Two Presidents: ABRAHAM LINCOLN JEFFERSON DAVIS Origin, Cause and Conduct of the War Between the States THE TRUTH OF HISTORY BELONGS TO POSTERITY By C. E. GILBERT As much as possible of the Truth of History is due the Patriots and Heroes who have gone before. 1927 HEADQUARTERS Trans-Mississippi Division, U. C. D. HOUSTON, TEXAS February 16, 1927 To the Sons and Daughters of the Southland: Having read the advanced sheets of this booklet, "Origin, Cause and Conduct of the War between the States", I heartily approve and commend it to your consideration, for its historic value, and hope it will be generally read. J. C. FOSTER Lt.'General Commanding Dept. TranS'Mississippi Division ■ 1 TWO PRESIDENTS Ok- OVl (Joy: i£x ICthrtH SEYMOUR DURST When you leave, please leave this book Because it has been said "Sver'thing comes t' him who waits Except a loaned book." Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library Two Presidents: ABRAHAM LINCOLN JEFFERSON DAVIS Origin, Cause and Conduct of the War Between the States THE TRUTH OF HISTORY BELONGS TO POSTERITY By C. E. GILBERT As much as possible of the Truth of History is due the Patriots and Heroes who have gone before. 1927 To the MEMORY AND HONOR of the STATESMEN AND SOLDIERS of the SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY and their Heroic Ancestors of 1776, 1836, 1898, 1917, who also fought For Liberty and Home Rule, the Great American Principal, "Government Only By Consent of the Governed." CONTENTS Page A Need for Refutation of False Propaganda 7-9 When the Strife Was Begun 1_12 Animosity Antedating Tariff or Slavery Issues 13 Judge Bledsoe's View of Cause 14 Abraham Lincoln's Ambitious Boyhood 16 Lincoln in Congress Favored Secession for Massachusetts .17 The Main Points at Issue in 1860 17 Northern Opinion of Rights of the States 19 Lincoln Was Picked as Vote-Catcher 20 Lincoln's Election by Minority Vote 21 Lincoln Continues Life of Contradictions 21 Republican Party Leaders for War and Disunion 21 and 75 Lincoln's First Declaration of War 23 Orders Maj. Anderson to Hold Fort Sumter 24 Organizes Fleet While Promising Judge Campbell to With- draw Garrison From Fort Sumter - 24, 25 and 37 Sent Ultimatum to Governor Pickens 25 Violates Armistice Between Two Governments 26 Congress Refused to Approve President's Acts 27 Northern Sentiment Was Much Divided 28 Responsibility for Uncivilized Warfare 31 That Myth About "Friend of South" 33 Proof That Lincoln Wanted War 34, 36 Seward's Boast of Greater Powers Than a King 39 What Was the Real, Premeditated Purpose of the War?.— 41 Jefferson Davis 43 Jefferson Davis' Constructive Statesmanship ..45 Sounded Warning to Violators of Constitution 47 Farewell to Associates in Senate 49 Peaceful Organization of the Confederacy 50 Fort Sumter Threatened, Confederates Take It 51 Which Was the First Gun of the War? 52 Confederates Show Military Genius and Heroism 53 Another Myth Exploded — the Pay for Slaves 54 Still Another: Slavery as Cause of War 56 Lincoln's Proclamation Did Not Include Grant's Slaves... .58 Prison Mortality Statistics Decidedly in Favor of South... .61 Capture of President Davis' Party 63 Mr. Davis Would Make No Effort to Escape 65 Monument and Tribute to Jefferson Davis 66 Lays Corner-Stone of Monument at Montgomery 70 Who Were the Real Rebels? 76 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/twopresidentsabrOOgilb INTRODUCTORY THERE IS A REASON AND NEED FOR THIS. In my work for several years through the South, in the interest of the life and object of the Sons of Con- federate Veterans, I have had occasion to observe and lament the lack of historical information among young men of the present generation, even among grown-ups, and the extent of alleged history which, through mis- representation, serves to discredit our fathers and de- prive them of the honors justly due them. There is some reason for this condition: The cause which impoverished the South in the '60s enriched the North; and while the men of the South must return home in the spring of '65 and devote years of hard work to rehabilitate the Southland, men of the North had money and leizure to write, print and mis- represent the cause and conduct of that terrible con- flict. There is reason in everything which has any basis at all. There is a reason why it is just to assert that Presi- dent .Abraham Lincoln's fame is far beyond the man's deserts; his abilities exaggerated; his virtues magnified; his statesmanship over-estimated; his one achievement misrepresented and misunderstood, conflictive in declara- tion, purpose and effect. All this would be immaterial but for the propaganda of misrepresentation of issues and policies, having tend- ency and purpose to deceive those who thoughtlessly 8 SOMETHING OF THE ORIGIN OF accept them. If those policies and actions which forced that war upon the South were false and wrong, then, certainly, Southern people insult the memory of their fathers in permitting the circulation in their homes and schools of such literature. Southern people are not concerned about the exager- ated adulation of Lincoln in the North, or the hero-wor- ship by the negroes of the South as long as they wish to be deluded ; but it is against the wrongful use of their publishing advantage — the circulation of misrepresenta- tions and calumnies at our own doors, that merits our indignant protest. What would be the reception accord- ed a proposal to name a Southern Female College for Harriet Beecher Stowe after her gross misrepresenta- tion of Southern life? Or if it were proposed to name a high school for John Brown or Wendell Phillips, both of whom were early proponents to destroy the federal constitution in order to create negro insurrection and bring about negro equality — only in the South? Well, Lincoln claimed the power, and did what these fanatics had suggested. Is there a school in Massachussets or Ohio named in honor of Jefferson Davis or Robt. E. Lee ? Has not northern sentiment kept out of the Hall of Fame the statute of Jefferson Davis — out of the niche set apart for Mississippi? While the men of the South displayed their character- istic courage and fortitude, in the one field as in the other, and were remarkably successful in restoring their homes and industries to their former glory and produc- tiveness, it required many years, and there was little time for literature; the conquerors went marching on writing and printing versions of events which should have been recorded with something of the impartiality of a magnanimous victor, but instead were prejudiced, unjust and untrue. The saddest phase of this period so THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 9 akin to the destructive political ''reconstruction" is that during these crippled years of the South such books in innumerable numbers found their way almost alone into the homes and schools of the South with their venomous influences. It may be our fault — certainly our misfortune — that so many of our young men are unfamiliar with the official record of either of the war presidents, or the heroic parts their ancestors played in that eventful period of our country's history; and consequently are unable to form correct judgment. But they are entitled to know the truth, and we owe it to our fathers that their descendants shall know the truth — all the truth. There is ample and valid reason for disbelieving and repudiating hundreds of the books written (for gain and hate) the years following President Lincoln's tragic and lamentable assassination. Lincoln was the new Republican party's first president. Lincoln, dead and discredited (as had been for a year), would mean the death of the new Republican party; but Lincoln, famous and reputed great in achievement, would mean extended life to the party. So, the President's admin- istration must be extolled, his every act exhalted, his personality magnified to the greatest extent; the South must be charged with Lincoln's death; the Southern States must be ground down and "reconstructed"; Jefferson Davis must be charged with complicity in Lincoln's death, and with responsibility for the death rate at Andersonville ; there must be victims : Mrs. Sur- ratt dragged from her home and hanged with men charg- ed with Lincoln's death, and Superintendent Wirz of Andersonville hanged by military court; Jefferson Davis placed in a cell and in irons ; — thus carrying out the plan of Wendell Phillips' Republican party "organization against the South" to "trample the con- stitution under foot." 10 SOMETHING OF THE ORIGIN OF Hundreds of books were written voicing the most extravagant adulation of the dead president, and those which dared tell some of the truth were bought up and suppressed; particularly those of W. H. Herndon and Ward Lamon, who, though Republicans and former law partners and intimate friends of Lincoln, ' 1 could not tell the truth," because they did not participate in the apotheosis of a man dead who had been so re- cently denounced by his associates while living. Even Mr. Chase, Lincoln's appointee from the Cabinet to Chief Justice Supreme Court, who admitted his Repub- lican party devotion was not for love of the negro so much as hate for his master, said he " Could never see any greatness in Lincoln." These are the reasons for the presentation of this volume, that it may be an humble but helpful means of disseminating some of the much hidden truths. In offering it, I beg to call attention to one feature of it: Ninety per cent of the authorities quoted to show the gross inaccuracy and injustice of the mass of so-called history in circulation, are from Northern historians, and newspapers and public men of the Northern States, before, during and since the war, and also from that other invaluable collection of war records authorized by act of Congress in the name of " Records of the War of the 'Rebellion.' " We can pardon the name for the truth it tells. C. E. Gilbert 910 Peden Avenue, Houston, Texas. TWO PRESIDENTS Something of the Origin, Cause and Conduct of the War Between the States It was Macaully who said "A people who are not proud of the deeds of a noble ancestry will never do anything worthy to be remembered by posterity." It is the sacred duty of Southerners, and should be their blessed privilege to contribute whatever is within their means or power for the preservation of the truth of history to the honor and memory of the Confederate Soldiers and Statesmen. Our fathers of '61 fought valiantly to preserve and perpetuate the principles won by our heroic ancestors of '76 and true Americans should delight to honor the one no less than the other. The truth of history — of the striking events of that period — the simple truth — is all the sons and daughters of the Confederacy desire, and that we should insist be taught in our schools and in the homes throughout the Southland. Failure to do so, neglect to do our full part, would be a shame which should lose us the re- spect even of descendants of the men who wore the blue. Even fair-minded men of the Northern States would no doubt gladly welcome suggestions which would lead to the full truth on that important epoch in the history of our country — not for any material advantage, or fear of any false sentiment, but for the sake of Truth itself. In this presentation of the record of the two central figures in the war between the States, I make no pre- tense at either 'literature' or eloquence, but endeavor to present truths of history in an effort to show fairly and truly the efforts and influence of the one to pre- 12 SOMETHING OF THE ORIGIN OF serve the Union and avoid war by a strict adherence to the constitution, and statutes, and to adjust existing and preplexing problems by peaceful means ; and of the other to override law and constitution to bring on war, for what Seward termed "the higher law", which was revolution reversed, official rebellion against the people. Jefferson Davis was a man of ability, stability of character and of the strictest integrity — a man who studied public questions, could quickly analyze per- plexing problems, and whose conclusions were wise and unchanging. He was not a man of vacilating mind, favoring a measure today and condemning it tomorrow, nor the kind of politician who changes his position with every shifting wind. Because of his ability and wis- dom and the purity of his character, he had the confi- dence of the South and was a trusted leader. His en- tire public career showed an ambition for service, un- swerving devotion to democratic principles — a desire to be useful to his country and helpful to fellowmen; and in that, his life was a marked success. When the Strife Was Begun What was the cause of the War between the States? The Northern writers generally say, Slavery. But the origin and the cause dates back to a period when Slavery was in existence North and South. There was rivalry and jealousy and growing enmity between the Puritan and the Cavalier, starting probably when New England failed in reciprocation to come to the aid of Virginia in her Indian Wars, or perhaps to the inherent and inharmonious characteristics of Puri- tan and Cavalier. In 1775, this feeling between the two sections was recognized by General Washington, when, at Boston, he issued a stern order for the summary punishment of any man guilty of arousing that sectional animosity. THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 13 In 1776, John Jay, as Secretary of Foreign Affairs, recommended to Congress in the treaty with Spain there should be no American shipping on the Mississippi River below the mouth of the Yazoo, which brought forth strong protests from Virginia and other Southern States. In 1803, the North protested against President Jeff er- son ? s purchase of Louisiana, and yet strongly contended for the control of the Northwest territory thereby ad- mitted to the Union. In 1812, the Northern section protested and criticized the Southern States for the War with England, which by the way, was won almost altogether by Southern men. In 1814, New England representatives in the Hart- ford Convention threatened secession because of the war with England. In 1820, Congress, on motion of Thomas Jefferson, and by the vote of Southern members, passed an act prohibiting the slave traffic, which stopped a very profitable trade in New England ship-building and kidnapping Africans. It was then the Abolition senti- ment received it's first impetus. In 1828, Congress, the Northern section again in con- trol, raised tariff taxes on imports for the protection of New England mills to an extent which brought forth vigorous protest from the South that Congress had ex- ceeded the powers delegated by the states, which brought forth the Nullification Act of South Carolina in 1832. Though President Jackson threatened, under the leadership of Clay Congress modified the tariff, and South Carolina repealed the Nullification Act in 1833. In 1846-7, Massachusetts took the lead in protest against the Mexican War and threatened to withdraw 14 SOMETHING OF THE ORIGIN OF from the Union, if Texas was admitted ; and sought to control the new territory won by Southern valour while they were protesting. In 1859, the Northern States annulled extradition laws, and not only refused to surrender fugitive slaves, but Ohio and Iowa openly refused to honor the re- quisition of the Governor of Virginia for two of John Brown's raiders who were indicted with Brown for murder in Virginia. In 1860, there came another national victory for the Northern States (on account of three democratic presi- dential tickets) in the election of Abraham Lincoln and both houses of Congress. With Wendell Phillips, one of the founders of the new Republican party declar- ing the party was "a sectional party organized against the South", to "trampel the constitution under foot", and S. P. Chase to be in Lincoln's cabinet and his spokes- man in the Peace Conference declaring there would be no compromise, and that Lincoln's election "authorized him to enforce his theories, regardless of Constitution, laws, State Rights or Supreme Court" — we have a culmination of the long- growing enmity for the South, an open hostility menacing the peace of the South. What was left for the Southern States, except to do what New England had often threatened to do — with- draw from the Union. Judge James Taylor Bledsoe's View Judge James Taylor Bledsoe in his "Origin of the Late War" says: "The causes of the late war had their roots in the passions of the human heart. Thus the new government worked, not according to physical analogies, but according to the principles of human nature. The weak looked to the Constitution as the great charter of their rights; the powerful looked to THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 15 their own power. The minority held up the shield of State Rights; the majority laid it's hand on the sword of the Union. The only difference is, that in thus passing from the creed (State Rights) and the attitude (threatening secession) of the minority, to those of the majority and back again, according to her change of position and power in the Union, New England has been more bold and unblushing than any other portion of the United States; and at the same time more lofty in her pretensions to a purely disinterested patriotism and loyalty." After discussing at length the efforts at provision for a balance of power between small and large states by equal representation in one house and proportionate representation in the other, and a balance of power be- tween the two houses, and the legislative, executive and judicial departments, with the Supreme Court as final arbiter, Judge Bledsoe said: "The failure to adjust or settle on any solid basis the balance of power between the North and South was the great defect of the Constitution of 1787. Hence, if we are not greatly mistaken, the antagonism between the North and South so imperfectly adjusted by the labors of 1787, is the true standpoint from which to contemplate the origin of the late war ('61.)" 1 1 Every man should do all in his power to collect and disseminate the Truth." — Bobert E. Lee. Thus, it should be clearly understood that the an- tagonism was before strife over the tariff, and was growing in intensity before division over slavery. The North could not afford to make the tariff a war issue for that w^ould have incurred the displeasure and op- position of Great Britian; so slavery was made their pretext for w r ar, and even that had to be handled very 16 SOMETHING OF THE ORIGIN OF cautiously, for an open issue would have antagonized the Northwest. Lincoln had failed in such an issue with Stephen A. Douglass over State Sovereignty (in- directly involving slavery), and General Grant had said even after the war was on, that 1 1 If this war is for emancipation I will resign, and go take my sword to the other side. ' ' So, the movement for war must be secretly and very diplomatically conducted. Lincoln's Ambitious Boyhood Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky in 1809, in humble circumstances, raised mid poverty and unenvi- able surroundings, and consequently deserves credit for application to study and an ambition which brought him from obscurity to great eminence. His early man- hood, however, was spent among an undesirable element, in population and environment, which no doubt left its impress upon his character. His boyhood studious- ness was praiseworthy, and the ambition of his early manhood commendable — but arriving at maturity his vacilating course politically would seem to indicate that his ambition for prominence overshadowed and submerged the finer qualities and better impulses of the man. As a youth, his example promised great worth and usefulness, but as a man he seemed to yield h,im- self to the policy or methods which for the time appear- ed to offer the best aid to his political advancement. Both Herndon and Lamon, who were in later life law partners, and his biographers, state that he chose fori his friends the roughest and most ignorant of his ac- quaintances; and that upon one occasion in his saloon in Salem, Illinois, when one of his friends was worsted in a fight, Lincoln grabbed a whisky bottle by the neck and jumped into the ring, saying: "I am the big buck of this lick, and if any one here wants to dispute THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 17 it let him whet his horns and step into the ring. ' ' This is quoted merely to show the environment of his early manhood. Abraham Lincoln in Congress It was soon after this that he served in the Black Hawk war, and was elected to the legislature, where he served two terms, and soon thereafter elected to a seat in Congress. During his term in Congress, the agitation arose over the admission of Texas into the Union during the war with Mexico. Massachusetts was threatening to secede if Texas was admitted, and Lincoln made a speech favoring the right of a state to secede. About this time a New York member of the House offered a resolution expressing strong opposition to the war with Mexico, and denouncing it as ' ' unjust and unconstitu- tional" (almost treasonable), and in supporting the resolution the author made the remarkable declaration that "he hoped the American Army would find a bloody welcome and hospitable graves." Lincoln voted for the resolution, following such a declaration, his most conspicious act in the House ; and yet, fifteen years later, he forced a war more "unjust and unconstitu- tional" against a section of his own country, without any authority whatever. Keep in View the Main Points There are two great and vital points which cannot be ignored, must be understood — two great principles — underlying the cause of the war between the States : 1. The right of secession — whatever the cause — though slavery was not, only the excuse. 2. The right of self-defense — the right to repel armed invasion. The right of secession was reserved by the States in the organization of the Republic, and acknowledged 18 SOMETHING OF THE ORIGIN OF through the north, yea, claimed and threatened by all of the New England States in the Hartford convention in 1814 and again by Massachusetts in 1846 in her pro- test against the admission of Texas. It was openly conceded in public prints and public speeches through the north as late as 1861, by Lincoln in the House in 1847, even indirectly in the Republican platform of 1860. The right, then, should be conceded now by every fair man. Then, as to the right of the south to fire on Forti Sumter : After months of delay in the evacuation of the fort by the Federal garrison; Lincoln's instructions to Major Anderson to hold the fort, he would send re- inforcements ; repeated promises of Lincoln and Seward to withdraw the garrison, and their violation of the pledges; their equipment of a Relief Squadron, and appearance of the re-inforcement fleet off Charleston, after that state had peacefully and formally seceded and was a State of the duly organized Confederate States — was purely an act of self-defense ; as, had Fort Sumter been occupied by Federal re-inforcements, the next move would be on Charleston. Horace Greeley said in 1861 : * ' If the Declaration of Independence justified the 3,000,000 colonists in 1776, I do not see why the constitution ratified by the same men should not justify the secession of 6,000,000 South- erners in 1861." John Quincy Adams in 1839 made an elaborate argu- ment in favor of the right of secession of the State ; while Josiah Quincy made the first claim in Congressional halls to the right of secession in 1811. Benj. J. Williams of Massachusetts, in his book "Died for his State ' ' said of the right of secession reserved by the States, that "Each State has the right to judge for THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 19 itself if the infraction of the Federal government is sufficient to warrant her withdrawal." New York Herald, November 11th, 1860; "The south has the undeniable right to secede from the Union. In the event of secession, the city of New York and New Jersey will go with them." Great Ohio Lawyer's View of State Rights Benj. T. Wade, of Ohio, "Who is the arbiter of that right? Why to yield the right of the State to with- draw" would be to "submit to a miserable despotism." In 1847 Lincoln believed in the right of secession, and spoke in favor of it, but in 1861 opposed it. At Peoria, Illinois, in 1854 he said, "The slaveholder has a moral and legal right to his slaves." In 1857 he said that the negro was an inferior being and would never be fit for citizenship. At Chicago and Springfield, Illinois, in 1858, he took the position in debate with Douglas that the negro was equal to the white man and, as he claimed, ' ' entitled to equal rights as declared by the Declaration of Independence, ' ' ; but in his response to Judge Dou- glas in South Illinois, (settled by people from the south) he strenuously endeavored to deny this and explained or modified his criticism of a Supreme Court decision that "The negro could never be a citizen." Yet, Lincoln's proclamation in 1863 was designed to start the negro on to citizenship. 100,000 of them being enlisted in the Federal Army at his instance. In that memorable debate Douglas often tried to get Lincoln to repeat in South Illinois, utterances of his in Northern Illinois, and vice-versa — so contradictory were his speeches in the two sections. While Illinois was Anti-State-Sovereignty and Lincoln made his campaign for Senator on that issue (though dodging it in South Illinois) he was defeated by Douglas, largely because of his varying and conflicting utterances. 20 SOMETHING OF THE ORIGIN OF When the leaders of the new Republican party came to look for a candidate for president, they con- cluded that Wm. H. Seward of New York, and others were so partisan neither could carry the West. "Any nominee could carry Pennsylvania, New York and New England" they urged, "but a western man is neces- sary to carry the states west of Ohio." So Lincoln as a man who would appeal to the west and the labor (Democratic) vote of the cities was agreed on and nominated at Chicago. But the managers did not dare make their platform on the issues of the day express their real views. On the contrary, to deceive the West which was largely in sympathy with the South, the Republican platform declared for the "rights of the states to govern their domestic affairs, exclusively, as essential to the perfection and endurance of our politi- cal fabric," and as there was then talk of the Southern States seceding "we denounce the lawless invasion by an armed force, on the soil of any State or territory no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes." But evidently, he was not expected to carry out this party pledge ; and he did not. Mr. Lincoln well understood and himself explained in a speech at Indianapolis, what would constitute a com- mission of this "gravest of crimes," when he gave his own definition of the terms "coercion" and "invasion" in declaring "the marching of an army into South Carolina (then having seceded) without the consent of her people would be 'invasion,' and it would be 'coer- cion' if South Carolinians were forced to "submit". But isn't that exactly what he did do within three months after his explanatory approval of the platform upon which he was elected? However, distrust was so prevalent, a million votes were cast against him in the Northern States. Because of four presidental tickets, THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 21 three Democratic, Lincoln received only about a third of the popular vote, but a plurality gave him the elec- toral vote of the Northern States and he was elected. So he could not claim to be acting in response to any popu- lar demand. His election, however, though by less than a majority even in the Northern States, was regarded in the South as an act of hostility toward the South and the Republi- can party so intended it ; so Southern States begun to secede. As to the feeling of bitterness and the intent of the leaders, no man is better qualified to speak than Wendell Phillips, one of the originators and organizers of the Republican party, and he declared that ' ' The Re- publican party is a sectional party and is organized against the South", and again he made that most re- markable admission: ''And I confess we intend to trample under foot the constitution of this country". That is a definition of the "higher law" Seward de- clared they would appeal to — the setting aside of con- stitution, statutes and rights of the states — which was nothing less than mob law by officialdom — culmination of a feeling of bitterness which had been growing for a hundred years and which called forth Washington's order to his army that he would punish severely any one guilty of revival of "existing sectional animos- ity." That was in '76 when slavery existed North and South. President Lincoln's Self-Contradictions In his first Inaugural Address, President Lincoln said, "I have no purpose directly or indirectly to in- terfere with slavery in States where it exists, I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so " ; yet, his acts of war, a month later, were the first steps in that direction, and his Emancipation Proclamation, eighteen months later, another usurpa- 22 SOMETHING OF THE ORIGIN OF tion of power which was in marked contrast to his ut- terances. He also just as earnestly declared before Con- gress, to the Southerners, "I will not assail you." But was not that, in view of subsequent events, another " irrepressible conflict" between his promises and his actions? All authorities having conceded the right to secede, he should not assail. But why try to hold a fort commanding Charleston if coercion was not in- tended? Which came from his heart — his words or his acts? Was he sincere? Or was he being used by those who secured his nomination? If the latter, where his greatness? It was admitted by the biographer of Ceasar Borgia that "His genius was little more than lack of principle which allowed no scruple to stand in the way of his design." Borgia, too, was idolized by his followers. A cardinal at 17, he convulsed his country at 30, and was killed at 32. He too was listed among the world's great men. George Lunt, Massachusetts historian, said : ' ' The new president was of scarcely more than ordinary powers — with mind neither cultivated by education or experience — being thus incapable of any wide range of thought or of obtaining any broad grasp of ideas. His thoughts ran in low channels." "In his debate with Douglass he said: 'I am not a gentleman and never expect to be'." Idolized by some as a great man, Lincoln's utterances from 1847 to 1864 show a most remarkable series of con- traditions and inconsistencies. Finally accepting a nomination upon a platform declaring the rights of the states to control their own domestic and internal affairs and against any armed invasion or interference with a seceding state; and by acceptance, pledging himself to that principle and policy, and explaining in a public speech at Indianapolis in February 1861 his full under- standing of this "gravest of crimes", declared against THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 23 such ''gravest crimes", he reiterated such sentiment, (if not conviction) in his Inaugural Address, followed by his oath to support the constitution. Yet, in a very few weeks after his inauguration he announced his deter- mination to "hold, possess and use the forts of the South to collect customs through Southern ports", which was in itself a practical declaration of war, and, says Hos- mer, the historian, "really precipitated the outbreak of an offensive war." To attempt to hold the Southern ports and forts by force would be a violation of the Re- publican platform, Lincoln's frequent avowals of ap- proval, and the constitutional rights of the states and his oath. He also issued proclamations suspending the Writ of Habeas Corpus, which was also without author- ity, as Congress alone was vested with that power. In other words, after Mr. Lincoln became president he seemed to throw off his mask and assume the powers of a despot. Either he had been insincere in his various utterances, or else he owed to the Republican bosses for promotion of his ambition complete subserviency to their stronger will. Pie was either a puppet in the hands of Wm. H. Seward. Edward M. Stanton, Lloyd Gar- rison, Cbas. Sumner and Thad. Stevens, or his great- ness was of the Nero brand — power at any price. The Conspiracy to Bring on War In his inaugural address, President Lincoln said : " I will not assail you," and later said: "This country with its institutions belongs to the people who inhabit it. "Whenever they grow weary of the existing government they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or over- throw it." This in connection with his declaration that the problem represented an irrepressible conflict, re- peated by his Secretary of State, Seward, and the de- 24 SOMETHING OF THE ORIGIN OF claration of Secretary of Treasury Chase who, as spokes- man for the President at the Peace Conference declared that the election of Lincoln was authority to enforce his theories on the country regardless of Constitution, statutes, or decisions of the Supreme Court — these ut- terances with others of leaders such as Garrison, Phillips, John Brown, Beecher, Andrews and Chase, show most conclusively that revolution against the constitution was designed to overthrow the government. 1 1 The secret treachery that caused the war will come to light and justify the South. Truth is death- less." — Admiral Raphael Semmes. The Confederate States organized their government peacefully — not a gun was fired or a single man in- jured — when President Lincoln issued orders to Major Anderson, U. S. Commander at Fort Sumter, to ''hold the fort, he was sending reinforcements." He had re- fused to consider President Davis' proposal to apportion federal property (forts, etc) and the public debt (See Rec. of Reb. Vol. 1, p. 109) and now refused to treat with President Davis' commission sent to petition the withdrawal of the troops from Fort Sumter, South Carolina, to avoid an armed conflict. The Confederate Commissioners, Judge Crawford and John Forsyth, then secured the co-operation of Judges Campbell and Nel- son of the Supreme Court, who interceded with Presi- dent Lincoln and Secretary of State Seward, who finally promised to order the withdrawal of the U. S. Troops from Fort Sumter — that the commission could return "assured of finding on their arrival orders to Major Anderson to evacuate Fort Sumter." Instead, how- ever, the "Relief Squadron" of eleven vessels, all that time (twenty-three days) being loaded with arms, provi- sions and two thousand men, arrived off Fort Sumter about the time Commissioners Crawford and Forsyth arrived in Charleston. Upon discovering the base du- THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 25 plicity practiced at Washington and before the fleet could reach Sumter the Confederates, after demanding immediate surrender, reduced the fort and the war was begun. Thus again Lincoln reversed himself. Gregg's History of the United States, pp. 166-7 sayS: " Suspecting trickery (on report of Lamon's visit to Anderson) Judge Campbell wrote Seward inquiring as to delay, and Seward answered 'Faith as to Sumter fully kept; wait and see.' At that very moment the secret expedition was started and expected to reach Charleston within 48 hours. On the next day after Seward's explicit and written pledge, Chew a clerk of Seward's with a Captain Talbot appeared in Charleston and read to Governor Pickens and General Beauregard, a paper delivered to Chew by Lincoln on April 6th, day before Seward's last specific pledge to evacuate the fort, notifying the State government that (the 11-vessel fleet due to arrive next day) "the Federal government would attempt to supply Sumter with provisions, and if not resisted, no attempt would be made to throw in ammuni- tion and men without further notice" — which showed an evident purpose to ship in men and ammunition with the supplies and a threat they would eventually do so by force. "That paper by President Lincoln was a declaration of war, and the expedition actual com- mencement of hostilities, a signal act of treachery, ' ' says Gregg. Again, it is evident that if Lincoln was a good man, sincere and honest in his promises to Judges Campbell and Nelson, then his stronger minds were acting for him, which, to say the least, mixes perfidy or imbecility with greatness, duplicity with statesmanship, until it is difficult to discern where the one begins and the other ends. 26 SOMETHING OF THE ORIGIN OF Violates Armistice When Lincoln became president and commander in chief of the Army and Navy of United States, he, of course, came in possession of information of the treaty o'r armistice between the United States on the one hand and the Confederate States and the seceding States of South Carolina (Dec. 6, 1860) and Florida (Jan. 29, 1861) on the other hand — both filed in the U. S. War Department and in the U. S. Navy Department — whereby it was solemnly agreed that no attempt would be made by the United States to reinforce Fort Sumter or Fort Pickens, and the C. S. A. and States would not attack the forts while these solemn agreements were ob- served. Yet, President Lincoln sent Fox and Lamon into Fort Sumter and Worden to Fort Pickens under guise of friendly messages pertaining to evacuation of the Forts, but in fact, as spies, to secure information and convey secret messages. To violate an armistice is considered a treacherous act of war. To send a party into such a fort, or any man entering a fort under armistice for the purpose of advising or in any way to reinforce such fort or de- fense is the act of a spy, is in itself a reinforcement, an act of war. (See Rec. of Rebellion, Vol. I. pp. Ill, 114.) For either party to prepare to act against a point cov- ered by armistice is an act of war. Just another in- stance of determined disregard for constitution, law, and humanity. There were many able men North who agreed with Judge Williams, Massachusetts historian that ' 'The North had no Constitutional right to hold Fort Sumter, in case the Southern States seceded, and to hold it meant war." The States gave the land for defense purposes, particularly for defense of the State, and were entitled THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 27 to their proportion of the federal property — arsenals, arms and ammunition, as well as forts. While Northern writers generally say that the war was a result of firing on Fort Sumter, it is a fact fully recorded in the Records of the 'Rebellion' by Congress, that eleven days before the firing on Fort Sumter, Captain Vogdes' artillery force, by order of President Lincoln arrived at Fort Pickens in Florida, instructed by Lincoln to take that fort, and would have done so, but for the refusal of Captain Adams to convey the artillery force to land, Adams urging that such violation of the armistice would bring war. Captain Adams was re- primanded and again commanded to furnish boats to land Captain Vogdes' artillery, which was done on night of April 11th, and the fort taken over by Captain Vogdes, a cause of war, intended to provoke war. But in the greater excitement over Fort Sumter the incident was overlooked. That act of war was prior to the firing on Fort Sumter. (See Rec. of Rebellion Vol. I, pages 11 to 153 and 367, 376.) Even Republican Congress and Leaders Condemn After the Fort Sumter incident, President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to invade the South. He could have called Congress to convene, as required by the Constitution, and take that responsibility; but, though he had endorsed the Chicago platform against this ''gravest of crimes", he preferred to assume all the responsibility himself. When, however, he did convene Congress, (July 4th) after he had succeeded by his own unauthorized and despotic acts in irrevocably commit- ting his country to war, and his friends asked Congress to approve of the president's course, Congress declined. This declination is another proof that the country — even the northern states — (southern members had all re- 28 SOMETHING OF THE ORIGIN OF signed) was up to that time not in accord with the Re- publican policy which was threatening disunion and war. Then too, the Joint Resolution presented, but rejected, was admission of the unconstitutionality of his acts. The North Was Much Divided New York was strongly opposed to that policy and leading public men and newspapers all over the North openly expressed sympathy with the South 's position and condition and the New York Tribune, Express, and Herald, the Albany Argus and Rochester Union declared the Southern States were justified in seceding to escape the intermedling and insults which had been hurled at the South. This sentiment was so pronounced, and had been expressed in Lincoln's own state by his de- feat for U. S. Senator, that the president could not feel he was acting in response to a public sentiment. In fact the New York Express on April 15th, day after sur- render of Fort Sumter, the day Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to invade the South, said, "The people of the United States, it must be borne in mind, petitioned, begged and implored of these men (Lincoln, Seward et al) who are become their accidental masters, to give them an opportunity to be heard before this unnatural strife was pushed to a bloody extreme, but their peti- tions were all spurned with contempt ; and a conflict be- gun 'for the sake of humanity' culminates now in in- humanity itself." Each side blamed the other with be- ing the cause of the war — the one for the first gun, the other for the provocation or necessity. Mr. Hallam, a noted English authority on constitutional law, states a universally recognized principle when he says "The Aggressor in war — that is, he who begins it — is not the first who uses force, but the first who renders force necessary. ' 1 THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 29 As most of the Lincoln propaganda represents the war between the states as a rebellion on the part of the South without cause, or for slavery solely, I will quote here one from the many I could quote of Northern and Republican leaders: Judge Williams of Massachusetts ^ys: ''There was no need of war. The action of the Southern States was legal and constitutional, and his- tory will attest that it was reluctantly taken in the last extremity, in the hope of thereby saving their con- stitutional rights and liberties from destruction by Nor- thern aggression, which had just culminated in triumph in the presidential election by the union of North against South — the South was invaded and a war of subjuga- tion was begun by the Federal government." John A. Logan, afterwards Major General and nomi- nee for Vice-president on the Republican ticket, in the House of Representatives February 5th, 1861, said, "By these denunciations and lawless acts (of Northern peo- ple) such results have been produced as to drive the people of the Southern States to a sleepless vigilance for the protection of their property and the preserva- tion of their rights." The Albany Argus, of November 10, 1861, said: "We sympathize w r ith the South. Self preservation and manhood rightly impelled them to separation from the Union, and we applaud them and wish them God-speed. ' ' The Rochester Union, about the same time, said, ' 1 Restricting our remarks to actual violations of the con- stitution, the North has led the way, and for a long time was the sole aggressor. The South cannot retaliate ex- cept by secession." Judge Black, one of the leading jurists of Pennsyl- vania, said, "They (Northern Republicans) applauded John Brown to the echo for a series of the basest mur- 30 SOMETHING OF THE ORIGIN OF ders on record, and tolled Church bells, fired minute guns, and held services in Churches draped in mourn- ing, when he was legally hung. They did not conceal their hostility to Federal and State governments nor deny their enmity to all laws which protected white men. The constitution stood in their way and they cursed it bitterly. The Bible was quoted against them and they reviled God the Almighty himself." That was the radical minority madness, Lincoln represented in his determination to ruin the South, or in his weak subserviency to the master minds who directed him. Virginia, the last to secede, before seceding, called for a peace conference at Washington, and while a majority west of the Ohio were for peace, the convention was stocked with partisans. For instance, Senator Zack Chandler wired his governor (Michigan) "Too many peace advocates coming here ; send some men with the fighting spirit ; unless we can have some bloodletting, this country won't be worth a curse." Evidently Chand- dler got his "men with the fighting spirit" as the peace advocates were out generaled. Horton 's History, page 62 : " Carl Schurz, a notorious agitator and disunionist of Wisconsin, telegraphed from Washington to his governor: "Appoint some commis- sioners to Washington conference — myself one — to strengthen our side" — the faction opposed to any peace measures. The President's Uncivilized Warfare War was on with all its horrors — deaths on the battle- field and deaths in over-crowded prisons. Southern troops captured Federal soldiers faster than they could be cared for — 37,000 were crowded into Andersonville Stockade at one time. Who suspended the cartel for exchange of prisoners? President Lincoln. President THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 31 Davis sent one commissioner, and later two, to induce a renewal of the cartel, Linclon would not permit it, though all the time his own people were clamoring for a renewal of exchange, and he was thereby responsible for a policy which permitted his men to die in Southern prisons, and ours to starve and freeze to death in North- ern prisons. He was the cause thereby of thousands of deaths, and untold suffering. He permitted the execu- tion of Southerners contrary to civilized warfare. It was President Lincoln who issued orders, as Com- mander-in-chief of the Federal Army, to his generals which inaugurated the cruel and inhuman manner of warfare conducted by Sheridan and Hunter in Virginia and Sherman on his march-to-the-sea, a war against women, children and old men, pillaging and then burn- ing their homes, after killing all stock and destroying other property they could not carry away. Such war and cruelty was in striking contrast to the war conducted by President Davis and General Lee when Confederate armies were on northern soil. When Southern armies went into Pennsylvania and Maryland, President Davis said : 1 1 We are not fighting women and children, but men in arms", and these were strict orders: "Private pro- perty was not to be injured. ' ' If Lincoln did not plainly order wanton destruction and cruelty, it is a fact that there is no record of his ever disapproving of it. Those orders for devastation did not originate with General Grant. He had no sympathy with such warfare ; but as a soldier he passed the order on to his subordinates, and those subordinates are on record as boastfully reporting compliance. It was by "order of the President" that Secretary of War E. M. Stanton issued the order on July 22, 1862, to the Commanders of the Federal army throughout the Southern States to 'seize and use any property belonging to the inhabitants, etc,' without 32 SOMETHING OF THE ORIGIN OF provision for pay. (Conf. Hist. Report, p 76.) It was also 'by order of the president' that a special order was issued to General Pope and General Steinwehr which called forth General Lee's strong protest to the Secre- tary of War, in which General Lee declared that the Confederate States would be compelled to regard Pope and Steinwehr as 'robbers and murderers' not to be treated, if captured, as prisoners of war." Grant's war- fare, his wonderfully kind notes at Appomattox plead- ing with General Lee to surrender and save thousands of lives and 'hundreds of millions of dollars worth of property not yet destroyed,' his magnanamous treat- ment of Lee on his surrender at Appomattox, and his refusal while President to support illegal and unjust claims of carpet-bag governors in the South — all tend to mark Grant as the greatest of the North's leaders of the '60s. When Lincoln was assassinated great effort was made to place the responsibility on the South ; President Davis was charged with complicity, but no proof was ever shown that any Southern man had aught to do with it. It was said that Wilkes Booth, the assassin, was a bitter Southern sympathizer. He could not have been a very "objectionable partisan" to have been permitted to re- main all winter in Washington, with his brother playing every night to full houses of officialdom, including mem- bers of the cabinet and the President himself — and Wilkes Booth himself a caller on the President. The more plausible story, one seldom heard or printed, is that a friend of Booth's was sentenced to be executed, and Lincoln promised Booth a pardon but failed to grant it, and the friend being executed, Booth became so embittered he took the President's life. For one year preceding the Federal President's tragic and lamentable death, his impeachment had been freely THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 33 discussed by party leaders and predicted. At the elec- tion in November, 1864, General McClellan received nearly half the vote, despite the usual doubted-wisdom of making change in midst of war, and notwithstanding the President as commander-in-chief of the army used his influence therewith for his re-election. Nearly every member of the cabinet was at cross-purpose with the President, some of them referring to him disrespectfully as ' ' The fool at the other end of the avenue, ' ' and ' ' The idiot in the Whitehouse," etc. But with his death a great change came over the men who must depend for their power upon the future of the party. A few hours after Stanton had spoken in derision of ' ' the idiot in the whitehouse" he stood at the bier of the dead President and pronounced an eulogy upon the 1 1 Greatest of Ameri- cans," and so did they all begin a systematic acclaim of the greatness of Lincoln — as the only hope of the Re- publican party. Had not Lincoln been thus heralded as "a martyr," he would have passed into history as a mediocre man with no constructive statesmanship to his credit, but with a war which cost 1,000,000 lives of his countrymen and un- told suffering to secure what could have been accom- plished by real statesmanship without hate. But the martyr halo was adopted as essential to the life of the Republican party. Lincoln's death charged to the South gave him a fame nothing else would, and the Re- publican party an influence unequaled in the North, and a lease of life fanned by sectional hate. That Canard About Being Friend of the South The statement of some admirers that Lincoln would have been the friend of the South had he lived, is the wildest guess of unthinking men; and I challenge any one to resurrect an act or utterance (well authenticated) 34 SOMETHING OF THE ORIGIN OF to justify such a statement? Where was his friend- ship for the South when he broke his pledge to Judge Campbell and Nelson? I have quoted utterances and cited acts of his from 1850 to 1863 to show enmity and vindictiveness toward the South. He certainly had ample opportunity at Hampton Roads, and all through the spring of '61 to show even justice for the South. Proof That Lincoln Wanted War Another self-contradiction : In his inaugural message, Lincoln said to the South, ' ' To you rests the responsibil- ity of war; I will not assail you" — he had admitted the right of secession, and now here acknowledged the jus- tice, or at least the legality of the South 's position and contention. But to President Davis' commission plead- ing for withdrawal of the garrison at Fort Sumter, to avoid war, he denied a hearing as he ' 'could not re- cognize either the seceded states or the Confederacy," and at Hampton Roads he reiterated that position — that he could not admit that the states were out of the Union. But, upon the Federal occupation of Richmond four years later, he said to representative Virginia Confed- erates "You can come back into the Union through the same hole you went out at — by resolution of your con- vention, " thus acknowledging Virginia's position out- side of the Union. After saying in his inaugural 1 1 1 will not assail you," he spent the next 23 days, March 15 to April 9, in organizing four distinct expeditions against Fort Sumter and Fort Pickens — neither commander knowing of the existence of the others, two of these con- flicting on the ocean — and one of the Navy Yard Com- manders (Brooklyn) instructed "not to inform the Sec- retary of the Navy." ( Rec. Reb. Vol. 1). His manifest purpose was, while publicly deprecating and lamenting the South 's exercise of her rights, to secretly and de- terminedly conspire to provoke or incite war. THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 35 Horton (of New York) in his Causes of the War, says: 1 f The evening after receipt of the news of the surrender of Fort Sumter to the South Carolinians, Lincoln was particularly cheerful, and gave a reception at the White- house, at which he displayed more than his usual viva- city;" and two days later he issued his war proclama- tion. — Horton 's History page 79. Does not the testimony of history, from even the other side of the line, justify the conclusion that Abraham Lin- coln has been greatly misunderstood and over-estimated ? Doesn't it show that he wanted and maneuvered for war against the South — not for emancipation of the negro, not for the Union which he had helped to dis- solve; but for enmity for the South, and against State Sovereignty which allowed the States to control their own domestic affairs and prosper; for hate of wealth and refinement of which he was want to boast antipathy. As Senator Douglass, that able Illinois statesman said, '"Lincoln is trying to bring on a cruel war as the surest means of destroying the Union. ' ' He certainly did, and by frequent suspensions of the constitutional rights of the citizen and limitations of the government, he set up a centralized power at Washington which was rapidly approaching a dictatorship when his tragic death came. The one plausible plea of his most devoted admirers, is that he "fought to preserve the union", but that is robbed of its virtue by the fact that he first fought to disrupt the union, and after disrupting it, admitted with scores of other leading men of his party north, even him- self quoting the Republican platform, that the States had the right to secede and the United States had no authority to use coercion against seceding states — that he would "not assail them," and yet — his every act showed that he wanted war. The strongest evidence of the truth of this statement is found in Lincoln's own 36 SOMETHING OF THE ORIGIN OF instruction to General Scott, just before his inaugura- tion as President, about the time he was making that Indianapolis speech defining the Republican platform declaration about coercion and invasion. According to Shepherd 's Life of Lincoln, he said : "Present my compliments to General Scott, and tell him confidentially to be prepared to hold or retake the forts as the case may require, after my inauguration " — just a few days before his "I will not assail you." Again, later when Messrs. Baldwin and Stuart, Union men, from the Virginia convention, then delaying se- cession, called upon Lincoln to urge delay in action that would force war, Lincoln asked — ''What is to become of my revenue in New York if there is ten per cent tariff at Charleston V 1 His Relief Squadrons were then enroute and very near Fort Sumter and Fort Pickens. Some of the partisan writers claim that Lincoln's Relief Squadron was not to fire on Fort Sumter or Charleston, but was a ruse to draw the first fire from the southerners to make them the aggressors. But his course was just as dishonest and more reprehen- sible, showed that he did not have the courage to do directly (facing opposition from his own section) what he sought indirectly; the sacrifice of a million lives was no less a "grave crime " by the one than the other method ; he accomplished his main purpose by fooling his own people with the cry "The flag has been fired on." His desire and purpose was war; but he knew that Congress nor the Northern people would never sanc- tion it. Hence, his shrewd trick to fool, not the South, but the North — if that claim is correct. But the posi- tive instructions to Major Brown, Lieutenant Scott, Captain Vogdes and Captain Adams at Fort Pickens, THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 37 and the fact that that expedition did by force take Fort Pickens (R. of R. Vol. I, pp. 361, 376) the night before Sumter was fired on with the entire navy under orders, does not sustain the claim of merely a ''ruse' 7 at Fort Sumter — though his entire secret conspiracy was very clumsy. Lincoln's Dual Role for Peace and War Alexander H. Stephens in his "War Between the States" gives Lincoln credit for sincerity in his pledges to Judges Campbell and Nelson that he would order Major Anderson to withdraw from Fort Sumter; but at that time (in 1868) the "Records of the Rebel- lion" so-called by Congressional Act, had not been pub- lished, and the dozens of orders of President Lincoln organizing the four separate expeditions to Sumter and Fort Pickens, were officially unknown to the world out- side of the coterie at Washington. But those records disclose that for all the 23 days Judges Campbell and Nelson were pleading with President Lincoln to with- draw the garrison and avoid war, and while the Presi- dent was repeating every day or two his assurance that the garrison would be withdrawn, he was issuing orders for the preparation of vessels and commissions to Naval officers to get together men, munitions and supplies for the relief expeditions to Fort Sumter and Fort Pick- ens. There were a dozen or so of such orders bearing Lincoln's signature from March 15 to April 9, only a few of which I will specifically cite : The conference of the Judges with the President and Secretary of State begun on March 15th. Judges Campbell and Nelson were assured there was no intention to rein- force Fort Sumter — the garrison would be withdrawn within ten days; but on March 29th, Lincoln ordered Secretary of Navy Wells to get ready three ships at 38 SOMETHING OF THE ORIGIN OF Norfolk navy yard, ready to go to sea as early as the 6th. (Rec. of Reb. Vol. I, p. 226 and 240) and on the 30th he ordered Captain G. V. Fox to go to Brooklyn and prepare transports, and naming vessels for an expedition to Fort Sumter. This was followed by sev- eral telegrams to Brooklyn and New York Navy Yards ordering vessels prepared for Fort Sumter expedition. March 30th, Seward again promised Judges Campbell and Nelson a ' 'satisfactory answer on April 1st." On April 1st, Seward wrote " There is no design to reinforce Sumter." On the same date Lincoln or- dered vessels and transports ready for expedition to Fort Sumter. (Vol. I, p. 229.) Same date Lincoln ordered Lieutenant Scott to report at Brooklyn navy yard to Captain Fox an ex-navy officer. April 1st, Lincoln ordered Colonel Brown, then Lieutenant Porter, to proceed to Pensacola, Fla., and "at any cost or risk" "establish himself in the harbor at Fort Pickens," in spite of the 100 Confederate guns commanding the en- trance. Judge Campbell called on Seward and showed him a letter he had written President Davis stating Seward's promises with Lincoln's approval whereupon Seward said to Judge Campbell "By the time that let- ter reaches its destination Major Anderson will have been ordered to evacuate Fort Sumter." But was that true? On hearing of Colonel Lamon's visit (as spy) to Major Anderson, Judge Campbell, becoming suspi- cious, again called on Seward and was assured with written memoranda, ' ' Faith as to Sumter fully kept ; wait and see." Then there were other orders of pre- paration for the four expeditions bearing Lincoln's signature, naming vessels, among them one order for the Powhatten, Pawnee and Harriet Lane, with 300 men and 12 months' supplies for 400 men, for Fort Sumter under Captain Fox (See Rec. of Reb. Vol. I., pages 111 to 151, 229, 240, 360, 367, 371.) THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 39 After these negotiations and promises had been pro- gressing from March 15th, to April 8th, Lincoln sent a special messenger named Chew on the 9th with a message to Governor Pickens, (Chew reading the no- tice to Governor Pickens) that ' 'he would supply Fort Sumter with provisions, and if there was no opposition to that he would not further reinforce the fort, (Gregg's History) without further notice," which was equiva- lent to a notice that he would, in accord with another previous declaration, "supply Fort Sumter, peacefully if he could, forcefully if necessary." When the perfidy was discovered at Montgomery, orders were issued to not await the arrival of the fleet inside, but to demand immediate surrender, and with due regard for human life and every effort to avoid a conflict, if evacuation was still refused to demolish the fort. Assumed Greater Powers Than a King This is not written or uttered in any spirit of animos- ity or vindictiveness but as an effort to preserve the truth of history. Abraham Lincoln made his own record ; and, if he were honest in it, it is presumed that he would today be proud of it, and certainly his ad- mirers are. So, the question then is The Truth. While we are not objecting to the adulation of Lincoln in the North, we do object to certain statements being pre- sented in the South as truth. The truth will not per- mit his acceptance in the South as a model of states- manship, when the misrepresentation of his course as Right constitute a serious reflection on our fathers whom we are sure were guided by principles of Right and Justice. Neither Davis or Lee, nor one of our statesmen or soldiers of the South ever contended for violation of the Constitution or federal law; in all the bitter strife the South was not so charged; but the 40 SOMETHING OF THE ORIGIN OF Federal authorities from President down were guilty: President Lincoln in conspiring to bring on war without the consent of Congress; ordering armed ships to take Forts Sumter and Pickens, his calling for 75,000 volun- teers ; his suspension of the writ of habeas corpus with- out authority of Congress; his imprisonment of hun- dreds of men throughout the North on mere suspicion of sympathy with the South. His Secretary of State (Seward) boasting of this new power to the British Minister at Washington, Lord Lyons, visiting him, said: "I can touch this bell and order the arrest of any prominent man in Ohio and throw him in prison, and I can touch the bell and have thrown in prison a state official of New York, and no power can intervene except the President of the United States. Can the Queen of England do more, my lord?" Such was the extent of the subversion of the Constitution by the usurpers. It was Salmon P. Chase, Lin- coln's spokesman in the peace conference called early in 1861 to try to avoid war, who declared that 1 'the election of Lincoln empowered him, and his party to enforce their theories on the country, regardless of the constitution, the law or rights of the states, or the de- cisions of the Supreme Court (Stephens II, 43-50) and that Lincoln would do so" — and he did. Five days before Lincoln was inaugurated, Congress passed a resolution pronouncing the theories promul- gated by Lincoln and Chase as violative of the consti- tution. The Congress just elected, with Lincoln, was known to be even more favorable to the constitution; and Lincoln, knowing this, would not convene Con- gress until he had succeeded in inaugurating war. Lincoln, prompted by the stronger minds of his party managers, perhaps more than by his own will and judgment, (for his own will was as varying as the THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 41 winds) placed his official seal upon proposals and edicts which transformed absolutely in a month or two the Sovereignty of the States of the Federation of the founders into a Nation with increased and ever-since- increasing powers in the centralized government at "Washington. Benjamin F. Wade, U. S. Senator from Ohio, and prominent in several Republican administrations, said in 1861: "Who is to be the final arbiter (as to seces- sion) ? The Federal Government or the State? Why, to yield the right of the State to protect its own citi- zens, would consolidate this government into a miser- able despotism." This is just what was done by Presi- dent Lincoln's despotic overthrow of the constitution, a fundamental and sacred law which had been respected and revered for a hundred years. The Washington Post of August 14, 1906, said: "Let us be frank about it. The day the people of the North responded to Abraham Lincoln's call for troops to coerce the Sovereign States, that day the Republic died, and the Nation was born." What Was the Real Motive? Now, after viewing Mr. Lincoln's acts from the sev- eral angles, one is prompted to ask "Why did he cause the war?" Recalling his expressed conflicting opinions on the slavery question; his influence against the Crit- tenden Compromise, urging the Republicans to defeat it; the violent speech of Chase his spokesman in the Peace Conference, and his opposition to several other peace overtures including the two special commissions from President Jefferson Davis — the idea that he "yearned for peace" falls flat. When his own people of the Northern states were so strongly opposed to his policy that he dared not submit the issues to Congress, 42 SOMETHING OF THE ORIGIN OF or (as petitioned) to a vote of the Northern states, his friends cannot claim that he was acting in response to a public demand. Abolitionists supposed, and the negroes were taught, that freedom of the negro was the controling motive; but this view is contradicted by declarations that he had no power under the constitu- tion to free them, and " certainly had no desire to do so," and later "if he could preserve the Union by per- petuating slavery he would do so." How could he claim "preservation of the Union" as his motive when his own bitter campaign and the animosity and hostility therein engendered was the main cause of the disolution of the Union? The Crittenden resolutions could have preserved the Union; the Peace Conference was de- signed to do so ; recognition and negotiation with Presi- dent Davis' commission to avoid collision at Fort Sum- ter might have restored the Union — at least would have preserved the peace he claimed his soul was "yearning for"; even the commission which met him and Seward at Hampton Roades in 1864 could have restored peace and probably the Union had he treated with them. But all these efforts he strenuously opposed and his followers fought. So, what could have been the incen- tive, the prime motive which actuated him in forcing the war — unless it was his own inborn hostility to the South and Southern people? We repeat we entertain no bitterness for the Fed- eral soldier, and naught but respect for their descend- ants, but we do insist upon believing in the virtue, the wisdom and the patriotism of our fathers who con- tended ably and valiantly fought for the preservation of the principles of States Sovereignty won from Eng- land in '76 and by the Revolutionary fathers estab- lished in our constitution — principles they believed right, knew were right, were right. THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 43 To those Southerners (if there be any) who would apologize for the part of the South in the War, I will quote from Mr. Davis himself : ' ' Let none of the surviv- ors of these men offer in their behalf the penetential plea that they 'believed' they were right. Be it ours to transmit to posterity our unequivocal confidence in the righteousness of the cause for which these men died/' Contrast With Jefferson Davis' Administration But this was to be a discussion of both Davis and Lincoln, the two presidents of the war period of the '60s. so we will revert to the Confederate President. Jefferson Davis was respected and revered as a knightly gentleman and gallant soldier, an able states- man, a courageous and uncompromising defender of the constitution, contending for the preservation of the union while others were lighting the fires of destruc- tion, a wise and unselfish organizer and administrator of the Confederacy, and yet at its fall he patiently and heroically bore the brunt of the hate for the South; suffering in prison cell and shackles, the victim of con- centrated partisan animosity. Jefferson Davis contributed more and suffered more than any other man for the cause whose heroes we now honor and revere. When Richmond fell it was upon Jefferson Davis the full force of Northern ven- geance fell. Why? Because, as I have said, Presi- dent Davis was the trusted leader, the guiding hand of the Confederacy, contributing most to its structure, and by his able statesmanship as president and gener- alship as Commander in Chief of the Army, almost winning victory in the first two years of the war. Jefferson Davis was the son of Samuel Davis, a hero of the Revolution, was born in Kentucky 1808, and soon after with his father moved to Mississippi, which 44 SOMETHING OF THE ORIGIN OF was his home the greater part of his eventful life. After having received an academic education, he went to Transylvania College in Kentucky, and while closing a successful term there was appointed by President Monroe to a cadetship in West Point Military Academy. There he also won high honors, graduating in 1828 at the age of 20 years. For seven years he served in the United States army as a lieutenant, and for distinguished bravery in the Black Hawk War, he was commissioned First Lieu- tenant of Dragoons in 1835. Soon thereafter he resigned his commission and returned to Mississippi to enjoy life on his plantation. However, the people of his dis- trict, recognizing his abilities, manifested their sound judgment in electing him to Congress, where he became prominent as a participant in all debates upon the great questions of the day. He became especially in- terested in the pending trouble with Mexico, and re- signed his seat in Congress to enter the army as a de- fender of his country. Few have been the instances, indeed, when patriotism is manifested by a man resign- ing a seat in Congress to enter the fighting ranks. But that was Jefferson Davis. He fought through the Mexican War, displaying marked gallantry at the Battle of Monterey. Just here I recall when General Zachary Taylor came to acknowledge his merit and pay him honor. Davis had married General Taylor's daugh- ter, under parental objection, the General saying to his daughter that ' ' Jeff was only a soldier. ' ' But after the Battle of Buena Vista, where Colonel Davis saved the day for the Americans, the general sent for Davis and, taking him by the hand, said, "I have concluded that my daughter is a better judge of men than I. ' ' THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 45 Davis* Adherence to Constitution in Declining Honor It was at the battle of Buena Yista where Colonel Davis a second time distinguished himself, and though wounded, and attacked by a superior force of 5000 regu- lars, and for a long time unprotected, he formed his regiment into the form of a V, maintained his ground and repelled for the last time the hosts of Mexico. Thus upon the field of battle, Jefferson Davis proved that he was not only a scholar and a statesman, not a mere pampered son of wealth, but a soldier and a suc- cessful defender of his country's flag. His V forma- tion and manner of heroic attack against overwhelming numbers was adopted by Collin Campbell in India and applauded in England. For Colonel Davis' bravery and successful conduct of his part of the campaign against Mexico, President Polk tendered him a com- mission as Brigadier General, but Colonel Davis de- clined the honor upon the ground that the president was not authorized by the constitution to make the ap- pointment. Here again we have the consistent and unselfish adherent to the constitution. Though the president's appointment was confirmed by both Houses of Congress Colonel Davis again refused to accept an honor which he contended was unauthorized by the federal constitution, that right and authority being in- vested with the state. There was no question of slavery in this, but it was the same strict interpretation of the constitution which led him to leadership in opposition to the marked disregard for that fundamental law by the northern representatives and members of the federal government in the years immediately preceding and following Lincoln's election. Constructive Statesmanship in Cabinet In 1852 Colonel Davis was called to President Pierce's cabinet as Secretary of War, where he dis- 46 SOMETHING OF THE ORIGIN OF played great constructive statesmanship. While in that position he laid the foundation for the Smithsonian In- stitute, established new posts on the frontier, planned the trade routes across the western territories to the Pacific, and was the first to propose a transconti- nental railway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific, contributing greatly to the development of the West, had extensions made to the Capitol building, and marked improvements in army acoutrements and am- munitions, and, for an improvement in a revolver, Colt's Armory made and presented him with a very handsome revolver with the improvement and suitably engraved "To a brother inventor." He was the first to suggest camels for transportation of military supplies through the barren West, where he strengthend forts difficult to reach, and was first to suggest the purchase of Panama Canal zone. He planned closer relations with China and Japan, and South Africa. He proposed and was responsible for the new Senate Hall and the House of Representatives. He sent Geo. D. McClellon to the Crimea to study British and Russian military tactics; he appointed Robert E. Lee superintendent of West Point, and advanced Albert Sidney Johnston to important posts. He was nominated for President by Massachusetts men in 1860, but refused to permit his name to be presented to the Charleston convention. He stood consistently and firmly for what Lincoln preached but did not practice — not to overthrow the constitution, but to overthrow the men who perverted the constitution. When Mr. Davis as Secretary of War was contending for an increase in the army for the defense of the west other leaders were calling it a desert unfit for human habitation. The people of every state west of the Mississippi River should honor Jefferson Davis for the great service he rendered THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 47 them both in war and in peace during the formative period of their history. He was twice elected United States Senator, and his services were characterized by great ability, courage and fidelity, to the consti- tution; and as disregard for that instrument marked the course of senators and others _iigh in government, his warning voice was to be heard, "Strict interpreta- tion and obedience to the mandates of that funda- mental law must be the price of Union and stability of the government." Loving Union, Sounds Warning The unfortunate division of the Democratic party in 1860 with two electoral tickets in the field dividing the vote, and even a fourth at the general election al- lowed Lincoln to win the presidency on a minority of the popular vote, though securing the electoral vote of the northern states. That partisan vote north to- gether with the bitterness which characterized Lincoln's campaign indicated to the South the hostility which might be expected from the incoming administration. Then came talk of secession, the withdrawing from the Union of the Southern States. While leaders of the new Republican party boldly declared their hostility to the South, Jefferson Davis, then in the Senate his second term, loved the Union and frequently so expressed him- self. To Judge Campbell with whom he had served in President Pierce 's cabinet, he said : "I love the old Union ; my father died for it ; but unless you have been in the South, you cannot begin to estimate the bitter- ness already engendered by partisonship in the North." He so strongly adhered to the Union, preferring to contend there for their rights, that some of the Southern leaders had ceased to confer with him upon the turbu- lent issues. In his frequent debates upon the issues 48 i SOMETHING OF THE ORIGIN OF of the day, he expressed hope that peaceful means would prevail, and that all differences would be ad- justed inside the union. But his counsels could not prevail against such aggressiveness and bitter enmity for the South as was reflected by Senator Zach Chand- ler in his telegram to his Governor on assembling of the Peace Conference, asking him to ' 1 Send some men down here with the fighting spirit ; there is decidedly too much peace talk. Without a little blood-letting this Union will not, in my opinion, be worth a curse." Judge George L. Christian, of Richmond, Va., in a very able paper on the " Cause of the war and the Ag- gressor," says: 4 'The Southern States had not only the right to secede, but just cause for withdrawing from the federation ; and in the exercise of that right was forced to fight in defense of home and country;" and asks "Why should not our children and their children know the truth?" The view of this representative Southerner is also the view of many of the leading men of the North. Dozens of editorials of northern newspapers could be quoted, but will quote only one here : The Albany, New York Argus said: "We sympathize with and jus- tify the South; their rights have been invaded, consti- tution disregarded, their feelings insulted, interests and honor assailed — and if we deemed it certain that the animus of the Republicans could be carried into the Federal administration all instincts of self-respect and manhood would impel them to separation from the Union, and we would applaud and wish them God- speed." Similar views were expressed by other New York and eastern papers, and by Judge Jeremiah Black of Pennsylvania, Judge Williams, noted writer of Massachusetts, Josiah Quincy, Horace Greeley, and Gen- THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 49 eral Don Piet, and we might add Abraham Lincoln, if that counts. Mr. Davis wrote to ex-President Pearce on January 20, 1861: " Those who have driven the states to seces- sion threatened to deprive them of the right to require that their government shall rest upon the consent of the governed, to substitute foreign force for domestic support, to reduce the State to the condition from which the colonies rose," through revolution against foreign power. His Farewell to Associates in Senate In Senator Davis' famous address to the Senate January 21, 1861 (day after writing the letter to Pearce), bidding farewell to the members with whom he had so long served, in closing an able presentation of the position and grievances of the South, differences in interpretation of the constitution of the Fathers of the Republic, he said: 4 'Then, Senators, we recur to the compact which binds us together; we recur to the principles upon which our government was founded, and when you deny them, and when you deny us the right to withdraw from a government which thus sub- verted, threatens to be the destruction of our rights, we but tread the path of our fathers when we proclaim our independence and take the hazard. This is done, not in hostility to others, not to injure any section of the country, not even for our own pecuniary benefit, but for the high and solemn motive of defending and protecting the rights we inherited, and which it is our duty to transmit unshorn to our children." Then, again, he showed the calm dispassionate spirit of the Christian statesman when he said : ' ' In the course of my service here, I see around me some with whom I have served long. There may have been points of col- 50 SOMETHING OF THE ORIGIN OF lision, but whatever there has been of offense to me, I leave here; I carry with me no hostile remembrance. Whatever of offense I have given, which has not been redressed, or for which satisfaction has not been de- manded, I have, Senators, in this hour of parting, to offer my apology for any pain which in the heat of discussion, I have inflicted. I go hence unincumbered of the remembrance of any injury received and hav- ing discharged the duty of making the only reparation in my power for any injury offered." He thus left the Senate with a heavy heart although pursuing the course which his conscience dictated to him was de- manded. Imbued with the doctrine of States Rights, the sover eignty of the states which was reserved when the con- stitution was framed; the endorsement of this principle by nearly every man north or south, supported by the fact that all the New England States at Concord in 1814 had threatened to exercise that right of with- drawal from the Union — he felt that he was exercising a clear right though painful, in resigning to follow his state which had voted secession. So, with sorrowing heart he followed Conviction and Right. Peaceful Organization of Confederacy By the time Mr. Davis reached Mississippi, his state, recognizing his great military ability, as displayed in the Black Hawk and Mexican wars, had already elected him General commanding and authorized him to or- ganize the State Militia, and while engaged in that task the Confederate Convention at Montgomery elected him President of the Confederate States. He entered upon that supreme responsibility and from chaos soon had perfected a complete government for the new republic of the Confederate States of America. THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 51 President Davis was for peace. The Confederate government was organized without any incident of un- peaceful nature, a constitution was adopted, a section declaring against the importation of slaves; not a gun was fired ; and there would have been no war, had not Lincoln's government forced it by his unconstitutional and beligerent attitude as to Fort Sumter. To the Confederate commission sent to Washington by Presi- dent Davis to beseech the Washington government in the interest of peace, to withdraw the U. S. garrison from Fort Sumter, which was in South Carolina terri- tory, President Lincoln for 23 days promised it would be done, and yet instead of ordering Major Anderson to withdraw from Fort Sumter, (See Lincoln's orders in Rec. of Reb. Vol. I, pages 120 to 376) ordered him to hold the fort, that a fleet of war vessels with reinforce- ments was enroute, President Lincoln having previous- ly announced .that he would hold the southern forts and collect tax on imports through the ports of the South. Jefferson Davis on April 7th, while awaiting the re- sult of his commission to Washington, proposing to President Lincoln a peaceful adjustment of differences, a division of forts and other properties, and an appor- tionment of the public debt, that would avoid war, said : 1 ' With the Lincoln administration rests the re- sponsibility of precipitating a collision and the fearful evils of ^ cruel war." Taking Fort Sumter a Defense Move Having exhausted every effort to prevent war, when news came that the armed fleet with reinforcements was enroute, and just before they would have arrived in South Carolina waters, and after President Lincoln's special messenger (Ch