 the action which they have now adopted." " I find in 
 myself perhaps a type of the general feeling of my con- 
 stituents toward yours. I am sure I feel no hostility 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 583 
 
 toward you, Senators of the North. I am sure there is 
 not one of you, whatever sharp discussion there may 
 have been between us, to whom I cannot say in the pres- 
 ence of my God, I wish you well, and such I am sure is the 
 feeling of the people whom I represent toward those whom 
 you represent. * * * i carry with me no hostile remem- 
 brance. Whatever offense I have given which has not 
 been redressed or for which satisfaction has not been 
 demanded, I have. Senators, in this hour of our parting, 
 to offer you my apology for any pain which in the heat of 
 discussion I have inflicted. I go hence unincumbered by 
 the remembrance of any injury received, and having 
 discharged the duty of making the only reparation in my 
 power for any injury offered, Mr. President and Senators, 
 having made the announcement which the occasion 
 seemed to me to require, it only remains for me to bid you a 
 final adieu. ' ' With these fitly spoken words, uttered with 
 the grace of manner for which the accomplished orator was 
 distinguished, and with a tenderness in tone produced by 
 the occasion, the Senator vacated the seat which he had 
 honored and stepped away from a position of commanding 
 dignity and power sufficient to gratify his ambition. It 
 must be seen that the sacrifice was great. Before him 
 the experiment of secession to be tried, according to his 
 expressed belief, alone by bloody war — around him, as 
 his parting words fell from his lips, the associations of a 
 nobly patriotic life rise up and engage his thought — 
 within him a consciousness of rectitude in present motive, 
 and magnanimity in feeling; while a record ineffaceable 
 by any power attested the fidelity of his past life to the 
 general welfare of his country. The change of all con- 
 ditions became peculiarly and specially great as to him, 
 because even contrary to his wishes he was destined to 
 become the head and front of the secession movement. 
 His virtues would be forgotten and his name maligned 
 through the spite and prejudice not only of the ignorant 
 masses, but of prominent men of warped intelligence. 
 
584 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 He is to be fairly viewed after secession as tlie same 
 man who had justly earned fame in the service of the 
 United States, but whose relations to that country were 
 changed by the act of the State to which he owed 
 allegiance. Surveying him at this crisis in his life we 
 take account of his hereditary virtues, his pride of patri- 
 otic ancestry, his training in the Southern school of 
 thought, feeling and manner, his systematic education 
 to graduation from West Point academy, his associations 
 from childhood to manhood with men of culture and 
 women of refinement. We observe his physical advan- 
 tages — a fine figure, erect and strong — ^in bearing, grace- 
 ful when moving and pleasing in repose; his features 
 clearly classic and betokening firmness, fearlessness and 
 intelligence. Far he was from any hauteur of bearing, 
 and free from the supposed superciliousness of the mis- 
 understood Southern aristocracy. We see his mind culti- 
 vated and fruitful by reason of native power, early edu- 
 cation, extensive reading and long communion with great 
 thoughts on affairs of vast importance. He had self 
 command, gained by the discipline of a soldier, which 
 fitted him to command others; certainly also a strong 
 willed nature to that degree where his maturely consid- 
 ered opinion was not lightly deserted, nor his well-formed 
 purpose easily abandoned. He was not the man to 
 desert a cause which he once espoused. He was liable 
 to err by excess of devotion. Such men make mistakes, 
 and the Confederate President was not exempt. The 
 insight of his general character reveals him a conserva- 
 tive patriot, opposing all tendencies to anarchy or mon- 
 archy, faithful to constitutional agreements and supporter 
 of popular liberties ; in his public and private life above 
 reproach ; in religion a devout believer in the Christian 
 faith and living in the communion of his church. Such 
 is the man who had vacated his place as senator from 
 the State of Mississippi. 
 
 Mississippi elected him at once to the command of her 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 585 
 
 State forces, a position he desired, but a few weeks later 
 he was called by election to the Presidency of the Confed- 
 eracy — a responsibility which he had earnestly shunned. 
 Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of 
 America and commander-in-chief of the army and navy, 
 belongs to history, and his career is subject to full and 
 fair treatment by just and intelligent men. The failure 
 of his government to establish itself in permanency by the 
 power of its armies will not be accepted as evidence 
 against his own right to be reverenced, except by such 
 persons as those who regard the triumphs of superior over 
 inferior force as decisive of merit. Such persons judge 
 men and their causes by an exploded savage theory 
 which subjected the weak to the strong. The feudal 
 system, Russian serfdom, and African slavery in the be- 
 ginning of the horrible slave trade, rested on this basis. 
 Men divested of that prejudice which constricts the reason 
 will not decry the President of the Confederacy because 
 it failed. Not the Southern people alone, but intelligent 
 men of the finer mould of thought and feeling among all 
 nations, are gratified by the cessation of the vituperous 
 language of twenty-five years ago, with which even men 
 of eminence as well as the lower sort declaimed against 
 the exalted man who in public service for a like period 
 of twenty-five years, filling positions in war and peace of 
 great public trust, did not in the least degree betray the 
 confidence which his people had reposed in him. That 
 his career is open to adverse criticism will be conceded by 
 his most reverent friends ; but that his name, now that he 
 is dead, should be made to wear the chains which gen- 
 erous justice broke from about his imprisoned living body, 
 will not be claimed by the present generation of fair- 
 minded Americans. It is reported that Mr. Gladstone 
 said in 1861 of Jefferson Davis that he had "created a 
 nation," while at the same time it was being urged upon 
 England that he was attempting to take a nation's life. 
 Neither statement was exactly true. Mr. Davis had not 
 
586 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 created a nation. He was but the executive head of a 
 republic which the intelligent free people of a number of 
 large and powerful States had created. Nor had he at- 
 tempted the destruction of the United States, for that 
 government remained the same living political organism 
 after secession that it was before. The great English 
 statesman was not a sympathizer with the Southern se- 
 cession, but he saw with clear vision that a nation in fact 
 had come into being whose greatness was reflected in the 
 character of the ruler it had chosen. His administration 
 was not restrained by his antipathies. With the true 
 greatness of his own nature he could esteem the virtues 
 which were conspicuous in the character of such a chieftain 
 of such a people. Jefferson Davis and the people of the 
 Confederacy being inseperable in the reflections of man- 
 kind, the South asks only that he and they shall be judged 
 by honorable men who have the capacities of reason and 
 gentility to render a just judgment. 
 
 His administration of the government of the Confed- 
 erate States must be viewed, as Mr. Stephens justly re- 
 marks, in the light of the extraordinary difficulties which 
 had to be suddenly encountered by a new republic which 
 was attacked at all points in the beginning of its formation. 
 The errors of the administration are not so clearly ob- 
 servable as its wisdom. Possibly certain policies ably 
 proposed by patriotic and capable advocates, but not 
 adopted, might have been more efficacious than others 
 which were pursued. It is conjecture only that a differ- 
 ent policy would have gained the Southern cause. Pos- 
 sibly the offensive policy which was urged upon the Con- 
 federate President in the first months' fighting might 
 have been better than the defensive which he was con- 
 strained to adopt. The financial system was not the best 
 and yet some of its features were adopted or followed by 
 the United States. Conscription was a hard measure, 
 and perhaps the appeal for volunteers would have kept 
 the army full. There were on these and other great 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 587 
 
 problems differences of opinion, but there was rare unity 
 in the Confederate purpose to succeed, and hence the gov- 
 ernment was maintained against forces of men, money 
 and diplomacy leagued against it in such strength as to 
 force the conclusion that after all the Confederate gov- 
 ernment was wonderfully well sustained for the four or 
 more years of its existence. Nearly all the great review- 
 ers of the Confederate civil administration and the opera- 
 tions of its armies agree in the verdict that both depart- 
 ments were well sustained by the intelligent and brave 
 leaders at the head of affairs. The administration policy 
 incurred special opposition at all the points above named, 
 in regard to which President Davis in his writings con- 
 cedes the fidelity and intelligence of his opposers, even 
 admitting that in some instances his policy should have 
 been changed. The difificult and delicate situations in 
 which he was placed by the progress of military events 
 often embarrassed him. His appointments were not al- 
 ways the best that could have been made, and his military 
 suggestions were sometimes faulty because they were 
 given at a distance from the field. But the constantly 
 diminishing resources of his country, through the de- 
 structive agencies that eroded them at every point, caused 
 the collapse of the^-government. President Davis did 
 not publicly disclose any apprehensions of failure even 
 to the last days of the Confederacy. So far as the antag- 
 onists of his government could determine from his open 
 policy he had no thought of peace except in independence. 
 But it is apparent from his actions in the winter of 1864 
 and 1865, especially after his interview with Lee and 
 other officers, that he began to look about him for the 
 way to peace. The commission sent to Canada to meet 
 any parties from the United States who Would counsel 
 peace; his readiness to give audience to even such 
 unauthorized but friendly visitors as Colonel Jacques ; 
 his two interviews with Blair and his letter to Blair to 
 be shown to Lincoln; his appointment of Stephens, 
 
S88 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Campbell and Hunter to meet President Lincoln 
 in an informal conference — all these indicated at 
 the time and now more clearly disclose that the Con- 
 federate President would have consented to peace 
 upon terms that would even subvert his presidency 
 and consign him to private life. The defeat and sur- 
 render of the armies of Lee and Johnston dissolved the 
 Confederate States in fact leaving nothing to be done in 
 law but the abrogation of the ordinances of secession by 
 the States which had erected them. As one result of 
 the fall of the armies the President was made a captive 
 by the military, imprisoned in chains, charged unjustly 
 with crimes for which he demanded trial in vain, and 
 after two years of imprisonment which disgraced his 
 enemies was released on bond. A nolle prosequi was 
 entered in his case in 1869, and thus he was never brought 
 to the trial which he earnestly demanded. 
 
 After this release on bail the ex- President enjoyed an 
 enthusiastic reception at Richmond, Virginia, and then 
 visited Europe. Returning home, he avoided ostentatious 
 display, appearing before the public, however, in oc- 
 casional address and writings. He counseled the South 
 to recover its wasted resources and maintain its prin- 
 ciples. Secession he frankly admitted to be no more 
 possible, but he remained to the last an unyielding opposer 
 of power centralized in the Federal government. Now 
 and then public demonstrations revealed the attachment of 
 the Southern people, especially two occasions in Georgia, 
 one being the unveiling of the Ben Hill statue in Atlanta, 
 and the other an occasion in Macon, Ga. , during the State 
 agricultural fair. These popular demonstrations were 
 of such an imposing character as to evidence the un- 
 diminished attachment of the people to'his personal char- 
 acter, and sympathy for him in his misfortunes. 
 
 The death of the President occurred at New Orleans 
 about one o'clock a. m., December 6, 1889, and the event 
 was announced throughout the Union. The funeral cer- 
 
A. H. STEPHENS 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 589 
 
 emonies in New Orleans were such as comported with the 
 illustrious character of the deceased chieftain, while pub- 
 lic meetings in other cities and towns of the South were 
 held to express the common sorrow, and the flags of 
 State Capitols were dropped to half-mast. Distinguished 
 men pronounced eulogies on his character, and the press 
 universally at the South and generally at the North con- 
 tained extended and laudatory articles on his character. 
 The burial place in New Orleans was selected only as 
 a tempora,ry receptacle, while a general movement was 
 inaugurated for a tomb and monument which resulted in 
 the removal of the body to Richmond, the capitol of 
 the Confederacy. The removal took place by means of a 
 special funeral train from New Orleans to Richmond, pass- 
 ing through several States and stopping at many places to 
 receive the respectful and affectionate tributes bestowed 
 by the people. The scene from the time of the departure 
 from New Orleans to the last rites at Richmond was sing- 
 ular in its nature and sublime in its significance of popular 
 esteem for the memory of the Confederate President. 
 The funeral train moved day and night almost literally 
 in review before the line of people assembled to see it 
 pass. Finally in the presence of many thousands the 
 casket was deposited in the last resting place in the keep- 
 ing of the city which had so long withstood the rude 
 alarms of war under his presidency. 
 
 Alexander Hamilton Stephens, LL. D., Vice-President 
 of the Confederate States — a man eminent in natural 
 abilities, in intellectual training, in statesmanship and 
 moral virtues — grandson of a soldier under Washing- 
 ton — was one of that body of great men who stood firmly by 
 the venture on independence made by the Southern people 
 in 1861. He was bom February 11, 1812, in Georgia, 
 near Crawfordsville, where he is buried, and where a 
 monument erected by the people speaks of his fame. 
 Educated during his early youth in the schools of the 
 
590 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 times, he was graduated in 1832 at the age of twenty years, 
 and was admitted to the bar in 1834. His practice of the 
 profession scarcely opened before he was summoned to 
 enter on the long and distinguished political career which 
 gave his name an exceedingly prominent place in Amer- 
 ican history. After declining political honors and seeking 
 to pursue without interruption a professional life, he was 
 nevertheless forced by his constituency to represent them 
 in political office. His county sent him in 1836 to the 
 State legislature, repeated their selection untilin 1841 
 he positively declined re-election. But in 1842 he was 
 chosen State senator. His record as a State legislator 
 shows him diligent in protecting all common interests, 
 and in advancing the State's material welfare. His ear- 
 liest course in public life at once foreshadowed that career 
 in which he won the title of The Great Commoner. His 
 first entry into the United States Congress occurred in 
 1843, after which he served 16 years with distinction con- 
 stantly increasing until in 1859 he returned to private life 
 by his own choice, with premature congratulations in an 
 address to his constituents on account of what he sup- 
 posed at that time a full settlement of all dangerous 
 questions. He had been a firm advocate of the compro- 
 mise measures of 1850, and having subsequently partic- 
 ipated in the settlement of the Kansas troubles, accepted 
 the result as an end of sectional strife so far as the South 
 was concerned. The presidential campaign of i860 found 
 him an advocate of the election of Stephen A. Douglas, 
 in which he led the electoral ticket for that statesman in 
 Georgia. The election of Mr. Lincoln alarmed him as 
 being a disturbance of the settlement and a menace to 
 the Union, but with ardent devotion to the republic of 
 States under the Constitution, he endeavored to avert 
 secession, proposing to fight the Republican administra- 
 tion inside the Union, and failing there to invoke con- 
 certed separation of all the Southern States. He was 
 elected a member of the Georgia convention of 186 1, and 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 591 
 
 after strenuous effort to delay the passage of an ordi- 
 nance of separate State secession, he yielded when the 
 act was passed and gave his entire energies to maintain 
 the Confederacy. His objections v/ere to the expediency 
 of immediate secession and not to the right of his State 
 to secede. 
 
 The convention wisely chose him as a delegate to the 
 Provisional Congress which had been appointed to 
 assemble at Montgomery, by which body he was unani- 
 mously chosen Vice-President of the Confederate States, 
 an office which constituted him the President of the Con- 
 federate Senate. His talents and commanding influence 
 throughout the South caused his services to be put to 
 immediate use, not only in assisting in the organization 
 of the Confederate government, but in the general effort 
 to induce all Southern States to join those which had al- 
 ready seceded. On this account he was commissioned to 
 treat with Virginia on behalf of the Confederacy and suc- 
 ceeded in gaining that valuable State before its ordinance 
 of secession had been formally ratified by the people. In 
 the formation of the Confederate Constitution his states- 
 manship and profound acquaintance with the principles 
 of government were found to be of great value. That 
 great instrument was an improvement, in his opinion, on 
 the Constitution of the United States, receiving his warm 
 commendation although some features which he had 
 urged were not adopted. He says of the supreme char- 
 ter of the new republic, "The whole document utterly 
 negatives the idea which so many have been active in 
 endeavoring to put in the enduring form of history, that 
 the convention at Montgomery was nothing but a set of 
 ' conspirators ' whose object was the overthrow of the 
 principles of the Constitution of the United States, and 
 the erection of a great ' slave oligarchy ' instead of the 
 free institutions thereby secured and guaranteed. This 
 work of the Montgomery convention, with that of the 
 Constitution for a provisional government, will ever re- 
 
592 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 main not only as a monument of the wisdom, foresight and 
 statesmanship of the men who constituted it, but an ever- 
 lasting refutation of the charges which have been brought 
 against them. ' ' Mr. Stephens fully approved the peace 
 policy proposed by the Confederate government, which 
 was manifested by sending commissioners to Washington 
 without delay Astounded by the treatment these emi- 
 nent gentlemen received, he vigorously denounced the 
 duplicity of Mr. Seward while declaring his opinion that 
 Mr. Lincoln had been persuaded to change his original 
 policy. The attempt to reinforce Sumter, in the light of 
 the deception practiced on the commissioners, was pro- 
 nounced by him "atrocious" and "more than a declaration 
 of war. It was an act of war itself. ' ' From the outset 
 Mr. Stephens favored a vigorous prosecution of all diplo- 
 matic measures, and an active military preparation by the 
 Confederacy. He and Mr. Davis were in happy accord 
 as to the general purpose of the Confederacy so tersely 
 expressed by the Confederate President on the reassem- 
 bling of Congress in April, 1861, "We seek no conquest, 
 no aggrandizement, no concessions from the free States. 
 All we ask is to be let alone — that none shall attempt our 
 subjugations by arms. This we will and must resist to 
 the direst extremity. The moment this pretention is 
 abandoned the sword will drop from our hands, and we 
 shall be ready to enter into treaties of amity and com- 
 merce mutually beneficial. ' ' 
 
 As the war progressed the Vice-President was often 
 called upon to make addresses to the people at critical 
 periods, in all of which he characterized the invasion of 
 the South as an unjust war for conquest and subjugation, 
 "the responsibilities for all its sacrifices of blood and 
 treasure resting on the Washington administration." 
 Frankly declaring that the slavery institution as it ex- 
 isted at the start had its origin in European and American 
 cupidity, and was not an unmitigated evil, he justified 
 the Confederacy in protecting that species of property 
 
Sec. Navy Stephen K. MALLORy. 
 Sec. Treas. Geokoe A Tukmiulsi. 
 hec. State R, M. T. Hi'MKti. 
 Sec. War Leroy Pun-: Walker. 
 
 Sec. State Robert Toombs. 
 rot^riimster Geii. J. H. Reagan. 
 Sec, Treas. C. G. Memmingkr. 
 See. War J. C. Breckinrid<;e. 
 
 Atty,-Gcn. J. R BENjAjifN. 
 Sec. War Jas. A. SedduN" 
 Atty,-Oen. Thos. H. Watts. 
 Sec. War G. W. Kakdoli'h. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 593 
 
 against the assaults of a majority, but did not declare it 
 to be the " corner stone "of the new Republic, as is often 
 quoted against hiin. He held that slavery as a domestic 
 institution under the control of the States was attacked 
 by those who sought to establish the rule that the Fed- 
 eral government had the power to regulate any domes- 
 tic institution of any State. His views regarding the 
 political relations of the Federal and State govern- 
 ments were nearly allied to those of Jefferson, and 
 these views he carried with him in his construction 
 of the Confederate constitution. Believing that lib- 
 erty depended more on law than arms — for he was 
 by nature a civilian, and by learning a jurist — ^he 
 could not agree with others in all war measures adopted 
 at Richmond. Mr. Lincoln's administration was 
 arraigned by him with great severity, because of its utter 
 disregard of all constitutional restraint. So also he ob- 
 jected to any breach of the constitutipn by his own gov-r 
 emment. His opposition to the financial policy, the 
 conscription, the suspension of the habeas corpus, and to 
 other war measures, was very decided, and differences 
 occurred between the Vice-President and the Confederate 
 administration; but his friendly intercourse with Presi- 
 dent Davis and the Cabinet remained to the close of 
 the war. He says, " these differences, however wide 
 and thorough as they were, caused no personal breach 
 between us," a statement which Mr. Davis confirms. It 
 is proper to mention that Mr. Stephens was the defender 
 of President Davis against all malicious attacks as long 
 as he lived. The cruel and vicious charges against 
 Mr. Davis concerning the treatment of prisoners were 
 promptly condemned by him as one of " the boldest and 
 baldest attempted outrages upon the truths of history 
 which has ever been essayed; not less so than the infa- 
 mous attempt to fix upon him and other high officials on 
 the Confederate side the guilt of Mr. Lincoln's assassi- 
 nation. Mr. Stephens very certainly entertained the 
 
 1-38 
 
594 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 idea from the earliest days of secession that a process of 
 disintegration of the old union could occur by the pursuit 
 of a proper policy, and that eventually as he says, "a 
 reorganization of its constituent elements and a new 
 assimilation upon the basis of a new constitution " would 
 result in a more perfect union of the whole. These views 
 met with little favor. Their accomplishment was too 
 distant, too uncertain, too impracticable to suit the times. 
 He was willing at all times to make peace and restore 
 the Union on the basis of the constitution adopted at 
 Montgomery, or simply on the sincere recognition of the 
 absolute sovereignty of the States. But neither of these 
 was admissible as a basis of reunion. As the war went 
 on and Confederate resources diminished to the point 
 of exhaustion, Mr. Stephens began to press with some 
 vehemence upon the administration at Richmond his 
 views as to measures designed to end the carnage of 
 battle. The latter years of the conflict were in the main 
 attended with disasters under which the people of the 
 South were bearing up with stout heart, occasionally 
 relieved by victories on the field and rumors of attempts 
 by a Northern peace party to suspend hostilities. Mr. 
 Stephens was among the foremost in the peace move- 
 ment, but without the least degree manifesting any want 
 of fealty to the Confederacy. It was thought that he 
 and Mr. Lincoln — ^two old and attached friends who held 
 each other in great regard — could they get together and 
 talk over the question confidentially, a basis for peace 
 would be found. The political status at the North in 
 the summer of 1863 seemed to favor an attempt to ap- 
 proach the United States government on the subject as 
 well as to effect an arrangement for resumption of ex- 
 change of prisoners of war. Under these circumstances 
 Mr. Stephens proposed to go in person to Washington 
 and hold a preliminary interview with Mr. Lincoln" that 
 might lead eventually to successful results. " But while 
 this proposition was under discussion the Confederate 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 595 
 
 armies crossed the Potomac and threatened Washington, 
 producing a state of feeling in the cabinet of Mr. Lincoln 
 which seemed to Mr. Stephens to be unfavorable to any 
 negotiations. He was, however, commissioned by Mr. 
 Davis to make the effort to secure exchanges of prisoners, 
 and did so with the result of a prompt refusal by the Fed- 
 eral authorities to receive any commissioner on that 
 subject. 
 
 Mr. Stephens thought in 1864 that the reaction against 
 Mr. Lincoln's war policy was on account of the fear that 
 the so-called war power would become as dangerous to 
 the liberties of the Northern States, and he. entertained 
 the opinion that a proper encouragement given to the 
 peace people throughout the North would result in their 
 political success in the elections of that year, and thus 
 bring into power at Washington a body of men who 
 would treat with the South. "It was our true policy," 
 he writes, " while struggling for our own independence, 
 to use every possible means of impressing upon the minds 
 of the real friends of liberty at the North the truth that 
 if we should be overpowered and put under the heel of 
 centralism that the same fate would await them sooner 
 or later." On this line he sympathized with the resolu- 
 tions passed in March, 1864, by the legislature of Georgia, 
 evidently prepared to strengthen the opposition at the 
 North to the administration of Mr. Lincoln. But the 
 overwhelming re-election of Mr. Lincoln dissipated the 
 hope of adjustment. 
 
 The final effort at negotiation was made through Mr. 
 Stephens and his associate commissioners, Campbell and 
 Hunter, appointed by Mr. Davis, who met Mr. Lincoln 
 and Mr. Seward at Hampton Roads February 3, 1865, in 
 informal and futile conference. Mr. Stephens was chief 
 spokesman in that famous interview, and has given his 
 recollections very fully of all that occurred. He pressed 
 Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward to consent to an armistice 
 with the view of arranging a demand by the United States 
 
596 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 upon the French emperor Maximilian to release Mexico 
 from European control in accordance with the popular 
 " Monroe doctrine." This diversion, he believed, would 
 open the way to a restoration of the Union. Mr. Seward 
 replied that the suggestion was only a "philosophical 
 theory," and Mr. Lincoln said that the disbanding of all 
 armies and the installation of Federal authority every- 
 where was absolutely the preliminary to any cessation of 
 hostilities. Failing in this effort to secure an armistice, 
 Mr. Stephens and the other commissioners requested a 
 statement of conditions upon which the war might end. 
 Would the seceded States be at once related as they were 
 before to the other States under the Constitution? What 
 would be done with the property in slaves? What would 
 be the course of the United States toward the actors in 
 secession? Questions of this character, but not in these 
 precise words, were answered by saying that all armed 
 resistance must cease and the government be trusted to 
 do what it thought best. There appears no evidence that 
 Mr. Lincoln wrote the word "Union" on a paper and 
 said that Mr. Stephens could write under it what he would, 
 and there is no probability that anything so silly, impotent 
 and unwise was done by the sagacious President of 
 the United States. There was no promise of payment for 
 slave property, but only a suggestion by Mr. Lincoln 
 that he himself would favor it, although his views in that 
 regard were well known to be entirely inutile. Thus 
 the conference failed as to any beneficial result. 
 
 Mr. Stephens considered the Southern cause hopeless 
 after returning from the Hampton Roads conference, and 
 finding the administration resolved on defending Rich- 
 mond to the last, he left Richmond for his home February 
 9th, without any ill-humor with Mr. Davis or any purpose 
 to oppose the policy adopted by the cabinet, and re- 
 mained in retirement until his arrest on the nth of May. 
 He was confined as a prisoner for five months at Fort 
 Warren, which he endured with fortitude and without 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 697 
 
 yielding up his convictions. His release by parole oc- 
 curred in October, 1865, and on the following February 
 the Georgia legislature elected him United States senator, 
 but Congress was now treating Georgia as a State out of 
 the Union, in subversion of the Presidential proclamation 
 of restoration and he was therefore refused a seat. Later, 
 when the reconstruction era was happily ended, he was 
 elected representative to Congress, in which he took his 
 seat and served with unimpaired ability. In the year 
 1882 he was elected governor of Georgia, and during his 
 term was taken sick at Savannah, where he died March 4, 
 1883. Extraordinary funeral honors were paid him at 
 the capital and in the State generally, and his memory is 
 cherished warmly as one of the great men of his times. 
 
 Robert Toombs, first secretary of state of the Confed- 
 erate States, was bom in Wilkes county, Ga., July 2, 
 1810. His grandfather fought with Braddock, and his 
 father commanded a Virginia regiment under Washing- 
 ton. He was a student in Franklin college, Georgia, and 
 was graduated at Union college. New York, in 1828, 
 studied law at the university of Virginia, and was ad- 
 mitted to the bar in 1830. In 1837 he was a captain of 
 militia in the Creek war, and on his return home was 
 elected to the legislature by the Whigs, of whom he be- 
 came a leader. He was returned in 1839, i84°> 1842 and 
 1843. In 1844 he was elected to Congress, where he 
 served eight years in the lower house. Becoming an 
 ardent advocate of the compromise measure of 1850, he 
 was elected by the Constitutional Union party in 1851 to 
 the United States Senate. In this body he remained, 
 strenuously defending State rights, until he left Con- 
 gress in 1 86 1. He earnestly advocated disunion after the 
 election of Lincoln, and was elected by the Georgia con- 
 vention to the Congress of the Southern States at Mont- 
 gomery, He accepted the portfolio of State under Presi- 
 dent Davis, on the organization of the Provisional govern- 
 
598 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 ment, biit soon resigned and went into the field as briga- 
 dier-general. He declined re-election as senator in 1862, 
 and remained in the provisional Confederate army until 
 after the battle of Sharpsburg, in which he did signal serv- 
 ice. In 1864 he was adjutant and inspector-general of a 
 division of Georgia militia. After the surrender he exiled 
 himself from the country and passed two years in Cuba, 
 France and^England, but returned in 1867. The closing 
 years of his life were spent in advocacy of State political 
 reforms and in enforcing the taxation laws of 1874 
 against the railroads. He died December 15, 1885. 
 
 Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter, second secretary 
 of state, was born in Essex county, Virginia, "April 21, 
 1809. He studied in the university of Virginia and then 
 engaged in law practice in his native county. He sat in 
 the Virginia house of delegates elected in 1834, and in 
 1837 entered the national house of representatives, in 
 which he obtained such influence that upon his re-election 
 by his district he was chosen speaker. Here began his 
 close friendship and political alliance with John C. Cal- 
 houn. He was defeated in 1842, re-elected in 1844, and 
 in 1846 was elected United States senator. In the dis- 
 cussion and settlement of the great political questions of 
 that period he bore a prominent part. He favored the 
 annexation of Texas; supported the tariff bill of 1846; 
 opposed the Wilmot proviso ; supported the fugitive slave 
 law; opposed the various measures hostile to slavery; 
 and advocated the admission of Kansas under the Le- 
 compton constitution. As chairman of the finance com- 
 mittee he made a famous report on coinage, favoring a 
 debasement of subsidiary silver, and he framed the tariff 
 of 1857, since known by his name, decreasing duties and 
 revenues. In i860, in the Charleston convention, he re- 
 ceived upon several ballots the vote next highest to that 
 of Stephen A. Douglas for the Presidential nomination. 
 January 11, 1861, he made a last appeal in Congress 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 599 
 
 for the institutions of the South and for peace. When 
 Virginia cast her lot with the Confederacy, Mr. Hunter 
 represented the State in the Provisional Congress, and 
 was soon called to [the secretaryship of state. He 
 served from July, 1861, to March, 1862, and then entered 
 the Confederate Congress as senator from Virginia. He 
 was one of the peace commissioners at the Hampton 
 Roads conference, after which he presided over a war 
 meeting at Richmond. At the close of Ihe war he was 
 arrested and confined for a time, but in 1867 received a 
 pardon from President Johnson. He became treasurer 
 of Virginia in 1877, and in 1880 retired to his farm, where 
 he died July 18, 1887. 
 
 Judah Philip Benjamin, secretary of state of the Con- 
 federacy during the greater part of the existence of the 
 government, was born at St. Croix, West Indies, August 
 II, 181 1, the son of English Jews then en route to Amer- 
 ica. Soon after his birth the family settled at Wilming- 
 ton, N. C. He entered Yale college at fourteen year«s of 
 age and studied three years, then making his home at 
 New Orleans, where he was admitted to the bar in 1832. 
 During his early years as a lawyer he published a digest 
 of Supreme court decisions. In 1840 he was a member 
 of the celebrated law firm of Slidell, Benjamin & Conrad, 
 and in 1845 he sat in the Louisiana constitutional conven- 
 tion. In 1847 he was counsel for the United States com- 
 mission to investigate Spanish land titles in California. 
 On his return he made his residence at Washington and 
 practiced before the United States Supreme court. He 
 was a Presidential elector for Louisiana in 1848, was 
 elected United States senator in 1852, and re-elected in 
 1859. On February 4, 1861, he withdrew from the Senate 
 with his colleague and law partner, John Slidell. Ap- 
 pointed attorney-general under the Provisional govern- 
 ment he served until September, 1 86 1, when he was called 
 to the secretaryship of war. March 18, 1862, he was 
 
600 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 appointed secretary of State, which portfolio he held until 
 the end of the government, when he made his way through 
 Florida to the Bahamas, and thence sailed to England. 
 He was there admitted to the practice of law in 1867; a 
 year later published a treatise on the sale of personal 
 property; was made queen's counsel in 1872; and pres- 
 ently was so famous as to appear solely before the House 
 of Lords and privy council. He was given a farewell 
 banquet in 1883, and died at Paris, May 8, 1884. 
 
 Thomas Hill Watts, of Alabama, served as attorney- 
 general from April 9, 1862, until October i, 1863. He 
 was born in Butler county, Alabama, January 3, 1819. 
 His family was not wealthy, and it was only by the 
 sacrifice of his patrimony that he was enabled to com- 
 plete his education at the university of Virginia, in 1840. 
 He was admitted to practice of the law in 1841, and in 
 1842, 1844 and 1845 ^®1<^ ^ seat in the State legislature. 
 Removing to Montgomery, he was elected from that city 
 to the lower branch of the legislature and subsequently to 
 the senate. In politics he was an earnest Whig and 
 opposed the policy of secession while it was an unreal- 
 ized theory. But when no other course was open, he 
 aided the movement to withdraw Alabama from the union, 
 and was one of the members of the constitutional conven- 
 tion at Montgomery in 1861 which adopted the ordinance 
 of secession. In this body he was chairman of the judi- 
 ciary committee. In the summer of 1861 he organized 
 and became colonel of the Seventeenth Alabama infantry, 
 and served at Pensacola and Corinth. In March, 1862, 
 he was called to Richmond by President Davis to assume 
 the duties of attorney-general of the Confederate States. 
 While holding this office he was elected, in August, 1863, 
 governor of Alabama, and on December ist was inaugu- 
 rated. The Federal occupation terminated this official 
 trust in April, 1865, and Mr. Watts resumed the practice 
 of his profession and rendered great service during the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 601 
 
 reconstruction period. He died at Montgomery in Sep- 
 tember, 1892. 
 
 Thomas Bragg, of North Carolina, second attorney-gen- 
 eral of the Confederate States, was born in Warren county, 
 North Carolina, November 9, 18 10, a brother of General 
 Braxton Bragg. He completed his academic education 
 at a military institute at Norwich, Conn., and then en- 
 tered the profession of law, winning attention at an 
 early age in the Edenton circuit. He represented North- 
 ampton in the assembly of 1842, and was chairman of 
 the house judiciary committee. Becoming a Democratic 
 leader, he was elected governor of North Carolina in 1854 
 and 1856, and United States senator in 1858. The latter 
 office he resigned in 1861 to follow the action of his 
 State. His service as attorney-general extended from 
 November 21, 1861, to March 18, 1862. He then returned 
 to the practice of his profession, his eminence in which 
 enabled him to render to the people great service during 
 the calamitous years following the war. In the impeach- 
 ment trial of Governor Holden he served as one of the 
 counsel for the prosecution. His death occurred at Ral- 
 eigh, January 21, 1872. 
 
 George Davis, of North Carolina, fourth attorney-gen- 
 eral of the Confederate States, was born at Wilmington, 
 March i, 1820; a son of Thomas F. Davis, a prominent 
 citizen , and a grandson of Thomas Davis, distinguished 
 in the Revolutionary struggle. His lineage has been 
 traced back through James Moore, governor of the Cape 
 Fear colony in 1 700, and his wife, the daughter of Sir John 
 Yeomans, to two heroes of the Irish revolution of 1641, 
 Roger Moore, and Sheriff Robert Yeomans, of Bristol. 
 In early youth George Davis manifested the remarkable 
 intellectual qualities which gave him fame, entering the 
 State university at the age of fourteen and graduating 
 with the highest honors in 1838. He then adopted the 
 
602 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 profession of law, in which he speedily achieved prom- 
 inence and a lucrative practice. His reputation as a 
 jurist was rivalled by his fame as an orator, and he en- 
 tered vigorously into the campaigns of that period as a 
 leader of the old Whig party. His State, as is well 
 known, was one of the latest to enter the Confederacy, 
 and before that event occurred he made an earnest 
 effort, as one of the commissioners of North Carolina to 
 the peace congress at Washington, to avert the resort to 
 arms. On his return to Wilmington he made a mem- 
 orable address to his fellow citizens, giving an account 
 of his service, and declaring that he could not accept the 
 basis of conciliation proposed by the congress. On June 
 i8, 1861, he was elected senator for North Carolina in the 
 Confederate Congress, and in 1862 was re-elected. He was 
 appointed attorney-general January 4, 1864, and served 
 in that office until the dissolution of the government. 
 Subsequently he resumed his professional work at Wil- 
 mington, and though he consented to deliver a memorable 
 address in 1876 on political topics, he steadfastly de- 
 clined all political honors which were offered, including 
 the position of chief justice of the Supreme court of the 
 State, tendered him by Governor Vance in 1878. ■ In 1889, 
 though in feeble health, he made his last appearance as an 
 orator to pay a tribute to the memory of his departed 
 chief and dear friend, Mr. Jefferson Davis. He died at 
 Wilmington, February 23, 1896. 
 
 Wade Keys, assistant attorney-general of the Confed- 
 erate States, was born in 1821, at Mooresville, Alabama, 
 where his father. General Keys, was engaged in business 
 as a merchant in addition to his interests as a planter. 
 He was educated at LaGrange college and the university 
 of Virginia and subsequently entered upon the study of 
 law under the preceptorship of Judge Coleman of Athens. 
 He continued his professional studies at Lexington, 
 Kentucky, and after a tour in Europe, made his home 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 603 
 
 and the theatre of his early professional efforts at Talla- 
 hassee, Florida, in 1844. He resided there until 1851, 
 in the meantime publishing two volumes upon legal sub- 
 jects, and then removed to Montgomery, Ala., where he 
 at once took a position of prominence among the lawyers 
 of his native State. In 1853 he was elected by the 
 legislature to the position of chancellor of the southern 
 division of the State, which he held for six years. Upon 
 the organization of the Confederate government at Mont- 
 gomery he was appointed to the department of justice as 
 assistant attorney-general, the duties of which he per- 
 formed with signal ability during the continuance of the 
 government. After the close of hostilities he resumed 
 his legal practice, residing at Montgomery until 1867, 
 and after that date, at Florence, Alabama. 
 
 Christopher Gustavus Memminger, first secretary of 
 the treasury of the Confederate States, was born Jan- 
 uary 7, 1803, in Wurtemberg, Germany. His father had 
 been a captain in the army of the elector of Suabia, and 
 his grandfather an officer in the university of Baben- 
 hausen. He was left an orphan at Charleston at the age 
 of four years and was placed at an asylum in that city 
 until adopted by Thomas Bennett, afterward governor 
 of South Carolina, who reared him as his own child, gave 
 him a collegiate education and a training in law under 
 his own supervision. Thus equipped he entered upon 
 a brilliant career both in law and politics. In 1832, 
 when the question of nullification was uppermost he pub- 
 lished "The Book of Nullification," arraigning that 
 doctrine with pungent satire. From 1836 to 1852 he 
 represented Charleston in the State assembly and was 
 prominent in the financial legislation of that period. 
 In 1854 he made a study of the public school system in 
 the North by personal inspection, and framed and secured 
 the passage of a law providing for an educational tax 
 and the establishment of a public school system in South 
 
604 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Carolina. He was a commissioner to Virginia in 1859 
 to secure the co-operation of that State against the abol- 
 ition movement, was a member of the State convention 
 which passed the ordinance of secession in i860, and as 
 a delegate to the Provisional Congress at Montgomery 
 was chairman of the committee which drafted the con- 
 stitution of the Confederate States. He became secretarj' 
 of the treasury February 21, 1861, and began a wonder- 
 ful series of efforts for the financial relief of the govern- 
 ment. He negotiated an European loan on cotton, 
 devised^the ' ' tax in kind, ' ' and was the author of the plan of 
 issuing notes to be taken up with bonds afterward follow- 
 ed by Secretary Chase. After managing his department 
 with remarkable skill and ability for over three years, 
 he resigned in July, 1864, and after the close of hostilities 
 he returned to his professional pursuits at Charleston, also 
 devoting his energies to the industrial and educational 
 development of the State, being a pioneer in the utiliza- 
 tion of the phosphate wealth of South Carolina, and re- 
 organizing the South Carolina college. His death occurred 
 in 1888. 
 
 George A. Trenholm, who succeeded Mr. Memminger 
 as secretary of the treasury, and held the office until the 
 close of the war, was bom in South Carolina in 1806, and 
 died in Charleston December 10, 1876. He was a prom- 
 inent merchant of the city, and prior to the civil war his 
 firm transacted a large business in cotton, and enjoyed 
 almost unlimited credit abroad. During the war they 
 engaged extensively in blockade running, and were in- 
 terested in many daring attempts to obtain supplies from 
 Nassau. His service as secretary of the treasury covered 
 the period of July 18, 1864, to April, 1865. At the dis- 
 solution of the Confederacy he was taken prisoner and 
 held until October, 1865, when he was pardoned by Pres- 
 ident Johnson. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 605 
 
 Philip Clayton, of Georgia, assistant secretary of the 
 treasury, was born in Athens, Georgia, March 19, 1815, 
 the son of Judge Augustus L. Clayton, an eminent jurist 
 and statesman. He was educated for the profession of 
 law, in which he speedily won substantial honors, also 
 evincing a talent for public affairs which led to important 
 service in the United States government. "For twelve 
 years, in the ante-bellum period, he held the office of 
 second auditor of the United States treasury, and for four 
 years, during the administration of President Buchanan, 
 he served as assistant secretary of the treasury under 
 Secretary Howell Cobb. This position he resigned upon 
 the secession of Georgia in January, 1861, and cast his 
 lot with his native State and the Confederacy. Under the 
 first secretary of the treasury, C. G. Memminger, Mr. 
 Clayton was appointed to the same position which he held 
 under the Federal government, assistant secretary, a po- 
 sition in which his long experience made him invaluable. 
 After the war he acted for several years as teller of the 
 savings bank at Augusta, Georgia. During the admin- 
 istration of General Grant, through the influence of Hon. 
 A. H. Stephens, he was appointed United States consul 
 to Callao, Peru, a position he filled with distinguished 
 honor for three years, until he fell a victim to yellow 
 fever. He died March 22, 1877, and was buried in the 
 English cemetery, Belle Vista, between Callao and Lima. 
 
 Leroy Pope Walker, the first war secretary, was born 
 near Huntsville, Alabama, July 28, 181 7, the son of the 
 distinguished John William Walker, who presided over 
 the convention which framed the constitution of the State. 
 He was admitted to the bar in 1838, was elected brig- 
 adier-general of Alabama militia, and in 1843 was elected 
 to the legislature by Lawrence county. In 1847 he rep- 
 resented Lauderdale county, and was chosen speaker of 
 the House that year and in 1849. At the first election 
 of judges by the people, in 1850, he was chosen judge of 
 
606 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 the Fourth judicial circuit, a position he resigned in 1853 
 to be returned to the legislature, where he ably discussed 
 the measures for internal improvement, the issues of that 
 day, and demonstrating great abilities in the debates in 
 which Alabama's great men, like Judge, Curry, Meek 
 and Cochrane, participated. He then devoted himself 
 to his law practice, and in i860 was a delegate to the 
 Charleston and Baltimore conventions, where he was 
 earnest in opposition to Douglas. He shared the senti- 
 ment of his State regarding secession, and after the 
 ordinance was passed he was appointed by Governor 
 Moore commissioner to urge the cooperation of Tennessee. 
 In February, 1861, he accepted the secretaryship of war 
 in the cabinet of President Davis, and began without 
 delay the discharge of those highly important and delicate 
 duties which confronted him during the first weeks of Mr. 
 Lincoln's administration. With wise foresight he pene- 
 trated the purposes of the Washington administration and 
 announced that he had no confidence in Mr. Seward's 
 "faith as to Sumter." Telegrams between himself 
 and Beauregard, at Charleston, grew frequent, and at the 
 critical moment he directed the demand for the surrender 
 of Sumter. During the excitement at Montgomery 
 which followed the fall of Sumter, several fervid speeches 
 were made, and Judge Walker, participating, spoke im- 
 promptu and in a somewhat boastful spirit. His re- 
 marks, reported at the North with exaggerations, were 
 construed as an official threat to float the Confederate 
 flag over Boston and Philadelphia, and were used as an 
 argument for the enlistment of Federal troops. Judge 
 Walker continued in office until September 21, 1861 — 
 the period of enlistment — and then accepted a commission 
 as brigadier-general, which he resigned in March, 1862. 
 After the war he resumed the practice of law at Hunts- 
 ville, where his death took place, August 22, 1884. His 
 devotion to the principles of the secession movement, 
 fidelity to important trusts, and honorable conduct at all 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 607 
 
 times, have placed his memory firmly in the esteem of 
 his countrymen. 
 
 George Wythe Randolph, second secretary of war, was 
 born at Monticello, Virginia, March lo, 1818, the son of 
 Thomas M. Randolph and his wife Martha, daughter of 
 Thomas Jefferson. At the death of his illustrious grand- 
 father he was sent to school at Cambridge, Mass. Then 
 at thirteen years of age he became a midshipman and 
 served in the United States navy until nineteen years of 
 age, when he entered the university of Virginia. Two 
 years later he embraced the profession of law. At the 
 time of the John Brown raid at Harper's Ferry he or- 
 ganized a company of artillery, which was subsequently 
 maintained and operated against the Federals at the battle 
 of Bethel, early in 1861. He was then commissioned 
 brigadier-general and given a command, which he held 
 until appointed secretary of war. He assumed the duties 
 of that portfolio March 24, 1862, and resigned them on 
 November 1 7 of the same year, then reporting for duty 
 in the field. He was one of the commissioners sent by 
 Virginia~to consult President Lincoln, after his election. 
 He died at Edge Hill, Va., April 10, 1878. 
 
 Gustavus W. Smith, who was acting secretary of war 
 for the brief period between November 17, 1862, and 
 November 21, 1862, was bom in Georgetown, Scott 
 county, Kentucky, January i, 1822. At the age of sixteen 
 years he entered West Point military academy, was grad- 
 uated in 1842, and appointed brevet second-lieutenant in 
 the corps of engineers; promoted second-lieutenant, 1845 ; 
 joined the army in Mexico in 1846. By the death of his 
 captain he was thrown into command of the only com- 
 pany of engineers in the army, and in that rank partici- 
 pated in the siege of Vera Cruz, and the battles of Cerro 
 Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco, Chapultepec and City of 
 Mexico. He was commended by General Scott and bre- 
 
608 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 vetted captain for gallantry at Cerro Gordo. In 1849 he 
 became principal assistant professor of engineering at 
 West Point, a position he resigned December 18, 1854, to 
 make his home at New Orleans. In 1856 he removed to 
 New York city, where in 1858 he was appointed street 
 commissioner. He resigned this position in 1861 to 
 join the Confederate movement. He was appointed 
 major-general and put in command of the second corps 
 of the Confederate army in Virginia, on the transfer of 
 General Beauregard, and was at this time the second 
 officer in rank under General Johnston. He commanded 
 the reserve at Yorktown and the rear guard in the move- 
 ment toward Richmond. When General Johnston was 
 wounded at Seven Pines May 31, 1861, the command of 
 the army devolved upon General Smith, who was sick at 
 the time, though on the field. On the day following the 
 battle of Seven Pines General Smith was relieved by the 
 assignment of General Robert E. Lee to the command 
 of the army of Northern Virginia. This assignment was 
 agreeable to and expected by General Smith, who was 
 physically in an unfit condition to take command of the 
 army. He had done valuable service around Richmond, 
 and presently continued these services under General 
 Beauregard at Charleston, after which he engaged in 
 superintending the Etowah iron works for the armies 
 until in 1864 they were destroyed on Sherman's advance. 
 Governor Brown, of Georgia, having called out a militia 
 force of about 10,000 men exempt from conscription, the 
 command was given to General Smith, with General 
 Toom^bs as adjutant-general, both of these officers having 
 resigned their commissions in the Confederate army. In 
 this service, under General Johnston, he organized the 
 State forces and fought them with very marked efficiency 
 until the surrender. General Smith embarked in civil 
 life after the war in various honorable pursuits and closed 
 his days in New York city, June 23, 1896. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 609 
 
 James Alexander Seddon, of Virginia, was in charge 
 of the war department during a longer period than any 
 other of the secretaries of war. He was born in Stafford 
 county, Virginia, July 13, 1815, of English colonial de- 
 scent. He entered the law school of the university of Vir- 
 ginia at the age of twenty-one years, and took a degree of 
 B. L. , after which he began the practice of the law at Rich- 
 mond. In 1845 he was elected to Congress, where he ad- 
 vocated the principles of free trade. In 1847 he declined 
 a renomination, but in 1849 accepted, and served until 
 185 1. His feeble health then compelled him to retire 
 from political affairs, until the crisis of i860 brought him 
 again into prominence. He was one of the representa- 
 tives of Virginia in the peace convention at Washington in 
 1861, and as a member of the committee on resolutions 
 introduced a minority report recognizing the right of 
 peaceable secession. He became a member of the first 
 Confederate Congress, and served as secretary of war 
 from November 21, 1862, to February 6, 1865. He died 
 in Goochland county, August 19, 1880. 
 
 John Cabell Breckinridge, of Kentucky, secretary of 
 war from February 4, 1865, until the close of the war, 
 was bom at Lexington, Kentucky, January 15, 1821. He 
 was graduated at Center college in 1839, practiced law at 
 Burlington, Iowa, and later at Lexington, was major of the 
 Third regiment Kentucky volunteers in the Mexican war, 
 and sat in the legislature in 1849. In 1851 he was elected 
 to Congress from the Ashland district, and re-elected in 
 1853. He declined the mission to Spain and retired from 
 public life. But in 1856 -he was elected Vice-President of 
 the United States, and before the expiration of his term 
 the legislature elected him to the Senate for six years 
 from March 4, 1861. On October 8, 1861, he issued an 
 address from Bowling Green resigning his senatorship 
 and proclaiming his devotion to the South. He was com- 
 missioned brigadier-general November 2,1861, and given 
 
 I— 39 
 
610 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 a brigade at Bowling Green. At Shiloh he distinguished 
 himself, and covered the retreat of the army there and at 
 Corinth. Having been promoted major-general April 
 14, 1862, he commanded a division at Vicksburg. He 
 defeated the enemy at Baton Rouge, took possession of 
 Port Hudson, marched to the relief of Bragg, and made 
 a desperate charge at Murfreesboro. In 1863 he joined 
 General Joseph E. Johnston in Mississippi, and repelled 
 the enemy at Jackson. Returning to Bragg, he partici- 
 pated in the battle of Chickamauga and commanded a 
 corps at Missionary Ridge. May 15, 1864, he defeated 
 Sigel at New Market, Va., rejoined General Lee, and 
 protected the communications during Sheridan's raid, and 
 did good service at Cold Harbor. Then in conjunction 
 with General Early he discomfited the Federals under 
 Hunter, and made the campaign in Maryland, defeating 
 Wallace at Monocacy. Subsequently he fought in the 
 valley until given command in Southwest Virginia, 
 whence he was called to the cabinet. On the collapse of 
 the government he escaped to Cuba, and visited Canada 
 and Europe before returning home. He then became 
 vice-president of the Lexington and Big Sandy railroad. 
 His death occurred May 17, 1875, at Lexington. 
 
 John Archibald Campbell, assistant secretary of war, 
 was a Georgian by his birth in Washington, Wilkes county, 
 in that State, June 24, 181 1. His grandfather served on 
 the staff of Major-General Greene during the revolution, 
 and his father, Duncan G. Campbell, was a distinguished 
 lawyer, and otherwise prominent in the'public affairs of 
 the State. The education of Judge Campbell was ob- 
 tained through the schools of his State, and in the uni- 
 versity of Georgia, where he was graduated in 1826 with 
 the first honors. He also had two years as a cadet at 
 West Point, but resigned that position on the death of 
 his father in 1828. He was admitted to the bar with 
 Robert Toombs by special act of the legislature of Georgia 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 611 
 
 in 1829, on account of being under twenty-one years of 
 age, and removing to Montgomery, Alabama, entered the 
 practice of the law, with well-deserved success. His abili- 
 ties brought him so rapidly into public favor that in 1836 
 he was elected to the legislature, where he did the State 
 great service as chairman of the Bank committee. But 
 his fame chiefly rose from his career as a jurist, and in 
 consequence he was tendered an appointment as. secretary 
 of legation to Great Britain by Andrew Jackson, also 
 a position as justice of the Supreme court of Alabama 
 by Governor Clay, both of which he declined. Afterward 
 in 1842 he was chosen as a member of the legislature 
 from Mobile, and having taken part in the discussions 
 arising during the years 1849 and 1850 he was appointed 
 to represent his State in the important Southern States 
 convention which met in Nashville, Tennessee. Once 
 again in 1852 he declined appointment to the Supreme 
 court of Alabama, but in 1853 accepted the position of 
 associate justice of the Supreme court of the United 
 States, which was conferred by President Pierce and 
 unanimously confirmed by the Senate. This exalted and 
 responsible position, which he attained at forty-three 
 years of age, was filled by him with great ability. It 
 suited his tastes and talents, withdrawing him from the 
 turmoil of politics and the contentions of practice, while 
 it gave his judicial mind full scope to ascertain legal 
 principles with opportunity to announce them. 
 
 He had been noted as a conservative thinker and actor 
 in all public questions, indisposed to antagonize where 
 compromise could be secured. This disposition led him 
 to hope that secession might be averted by interposition 
 of men who were free from'political entanglements. At 
 the outset he frankly dissented from those who advocated 
 secession, and endeavored to be the mediator between 
 Mr. Seward and the Confederate commissioners in March 
 and April, 1865. With a noble purpose to bring the 
 parties together, to avert war, to stay the progress of 
 
612 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 secession, and to reunite the seceded States with the 
 Union, he sought Mr. Seward and obtained from him 
 such intimations concerning the policy of the new ad- 
 ministration as to induce him to persuade the commis- 
 sioners to trust the government fully. But at the time 
 he was pledging this assurance, the administration was 
 organizing the coercion movement which was precipitated 
 by the descent of reinforcement vessels upon the waters 
 in Charleston harbor. His indignation at being trifled 
 with by Mr. Seward caused him to forward to the sec- 
 retary the able historic exposure which now belongs to 
 the history of the inauguration of the war. 
 
 President Lincoln's immediate call for a large army to 
 invade the South was sufficient confirmation to his mind 
 that he and the South had been dealt with deceitfully by 
 the secretary of state, and that only war could ensue. 
 He therefore resigned his seat on the Supreme bench and 
 on coming home was assigned to humble but not less im- 
 portant duties as Confederate assistant secretary of war, 
 which he discharged from October, 1862, until the Con- 
 federacy dissolved. 
 
 Another interesting and important event in the Confed- 
 erate life of Judge Campbell was his participation in the 
 celebrated Hampton Roads conference in February, 1865. 
 The Hampton Roads conference was brought about at the 
 instance of President Davis, who called the vice-presi- 
 dent, Mr. Stephens, into confidential counsel upon the 
 subject, with the result that Mr. Stephens suggested 
 Judge Campbell as one of three commissioners, and Mr. 
 Davis accepting the suggestion, appointed Mr. Stephens, 
 Judge Campbell and Mr. Hunter to hold an interview 
 with President Lincoln. That remarkable conference 
 occurred between these three commissioners on the part 
 of the South, and President Lincoln with Mr. Seward on 
 the part of the United States. Unfortunately it resulted 
 in no understanding through which hostilities could be 
 suspended for a moment. Mr. Stephens did the principal 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 613 
 
 part of the talking on the part of the South, and to all 
 his remarks Mr. Lincoln simply came back to one state- 
 ment that no armistice could be allowed except upon the 
 condition that all resistance to the Union cease at once. 
 Mr. Lincoln said " with earnestness," says Mr. Stephens, 
 " that he could entertain no proposition for ceasing active 
 military operations which was not based upon a pledge 
 first given for the ultimate restoration of the Union. ' ' 
 Judge Campbell then interposed an inquiry that suppos- 
 ing this pledge be given, what would be the proceedings 
 to re-establish national authority. This pertinent ques- 
 tion was asked in pursuance of an understanding among 
 the Confederate commissioners that if Mr. Lincoln would 
 not consent to any armistice they would endeavor to learn 
 the terms on which the war might cease. But Mr. Sew- 
 ard quickly asked that any reply to this question should 
 be withheld until Mr. Stephens had spoken further on 
 his propositions, and after that was done the secretary 
 controverted Mr. Stephens theory as impracticable, and 
 on a renewal of the question by Judge Campbell, Presi- 
 dent Lincoln's reply was again the same, disband the 
 armies and let the national authorities resume their func- 
 tions. Judge Campbell still insisted that some intima- 
 tions should be given as to the course of the government 
 on the disbanding of the Confederate armies, but the 
 only reply was that the courts would adjust all legal diffi- 
 culties. No pledge would be made that the States would 
 be at once restored to their former relations, or that prop- 
 erty in slaves would be regarded. Judge Campbell ap- 
 pears in this critical interview to have been specially de- 
 sirous of obtaining some intimation from President Lin- 
 coln that the States would be restored to their former re- 
 lations without being subjected to either delay or degrada- 
 tion. His purpose, and possibly that of the whole com- 
 mission, was to secure some terms on which they could 
 make a report that would result in peace and reunion of 
 the States. But the conference ended without a word of 
 
614 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY 
 
 promise beyond the declaration that on the disbttnamg 
 of the armies the national authority would be enforced. 
 Mr. Hunter said to Mr. Seward, "this means unconditional 
 surrender. ' ' 
 
 The Confederate service of Judge Campbell was closed 
 by his arrest by Federal authority and his confinement in 
 Fort Pulaski for several months. After his release he 
 resumed his law practice at New Orleans, 1866, enjoyed 
 the esteem of his people, and died at Baltimore March 
 12, 1889. 
 
 Stephen Russell Mallory, secretary of the navy, was 
 born in Trinidad, West Indies, in 1813, son of Charles 
 Mallory, of Connecticut, who settled at Key West in 
 1820. He was educated at Mobile, and at Nazareth, 
 Penn. , and when nineteen years old was appointed in- 
 spector of customs at Key West. He studied law and was 
 admitted to the bar in 1839; was judge of Monroe county 
 and judge of probate; and in 1845 was appointed collec- 
 tor of customs at Key West. He served as a soldier in 
 the war with the Seminoles. In 1850 he made a success- 
 ful contest against David L. Yulee for the United States 
 senate, was re-elected in 1857 and resigned in 1861. 
 During his senatorship he was offered and declined the 
 ministry to Spain. On February 21, 1861, he was ten- 
 dered by President Davis the position of secretary of the 
 navy, which he accepted and held until the dissolution of 
 the government. In April, 1865, he left Richmond with 
 Mr. Davis and proceeded as far as LaGrange, Georgia, 
 where he was arrested. For ten months he was confined 
 in Fort Lafayette, New York. On his release he re- 
 turned to Pensacola and practiced law until his death, 
 November 9, 1873. 
 
 John Henninger Reagan, postmaster-general of the 
 Confederate States, was born in Sevier county, Tennessee. 
 His early life was laborious and uneventful as a farm 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 615 
 
 boy, woodsman, book-keeper, and boatman, preparing 
 himself well for the active and useful life which followed. 
 Before the age of twenty he went to Natchez, in Missis- 
 sippi, and in 1839 ^^ moved to Texas, where he enlisted 
 in the campaigning against the Indians, and meanwhile 
 engaged in surveying in the Indian country. In 1845 he 
 began the study of law and was licensed to practice in 
 1848. But while a law student he was elected captain of 
 militia and justice of the peace, and in 1847 was chosen to 
 the legislature. He was elected district judge in 1852, in 
 which office he routed the gamblers and roughs of the bor- 
 der towns, thus winning a reputation upon which he was 
 elected to congress, on the democratic ticket, in 1856, 
 and re-elected in 1859. In January, 1861, he was elected 
 as a delegate in the Texas convention, and resigning his 
 seat in Congress took his place in the convention of his 
 State. He was a member of the Provisional Congress, 
 and on March 6, 1861, was appointed by President Davis 
 postmaster-general under the provisional government. 
 To this office he was reappointed in February, 1862, 
 under the permanent government, and was also acting 
 secretary of the treasury in the last months of the Con- 
 federacy. Mr. Reagan was with President Davis at the 
 time of his capture and, being made a prisoner, was con- 
 fined at Fort Warren until October, 1865. On his return 
 he foresaw and advocated a policy in the course of the 
 South toward the negro race, of which he wrote an open 
 letter to the Texas people, which was misunderstood and 
 subjected him to severe criticism. Seeking no position 
 he devoted his time for ten years to his law practice and 
 farming interests. Subsequently called again into pub- 
 lic life he became a member of the Texas constitutional 
 convention of 1875, was then sent continuously to the 
 United States Congress as a representative, until 1887, 
 when he was elected to the Senate of the United States. 
 His course in Congress distinguished him for ability in 
 the details of business, and for the clearness and force 
 
616 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 with which he presented his views on public questions. 
 As the chairman of the important committee on com- 
 merce, he performed signal service to the country for ten 
 years in a department of work for which he was well 
 qualified. Through his especial and intelligent efforts 
 the interstate commerce legislation was put in progress. 
 His senatorial career was characterized also by a service 
 for which his long experience had qualified him, but 
 after about four years in that exalted office he chose to 
 retire from political life and accepted the chairmanship 
 of the Texas railroad commission. Senator Reagan has 
 been remarkably firm in his adherence to the first prin- 
 ciples upon which he and his State embarked upon seces- 
 sion, and equally devoted and tender in his memories of 
 those who shared with him the trials and destiny of the 
 Confederacy. His writings on the subject are valuable 
 contributions to the history of the causes and events of 
 the war, and especially noteworthy is his latest address 
 (to this date) made in June, 1897, before the convention 
 of United Confederate Veterans when in session at Nash- 
 ville, Tennessee. 
 
 General Samuel Cooper, adjutant and inspector general 
 of the Confederate army, was born at Hackensack, New 
 Jersey, June 12, 1798. His father, of the same name, a 
 resident of Duchess county, New York, was an officer of 
 the revolutionary army. General Cooper entered the Uni- 
 ted States military academy at fifteen years of age, and re- 
 ceived his commission as brevet second-lieutenant of ar- 
 tillery in 1815. He obtained full rank of lieutenancy in 
 1817, and soon after the reorganization of the army in 
 1821, became first-lieutenant. In 1828-36 he was aide- 
 de-camp to General Macomb, general in chief, and in 
 1836 was commissioned captain of the Fourth artillery. 
 He was on staff duty at army headquarters as assistant 
 adjutant-general during the Florida war ; was chief of 
 staff to Colonel William J. Worth ; brevetted colonel of 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 617 
 
 the staff for meritorious conduct particularly relating to 
 the prosecution of the Mexican war, and finally in 1852 
 became adjutant-general of the United States army. He 
 held this rank until 1 861, for a short time during this 
 period being secretary of war ad interim. In March, 
 1 86 1, he resigned his commission, and went immediately 
 to Montgomery and tendered his services to President 
 Davis, by whom he was the next day appointed adjutant- 
 general of the Confederate army, of which he was the 
 ranking officer, standing first on the list of generals. 
 After the war he lived in retirement near Alexandria 
 until his death December, 1876. 
 
 Abraham C. Myers, the first quartermaster-general 
 of the Confederate States, was a native of South Caro- 
 lina, but became a citizen of Louisiana by adoption, and 
 married a daughter of General David E. Twiggs, then 
 the Federal commander in Texas, who resigned his com- 
 mission and entered the Confederate service. He was 
 graduated at the United States military academy in 
 1833, and served in the war with Mexico. In the 
 year i860 he held position in the quartermaster's depart- 
 ment of the United States service, with the rank of brevet 
 lieutenant-colonel, and was stationed at New Orleans. 
 On the 28th of January, 1861, he reported to Adjutant- 
 General Samuel Cooper, of the United States army, that 
 the State of Louisiana had taken possession of the public 
 property in the custody of the Federal officers at New 
 Orleans. The State having adopted the ordinance of 
 secession, he on the same date, reported his resignation 
 with a request that the settlement of his accounts be 
 made up as early as possible. He then tendered his serv- 
 ices to the Confederate government at Montgomery, and 
 was appointed quartermaster-general. In this connec- 
 tion Mr. Davis has written: "In organizing the bureaus 
 it was deemed advisable to select for the chief of each, 
 officers possessing special knowledge of the duties to be 
 
618 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 perfonned. The best assurance of that qualification was 
 believed to be service creditably rendered in the several 
 departments of the United States army before resigning 
 from it. Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel A. C. Myers, who 
 had held many important trusts in the United States 
 quartermaster department, was appointed quartermaster- 
 general with the rank of colonel." In this position 
 Colonel Myers had the duty of organizing his department 
 ab initio and providing for all the multifarious demands 
 to be made upon it for clothing, transportation, etc., as 
 the troops were rapidly called into the field. To this 
 task he faithfully and conscientiously applied himself 
 during the period of his service, March 15, 1861, to 
 August 10, 1863. His death occurred at Washington, 
 June 20, 1888. 
 
 Alexander Robert Lawton, who was quartermaster- 
 general during the latter part of the conflict, was born in 
 St. Peter's parish. South Carolina, November 4, 1818, the 
 grandson of an officer of the Continental army. He was 
 graduated at the United States military academy in 1839, 
 and promoted second-lieutenant of the First artillery. 
 Resigning in 1841, he studied law and was graduated 
 by Harvard university. He practiced the profession at 
 Savannah until 1849, then becoming, until 1854, presi- 
 dent of the Augusta and Savannah railroad company. 
 He sat in the legislature of Georgia as a representative 
 in 1855-6 and as a senator in 1859-60. He was the first 
 colonel of the First volunteer Georgia regiment, brigadier- 
 general in command of the military district of Georgia in 
 1861, and served in Virginia in 1862, leading his fine 
 brigade in the battles around Richmond, and subse- 
 quently in the campaign against Pope. Placed in com- 
 mand of a division he was in the thick of the battle of 
 Sharpsburg, where he was so severely wounded as to be 
 disabled for a considerable time. President Davis 
 sought him out especially to take charge of the department 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 619 
 
 of quartermaster-general, and notwithstanding Lawton's 
 earnest request to be returned to the field, the president 
 persisted in appointing him as quartermaster-general. 
 Lawton's judicious and thorough administration fully 
 justified Mr. Davis, notwithstanding the army was de- 
 prived of a valuable general officer. The soldiers exper- 
 ienced an immediate relief in their supplies and the gen- 
 eral transportation was remarkably improved. The one 
 instance of the transportation of Longstreet's corps from 
 the front of Richmond to make the important and victor- 
 ious assault at Chickamauga is noted as one of the most 
 famous achievements of official talent in any department 
 during the Confederate war. General Lawton often 
 sought the privilege of again fighting in the field, btit his 
 important department, in which he had won the grateful 
 regards of the army, required his retention to the close. 
 At the close of hostilities General Lawton resumed at 
 Savannah the law practice in which he had established a 
 high reputation as a clear and profound jurist. His ser- 
 vices as a public officer were also required by the people 
 of his State in resistance to the hurtful schemes of re- 
 construction, and in organizing a good State government. 
 He was a member of the Georgia legislature from 1870 
 to 1875 ; vice president of the Georgia constitutional con- 
 vention of 1877; chairman of the State electoral college 
 of 1876; chairman of the State's delegations to the Dem- 
 ocratic national conventions of 1880 and 1884. In 1885 
 he was nominated minister to Russia, but, as his political 
 disabilities were not removed he urged the withdrawal of 
 the nomination, but soon afterward, in December, all 
 these disabilities by reason of his Confederate service 
 were removed by unanimous vote of Congress, and in 
 April, 1887, he was appointed minister to Austria. On 
 his return from this mission he continued his residence 
 at Savannah until his death in 1896. 
 
620 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Lucius Ballinger Northrup, commissary-general of the 
 Confederacy, was born at Charleston, South Carolina, 
 September 8, 1811. He pursued the career of a soldier, 
 was graduated at West Point in 1829, and was stationed 
 in the West for eight years with rank of second-lieuten- 
 ant. On account of a wound he returned to Charleston 
 on sick leave, and did not resume active service, though 
 during the administration of the war department by 
 Jefferson Davis, under President Pierce, he was re-in- 
 stated and promoted to the rank of captain. This com- 
 mission he was quick to resign at the call of his State, 
 and after the provisional government was organized he 
 accepted the office of commissary-general at the hands of 
 President Davis, his class-mate at West Point. The first 
 and probably the only problem incapable of solution by 
 the Confederacy was the food supply for its armies during 
 protracted war. The importance of rations for an army 
 appears in consideration that an army without food for 
 forty-eight hours becomes incapacitated by physical weak- 
 ness for marching or fighting in organized battle. Mr. 
 Northrup 's commissary department was more onerous to 
 him and important to the Confederacy than the depart- 
 ment of state. The want of arms to fight with was the 
 first felt by the Confederates, for in the beginning the 
 food supply was sufficient and transportation was good. 
 The energies of the new government were therefore 
 directed chiefly to arm the regiments which were crowd- 
 ing to the field, while attention to the even more import- 
 ant matter of rations waited to be awakened by the re- 
 ports from the field that the brave armies were on the 
 verge of starvation. These reports aroused the people 
 as well as the government, and by the usual assistance of 
 captures of stores from General Banks and other involun- 
 tary purveyors for the Confederacy, the Confederate 
 troops were sustained until the wear of railroads and the 
 restriction of production and territory finally caused the 
 most painful straits. The Federal authorities perceived 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 621 
 
 this danger to the Confederate cause and very early- 
 trained their guns upon the sources of food. The free- 
 dom of the negroes was urged because they were supply- 
 ing the Confederate granaries ; the value of Kentucky to 
 the Union was estimated on the fertility of its soil ; the 
 valley of Virginia must be desolated until, according to 
 Sheridan, who organized the barn-burning raids, a crow 
 would perish in crossing its fields; the blockade was 
 worth more than all the armies because it stopped the 
 coming of medicines; the Trans-Mississippi must be 
 severed from the other section on account of its steady 
 outpour of supplies. Thus war was waged upon the com- 
 missariat of the Confederacy, and until that stronghold 
 was carried the armies of the South still maintained their 
 cause. Mr. Northrup met with difficulties which con- 
 fronted him in an increasing force from year to year, the 
 chief of which in the earliest stages was the probably 
 unavoidable lack of systematic concentration and distri- 
 bution, the faulty methods of collection, and a generous 
 but unwise waste. Afterward the causes already men- 
 tioned rapidly broke the department down as a fully 
 efficient factor in gaining the independence of the Con- 
 federacy. Privations to the extremity were endured by 
 the Confederate soldiers, which the commissary depart- 
 ment could not relieve. The charge made by the North- 
 em press with the view of inflaming resentment against 
 the South, as well as to stir the war fever at the North, 
 that he starved the prisoners of war, has been disposed of 
 by abundant reliable testimony and his administration 
 only clearly shows how completely the Confederacy was 
 undone by the exhaustion of its resources. After the fall 
 of Richmond Mr. Northrup retired to North Carolina 
 and engaged in farming, but in July, 1865, he was 
 arrested by the Federal government and confined until 
 November following. Upon liberation from this unjust 
 political imprisonment he resumed his civil career at his 
 residence near Charlotte, gaining a livelihood by farming. 
 
622 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Isaac Munroe St. John, commissary-general of the Con- 
 federate States during the closing days of the conflict, 
 was a native of Augusta, Georgia, born November 19, 
 1827. He took a degree at Yale in 1845, studied law at 
 New York city, and became an editor of the Baltimore 
 Patriot in 1847. Then settling upon the profession of 
 engineering he was engaged in railroad work, which 
 brought him back to Georgia. At the outbreak of the 
 war he entered the engineer corps, and was assigned to 
 duty under General Magruder in Virginia, where he 
 rendered valued service preparing the fortifications to 
 oppose McClellan's first campaign. In May, 1862, he 
 was made major and chief of the mining and nitre 
 bureau, the sole reliance of our armies for gunpowder 
 material. He was promoted through a colonelcy to the 
 rank of brigadier-general, and was made commissary- 
 general in 1865, in which position he established a sys- 
 tem by which the supplies for the army were collected 
 directly from the people and placed in depots for imme- 
 diate transportation. After peace was restored he re- 
 sumed engineering in Kentucky, was chief engineer of 
 the Louisville, Cincinnati and Lexington railroad, built 
 the Short Line to Cincinnati, was city engineer of Louis- 
 ville, and from 18 71 was chief engineer of the Lexington 
 and Big Sandy railroad until his death, which occurred 
 in West Virginia, April 7, 1880. 
 
 Josiah Gorgas, distinguished as chief of ordnance of 
 the Confederate States, was bom in Dauphin county, 
 Pennsylvania, July i, 18 18. He was graduated at West 
 Point as No. 6 in the class of 1841, and was assigned to 
 the ordnance department of the United States army. In 
 1845-46 he was in Europe on leave of absence for the 
 study of his profession in foreign lands, and in the year 
 following his return he went into active service in the 
 Mexican war. March 3, 1847, he was promoted first- lieu- 
 tenant. He served with distinction in the siege of Vera 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 623 
 
 Cruz and was subsequently in charge of the ordnance 
 depot at that point. On the return of peace he served 
 as assistant ordnance officer at various arsenals until 
 placed in command of Mt. Vernon arsenal, Alabama, in 
 1853. In December of that year he was married to the 
 daughter of ex- Governor Gayle, of Mobile. He was 
 promoted captain in 1855, transferred to Kennebec 
 (Maine) arsenal in 1856, commanded the Charleston (S. 
 C.) arsenal until i860, and was then transferred to Penn- 
 sylvania. In the latter year he served as a member of 
 the ordnance board. Resigning in April, 1861, he re- 
 moved with his family to Alabama, and received from 
 President Davis the appointment of chief of ordnance of 
 the Confederate States, then " the most important scien- 
 tific and administrative office in the government. ' ' Fully 
 appreciating the great poverty of the South in this de- 
 partment, he promptly sent an efficient officer to Europe 
 to procure arms, located arsenals, and made immediate 
 preparation for the manufacture of powder and saltpeter, 
 and the development of lead and copper mines, also pre- 
 paring elaborate papers showing the proper distribution 
 of heavy armament for effective defense against invasion. 
 At an early date he insisted upon the use of cotton and 
 tobacco to procure military supplies, and arranged for an 
 effective service by blockade runners. Out of his sug- 
 gestion and practical action grew the bureau of foreign 
 supplies and the mining and nitre bureau. He dis- 
 played remarkable ability in the selection of officials for 
 the work under his control, and impressed all those 
 brought into intercourse with him, as an executive officer 
 of remarkable energy and ability, though his modesty 
 rendered him little known to the general public. " He 
 created the ordnance department out of nothing, ' ' was the 
 brief and comprehensive verdict of General J. E. Johns- 
 ton. After the practical dissolution of the Confederate 
 government at Charlotte, N. C, in the spring of 1865, he 
 returned to Alabama, and promptly turned his activity 
 
624 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 into industrial channels as superintendent of the Briar- 
 field iron works. Soon afterward he was appointed head- 
 master and later vice-chancellor of the University of the 
 South at Sewanee, Tennessee. In 1877 ^^ became pres- 
 ident of the University of Alabama, but after a brief ten- 
 ure was compelled by failing health to resign. The 
 trustees desiring his continued presence, he accepted the 
 office of librarian, and was thus connected with the uni- 
 versity until his death, May 15, 1883. 
 
 Joseph R. Davis, of Mississippi, became lieutenant- 
 colonel Tenth Mississippi infantry April 12, 1861; aide- 
 de-camp to the President, August 31, 1861; brigadier- 
 general September 15, 1862; brigade composed of the 
 Second, Eleventh, Twenty-sixth, Forty-second Missis- 
 sippi regiments of infantry, First Confederate battalion, 
 and Madison Light Artillery, Army of Northern Vir- 
 ginia. He was the son of Isaac Davis, elder brother of 
 Jefferson Davis, a soldier of the war of 181 2; grandson 
 of Samuel Emory Davis, the revolutionary soldier ; and 
 great grandson of Evan Davis, who was prominent in 
 colonial public affairs. General Davis was born in Wil- 
 kinson county. Miss., at Woodside, January 12, 1825, and 
 was educated at Nashville, and at Miami university, 
 Ohio, also being graduated from the law school of that 
 State. He began the practice of law in 1851 and at the 
 same time engaged extensively in farming. In i860 he 
 was elected to the legislature, but notwithstanding this 
 civil position he entered at once into the military service 
 of the Confederate States, as captain of a company from 
 Madison county, soon being promoted lieutenant-colonel 
 of the Tenth Mississippi infantry. While in this position 
 he was requested by President Davis, his uncle, to whom 
 he was greatly attached, to serve on his personal staff 
 with the rank of colonel. After a year of valuable ser- 
 vice in this capacity he was commissioned brigadier-gen- 
 eral. His command was engaged in the battles of Vir- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 625 
 
 ginia and gained special distinction by its fighting 
 at Gettysburg. After the war General Davis returned 
 to the practice of law and resumed in some measure the 
 care of his farming interests. His home was at Biloxi, 
 Miss. , where he died September 15, 1896. 
 
 James Chestnut, Jr., aide-de-camp on the staff of 
 President Davis, was born at Camden, South Carolina, 
 in 18 15. In that State his family had for many years 
 been distinguished for patriotism and lofty character. 
 He received his collegiate education at Princeton, with 
 graduation in 1834, after which he devoted himself to 
 that generous and hospitable life which was character- 
 istic of the ante-bellum period in the South. In 1842 he 
 was first elected to the State legislature, in which he 
 served ten years as a member of the lower house and 
 four years as a State senator, from 1854 to 1858. Dur- 
 ing this period of faithful public service he became widely 
 known as a representative South Carolinian and esteemed 
 for his integrity and capacity in public affairs. Promo- 
 tion to higher trusts naturally followed in 1858, when he 
 was elected to the United States Senate to fill a vacancy 
 in the delegation of the State. In 1859, on account of 
 the aggressive anti-slavery agitation, he tendered his res- 
 ignation to the presiding officer of the Senate, but no 
 action being taken he continued to conscientiously per- 
 form his duty in representation of his State, until South 
 Carolina withdrew from the Union. He was one of the 
 delegates of his State in the Provisional Congress of 
 the Confederate States, and served in that historic body 
 with dignity and ability. Before the bombardment of 
 Fort Sumter, serving as volunteer aide on the stafif of 
 General Beauregard, he and Captain Stephen D. Lee 
 bore to Major Anderson the formal demand to surrender, 
 and again with Beauregard at Manassas he was sent to 
 Richmond about the middle of July to present to the 
 President for consideration the plan of campaign which 
 
 1-40 
 
626 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Beauregard desired to adopt. Subsequently Senator 
 Chestnut, who had served on an intimate footing with 
 Mr. Davis in the United States Congress, was appointed 
 aide-de-camp on the staff of the President, with rank of 
 colonel of cavalry, and he held this position until com- 
 missioned brigadier-general in April, 1864, when he took 
 command of a brigade on the coast of South Carolina. 
 In 1868 he was a delegate to the national Democratic 
 convention. 
 
 John Taylor Wood, aide-de-camp, staff of the Presi- 
 dent, was bom at Fort Snelling, N. W. T., in 1831. His 
 father was Surgeon General Robert C. Wood, of the 
 United States army ; his mother a daughter of President 
 Zachary Taylor and sister of the first wife of President 
 Davis. He entered the United States navy as a midship- 
 man in 1847, served during the Mexican war on the 
 Ohio and Brandywine, and in 1861 was assistant 
 professor of seamanship and gunnery at Annapolis. 
 Resigning his commission, he entered the service of Vir- 
 ginia, and was assigned to duty with the batteries at 
 Evansport and Aquia Creek, blockading the Potomac. 
 He was commissioned lieutenant in the Confederate 
 navy October 4, 1861, and in January following was 
 ordered to the Virginia, then preparing for service. 
 He selected the volunteers for the crew from Magruder's 
 soldiers ; in the two days' fight in Hampton Roads, com- 
 manded the after-pivot gun ; received the surrender of 
 the Congress; and presented Commodore Buchanan's 
 verbal report to President Davis. After the destruction 
 of the Virginia, he was conspicuous as commander of 
 the sharpshooters in the repulse of the Federal fleet at 
 Drewry's Bluff, and subsequently received the appoint- 
 ment to the President's staff, with the rank of colonel of 
 cavalry. He organized numerous boat expeditions 
 against the enemy on Chesapeake bay and tributary 
 waters, and inspected the Confederate water defenses on 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 627 
 
 the seaboard and at Port Hudson and Vicksburg. His 
 most daring exploits were summarized in a " joint reso- 
 lution of thanks to Commander John Taylor Wood and his 
 officers and men, ' ' passed by the Confederate Congress, 
 February 15, 1864, "for the daring and brilliantly ex- 
 ecuted plans which resulted in the capture of the U. S. 
 transport schooner Elmore, on the Potomac river; of 
 the ship Allegheny, and the U. S. gunboats Satel- 
 lite and Reliance; and the U. S. transport schooners 
 Golden Rod, Coquette, and Two Brothers, on the 
 Chesapeake ; and more recently in the capture from under 
 the guns of the enemy's works of the U. S. gunboat Un- 
 derwriter, on the Neuse river, near New Bern, N. C, 
 with the officers and crews of the several vessels brought 
 off as prisoners." He was promoted 'post captain; in 
 August, 1864, commanded the cruiser Tallahassee in 
 a cruise to Halifax and return, capturing thirty vessels ; 
 and in the winter of 1864-5 he was offered but declined 
 the command of the James river squadron. He bore 
 to President Davis the dispatch announcing the with- 
 drawal from Petersburg, and accompanied the President 
 in his journey southward. When Mr. Davis was captured 
 he made his escape, and in company with General Breck- 
 inridge made his way to Florida, sailing thence in an 
 open boat to Cuba. Since the war he has resided at 
 Halifax. 
 
 John Burress Sale, of Mississippi, served as military 
 secretary with rank of colonel of cavalry to General 
 Braxton Bragg, who was assigned to duty at Richmond 
 February 24, 1864, and under the direction of the Presi- 
 dent, was charged with the conduct of military operations 
 in the armies of the Confederate States. Colonel Sale 
 was thus brought into intimate relationship with the 
 President's military staff. He was bom in Amherst 
 county, Virginia, June 7, 1818. His father, an eminent 
 divine, moved to Alabama, and he was educated in the 
 
628 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 college at LaGrange. He read law and was admitted to 
 the bar in 1837, and two years later, at the age of twenty- 
 one years, was chosen judge of probate. In 1845 he re- 
 moved to Aberdeen, Mississippi, and there practiced law 
 until 1 86 1, when he organized a company of ^volunteers, 
 which was assigned to the Twenty-seventh Mississippi 
 regiment, of which he was commissioned major and sub- 
 sequently lieutenant-colonel. He did duty as judge ad- 
 vocate of the army of Tennessee six months, and was 
 then promoted colonel and ordered to report to General 
 Bragg as chief of staff. On his return to Mississippi in 
 1865 he resumed his professional career, and held high 
 rank among the jurists of the South. He died January 
 24, 1876. 
 
 William M. Browne, who rendered efificient service 
 to the Confederate States in the capacity of assistant 
 secretary of state, as well as in the military line of duty, 
 was an Englishman of fine education, who came to 
 America and became a naturalized citizen previous to 
 1 86 1. For a time he edited a daily newspaper at Wash- 
 ington, D. C. , with conspicuous ability. Upon the organ- 
 ization of the Confederate States he espoused the cause 
 of secession, went South, and was appointed aide-de- 
 camp on the staff of the President, with the rank of 
 colonel of cavalry. In the department of organization 
 work he served with fidelity and gained the appreciation 
 and friendship of Mr. Davis. In December, 1864, he was 
 commissioned brigadier-general, in which rank he served 
 in command of a brigade under General H. W. Mercer 
 at the siege of Savannah, Georgia, in the winter of 1864. 
 General Browne had a remarkably attractive personal 
 appearance and a courtly manner, which made all his 
 acquaintances his friends. His acquirements as a scholar 
 also, and his wide information in public affairs, were 
 well-known and valued. After the close of hostilities he 
 engaged in agriculture near Athens, Georgia, at the same 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 629 
 
 time editing and publishing a periodical called " The 
 Farm and Home. ' ' Afterward he was elected professor 
 of history and political economy in the university of 
 Georgia, and he filled this chair with great credit until 
 his death at Macon, Ga., in 1884. 
 
 Robert G. H. Kean, chief of the bureau of war, 
 was bom in Caroline county, Virginia, in October, 
 1828, and was educated at the university of Virginia. 
 He engaged in the practice of law at Lynchburg until 
 April, 1 86 1, when he entered the service of Virginia as a 
 private in the Eleventh regiment of infantry. In Feb- 
 ruary, 1862, he was appointed to the staff of General G. 
 W. Randolph, with the rank of captain, and the duties 
 of assistant adjutant-general. When General Randolph 
 became secretary of war in March, 1862, Mr. Kean was 
 appointed by President Davis chief of the bureau of 
 war, an office in the Confederate war department blend- 
 ing the duties of chief clerk and assistant secretary, 
 which he held until the war ended, his final service 
 being rendered at Charlotte, N. C. Since the close of 
 the war he has been occupied with the practice of his 
 profession at Lynchburg. 
 
 John M. Brooke, chief of the bureau of ordnance and 
 hydrography, navy department, was bom at Tampa Bay, 
 Florida, in 1826. He became a midshipman in the 
 United States navy in 1841, was graduated at Annapolis 
 in 1847, and from 1851 to 1853 was stationed at the naval 
 observatory, where he invented the deep-sea sounding 
 lead, an achievement which brought to him the gold 
 medal of science of the university of Berlin. He served 
 subsequently with Ringgold's exploring expedition in 
 the Pacific ocean, and engaged in marine surveys off the 
 coast of Japan. In 1861 he resigned his commission as 
 lieutenant, was commissioned lieutenant, C. S. N., and 
 assigned to the ordnance department. He submitted 
 
630 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 drawings to Secretary Mallory of an iron-clad war vessel 
 with submerged ends, and had charge of devising, pre- 
 paring and testing the armor and ordnance for the 
 famous Virginia. He was subsequently promoted com- 
 mander and made chief of the bureau of ordnance 
 and hydrography, and continued to render important ser- 
 vices until the close of the war. Soon afterward he was 
 appointed to a professorship in the Virginia military in- 
 stitute, which he still holds. 
 
 John Henry Winder, provost marshal general, was 
 born in Maryland in 1800, son of General W. H. Winder, 
 a soldier of the war of 181 2. He was graduated at the 
 United States military academy in 1820; served at Fort 
 McHenry and on the Florida frontier; resigned in 
 August, 1823; was reappointed with rank of second-lieu- 
 tenant of artillery, 1827; was promoted first-lieutenant, 
 1833; served in the Florida war; was promoted captain, 
 1842 ; served in the Mexican war at La Hoya, Ocalaca, 
 Contreras, Churubusco, Chapultepec and City of Mex- 
 ico; was brevetted major and lieutenant- colonel for gal- 
 lantry; promoted major November 22, i860; resigned 
 April 27, 1861. He entered the Confederate service, 
 was made brigadier-general and given command at Rich- 
 mond, where he had charge of the Libby and Belle Isle 
 military prisons. Subsequently he was assigned to com- 
 mand the prison camp at Andersonville, Georgia. He 
 died at Columbia, South Carolina, February 7, 1865. 
 
 Robert Ould, chief of the bureau of exchange, was 
 bom January 31, 1820, at Georgetown, D. C. After a 
 course of study in Jefferson college, Pennsylvania, he was 
 graduated in letters at Columbia college, Washington, 
 D. C, in 1837, and in law at William and Mary college, 
 in 1842. Subsequently he practiced the profession of law 
 at Washington until 1861. Notable events in his ante- 
 bellum legal career were his service on the commission 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 631 
 
 under President Pierce for the codification of the District 
 laws, and his appointment to the District attorneyship, in 
 which office one of his first duties was the prosecution of 
 Daniel E. Sickles for the killing of Philip Barton Key. 
 He held the office of District attorney until after the 
 inaugfuration of Mr. Lincoln, when he went with his 
 family to Virginia. In 1861 he was appointed assistant 
 secretary of war of the Confederate States, a post he 
 held during Mr. Benjamin's tenure of that portfolio. 
 Under the cartel of exchange of prisoners of war, 
 arranged by Generals Dix and Hill, in July, 1862, Mr. 
 Ould was appointed agent of exchange on behalf of the 
 Confederacy, and in this position, which he held during 
 the continuance of hostilities, he earned the respect of all 
 parties by his earnest and humane efforts to effect the 
 exchange of brave and suffering prisoners, and his care- 
 ful attention to all the details of his office. At Appomat- 
 tox he tendered his parole to General Grant, who declined 
 to treat him as a prisoner, not regarding an officer of ex- 
 change as liable to capture, and sent him under safeguard 
 to Richmond. He was subsequently imprisoned by 
 order of Secretary Stanton, indicted for treason and tried 
 by a military commission, which was compelled under 
 the law to acquit him. He then resumed the practice of 
 law at Richmond, Va. The misrepresentations which 
 abounded during the first decade after the war elicited 
 several able papers from his pen, which will remain as 
 authoritative regarding the efforts made by the Confed- 
 erate authorities to lessen the suffering caused by war. 
 The proof has been fully made that the Confederate 
 government fully and fairly urged exchange of prisoners 
 from the beginning to the end of the struggle. 
 
 James D. Bulloch, distinguished in the foreign service 
 of the Confederate States, was a native of Georgia, 
 and at an early age became a midshipman in the 
 United States navy, in the year 1839. He sailed on 
 
632 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 the United States from Boston to Norfolk, was 
 there transferred to the Potomac, with which he 
 served on the Brazil station. On this frigate, and the 
 sloop Decatur he served until 1842, when he obtained 
 transfer to the battleship Delaware, and shared the 
 honors of her famous cruise in the Mediterranean. Dur- 
 ing part of 1844-45 h® attended the naval school at Phil- 
 adelphia, passing second in his class, and then returned 
 to active service, being on duty on the Pacific coast dur- 
 ing the Mexican war, and undergoing great perils in the 
 wreck of the Shark off the mouth of the Columbia 
 river, and in 1849 beginning a two years' service in the 
 coast survey. He succeeded Admiral (then lieutenant) 
 D. D. Porter in command of the Georgia, the first 
 subsidized mail steamer to California, and subsequently 
 commanded various vessels in the gulf mail service. 
 When the Georgia convention passed the ordinance of 
 secession, a resolution was adopted declaring that the 
 allegiance of those of its citizens in the army and navy 
 was due to the State, and calling upon them to resign 
 their Federal commissions. Lieutenant Bulloch at once 
 obeyed this summons, and was commissioned commander, 
 C. S. N. On account of his long and varied experience 
 in the navy, having served on every class of war vessel, 
 as well as having superintended the construction of two 
 mail ships, he was selected by the Confederate govern- 
 ment to perform duties of great importance as naval 
 agent in England. He accepted this duty on condition 
 that he should command the first cruiser fitted out in 
 England, but he proved to be of such value to the gov- 
 ernment, not only in the providing of the proper vessels, 
 but in aiding the diplomatic negotiations that he sacri- 
 ficed his inclinations at the repeated requests of the sec- 
 retary of the navy. He remained at his post of duty 
 during the war, and subsequently continued to reside at 
 Liverpool. He was an accomplished scholar and thor- 
 oughly a master of maritime and international law. His 
 
Generul Samuel Cooper. 
 Genercil Robert E. Lee. 
 
 General Pikhre G. T. BEAUREr.ARn. 
 
 General Albert Sidnky Johnston. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 633 
 
 position regarding his rights in procuring men-of-war 
 was sustained by the English courts, but the subsequent 
 shifting policy made his work one of great difficulty. 
 In spite of all obstacles, however, he furnished the 
 Confederacy the famous cruisers Florida, Alabama 
 and Shenandoah, built or purchased in England, and 
 the ram Stonewall, constructed in France. 
 
 Robert Edward Lee, general-in-chief of the Confederate 
 States army, is placed by general fame as well as by the 
 cordial suffrage of the South, first among all Southern 
 military chieftains. By official rank he held that position 
 in the Confederate States army, and his right to the pri- 
 macy there is none to dispute. Considered as a true type 
 of the American developed through the processes by which 
 well-sustained free government proves and produces a 
 high order of manly character, he fully and justly gained 
 the distinguished esteem with which all America claims 
 him as her own. Beyond the borders of this continent, 
 which men of his caste long ago consecrated to freedom 
 at altars that smoked with sacrifice, and extending over 
 oceans east and west into the old world's realms, his name 
 has gone to be honored, his character to be admired, and 
 his military history to be studied alongside the work of 
 the great masters of war. Happy, indeed, are the South- 
 em people in knowing him to be their own, while they sur- 
 render his fame to become a part of their country's glory. 
 
 General Lee's lineage and collateral kindred constitute 
 an array of illustrious characters, but certainly without 
 dispraise of any, and without unduly exalting himself, it 
 can be calmly written down that he was the greatest of 
 all his race. Unaware he was of his own distinction. 
 Unaware also of a common sentiment was each of his 
 people who cherished an individual feeling in the years 
 which followed his public service until the consensus came 
 into open view, where all men saw that all true men hon- 
 ored his name and revered his memory. 
 
634 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Contrast of Lee with other men will not be instituted, 
 because there were indeed others great like himself, and 
 he more than others would deplore a contest for premier- 
 ship in fame. The most that can be said in any mingling 
 of his name with other illustrious characters has been 
 uttered in the wonderfully felicitous and graphic sen- 
 tences of Benjamin H. Hill, which may be repeated here, 
 because of their brilliant and true characterization : 
 
 "When the future historian shall come to survey the 
 character of Lee he will find it rising like a huge moun- 
 tain above the undulating plane of humanity, and he 
 must lift his eyes high toward heaven to catch its summit. 
 He possessed every virtue of other great commanders 
 without their vices. He was a foe without hate ; a friend 
 without treachery; a soldier without cruelty ; a victor with- 
 out oppression ; and a victim without murmuring. He 
 was a public officer without vices ; a private citizen with- 
 out wrong ; a neighbor without reproach ; a Christian with- 
 out hypocrisy and a man without guile. He was a Csesar 
 without his ambition; Frederick without his tyranny; 
 Napoleon without his selfishness ; and Washington with- 
 out his reward. He was obedient to authority as a ser- 
 vant, and royal in authority as a true king. He was 
 gentle as a woman in life ; modest and pure as a virgin 
 in thought; watchful as a Roman vestal in duty; sub- 
 missive to law as Socrates; and grand in battle as 
 Achilles." 
 
 It will be understood by all who read any biographical 
 sketch of one so eminent as the Southern military leader 
 thus portrayed in Mr. Hill's splendid words, that the 
 facts of his life must sustain the eulogy. Fortunately 
 this support appears even in the cold recital which is here 
 attempted. General Lee was bom at Stratford, Virginia, 
 January 19, 1807, and was eleven years old on the death 
 of his chivalric father. General Henry Lee, the " Light 
 Horse Harry " of the American revolution. In boyhood 
 he was taught in the schools of Alexandria, chiefly by 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 635 
 
 Mr. William B. Leary, an Irishman, and prepared for 
 West Point by Mr. Benjamin Hallowell. He entered the 
 National military academy in 1825, and was graduated 
 in 1829, without a demerit and with second honors. Dur- 
 ing these youthful years he was remarkable in personal 
 appearance, possessing a handsome face and superb 
 figure, and a manner that charmed by cordiality and won 
 respect by dignity. He was thoroughly moral, free from 
 the vices, and while " full of life and fun, animated, 
 bright and charming," as a contemporary describes him, 
 he was more inclined to serious than to gay society. 
 
 He married Mary Custis, daughter of Washington 
 Parke Custis, and grand-daughter of Martha Washington, 
 at Arlington, Va., June 30, 1831. Their children were 
 G. W. Custis, Mary, W. H. Fitzhugh, Annie, Agnes, 
 Robert and Mildred. 
 
 At his graduation he was appointed second-lieutenant 
 of engineers and by assignment engaged in engineering 
 at Old Point and on the coasts. In 1834 he was assistant 
 to the chief engineer at Washington; in 1835 on the com- 
 mission to mark the boundary line between Ohio and 
 Michigan; in 1836 promoted first lieutenant, and in 1838, 
 captain of engineers. In 1837 he was ordered to the 
 Mississippi river, in association with Lieutenant Meigs 
 (afterward general) to make special surveys and plans 
 for improvements of navigation; in 1840 a military en- 
 gineer; in 1842 stationed at Fort Hamilton, New York; 
 and in 1844 one of the board of visitors at West Point. 
 Captain Lee was with General Wool in the beginning of the 
 Mexican war, and at the special request of General Scott 
 was assigned to the personal staff of that commander. 
 When Scott landed 12,000 men south of Vera Cruz, 
 Captain Lee established the batteries which were so 
 effective in compelling the surrender of j the city. The 
 advance which followed met with serious resistance from 
 Santa Anna at Cerro Gordo. Here Captain Lee made the 
 reconnoissances and in three days' time placed batteries 
 
636 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 in positions which Santa Anna had judged inaccessible, 
 enabling Scott to carry the heights and rout the enemy. 
 In his report Scott wrote: "I am compelled to make 
 special mention of Captain R. E. Lee," and the brevet as 
 major was accorded the skillful artilleryman. The valley 
 of Mexico was the scene of the next military operations, 
 and here Lee continued to serve with signal ability and 
 personal bravery. One act of daring General Scott after- 
 ward referred to as " the greatest feat of physical and moral 
 courage performed by any individual in my knowledge 
 pending the campaign." Having participated in the 
 daylight assault which carried the entrenchments of Con- 
 treras, Captain Lee was soon afterward engaged in the 
 battles of Churubusco and Molino del Rey, gaining pro- 
 motion to brevet lieutenant-colonel. In the storming at 
 Chapultepec, one of the most brilliant affairs of the war, 
 he was severely wounded, and won from General Scott, 
 in his official report, appreciative mention as being " as 
 distinguished for execution as for science and daring. ' ' 
 After Chapultepec he was recommended for the rank of 
 colonel. The City of Mexico was next taken and the war 
 ended. 
 
 Among the officers with Lee in Mexico were Grant, 
 Meade, McClellan, Hancock, Sedgwick, Hooker, Bum- 
 side, Thomas, McDowell, A. S. Johnston, Beauregard, 
 T. J. Jackson, Longstreet, Loring, Hunt, Magruder, 
 and Wilcox, all of whom seemed to have felt for him a 
 strong attachment. Reverdy Johnson said he had heard 
 General Scott more than once say that his "success in 
 Mexico was largely due to the skill, valor and undaunted 
 energy of Robert E. Lee. ' ' Jefferson Davis, in a public 
 address at the Lee memorial meeting November 3, 1870, 
 said : " He came from Mexico crowned with honors, cov- 
 ered with brevets, and recognized, young as he was, as 
 one of the ablest of his country's soldiers." General 
 Scott said with emphasis: " Lee is the greatest military 
 genius in America. ' ' Every general officer with whom 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 637 
 
 he personally served in Mexico made special mention of 
 him in official reports. General Persifer Smith wrote: 
 " I wish to record particularly my admiration of the con- 
 duct of Captain Lee, of the engineers — the soundness of 
 his judgment and his personal daring being equally con- 
 spicuous. " General Shields referred to him as one "in 
 whose skill and judgment I had the utmost conJfidence. ' ' 
 General Twiggs declared " his gallantry and good conduct 
 deserve the highest praise, " and Colonel Riley bore "tes- 
 timony to the intrepid coolness and gallantry exhibited 
 by Captain Lee when conducting the advance of my bri- 
 gade under the heavy flank fire of the enemy." 
 
 In the subsequent years of peace Lee was assigned first 
 to important duties in the corps of military engineers with 
 headquarters at Baltimore, from 1849 to 1852, and then 
 served as superintendent of the military academy at 
 West Point until 1855, when he was promoted brevet 
 lieutenant-colonel and assigned to the Second cavalry, 
 commanded by Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston. This 
 remarkably fine regiment included among its officers 
 besides Johnston and Lee, Hardee, Thomas, VanDorn, 
 Pitz Lee, Kirby Smith, and Stoneman, later distinguished 
 in the Confederate war. With this regiment Lee shared 
 the hardships of frontier duty, defending the western 
 frontier of Texas against hostile Indians from 1856 until 
 the spring of 1861. In October, 1859, he was at Wash- 
 ington in obedience to command, and fortunately so, as 
 during his visit occurred the John Brown raid. President 
 Buchanan selected him to suppress the movement, which 
 he did with prompt vigor, after giving the proper sum- 
 mons to Brown to surrender. Returning to Texas, he 
 was in command of the department in i860 and early in 
 1861, while the Southern States were passing ordinances 
 of secession, and with sincere pain observed the progress 
 of dissolution. Writing January 23, 1861, he said that 
 the South had been aggrieved by the acts of the North, 
 and that he felt the aggression and was willing to take 
 
638 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 every proper step for redress. But he anticipated no 
 greater calamity than a dissolution of the Union and 
 would sacrifice everything but honor for its preservation. 
 He termed secession a revolution, but said that a Union 
 that can only be maintained by swords and bayonets had 
 no charms for him. " If the Union is dissolved and the 
 government disrupted, I shall return to my native State 
 and share the miseries of my people ; and save in defense 
 will draw my sword on none. " 
 
 About a month later Lee was summoned to Washington 
 to report to General Scott and reached the capital on the 
 ist of March, only a few days before the inauguration of 
 Lincoln. He was then just fifty-four years of age, and 
 dating from his cadetship at West Point had been in the 
 military service of the government about thirty-six years. 
 He had reached the exact prime of maturity ; in form, feat- 
 ures, and general bearing the type of magnificent man- 
 hood ; educated to thoroughness ; cultivated by extensive 
 reading, wide experience, and contact with the great men 
 of the period ; with a dauntless bravery tested and im- 
 proved by military perils in many battles ; his skill in war 
 recognized as of the highest order by comrades and com- 
 manders ; and withal a patriot in whom there was no guile 
 and a man without reproach. Bearing this record and 
 character, Lee appeared at the capital of the country he 
 loved, hoping that wisdom in its counsels would avert 
 coercion and that this policy would lead to reunion. 
 Above all others he was the choice of General Scott for 
 the command of the United States army, and the aged 
 hero seems to have earnestly urged the supreme com- 
 mand upon him. Francis P. Blair also invited him to a 
 conference and said, " I come to you on the part of Pres- 
 ident Lincoln to ask whether any inducement that he can 
 offer will prevail on you to take command of the Union 
 army." To this alluring offer Lee at once replied 
 courteously but candidly that though "opposed to seces- 
 sion and deprecating war he would take no part in the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 639 
 
 invasion of the Southern States." His resignation fol- 
 lowed at once, and repairing to Virginia, he placed his 
 stainless sword at the service of his imperiled State and 
 accepted the command of her military forces. The com- 
 mission was presented to him in the presence of the Vir- 
 ginia convention on April 23, 1861, by Mr. Janney, the 
 president of that body, with ceremonies of great im- 
 pressiveness, and General Lee entered at once upon 
 duties which absorbed his thought and engaged his 
 heart. The position thus assigned confined him at first 
 to a narrowed area, but he diligently organized the mil- 
 itary^ strength of Virginia and surveyed the field over 
 which he foresaw the battles for the Confederacy would 
 be fought. As late as April 25 he wrote, " No earthly 
 act would give me so much pleasure as to restore peace 
 to my country, but I fear it is now out of the power of 
 man, and in God alone must be our trust. I think our 
 policy should be purely on the defensive, to resist 
 aggression and allow time to allay the passions and 
 permit reason to resume her sway. " 
 
 The Confederate government in May, 1861, employed 
 his splendid talent for organization, an advantageous 
 employment, indeed, but one that kept him from that 
 command in the field for which he was eminently quali- 
 fied. Subsequently the expeditions in the West Vir- 
 ginia campaign were attended with such peculiar disad- 
 vantages that General Lee had the mortification of ob- 
 serving a sudden and unjust waning of his reputation. 
 Thus his service in the field for which he was best fitted 
 was still further postponed, and he spent the winter of 
 1861 in command of the department of Georgia, South 
 Carolina and Florida, to which he was assigned by 
 President Davis, giving his talents as an engineer to 
 organization of a system of coast defense. From these 
 duties he was called in March, 1862, to become the mil- 
 itary adviser of the President, a position in which he gave 
 constant attention to the movements of the enemy as 
 
640 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 well as to the Confederate means of defense, and was in 
 readiness to assume any duty that might be assigned. 
 
 The severe wounding of General J. E. Johnston, at the 
 battle of Seven Pines, and the illness of General G. W. 
 Smith, next in rank, brought to him the command of 
 the army of Northern Virginia, which he immediately 
 led to successive victories over the great armies of Mc- 
 Clellan, Pope, Bumside and Hooker, attaining for him- 
 self, in a few months, a fame for generalship which 
 spread over the world. 
 
 His subsequent career throughout the Confederate 
 struggle was distinguished by his regard for the humane 
 usages of war ; his exhibition of great military skill ; a 
 spirited personal courage, as well as that nerve of leader- 
 ship that impelled him to give battle whenever he saw 
 an opportunity to strike an effective blow ; a courteous 
 bearing toward his officers and a tender concern for the 
 welfare of the men in line; an untiring attention to 
 details and an unexcelled devotion to duty. All these 
 characteristics and much more were made apparent as 
 the war wore on to its disastrous end. 
 
 The details which establish his reputation as a military 
 genius are to be found in all the books which have been 
 written on the Confederate war. Referring to them 
 for special information we pass on to see him at 
 Appomattox, nobly yielding himself and his army when 
 resistance was no longer possible, and then departing 
 for his home, to refuse offers of place that would bring 
 profit and high civil position, and finally turning his 
 glorious life into channels of beneficent influence. 
 
 With clear insight into all the merits of the cause for 
 which he drew his sword in 1861, he wrote on January 5, 
 1866: "All that the South has ever desired was that the 
 Union as established by our fathers should be preserved, 
 and that the government as originally organized should 
 be administered in purity and truth." Six months later 
 he wrote: "I had no other guide, nor had I any other 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 641 
 
 object than the defense of those principles of American 
 liberty upon which the constitutions of the several States 
 were originally founded, and unless they are strictly 
 observed I fear there will be an end of Republican gov- 
 ernment in this country. ' ' 
 
 He lived only a few years after the fall of the Confed- 
 eracy, and those years were nearly all spent in service as 
 president of the Washington-Lee college. The anxieties 
 of his military life had changed his hair to gray, but he 
 was still in vigorous health. His nearest friends alone 
 saw that his sympathy for the misfortunes of his people 
 became a malady which physicians could not remove. 
 With sincere purpose to observe his parole, and, after all 
 military operations had ceased, to lend his influence fully 
 to peace, he carefully avoided all things which would 
 irritate the people in power. Rigidly preserving his 
 ■convictions, as he felt he must do, he nevertheless pro- 
 moted the restoration of harmony among the people of 
 the whole country. Thus his life passed until he was 
 suddenly seized with sickness on the 28th of September, 
 1870, at his home in Lexington, and on Wednesday 
 morning, October 12th, he died in the Christian's faith, 
 which he had all his life confessed. Demonstrations of 
 sorrow as sincere as they were imposing manifested 
 the great love of his own people in the South, but 
 these exhibitions also extended into the North, and from 
 the European press America learned how highly the 
 eminent Confederate was esteemed abroad. "The grave 
 of this noble hero is bedewed with the most tender and 
 sacred tears ever shed upon a human tomb. A whole 
 nation has risen up in the spontaneity of its grief 
 to render the tribute of its love." His name will 
 lure his countrymen to revere truth and pay devotion to 
 duty, and until the nation ceases to be free the glory of his 
 character will be cherished as priceless national treasure. 
 a. 
 
642 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 General Albert Sidney Johnston was bom February 3, 
 1803, at Washington, Kentucky, in descent maternally 
 from the pioneers of that State. His father, Dr. John 
 Johnston, the village physician, was a native of Connecti- 
 cat. He was "a handsome, proud, manly, earnest and 
 self-reliant boy, " " grave and thoughtful. ' ' After study- 
 ing at the Transylvania university he was appointed to 
 the national military academy, where he was, graduated 
 in 1826, and promoted to a lieutenancy in the Second 
 infantry. Subsequently he served as adjutant of the 
 Sixth regiment ; won distinction in the Black Hawk war ; 
 and resigned his commission in 1834. In 1835 occurred 
 the death of his wife, Henrietta Preston, whom he had 
 married six years before, and in 1836 he enlisted as a 
 private in the military forces of Texas, then struggling 
 for independence. Here he rose speedily in rank to 
 brigadier-general and succeeded General Houston as 
 commander-in-chief. In 1839 he was secretary of war of 
 Texas, and expelled the hostile Cherokees after two 
 battles on the River Neches. In 1846 he entered the 
 Mexican war as colonel of the First Texas infantry, be- 
 came inspector general of Butler's division, and was recom- 
 mended by General Taylor for promotion to brigadier- 
 general for his conduct at Monterey. After one cam- 
 paign he retired to a plantation in Brazoria county, Texas, 
 and remained in seclusion until appointed pajrmaster with 
 the rank of major, by President Taylor, in October, 1849. 
 From President Pierce he received a commission as col- 
 onel of the Second cavalry, U. S. A., and in 1857 he con- 
 ducted the famous military expedition to Utah, saving 
 the army from frightful disaster by his prudence and 
 executive ability. He remained in command in Utah 
 until the summer of 1 860, and in December of that year was 
 assigned to the command of the department of California. 
 As soon as he was informed of the secession of Texas he 
 resigned his commission, but honorably concealed his 
 action and continued to carry out the orders of the United 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 643 
 
 States government, until relieved by General Sumner. 
 From Washington he was sent a major-general's com- 
 mission, and confidential assurances of the highest com- 
 mand, but he declined to fight against his own people 
 and retired to Los Angeles with the intention of farming. 
 Soon he found that the call from his friends could not be 
 resisted, and he made his way overland to Richmond, on 
 the way assisting in the organization of the new territory of 
 Arizona for the Confederacy. He was met with great 
 enthusiasm in the Confederate States, and was at once 
 given the rank of general, being the first Confederate 
 commander to wear that honor. On September lo, 
 1861, he was assigned to the command of all the Confed- 
 erate territory lying west of the AUeghanies, except the 
 Gulf coast, and powers of commensurate range. Though 
 very weak in men and munitions, having, in fact, avail- 
 able but one tenth the number in opposition, he threw his 
 force forward under Buckner to Bowling Green, Ky. , and 
 appealed to the governors and Richmond for assistance. 
 But the magnitude of the struggle was not then real- 
 ized. He was never able to assemble more than 22,000 
 men at Bowling Green, while the Federal strength was 
 increased to 100,000. Early in 1862 all the resources of 
 the Northwest were turned against him. To meet Grant 
 with 28,000 troops he left 17,000 at Fort Donelson un- 
 der Floyd, Pillow and Buckner, while to guard Nashville 
 from Buell's army, he fell back to the Cumberland with 
 an effective force of about 9,000. When he received 
 the news of the surrender of Donelson, he began a con- 
 centration at Corinth, Miss. , and was able to assemble 
 an army of 23,000 by the latter part of March, which was 
 now strongly reinforced by the Confederate government, 
 until he had about 40,000 efEective soldiers. At this 
 period he was bitterly criticised, and deputations to the 
 President demanded his removal, to whom Mr. Davis 
 replied: "If Sidney Johnston is not a general, I have 
 none." But Johnston bore himself with serenity and 
 
644 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 planned a campaign which should restore the public confi- 
 dence. Corinth was the base from whence he could concen- 
 trate his whole force in front of the great bend of the Ten- 
 nessee, and crush Grant before Buell could reinforce him. 
 In this movement, Beauregard, as the second in com- 
 mand, elaborated his general orders. In the actual march 
 to the field there was some confusion and delay, so that the 
 attack at Shiloh was postponed an entire day. At the 
 opening of the fight on the 6th of April, 1862, he rode 
 along the lines inspiring his men to enthusiasm and dar- 
 ing. He carried on the battle as he had planned, to 
 "turn the left flank of the enemy, throw him back on 
 Owl creek where he will be compelled to surrender. ' ' 
 
 Success everywhere attended the Confederate arms, till 
 finally, to gain a difficult position, Johnston rode before 
 the brigades of Bowen and Statham, and reaching the 
 center turned and led a charge that swept the enemy to 
 the rear. At the height of success a minie ball from the 
 retreating foe pierced an artery of his leg, and through his 
 neglect of the woimd while giving orders to the troops, 
 his death speedily followed. The victory had been won, 
 but the heroic mind that had determined nothing less than 
 the capture of Grant was gone, and the fighting which fol- 
 lowed on that field was in vain. The body of the great 
 leader was conveyed to New Orleans and there interred 
 with august ceremony. Though his life was lost at Shiloh, 
 and with it, it may be said, the possession of the West by 
 the Confederacy, yet he had the personal triumph of com- 
 plete restoration in the affections of the Southern people. 
 
 General Joseph E. Johnston, son of Peter Johnston and 
 Mary Wood Johnston, was born in Prince Edward county, 
 Virginia, on February 7, 1807. His father was a lieuten- 
 ant in Lee's legion, having run away from college at the 
 age of seventeen to join it as it passed through Virginia to 
 reinforce the army of Greene. His mother was a niece 
 of Patrick Henry. In 181 r his parents removed to a place 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 645 
 
 near Abingdon in Southwest Virginia, his father having 
 been made judge, and here he spent his youth, devoted 
 largely to the manly pleasures of the chase in that wild 
 region. In 1825 he was appointed a cadet to West Point, 
 entering it as one of nine Virginians, another being Rob- 
 ert E. Lee, who was two weeks his senior. They grad- 
 uated together, being the only two of the nine who en- 
 dured to the end, and there they formed the friendship 
 which they had inherited from their fathers of the Le- 
 gion — a friendship which was co-extensive with their 
 eventful lives. Johnston's first military service was 
 in the Seminole war. In a fight near Jupiter Inlet, 
 a small body of soldiers and sailors under Lieutenant 
 Powell was surprised by an Indian force and put to flight. 
 It would have been annihilated but for Johnston's skill 
 and bravery. He rallied a few regulars, interposed them 
 as a rear-guard and covered the retreat. He was severely 
 wounded and his clothing had thirty bullet-holes in it. 
 
 On July 10, 1845, he married Lydia McLane, daughter 
 of Louis McLane of Baltimore, but the outbreak of the 
 Mexican war the next year carried him away to active 
 service. He accompanied the army of Scott, first in the 
 Engineer corps, but soon he was made lieutenant-colonel 
 of voltigeurs. At Cerro Gordo he was twice severely 
 wounded while making a daring reconnoissance. He took 
 an active part in the battles around the city of Mexico, 
 gaining special distinction at Contreras, Molino del Rey 
 and Chapultepec. In this last named fight his command 
 was the first to enter the enemy's works, and he himself 
 was wounded three times. In i860 he was appointed 
 quartermaster-general to succeed General Jesup. Scott 
 had suggested four names from which to make the select- 
 ion, viz : Joseph E. Johnston, Robert E. Lee, Albert Sid- 
 ney Johnston and Charles F. Smith. 
 
 When Virginia seceded, Johnston came South as soon 
 as he could settle his accounts. He was one of the five 
 brigadier-generals first appointed, and was assigned to 
 
646 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 the command of the Virginia valley army, confronting 
 the force under Patterson, which was much superior in 
 numbers. On hearing ofj McDowell's advance on Man- 
 assas, he eluded Patterson with rare address, and moved 
 to Manassas, taking command as ranking officer. Find- 
 ing that Beauregard had greatly weakened the left under 
 the idea that McDowell would attempt to turn the South- 
 em right, Johnston directed his own troops to that part 
 of the line. The brunt of the fight was borne by his 
 troops under Jackson, Bee, Bartow and Elzey, and two- 
 thirds of the Southern loss fell upon his men. At a crisis 
 in the battle he himself seized a standard and led a broken 
 regiment back to the fight. Soon after the battle he was 
 made a full general, which was the highest rank in the 
 Confederate service. In the fall he was placed in com- 
 mand of this army, and though it was weaker than at any 
 subsequent winter of the war, and its opponent stronger, 
 he held with it the lines of Centreville, far in advance of 
 any position subsequently held as a winter camp by the 
 Confederates. 
 
 In the early spring of 1862 he withdrew to a position near 
 Richmond, frustrating McClellan's plan of a landing at 
 Urbana, which was nearer to Richmond than the South- 
 ern army, and forcing McClellan to adopt the peninsular 
 route. When the latter moved upon Yorktown, Johnston 
 again confronted him, withdrawing up the pen- 
 insula when Yorktown became untenable, secur- 
 ing an undisturbed retreat and severely punishing 
 his pursuers in the battle of Williamsburg and the 
 smaller fight at Eltham's Landing. When he reached 
 the Richmond lines he was opposed not only by McClellan 
 with a much superior force, but threatened by McDowell 
 at Fredericksburg. To neutralize the latter he concerted 
 with Jackson, who was in his department, the latter's fam- 
 ous valley campaign. On May 31, 1862, McClellan's 
 army was divided by the Chickahominy, and Johnston, 
 taking advantage of this, attacked him at Seven Pines. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 647 
 
 Vexatious delays occurred, but by nightfall he had 
 separated the Federal left, and purposed to finish it the 
 next day. About dusk he was wounded in the shoulder by 
 a musket ball, and a moment afterward was completely 
 disabled by a shell. General Gustavus W. Smith, who 
 first succeeded him, did not follow up his advantage ; and 
 when General Lee was assigned to the command later the 
 opportunity had passed. After a long convalescence 
 General Johnston reported for duty, and late in 1862 he 
 was assigned to the Western command, an unsatisfactory 
 position where he controlled no army of his own but had 
 to supervise Bragg and Pemberton. He advised the 
 union of the Trans-Mississippi troops with Pemberton's 
 for the overthrow of the forces threatening Vicksburg, 
 and advised against attempting to reinforce Pemberton 
 from Bragg, as the two were each facing superior numbers 
 and were too far apart for mutual support. His ad\'ice, 
 however, was not heeded. 
 
 When Grant landed a portion of his army south of 
 Vicksburg, Johnston wired Pemberton to draw his forces 
 out of the lines and attack him, but Pemberton hugged 
 the vicinity of Vicksburg and allowed Grant to interpose 
 between him and Johnston despite the latter's orders to 
 move toward Johnston for a junction. Grant was thus 
 enabled to coop up Pemberton in Vicksburg by an army 
 of 75,000 men against which Johnston's force of 28,000 
 could not hope to succeed. The opinion has been given 
 that the repeated disregard of Johnston's orders resulted 
 in the loss of Vicksburg and its army. 
 
 Bragg's terrible defeat at Missionary Ridge was fol- 
 lowed by his removal from command of the army of 
 Tennessee, and late in December, 1863, Johnston was 
 given charge of it. He found it at Dalton dispirited by 
 the late defeat and weakened in numbers, equipments, 
 and artillery. Opposed to it was Sherman with more 
 than double its strength, composed of the best troops of 
 the North. December 31st the effective total of infantry 
 
648 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 and artillery of Johnston's army, including two brigades 
 of the Mississippi department, was 36,826. The effective 
 total of cavalry, including Roddy's command at Tuscum- 
 bia, was 5,613. The winter was mainly employed by 
 General Johnston in improving the discipline and equip- 
 ment of his army, through which course he soon gained 
 the confidence of the command. The enemy made 
 several decided demonstrations during these months of 
 the winter, which were so gallantly repulsed that on 
 February 27, 1864, Johnston suggested through General 
 Bragg that preparations for a forward movement be made 
 without delay. In the meantime the Federal army was 
 being increased to a larger force of all arms, and evi- 
 dently contemplating the advance which Sherman made 
 on the 5th of May, thus opening the famous Atlanta 
 campaign. By cautiously entrenching a portion of his 
 immensely superior force and using the remainder for 
 flanking he gradually forced back Johnston towards 
 Atlanta. The campaign was a continuous daily combat, 
 in which the Southern army, handled with masterly skill 
 by General Johnston, acting on the defensive and never 
 once broken, inflicted losses largely disproportionate to 
 its own, and only withdrew from any line of battle to 
 avoid being flanked. Not until the middle of July did 
 Sherman reach the vicinity of Atlanta, having been 
 forced by Johnston to take seventy days to traverse one 
 hundred miles. Here he found himself with a long and 
 difficult line of communication, while Johnston, having 
 reached his base, could no longer be flanked and only 
 had to await the result of breaking his antagonist's com- 
 munications, which movement he now proposed to com- 
 plete. At this crisis of the campaign the President re- 
 moved him and replaced him by Hood, whose army 
 was not long afterwards wrecked. 
 
 After this removal Johnston was without a command 
 until late in February, 1865, when General Lee, who had 
 just been made commander-in-chief, assigned to him the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 649' 
 
 scattered remnants of the Southern forces in North 
 Carolina for the purpose of opposing Sherman's north- 
 ward march. After great effort he succeeded in con- 
 centrating about 19,000 men of all arms, and with them 
 attacked and repulsed Sherman's left wing of about 33,- 
 000 men at Bentonville on March 19th. Sherman there- 
 upon concentrated against him his entire force, about 
 70,000 strong, and Johnston withdrew. 
 
 On the surrender of Lee, Johnston opened negotiations 
 with Sherman looking to a cessation of hostilities, and 
 the result was their convention, which was practically a 
 treaty of peace. It was disavowed, however, by the Fed- 
 eral government immediately after the assassination of 
 President Lincoln. On April 26, 1865, the generals met 
 again and Johnston capitulated on honorable terms, the 
 same that had been agreed on between Lee and Grant, thus 
 closing his military career in high honor and holding 
 both the esteem and affection of the Southern soldiers. 
 
 After the close of the war he led an industrious though 
 quiet life, winning the respect of friend and foe. He 
 served a term in Congress from the Richmond district of 
 Virginia. He was selected as one of the pall-bearers at 
 the funeral of General Grant, and later at the funeral 
 of General Sherman, his old antagonist. He died in Wash- 
 ington City on March 21,1891. His military reputation has 
 constantly grown as it has been closely studied. Grant 
 and Sherman are said to have reckoned him as the ablest 
 general of the South. Colonel Chesney, the eminent 
 English military writer, classes him with Turenne, and 
 Lord Wolseley has expressed himself hardly less strongly. 
 Lee, Jackson and Johnston will ever rank as the great 
 triumvirate of Virginians, who were by general consen- 
 sus of opinion the greatest military leaders of the South. 
 His services during the Civil war were related by him in 
 his work called Johnston's Narrative, which he pub- 
 lished in 1874. A less technical and briefer account is 
 contained in the biography written at his request by his^ 
 grand-nephew, Robert M. Hughes, and published in 1893. 
 
650 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 General Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard was bom 
 near the city of New Orleans, May 28, 1818. Hewasof 
 French lineage which is traced back to the thirteenth 
 century. His great-grandfather, Jacques Toutant-Beau- 
 regard, came to Louisiana under Louis XIV as command- 
 ant of a flotilla. The mother of the general was Helena 
 Judith de Reggio, whose grandfather, Francois Marie, 
 Chevalier de Reggio, a descendant of the house of Este, 
 after serving with Richelieu in the French army, was 
 sent to Louisiana with his command, and subsequently 
 was royal standard-bearer under the Spanish dominion. 
 From his eleventh to his fifteenth year he was under the 
 tutelage at New York of two retired officers of the French 
 army, who had served under Napoleon, and at the age of 
 sixteen he was appointed to the West Point military 
 academy. He was graduated second in the class of 1838, 
 with promotion to second-lieutenant of engineers. He 
 served as assistant engineer in the building of coast 
 defenses, was promoted first-lieutenant June 16, 1839, 
 and was engaged in engineering duty at New Orleans 
 and vicinity and in Maryland until the Mexican war. In 
 March, 1847, he joined the army under General Scott. 
 
 He distinguished himself at the siege of Vera Cruz, in 
 several bold reconnoissances before the battle of Cerro 
 Gordo, for gallant action at Contreras and Churubusco 
 received the brevet of captain, and at Chapultepec won 
 the brevet of major. His plan for the reduction of the 
 City of Mexico was adopted successfully, and he received 
 two honorable wounds in the course of the assault. Sub- 
 sequently he superintended the construction and repair 
 of fortresses for the defense of New Orleans and 
 Mobile, and other important engineering duties, with 
 promotion to captain in 1853, until on January 23, 1861, 
 he was appointed superintendent of the United States 
 military academy. This position and his rank in the 
 army he resigned February 20, 1861, and on March ist he 
 entered the Confederate service with the rank of briga- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 651 
 
 dier-general. Placed in command at Charleston, where 
 he received the surrender of Fort Sumter, he was imme- 
 diately the center of world-wide attention. Then called 
 to command the army of the Potomac, he won still 
 greater fame by the disastrous rout of the Federal army 
 of invasion at Manassas, and was immediately promoted 
 to the rank of general, Samuel Cooper and Albert Sid- 
 ney Johnston being his only seniors in that grade. In 
 the spring of 1862 he was ordered to Tennessee as second 
 in command to General Johnston, and on the death of 
 that officer took command at Shiloh. On the second 'day 
 of that eventful struggle it is remembered that a Confed- 
 erate officer of high rank, flag in hand, led the charge of 
 a Louisiana regiment in one of their desperate charges, 
 and that when remonstrated with for the dangerous ex- 
 posure he replied with flashing eyes, " At a moment like 
 this, the order must not be to go, but follow." This 
 intrepid leader was the cool-couraged Beauregard, the 
 victor of First Manassas. After the Corinth campaign 
 his health failed, and he was on leave of absence until 
 August, when he was placed in command at Charleston. 
 His defense of that city and harbor is memorable in the 
 annals of war. For nearly two years, with scant and 
 inadequate resources, the Confederates inspired by his 
 leadership held over three hundred miles of coast against 
 formidable attacks. The world will not soon forget the 
 defeat in April, 1863, of Dupont's iron-clads and Hunter's 
 army ; the prolonged resistance of the works on Morris 
 Island to attacks by land and sea ; the masterly evacuation 
 of works no longer tenable; nor the holding of Fort 
 Sumter in August, 1863, under the most terrible bom- 
 bardment on record, which battered the works into ruins 
 but left an unconquered flag, until in other quarters the 
 war was lost. In April, 1864, he was called to Rich- 
 mond, where he organized a little army, defeated Butler 
 and held Petersburg. In October he was appointed com- 
 mander-in-chief of the division of the West, and in De- 
 
652 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 cember his department was enlarged to include South, 
 Carolina and the Georgia coast. Relieved by General 
 J. E. Johnston in February, 1865, he voluntarily assisted- 
 that commander during the closing period and surren- 
 dered with him in April, 1865. After the war he resided 
 in New Orleans, became president of two important, 
 railroad companies and served as adjutant-general of the 
 State, preserving to an advanced age an alert and active- 
 manhood. He died February 20, 1893. 
 
 General Braxton Bragg was born in Warren county, 
 North Carolina, March 22, 181 7. He was graduated fif th- 
 in the class of 1837 at the United States military acad- 
 emy, and received his lieutenancy in the artillery. He 
 served mainly in Florida during the Indian troubles, 
 until 1843, then was in garrison at Fort Moultrie until 
 1845, when he took part in the occupation of Texas. In 
 the subsequent war with Mexico he served with distin- 
 guished gallantry, and was brevetted captain for conduct- 
 in defense of Fort Brown, major for valor at Monterey, 
 and lieutenant-colonel for his special services at Buena 
 Vista. He became captain. Third artillery, June, 1846, 
 was on the staff of General Gaines, and on garrison duty 
 until 185s, when he declined promotion to major of 
 First cavalry. He resigned January 3, 1856, and became 
 a planter at Thibodeaux, Louisiana, serving his State, 
 1859-61, as commissioner of public works. In February, 
 
 1 86 1, he was put in command of the army of Louisiana, 
 and on March 7th was commissioned brigadier-general in 
 the provisional army of the Confederate States, and 
 assigned to the command of the troops and defenses at 
 Pensacola, which he held until January 27, 1862, in the 
 meantime having been promoted major-general and lieu- 
 tenant-general and assigned to the command of the de- 
 partment of Alabama and West Florida. In March, 
 
 1862, he marched his forces to Corinth, whence in com- 
 mand of the second corps of the army he participated in. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 653 
 
 the movement against Grant and the battle of Shiloh. 
 In this famous combat Albert Sidney Johnston fell, 
 and Beauregard succeeded to the general command, 
 while Bragg was promoted general and assigned to the 
 command of the army of the Mississippi, with Polk, 
 Hardee and Breckinridge as his corps commanders. 
 When after the evacuation of Corinth the army had retired 
 to Tupelo, Beauregard, on account of illness, turned 
 over the command temporarily to Bragg and went to 
 Mobile. Beauregard was thereupon relieved and Bragg 
 appointed as his successor. He was now in command of 
 the department and all the forces arrayed against the 
 Federal invasion between the Mississippi river and At- 
 lanta, except the command of General Kirby Smith, in 
 East Tennessee. He planned a campaign into Kentucky 
 before Buell was ready to oppose him, hoping by a bold 
 offensive movement to arouse the friends of the Confed- 
 erate cause in the border States and drive the enemy 
 beyond the Ohio. He transferred his troops to Chatta- 
 nooga, and set out on his northward movement about the 
 middle of August, Kirby Smith moving with a separate 
 command in co-operation. At Munfordville he captured 
 over 4,000 Federal soldiers, and then moved his army to 
 Bardstown, and with his staff joined Kirby Smith at 
 Lexington, where on October 4th, Hon. Richard Hawes 
 was installed as Confederate provisional governor of 
 Kentucky. At Perry ville he encountered Buell 's army 
 and was victorious at every point, striking such a severe 
 blow that he was able subsequently to move without loss 
 to his large trains of captured stores, back to Knoxville. 
 Preparing at once for a movement into Middle Tennessee 
 he reached Murfreesboro November 26, 1862, about the 
 date when General J. E. Johnston was appointed to the 
 general command of the new department of the West, 
 including the forces of Smith, Bragg and Pemberton. 
 On December 3oth-3ist he repulsed the advance of Rose- 
 crans' army upon his position, gaining a notable victory. 
 
654 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 but on January 2d he was himself repulsed in an attack 
 on the Federal left. He retreated to Tullahoma, where 
 Johnston was empowered to relieve him of command if 
 that commander thought best, but the result of a visit by 
 Johnston was the retention of Bragg in command. In 
 the latter part of June, 1863, he withdrew to Chattanooga, 
 and thence in September, on account of the Federal 
 forces appearing to the south, fell back into Georgia, 
 where near the Tennessee line the great battle of Chick- 
 amauga was fought by the Confederate army under his 
 command September 19th and 20th. It resulted in the 
 complete rout of Rosecrans, the command of George H. 
 Thomas alone holding its ground during the battle. 
 Subsequently he besieged the beaten Federals at Chatta- 
 nooga and sent Longstreet against Knoxville. When 
 the beleaguered Federals were on the point of starvation 
 they were heavily reinforced by Grant, and the Confed- 
 erates were forced to retire from Missionary Ridge. On 
 February 24, 1864, he was assigned to duty at Richmond, 
 under direction of the President, charged . with the 
 conduct of the military operations of the armies of the 
 Confederate States. In November following he was 
 given command of the department of North Carolina, 
 and in January, 1865, he commanded the army at Wil- 
 mington, and the troops of his department in the final 
 operations against Sherman including the battle of Ben- 
 tonville. After the surrender at Appomattox he accom- 
 panied President Davis through South Carolina and into 
 Georgia, and after peace was restored, having lost all his 
 property, he became engaged as a civil engineer at New 
 Orleans, and superintended harbor improvements at 
 Mobile. He died at Galveston, Texas, September 27, 
 1876. He was an officer of remarkable industry and 
 conscientiousness, and unspotted character. He never 
 praised others nor allowed himself to be flattered. His 
 devotion to duty led him to neglect those amenities of 
 social life which are valuable even in war, and he. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 655 
 
 suffered in consequence, but no one ever questioned his 
 patriotism, or his courage. 
 
 General Edmund Kirby Smith, whose illustrious career 
 is a notable part of the history of the Confederate war in 
 the West, was born at St. Augustine, Fla. , May i6, 
 1824. His father. Colonel J. L. Smith, a native of Con- 
 necticut, then held the office of United States judge for 
 the district of Florida. He was appointed to the United 
 States military academy, was graduated there in 1845, with 
 a lieutenancy in the infantry, and then engaged in the 
 Mexican war, where he received three brevets for gal- 
 lantry. During his subsequent career as an officer of 
 the United States army he served as assistant professor 
 of mathematics at West Point, 1849-52; was promoted 
 captain of the Second cavalry in 1855; was wounded in 
 a battle with the Comanche Indians in Texas in 1859; 
 and in 1861 was thanked for his services in protection of 
 the State by the Texas legislature and promoted captain 
 by the United States government. With full allegiance 
 to his native State of Florida, he resigned his Federal 
 commission upon the secession of that State, and entered 
 the Confederate service. He was commissioned colonel 
 of cavalry, March 16, 1861; promoted brigadier-general 
 June 17, 1861; major-general October 11, 1861 ; lieuten- 
 ant-general October, 1862, and general February 19, 
 1864. He served as chief of staff to General Joseph E. 
 Johnston, at Harper's Ferry, rendered important service 
 in the organization of the army of the Shenandoah, and 
 having been promoted brigadier-general, was put in com- 
 mand of the fourth brigade of that army. While leading 
 his command into action at Manassas, July 21st, at the 
 critical moment, he fell severely wounded. He subse- 
 quently commanded the reserve division of the army, and 
 being promoted major-general, assumed command at 
 Knoxville on March 8, 1862, of the district of East Ten- 
 nessee, afterward the department of East Tennessee and 
 
656 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Kentucky, North Georgia and Western North Carolina. 
 He sent reinforcements to Beauregard at Corinth, and 
 opposed with an inadequate force the Federal advance at 
 Cumberland Gap. After a conference with General 
 Bragg at Chattanooga, July 31st, General Smith advanced 
 into Kentucky with about 6,000 men, defeated a superior 
 force of Federals under General Nelson at Richmond, 
 and after being joined by General Heth with 4, 000 men, 
 he designated his command as "The Army of Ken- 
 tucky," made vigorous efforts to gather supplies and 
 recruits for the Confederate cause, and occupied Lexing- 
 ton, the capital of the State. When Bragg retired after 
 the battle of Perryville, General Smith skillfully with- 
 drew his army from Kentucky. Having been promoted 
 lieutenant-general he was ordered to the command of the 
 Trans- Mississippi department in February, 1863, where 
 he held the general command, from March 7th until the 
 close of the war, of the districts of Louisiana, Texas, 
 Arkansas and Indian Territory. He established head- 
 quarters at Shreveport, organized government, shipped 
 large quantities of cotton to Europe, imported machinery, 
 and did much to develop mining and manufacture. He 
 concentrated his forces in defense of the Red River, and 
 when his department was invaded by Banks and Steele, 
 his measures of defense resulted in the decisive victory 
 at Mansfield. On May 26, 1865, at Baton Rouge, he sur- 
 rendered his army, the last of the Confederate troops to 
 lay down their arms. During his supreme command in 
 the Trans- Mississippi department he was absolutely faith- 
 ful to the interests of his country, and spurned the per- 
 sonal profit which might easily have been made enormous. 
 Neither in after life did any stress of financial embarrass- 
 ment ever tempt him to forget that personal honor, that, 
 like his unfailing courtesy, was a supreme characteristic 
 of his nature. After the war he held the presidency of 
 the Atlantic and Pacific telegraph company, was chan- 
 cellor of the university of Nashville, 1870-1875, and sub- 
 
General Edmund Kirby Smith. 
 General Braxton Bragg. 
 
 General Joseph E. Johnston. 
 General John E. Hood. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 657 
 
 sequently was professor of mathematics in tlie university 
 of the South, at Sewanee, Tennessee, until his death, 
 March 28, 1893. 
 
 Lieutenant-General John Bell Hood, general with 
 temporary rank, 1864, was bom in Owensville, Ky., 
 June I, 1 83 1. He was graduated at the United States 
 military academy with the class of 1853, which included 
 his subsequent antagonists, McPherson and Schofield. 
 During his West Point life his fiery courage and persist- 
 ence were impressed upon his associates. Years after- 
 ward General O. O. Howard, finding the Confederates 
 active in his front, on the west of Atlanta, said to Sher- 
 man, " General, Hood will attack me here," and when 
 Sherman expressed his doubt, Howard responded that he 
 had known Hood at West Point and that " he was indom- 
 itable. ' ' In the rank of second-lieutenant Hood served 
 about two years in California, after his graduation, and 
 was then transferred to a new cavalry regiment of which 
 Albert Sidney Johnston was colonel and Robert E. Lee 
 lieutenant-colonel. He engaged in frontier service in 
 Texas in the winter of 1855, and in July following was 
 wounded at Devil's river. In 1858 he was promoted first 
 lieutenant, and in 1859-60 he performed the duties of 
 cavalry instructor at West Point. Resigning his commis- 
 sion in April, 1861, he entered the service of the Confed- 
 erate States, reporting to General Magruder on the peur 
 insula of Virginia. With the temporary rank of major 
 he was given command of the cavalry of this district by 
 General Magruder, and on the organization of the caval- 
 ry companies into a regiment was promoted lieutenant- 
 colonel. Next commissioned colonel of the- Fourth Texas 
 regiment in September, 1861, he thus began his associ- 
 ation with the Texas troops in the Confederate war, his 
 regiment becoming the nucleus of the Texas brigade 
 which was soon formed and placed under his command 
 in March, 1862, as brigadier-general. Under his daring 
 
 1-42 
 
658 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 leadership, the Texans performed prodigies of valor and 
 at the outset gained a reputation for hard fighting and 
 reckless courage that grew with the progress of the war. 
 His brigade was attached to the command of Gen. G. W. 
 Smith at Williamsburg and Seven Pines. He checked 
 General Franklin at Eltham's Landing near West Point, 
 and at Gaines' Mill his brigade and that of General Law 
 were at the front of Longstreet's attack, and the report 
 of General Stonewall Jackson gives credit to the Fourth 
 Texas, led by General Hood, as the first to pierce the 
 Federal entrenchments on the left and capture the bat- 
 teries. In this fight he was wounded and his gallantry 
 won the brevet of major-general, a rank to which he was 
 fully promoted in October following. Commanding a 
 division composed of his old brigade and that of Law, 
 with five batteries, in Longstreet's corps, he climbed over 
 the mountains at Thoroughfare Gap and struck the enemy 
 on the field of Second Manassas, with decisive results." 
 During the Maryland campaign he took part with his di- 
 vision in the important and heroic delay of the Federal 
 army at the passes of South Mountain, with his comrades 
 holding Hooker's and Reno's corps at Fox's Gap. At 
 Sharpsburg he held the left against Hooker on the i6th 
 of September, and fought desperately about the Dunker 
 church on the 17th. At Fredericksburg he commanded 
 the right of Longstreet's line, and at Gettysburg, sta- 
 tioned on the extreme right of the Confederate army, he 
 made a vigorous and successful attack on the second day 
 against Little Round Top and the Devil's Den. Early 
 in the engagement he received a wound which deprived 
 him permanently of the use of one arm and caused his 
 confinement for over two months. In September, 1863, 
 his division was ordered with Longstreet's corps, in the 
 reinforcement of Bragg in North Georgia, which he at 
 once followed, notwithstanding his wound. He was dis- 
 tinguished in the action on the 19th and 20th of Septem- 
 ber, 1863, when he gained a brilliant success, crushing 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 659 
 
 the right center of the enemy, capturing artillery, and 
 seizing the Chattanooga road, but while leading a charge 
 with his usual impetuosity he was wounded in the right 
 leg, necessitating its amputation. He was promoted 
 lieutenant-general, of date September 20th, and during 
 Johnston's campaign against Sherman he was in active 
 command of one of the three army corps, though he was 
 so maimed in body that it was with great difficulty that 
 he was able to keep upon his horse. During the fighting 
 from Dalton to Atlanta he played a prominent part, 
 and on July 18, 1864, he was given command of the army, 
 with the temporary rank of general. He endeavored to 
 take Sherman's army at disadvantage in crossing Peach 
 Tree Creek, July 20, 1864, but delay made the blow in- 
 effective. Two days later he fought the battle of the 2 2nd 
 with well-devised plans that chance and superior forces of 
 the enemy deprived of further effect than checking the 
 Federal advance in that direction. On the 28th he struck 
 the persistent Sherman a heavy blow at Ezra Church, but 
 after the enemy had succeeded in breaking his com- 
 munications he evacuated Atlanta, having held Sherman 
 at bay for seventy-five days. He then determined to at- 
 tack Sherman's communications, invade Tennessee and 
 carry the war northward. This resulted in several en- 
 gagements in North Georgia, and the famous battles of 
 Franklin and Nashville, Tenn. At the close of this cam- 
 paign General Hood applied to be relieved from the com- 
 mand of his army, and continued to press his application 
 until finally President Davis complied with his request. 
 Bidding farewell on the 25th of January, 1865, to the army 
 of Tennessee, with which he had served over eleven 
 months, he reported to the President at Richmond, was 
 ordered to Texas, and while on the way was informed 
 of the surrender of General Lee. Proceeding on his 
 journey he reached the vicinity of Natchez, Mississippi, 
 where he was detained in " vain endeavors to cross the 
 mighty river " until he learned of the surrender b,v Gen- 
 
660 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 eral Kirby Smith. After that he rode into Natchez May 
 31, 1865, surrendered and was paroled. Hostilities on 
 the field being ended he engaged in business in Nevr 
 Orleans until his death, August 30, 1879. 
 
 Lieutenant-General James Longstreet was bom in 
 Edgefield district, South Carolina, January 8, 1821, the 
 son of James Longstreet, a native of New Jersey. His 
 maternal grandfather, Marshall Dent, was a first cousin of 
 Chief Justice John Marshall. His grandfather, William 
 Longstreet, was the first to apply steam as a motive power, 
 in 1787, to a small boat on the Savannah river at Augusta. 
 General Longstreet was reared to the age of twelve years 
 at Augusta, Ga., whence after the death of his father 
 he accompanied his mother to North Alabama. From that 
 State he was appointed to the United States military 
 academy in 1838. He was graduated in 1842, and with 
 the brevet of second-lieutenant went on duty at Jefferson 
 Barracks, Mo. , with the Fourth infantry. The command 
 was joined next year by Lieutenant U. S. Grant, whom 
 Longstreet introduced to his cousin, Miss Julia Dent, sub- 
 sequently the wife of the Federal general. In 1844 Long- 
 street joined the army in Louisiana under General Taylor, 
 and in 1845, promoted lieutenant of the Eighth regiment, 
 was at St. Augustine, Fla. , until he was ordered to Tay- 
 lor's army in Texas. He participated in the battles of 
 Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterey, Vera Cruz, 
 Cerro Gordo, San Antonio, Churubusco, and Molino del 
 Rey, winning the brevets of captain and major. At 
 Chapultepec he was severely wounded. He was pro- 
 moted captain in 1852, and in 1858 major and paymaster, 
 and stationed at Albuquerque, N. M. Resigning this 
 office he reported at Richmond June 29,1861, and asked an 
 appointment in the pay department, having resigned 
 ' ' aspirations for military glory. ' ' But he received a com- 
 mission as brigadier-general July ist, and was ordered to 
 report to Beauregard at Manassas, where, in command 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 681 
 
 of the First, Eleventh and Seventeenth Virginia regi- 
 ments, he repulsed the Federal attack at Blackburn's 
 Ford, July i8th, and during the battle of July 21st threat- 
 ened the Federal rear. On October 1 7th he was promoted 
 to major-general, and with this rank he commanded a di- 
 vision of the army under Joseph E. Johnston, and at the 
 battle of Williamsburg was in immediate command of 
 the field, manifesting here those sturdy qualities which 
 gave him to such a great degree the confidence of his 
 men, and won their admiration. He commanded the 
 right wing of the army before Richmond during the two 
 days' battle of Seven Pines, and was in command of his 
 own and A. P. Hill's division, under Robert E. Lee, in 
 the successful battles of Gaines' Mill and Frayser's 
 Farm, and was preparing to make a flank movement 
 against the Federals at Malvern Hill when the series of 
 battles ended by the safe retreat of McClellan to the 
 James. After following the retreating enemy to Har- 
 rison's Landing, he there entered upon his command of 
 the First corps of the army of Northern Virginia, Stone- 
 wall Jackson leading the Second. 
 
 Jackson marched at once to confront Pope in northern 
 Virginia, and Longstreet soon followed. While Jackson 
 flanked the enemy from their strong position on the Rap- 
 pahannock he engaged them at various points on the 
 river, and finally forcing the passage of Thoroughfare 
 Gap, participated in the crushing defeat of Pope's army. 
 In the Maryland campaign he moved his division from 
 Frederick to Hagerstown, with part of his command hold- 
 ing the South Mountain passes, while Jackson captured 
 Harper's Ferry, and at Sharpsburg he won additional re- 
 nown for stubborn and heroic fighting. October 9, 
 1862, he was promoted to lieutenant-general. At Freder- 
 icksburg the fighting of the left wing, including the 
 heroic defense of Marye's Hill, was under his supervision. 
 In the spring of 1863 he operated with part of his corps 
 at Suffolk, Va. , but rejoined Lee at Fredericksburg after 
 
662 CONFEDERA TE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 the battle of Cliancellorsville and the mortal wounding of 
 Jackson. It was decided at this crisis to make a diver- 
 sion by a campaign in Pennsylvania, and in accordance 
 with the general plan Longstreet moved his command to 
 Chambersburg, Pa. , and thence to Gettysburg, reaching 
 the field in person on the afternoon of the first day of the 
 battle. General Lee having been successful thus far, de- 
 cided to continue the fight on the Federal front. Long: 
 street's troops, having arrived, participated in the second 
 day's battle, and on the third day, under orders from 
 Lee, Pickett's division, reinforced by Pettigrew and 
 Trimble, made the memorable charge against the Federal 
 position on Cemetery Hill. After the Confederate army 
 had retired to Virginia, Longstreet, with Hood and Mc- 
 Laws' divisions, was sent to reinforce Bragg in north 
 Georgia, and as commander of the left wing at Chicka- 
 mauga he crushed the Federal right, becoming, as D. H. 
 Hill wrote, " The organizer of victory on the Confeder- 
 ate side, as Thomas was the savior of the army on the 
 other side. " After Rosecrans was shut up in Chattanooga 
 Longstreet was detached for the capture of Knoxville. 
 Marching to that point in November, on heavy roads, 
 he had begun assaults upon the works when apprised of 
 the defeat of Bragg at Chattanooga. Rejoining the army 
 of Northern Virginia before the fighting began in the 
 Wilderness, on May 6 he reached the field opportunely 
 and led his men in a successful assault which promised 
 the defeat of Grant's army, when in the confusion a Con- 
 federate volley seriously wounded him and killed his fa- 
 vorite brigade commander, the gallant General Jenkins. 
 During the greater part of the siege at Richmond and 
 Petersburg he commanded on the north side of the James, 
 and on the movement to Appomattox he commanded the 
 .advance and the main portion of the army. After hostil- 
 ities closed he was told by President Johnson that he was 
 one of three, the others being Mr. Davis and General 
 Lee, who could never receive amnesty. It was subse- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 663 
 
 quently bestowed, however, and he engaged in business 
 at New Orleans. During Grant's presidency he was ap- 
 pointed surveyor of the port of that city, and afterward 
 supervisor of internal revenue and postmaster. In 1880 
 he was appointed United States minister to Turkey, and 
 under President Garfield he was United States marshal 
 for the district of Georgia, in which State he has made his 
 residence of recent years, at the town of Gainesville. In 
 October, 1897, he was appointed United States railroad 
 commissioner to succeed General Wade Hampton re- 
 signed. 
 
 Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk was bom at Raleigh, 
 N. C, April 10, 1806, the son of Colonel William 
 Polk, the latest survivor of the field officers of the 
 North Carolina line, and grandson of Thomas Polk, a 
 leader in the Mecklenburg convention. He received a 
 literary education at the university of North Carolina, and 
 then determining to embrace a military career, was ap- 
 pointed to the United States military academy, where he 
 was graduated with a lieutenancy in the artillery in 1827. 
 Through the influence of a new chaplain at West Point, 
 afterward known as Bishop Mcllvaine, of Ohio, he be- 
 came impressed with a sense of religious duty which led 
 him to resign his commission in the same year, and enter 
 the Theological seminary at Alexandria. In December, 
 1827, he became a deacon in the Protestant Episcopal 
 church and in 1831 he was ordained priest. On account 
 of his delicate health his labors in this field were relieved 
 by foreign travel and partial occupation as a farmer, until 
 1838, when he received the degree of S. T. D. and was 
 appointed missionary bishop in Arkansas and Indian 
 territory, with provisional charge of the dioceses of Ala- 
 bama, Mississippi and Louisiana, and missions in Texas. 
 The incessant travel required soon restored his physical 
 condition to health, and he subsequently resigned the 
 charge of this boundless field except the diocese of 
 
664 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Louisiana, which he retained throughout life. He was 
 an earnest participant in the secession movement, and 
 when war became imminent, removed his family from 
 New Orleans to Sewanee, Tenn., where he had pro- 
 jected the University of the South in 1856. He then of- 
 fered his military services to the Confederacy, and was 
 commissioned major-general June 25, 18^2, with com- 
 mand of Department No. 2, comprising a vast territory 
 and the defenses of the Mississippi river from the Red 
 river to Paducah, Ky. He established his headquarters 
 at Memphis and directed the fortification of the river. 
 He was practically the creator of the army of the Mis- 
 sissippi. In September, when Albert Sidney Johnston, 
 took command of Department No. 2, he removed his head- 
 quarters to Columbus, Ky., which he fortified and held 
 with about 10,000 men. At Belmont, in November, he 
 and General Grant shared the honors of what was the 
 first battle of each as commanding officer. Early in 1862 
 he was required to evacuate Columbus, and join the army 
 at Corinth, where he was put in command of the First 
 corps of the army of the Mississippi. In the council 
 which preceded the battle of Shiloh he sustained Johns- 
 ton in his determination to attack, and in the action he 
 crushed the right center of the Federal line, and in per- 
 son received the surrender of many troops. He was in 
 command of his corps at Corinth, and after the succession 
 of Bragg to the control of the department, he became 
 second in command. During the invasion of Kentucky 
 he commanded the right wing of Bragg's army, was in 
 charge of the Confederate forces at the successful battle 
 of Perr5rville, and was intrusted with the conduct of the 
 retreat. October 10, 1862, he was promoted to lieutenant- 
 general. He was distinguished in command of the center 
 at Murfreesboro. At the battle of Chickamauga he was 
 in charge of the right wing of Bragg's army. On De- 
 cember 23rd he succeeded Hardee in command of the army 
 of Tennessee, but was soon relieved by J. E. Johnston. 
 
Lieiit.-Gcn. Theopiiilus H. Holmes. 
 
 Lieut.-Gen. Leonidas Polk. 
 
 Lieut. -Gen. Wm. J. I[ardek. 
 
 Lii'iit.-Gcn. Jamks Longstreet. 
 ;k. 
 Lieut. -Gen. Tiios. J. Jackson. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 66& 
 
 and was given charge of the department of Alabama^ 
 Mississippi and east Louisiana, where he frustrated Sher- 
 man's Mississippi expedition. With his troops, the army 
 of Mississippi, he united with the army of Tennessee 
 at Resaca in the spring of 1864, and on May 12 assumed 
 command in the field, and co-operated with Johnston in 
 the campaign against Sherman, until he was killed on 
 Pine Motmtain, near Marietta, Ga. , June 14, 1864. " Gen- 
 eral Polk," writes his son, "walked to the crest of the 
 hill, and, entirely exposed, turned himself around, as if 
 to take a farewell view. Folding his arms across his. 
 breast, he stood intently gazing on the scene below. 
 While he thus stood a cannon shot crashed through his 
 breast, and opening a wide door, let free that indomitable 
 spirit. " 
 
 Lieutenant-General Thomas Jonathan Jackson was 
 one of those rare historical characters who are claimed 
 by all people — a man of his race, almost as much as of 
 the Confederacy. No war has produced a military celeb- 
 rity more remarkable, nor one whose fame will be more 
 enduring. He was born January 21, 1824, in Clarksburg, 
 Va., and his parents, who were of patriotic Revolution- 
 ary stock, dying while he was but a child, he was reared 
 and educated by his kindred in the pure and simple habits 
 of rural life, taught in good English schools, and is 
 described as a " diligent, plodding scholar, having a 
 strong mind, though it was slow in development." But 
 he was in boyhood a leader among his fellow-students in 
 the athletic sports of the times, in which he generally 
 managed his side of the contest so as to win the victory. 
 By this country training he became a bold and expert 
 rider and cultivated that spirit of daring which being 
 held sometimes in abeyance displayed itself in his Mexican 
 service, and then suddenly again in the Confederate war. 
 In June, 1842, at the age of eighteen, he was appointed to a 
 cadetship in the military academy at West Point, where, 
 
666 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 commencing with the disadvantages of inadequate prep- 
 aration, he overcame obstacles by such determination as 
 to rise from year to year in the estimation of the faculty. 
 He graduated June 30, 1846, at the age of twenty- two 
 years, receiving brevet rank as second-lieutenant at the 
 beginning of the Mexican war, and was ordered to report 
 for duty with the First Regular artillery, with which he 
 shared in the man}' brilliant battles which General Scott 
 fought from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico. He was 
 often commended for his soldierly conduct and soon re- 
 ceived successive promotions for gallantry at Contreras 
 and Churubusco. Captain Magruder, afterwards a Con- 
 federate general, thus mentioned him in orders: " If de- 
 votion, industry, talent, and gallantry are the highest 
 qualities of a soldier, then is he entitled to the distinction 
 which their possession confers. ' ' Jackson was one of the 
 volunteers in the storming of Chapultepec, and for his 
 daring there was brevetted major, which was his rank at 
 the close of the Mexican war. 
 
 His religious character, which history has and will in- 
 separably connect with his military life, appears to have 
 begun forming in the City of Mexico, where his attention 
 was directed to the subject of the variety of beliefs on 
 religious questions. His amiable and affectionate bi- 
 ographer (Mrs. Jackson) mentions that Colonel Francis 
 Taylor, the commander of the First artillery, under 
 whom Jackson was serving, was the first man to speak to 
 him on the subject of personal religion. Jackson had not 
 at any time of his life yielded to the vices, and was in all 
 habits strictly moral, but had given no particular atten- 
 tion to the duties enjoined by the church. Convinced 
 now that this neglect was wrong, he began to study the 
 Bible and pursued his inquiries until he finally united 
 (185 1 ) with the Presbyterian church. His remarkable 
 devoutness of habit and unwavering confidence in the 
 truth of his faith contributed, it is conceded, very greatly 
 to the full development of his singular character, as well 
 as to his marvelous success. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 667 
 
 In 1848 Jackson's command was stationed at Fort Ham- 
 ilton for two years, then at Fort Meade, in Florida, and 
 from that station he was elected to a chair in the Virginia 
 military institute at Lexington in 1851, which he accepted, 
 and resigning his commission, made Lexington his home 
 ten years, and until he began his remarkable career 
 in the Confederate war. Two years later, 1853, he mar- 
 ried Miss Eleanor, daughter of Rev. Dr. Junkin, presi- 
 dent of Washington college, but she lived scarcely more 
 than a year. Three years after, July 16, 1857, his second 
 marriage occurred, with Miss Mary Anna, daughter of 
 Rev. Dr. H. R. Morrison, of North Carolina, a distin- 
 guished educator, whose other daughters married men 
 who attained eminence in civil and military life, among 
 them being General D. H. Hill, General Rufus Barringer, 
 and Chief Justice A. C. Avery. 
 
 The only special incident occurring amidst the educa- 
 tional and domestic life of Major Jackson, which flowed on 
 serenely from this hour, was the summons of the cadets of 
 the Institute by Governor Letcher, to proceed to Harper's 
 Ferry on the occasion of the raid of John Brown in 1859. 
 
 During the presidential campaign of i860 Major Jack- 
 son visited New England and there heard enough to 
 arouse his fears for the safety of the Union. At the elec- 
 tion of that year he cast his vote for Breckinridge on the 
 principle that he was a State rights man, and after Lin- 
 coln's election he favored the policy of contending in the 
 Union rather than out of it, for the recovery of the ground 
 that had thus been lost. The course of coercion, how- 
 ever, alarmed him, and the failure of the Peace congress 
 persuaded him that if the United States persisted in their 
 course war would certainly result. His State saw as he 
 did, and on the passage of its ordinance of secession, the 
 military cadets under the command of Major Jackson 
 were ordered to the field by the governor of Virginia. 
 The order was promptly obeyed April 21, 1865, from which 
 date his Confederate military life began. 
 
668 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Jackson's valuable service was given to Virginia in the 
 occupation of Harper's Ferry and several subsequent small 
 affairs, but his fame became general from the battle of 
 First Manassas. It was at one of the crises of that first 
 trial battle between the Federal and Confederate troops 
 that he was given the war name of "Stonewall," by 
 which he will be always designated. The true story will 
 be often repeated that on being notified of the Federal 
 advance to break the Confederate line he called out, " We 
 will give them the bayonet," and a few minutes later 
 the steadiness with which the brigade received the shock 
 of battle caused the Confederate General Bee to exclaim : 
 " There stands Jackson like a stone wall." 
 
 He was commissioned brigadier-general June 17, 1861, 
 and was promoted to major-general October 7, 1861, with 
 the wise assignment to command of the Valley district, 
 which he assumed in November of that year. With a 
 small force he began even in winter a series of bold oper- 
 ations in the great Virginia valley, and opened the spring 
 campaign of 1862, on plans concerted between General 
 Joseph E. Johnston and himself, by attacking the enemy 
 at Kemstown, March 23rd, where he sustained his only 
 repulse ; but even in the movement which resulted in a 
 temporary defeat he caused the recall of a considerable 
 Federal force designed to strengthen McClellan in the 
 advance against Richmond. The next important battle 
 was fought at McDowell, in which Jackson won a decided 
 victory over Fremont. Then moving with celerity and 
 sagacity he drove Banks at Front Royal, struck him again 
 at Newtown, and at length utterly routed him. After 
 this, turning about on Shields, he overthrew his com- 
 mand also, and thus, in one month's campaign, broke up 
 the Federal forces which had been sent to "crush him." 
 In these rapidly executed operations he had successfully 
 fought five battles against three distinct armies, requiring 
 four hundred miles, marching to compass the fields. 
 
 This Valley campaign of 1862 was never excelled, ac- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 669 
 
 •cording to the opinions expressed by military men of high 
 rank and long experience in war. It is told by Dr. Mc- 
 Guire, the chief surgeon of Jackson's command, that with 
 swelling heart he had " heard some of the first soldiers 
 and military students of England declare that within the 
 past two hundred years the English speaking race has 
 produced but five soldiers of the first rank — Marlborough, 
 Washington, Wellington, Lee and Stonewall Jackson, 
 and that this campaign in the valley was superior to either 
 of those made by Napoleon in Italy. " One British ofificer, 
 who teaches strategy in a great European college, told 
 Surgeon McGuire that he used this campaign as a model 
 of strategy and tactics, dwelling upon it for several 
 months in his lectures ; that it was taught in the schools 
 of Germany, and that Von Moltke, the great strategist, 
 declared it was without a rival in the world's history. 
 
 After this brilliant service for the Confederacy Jackson 
 joined Lee at Richmond in time to strike McClellan's flank 
 at the battle of Cold Harbor, and to contribute to the 
 Federal defeat in the Seven Days' battles around Rich- 
 mond. In the campaign against Pope, undertaken by 
 Lee after he had defeated McClellan, Jackson was sent 
 on a movement suited to his genius, capturing Manassas 
 Junction, and foiling Pope until the main battle of Second 
 Manassas, Augfust 30, 1862, under Lee, despoiled that 
 Federal general of all his former honors. The Maryland 
 campaign immediately followed, in which Jackson led in 
 the capture of Harper's Ferry September isth, taking 
 11,500 prisoners, and an immense amount of arms and 
 stores, just preceding the battle of Sharpsburg, in which 
 he also fought with notable efficiency at a critical junc- 
 ture. The promotion to lieutenant-general was now ac- 
 corded him, October 10, 1862. At the battle of Freder- 
 icksburg, December 13, 1862, Lieutenant- General Jack- 
 son held the Confederate right against all Federal 
 assaults. The Federal disaster in this battle resulted in 
 
€70 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 the resignation of Burnside and the reorganization of 
 the army under General Hooker in 1863. 
 
 After the most complete preparations Hooker advanced 
 against Lee at Chancellorsville, who countervailed all the 
 Federal general's plans by sending Jackson to find and 
 crush his right flank, which movement was in the process 
 of brilliant accomplishment when Jackson, who had passed 
 his own lines to make a personal inspection of the situa- 
 tion, was fired upon and fatally wounded by a line of 
 Confederates who unhappily mistook him and his escort 
 for the enemy. The glory of the achievement which 
 Lee and Jackson planned, fell upon General Stuart next 
 day, who, sacceeding Jackson in command, ordered that 
 charge which became so ruinous to Hooker, with the 
 thrilling watchword, " Remember Jackson." 
 
 General Jackson lived a few days and died lamented 
 more than any soldier who had fallen. Lee said : "I have 
 lost my right arm. ' ' The army felt that his place could 
 not be easily supplied. The South was weighted with 
 grief. After the war, when the North dispassionately 
 studied the man they ceased to wonder at the admiration 
 in which he was held by the world. He was buried at 
 Lexington, Va. , where a monument erected by affec- 
 tion marks his grave. "For centuries men will come to 
 Lexington as a Mecca, and to this grave as a shrine, and 
 wonderingly talk of this man and his mighty deeds. Time 
 will only add to his great fame — ^his name will be hon- 
 ored and revered forever. ' ' 
 
 Lieutenant-General William J. Hardee was bom in 
 Camden county, Georgia, in November, 1815, After re- 
 ceiving a military education at West Point, he entered the 
 army with the class of 1838, as a second-lieutenant of the 
 Second cavalry, and was promoted first-lieutenant in 1839, 
 and served in the Florida war of 1840. He was then sent 
 to Europe by the government as a member of a military 
 commission to study the organization of foreign armies. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 671 
 
 and in that capacity visited the military school at St. Maur, 
 France. In 1844 he was promoted captain, and in 1846 
 crossed the Rio Grande with General Taylor. He behaved 
 with gallantry in the Mexican war, was taien prisoner at 
 Curricito, but exchanged, and for his valor at La Hoya 
 was brevetted major. In 1853 his professional accom- 
 plishments caused his selection by the secretary of war, 
 for the compilation of a system of infantry tactics, which 
 was adopted in March, 1855. In the following year 
 ' ' Hardee's Tactics ' ' was introduced at West Point, where 
 he was appointed commandant with the rank of lieuten- 
 ant-colonel. In 1 86 1 he resigned this commission and 
 entered the Confederate service as colonel of cavalry 
 March i6th, being assigned to command at Fort Morgan, 
 Ala. On Jtme 17th, he was promoted to brigadier-gen- 
 eral, in which rank he organized a brigade of Arkansas 
 regiments, and operated in that State until called with his 
 men across the Mississippi, when he was commissioned 
 major-general and put in command of a division of the 
 army in Kentucky and Tennessee under Albert Sidney 
 Johnston. He led the advance from Corinth in command 
 of the Third army corps, and commanded the first line of 
 attack at Shiloh, where he was wounded, but managed his 
 command with such energy that he was promoted major- 
 general. In the following summer he was put in immedi- 
 ate command of the army of the Mississippi, afterward 
 called the army of Tennessee, and during the Kentucky 
 campaign he commanded the left wing of Bragg 's army. 
 In the battle of Perryville he bore a conspicuous part, and 
 he was immediately afterward promoted to the rank of 
 lieutenant-general. At the battle of Murfreesboro the 
 left wing under his masterly leadership was successful 
 in the fight, and he was especially commended by Gener- 
 al Bragg " for skill, valor and ability." General Hardee 
 had now well earned the exalted rank which he held and 
 a military reputation which was tersely expressed by his 
 soldiers in the cognomen " Old Reliable." In 1863 he 
 
«72 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 was detailed to defend Mississippi and Alabama, but re- 
 turned to the command of his corps at Chattanooga, and 
 commanded the right wing at Missionary Ridge, where 
 General Thomas declared he was " the most efficient 
 general the Confederacy had on the field. " The subse- 
 quent maneuver of his troops at Cassville and his masterly 
 retreat in echelon of divisions won the renewed admir- 
 ation of his opponents. On December 2, 1863, he suc- 
 ceeded General Bragg in command of the army, but soon 
 turned this over to General Polk, who in turn gave place 
 to Gen. J. E. Johnston. Under the latter and his suc- 
 cessor, J. B. Hood, he commanded a corps of the army of 
 Tennessee through the Atlanta campaign, taking a prom- 
 inent part in the fighting at Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, 
 and other points, and particularly at Peach Tree Creek 
 and the battle of July zzd, where he commanded the flank 
 movement against the Federal left wing. His corps was 
 again engaged at Jonesboro and the last fighting of the 
 campaign. In October, 1864, he was assigned to command 
 the department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, 
 with the task of collecting at Savannah forces to operate 
 against Sherman 's advance. The troops he required were 
 no longer to be found in the South, and by one of the 
 most masterly retreats of the war he evaded Sherman's 
 overwhelming force before Savannah, and withdrew to 
 Charleston and thence to Columbia. At Averysboro, in 
 March, 1865, he punished the enemy effectively, and a few 
 days later he led in the battle of Bentonville the last 
 charge that was made by our war-worn soldiers, and his 
 only son, sixteen years of age, was among the last to fall. 
 In this last battle of the four years, with undiminished 
 spirit, the general, as Johnston has described it, " with 
 his knightly gallantry dashed over the enemy's breast- 
 works on horseback in front of his men." It is told of 
 Greneral Hardee, illustrating his thoroughness as a soldier, 
 that he was the only lieutenant-general who personally 
 inspected the arms and accoutrements of each soldier of 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 673 
 
 Tiis corps. General J. E. Johnston said of him that " he 
 was more capable of commanding twenty thousand men 
 in battle than any other Confederate general. ' ' General 
 Hardee died at Wytheville, Va., November 6, 1873, and 
 his remains were interred at Selma, Ala., where he had 
 resided after the war. 
 
 Lieutenant- General Theophilus H. Holmes was bom 
 November 11, 1804, in Sampson county, North Carolina, 
 the son of Gabriel Holmes, congressman and governor. 
 He was graduated from the West Point military academy 
 in 1829; served in frontier duty in Indian Territory and 
 elsewhere ; was promoted lieutenant and captain of the 
 Seventh infantry; served in the Florida Indian wars, 1839 
 to 1842 ; was stationed at New Orleans and vicinity ; joined 
 the Texas army of occupation ; won the brevet of major 
 at Monterey and was distinguished at Vera Cruz. Sxibse- 
 quently he was on duty in garrison and on the frontier ; 
 took part in the expeditions against the Seminoles and 
 the Navajoes ; was promoted major March 3, 1855, and 
 when the Confederacy was formed held the position at 
 Governor's Island of superintendent of the general re- 
 cruiting service of the United States army. He resigned 
 early in 186 1 to take part in the Southern struggle for in- 
 dependence. President Davis, who had known ' ' him from 
 his schoolboy days, had served with him in garrison and 
 in field, and with pride watched him as he gallantly led 
 a storming party up the rocky height at Monterey," pro- 
 moted him from colonel, C. S. A., his first Confederate 
 Tank, to that of brigadier-general, June 5, 1861. He com- 
 manded a brigade at Aquia Creek, which he led to Man- 
 assas for participation in the defeat of McDowell. Subse- 
 quently he was put in command of the Aquia district, with 
 the rank of major-general, the other two districts of the de- 
 partment being under Stonewall Jackson and Beauregard. 
 He commanded a division during the Seven Days' battles 
 before Richmond, and at the conclusion of that campaign 
 
 1-13 
 
674 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 took command of tlie department of North Carolina, 
 whence he was soon transferred to the command of the 
 Trans-Mississippi department and promoted to the rank of 
 lieutenant-general. He accepted the service but declined 
 the promotion until it was again offered in the fall of 1862, 
 when he accepted the rank. He reached Vicksburg July 
 30, i86a, and soon established his headquarters at Little 
 Rock. In this department he made a manly struggle 
 against adverse conditions until the following March, 
 when he was relieved by Edmund Kirby Smith, under 
 whose general command General Holmes retained charge 
 of the district of Arkansas. On the day that Vicksburg 
 surrendered, he made an assault upon the Federal force 
 at Helena under General Prentiss, where the Confederate 
 troops were distinguished for fearless action, but failed 
 to carry the enemy's works. Subsequently on account of 
 illness he turned over the military command to General 
 Price, but resumed it after Price had retreated from Little 
 Rock. The greater part of the State was now occupied 
 by an overwhelming Federal force, against which no 
 further hostilities were attempted during the service of 
 General Holmes in that field. In March, 1864, he was 
 relieved of command in Arkansas, and placed in charge 
 of the reserve forces of North Carolina. As commander 
 of the defenses of North Carolina, he was of great value 
 in the organization of the troops of that State, until, in 
 June, he was called to the department of Fredericksburg. 
 He was a brave and fearless officer and esteemed for his 
 virtues. After the close of the war he retired to Fayette- 
 ville, and passed the remainder of his life upon a small 
 farm, which he tilled with his own hands, accepting the 
 reverses of fortune with unmurmuring patience. He 
 died June 21, 1880. His eldest son fell at Malvern Hill. 
 
 Lieutenant-General John Clifford Pemberton was bom 
 at Philadelphia, Pa., August 10, 1814, and was graduated 
 at West Point in 1837, with promotion to a lieutenancy 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 675 
 
 in the Fourth artillery. As an artillery officer in the old 
 United States army he attained notable distinction. 
 Among his services previous to the Mexican war were 
 those in the Seminole wars; on the Northern frontier 
 during the Canada border disturbances; in garrison at 
 Fortress Monroe, and in the Texas army of occupation. 
 He entered the Mexican war as first-lieutenant, and 
 served gallantly in the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la 
 Palma, Monterey, Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Churubusco, 
 Molino del Rey, Chapultepec, and the city of Mexico, as 
 aide-de-camp to General Worth. For his brilliant services 
 he received the brevets of captain and major and was 
 presented a sword by the legislature of Pennsylvania. 
 After the Mexican war his principal service was in oper- 
 ations against the Seminoles ; on frontier duty in Kansas, 
 and in the Utah expedition. Called to Washington at the 
 outbreak of the war of the Confederacy he refused to 
 fight against the South, resigned his commission and was 
 appointed lieutenant-colonel of Virginia troops, and 
 entrusted with the organization of artillery and cavalry. 
 June 15, 1861, he was made a major of artillery in the Con- 
 federate army, and two days later received promotion to 
 brigadier-general. In the latter rank he commanded 
 Confederate forces north of the Nansemond river, on the 
 east bank of the James, until November, 1861, when he 
 was assigned to command of the Eighth military dis- 
 trict of South Carolina, where he was promoted to major- 
 general January, 1862. Early in 1862 he had command 
 of the department of South Carolina, Georgia and East 
 Florida during the absence of General Lee, and became 
 the successor of General Lee in that field from March 
 until October, 1862, when he was promoted to lieutenant- 
 general and transferred to the command of the depart- 
 ment of Mississippi and East Louisiana. Here he suc- 
 ceeded General VanDorn as commander of the army 
 and established his headquarters at Jackson. He was soon 
 called upon to meet a series of expeditions against Vicks- 
 
676 CONFEDERA TE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 burg ; Grant' s advance by Holly Springs, which was de- 
 feated by the raids of VanDorn and Forrest; Sherman's 
 movement by way of Chickasaw Bayou, which was de- 
 feated by Gen. S. D. Lee; and the several flanking 
 movements which were foiled by the Confederates after 
 Grant himself had appeared with an immense army before 
 Vicksburg. Finally the batteries of Vicksburg were run 
 by the Federal fleet, and Grant made a landing in Missis- 
 sippi and advanced upon Vicksburg from the south. 
 Pemberton at once made dispositions to flght in the de- 
 fensive at Edward's Ferry, guarding his communications, 
 but being overruled, acted on the offensive and was de- 
 feated at Champion's Hill, and routed at the Big Black 
 Bridge. He then occupied Vicksburg with all the forces 
 at his command, repulsed the assaults of May i8th and 
 22nd, and stubbornly defended his lines, under a contin- 
 uous bombardment, until ammunition failed and the men 
 from lack of food and exhaustive service were no longer 
 able to repulse an assault. At a council of war July 2nd, 
 it was decided to surrender, and the capitulation was com- 
 pleted July 4, 1863. After his exchange he resigned his 
 commission as lieutenant-general, May 18, 1864, and was 
 ordered to report to Gen. Robert Ransom for assign- 
 ment to command of artillery defenses of Richmond, 
 ■where he served with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, until 
 the close of the war. He then retired to a farm in Vir- 
 ginia, removed thence to Pennsylvania in 1876, and died 
 at Penll3m, July 13, 1881. 
 
 Lieutenant-General Richard Stoddart Ewell was bom 
 at Georgetown, D. C, February 8, 181 7. He was grad- 
 uated at West Point in 1840, and with promotion to a 
 lieutenancy of dragoons served on the frontier until 1846. 
 He went into the Mexican war as first-lieutenant of Ma- 
 son's Dragoons, participated in the fighting from Vera 
 Cruz to Chapultepec and received the brevet of cap- 
 lain for gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco. In 1849 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY, 67T 
 
 Tie was promoted to captain, and continued in the United 
 States service, on duty in New Mexico, until the spring 
 of 1 86 1, when he resigned his commission in order t» 
 tender his sword to Virginia. With the rank of lieuten- 
 ant-colonel, corps of cavalry, he commanded the camp of 
 instruction at Ashland, and was promoted brigadier-gen- 
 eral June 17 th. In command of the second brigade of 
 the army of the Potomac under Beauregard he held the 
 extreme right of the Confederate line during the first 
 battle of Manassas, and after advancing in the pre- 
 arranged movement against Centerville, was recalled to 
 reinforce the Confederate left, but was not permitted to 
 pursue the defeated enemy. He was promoted major- 
 general in October, 1861, and given command of a di- 
 vision consisting of the brigades of Elzey, Trimble and 
 Taylor, which in the following spring became famous 
 under his active and fearless leadership during Jackson's 
 campaign in the valley of the Shenandoah. After Jack- 
 son had fallen back from Kernstown, Ewell was sent to 
 his aid from before Richmond. With his division he de- 
 feated Banks at Winchester, May 2sth, commanded on 
 the field during the defeat of Fremont at Cross Keys, and 
 during the final victory at Port Republic held Fremont 
 in check and aided in the defeat of Tyler. As senior 
 major-general in Jackson's command, he participated in 
 the subsequent battles before Richmond, and was dis- 
 tinguished in the Manassas campaign of 1862, at the battle 
 of Cedar Mountain, the capture of the Federal stores at 
 Manassas Junction, and the engagement at Groveton, on 
 the evening of August 28th, when he fell with a wound 
 in the knee, which compelled the amputation of the leg. 
 Thus seriously disabled, he returned to the army in May, 
 1863, and with promotion to the rank of lieutenant-gen- 
 eral was assigned to the command of the Second corps of 
 the army of Northern Virginia, succeeding Stonewall 
 Jackson, who had fallen at Chancellorsville. He was in- 
 
«78 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 trusted with the important duty of clearing the Shenan- 
 doah valley of the Federals, which he executed in a bril- 
 liant manner, defeating the enemy at Brandy Station 
 and Winchester, and occupying Harper's Ferry, captur- 
 ing 4,000 prisoners and a large amount of arms and stores, 
 with an aggregate loss of 269 men. He then advanced 
 into Pennsylvania, and threw his advance toward Harris- 
 burg as far as the Susquehanna river, where he received 
 orders to return to Cashtown. On the morning of July 
 ist, hearing of the advance toward Gettysburg, he turned 
 his columns in that direction, and striking the Federal 
 forces north of the village early in the evening gallantly 
 drove them through the town, uncovering the flank of the 
 enemy opposed to Hill, after which the Federals fell back 
 to the position they subsequently defended. On the sec- 
 ond day he made a gallant attack on Gulp's Hill, and re- 
 newed the fighting on the third day. On May 5, 1864, he 
 was the first to engage with Grant's forces in the Wilder- 
 ness, and after fighting stubbornly through that day, on 
 the 6th he made a successful attack upon the Federal 
 right wing. He bore the brunt of the terrible battle of 
 the 12th at the " bloody angle," on the i8th severely re- 
 pulsed the last Federal attack upon his position, and on 
 the following day struck the left wing of the enemy, de- 
 laying Grant's turning movement for twenty-four hours. 
 During the fight at Spottsylvania, General Ewell's horse 
 was shot under him, and he was so injured by the result- 
 ing fall that he could not continue in active service on 
 the field. He commanded the defenses of Richmond at 
 the last, and after the evacuation, in command of his 
 corps took part in the action at Sailor's Creek, where he 
 was made a prisoner. For some unknown reason he was 
 confined at Fort Warren for four months. Subsequently 
 he made his home in Tennessee, and there passed away 
 January 25, 1872. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 679 
 
 Lieutenant-General Ambrose Powell Hill, the bril- 
 liant Confederate corps commander, was born in Cul- 
 peper county, Virginia, November 9, 1825, and was 
 trained for military life at West Point academy where, 
 graduating with distinction in 1847, he began sen'ice 
 in the First artillery, in which he was promoted second 
 lieutenant the same year. His studies of the great mas- 
 ters of war gave him early reputation for accurate and 
 extensive acquaintance with the art to which he had 
 devoted his life. His services were required in Mexico 
 during 1847 and afterward in the hostilities with the 
 Seminoles. Detached from field duty by the govern- 
 ment he was employed in the position of superintendent of 
 the coast survey, having in the meantime received promo- 
 tion to the rank of first-lieutenant. In October, i860, 
 he obtained leave of absence, and in March, 1861, his de- 
 votion to the cause of the South as against armed inva- 
 sion induced him to resign his commission in the United 
 States army. Virginia was beginning at that time to or- 
 ganize its forces for defense against the threatened coer- 
 cion, and conferred upon the accomplished soldier the 
 rank of colonel, with assignment to the command of the 
 Thirteenth regiment Virginia volunteers, which he in- 
 dustriously drilled and disciplined for the great service 
 it afterwards performed. The regiment thus made effec- 
 tive became distinguished in the army of Northern Vir- 
 ginia. Commissioned brigadier-general February 26, 
 1862, he acquired especial distinction at the battle of 
 Williamsburg, and was promoted to the rank, of major- 
 general May 26, 1862. In the campaigns of this year he 
 was constantly relied on by Lee for services requiring ex- 
 pedition, skill and courage. In the preliminaries to the 
 battle of Mechanicsville, Lee assigned Hill to the duty of 
 crossing the Chickahominy, and without waiting for Jack- 
 son ordered him to make an immediate attack. Hill's 
 guns opened with effect June 26,_i862, and drove the en- 
 emy from their position. His command bore a great 
 
680 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 part of the "brunt of battle" at Cold Harbor, Frayser's 
 Farm, and in the following movements by which Mc- 
 Clellan was driven from Richmond. The command of 
 Hill was usually termed "the Light Division, " a sug- 
 gestive designation of which its commander seemed to be 
 proud, and which it illustrated by the celerity and cour- 
 age of its movements in the battles against Banks at Ced- 
 ar Run, and Pope at the second Manassas. He partici- 
 pated in the capture of Harper's Ferry with its garrison of 
 ii,ooo troops and large supplies of artillery, small arms^ 
 and general military stores, and was appointed to parole- 
 the prisoners and secure the fruits of the capture. This, 
 accomplished he hurried to the field of Sharpsburg, reach- 
 ing the scene of that bloody battle in time to be of spec- 
 ial service in a critical juncture. Attacking promptly at. 
 double-quick, with a part of his command, immediately" 
 on reaching the field, he joined other Confederate forces 
 in a countercharge on Burnside's forces, which sent, 
 them back in confusion. After remaining with Jackson 
 in the valley he was ordered to join Lee at Fredericks- 
 burg, and was stationed on the right of Jackson's corps- 
 in the battle of the 13th of December. At Chancellors- 
 ville, in 1863, he commanded his division under Jackson 
 at the moment of that great soldier's wounding. His or- 
 ders from his daring chief were to "press right in," and 
 while obeying the command he received the news of Jack- 
 son's fall. The command devolving on him, and per- 
 haps freshly inspired by the heroic orders of his comman- 
 der, he "pressed right in" with an impetuosity which: 
 was stayed only by the severe wound which disabled him 
 from further service that day. The army was reorgan- 
 ized after the battle of Chancellorsville and General 
 Hill, made lieutenant-general May 24, 1863, was assigned! 
 to the command of the Third army corps, which he com- 
 manded at Gettysburg and in the subsequent operations in. 
 Virginia. On the 2d of April, 1865, his thin line at. 
 Petersburg was overwhelmed, and while personally com- 
 
Lieut.-Gen. Daniel H. Hill. 
 Lieiit.-Gen. Richard Taylor. 
 
 Lieiit.-Gen. Ambrose P. Hill, 
 
 Lieut.-Gen, John C. Pemberton. 
 Lieut.-Gen. Ricuard S. Ewell. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 681 
 
 manding a part of his rallied force he ventured on dan- 
 ger with daring that was natural to him, and was 
 killed by a Federal command whose surrender he had 
 demanded. The General's gallant escort and staff at 
 once, charged the enemy and recovered his body. He 
 was buried while Petersburg and the capital of the Con- 
 federacy were aflame and occupied bj' the Federal armies,, 
 and his corps was on retreat to Appomattox. Without, 
 the usual military honors he was committed to the grave. 
 His personal purity, his devotion to the South, his mili- 
 tary renown, have become the heritage of his people. 
 
 Lieutenant-General Daniel Harvey Hill was born at 
 Hill's Iron Works, South Carolina, July 12, 1821, of 
 Scotch-Irish lineage. His 'grandfather, a native of Ire- 
 land, built an iron foundry in York district where can- 
 non were cast for the Continental army until it was des- 
 troyed by the British. This ancestor also fought gallant- 
 ly as a colonel in Sumter's command. General Hill was 
 graduated at West Point in 1842, in the class with Long- 
 street, A. P. Stewart, G. W. Smith, R. H. Anderson and 
 Van Dom, and his first service was on the Maine frontier. 
 During the Mexican war he participated in nearly every 
 important engagement either under Scott or Taylor, and. 
 attracted notice by his conspicuous courage. He soon 
 rose to the rank of first-lieutenant, won the brevet of cap- 
 tain at Contreras and Churubusco, and that of major at- 
 Chapultepec, where he was one of the first of the storm- 
 ing party over the ramparts. When his State legislature 
 voted swords to the three bravest survivors of the war, 
 one was awarded to Hill, He served at Fortress Monroe 
 in 1848, and on February 28, 1849, resigned from the army 
 to accept the professorship of mathematics at Washing- 
 ton college, Virginia. In 1852 he was married to the 
 eldest daughter of Rev. Dr. R. H. Morrison, and in 1854, 
 he became a professor in Davidson college, North Car- 
 olina. In 1859, impressed with the duty of preparing the- 
 
682 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 South for defense, he accepted the position of command- 
 ant and manager of the military institute at Charlotte, 
 N. C. During this period he was the author of several 
 educational and theological works. He led his cadets to 
 Raleigh, and made drill-masters of them, and after in- 
 structing the North Carolina volunteers was permitted to 
 select twelve of the best companies as the First regi- 
 ment, of which he was commissioned colonel. With his 
 regiment he was assigned to command in the defenses of 
 Yorktown. He won the first battle of the war at Bethel, 
 where, as he wrote his wife, "I was baptized and worship- 
 ed till I was sixteen years old, the church of my mother. " 
 In September, 1861, he was promoted brigadier-general, 
 and assigned to the command of the North Carolina coast. 
 Reporting to Johnston in December, 1861, he was in 
 command on the left at Leesburg, and being promoted 
 major-general was in command of the first division of 
 Johnston's army to enter Yorktown, and the last to leave. 
 At Williamsburg his men were distinguished and at Seven 
 Pines Longstreet reported: "The conduct of the attack 
 was left entirely to Major-General Hill. The success of 
 the affair is sufficient evidence of his ability, courage and 
 skill." He took part in the battle of Mechanicsville, 
 and at Gaines' Mill struck a decisive blow on the ene- 
 my ' s right. ' ' Pressing forward, " as Lee reported, ' ' with 
 unfaltering resolution, he reached the crest of the ridge, 
 broke the enemy's line and drove him in confusion to- 
 wards the Chickahominy. " At Malvern Hill his gallant 
 attack was rendered partly fruitless by a lack of support. 
 During the Manassas campaign he held in check the Fed- 
 erals at Fredericksburg, and during the concentration of 
 Lee's army at Sharpsburg he commanded the four thou- 
 sand men who held the pass at Crampton's Gap, in the 
 face of McClellan's army. He fought with his accus- 
 tomed skill and effect at Sharpsburg, where three horses 
 were killed under him. In February, 1863, he resumed 
 command in North Carolina and was making active dem- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 683 
 
 onstrations when called to Petersburg. With his com- 
 mand extending to the James, he guarded the capital and 
 repelled the advance of General Dix. On July loth he was 
 appointed lieutenant-general and put in command of 
 the divisions of Cleburne and Breckinridge. At Chicka- 
 mauga he was permitted just before night to take charge 
 of the forward movement of three lines, which swept 
 over the breastworks of Thomas and caught 5,000 prison- 
 ers. With Longstreet and Forrest, he endeavored to reap 
 the fruits of the fighting on that bloody [field, but they 
 were doomed to disappointment. Unmeritedly accused 
 of too much prominence in the petition for the removal 
 of the commanding general, he was relieved of command, 
 but he volunteered on the staffs of Beauregard and Hoke 
 and finally on the urgent request of Johnston and Beau- 
 regard he was assigned to duty at Charleston, and to the 
 command of a remnant of the army of Tennessee in its 
 retreat before Sheridan, until Bentonville, where he led 
 his division in its last charge. For some years after the 
 war he edited a magazine at Charlotte which was devoted 
 to Southern development and called "The Land We 
 Love." In 1877-80 he was president of the Arkansas 
 Industrial university, and subsequently president of the 
 military and agricultural college of Georgia. He died at 
 Charlotte, N. C, September 24, 1889. 
 
 Lieutenant-General Richard Taylor, the only son of 
 General Zachary Taylor, twelfth president of the United 
 States, was bom near Louisville, Ky., January 27, 
 1826. He was liberally educated at Edinburgh, in France, 
 and at Yale college, and after his graduation in. 1845 he 
 served for a time as the secretary of his father, then in 
 command of the army on the Rio Grande. During the 
 succeeding period of peace he lived upon his extensive 
 estate in St. Charles Parish, La., devoting himself 
 to the management of the plantation and to political and 
 scientific studies; in the enjoyment of a loving family. 
 
684 CONFEDERA TE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 wealth and friends, and typifying the flower of the social 
 development of that period. He served in the senate of 
 the State from 1856 to 1861, and was a delegate to the 
 Charleston and Baltimore national conventions of i860. 
 As chairman of the committee on Federal Relations of 
 the Louisiana senate of 1861, he secured the passage of 
 an act calling a State convention, and in that latter body 
 held the chairmanship of the Military and Defense com- 
 mittee. After the passage of the ordinance of secession 
 he visited General Bragg at Pensacola, until called back 
 to assume command of the Ninth Louisiana regiment of 
 infantry and hasten with it to Richmond. Reaching 
 Manassas after the battle he was assigned to Walker's 
 brigade, which also included the Sixth, Seventh and 
 Eighth Louisiana regiments. On Walker's transfer to 
 another command, Taylor, though once refusing promo- 
 tion, was persuaded by the insistence of the senior colon- 
 els and President Davis, to accept the command of the 
 brigade and the rank of brigadier-general. With this gal- 
 lant brigade, in the division of Richard S. Ewell, he par- 
 ticipated in the battles of Front Royal, Cross Keys, Win- 
 chester and Port Republic, of Jackson's campaign in the 
 Shenandoah valley. At Port Republic, General Taylor 
 and his Louisianians were assigned to attack the enemy's- 
 left, and their intrepid conduct was especially commended 
 by their great commander. The Federal batteries finally 
 left in their hands by the defeat of the enemy were pre- 
 sented to the brigade. Soon after the close of the Seven 
 Days' battles before Richmond, Taylor was promoted 
 major-general upon the recommendation of Stonewall 
 Jackson, and was assigned to the command of the dis- 
 trict of Louisiana, embracing all of that State west of the 
 Mississippi. Here he encountered the most arduous duty. 
 Confederate authority had ceased to exist since the fall 
 of New Orleans; fortifications at Barataria, Berwick's- 
 Bay, and other points, had been abandoned ; industry was 
 paralyzed, and soldiers, arms, munitions and money were- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 685 
 
 alike wanting. Amidst these discouraging conditions 
 General Taylor set about the task of restoring confidence, 
 Teviving enthusiasm and creating an army. In an in- 
 credibly short time his courage and resolute energy had 
 changed the aspect of the State. Regiments began to 
 form, then brigades and divisions, shops and depots of 
 ■supplies were established, ordnance was gathered, and 
 river boats were transformed into an armed navy. The 
 army so greatly due to his organizing ability and enthusi- 
 asm afterward won its triumphs and had its glories as 
 well as the armies, of Tennessee and Northern Virginia. 
 The Federal post at Bayou des AUemands was captured, 
 Weitzel's imposing advance down the Lafourche was 
 checked by the determined fighting of 500 men, the " In- 
 dianola " was destroyed in naval combat, and at Berwick's 
 Bay the Federals were forced to turn over to General 
 Taylor 1,700 prisoners, 12 guns and vast military stores. 
 But his operations for the relief of New Orleans were 
 rendered futile by the fall of Vicksburg. In the spring 
 of 1864 he was called upon to encounter the formidable 
 invasion of the Red river country, composed of nineteen 
 gunboats under Admiral Porter, 28,000 men under Banks, 
 and 7,000 from Arkansas under Steele. General Taylor 
 was able to give battle at Mansfield with a force of 8, 800 
 men and won a glorious victory, driving the enemy four 
 miles, and capturing 2,500 prisoners and twenty pieces of 
 artillery. On the next day, April 9th, he struck the 
 ■enemy a second staggering blow at Pleasant Hill, and a 
 month later the Federal army crossed the Atchafalaya, 
 leaving Taylor in undisturbed possession of his depart- 
 ment. He then sought relief from duty, but was soon 
 called to assume command of the department of Alabama 
 and Mississippi, with promotion to the rank of lieuten- 
 ant-general. Here he did all that could be hoped in the 
 closing months of the struggle, until after Johnston's cap- 
 itulation, when having concentrated the forces of Maury 
 and Forrest at Meridian, he surrendered to General Canby, 
 
686 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 at Citronelle, May 8, 1865, all the remaining forces of 
 the Confederacy east of the Mississippi. By order of 
 General Canby his corps commanders conformed the 
 movement of their troops to the advice of General Taylor, 
 and entire confidence existed between the Northern and 
 Southern soldiers. In the troublous years which fol- 
 lowed he was active in the interest of the South and was 
 able to exert an important influence through his remark- 
 able tact, charm of manner and strength of character. 
 He visited Mr. Davis at Fortress Monroe, spent some 
 time at Washington in efforts for the release of the dis- 
 tinguished captive, appealed to Johnson and Grant for a 
 lenient administration of reconstruction laws, and was 
 instrumental in securing the relieving of Sheridan by 
 Hancock at New Orleans. In 1873 he visited Europe and 
 was the recipient of a continuous social ovation. His 
 principal literary works, ' ' A Statesman of the Colonial 
 Era," and " Destruction and Reconstruction," attracted 
 wide attention. But his later years were clouded, not only 
 by the loss of wealth, but by the death of his two young 
 sons during the war, and his sorrow was intensified by 
 the death of his wife, Myrthe Bringier, in 1875. After 
 that he survived but four years, a period he passed in 
 Virginia. He died at New York, April 17, 1879. 
 
 Lieutenant-General Jubal Anderson Early was bom in 
 Franklin county, Virginia, November 3, 1816. He was 
 graduated from the United States military academy in 
 
 1837, and was promoted first-lieutenant of artillery in 
 
 1838, but resigned and began the practice of law in Vir- 
 ginia. He sat in the State legislature in 1841-2 and was 
 commonwealth attorney from 1842 to 1852, except during 
 1847-8, when he served in the Mexican war in the rank 
 of major of the Virginia volunteers. In 1861 he was a 
 member of the Virginia convention called to determine 
 the true position of the State in the impending conflict, 
 and at first earnestly opposed secession, but was soon 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 687 
 
 aroused by the aggressive movements of the Federal 
 government to draw his sword for the defense of his 
 native State and the Confederate cause. He was com- 
 missioned colonel of the Twenty-fourth regiment of Vir- 
 ginia infantry, and with this rank commanded a brigade 
 at Blackburn's Ford and Manassas, in the latter battle 
 making a successful onslaught upon the Federal right in 
 flank which aided in precipitating the rout which immed- 
 iately followed. He was promoted brigadier-general to 
 date from that battle. At Williamsburg he led the 
 charge of his brigade upon the Federal position, and was 
 wounded. In the Manassas campaign of 1862 he com- 
 manded a brigade of Ewell's division of Jackson's corps, 
 participating in Jackson's raid around Pope and the defeat 
 of the Federal army in the final engagement. In the 
 Maryland campaign and at Sharpsburg after the 
 wounding of General Lawton, he took command of 
 Ewell's division, and also skillfully directed it at a critical 
 moment against the Federal attack at Fredericksburg. 
 In January, 1863, he was promoted major-general, and 
 during the Chancellorsville campaign was left with his 
 division and Barksdale's brigade, about ten thousand men, 
 to hold the heights of Fredericksburg, where he made a 
 gallant fight against Sedgwick's corps. At the opening 
 of the Pennsylvania campaign he was entrusted by Ewell 
 with the attack upon Winchester, which resulted in the 
 rout of Milroy and the capture of 4,000 prisoners, and 
 thence he marched via York, toward Harrisburg, Pa. , until 
 recalled from the Susquehanna river which he had 
 reached, to the field of Gettysburg, where he actively 
 participated in the successes of the first day's fighting and 
 on the second day made a desperate assault on the Fed- 
 erals, gaining vantage ground which he was unable to 
 hold single-handed. At the opening fight in the Wilder- 
 ness, in temporary command of Hill's corps, he success- 
 fully resisted the Federal attempt to flank the army of 
 Lee, and at Spottsylvania Court House in the same com- 
 
688 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 mand he met and defeated Burnside. Again he struck 
 that commander an effective blow at Bethesda church in 
 the movement to Cold Harbor, and after the battle of 
 the latter name he made two attacks upon Grant's right 
 flank. Early was then commissioned lieutenant-general, 
 May 31st, and soon afterward detached upon the impor- 
 tant duty of defending the Confederate rear threatened 
 by Hunter at Lynchburg. He promptly drove Hunter 
 into the mountains- and then marched rapidly down the 
 Shenandoah valley, crossed into Maryland, defeated Wal- 
 lace at Monocacy, and with a force reduced to about 8,000 
 men, was about to assault the defenses at Washington 
 when the city was reinforced by two corps of Federal 
 troops. Retiring safely into Virginia, he was on active 
 duty in the valley in order to injure the Federal commun- 
 ications and keep as large a force as possible from Grant's 
 army. Finally Sheridan was sent against him with an 
 overwhelming force, against which Early made a heroic 
 and brilliant resistance at Winchester, Fisher's Hill and 
 Cedar Creek. He then established his army at New 
 Market, and after Sheridan had retired from the valley 
 he fell back to Staunton, When the army was surren- 
 dered he rode horseback to Texas, hoping to find a Con- 
 federate force still holding out, thence proceeded to 
 Mexico, and from there sailed to Canada. Subsequently 
 returning to Virginia he resumed his law practice for a 
 time, but in his later years lived mostly at New Orleans. 
 He died at Lynchburg, Va., March 2, 1894. 
 
 Lieutenant-General Stephen D. Lee was bom at Charl- 
 eston, S. C, September 22, 1833, of patriotic lineage. His 
 great-grandfather, William Lee, was one of forty leading 
 citizens of Charleston whose devotion to the Continental 
 cause was punished by imprisonment on a prison ship and 
 transportation to St. Augustine, Fla. His grandfather, 
 Thomas Lee, was appointed United States district judge 
 by President Monroe. General Lee was appointed to the 
 
Lit'ut.-Gen. Joseph Wheeler. 
 Lieut.-Gen. John B, Gordon. 
 
 Lient.-Gen. Stephen D. Lee. 
 Lieut.-Gen. Nathan B. Forrest. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 689 
 
 West Point military academy in 1850, and was graduated 
 in 1854, in the class with J. E. B. Stuart, O. O. Howard, 
 Custis Lee, Pender and Pegram. He served with the 
 Fourth U. S. artillery and held the rank of first-lieutenant 
 and regimental quartermaster when he resigned in 1861. 
 He was appointed a captain in the South Carolina organ- 
 ization, and then commissioned captain in the regular 
 army of the Confederate States and assigned to duty as 
 aide-de-camp to General Beauregard. With Colonel 
 Chestnut, a brother aide, he bore the summons to Major 
 Anderson for the surrender of Fort Sumter, and gave the 
 subsequent notice of the opening of bombardment. After 
 the surrender of Sumter he was called to Virginia in com- 
 mand of the light battery of Hampton's Legion, and there 
 began a career as an artillery officer of the Confederate 
 States army that was active and distinguished and of such 
 prominence as to be recognized by rapid proniotion, to ma- 
 jor, lieutenant-colonel, colonel, and brigadier-general, No- 
 vember 6, 1862. He served with General Johnston in 
 the Peninsular campaign, and at Seven Pines, and under 
 General R. E. Lee's command at Savage Station and 
 Malvern Hill. At the battle of Second Manassas, in com- 
 mand of the reserve artillery, his participation in the 
 fighting was so gallant, judicious and effective that Pres- 
 ident Davis declared: " I have reason to believe at the 
 great conflict on the field of Manassas he (Colonel Lee) 
 served to turn the tide of battle and consummate- the 
 victory." Holding the same command at Sharpsburg, 
 he encountered a destructive infantry and artillery fire, 
 and won new honors by his intrepidity and skill. Just 
 after the latter battle General R. E. Lee was asked by 
 . President Davis to select his most efficient and accom- 
 plished artillery officer for duty on the Mississippi, and 
 Colonel Lee, after being permitted to name his successor 
 as commander of the reserve artillery of the army of 
 Northern Virginia, was ordered to report at Richmond. 
 The situation on the Mississippi river demanded the most 
 
 41 
 
690 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 skillful leadership, and Colonel Lee, selected for this 
 duty, was promoted brigadier-general November 6, 1862, 
 and assigned to command at Vicksburg. Thus began his 
 career in the West, where he was destined to fully justify 
 the anticipations of his superiors and by the manifestation 
 of the highest qualities of soldiership win promotion to the 
 rank of lieutenant-general at the age of thirty-one years. 
 In command of the Confederate forces at Chickasaw 
 Bayou he defeated Sherman's advance in December, 1862, 
 and in the following May, with Pemberton's army.he met 
 Grant at Champion's Hill, where he was further distin- 
 guished for personal gallantry. After the fall of Vicks- 
 burg he was exchanged and on August 3, 1863, was pro- 
 moted major-general and put in command of all the,cav- 
 alry in Mississippi, Alabama, West Tennessee and East 
 Louisiana. In this field he co-operated with Forrest in 
 making futile Sherman's advance to Meridian. June 23, 
 1864, he was promoted lieutenant-general and assigned to 
 the command of the department of Mississippi, Alabama, 
 East Louisiana and West Tennessee, and after the battle 
 of Harrisburg he was called to take command of Hood's 
 corps of the army at Atlanta. There he fought the des- 
 perate battle at Ezra Church July 28th, and took part in 
 the engagement at Jonesboro. He subsequently accom- 
 panied Hood as a corps commander in the flank move- 
 ment northward. In the Tennessee campaign his corps 
 was left at Columbia, while Hood made his flank move- 
 ment at Spring Hill, and but one division was able to 
 participate in the struggle at Franklin. In the fighting 
 at Nashville he held Overton Hill against the enemy's 
 assaults until after the left and center of the army were 
 driven back, and on the next day his corps, the only one 
 with organizations intact, covered the retreat of the 
 army, repulsing every effort of Wilson's cavalry from 
 dawn till late at night. During this day's fighting Gen- 
 eral Lee was severely wounded. He remained in com- 
 mand of his corps until he participated in the capitulation 
 of Johnston's army. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 691 
 
 Since the war General Lee has been active in his efforts 
 for the re-establishment of the prosperity of the South, 
 has served as State senator and member of the Missis- 
 sifpi constitutional convention of 1890, and since the es- 
 tablishment of the Agricultural and Mechanical college of 
 Mississippi has, in the position of president of that insti- 
 tution, done remarkable work in the direction of building 
 up the waste places of the South. He has been active 
 in the work of organizing the association of United Con- 
 federate Veterans, and after several years' service as 
 major-general of the Mississippi division, was promoted 
 in 1894 to the position of lieutenant-general commanding 
 the department east of the Mississippi. 
 
 Lieutenant-General Richard Henry Anderson, distin- 
 guished as a corps commander in the army of Northern 
 Virginia, was born near Statesboro, S. C, October 
 7, 182 1. In 1842 he was graduated at the United 
 States military academy; was assigned to the Second 
 dragoons in 1844; joined the army of occupation in 
 Texas; and served in the Mexican war under General 
 Scott. He took part in the siege of Vera Cruz, 
 various other engagements, earning a brevet, and in the 
 capture of the city of Mexico. In July, 1848, he was pro- 
 moted first-lieutenant, and in March, 1855, captain. In 
 1856-57 he was stationed in Kansas and in 1859 at Fort 
 Kearny. He resigned his commission in the United 
 States army March 3, 1861, and was appointed major, 
 corps of cavalry. Confederate States army, March 19, 
 1861, and brigadier-general July 19, 1861. His first ac- 
 tion was as commander of the First artillery in the bom- 
 bardment of Fort Sumter. On October 9th of this year, 
 stationed at Pensacola, he led a night attack upon a New 
 York regiment on Santa Rosa Island. With a splendid 
 brigade of South Carolinians he joined Longstreet's com- 
 mand on the Virginia peninsula, and was in command on 
 the right at Williamsburg. At Seven Pines he was in 
 
692 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 temporary command of Longstreet's division, and at a 
 critical moment "the magnificent brigade of R. H. Ander- 
 son ' ' came to the support of Hill. At Gaines' Mill he 
 was in command of his brigade on the extreme right of 
 Longstreet, and at Frayser's Farm he also participated. 
 On July 14, 1862, he was promoted major-general and 
 put in command of a division of Longstreet's corps, con- 
 sisting of the brigades of Armistead, Mahone and Wright. 
 He took part in the Manassas campaign, and after a brief 
 service in command of a division of the army of Tennes- 
 see, resumed the leadership of the division of Longstreet's 
 corps, increased by the addition of the brigades of Wil- 
 cox, Featherstone, and Pryor, and Major Saunders' bat- 
 talion of artillery. In conjunction with General Jackson 
 he operated under General McLaws in the capture of 
 Maryland Heights, and at Sharpsburg he fought at the 
 center of the line, increasing his reputation for gallantry 
 and coolness as a commander, and receiving a severe 
 ■wound. He was in command of his division at Freder- 
 icksburg, and at Chancellorsville his division and McLaws' 
 were tinder Lee's command, Longstreet being occupied in 
 another field. Immediately after the crossing of the 
 river by Hooker he moved to confront him and took a 
 prominent part in the fighting at Chancellorsville, 
 Salem Church and Marye's Hill. At the reorgani- 
 zation following Jackson's death he was assigned to 
 Hill's corps, with which he took part in the Pennsylvania 
 campaign, and did creditable work at Gettysburg, where 
 on the second day, three of his brigades penetrated the 
 Federal lines at the center, where the attack was renewed 
 on the third day. During the autumn campaign which 
 f ollowed,his division was part of the Confederate force at 
 Bristoe Station. After the wounding of Longstreet at 
 the Wilderness, General Anderson was called to the com- 
 mand of his corps, which he led in the night march to 
 Spottsylvania, checkmating Grant's flank movement, and 
 the left of the line there repulsed the attacks of the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 693 
 
 enemy. On May 31, 1864, he was promoted lieutenant- 
 general. He fought at the center at Cold Harbor, in the 
 fall reinforced Early in the Shenandoah valley, com- 
 manded the attacks on Port Harrison before Richmond, 
 and in command of the Fourth corps of the army of 
 Northern Virginia, was engaged for the last time in battle 
 at Sailor's Creek. After the close of hostilities he retired 
 to private life, and died at Beaufort, S. C, June 26, 1879. 
 
 Lieutenant-General Alexander P. Stewart, called by 
 his soldiers "Old Straight," a title in which the straight- 
 forward simplicity of his character was briefly epitomized, 
 was bom at Rogersville, East Tennessee, October 2, 
 1824. He was appointed to the United States military 
 academy in 1838, and was graduated in the famous class 
 of 1842. In the last two years of his cadetship he was 
 the room-mate of Generals John Pope and J. E. B. Stu- 
 art. He was promoted on graduation second-lieutenant. 
 Third artillery, and in the following year he became as- 
 sistant professor of mathematics at West Point. Resign- 
 ing in 1845, he held the professorship of mental and moral 
 philosophy in Cumberland and Nashville universities 
 until i860, in this period wedding Miss Hattie B. Chase, 
 of Ohio. In the military organization of Tennessee, pre- 
 vious to the ordinance of "separation," he held the rank 
 of major of artillery, and in the early summer of 1861 
 he was engaged in establishing camps in Middle Tennes- 
 see, subsequently drilled troops and constructed batteries 
 at Randolph on the Mississippi, and was the first to 
 occupy Island No. 10 and New Madrid, Mo. He was in 
 command of the heavy artillery and water batteries at 
 Columbus, Ky., at the battle of Belmont, and by the fire 
 of his artillery cleared the field for the moving of troops 
 across the river for Grant's repulse. He was immediate- 
 ly after this promoted brigadier-general, and given com- 
 mand of a brigade of Tennesseeans in Polk's command. 
 At Shiloh he led his men in repeated desperate assaults 
 
694 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 at the "Hornet's Nest," and in Cheatham's division was 
 successfully engaged on the field of Perryville, and in 
 the rout of the Federal right wing at Murfreesboro. 
 During the movement to Shelbyville he had temporary 
 command of McCown's division. Promoted major-gen- 
 eral in June, 1863, he was given a division of Hardee's 
 corps, with which he held Hoover's Gap, through a hard 
 fight, and checked the Federal advance. Transferred to 
 Buckner"s corps, he was distinguished at Chickamauga, 
 defeating successively Palmer's and VanCleve's divi- 
 sions on the 19th, and on the 20th made a brilliant ad- 
 vance at II a. m., of which D. H. Hill wrote: "This was 
 the celebrated attack upon Reynolds and Brannan which 
 led directly to the Federal disaster. " At Missionary Ridge 
 he commanded a division of Breckinridge's corps. Dur- 
 ing the Atlanta campaign he made a desperate fight 
 at New Hope Church, worsting Hooker's corps and sav- 
 ing Stevenson's division from capture. For this Joe 
 Johnston promised him promotion and on June 23d his 
 commission as lieutenant-general was issued. On the 
 death of Polk he succeeded to the command of one of the 
 three corps of the army of Tennessee, in which capacity 
 he served efficiently in the three great battles about 
 Atlanta, and in the succeeding Tennessee campaign under 
 Hood. At the last he commanded a corps of Johnston's 
 army at Bentonville. As a commander he was quiet and 
 modest, but he always inspired his soldiers with confi- 
 dence and daring. At Resaca he had three horses shot 
 under him ; at Chickamauga he was slightly wounded ; and 
 at Ezra Church, near Atlanta, he received a flesh wound 
 in the forehead. At Chickamauga his division went in 
 4, 040 strong and lost 1,733 in killed and wounded. After 
 the war he returned to Cumberland university and re- 
 sumed his educational work. From 1874 to 1886 he was 
 chancellor of the University of Mississippi. When it was 
 determined to create a National park on the field of Chick- 
 amauga, he was most appropriately appointed a mem- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. . 695 
 
 ber of the commission which had in charge the arrange- 
 ment of that superb memorial of the valor of American 
 soldiery, and he is yet engaged in that work with his resi- 
 dence near the National park. 
 
 Lieutenant-General Simon Bolivar Buckner was bom in 
 1823 in Hart county, Kentucky, entered the United States 
 military academy in 1840, and being graduated in 1844, 
 was assigned to a lieutenancy in the Second infantry. 
 Later he was called back to West Point as assistant pro- 
 fessor of ethics, and from this position was return- 
 ed to the active service at his request, in order that he 
 might engage in the Mexican war. From 1848 to 1850 
 he was again at West Point, as assistant inspector of in- 
 fantry tactics, and in 1853 he resigned his commission in 
 the army. In 1861 during the Kentucky period of neu- 
 trality he was in the command of the State militia and 
 performed his duties with such even balance that in Aug- 
 ust President Lincoln ordered a commission as brigadier- 
 general in the United States army to be secretly made 
 out, and delivered to General Buckner unless there were 
 reason to the contrary. After the battle of Manassas the 
 Kentucky militia disintegrated, the majority following 
 General Buckner, who without wavering in his allegiance 
 to his conception of duty, went south to join the army of 
 the Confederacy. He was commissioned a brigadier-gen- 
 eral in the provisional army September 14, 1861, and as- 
 signed to the command of the central division of Ken- 
 tucky, under the general command of Albert Sid- 
 ney Johnston. He at once advanced northward from 
 Camp Boone, and one of his detachments proceeded within 
 thirty-three miles of Cincinnati, causing great consterna- 
 tion at that city, and causing the advance of an opposing 
 force under General W. T. Sherman. He then fortified 
 and held Bowling Green, as the salient of the Confederate 
 line in Kentucky and Tennessee. When the campaign 
 of 1 862 was opened by the Federal advance under Grant 
 
696 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 against Fort Henry, Buckner was assigned to the defense 
 of Fort Donelson as third in command under Floyd and 
 Pillow. In the battle of February 14th, before Fort Don- 
 elson, he bore a distinguished part in the attack, at first 
 successful, against the Federal lines. In the council of 
 war which followed the repulse of this sortie, he main- 
 tained that their duty was to hold out as long as possible 
 to allow the concentration of the main army at Nashville, 
 saying, " For my part I will stay with the men and share 
 their fate." After his release from Fort Warren, and 
 exchange, he rejoined the army at Chattanooga, and be- 
 ing promoted major-general took command of a division 
 of Hardee's corps, which he led in the campaign in Ken- 
 tucky, and fought skillfully at the battle of Perryville. 
 Subsequently he was put in command at Knoxville, and 
 at Chickamauga he sustained his reputation' as an able 
 commander, fighting in the left wing in command of a 
 corps consisting of the divisions of A. P. Stewart, William 
 Preston and Bushrod Johnson. Writing of his position 
 within the Federal lines toward evening on the 20th, 
 General D. H. Hill says: "It was reported to me that a 
 line was advancing at right angles to ours. I rode to the 
 left to ascertain whether they were friends or foes, and 
 soon recognized Buckner. The cheers that went up 
 when the two wings met, were such as I have never heard 
 before and shall never hear again." His gallant conduct 
 in this battle and the glorious achievements of the men 
 under his command richly merited the promotion to- 
 lieutenant-general which was made September 20, 1864. 
 He was subsequently in command of the department of 
 East Tennessee to April, 1864, and being transferred to 
 the Trans- Mississippi department was assigned to the 
 command of the district of West Louisiana and afterward 
 of the district of Arkansas and West Louisiana. As chief 
 of staff of General Kirby Smith he negotiated the sur- 
 render of his department, after which he made his resi- 
 dence in New Orleans, the terms of capitulation not 
 
Ueut.-G'-'ii. R. H. ANDERSON'. 
 Lient.-Gen. Wade Hampton. 
 
 Lieut. -Gen. S. B. Euck.ner. 
 
 Lieut.-Gon. JuBAL a. Early. 
 Lieut. -r;en, a. P. Stewart. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 697 
 
 permitting his return to Kentucky. In 1881 he was. 
 elected governor of Kentucky, having resumed his res- 
 idence in that State, and after the expiration of his term 
 and the conclusion of his labors in the re-assembled con- 
 stitutional convention, he again made his home in his 
 native county. In 1896, at the age of seventy-three, he 
 was nominated for Vice-President of the United States by 
 that branch of his party popularly known as " Gold Dem- 
 ocrats " and in the political campaign which ensued he 
 was an active participant. 
 
 Lieutenant-General Wade Hampton is the third of his. 
 family to bear that name, his grandfather having served, 
 with distinction in the Revolutionary war under Marion, 
 and Sumter. He was born at Columbia, S. C, in 1818, 
 was graduated at the University of South Carolina, 
 and afterward studied law, but without the inten- 
 tion of practicing that profession. He served in the State- 
 legislature in early life, and was recognized as one of 
 the prominent men of the State, though he devoted him- 
 self not so much to public affairs as to his plantation in- 
 terests in South Carolina and Mississippi and to the activ- 
 ities of a man of fortune. When his State decided upon 
 her withdrawal from the Union, he promptly offered his 
 services for her military defense in the humble station of 
 a private, but was soon authorized to organize a command. 
 of infantry, artillery and cavalry, which became known 
 as the Hampton Legion, and under that title achieved 
 great distinction. He was commissioned colonel of this. 
 command in July, 1861, and very promptly won renown 
 on the plains of Manassas. In the battle of July 21st, 
 with six hundred of his infantry he held for some time the. 
 Warrenton road against Keyes' corps, and was sus- 
 taining General Lee when Jackson came to their aid. 
 In the Peninsular campaign the command was again, 
 distinguished, and at Seven Pines lost half its number, 
 and Hampton himself received a painful wound in the. 
 
698 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 foot. Soon after he was promoted brigadier-general and 
 assigned to the command of a brigade of cavalry under 
 J. E. B. Stuart. In the Maryland campaign of 1862 he 
 commanded the rear guard of cavalry in the movement 
 west from Frederick City, and did effective service. 
 During his service under Stuart he was also frequently 
 selected for detached service, in which he was uncom- 
 monly successful. No more desirable position could have 
 been selected for a brave and chivalrous man, and of his 
 troopers it has been said that ' ' the best blood in the land 
 rode after Stuart, Hampton and the Lees. " No higher 
 compliment can be paid to Hampton than to say that he 
 was worthy of such a trust, and by his valor and capacity 
 won continued promotion. After participating in 
 Stuart's raid in the rear of Meade's army he met the 
 enemy's cavalry near Gettysburg, July 3rd, and in the 
 collision that ensued was thrice wounded. It is stated 
 that twenty-one out of twenty-three field ofiScers and 
 more than half the men of Hampton's command were 
 killed or wounded in this battle. August 3, 1863, he was 
 promoted major-general, and given command of a cavalry 
 division, and after Stuart fell at Yellow Tavern, May i ith, 
 he took command in August of the cavalry corps of the 
 army of Northern Virginia. He took part in the desper- 
 ate fighting at Hawes' Shop, defeated the raid of Kil- 
 patrick and Dahlgfren, and after several days' fighting 
 gave Sheridan a check at Trevilian's Station, which broke 
 up the Federal plan of juncture with Hunter and the 
 capture of Lynchburg. In twenty-three days he captured 
 over 3,000 prisoners and large quantities of war material, 
 with a loss of 719 men. In September he struck the rear 
 of the Federal army at City Point, and brought away 400 
 prisoners and 2,486 beeves.. Soon afterward in another 
 action he captured 500 prisoners. In one of these daring 
 attacks he lost his son. In February, 1865, he was pro- 
 moted lieutenant-general and assigned to the command 
 of the cavalry of the army of Joseph E. Johnston, where 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 699 
 
 he did good service in retarding Sherman's advance and 
 selected the battle-ground of Bentonville, which was the 
 scene of his last engagement. After hostilities closed he 
 retired to his plantation, and politically advocated a con- 
 ciliatory policy, which at first found little favor. Yet, in 
 1876, he was nominated for governor against D. H. 
 Chamberlain and elected. In 1878 he met with an 
 accident which caused the loss of a leg, and while his life 
 still hung in the balance he was elected to the United 
 States Senate. After long and distinguished service in this 
 exalted position he retired in 1891 and was appointed by 
 President Cleveland in 1893 to the position of Commis- 
 sioner of Railroads for the United States, which he re- 
 signed in 1897. 
 
 Lieutenant- General Nathan Bedford Forrest in 1865, 
 private of Cavalry in 186 1. As Senator Daniel has said, 
 " what genius was in that wonderful man! He felt the 
 field as Blind Tom touches the keys of the piano. ' War 
 means killing, ' he said, ' and the way to kill is to get there 
 first with the most men. ' He was not taught at West 
 Point, but he gave lessons to West Point. " His career 
 was quite as brilliant and devoted in its allegiance to duty 
 in peace as it was in the conflict of arms. His father's 
 family had moved from Virginia, before the Revolution, 
 to North Carolina, where every member able to bear arms 
 at that time fought in the cause of independence. His 
 parents moved thence to Bedford county, Tennessee, 
 where he was born July 13, 1821. In 1834 he moved with 
 his father to Marshall county, Mississippi, where the 
 latter soon died, leaving young Forrest to support the 
 widow and family with no resources other than a small 
 hill farm. He undertook this work with such devotion 
 and energy, that while neglecting his own education 
 he provided liberally for that of his brothers and sisters, 
 and going into business at Memphis became able to 
 purchase a large plantation, and at the outbreak of the 
 
700 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 war was one of the wealthiest planters in Tennessee.. 
 Soon after entering the Confederate service June 14, 
 1861, as a private in White's mounted rifles, he obtained, 
 authority to raise a regiment of cavalry, the equipment 
 of which he purchased at his private expense at Louisville. 
 With great ingenuity and daring he brought these sup- 
 plies to Memphis after eluding the Federal authorities. 
 and defeating a body of troops with a force of seventy- 
 five Kentucky Confederates he had called to his aid. 
 With his regiment he joined the forces at Fort Donelson^ 
 and after distinguishing himself in the conflict with the 
 Federals, led his men through the enemy's lines when 
 surrender was determined upon. Joining Albert Sidney 
 Johnston, he was in the heat of the fight at Shiloh, and 
 though wounded refused to leave the field until the 
 safety of the army was assured. Subsequently, the Fed- 
 erals having occupied middle Tennessee, Colonel Forrest 
 made a series of brilliant cavalry movements into that 
 territory that made his name famous throughout Amer- 
 ica. Promotedbrigadier-general July 21, 1862, he hung 
 upon Buell's flank during the movement into Kentucky,, 
 protected Bragg' s retreat, and while the army was in win- 
 ter quarters actively covered the Federal front at Nash- 
 ville, continually doing damage to the enemy. In 1863, in 
 an efiforf to break Rosecrans' communications, he entered, 
 Tennessee with less than one thousand men, captured Mc- 
 Minnville, and surprised the garrison of 2,000 at Murfrees- 
 boro, capturing all the survivors of the fight, including- 
 General Crittenden. General Streight, having started on 
 a cavalry raid to Rome, Ga., was pursued and caught 
 up with, and so impressed by Forrest's demand for sur- 
 render, that he turned over his entire command, which 
 was in such disproportion to their captors that Forrest; 
 had to press into service all the citizens in reach to assist 
 in forming an adequate guard. In the great battle of 
 Chickamauga he commanded the cavalry of the right 
 wing, and was distinguished in the fight, but he was so 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 701 
 
 •dissatisfied with the incompleteness of this Confederate 
 victory that he tendered his resignation. Instead of its 
 acceptance he was promoted major-general and assigned 
 to the command of all cavalry in north Mississippi and 
 west Tennessee, and the guardianship of the granary of 
 the Confederacy. With a small force he entered west 
 Tennessee and recruited several thousand hardy volun- 
 teers, which, with some veteran troops, he welded into 
 the invincible body known as " Forrest's Cavalry." In 
 February, 1864, General Smith with seven thousand 
 mounted men was sent against him in co-operation with 
 Sherman, but was utterly routed at Okolona and Prairie 
 Mound. In return Forrest rode through Tennessee to 
 the Ohio river, and captured Fort Pillow, Union City and 
 other posts with their garrisons. In June 8,300 Federals un- 
 der General Sturgis entered Mississippi. Forrest had only 
 3,200 men, but at Brice's Cross Roads he struck the 
 straggling Federal column at its head, crushed that, and 
 then in detail routed successive brigades until Sturgis had 
 suffered one of the most humiliating defeats of the war, 
 losing all his trains and a third of his men. Gen. A. J. 
 Smith renewed the invasion with 14,000 men, but re- 
 treated after a desperate battle at Harrisburg, near 
 Tupelo. Reorganizing his beaten forces Smith again ad- 
 vanced with reinforcements from Memphis, and For- 
 rest was compelled to foil the enemy by taking half his 
 force and making a sixty-hour ride to Memphis, the dar- 
 ing entry of which compelled Smith's rapid retreat. 
 Then for a time General Forrest made havoc with the Fed- 
 eral transportation, garrisons and depots in Tennessee, 
 exploits crowned by the capture and destruction of six 
 million dollars' worth of the enemy's supplies and a gun- 
 boat fleet, at Johnson ville, — "a feat of arms," wrote 
 Sherman, " which I must confess excited my admiration. ' ' 
 After the fall of Atlanta he joined Hood at Florence, and 
 fought at Franklin and Nashville. As commander of 
 the rear guard of the retreating Confederate army, For- 
 
702 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 rest displayed his most heroic qualities, with hardly a 
 parallel but the famous deeds of Marshal Ney while cov- 
 ering Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. In February, 
 1865, he was promoted lieutenant-general, and given the 
 duty of guarding the frontier from Decatur, Ala., 
 to the Mississippi. With a few hundred hastily gathered 
 men he made his last fight at Selma, and on May 9 he 
 laid down his arms. It is stated that he was 179 times 
 under fire in the four years, and he said, " My provost 
 marshal's books will show that I have taken 31,000 pris- 
 oners." After the war he was president of the Selma, 
 Marion and Memphis railroad until 1874. He died at 
 Memphis, October 29, 1877. By European authority he 
 is pronounced the most magnificent cavalry officer that 
 America has produced. 
 
 Lieutenant- General John Brown Gordon was born m 
 Upson county, Georgia, July 6, 1832, of Scotch ancestry, 
 his grandfather being one of seven brothers who im- 
 migrated from Scotland previous to the Revolutionary 
 war, in which they all took part in behalf of the colonies. 
 The grandfather made his home in Wilkes county. North 
 Carolina, whence Rev. Zachariah H. Gordon, father of 
 General Gordon, removed to Georgia. Young Gordon 
 -was graduated in 1852 at the Georgia State university, 
 and a few months later was admitted to the practice of 
 -law. Early in 1861 he enlisted with the volunteer Con- 
 federate soldiery and was elected captain of his company, 
 rising by promotion to major and then to lieutenant-col- 
 onel of the Sixth Alabama infantry, in December, 1861. 
 His regiment was called to Virginia to participate in the 
 struggle on the Peninsula and assigned to Rodes' brigade 
 of D. H. Hill's division, and on April 28, 1862, he was 
 promoted colonel. At the battle of Seven Pines, during 
 the gallant advance of his brigade, Rodes was severely 
 wounded and the command devolved upon Gordon as sen- 
 ior colonel. At Malvern Hill he again commanded the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 703 
 
 brigade and led it in the magnificent charge delivered 
 against the Federal position by Hill's division. Com- 
 missioned brigadier-general November i, 1862, he was 
 assigned to the command of a gallant brigade of Georgians, 
 the Thirteenth, Twenty-sixth, Thirty-first, Thirty-eighth, 
 Sixtieth and Sixty-first regiments, which he com- 
 manded at Chancellorsville and in the Pennsylvania cam- 
 paign. Leading in Early's advance upon Harrisburg, 
 Gordon reached the Susquehanna at Wrightsville, making 
 the most extended advance into the United States terri- 
 tory achieved in the East during the four years' war. 
 Recalled on account of the concentration at Gettysburg, 
 on the first day of the struggle there he participated prom 
 inently in the determined attack from the north which., 
 drove the Federals through the town to the strong posi- 
 tions which they subsequently held. During the Novem- 
 ber operations of that year he with his brigade participated 
 in the fighting below the Rapidan. On the memorable 
 fifth of May, when Ewell's corps struck the first blow 
 upon the advancing columns of Grant, in the Wilderness, 
 Gordon's brigade, after Jones had been driven back, ad- 
 vanced, repulsed the Federals and re-established the Con- 
 federate line. On the following day, in command of 
 two brigades, he made a sudden attack at sunset upon 
 Sedgwick's corps, with such gallantry that the enemy was 
 driven from a large part of his works and six hundred 
 prisoners captured, among them Generals Seymour and 
 Shaler. In the succeeding struggle at Spottsylvania 
 Court House, General Gordon was particularly distin- 
 guished as the commander of Early's division. Immedi- 
 ately after Johnston was overwhelmed by Hancock he 
 threw his division in front of the victorious enemy. 
 General Lee rode up and evidently intended to lead the 
 men in the charge, so imminent was the peril to the army. 
 Gordon remonstrated, the men cried " Lee to the rear, " 
 and one of them seizing the General's bridle, led his horse 
 back, while the charge was made with fury, and the Fed- 
 
704 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 ■erals were driven back to the base of the " Bloody Angle, " 
 where the fight continued with unparalleled fury during 
 the day. On May 14, 1864, Gordon was promoted 
 major-general and put in command of a division com- 
 posed of Evans' Georgia brigade, Hays' and Stafford's 
 Louisiana brigades, and Terry's Virginia brigade, made 
 up of the remnants of the Stonewall brigade and others. 
 With this command he joined Breckinridge and Early, 
 after the battle of Cold Harbor, in the repulse of Hunter, 
 moved to Harper's Ferry, attacked Maryland Heights, 
 and at Monocacy led the attack on the right which routed 
 Lew Wallace. After this campaign closed before the de- 
 fenses of Washington, Gordon had a prominent part in 
 i:he fighting in the Shenandoah valley under Early, and 
 was especially distinguished in the surprise and defeat of 
 Sheridan's army early in the day at Cedar Creek. Re- 
 turning to the lines before Petersburg he was assigned to 
 the command of the Second corps, army of Northern 
 Virginia. In March, with about half the depleted army 
 at his disposal, he made a desperate sally and captured 
 Fort Stedman and parts of the line to the right and left 
 -of it, but did not have sufficient strength to hold the 
 position. He held the last lines at Petersburg and fought 
 with stubborn valor for every inch of space. He guarded 
 the retreat from the fated city with brave resistance to 
 the attacks of the enemy, and at Appomattox Court 
 House was put in command of half of Lee's army, who 
 Avere intended to cut through Grant's line, had not the 
 surrender been determined upon. In an official report 
 of General D. H. Hill, General Gordon was designated 
 " the Chevalier Bayard of the Confederate army," an apt 
 characterization of the brave and chivalrous commander. 
 When hostilities had ended, he called his heroic men 
 about him and advised them to bear the trial, go home 
 in peace, obey the laws, rebuild the country and work 
 for the future of the country. With the same policy, that 
 ~" peace hath her victories no less renowned than war's," 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 705 
 
 he has since consistently labored for the advancement of 
 the South in a unified country. He has taken a promi- 
 nent part in the National conventions of his party since 
 1866, was a candidate for governor of Georgia in 1868, 
 and in 1873 and 1879 was elected United States Senator. 
 Resigning in 1880, he actively participated in the build- 
 ing of the Georgia Pacific railroad. In 1886 and 1888 he 
 was elected governor, and in 1890 again entered the 
 United States Senate for six years' service. Since then 
 he has retired from political activity, and has been 
 remarkably successful in presenting at the North as well 
 as the South a famous historic lecture upon the " Last 
 Days of the Confederacy. ' ' Since the organization of the 
 United Confederate Veterans of the United States he has 
 held the honorable position of commander-in-chief of that 
 great fraternal order, and the memorable occasion at 
 Nashville in 1897 when he attempted to resign this posi- 
 tion, but was unanimously and enthusiastically re-elected, 
 testified to the warmth of afEection in which he is held by 
 the survivors of the army. 
 
 Lieutenant-General Joseph Wheeler, soldier and states- 
 man, beloved by his soldiers, and claimed with pride by 
 the two great States of his birth and adoption, was char- 
 acterized by President Davis as ' ' one of the ablest, 
 bravest and most skillful of cavalry commanders," an 
 opinion fully concurred in by the great military leaders of 
 the South, and since confirmed by the verdict of critical his- 
 tory. He was born at Augusta, Ga., September 10, 1836, 
 and was graduated at the United States military academy 
 in 1859, with promotion to second-lieutenant of dragoons. 
 At first as-signed to duty at the Carlisle cavalry school, 
 he was thence transferred to New Mexico. February 21, 
 1 86 1, he resigned his Federal commission, and reaching 
 Augusta in March, he was appointed first-lieutenant, 
 corps of artillery, C. S. A. In this service he was sta- 
 tioned at Pensacola, and in September was promoted to 
 45 
 
706 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 colonel of the Nineteenth Alabama infantry regiment, 
 and to brigadier-general of cavalry in July, 1862. In the 
 cavalry service, he won promotion to the rank of major- 
 general and corps command early in 1863; on May 11, 
 1864, at the age of twenty-seven years, he was the senior 
 cavalry general of the Confederate -States; was promoted 
 lieutenant-general, February 28, 1865; and for his serv- 
 ices received the thanks of Congress. From early in 
 1862 until the war closed he was almost constantly en- 
 gaged in battle. He was wounded three times. Thirty- 
 six of his staff officers fell by his side, six killed and thirty 
 wounded, and sixteen horses were shot under him. Go- 
 ing into the battle of Shiloh in command of his regiment, 
 he led his brigade in the vigorous attack which resulted 
 in the capture of General Prentiss and over 2,000 men. 
 Wheeler, taking the prisoners in charge, was highly com- 
 plimented by General Bragg, and ordered to convey the 
 captured division to the rear. But desiring to continue 
 in the fight, he detailed Colonel Shorter for this duty, 
 and with the balance of the brigade remained at the 
 front, winning praise in the official reports of his superior 
 officers. This first great battle in the West, one of the 
 bloodiest of the war, was a severe test of the mettle of 
 officers and men, and it is to be noted as a premonition 
 of Wheeler's future career, that at the close of the first 
 day he was in command at the front of the greater part 
 of his division, under the general orders of the gallant 
 Withers. Of his work on the second day, amid disorgan- 
 ization, a glimpse is given in the report of General Chal- 
 mers: " Colonel Wheeler, of the Nineteenth Alabama, 
 was, with a small remnant of his regiment, fighting with 
 the Mississippians, on foot himself, and bearing the colors 
 of his command," in the last charge against the enemy. 
 Subsequently he commanded the rear guard in the retreat 
 to Corinth, during the siege of which he was distinguished 
 in a fight on the Monterey road, in command of two 
 brigades of Withers' division. After guarding the rear in 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 707 
 
 the retreat to Tupelo, he was sent on a raid in West Ten- 
 nessee in command of a cavalry brigade, as preliminary to 
 the advance into Kentucky. His battles during Bragg's 
 Kentucky campaign; his resistance to Buell's advance 
 upon Munfordville, which enabled Bragg to capture the 
 fort and garrison with over 4,000 prisoners; his skillful 
 fighting and gallant charges at Perryville, driving the 
 enemy and capturing a battery, won for him at once an 
 enduring reputation as a cavalry leader. On July 1 3th 
 Bragg appointed this young colonel chief of cavalry of 
 the army of Mississippi, with authority to give orders in 
 the name of the commanding general, and the duty of 
 covering the rear of the army and holding the enemy in 
 check. During the retreat he fought his men in mounted 
 charge, dismounted behind stone fences or rail breast- 
 works, displaying wonderful fertility of resource, and as 
 the result of his efforts, instead of the disaster which 
 seemed inevitable, the army reached Middle Tennessee 
 without losing any of its immense and slow moving 
 trains. From August 27th to October 2 2d his cavalry 
 was in almost daily fighting. After this " Wheeler's 
 cavalry" were household words, and "Little Joe" 
 Wheeler, as his men affectionately called him, was the 
 pride of the Central South. At Murfreesboro, a briga- 
 dier-general in division command of all the Confederate 
 cavalry brigades, he made a raid around the Federal 
 army, and, in the fierce attack upon Rosecrans' left, 
 led his men in a resistless charge over cavalry, infantry 
 and artillery. Two weeks later, he made another raid in 
 the enemy's rear, capturing four large transports and 
 four hundred prisoners on the Cumberland river, and 
 also capturing and destroying a gunboat which pursued 
 him. General Bragg immediately asked " his promotion 
 as a just reward to distinguished merit, ' ' and the rank of 
 major-general was conferred. He ably covered Bragg's 
 retreat to Chattanooga, and after distinguished service 
 in command of the cavalry at Chickamauga, and the 
 
708 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 cooping-up of Rosecrans at Chattanooga, he arranged 
 with Bragg for operations against the enemy's communi- 
 cations with Bridgeport. Burnside's army was on the 
 south side of the Tennessee and Crook's division of cav- 
 alry at the only fordable point. Even Forrest thought 
 the conditions too hazardous for the contemplated move- 
 ment, but Wheeler contended that a bold dash would win. 
 With appointment to chief command of the cavalry of 
 the army of Tennessee Wheeler was ordered upon the 
 raid to the rear of Rosecrans, which his genius made one 
 of the most brilliant on record. Starting with rear and 
 flanks harassed by Burnside's cavalry, Wheeler with 
 3, 780 men boldly forded the wide and deep river in the 
 face of General Crook, a gallant enemy, defeated him, 
 gained the Federal rear, brushed aside two brigades 
 which guarded the immense trains, destroyed 1,200 
 loaded wagons, killed 4,000 mules, and burned and blew 
 up three hundred ammunition wagons, while fighting 
 both in rear and front with the Federal cavalry. Slip- 
 ping off at night, he crossed Walden Ridge, and captured 
 the fortified town of McMinnville, with 600 prisoners and 
 the stores of the Federal left wing, which he destroyed 
 together with several railroad trains and a wagon train, 
 still in constant fight with his pursuers. Not yet con- 
 tent, on the next day he captured the forts at Stone's 
 river, destroyed bridges and railroads for many miles, 
 captured Shelbyville and Columbia, and then, closely 
 followed by a Federal force of 7,500 reached the Tennes- 
 see at Mussel Shoals. To gain time to cross he led in 
 person a fierce charge upon the enemy, and successful in 
 this, was the last man to cross the river, under the ter- 
 rific fire of the Federal advance. In conveying his 
 thanks for this brilliant service General Bragg author- 
 ized Wheeler to designate officers for promotion, two to 
 tnajor-general and four to brigadier-general. The ap- 
 pointments he recommended were made by telegraph, 
 and among them was that of General, now Senator Mor- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 709 
 
 gan, of Alabama. Subsequently General Wheeler with 
 his cavalry led the advance of Longstreet against Knox- 
 ville, defeating Burnside's cavalry, and capturing trains, 
 batteries and nearly a thousand prisoners, and then 
 being recalled to Bragg's assistance, gallantly defended 
 the rear of the Confederate army on November 26th, and 
 co-operating with General Cleburne on the next day at 
 Ringgold Gap, put a final check to Grant's pursuit. 
 During 1864, throughout the operations of J. E. Johnston 
 and Hood, he performed the duties of a lieutenant-gen- 
 eral, in command of the cavalry corps of the army of 
 Tennessee, and was distinguished for activity and skill. 
 Every effort of Sherman's great army to turn the Confed- 
 erate flank was met and successfully baffled by Wheeler, 
 and every change of position was made without loss under 
 his watchful protection. Late in July, with a force of 
 less than 5,000, he defeated 9,000 Federal cavalry under 
 Generals Stoneman, McCook and Garrard, capturing 
 their batteries and trains and 3,200 prisoners, including 
 one major-general and five brigade commanders. Sher- 
 man's cavalry having been crippled, General Wheeler 
 proceeded to attack his lines of communication, recaptur- 
 ing Dalton and Resaca, destroying railroad bridges, di- 
 verting to Hood the Federal supplies and capturing many 
 prisoners, while to his rear a hundred thousand Federals 
 formed a line of fire about the doomed city of Atlanta, 
 In October he co-operated with Hood in the advance 
 against Sherman's communications, and after Hood had 
 entered Tennessee Wheeler put his little cavalry com- 
 mand before Sherman's 65,000 en route through Georgia. 
 He successfully defended Macon and Augusta, and before 
 Savannah held open the only avenue of escape for Har- 
 dee's army. As has been written by President Davis, 
 " The report of his operations from November 14th to 
 December 20th displays a dash, activity, vigilance and 
 consummate skill, which justly entitle him to a prominent 
 place on the roll of great cavalry leaders. By his indom- 
 
710 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 itable energy, operating on all sides of Sherman's columns, 
 he was enabled to keep the government and command- 
 ers of our troops advised of the enemy's movements, and 
 by preventing foraging parties from leaving the main 
 body, he saved from spoliation all but a narrow tract of 
 country, and from the torch millions worth of property 
 which would otherwise have been certainly destroyed. " 
 In 1865 he stubbornly contested Sherman's advance 
 through the Carolinas, receiving the thanks of the State 
 of South Carolina; on March loth, inflicted severe punish- 
 ment upon Kilpatrick's command; fought with Hardee at 
 Averysboro, and at Bentonville, under Lieut. -Gen. 
 Wade Hampton, after a desperate struggle drove back 
 Sherman's right wing which had seized Johnston's only 
 line of retreat. He fought his last fight April isth, and 
 the 29th, after the surrender, issued his farewell address 
 to the cavalry, summarizing their career and his own in 
 the eloquent words: "You are the sole victors of more 
 than two hundred severely contested fields; you have 
 participated in more than a thousand conflicts of arms ; 
 you are heroes, veterans, patriots; the bones of your 
 comrades mark the battlefields upon the soil of Ken- 
 tucky, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Caro- 
 lina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi ; you have done 
 all that human exertion could accomplish." During 
 three years following the war General Wheeler was in the 
 commission business at New Orleans, leaving there in 
 1869 for his plantation in Lawrence county, Alabama, 
 where he entered the practice of law, declining, in 1866, 
 the professorship of philosophy in the Louisiana State 
 seminary. In 1880 he was elected the representative of 
 his district to Congress, and has ever since been reg- 
 ularly re-elected by his people. In Congress he has be- 
 come one of the most distinguished members. Notable 
 among his speeches in that body have been his defense 
 of Fitz John Porter, his reply to Mr. Hepburn, of Iowa, 
 and his arguments upon the force bill and the tariff. 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 711 
 
 His whole career since the war, marked by an unfaltering 
 allegiance to his comrades, has continued to endear him 
 in the hearts of all survivors of the Confederate armies. 
 
 When the United States found it necessary to call a 
 volunteer army into the field for the war with Spain, 
 General Wheeler was commissioned major-general. In 
 command of the cavalry division of the army under Gen- 
 eral Shafter he went to Santiago, Cuba, and was in com- 
 mand of the center of the line of the United States forces 
 in the battle of July i, 1898, when the dismounted cav- 
 alry carried the heights of San Juan. Though already 
 attacked with fever, he went to the front, shared the 
 dangers of his men, and by his personal heroism and 
 wisdom in council won the admiration and love of the 
 united nation. 
 
 Admiral Franklin Buchanan, Confederate States navy, 
 was bom at Baltimore, September 11, 1800. He was a 
 grandson of Governor McKean of Pennsylvania, and a 
 brother of Paymaster McKean, who was upon the 
 Congress when destroyed by the Virginia. He 
 entered the United States navy as midshipman January 
 28, 1815, was promoted lieutenant, January 13, 1825, and 
 master-commander September 8, 1841. In 1845 he was 
 detailed by Secretary Bancroft to locate and organize the 
 United States naval academy at Annapolis, and he 
 served as its first superintendent until 1847. During the 
 Mexican war he commanded the Germantown and co- 
 operated with General Scott in landing of troops at Vera 
 Cruz, and was conspicuous in the capture of San Juan 
 'd UUoa. As commander of the flagship Susquehanna he 
 was a prominent participant in Perry's expedition to 
 Japan, in 1852 to 1855. In the latter year he was commis- 
 sioned captain, and in 1859 he was placed in command of 
 the Washington navy yard. On April 22, 1861, following 
 the affair of the 19th at Baltimore, he tendered his resig- 
 nation, but it subsequently appearing that Maryland would 
 
712 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 not secede, he asked that he might recall the same, which 
 was refused. He entered the Confederate navy Sep- 
 tember 5, 1 86 1, as a captain, and was first assigned to 
 duty as chief of orders and details. Early in i86i he 
 was ordered to the command of the new iron- clad Vir- 
 ginia, for which he organized a crew, and prepared for 
 the historic action in Hampton Roads. Going down the 
 harbor March 8th, in the untried and unwieldy monster, 
 he called all the hands to muster, and pointing to the 
 Union fleet said: " Those ships must be taken, and you 
 shall not complain that I do not take you close enough. 
 Go to your guns!" In the action which followed he was 
 seriously wounded, but fortunately not until the Con- 
 gress had been captured and the Cumberland sunk, 
 demonstrating the fighting qualities of his ship, under 
 his skillful command. Congress being in session at the 
 time, he was thanked by resolution and a bill was soon 
 passed creating the grade of admiral in the navy, to which 
 Buchanan was nominated by the President and confirmed 
 by the Senate, August 21, 1862. Later in that year he 
 was assigned to the important post of commander of the 
 naval force at Mobile. The operations of the Federal 
 fleet against that port began in January, 1864, and from 
 that date he was busily engaged in co-operation with 
 Gen. Dabney H. Maury in devising means to hold this 
 stronghold, struggling against a pitiful deficiency of 
 everything but the valor of the men at their command. 
 He had previously built and equipped the ram Tennes- 
 see, a powerful iron-clad resembling the Virginia in 
 general appearance. In command of this vessel and 
 three gunboats, in all twenty-two guns, he engaged with 
 characteristic intrepidity the Federal fleet commanded by 
 Farragut, consisting of four monitors and fourteen other 
 warships, and mounting 159 guns and 33 howitzers, during 
 and after their passage of the forts into Mobile Bay, Aug- 
 ust s, 1864. After his leg was broken by an iron splinter 
 and the ram was disabled by the concentrated fire of the 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 713 
 
 whole Federal fleet, he was compelled to surrender. To 
 what achievements and world-wide fame his skill and 
 daring might have brought him, had the naval resources 
 of the Confederacy been commensurate, is an interesting 
 subject for conjecture. After the close of hostilities he 
 was called by his Maryland brethren to the presidency of 
 the State Agricultural college, but he did not survive 
 the decade following the war, dying at his home, " The 
 Rest, "in Talbot county, Maryland, May ii, 1874. 
 
 Rear-Admiral Raphael Semmes was bom in Charles 
 county, Maryland, September 27, 1809, a descendant of 
 one of the Catholic families which came from England to 
 the west shore of Maryland in the seventeenth century. 
 He was appointed a midshipman in the United States 
 navy by President John Quincy Adams in 1826, but he 
 did not enter the active service until 1832, the interven- 
 ing period being spent in naval study at Norfolk, and in 
 the reading of law, during his furloughs, with his brother, 
 Samuel M. Semmes, an attorney at Cumberland, Md. 
 He was undecided at this time whether to devote him- 
 self to law and literature or to an adventurous life at sea, 
 but after being admitted to the bar he decided to make 
 his career in the navy. He made his first cruise in 1832, 
 was promoted lieutenant in 1837, and in 1842 established 
 his home in Alabama. At the beginning of the war with 
 Mexico he was flag-lieutenant of Commodore Connor, 
 commanding the squadron of the Gulf, and in the siege 
 of Vera Cruz he had charge of one of the batteries on 
 shore. Subsequently he was in command of the brig 
 Somers, engaged in blockade duty, and was fortu- 
 nately rescued when that vessel was knocked down by a 
 gale of wind and most of her crew were drowned. After 
 peace was restored he served for several years as in- 
 spector of lighthouses on the Gulf coast, in 1855 was pro- 
 moted commander, and in 1858 was assigned to duty at 
 Washington, as secretary of the lighthouse board. Dur- 
 
714 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 ing this period of peace he published " The Campaign of 
 General Scott," and " Service Afloat and Ashore During 
 the Mexican War." Holding himself in allegiance to 
 the State of Alabama, of which he was a citizen, he re- 
 signed his commission as soon as that State seceded, and 
 reporting to Mr. Davis at Montgomery, was at once en- 
 trusted with the important duty of visiting the North to 
 purchase war material and engage mechanics for the 
 manufacture of ordnance machinery, ammunition, etc. 
 On this tour he inspected the Virginia State arsenal and 
 Tredegar iron works with a view to their use for mili- 
 tary purposes, witnessed the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, 
 examined the machinery of the Washington arsenal, and 
 visited the principal work shops in New York, Connecti- 
 cut and Massachusetts. He purchased percussion caps at 
 New York, had thousands of pounds of powder shipped 
 South, and made contracts for artillery and machinery. 
 With a nice sense of honor he never afterward betrayed 
 the names of the thrifty Northerners who thus contrib- 
 uted to the military needs of the South. He was then com- 
 missioned commander and put in charge of the lighthouse 
 bureau, and two weeks later was sent to New Orleans to 
 fit out the cruiser Sumter, with which he cut through 
 the river blockade and made a six months' cruise, mainly 
 in West India waters, taking eighteen prizes. This vessel 
 he was compelled to abandon at Gibraltar, whence he 
 proceeded to England, where the " 290 " was in prepara- 
 tion, and took command of the cruiser, then christened 
 the Alabama, in charge of which he gained a world- 
 wide fame. His cruise on this vessel began in September, 
 1862, and ended in June, 1864, during which period he 
 captured nearly seventy merchantmen and sunk one Fed- 
 eral gunboat. After the brave action with the Kear- 
 sarge, of Cherbourg, France, where the Alabama was 
 sunk, he was rescued by the English yacht Deerhound 
 and was presented with a sword by officers of the British 
 army and navy, and a Confederate flag by a noble English 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 715 
 
 lady After a tour of the continent he sailed for Havana, 
 and thence to Mexico and reached Shreveport in Novem- 
 ber. With promotion to rear-admiral he commanded the 
 James River squadron until the city was evacuated, and 
 surrendered as rear-admiral C. S. N. , and brigadier-gen- 
 eral C. S. A., with Johnston's army. He then began the 
 practice of law at Mobile, but despite his parole, was ar- 
 rested December 15, 1865, and imprisoned for four 
 months. After his release he was elected probate judge of 
 Mobile county, but forbidden to assume the office. Subse- 
 quently he was engaged as an editor, as a professor in 
 the Louisiana military institute, and as a lawyer, and 
 published the historical works, " The Cruise of the Ala- 
 bama and Sumter," and "Memoirs of Service Afloat. " 
 He died August 30, 1877. 
 
 Andrew Barry Moore, governor of Alabama during the 
 inception of the Confederate government, was a native of 
 South Carolina, bom March 7, 1806. He removed to 
 Perry county, Alabama, in 1826, became a lawyer by pro- 
 fession, and first appeared in the legislature of Alabama 
 in 1839. He was defeated by the Whigs in 1840, but was 
 re-elected in 1842, and for three succeeding years. Dur- 
 ing the latter three sessions, 1843, 1844 and 1845, he was 
 speaker of the house. He was presidential elector in 
 1848. In 1 85 1 he was appointed to the circuit bench, and 
 regularly elected to the same until 1857, when he was 
 elected governor of Alabama without opposition. In 1859 
 he was re-elected as chief executive. While the State con- 
 vention was in session for the purpose of withdrawing the 
 State from the Union, Governor Moore sent a military 
 command to seize the Federal works and military stores 
 at Pensacola and entered with great energy upon prep- 
 arations to defend his State. At the close of his term he 
 was appointed special aide-de-camp to Governor Shorter. 
 He was arrested by Federal authority and confined at 
 Fort Pulaski in 1865, together with a number of other dis- 
 
716 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 tinguished Confederate statesmen. His health failed in 
 consequence of his imprisonment and he was released 
 during the year. Returning to his State he resumed the 
 practice of law. His death occurred at Marion, Ala. , 
 April 5, 1873. Governor Moore had at all times the re- 
 spect of the people of his State. Manly in bearing, cordial 
 in manner, honorable in all things, he was esteemed as a 
 model public officer. 
 
 John Gill Shorter, second governor of Alabama during 
 the Confederate period, was born in Jasper county, Geor- 
 gia, in 1818, and was graduated at the university of that 
 State in 1837. His father. Gen. Reuben C. Shorter, re- 
 moved to Alabama and settled at Eufaula in 1836, where 
 the son made his home and embarked in the practice of 
 law after leaving college. He was admitted to the bar in 
 1838, and in 1842 was appointed solicitor of his judicial cir- 
 cuit. In 1844 he was elected to the State senate, and in 
 1 85 1 to the house. He was appointed judge of the cir- 
 cuit court in 1851, elected to the same ofiSce in 1852, and 
 re-elected; so that he served nine years on the bench. In 
 1 86 1 he visited the secession convention of Georgia as a 
 commissioner from Alabama. He was a member of the 
 provisional congress, and in 1861 was elected governor. 
 In this position he served until 1863. He died at Eufaula, 
 May 29, 1872. 
 
 Henry M. Rector, first war governor of Arkansas, was 
 bom at St. Louis, Mo., in 1816. He became a citi- 
 zen of Arkansas in 1835 and soon rose to prominence as 
 an attorney and public man. He was United States mar- 
 shal from 1843 to 1845, and judge of the Supreme court 
 from 1859 to i860. Through the bequest of his father, 
 Maj. Elias Rector, he was interested, and finally success- 
 ful as a claimant in the famous Hot Springs litigation. 
 In June, i860, the Democratic State convention nominated 
 Richard H. Johnson for governor, and Rector resigned 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 717 
 
 Tiis position as supreme justice to run as an independent 
 candidate on a platform embodying the Union senti- 
 ment. After a heated canvass he received a majority of 
 about 3,500, and was inaugurated November 15, i860, in 
 his address on that occasion deprecating hasty action, 
 but asserting that Arkansas should unite her fortunes with 
 the other Southern States in case of any encroachments 
 upon their rights. When the issue was upon the State, 
 he was emphatically a war governor, and entrgetic and 
 faithful in the discharge of his delicate and important 
 duties. By a defect in the constitution of 1861 his term 
 was shortened from four to two years, and on account of 
 the resulting controversy he resigned November 4, 1862, 
 and declined renomination, maintaining that he was en- 
 titled to hold for the four years. Governor Rector is still 
 living at Little Rock, at the age of eighty-one years (1897). 
 
 Thomas Fletcher, who succeeded Henry M. Rector as 
 governor of Arkansas, was born at Nashville, Tenn., 
 about the year 181 7. Entering upon the study of law, 
 he became of prominence in that profession and in the 
 activities of political life, and during the administration 
 of President Polk was appointed to the office of United 
 States marshal, with his headquarters at Natchez, Miss. 
 In 1850 he made his home in Arkansas, and soon occu- 
 pied a leading position. He was president of the senate 
 of Arkansas during the twelfth, thirteenth and four- 
 teenth sessions, from 1858 to 1863, and was president of 
 the Confederate senate held at Washington, Ark., in 
 October, 1864. After the close of the war he was a 
 member of the State senate of 1874-5. In 1878 he began 
 the practice of the law at Little Rock, but his career was 
 soon afterward terminated by his death, which occurred 
 in 1880. His service as governor of Arkansas continued 
 from the resignation of Governor Rector until the in- 
 auguration of Harris Flanagin, who was chosen at a special 
 •election held November 15, 1862, his tenure of the office 
 being by virtue of his position as president of the Senate. 
 
718 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Harris Flanagin, governor of Arkansas from 1862 until 
 the downfall of Confederate authority in the State, 
 was bom at Roadstown, N. J., November 3, 181 7. He 
 moved west to Illinois, and thence removed to Arkansas 
 in 1837, making his home in Clark county. Here engag- 
 ing in the practice of law he soon attained prominence, 
 and in 1842 was elected to the legislature. At the begin- 
 ning of the war he entered the Confederate service as cap- 
 tain of Company E of the second regiment of Arkansas 
 mounted rifles, and in a short time was promoted colonel 
 of the regiment. In this capacity he was serving when 
 elected governor of the State at the special election held 
 November 15, 1862. During the remainder of the Con- 
 federate period, until the election of Isaac Murphy, 1864, 
 he held the position of chief executive, and during the 
 darkest days for the cause maintained himself with forti- 
 tude and ability. After the close of the war he resumed 
 his residence at Arkadelphia, and again engaged in the 
 practice of his profession. In 1874 he was a member of 
 the constitutional convention of the State. His death oc- 
 curred October 23, 1874. 
 
 John Milton, goverrior of Florida during the war, 
 was born April 21, 1807, in JefiEerson county, Ga. 
 His father was Gen. Homer Virgil Milton, an officer 
 in the regular army in 181 2, and his grandfather was 
 the John Milton for whom Georgia in the first presi- 
 dential election cast her vote for President of the 
 United States against George Washington. He was ed- 
 ucated at the academy in Louisville, the county seat of 
 Jefferson county, studied law under Roger L. Gamble, 
 and beginning the practice of his profession in his native 
 county, continued it at Columbus, Ga. As a resi- 
 dent of the latter town he engaged in politics and was 
 defeated as a candidate for congress on the nullification 
 issue. He subsequently was quite successful as a lawyer at 
 Mobile and New Orleans. While a citizen of Mobile, as 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 719 
 
 captain of a volunteer company, he served in the Florida 
 Indian war of 1837-39. In 1846 he moved to Jackson 
 county, Florida, and devoted himself mainly to the occu- 
 pations of a planter, appearing in court only occasionally, 
 but continuing his interest in public affairs. His voice 
 was heard in every political contest from 1846 to i860. 
 He was elected to the Florida State Senate in 1849 and 
 was Democratic elector in 1848. As a member of the na- 
 tional Democratic convention in i860, he was a warm sup- 
 porter of General Breckinridge. In the same year he 
 was elected governor of Florida, and in 1861 was inaugu- 
 rated for a term of four years. He warmly endorsed the 
 action of his State in secession and at once began active 
 efforts for military defense. In 1864 and 1865 there were 
 heavy and repeated calls for men and provisions. The 
 old and young of Florida, inspired by the influence of 
 their governor, had enlisted, and fighting in other fields 
 left her extensive coast insufficiently guarded. Ports 
 were seized by the enemy, and invasions made of the in- 
 terior. In March, 1865, the United States troops landed 
 at St. Marks, threatening the capital, but were repulsed 
 at Natural Bridge. In this action Governor Milton's eld- 
 est son, Maj. W. H. Milton, commanded the cavalry, 
 and another son, John Milton, a thirteen-year-old lad, 
 fought with the cadets of the Tallahassee military school. 
 These attacks upon his State, and the conviction that the 
 Confederacy was gradually growing weaker, caused much 
 distress to the governor, and as a result of four years' nerv- 
 ous strain, he became a victim of brain affection and 
 died April i, 1865. By his first marriage to Susan Aman- 
 da Cobb, of Athens, Ga., one son survives, Maj. Will- 
 iam H. Milton, who has been conspicuous in the affairs 
 of the State. By his second marriage to Caroline Howze, 
 of Alabama, two sons are living, John Milton and JeEer- 
 son Davis, one in Florida and one in Texas, and three 
 daughters. 
 
720 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Josepli Emerson Brown, war governor of Georgia, 
 was bom in Pickens district, South Carolina, April 
 15, 1821. His father fought under Gen. Andrew 
 Jackson, and his grandfather in the Revolutionary war. 
 During his boyhood the family removed to Georgia, 
 where he obtained an education and studied law amid 
 great privations and self-sacrifice. He was graduated at 
 Yale college in 1846, practiced law at Canton, Ga. ; was 
 elected State senator in 1849 ; presidential elector in 1852 ; 
 and judge of the superior courts of the Blue ridge district 
 in 1855. He was first elected governor in 1857, and was 
 re-elected in 1859, 1861 and 1863. Governor Brown was 
 prompt and decisive in his movements at the approach 
 of the war. He ordered the seizure of Forts Pulaski and 
 Jackson in January, 1861, put two regiments in the field 
 before the Confederacy was organized, and personally 
 seized the government arsenal at Augusta. On the down- 
 fall of the Confederacy he was imprisoned a few days at 
 Washington. During reconstruction times he strongly 
 urged the wisdom of accepting the situation, and comply- 
 ing with the terms prescribed. He was appointed chief 
 justice of the Supreme court of Georgia, but resigned, in 
 1870 to become president of the company in charge of the 
 Western and Atlantic railroad. In 1880 he was elected 
 United States senator to succeed General Gordon, and was 
 re-elected in 1884. His death occurred in 1895. 
 
 George W. Johnson, first provisional governor of Ken- 
 tucky, was bom near Georgetown, in that State, May 27, 
 181 1. He was the grandson of Col. Robert Johnson, 
 a hero of the Revolutionary period. After graduation at 
 Transylvania university, he studied law, and practiced 
 that profession some time, but finally devoted himself 
 to extensive agricultural interests in Kentucky and Ar- 
 kansas. He represented Scott county in the Kentucky 
 legislature three years, 1838-40, and was a candidate for 
 presidential elector in 1852 and i860. In i86t he labored 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 721 
 
 earnestly to induce Kentucky to range herself with the 
 States which had formed the Confederacy, and left his 
 home with General Breckinridge and others, later to 
 devote himself to the cause. He set on foot the organ- 
 ization of a provisional government for Kentucky, and 
 was chosen the first executive. When the Confederate 
 forces retired from the State, he accompanied Gen. 
 Albert Sidney Johnston, participated in important mili- 
 tary councils, went into the battle of Shiloh as aide to 
 Greneral Breckinridge, fought in the ranks after his horse 
 was shot, and enlisted on the night of the first day as a 
 private in Company E, of the First Kentucky regiment of 
 infantry. Participating in the battle of the second day, 
 he received serious and fatal wounds, and lay on the field 
 until the next day, when he was discovered and cared for 
 by General McCook, of the Federal army. He died on a 
 hospital boat, April 9, 1862, and his remains were con- 
 veyed to his Kentucky home and there interred amidst a 
 great manifestation of popular regard. 
 
 Richard Hawes, second provisional governor of Ken- 
 tucky, was bom in Caroline county, Virginia, February 
 6, 1797. His family bore an honorable part in the colonial 
 history. His father, for several years a delegate in the 
 Virginia legislature, emigrated to Kentucky in 18 10. 
 Judge Hawes was liberally educated, principally at 
 Transylvania university, was admitted to the bar in 1818, 
 and became the law partner of Robert WickliflEe. He 
 sat in the legislature for Clark county in 1828, 1829 and 
 1834; and represented the Ashland district in Congress 
 in 1837-41. In 1861 he was one of the committee of six 
 appointed by the legislature to further the policy of 
 armed neutrality. This plan failing he entered the army 
 in Virginia, with rank of major, and for eight or nine 
 months served as brigade commissary. In May, 1862, 
 he was chosen provisional governor of Kentucky by the 
 State council, to succeed Governor Johnson, and was in- 
 
722 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 augurated at Frankfort, October 4. He held this office 
 until the close of the war, though the position at Frank- 
 fort was not long maintained. In 1865 he returned to his 
 devastated home at Paris, and was elected judge of the 
 Bourbon county court in 1866, a position he held until 
 his death. May 25, 1877. 
 
 Thomas Overton Moore came of good colonial stock. 
 His maternal grandfather. Gen. Thomas Overton, 
 was major under Light Horse Harry Lee in the days of 
 ' 76. Born in North Carolina — his family being so noted 
 as to give their name to one of its counties — he came to 
 Louisiana to live the life of a cotton planter in Rapide 
 Parish. The time was to come, however, when broader 
 duties were to draw him from the repose of a country 
 life. His strict integrity, purity in private life, and uncom- 
 promising attitude on the political issues of the day, placed 
 him in the State senate. So satisfactory was his term 
 as senator that, in i860, he was elected governor on the 
 Democratic ticket. Governor Moore was the most active 
 leader in the official preliminaries of secession. His ener- 
 gy in calling the convention at Baton Rouge to decide the 
 momentous issue before the people ; his signing the ordi- 
 nance of secession, when passed, and under it promptly 
 seizing all military posts and garrisons within the state 
 limits, are part of the war record of Louisiana. Not 
 so well known, however, is his humane effort, by the open- 
 ing of free markets, to relieve the starving poor of New 
 Orleans. His active sympathy with the troops led to the 
 establishment of a Relief association for the benefit of 
 soldiers. His gubernatorial career throughout shows the 
 influence of his intense admiration for the great Demo- 
 crat, Andrew Jackson. Probably this trait was part of 
 his family inheritance. His grandfather had stood, as 
 second on the field of honor, at the side of Andrew Jack- 
 son ; and an uncle, Walter H. Overton, acted as aide to the 
 General at the battle of New Orleans. A trace of the 
 Jacksonian traditions was seen in Governor Moore's com- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 723 
 
 pelling the banks for their own safety — in defiance of for- 
 feiture of charters — to suspend specie payments. Before 
 the surrender of New Orleans, and as a practical measure 
 warranted alone by the exigencies of the time, he prohib- 
 ited planters from adding other bales to the cotton sup- 
 ply already crowding the levee. When the city fell, he 
 promptly summoned the State legislature to meet at Ope- 
 lousas. Finding it difficult to insure a quorum in that 
 town, he transferred its sessions to Shreveport, which re- 
 mained, throughout the conflict, the war capital of Louis- 
 iana. Governor Moore did not long survive the war. In 
 June, 1876, he passed away at his home in Rapide Parish, 
 honored by the people of the State which he had so loy- 
 ally and intelligently served. He died at the ripe age 
 of seventy-three. 
 
 Henry Watkins Allen, second war governor of Louisi- 
 ana, was bom in Prince Edward county, Virginia, April 
 29, 1820. His father, a noted physician, removed to Lex 
 ington. Mo., and Henry was placed in Marion college, 
 whence he went to Grand Gulf, Miss., in consequence 
 of a family dispute. There he became a lawyer, and 
 after creditable service in the Texan war with Mex- 
 ico, he was elected to the legislature in 1846. Later he 
 settled near West Baton Rouge, and was elected to the 
 Louisiana legislature, in 1853. In 1859 he went to 
 Europe to engage in the Italian struggle for independ- 
 ence, and made a tour of the continent. On his return 
 he again sat in the legislature. When war broke out he 
 was commissioned lieutenant-colonel and stationed at 
 Ship Island. Subsequently he was made colonel of the 
 Fourth Louisiana regiment and military governor of 
 Jackson. He was wounded at Shiloh, and at Vicksburg 
 rendered valuable service in the construction of fortifica- 
 tions. At Baton Rouge he was badly wounded. On his 
 recovery his devoted service was recognized by promo- 
 tion to the rank of brigadier-general, in September, 1864, 
 
724 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 and soon afterward he was elected governor of Louisi- 
 ana. He was active in this position in the interests of 
 the Confederacy, arranged for payment of the cotton 
 tax in kind, and opened a route for the exportation of 
 cotton and the importation of necessities through Texas 
 to Mexico. After the war he settled in Mexico, and 
 established the ' ' Mexican Times ' ' at the national capital; 
 He died in that city April 22, 1866. 
 
 John J. Pettus, first war governor of Mississippi, was 
 bom in Wilson county, Tennessee, October 9, 1813, and 
 came when a young man to the State of which he was af- 
 terward the chief executive. He settled in Kemper 
 county, which he represented in both branches of the 
 legislature, in subsequent years. In 1859 he was nom- 
 inated by the Democratic party for governor, was 
 elected, and qualified November 18, 1859. During the 
 term which followed he was confronted with the most 
 momentous and trjring duties, which he discharged with 
 such signal ability and sound judgment as to win the 
 confidence of the people of the State, and secure a re- 
 election at their hands. In 1863 he was compelled by the 
 continued encroachments of the Federal forces to remove 
 the State offices to Columbus, Miss. Such was his 
 intense devotion to the cause of the Confederacy that 
 after the surrender of the armies he lost heart and hope, 
 abandoned Mississippi, and went to Arkansas, where he 
 lived the life of a recluse and died January 25, 1867. 
 
 Charles Clark, the last war governor of Mississippi, 
 was born in Ohio, May, 181 1, a lineal descendant of a 
 Mayflower colonist. He was graduated at Augusta col- 
 lege, Kentucky, and then emigrated to Mississippi, where 
 he engaged in teaching school. While thus occupied he 
 also pursued the study of law, and on being admitted to 
 the bar located in Jefferson county, and subsequently 
 made his home in Bolivar county, Mississippi. Both of 
 these counties he represented in the legislature. He 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 726 
 
 went into the Mexican war as captain, and was soon 
 elected colonel. When Mississippi organized for the war 
 of 1861, he was first a brigadier-general of State troops, 
 afterward major-general, and was commissioned brig- 
 adier-general in the provisional army of the Confederate 
 States. At Shiloh he commanded a division and was 
 wounded in the shoulder. At Baton Rouge he also com- 
 manded a division, was severely wounded, captured and 
 taken to New Orleans. When he returned home, being 
 disabled by his wounds from further military service, he 
 was elected governor of the State, in 1864, a position he 
 held until the Confederacy dissolved. He was imprisoned 
 at Fort Pulaski, and on his release resumed his law prac- 
 tice. In 1876 he was appointed district chancellor of 
 chancery. He died in December, 1877, at his plantation 
 in Bolivar county. 
 
 Claiborne Fox Jackson, governor of Missouri at the be- 
 ginning of the war, was bom in Fleming county, Ken- 
 tucky, April 4, 1807. He emigrated to Missouri in 1823, 
 raised a volunteer company and served as its captain in 
 the Black Hawk war. For twelve years he was a mem- 
 ber of the legislature, was speaker of the house one term, 
 was one of the originators of the banking house system 
 of Missouri, and for several years was bank commissioner, 
 his ability as a financier and administrative officer be- 
 coming widely recognized. In i860 he was elected gov- 
 ernor of the State, and was inaugurated January 4, 1861. 
 In his address on this occasion he declared that Missouri 
 could not endure the doctrine of coercion, but must ad- 
 here to the cause of the South, and recommended a 
 State convention to determine the will of the people. 
 In May following he called an extra session of the leg- 
 islature and recommended placing the State in an attitude 
 of defense against Northern aggression. On September 
 16, 1 86 1, Governor Jackson abandoned the capitol, on the 
 advance of the Federal forces, and on the 26th called an 
 
726 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 extra session of the legislature at Neosho. On July 31st 
 the State convention had declared his office vacant and 
 appointed a new governor. He entered the army of 
 the Confederacy with the rank of brigadier-general, but 
 was compelled by failing health to resign, and died at Lit- 
 tle Rock, Ark., December 6, 1862. 
 
 John W. Ellis, governor of North Carolina at the out- 
 break of the war of the Confederacy, was first elected to 
 that position in 1858 and was re-elected by a large ma- 
 jority in i860. He was an ardent advocate of the ordi- 
 nance of secession, and when hostilities began, though 
 sinking under a fatal disease, he was prompt to seize the 
 public works and military stores within the State. April 
 20, 1 86 1, he ordered the seizure of the United States mint 
 at Charlotte. In July, 1861, he died at White Sulphur 
 Springs. Previous to his election as governor, Mr. Ellis 
 had attained distinction as an attorney, had been a mem- 
 ber of the general assembly in 1844, and in 1848 had been 
 called to the bench of the superior court. 
 
 Colonel Henry Toole Clark, of Edgecomb, was president 
 of the senate of North Carolina which met in November, 
 i860, and upon the death of Governor Ellis, in July, 1861, 
 he succeeded to the gubernatorial functions. He served 
 until January 1,1863, during the trpng period of the or- 
 ganization of the State for war, and was succeeded by Gov- 
 ernor Vance. After the close of the war, Colonel Clark 
 was elected a member of the famous legislature of 1865. 
 His death occurred February 21, 1874. He was a man of 
 great amiability and much literary culture. He was grad- 
 uated at Chapel Hill in 1826. 
 
 Colonel Zebulon B. Vance, governor of North Carolina 
 from January i, 1863, until the close of the war, was born 
 in Buncombe county, May 13, 1830, of Revolutionary an- 
 cestry. He studied law in 1851, and began the practice 
 and his political career. As a Whig he was elected to 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 727 
 
 the state legislature in 1854. Four years later he was 
 elected to the United States Congress, where he served 
 as a representative until M^rch^ 1861. In Congress 
 he opposed secession, but when that course became in- 
 evitable he was one of the first in the field for the 
 military defense of the Confederate government. He 
 entered the service as a captain, and was chosen 
 colonel of the Twenty-sixth regiment in August, 1861. 
 His first election as governor occurred August 2, 1862, 
 and by special ordinance he was inaugurated in Septem- 
 ber. He was re-elected in 1864, and inaugurated January 
 1,1865. His administrations entitle him to rank as one of 
 the greatest among the war governors of the South. Gov- 
 ernor Vance served as a soldier only about fifteen months, 
 but during that time made a record for valor and skill 
 which won the high esteem of officers and privates in the 
 Confederate army. His State seceded May 20th, and on 
 that day his company was in camp at Raleigh, and he 
 was its commissioned captain ready for service, as a part 
 of the Fourteenth North Carolina regiment. After ser- 
 vice in Virginia as captain he was promoted in August, 
 1861, colonel of the Twenty-sixth North Carolina regi- 
 ment, with which command he participated in the New 
 Bern engagement and the celebrated battles around 
 Richmond. After the defeat of Lee he went from Ra- 
 leigh with Johnston's army until he joined President 
 Davis at Charlotte, to counsel with him in the disastrous 
 posture of Confederate affairs. Parting with Mr. Davis, 
 he remained at Statesville, Iredell county, until he was 
 given the distinction of arrest as a political prisoner, with 
 confinement for several months in Old Capitol prison, at 
 Washington. Finally released on his parole, and return- 
 ing to his State, he took an active part in its restoration 
 to a constitutional standing among the other States. 
 In 1870, his legislature sent him to the United States 
 Senate,but Congress refused to remove his disabilities, and 
 be consequently resigned the office. At length his citizen- 
 
728 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 ship was recognized and he was again a candidate for the 
 United States Senate, but on account of a combination of 
 Republicans with others who disliked his bold course he 
 was defeated. The people, however, rallied to him, and 
 by an uprising made him governor for the third time. 
 His inauguration January i, 1877, was the downfall of "re- 
 construction" in North Carolina. In 1873 he was again 
 elected to the United States Senate, took his seat March, 
 1879, and as a senator served his State faithfully during 
 the following twelve years. In the Senate, as before the 
 people, he took high rank as an orator. He was endowed 
 richly with both humor and pathos, and he used with 
 great effect a remarkable fund of anecdote. As a senator 
 he strenuously opposed the civil service law, and advocat- 
 ed tariff reform. During his vigorous administration as 
 governor "the judges were heard above the roar of can- 
 non, ' ' and the writ of habeas corpus was never for a day 
 suspended. Yet while strenuously resisting all the en- 
 croachments of military power, no governor was more act- 
 ive in providing for the welfare of his soldiers, and in 
 importing machinery, food and medical supplies. His 
 personal influence made possible the enforcement of the 
 conscript laws, and his fiery and eloquent admonitions to 
 North Carolina's sixty-five regiments in the winter of 
 1863-64 reinspired the army of Northern Virginia. 
 
 Francis W. Pickens, the first war governor of South 
 Carolina, was born in St. Paul's parish, that .State, 
 April 7, 1805, the son of Gov. Andrew Pickens, and 
 grandson of Gen. Andrew Pickens, a soldier of the 
 Revolution. He was educated at Athens college and 
 South Carolina college, was admitted to the bar in 
 1829, and in 1832 was elected to the lower house of 
 the State legislature. Attaining prominence in political 
 affairs, he was elected to Congress on the nullification 
 ticket, and took his seat in December, 1834, serving from 
 that time until March, 1843. The following year he 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 729 
 
 served in the State senate. Returning to politics in 1850 
 he became a delegate to the Nashville convention, and in 
 1856 was a delegate to the Democratic national conven- 
 tion. By President Buchanan he was appointed minister 
 to Russia in 1858. At the close of the administration he 
 came home and was elected governor on the eve of the 
 outbreak of war. After one term of the office, Decem- 
 ber, i860, to December, 1862, he returned to private life, 
 and died at Edgefield, January 25, 1869. 
 
 Brigadier- General Milledge L. Bonham was bom in 
 Edgefield district, May 6, 1815. He was graduated by 
 the South Carolina college in his twentieth year, and then 
 began the study of law, interrupting it, however, in 1836, 
 to take part in the Seminole war, where he served as aide 
 to General Bull and as adjutant-general of the South Car- 
 olina brigade. Returning to his law studies he was ad- 
 mitted to the bar in 1837, and practiced at Edgefield until 
 his soldierly instincts were again aroused by the Mexican 
 war. In this conflict he served with gallantry as colonel 
 of the Twelfth regiment. United States infantry, with 
 Winfield S. Hancock as his adjutant. Resuming the 
 practice of law, he held the office of solicitor, was four 
 times elected to the legislature, and in 1856 was elected 
 to Congress as a State rights Democrat. With re-elec- 
 tion he served until his State delegation withdrew in De- 
 cember, i860. In the secession movement he took a 
 prominent part, serving as a commissioner to Alabama 
 and making eloquent speeches in favor of separation. 
 Having previously held the rank of major-general of 
 South Carolina troops, he was called to command by 
 Governor Pickens upon the secession of the State. 
 Under Beauregard he commanded the troops on Morris 
 Island during the bombardment of Fort Sumter. Then 
 being promoted brigadier-general, provisional army, he 
 went to Virginia, and was assigned to command of a bri- 
 gade of South Carolina troops, and the Alexandria de- 
 
730 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 partment. He was engaged at Blackburn's Ford, and 
 would have had a prominent part in the battle of First 
 Manassas if the Federal attack had not changed the 
 plans. As it was, he was commended by Beauregard 
 for the skillful execution of orders. He resigned in Janu- 
 ary, 1862, to serve the State as representative in the Con- 
 federate Congress, and was elected governor for the 
 term of 1862 to 1864. Reappointed brigadier- general in 
 February, 1865, he commanded a brigade of South Caro- 
 lina cavalry until the close of the struggle. Subse- 
 quently he served in the legislature, and held the office 
 of railroad commissioner at the time of his death, August 
 27, 1890. 
 
 Andrew Gordon Magrath, last governor of South Caro- 
 lina during the Confederate period, was born at Charles- 
 ton, February 8, 1813, the son of a soldier of the Irish 
 revolution of 1798. He was graduated at South Carolina 
 college in 1831, and then studied the law, completing his 
 studies at Harvard university, under Judge Story. In 
 1840 and 1842 he was elected to the State legislature, 
 but he subsequently devoted himself to the practice of 
 his profession until 1856, when he was chosen a delegate 
 at large to the national Democratic convention, but before 
 the meeting of that body was called by President Pierce 
 to the Federal bench as district judge of South Carolina. 
 This position he held until the election of President Lin- 
 coln, when he promptly tendered his resignation to Presi- 
 dent Buchanan. In his letter of this effect, dated No- 
 vember 7th, he wrote: "Should that conflict arise, I shall 
 not hesitate in my conduct. I shall devote my best en- 
 ergies to sustain North Carolina in whatever position she 
 may resolve to occupy in this crisis." This action by 
 Judge Magrath was hailed throughout the State as a 
 manly statement of public opinion, and a large and en- 
 thusiastic meeting was held at Charleston to ratify and 
 approve his declaration. He was at once elected a dele- 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 731 
 
 gate to the convention which made the ordinance of 
 secession, and while still a member of that body was ap- 
 pointed to the staff of Governor Pickens. Under the 
 Confederate government he returned to the bench, and 
 was called upon to decide many grave and important 
 questions growing out of the war. In November, 1864, 
 he was elected governor, and in the following December 
 was inaugurated, with a great popular demonstration, in 
 range of the enemy's shells. In April, 1865, he was arrested 
 by order of the Federal government, and with distin- 
 guished companions sustained an imprisonment. Sub- 
 sequently he resumed his professional practice at Charles- 
 ton, where, after over half a century of distinction as a 
 jurist, he died April 9, 1893. 
 
 Isham G. Harris, war governor of Tennessee, was 
 born near TuUahoma, Tennessee, February 10, 1818. At 
 nineteen years of age he settled in Tippah county, Mis- 
 sissippi, where he engaged in mercantile business. He 
 studied law during the night hours for two years and 
 meanwhile was successful in trade, when, through a bank 
 failure, he was left penniless. He resumed business at 
 Paris, Tenn. , and soon recouped his losses, manifest- 
 ing, throughout this most arduous part of his career, a 
 remarkable business ability, and indomitable courage. 
 In 1 841 he was admitted to the bar, and subsequently 
 was elected to the legislature of Tennessee. In 1848 
 he was elected to Congress, where he served two terms 
 with distinction. Subsequently he made his home at 
 Memphis, and widened his practice as an attorney. He 
 was chosen presidential elector in 1856, and was elected 
 governor of Tennessee in 1857, and re-elected in 1859 
 and 1 86 1. Although his State was overrun, its capital 
 taken, and its government compelled to retreat with the 
 Confederate armies, he took care of the State's interests 
 in every particular. He offered his services to Gen. 
 Albert Sidney Johnston, and was actively employed as 
 
782 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 aide-de-camp on the General's staflE. After Johnston's 
 death Governor Harris continued to serve at the general 
 headquarters of the army in the west throughout the war, 
 and took part in all important battles except Perryville. 
 At the close of the struggle he went to Mexico, in August, 
 1 86 1, and eighteen months later, to England, where he 
 remained a year. In 1867 he returned and resumed his 
 law practice at Memphis. He was elected to the United 
 States Senate, taking his seat March 5, 1877, and 
 promptly became a leading member of that distinguished 
 body. Notwithstanding his arduous part in great and 
 exciting events, he retained his remarkable force to the 
 end of his lengthened life. His sixth term in the Senate 
 would have expired in 1901, but death came in 1897 to 
 close his career. 
 
 Robert Looney Carruthers, elected as the successor of 
 Governor Harris of Tennessee, was bom in Smith coun- 
 ty, that State, July 31, 1800. He began the practice of 
 law at Carthage, and subsequently removed to Lebanon, 
 and in 1827 was commissioned state's attorney by Gov- 
 ernor Sam Houston. Elected to the legislature five 
 years later, he served on the judiciary committee. In 
 1841 he succeeded John Bell in Congress, but declined re- 
 election. In 1844 he was elector at large on the Whig 
 ticket, and in 1852 was appointed to the Supreme court 
 to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Nathan 
 Green. He was re-elected by the legislature and by the 
 people, and remained upon the supreme bench until his 
 functions were suspended by the war. In 1861 he was 
 a member of the Peace congress, and was a delegate to 
 the provisional Congress of the Confederate States at 
 Richmond. In 1863 he was elected governor of Tennes- 
 see, but the fortunes of war did not permit his inaugura- 
 tion. In addition to these civil positions he held in 1864 
 the rank of brigadier-general of Tennessee militia. After 
 the war he devoted himself to the Cumberland university 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 733 
 
 at Lexington, of which he was the first president of the 
 board of trustees. With the remarkable educational 
 history of Lebanon, and the fame of its law school, his 
 name is inseparably connected. His reputation as a 
 jurist was very high, and it has been said by competent 
 authority that he was " without doubt the greatest advo- 
 cate that Tennessee ever had. " After a long life of use- 
 fulness, he died in October, 1882. 
 
 Francis Richard Lubbock, governor of Texas, 186 1 to 
 1863, was born at Beaufort, S. C. October 16, 1815. 
 As a young man he engaged in mercantile pursuits, 
 in which he has been distinguished throughout life. 
 In 1834 he removed to New Orleans and thence in 1836 
 to Texas, where he became one of the early settlers of 
 the city of Houston. Soon taking a position of promi- 
 nence he was chosen clerk of the Texas house of repre- 
 sentatives in 1838 and was appointed comptroller of the 
 treasury and adjutant of the military organization. He 
 was again comptroller in 1841, and served as clerk of 
 Harris county in 1843 to 1856. In 1857 he was elected 
 lieutenant-governor of the State, and in i860 he was a 
 delegate to the Charleston convention. He was elected 
 governor of Texas in 1861, and in this position was 
 earnest and active in support of the Confederate States 
 government. Ig 1863 Governor Lubbock declined the 
 proffered renomination, and entered the military service, 
 with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was commis- 
 sioned colonel and aide-de-camp on the staff of President 
 Davis in 1864, and after the evacuation of Richmond, 
 accompanied the President and was with him at the time 
 of his capture. Colonel Lubbock was carried as a pris- 
 oner to Fortress Monroe and afterward to Fort Delaware, 
 where he was kept in solitary confinement for seven 
 months. In December, 1865, he returned to Texas, and 
 with characteristic energy, at once began the organization 
 of the commercial house of F. R. Lubbock & Son. In 1 867 
 
734 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 he removed to Galveston and there served three terms as 
 city treasurer. Subsequently he was for four terms, 
 beginning in 1878, elected State treasurer. Of late 
 years, having reached an advanced age, he has with- 
 drawn himself from public affairs. 
 
 Pendleton Murrah, governor of Texas, 1863 to 1865, 
 was a native of South Carolina, and a lawyer by pro- 
 fession. In early life he went to Alabama, and thence 
 removed to the State of Texas, making his home in 
 Harrison county. His evident ability and capacity for 
 public affairs were manifested in 1857 as a representative 
 of his county in the legislature, and he continued to rise 
 in prominence until in 1863 he was honored with the 
 highest office in the gift of the people of the State, as the 
 successor of Francis R. Lubbock. In the midst of many 
 perplexities, and confronted by many serious problems, 
 he performed with honor the duties of chief executive 
 until the State was occupied by the armed forces of the 
 United States. He then left the capitol and crossed 
 into Mexico, making his home at Monterey, where he 
 died in July, 1866. 
 
 John Letcher, governor of Virginia at the outbreak and 
 through the major part of the civil war, was born at Lex- 
 ington, Va., March 29, 1813. By his qjvn labor, begun 
 at the age of fifteen years, he won an education, attend- 
 ing Washington college and Randolph-Macon college. 
 He was licensed to practice law in 1839, and in the midst 
 of his profession gave attention also to politics, and par- 
 ticularly to political journalism. In the campaign of 1840 
 he took an active part. Having established the Lexing- 
 ton Valley Star in 1839, he resumed control of it in 1844, 
 and zealously advocated the interests of the South. In 
 1848 he was a Democratic presidential elector; in 1850 
 was a member of the constitutional convention ; and in 
 1 85 1 was elected to Congress, where he remained four 
 
CONFEDERA TE MILITARY HISTORY. 735 
 
 terms. His peculiar devotion to the public interests 
 earned for him the popular title " Honest John Letcher. " 
 In 1859 he was elected governor, taking his seat January 
 I, i860. He loved the Union sincerely and with a 
 strong hand held back the more impetuous, until no 
 course but separation remained, when his hand was as 
 strong for armed defense. He was a faithful friend of 
 Lee and Jackson. His home was burned at the time of 
 the destruction of the Virginia military institute, and 
 after the war he was confined for some months in the Old 
 Capitol prison. In 1876, while a member of the legis- 
 lature, he was stricken with paralysis. He died January 
 26, 1884, at Lexington. 
 
 William Smith, governor of Virginia from January i, 
 1864, to the close of the war, was born September 6, 1797, 
 in King George county, Virginia. After receiving a 
 general education in academic institutions he took up the 
 study of law and was licensed to practice in 1819. His 
 political career began about this time also, but it was not 
 until 1836 that he accepted office. He then sat in 
 the State senate one term, and was re-elected. He be- 
 came interested in mail contracts and had charge of some 
 extensive routes, by coach and steamboat lines. In 1841 
 Mr. Smith was elected to Congress, and in December, 
 1845, he was chosen governor of Virginia. After the ex- 
 piration of his term, in 1850, he removed to California, 
 where he at once gained prominence. He represented 
 San Francisco in the constitutional convention at Bernicia 
 in 1850, and was chosen permanent president of that body. 
 Returning to Virginia in December, 1852, he was elected 
 to Congress in May, 1853, and retained his seat until 
 March 4, 1861. When the war broke out Governor 
 Smith, though in his sixty-fourth year, offered his serv- 
 ices in the field, and was commissioned colonel and as- 
 signed to the Forty-ninth regiment, Virginia infantry, 
 which he led with gallantry at Manassas, July 21, 1861. 
 
736 CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 His personal courage and coolness elicited the official no- 
 tice of Beauregard, Johnston and Stuart. Promoted 
 to brigadier-general, he continued to render valuable serv- 
 ices in the field; also, in 1862, sitting in the Confederate 
 States Congress as representative of his district. He was 
 twice wounded at Seven Pines and three times at Sharps- 
 burg. In command of a brigade of Early's division, 
 he took part in the Pennsylvania campaign, and the battle 
 of Gettysburg. In August following, he was promoted 
 major-general, and later was called by the people a second 
 time to the office of governor. His devotion and fertility 
 of resources as State executive were of great value during 
 the exhaustive military struggle which followed his 
 inauguration. He retired in 1865 to his home, and there 
 died May 18, 1889. 
 
 Colonel John R. Baylor, governor of the Territory of 
 Arizona, in i860 holding the rank of captain of Texas 
 troops, and well-known throughout the State, was active 
 in December in the organization of forces. He was 
 commissioned lieutenant-colonel by the Confederate 
 government ; and in May, after commanding part of the 
 force which compelled the surrender of the United States 
 troops at San Antonio, was put in command of the second 
 line of defense on the western frontier. Subsequently, 
 with a small body of Texas troops, less than three hundred 
 in number,he moved up the Rio Grande into the Territory 
 of New Mexico, in June, and occupied Mesilla, where on 
 the 25th of July he was attacked by the Federal forces 
 from Fort Fillmore. Repulsing the attack, he next moved 
 against the enemy, who abandoned the fort and surren- 
 dered nearly seven hundred men on the 27th. Soon after- 
 ward he was joined by Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston 
 and other officers on their way from California to unite 
 with the Confederate forces. On the first of August he 
 issued a proclamation taking command of the Territory 
 of Arizona, which he defined as all that part of New 
 
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY. 737 
 
 Mexico lying south of the thirty-fourth parallel, in the 
 name of the Confederate States, and formed a temporary 
 organization under a military government, with a full list 
 of appointments of judicial and executive officers. He 
 continued to discharge the duties of governor as well as 
 those of military commander and was active in protecting 
 the people from Indian forays. By the proclamation of 
 President Davis, dated February 14, 1862, Colonel Baylor 
 was appointed governor of the Territory, with Robert 
 Josselyn, of Mississippi, as secretary ; Alexander M. Jack- 
 son, of New Mexico, chief justice; Columbus Upson, 
 Texas, associate justice; Russell Howard, Arizona, at- 
 torney-general ; Samuel J. Jones, Arizona, marshal ; dele- 
 gate to Confederate Congress, M. H. McWillie. He or 
 ganized a brigade of troops in the Territory and partici- 
 pated in the later operations in Texas. 
 

 iiiii 
 
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