TE PORTRAITS

GAMALIEL BRADFORD JR.

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CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS. Illustrated.
LEE THE AMERICAN. Illustrated.
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
BOSTON AND NEW YORK

CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS

JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON

CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS BY
GAMALIEL BRADFORD

BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
(fflbe RitictjSioe prraj* Cambri&oe
MDCCCCXIV

COPYRIGHT, 1912, AND 1913, BY THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, I913, BY THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY PERRY MASON COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY GAMALIEL BRADFORD
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published April IQ14

Cc£4*90

TO
MARVIN SPRAGUE
" Est aliquid sacri in antiquis necessitudinibus.'

" La critique pour moi, c'est le plaisir de connaitre
les esprits, non de les regenter." Sainte-Beuve.

PREFACE
WHAT has impressed me most in revising these portraits
is their lack of finality. Nous sommes des etres mobiles et
nous jugeons des Hres mobiles. No two men will take the
same view of another man. Traits which seem most sig
nificant to some, to others seem negligible. Some will
overlook a little vice for a great virtue, while to others
the little vice makes even the great virtue an object of
suspicion. Again, one may seize justly, yet be led away in the
presentation. It is difficult to give various qualities their
exact proportion and emphasis. One may stress a marked
trait too strongly and so make it too marked and spoil
that balance which is everywhere essential to the truth of
nature. One may establish one's portrait in a tone which
is not perfectly suited to the temper of the subject. Thus,
the portraits here given of Johnston and of Stuart are
keyed quite differently. I cannot see the two men other
wise. But others may feel that I have struck a false note
in one case, or in the other, or in both.
This difficulty, or impossibility, of attaining anything
final may make psychography seem a useless and un
profitable art. Such it would be, if finality were its ob
ject. It is not. The psychographer does not attempt to
say the complete and permanent word about any of his
subjects. He knows that such an attempt would be in-

x PREFACE
deed futile. Instead, he aims simply to facilitate to others,
even a little, what he has himself found to be the most
fascinating- and inexhaustible of pursuits, the study of the
human soul. In this study, if there were complete finality,
if you could exhaust the book, eveu any one particular
book, even your own, and shut it with a snap, half the
fascination would be gone. The wisest of us hardly dares
say, with tlie soothsayer in Antony and Cleopatra, —
"In nature's infinite hook of secrecy
A lit lie 1 can read."
In some of these Confederate portraits there may be
thought to be a note of undue harshness. All I can say
is that I have endeavored to display and to insist upon
the high and fine qualities manifest in every case. To
pass over or slight the shadows seemed to me neither
just nor wise. As to any partiality in the matter, after
careful self-examination, I can discover no motive which
could lead me to anything of the sort, unless it were an un
due desire to exalt Lee. Of this I am not conscious, and, if
I have not been misled by some such influence , I feel thut
the net result of careful study of Lee's companions in arms
is to bring out more than ever the serene elevation of his
greatness. Some of them were, perhaps, more brilliant
than lie, some greater orators, some profounder think
ers, some even as capable soldiers. Not one approaches
him in those moral qualities, which, as Mr. Adams has
justly pointed out, place him, as they do Washington, far
above those who aided him in his terrible struggle.

PREFACE xi
During my prolonged study of Lee's contemporaries,
which compelled me to take note of their various faults
and weaknesses, I have also continued my careful watch
for similar weaknesses in Lee himself. The suggestion
of anything of the kind has been rare enough ; but in
justice to Johnston and Longstreet and Beauregard I
think it right to print the following very curious passage
from a letter of General G. W. Smith to Johnston him
self, written in the summer of 1862, before Lee had thor
oughly established his great reputation. Smith was sore,
from neglect, deserved or undeserved, and wide search
elsewhere reveals no suggestion of a state of mind like
his in any one else. But it must be confessed that just
the defects of manner indicated here are what one would
look for in a temperament like Lee's, if defects were
there at all.
"I came off on a three weeks' leave. Just before it ex
pired I requested Beckham to write to Chilton, for Lee's
information, saying that I would not return because not
well enough, but was improving. I received yesterday a
note from Lee, in answer to Beckham's note to Chilton,
first a layer of sugar, three lines, then two lines telling
me to forward a certificate, and three more lines of sugar.
I shall keep him informed from time to time of the con
dition of ray health. Gaillard is with me, so I feel quite
assured of correct information and judgment in the case,
and do not propose supplying General Lee with any
more surgeon's certificates beyond that upon which the

xii PREFACE
original leave was granted. He took special pains to tell
me, when I called to find out about Jackson's move
ments, in order to judge whether I had better stay in
Richmond any longer waiting for a battle, that he could
not grant me leave except on surgeon's certificate ; that
was ' his rule,' he said. I told him I did n't come to ask
for leave, but to get information upon which to determine
whether I would yield to the advice of the surgeons and
leave the city, adding that I had already put it off for
ten days or more in anticipation of active operations,
and was getting worse, instead of better. In a semi-pious,
semi-official, and altogether disagreeable manner, he
commenced regretting that I had n't gone sooner ; con
sidered that the army had lost my services for ten days
unnecessarily — and other like stuff. We 'will bide our
time.' All I want is success to the cause ; but there is a
limit beyond which forbearance ceases to be a virtue,
and if provoked much further I will tear the mask off of
some who think themselves wonderfully successful in
covering up their tracks." (O. I?., vol. 108, p. 593.)
Some readers may, perhaps, be surprised, in a volume
of Confederate portraits, to find no portrait of either
of the two chief Confederates, next to Lee, Davis and
Jackson. I have, however, already dealt with these dis
tinguished figures in the chapters on " Lee and Davis "
and " Lee and Jackson " in Lee the American, and I felt
that to introduce them here would simply mean a con
siderable repetition of the earlier studies.

PREFACE xiii
I wish I could thank in detail the very numerous cor
respondents who have furnished me with suggestions and
corrections. I am especially indebted to Captain Frederick
M. Colston, of Baltimore, for most valuable material and
comment. Professor Ulrich B. Phillips, of the University
of Michigan, has kindly supplied me with advance copies
of his excellent Life of Toombs and of his forthcoming
edition of the Toombs correspondence, which have in
duced me to modify and considerably enlarge my por
trait of that fascinating personage. Honorable Robert M.
Hughes, General Johnston's grand-nephew and consci
entious biographer, has supplemented his courteous pro
test against my judgment of the general by the commu
nication of extensive material, on the strength of which
that judgment has been somewhat altered, though not,
I fear, so much as Mr. Hughes would desire.
Seven of the portraits contained in this volume have
been printed in the Atlantic Monthly, the portrait of
General Beauregard in Neale's Monthly Magazine, and
the sketch of the battle of Gettysburg in the Youth's
Companion. Wellesley Hills, Mass.,
September 19, 1913.

CONTENTS
I. Joseph E. Johnston . '  i
Brief summary of Johnston's military cares' — judgments of
his generalship — hisHHuck — in wounds — in being always
too late — Davis a prominent element in Johnston's ill-luck
— Johnston's character a prominent element — rashness, pro
ducing wounds — the quarrel with Davis — Davis's faulty
attitude — Johnston's — his free criticism — his animosity to
Davis's favorites — to Davis himself — restraint on both
sides during war — bitterness on both sides afterwards —
Johnston's book condemns him — admirable and charming
dements of his character — his courage — frankness — hon
esty — simplicity — freedom from ambition — affection for
friends and family — devotion of his officers to him — of the
country — of Ins soldiers — two quotations summing up
Johnston's character.
IL J. E. B. Stuart  33
Stuart's fighting disposition — his early career — capture of
John Brown — Stuart's indifference to danger — his mens' trust
in him — his comradeship with them — his care for them — his
discipline — more than a mere sworder — his sett-control —
hfe foresight and calculation — should Lee have given him
Jackson's place? — his joy in battle — infectiousness of this
— his unfailing spirits — his vanity — love of display —
shows in his writing — his laughter — his love of song — and
dance — and women — their admiration for him — yet his
purity — and temperance — and religion — thorough human-
ness of his quarrel with Trimble — fortunate in his death.
JJL James Longsteeet  63
Dutch characteristics of character and appearance — fighting
qualities — coolness — a marked trait, self-confidence —
shows is relations with Lee — their mutual affection — but

xvi CONTENTS
Longstreet's advice and patronage — particularly at Gettys
burg — Longstreet goes west in 1863 — similar self-confidence
with regard to Bragg — with regard to Davis — with regard to
Law and McLaws at Fort Loudon — and again with regard
to Lee in Richmond campaign — self-confidence also explains
Longstreet's conduct after war — Mrs. Longstreet's testi
mony — • other qualities of Longstreet's character — unde
niable jealousy and bitterness — towards Lee, Early, Jackson
— but Longstreet's fine qualities — his patriotism — his gen
erosity — his love for his men — their love for him — Long-
street dies a Roman Catholic.
IV. P. G. T. Beauregard  93
Beauregard's French origin and temperament — his social
charm — his vanity — shown in his love of rhetoric — in his
exaltation of his own achievements — in Roman's biography
— his vanity a cause of jealousy — this makes difficult rela
tions with Davis — with others — notably J. E. Johnston —
Beauregard's ill-feeling restrained during the war, however —
his patriotism — his military ability — his coolness — his
hold on his troops — and consequent popularity — his fertile
imagination — and unlimited planning — value of his plans —
none of them effective — dangers of too great imagination —
"driveling on possibilities" — the solace of what might have
been.
V. Judah P. Benjamin  121
Diversity of Benjamin's career — disbelieves in biography
and destroys papers — which does him no good — his profes
sional qualities — oratory — his high character as a lawyer —
in politics strong Southerner — his many failures — attorney-
general of Confederacy — secretary of war — fails — secre
tary of state — fails — his connection with the St. Albans
raid — not a great statesman — his prominence owing first to
business methods — second to knowledge of men — yet this
not supplemented by sympathy, as with Lee — Benjamin in
private life — his social charm — his smile — his religion —
his quick temper — his quarrel with Davis — his love of ex-

CONTENTS xvii
citement — his family relations — not an unscrupulous adven
turer — nor a mere advocate — genuinely loyal to the Con
federacy — but not a great man.
VI. Alexander H. Stephens  151
Contradictions in Stephens's character — his delicate health
— his energy of soul — recalls Voltaire — but Stephens had
spiritual as well as physical ills — his melancholy — conquers
this by effort — by religion — by action — by social interests
— his humor — his popularity — his affections — for home —
for persons — for animals — his philanthropy — his tolerance
and gentleness — essentially an intellectualist — follows his
conviction — to the death, if necessary — his intellectual ism
in business habits — in religion — in law — in politics — no
partisan, but follows truth as he sees it — believes in eight
eenth century abstractions — his book — Stephens politically
ineffectual, but historically significant.
VII. Robert Toombs  183
His impressive physique — a fighter — in law — in politics
— delight in opposition — follows own course in all policies —
prominent on Southern side before war — speakership con
test — Tremont Temple speech — Sumner assault — other
qualities besides fighting — humor — love of simple country
life — hospitality — domestic affection — professional hon
esty — balancing qualities and conservatism in politics —
opposes even secession till the end — under Confederacy fails
politically — fails militarily — cause of failure — lack of dis
cipline — fighting qualities come out again after war — does
much of value for Georgia — dies an unrepentant rebel —
Milton's Satan.
VIII. Raphael Semmes  217
Romance of Official Records — names — Raphael Semmes —
not a pirate — in spite of his own views of privateering — gen
eral character of Alabama's career — Semmes not romantic
adventurer — elderly, respectable professional man — his
intelligence — his humanity to prisoners — relations with

xviii CONTENTS
crew — discipline — their affection for him — his private life
— domestic affection — love of nature — religious feeling —
Christian virtues — bearing of these upon his public career —
his patriotism — his freedom from ambition — but defects —
coarse strain in abuse of enemies — something piratical after
all — Byronics — described as corsair in appearance — rhe
toric — "Rest thee, excalibur."
IX. The Battle of Gettysburg . . . ¦? . 247
Origin of the war — a five-act drama — act I, alarums and
excursions — act II, Southern triumph — act III, Vicksburg
and Gettysburg — characters of Lee and of Meade — first day,
battle in the village, Reynolds killed, Confederate advantage
— second day, Longstreet attacks Round Tops — and fails —
third day, Pickett's great charge repulsed — Gettysburg
climax of war — act IV, Wilderness and Sherman's march —
. act V, Petersburg — lessons of Gettysburg.
Notes  263
Index  281

ILLUSTRATIONS
Joseph E. Johnston  Frontispiece
J. E. B. Stuart  35
James Longstreet  65
P. G. T. Beauregard  95
Judah P. Benjamin  123
Alexander H. Stephens  153
Robert Toombs  183
Raphael Semmes  219

The portrait of Alexander H. Stephens is from a photograph by Brady in
the Library of the State Department, Washington, D.C. ; the other por
traits are from photographs in the Library of the Military Order of the
Loyal Legion of the United States, and are reproduced by the courtesy of
Colonel Arnold A. Rand.

CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
I
Joseph E. Johnston

CHRONOLOGY
Born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, February 3, 1807.
Entered West Point in 1825.
Second Lieutenant, 1829.
Engaged in Black Hawk Expedition, 1832.
Indian wars in Florida, 1836.
Captain, 1838.
Indian wars under Worth, 1842.
Married, July 10, 1845, Lydia McLane.
Served in Mexican War, 1846-47.
Lieutenant Colonel, 1847.
Quartermaster-General, i860.
Resigned U.S. commission, April 22, 1 861.
Commanded at First Bull Run, July 21, 1861.
General, 1861.
Commanded at Williamsburg, May 5, 1862.
Wounded at Fair Oaks, May 31, 1862.
Commanded in Tennessee, 1863.
Opposed to Sherman, 1 863-1 864.
Relieved, July 17, 1864.
Commanded in North Carolina, February 23, 1865.
Surrendered to Sherman, April 26, 1865.
Wrote Narrative of Military Operations, 1874.
Died, March 21, 1891.

CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS

JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON
OPINIONS differ as to the quality of Johnston's general
ship. Let us have the bare, indisputable facts first. After
distinguished service with the United States Army
against the Indians and in Mexico, he was the highest
officer in rank to join the Confederacy, although he was
given only the fourth position among the five Confed
erate generals. His first command was at Harper's Ferry
and in the Shenandoah Valley. Here he outmanoeuvred
Patterson and appeared at Bull Run in time to assume
control during that battle. He himself admits that he
believed it inexpedient to follow up the Confederate vic
tory with a march on Washington. In the spring of 1862
Johnston led the Army of Northern Virginia and fought
the battles of Williamsburg and Fair Oaks. After this a
severe wound kept him inactive through the summer
and Lee took his place.
During the first half of 1863 Johnston held a some
what vague control over the western armies of the Con
federacy. Davis hoped that he would defeat Grant and
save Vicksburg; but he did neither. After Bragg had
been worsted and had become so unpopular that Davis

4 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
could no longer support him, Johnston was given the
command of the Army of Tennessee and commissioned
to resist Sherman's advance through Georgia. This he
did in slow and careful retreat, disputing every disput
able point, inflicting greater losses than he received, and
wonderfully preserving the discipline, courage, and en
ergy of his army. The Government was not satisfied,
however, and preferred to substitute Hood and his dis
astrous offensive. Early in 1865, when Lee became com
mander-in-chief, he restored Johnston, who conducted a
skillful, if hopeless, campaign in the Carolinas, and finally
surrendered to Sherman on favorable terms.
Unsurpassed in retreat and defense, a wide reader
and thinker and a profound military student, Johnston
was no offensive fighter, say his critics. Among Northern
writers Cox, who admired him greatly, remarks : " His
abilities are undoubted, and when once committed to an
offensive campaign, he conducted it with vigor and skill.
The bent of his mind, however, was plainly in favor of
the course which he steadily urged — to await his adver
sary's advance and watch for errors which would give
him a manifest opportunity to ruin him." * And on the
Southern side Alexander's summary is that "Johnston
never fought but one aggressive battle, the battle of
Seven Pines, which was phenomenally mismanaged." 2
Other competent authorities are more enthusiastic.
Longstreet speaks of Johnston as " the foremost soldier
of the South,"3 and Pollard as "the greatest military

JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON 5
man in the Confederacy." i The English observer and
critic, Chesney, says : " What he might have ventured
had a rasher or less wary commander been before him,
is as impossible to say as it would be to declare what
would have been the result to Lee had Sherman taken
the place of Grant in Virginia. As things were actually
disposed, it is not too much to declare that Johnston's
doing what he did with the limited means at his com
mand is a feat that should leave his name in the annals
of defensive war at least as high as that of Fabius, or
Turenne, or Moreau." 6 Among Johnston's enemies,
Grant said to Bishop Lay, "When I heard your Gov
ernment had removed Johnston from command, I was as
happy as if I had reinforced Sherman with a large army
corps " ; 6 and to Young, " I have had nearly all of the
Southern generals in high command in front of me, and
Joe Johnston gave me more anxiety than any of the
others. I was never half so anxious about Lee." 7 Sher
man, who should have known, declares that "Johnston
is one of the most enterprising of all their generals." 8
And in the opinion of Ropes, writing in dispassionate
study, " Johnston had as good a military mind as any
general on either side." 9
Yet I confess, I wish the man had achieved something.
The skill, the prudence mixed with daring, which held
every position before Sherman till the last possible mo
ment and then slipped away, without loss, without disas
ter, cannot be too much commended. Perhaps Stonewall

6 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
Jackson would have done no more. But I cannot help
thinking Stonewall Jackson would have tried.
No one understands a man better than his wife. Mrs.
Johnston adored her husband. He was her knight, her
chevalier, her hero, as he deserved to be. But when he
scolded a girl who was attacked by a turkey-gobbler and
neither ran nor resisted, saying, " If she will not fight,
sir, is not the best thing for her to do to run away, sir?"
Mrs. Johnston commented, " with a burst of her hearty
laughter, ' That used to be your plan always, I know,
sir.' " 10 No doubt the lady was mocking purely. No
doubt she would have raged, if any one else had said it.
Yet — no one understands a man better than his wife —
when she understands him at all.
In short, too much of Johnston's career consists of the
things he would have done, if circumstances had only
been different.
And here it is urged, and justly urged, that fortune
was against him. All his life he seems to have been the
victim of ill luck. Lee was wounded, I think, only once.
Johnston was getting wounded perpetually. He himself
told Fremantle that he had been wounded ten times.11
General Scott said of him before the war that he " had
an unfortunate knack of getting himself shot in every
engagement." 12 A shell struck him down at Fair Oaks,
just as it seemed that he might have beaten McClellan
and saved Richmond.
Nor was it wounds only. Johnston had a vigorous

JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON 7
frame, compact; muscular, energetically martial ; yet
bodily illness would sometimes hamper him just at a
crisis. On the voyage to Mexico Lee was enjoying him
self, keenly alive to everything that went on about him.
" I have a nice stateroom on board this ship," he writes.
"Joe Johnston and myself occupy it, but my poor Joe is
so sick all the time I can do nothing with him." 13
And external circumstance was no kinder than the
clayey habitation. "It seemed Johnston's fate to be
always placed on posts of duty where extended efforts
were necessarily devoted to organizing armies," u writes
his biographer. He was always in time for toil, for dis
cipline, for sacrifice. For achievement he was apt to be
too late. It is surprising how often the phrase recurs in
his correspondence. "It is very unfortunate to be placed
in such a command after the enemy has had time to pre
pare his attack." 15 " I arrived this evening, finding the
enemy in full force between this place and General Pem
berton, cutting off the communication. I am too late." 16
" It is too late to expect me to concentrate troops capable
of driving back Sherman." 17 At the greatest crisis of all,
after retreating a hundred miles to draw his enemy on,
he at last made his preparations with cunning skill for a
decisive stand, which should turn retreat into triumph
— too late. For the order arrived, removing him from
the command and robbing him once more of the gifts of
Fortune. It was from Davis that this blow came and Davis, or

8 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
so Johnston thought, was Johnston's ill luck personified.
There are legends of quarrel and conflict even in early
days at West Point, laying the foundation of lifelong
hostility ; but those who knew Johnston best discredit
these. At any rate, the two were unfriendly from the be
ginning of the war, and certainly nothing could be more
damaging for a general than to have the head of his
Government prejudiced against him. It was for this rea
son, in Johnston's opinion, that commands were given
him when it was too late to accomplish anything and
taken away when he was on the brink of achieving
something great. It was for this reason that necessary
support was denied and necessary supplies given grudg
ingly, for this reason that his powers were curtailed, his
plans criticized, his intentions mistrusted. In the list of
Destiny's unkindnesses, as summed up by one of the
general's admirers, the ill will and ill treatment of Davis
and Davis's favorites figure so prominently that other
accidental elements seem of minor account. " If there is
such a thing as ill fortune, he had more than his share
of it. He never had the chance that Lee had. If he had
not been wounded at Seven Pines, a great victory would
have crowned his arms with substantial results. If he
had not been betrayed at Jackson, he would have joined
with Pemberton and captured Grant's army. If he had
not been removed at Atlanta, he would almost certainly
have defeated Sherman." 18
When I survey this portentous concatenation of ifs, I

JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON 9
ask myself whether, after all, Fortune deserved the full
blame in the matter. You and I know scores of men who
would have been rich and great and prosperous, if — if
— if — And then a little reflection shows us that the if
lies latent, or even patent, in the character or conduct of
the man himself. It would be unjust and cruel to deny
that many cross-accidents thwarted Johnston's career,
that inevitable and undeserved misfortunes fell between
him and glory. Yet a careful, thoughtful study of that
career forces me to admit that the man was in some
respects his own ill fortune and injured himself.
Take even the mere mechanical matter of wounds.
Johnston may have got more than his share of blindly
billeted projectiles. But every one agrees that his splen
did recklessness took him often into unnecessary dan
ger. One of his aides told Mrs. Chesnut that he had
never seen a battle. " No man exposes himself more
recklessly to danger than General Johnston, and no one
strives harder to keep others out of it." 19 Take also his
trumpet words to a young soldier who had lost his horse.
" To have a horse killed under one puts a tall feather in
his cap. . . . Even at present prices I 'd freely give a
good horse to the same fate." 20 Such adventurous chiv
alry in an officer of high rank is noble and lovable, but
it is apt to mean ill luck in the matter of damages.
Some of Johnston's other qualities were less noble
and, I think, bred ill luck with no adequate compensa
tion. In the original cause of the quarrel with Davis,

io CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
Johnston probably had justice on his side. The Confed
erate generals were to have ranked according to their
position in the United States Army. In that army John
ston stood highest. But Davis placed him below Cooper,
A. S. Johnston, and Lee. Davis had, as always, inge
nious arguments to support this procedure. Johnston
thought the real argument was personal preference, and
it may be that he was right. At any rate, he did not like
it, and said so.
Further, there was a radical difference between presi
dent and general as to military policy all through the
war. Johnston believed that the true course was concen
tration, to let outlying regions go, mass forces, beat the
enemy, and then easily recover what had been given
up. Davis felt that the demoralization consequent upon
such a course would more than outweigh the military
advantages. Neither was a man to give up his own opinion. Nei
ther was a man to compromise. Neither was a man
who could forget his own view to work out honestly,
heartily, successfully, the view of another. " They were
too much alike to get along," says Johnston's biographer.
"... They' were each high-tempered, impetuous, jeal
ous of honor, of the love of their friends, and they could
brook no rival. They required absolute devotion, without
question." 21
You see that from these adjectives we begin to get a
little more insight into Johnston's ill luck. Not that Davis

JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON u
was not also largely at fault. To appreciate both sides,
we must look more closely into the written words and
comments of each. It is a painful, pitiable study, but
absolutely necessary for understanding the character of
Johnston. Davis, then, was ready to interfere when he should
not. He had his own ideas of military policy and was
anxious to have them carried out. Johnston was not at
all inclined to carry out the president's ideas, and, hav
ing urged his own at first with little profit, became re
luctant to communicate them, especially as he did not
feel sure of secrecy, and perhaps even a little reluctant
to conceive them. Davis's eager temperament is annoyed,
frets, appeals. "Painfully anxious as to the result at
Vicksburg, I have remained without information from
you as to any plans proposed or attempt to raise the
siege. Equally uninformed as to your plans in relation
to Port Hudson, I have to request such information in
relation thereto as the Government has a right to expect
from one of its commanding generals in the field." 22
Again, " I wish to hear from you as to the present situa
tion, and your plan of operations, so specifically as will
enable me to anticipate events." 23
When Johnston's replies are evasive or non-committal,
— partly because of his fear of publicity, — Davis's atti
tude becomes crisply imperative. "The President in
structs me to reply," he writes through Cooper, "that he
adheres to his order and desires you to execute it." 24 No

12 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
tact here; no attempt at conciliation or persuasion.
Sometimes the tone is injured, hurt, resentful : " While
some have expressed surprise that my orders to you
were not observed, I have at least hoped that you would
recognize the desire to aid and sustain you, and that it
would produce the corresponding action on your part."25
Sometimes it is brusque to roughness : " I do not per
ceive why a junction was not attempted, which would
have made our force nearly equal in number to the esti
mated strength of the enemy and might have resulted in
his total defeat under circumstances, which rendered re
treat or reinforcement for him scarcely practicable." 26
The president rates his second in command as if he were
a refractory schoolboy. "The original mistakes in your
telegram of 1 2th June would gladly have been overlooked
as accidental, if acknowledged when pointed out. The
perseverance with which they have been insisted on has
not permitted me to pass them by as mere oversights."27
" It is needless to say that you are not considered capa
ble of giving countenance to such efforts at laudation
of yourself and detraction of others."28 "The language
of your letter is, as you say, unusual, its insinuations un
founded, and its arguments utterly unbecoming from a
general in the field to his superior." 29 And the head of
the Government is said to have gone even so far as, in
speaking to Johnston's own former soldiers, to accuse
their chief of actual disloyalty.30
As I read this sort of thing, I cannot help being

JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON 13
reminded of Captain MacTurk's joyous comment, " Oh,
crimini, if these sweetmeats be passing between them, it
is only the two ends of a handkercher that can serve the
turn — Cot tamn 1"
And now, how much reason and excuse did Johnston
give for such treatment? Abundant. Really, when I re
member Davis's keen and fiery disposition, I am less
surprised at the things he did say than at those he did
not. It is not so much any one word or speech in John
ston's case, as the constant attitude of disapproval, of
fault-finding, of resentment even approaching sullen-
ness. To begin with, Johnston criticized with the utmost
freedom. He criticized even Lee. And if we did not
know how deep was the affection between the two, we
should be inclined to attribute the criticism to jealousy.
" After his operations in the Wilderness, General Lee
adopted as thorough a defensive as mine, and added by
it to his great fame. The only other difference between
our operations was due to Grant's bull-headedness and
Sherman's extreme caution, which carried the army in
Virginia to Petersburg in less than half the time in which
Sherman reached Atlanta."31 In the same way, according
to Fremantle, he criticized Jackson. " General Johnston
said that although this extraordinary man did not possess
any great qualities as a strategist, and was perhaps unfit
for the independent command of a large army ; yet he was
gifted with wonderful courage and determination. . . .

14 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
He was much indebted to General Ewell in the Valley
Campaign." 32
It was natural enough for Johnston to think these
things. It would have been better if he had not said
them. When it is a question of Davis's friends and favorites,
the criticism becomes manifest irritability. Thus John
ston writes to Randolph, whom he really admired.
" Your order was positive and unconditional. I had no
option but to obey it. If injustice has been done it was
not by me. If an improper order was given it was not
mine. Mine, therefore, permit me to say, is not the one
to be recalled or modified."83 He writes to Benjamin,
whom he did not admire at all : " Let me suggest that,
having broken up the dispositions of the military com
mander, you give whatever other orders may be neces
sary."34 As for Pemberton, who disobeyed him, and
Hood, who supplanted him, he has no belief in their
capacity nor patience with their blunders.
When it comes to Davis himself, the tone is no more
amiable or conciliatory. The long, vigorous, and elo
quent letter, written in regard to the question of rank
which originated the trouble, deserves to be studied in
every line. This was the one which Davis briefly dock
eted as "insubordinate." It is insubordinate, in spite
of its logic and its nobility, and its significance is in
creased by Johnston's own confession that he waited for
a night's reflection before sending it. "If the action

JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON 15
against which I have protested is legal, it is not for me
to question the expediency of degrading one who has
served laboriously from the commencement of the war
on this frontier, and borne a prominent part in the only
great event of that war, for the benefit of persons
[Sidney Johnston and Lee] neither of whom has yet
struck a blow for the Confederacy." 8S The spirit is
wrong, not such as becomes a man ready to give more
than his life, his own self-will, for a great cause.
The same spirit continues and intensifies to the very
end. Davis may have provoked it. He did not create it.
And who can wonder that it harassed him past bearing?
No quotation of a line here and there can give the full
elfeet of the wasp stings which Johnston's schoolboy
petulance — I can call it nothing else — was constantly
inflicting. " I request, therefore, to be relieved of a merely
nominal geographical command."88 "Let me ask, for
the sake of discipline, that you have this rule enforced.
lt will save much time and trouble and create the belief
in the army that I am its commander." 87 " If the Depart
ment will give me timely notice when it intends to exer
cise my command, I shall be able to avoid such inter
ference with its orders." 38
Doubdess, also, Johnston's attitude reacted upon the
officers about him. He was an outspoken man and those
who loved him were not very likely to love the president.
An exceedingly interesting letter of MackalPs, printed
in the " Official Records," gives some insight into the

16 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
condition of things I refer to. " Pemberton is everything
with Davis, the devout," writes Mackall ; " his intelli
gence is only equaled by his self-sacrificing regard for
others."39 And again: "The people won't stand this
nonsense much longer. Mr. Davis's game now is to pre
tend that he don't think you a great general. He don't
tell the truth, and if he did, as all the military men in the
country differ with him, he will be forced to yield." 40
Any commander who tolerates this sort of thing from
a subordinate, tacitly, more than tacitly, admits that he
shares the subordinate's opinion.
The sum of the matter is that Johnston had allowed
himself to fall into the fatal frame of mind of assuming
that Davis's action was constantly dictated by personal
animosity towards himself. Such an assumption, whether
well founded or not, if dwelt on and brooded over, was
sure to breed a corresponding animosity and to paralyze
both the general's genius and his usefulness. Nothing
shows this attitude better than Johnston's remark to
S. D. Lee, when Lee congratulated him on his restora
tion to command in 1865 and on Davis's promise of
support : " He will not do it. He has never done it. It
is too late now, and he has only put me in command to
disgrace me." 41
While the war was actually going on, this mutual
hostility of president and general was controlled to some
extent by the necessary conventions and civilities of
official intercourse. It is both curious and pitiable to see

JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON 17
the restraints of decency covering such obvious distrust,
dissatisfaction, and dislike. Davis was always the more
diplomatic. Further, I think he shows a deeper sense of
the immense interests involved and the necessity of mak
ing sacrifices for them than Johnston does. Indeed, for
a long time he was ready to meet Johnston halfway, if
Johnston would have gone his half. Even after their
preliminary squabble about rank, so late as June, 1862,
at the time of Johnston's wound, the president writes :
"General J. E. Johnston is steadily improving. I wish
he were able to take the field. Despite the critics, who
know military affairs by instinct, he is a good soldier,
never brags of what he did do, and could at this time
render most valuable service."42 Much later still, real,
almost pathetic kindness is mingled with reproof and re
crimination : " I assure you that nothing shall be want
ing on the part of the Government to aid you in your
effort to regain possession of the territory from which
we have been driven. ... It is my desire that you
should communicate fully and freely with me concerning
your plan of action, that all the assistance and coopera
tion may be most advantageously afforded that it is in
the power of the Government to render." 43
As for Johnston, he is the military subordinate of this
personal enemy of his. He knows his duty. He will be
submissive, he will be obedient, he will be respectful, if
it costs his own ruin and his country's. The study of his
efforts is painfully interesting. Before the rupture had

18 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
become chronic, they were successful and his tone rises
to real nobility. " Your Excellency s known sense of jus
tice will not hold me to that responsibility while the
corresponding control is not in my hands. Let me assure
yiur Excellency that I am prompted in this matter by
no love of privilege, of position, or of personal rights as
such, but by a firm belief that under the circumstances
what I propose is necessary to the safety of our troops
and cause.'- Even to the end official respect is pre
served, whatever may have been the feelings underneath
it. " I need not say, however, that your wishes shall be
promptly executed.'' ~ "That suggestion [of mine] was
injudicious. It is necessary, of course, that those should
be promoted whom you consider best qualified.' ' ^ T
will obey any orders of the President zealously and exe
cute any plan of campaign of his to the best of rny abil
ity."47 "I beg leave to suggest — most respectfully —
that there is but one way by which the Government can,
without injurv to discipline, give the orders — the mode
prescribed by itself — through the officers commanding
armies or departments." a
Also, it must not be supposed that Johnston ever per
mitted himself petty complaints to those about him.
So late as August, 1863, one who knew him well writes:
"In all the many and frequent conversations I have had
with General Johnston I have never heard one word es
cape his lips savoring of any want of personal regard for
the President."49 And even after the general had been

JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON 19
superseded by Hood another good observer writes to
the same effect: " He bore his trouble with a stoicism
which was pathetic, since we, who knew and loved him,
were so fully aware of the agony of mind and heart he
suffered. But no word escaped his lips, whatever his
thoughts may have been." 50
Then the war came to a disastrous end and everybody
was free to abuse everybody else. Davis, in a private
letter, afterwards printed, implied pretty directly that
Johnston and Beauregard were knaves,51 and Johnston
told a reporter that Davis was " perverse and wrong-
headed"; that he was "malignant and utterly unfitted
to be at the head of any important movement." s2 Davis
and Johnston both wrote books and said what they
thought with lamentable outspokenness. Perhaps Davis's
individual utterances are more savage than any of John
ston's. Thus, the former writes in his book: "Very little
experience, or a fair amount of modesty without any ex
perience, would serve to prevent one from announcing
the conclusion that troops could be withdrawn from a
place or places without knowing how many were
there." 63 And still more forcibly in the very able paper
which he prepared for the last session of the Confederate
Congress : " My confidence in General Johnston's fitness
for separate command was now destroyed. The proof
was too complete to admit of longer doubt that he was
deficient in enterprise, tardy in movement, defective in
preparation, and singularly neglectful of the duty of pre-

20 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
serving our means of supply and transportation, although
experience should have taught him their value and the
difficulty of procuring them." 54
But, after all, the quarrel with Johnston was but one
element in Davis's vast career ; and it was the president's
great good fortune that in his case patriotism and self-
preservation went together and his most earnest and
genuine efforts for his country were also for himself.
With Johnston the situation was unhappily different.
He was never anything but nobly patriotic in intention.
But the ruin of the nation was coincident with the ruin
of his own personal enemy, and he brooded so deeply
over that personal enmity that it seems as if his narrative
were mainly occupied with the attempt to portray his
enemy's injustice and consequent failures and mistakes.
I have read and reread his book, and every reading
deepens the impression of pity for splendid gifts so
blighted, for great opportunities, not so much military as
moral, thrown away. One, or two, or five quotations are
not enough to justify this impression. It springs quite as
much from what is unsaid as from what is said. Yet
some quotation we must have.
To begin with, Johnston writes admirably, a clear,
vigorous, logical style, which makes every point tell,
bites, stings, lashes, if necessary. His vigor and brevity
give the impression of absolute truth, and no one can
suspect him of ever intending anything else. Indeed, his
biographer declares that in all his statements he is singu-

JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON 21
larly scrupulous and accurate. Some careful critics have
denied this. Thus his deduction of Sherman's losses from
the burials in Marietta Cemetery has been shown to be
altogether wrong because many of those burials were of
soldiers who never belonged to Sherman's army at all.55
Again, General Palfrey, usually so impartial, declares :
"The more I study Johnston's writings, the more cause
I find to mistrust them. I like to believe in him ; but I
cannot do so absolutely, for I find that he permits him
self great freedom in asserting what he does not know to
be true." 56
The freedom and looseness of statement spring from
Johnston's dogmatic temper, from his energy and de
cision, his practical incapacity for seeing more than his
own side and point of view ; and the dogmatism and the
energy lend double bitterness to the slurs which he is
constantly flinging at the man who had been his leader,
for better and for worse, and who — at least, so it seems
to me — should have been respected for the sake of a
noble cause and a vanished ideal. " Under such circum
stances his accusation is, to say the least, very discredit
able." 57 " It is not easy to reconcile the increase of my
command by the President, with his very numerous dis
paraging notices of me." 58 " Such an occurrence [explo
sion of buried shells] must have been known to the whole
army, but it was not ; so it must have been a dream of
the writer." 59 " These are fancies. He arrived upon the
field after the last armed enemy had left it, when none

22 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
were within cannon-shot, or south of Bull Run, when
the victory was 'complete' as well as 'assured,' and no
opportunity left for the influence of ' his name and bear
ing.' " 60 " As good-natured weakness was never attrib
uted to Mr. Davis as a fault, it is not easy to reconcile
the assertions and tone of this letter with his official
course toward me." 61 " I was unable then, as now, to
imagine any military object for which this letter could
have been written, especially by one whose time was sup
posed to be devoted to the most important concerns of
the Government. ... As I had much better means of
information on the subjects of this paper than its author,
it could not have been written for my instruction." 62
" Oh, Iago, the pity of it, Iago 1 " Even the non-com
mittal and considerate Lee "instanced Joe Johnston's
sensitiveness and how wrong and unwise it was," 63 while
Mr. Rhodes says, " Had Johnston been less sensitive to
an affront to his personal dignity, had he been in temper
like Lee, and had Davis shown such abnegation of self
as did Lincoln in his dealings with his generals, blame
and recrimination would not have been written on every
page of Southern history." 64
" No man was ever written down except by himself,"
said Dr. Johnson. Johnston wrote his book to clear his
fame, and behold, it condemns him. One sentence of
large forgiveness in face of calamity, one word of recog
nition that Davis and Seddon, however misguided, how
ever erring, had done their best to serve the same great

JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON 23
cause that he was serving, would have achieved more for
his lasting glory than all his five hundred pages of bitter
self-justification. A large element in Johnston's ill-luck
was just simply Joseph E. Johnston.
And now comes the puzzle. It appears that in all or
dinary intercourse this man was one of the most amiable,
most companionable, most lovable of human beings. In
contestable evidence gives him a list of attractive qualities
so long that few can equal it.
That he was brave goes without saying, with a de
lightful bravery that goes anywhere, and does anything,
and makes no fuss. He was always ready to lead a charge
or to cover a retreat. He had an enchanting, quiet cour
age, such as we timid spirits can lean upon, as upon a
wall. Read the account of his behavior when he was so
severely wounded at Fair Oaks. " Reeling in his saddle,
he said : ' Quite extraordinary ! It 's nothing, gendemen,
I assure you ; not worthy of comment. I think we ought
to move up a littie closer. If a surgeon is within call, and
not too busy, at his convenience, perfect convenience, —
he might as well look me over.' If some one on his staff
had not caught him, the general would have fallen from
his horse." 6B Read also his playful confession with refer
ence to kerosene lamps. Only perfect courage can so
trifle with itself : " Some kind of a patent kerosene lamp
was sent me as a present, and the donor lit it, explaining
to me the method of working it. Such was my nervous
ness, I never knew he was talking to me. Later, after

24 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
somebody had extinguished the lamp, I tried to reason
out to myself what a poltroon I was. We get hardened
in time ; but I assure you, nothing would ever induce me
to light or extinguish a kerosene lamp. I really envy you,
madam, as possessing heroic traits, when you tell me you
feel no alarm when in the presence of a kerosene lamp.
But I am, by nature, an arrant coward. An enemy, armed
with kerosene lamps, would drive me off the field. I
should be panic personified." 66
And Johnston was absolutely frank, outspoken, straight
forward, too much so for his own good ; but charmingly
so. He gave his opinion of things and people, so that
you knew where he stood, whether you agreed with him
or not. How neatly does Colonel Anderson portray him
with a touch. " 'I think the Scotch the best,' the General
quickly rejoined, with that slight toss of the head, with
which he sometimes emphasized the expression of an
opinion he was ready to do battle for." 67 There was no
cant about him, no rhetoric. I would not say, or imply,
that the abundance of religious language in Southern re
ports and orders is ever insincere. But I occasionally tire
of it. Johnston is very sparing in this regard. What he
does say is evidently solemn and heartfelt.
The general's honesty and uprightness are delightful,
also. He was no politician, but his political convictions
were as lofty and constant as they were simple. He fol
lowed Virginia. That was enough. "Nothing earthly
could afford me greater satisfaction than the fulfillment

JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON 25
of his good wishes by this army striking a blow for the
freedom and independence of Virginia."68 "I drew it
[his father's sword] in the war not for rank or fame, but
to defend the sacred soil, the homes and hearths, the
women and children, aye, and the men of my mother,
Virginia,— my native South." 69 After the war, when he
was a candidate for Congress, his standpoint was as
elementary — and as honorable. Some of his followers
had tried to explain away his tariff attitude, for the sake
of winning votes. "Gentlemen," he said, "this is a mat
ter about which I do not propose to ask your advice,
because it involves my conscience and personal honor.
I spoke yesterday, at Louisa Court-House, under a free-
trade flag. I have never ridden ' both sides of the sapling,'
and I don't propose to begin at this late day. That ban
ner in Clay Ward comes down to-day or I retire from
this canvass by published card to-morrow." 70 Perhaps
the finest tribute to his moral elevation comes from a
generous enemy. " I recorded at the time," says Cox,
writing of the surrender, " my own feeling that I had
rarely met a man who was personally more attractive to
me than General Johnston. His mode of viewing things
was a large one, his thoughts and his expression of them
was refined, his conscientious anxiety to do exactly what
was right in the circumstances was apparent in every
word and act, his ability and his natural gift of leader
ship showed in his whole bearing and conduct." 71 And
in illustration of the scrupulous conscientiousness Cox

26 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
adds that when the general learned that one of his staff
had retained a little cavalry guidon of silk in the form of
a Confederate flag, he sent for it at once and passed it
over to the Union officers, as the colors were supposed
to be surrendered.
Johnston was as simple, too, as he was upright and
honest, cared nothing for display, parade, or show, lived
with his men and shared their fare and their hardships.
"There was only one fork (one prong deficient) between
himself and staff, and this was handed to me ceremoni
ously as the guest," says Fremantle.72 " While on his jour
ney to Atlanta to assume command of the second army of
the Confederacy, he excited universal remark by having
an ordinary box car assigned to himself and staff, instead
of imitating the brigadiers of the time and taking pos
session of a passenger coach," says Hughes.73
Even as regards Johnston's sensitiveness to personal
slights and to the advancement of others, it is curious
to note that this does not seem to have been owing to
any inordinate ambition. He himself says that he did
not draw his sword for rank or fame ; and General Gordon
tells us that he was not ambitious. This is doubtless ex
aggerated. All soldiers — all men — like rank and fame,
when they can get them honestly. But I find no shadow
of evidence that Johnston was devoured by Jackson's
ardent fever, or ever dreamed long dreams of shadowy
glory and success. His attitude in this connection recalls
what Clarendon says of the Earl of Essex : " His pride

JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON 27
supplied his want of ambition, and he was angry to see
any man more respected than himself because he thought
he deserved it more." 74 I believe that Johnston was even
capable of the highest, noblest self-sacrifice, so long as it
was quite voluntary and not demanded of him by others,
and that he was always ready to act upon his own fine
saying : " The great energy exhibited by the Government
of the United States, the danger in which our very exist
ence as an independent people lies, requires sacrifice from
us all who have been educated as soldiers." 7B
What is most winning about Johnston, however, in
fact quite irresistible, is his warmth of nature, his affec
tion, his feminine tenderness, doubly charming in a man
as strenuously virile as ever lived. His letters, even offi
cial, have a vivacity and personal quality wholly differ
ent from Lee's. He loved his men, watched over them,
cared for them, praised them : "I can find no record of
more effective fighting in modern batdes than that of
this army in December, evincing skill in the commanders
and courage in the troops." 76 He had the most kindly
words for the achievements of his officers. Of Stuart he
writes: "He is a rare man, wonderfully endowed by
nature with the qualities necessary for an officer of light
cavalry. Calm, firm, acute, active, and enterprising, I
know no one more competent than he to estimate the
occurrences before him at their true value." 77 And to
Stuart : " How can I eat or sleep without you upon the
outpost?" 78 Of Longstreet: "I rode upon the field, but

28 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
found myself compelled to be a mere spectator, for
General Longstreet's clear head and brave heart left me
no apology for interference." 79 With his equals in other
commands he was amply generous, where they did not
represent Davis. Thus he writes of Bragg : "lam very
glad that your confidence in General Bragg is unshaken.
My own is confirmed by his recent operations, which, in
my opinion, evince great vigor and skill. It would be very
unfortunate to remove him at this juncture, when he has
just earned, if not won, the gratitude of the country." 80
The man is even more attractive in his private friend
ships. "One of the purest and strongest men I ever
knew," says Stiles, "and perhaps the most affectionate." 81
Few more touching letters were ever written than the
one he addressed to Mrs. Lee after her husband's death.
Less known, but almost equally charming in its frank
ness is the letter to Wigfall about Lee, written in March,
1865 : "What you write me of Lee gratifies me beyond
measure. In youth and early manhood I admired him
more than any man in the world. Since then we have
had little intercourse and have become formal in our
personal intercourse. . . . When we are together former
feelings always return. I have long thought that he had
forgotten our early friendship ; to be convinced that I
was mistaken in so thinking would give me inexpressible
pleasure. Be assured, however, that Knight of old never
fought under his King more loyally than I '11 serve under
General Lee." 82

JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON 29
Characteristic of Johnston's friendship was its singular
demonstrativeness. He embraced and kissed his male
friends as tenderly as if they were women. " I have said
he was the most affectionate of men," writes Stiles. " It
will surprise many, who saw only the iron bearing of
the soldier, to hear that we never met or parted, for any
length of time, that he did not, if we were alone, throw
his arms about me and kiss me, and that such was his
habit in parting from or greeting his male relatives and
most cherished friends." 83
In his domestic relations there was the same tender
ness, the same devotion. He adored his wife, and their
love was a lifelong idyl, diversified, as idyls should be, by
sunny mocking and sweet merriment. He had no child
ren, but his nephews and nieces were as near to him as
children. When he was told, in Mexico, of one nephew's
death, " the shock was so great that he fell prostrate upon
the works. Up to the day of his death, forty-four years
later, Johnston kept a likeness of his nephew in his room
and never failed to look at it immediately after rising." 84
With all this, is it any wonder that men loved him and
resent bitterly to-day the inevitable conclusions drawn
from his own written words ? Bragg wrote, in answer to
one of Johnston's kind letters : " That spontaneous offer
from a brother soldier and fellow-citizen, so honored and
esteemed, will be treasured as a source of happiness and
a reward which neither time nor circumstances can im
pair." 85 Kirby Smith wrote : " I would willingly be back

30 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
under your command at any personal sacrifice." 86 Long-
street wrote: "General Johnston was skilled in the art
and science of war, gifted in his quick, penetrating mind
and soldierly bearing, genial and affectionate in nature,
honorable and winning in person, and confiding in his
love. He drew the hearts of those about him so close
that his comrades felt that they could die for him." 87
The country trusted him. " I discover from my corres
pondence you possess the confidence of the whole coun
try as you do mine," writes a civilian, in December, 1863.88
The soldiers trusted him. After weeks of falling back,
yielding point after point to an encroaching enemy, the
evidence is overwhelming that Johnston's troops were
cheerful, eager, zealous, had unbounded belief that he
was doing the best that could be done, unbounded re
gret when they heard that he had been removed. His
disciplinary faculty, his grip upon the hearts of men,
his power of inspiration were immense and undisputed.
He had the greatest gift a leader can have, magnetism.
" There was a magnetic power about him no man could
resist, and exact discipline followed at once upon his as
suming any command." 89 What the general feeling in
his army was is nowhere better shown than in the fine
letter written to him by Brigadier-General Stevens, after
Johnston had been relieved by Hood: "We have ever
felt that the best was being done that could be, and have
looked confidently forward to the day of triumph, when
with you as our leader we should surely march to a

JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON 31
glorious victory. This confidence and implicit trust has
been in no way impaired, and we are to-day ready, as we
have ever been, to obey your orders, whether they be to
retire before a largely outnumbering foe, or to spend our
last drop of blood in the fiercest conflict. We feel that in
parting with you our loss is irreparable . . . and you
carry with you the love, respect, esteem, and confidence,
of the officers and men of this brigade." 90
Yet a man so honored, admired, and beloved could
write the "Narrative of Military Operations" ! What a
tangle human nature is !
If I wished to sum up Johnston's character briefly, I
should quote two passages, both, as it happens, left us
by women. Mrs. Chesnut writes, toward the close of the
war: "Afterwards, when Isabella and I were taking a
walk, General Joseph E. Johnston joined us. He ex
plained to us all of Lee's and Stonewall Jackson's mis
takes. We had nothing to say — how could we say
anything?" 91 When one reads this, remembering what
Lee's position in the Confederacy was, what Johnston's
was, and that he was talking to what must have been
one of the liveliest tongues in the Southern States, one
appreciates why Johnston did not succeed. When one
turns to the remark of an officer to Mrs. Pickett — "Lee
was a great general and a good man, but I never wanted
to put my arms round his neck as I used to want to to
Joe Johnston" 92 — one is overcome with pity to think
that Johnston should have failed.

II
J. E. B. Stuart

CHRONOLOGY
Born in Patrick County, Virginia, February 6, 1833.
, Graduated from West Point, 1854.
Second Lieutenant, October 31, 1854.
Married to Miss Flora Cooke, November 14, 1855.
First Lieutenant, December 20, 1855.
Served in Kansas in 1856.
Served against the Indians in 1857.
Served in the West till i860.
Volunteered under Lee in John Brown Raid, 1859.
Colonel in Confederate Army, July 16, 186 1.
Brigadier-General, September 24, 1861.
Major-General, July 25, 1862.
Served with Army of Northern Virginia throughout the war.
Commanded Jackson's corps after Jackson's death at Chancellorsville.
But returned again to cavalry command, May, 1863.
Wounded at Yellow Tavern, May 11, 1864.
Died, May 12, 1864.

J. E. B. STUART

II
J. E. B. STUART
STUART was a fighter by nature. When he was at West
Point in the early fifties, his distinguishing character
istics, as chronicled by Fitzhugh Lee, were "a strict
attendance to his military duties, an erect, soldierly
bearing, an immediate and almost thankful acceptance
of a challenge from any cadet to fight, who might in any
way feel himself aggrieved." x The tendency, if not in
herited, did not lack paternal encouragement; for the
elder Stuart writes to his son, in regard to one of these
combats: "I did not consider you so much to blame.
An insult should be resented under all circumstances." 2
The young cadet also showed himself to be a fearless
and an exceptionally skillful horseman.
These qualities served him well in the Indian warfare
to which he was immediately transferred from West
Point. His recklessness in taking chances was equaled
only by his ingenuity in pulling through. One of his
superiors writes : " Lieutenant Stuart was brave and gal
lant, always prompt in execution of orders and reckless
of danger and exposure. I considered him at that time
one of the most promising young officers in the United
States Army." 3
Later Stuart took a prominent part in the capture of

36 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
John Brown. He himself wrote an account of the matter
at the time for the newspapers, simply to explain and
justify Lee's conduct. He also wrote a letter to his
mother, with a characteristic description of his own
doings : " I approached the door in the presence of per
haps two thousand spectators, and told Mr. Smith that
I had a communication for him from Colonel Lee. He
opened the door about four inches, and placed his body
against the crack, with a cocked carbine in his hand ;
hence his remark after his capture that he could have
wiped me out like a mosquito. . . . When Smith first
came to the door I recognized old Osawatomie Brown,
who had given us so much trouble in Kansas. No one
present but myself could have performed that service. I
got his bowie-knife from his person, and have it yet." 4
From the very beginning of the war Stuart maintained
this fighting reputation. He would attack any thing any
where, and the men who served under him had to do
the same ; what is more, and marks the born leader, he
made them wish to do the same. " How can I eat, sleep,
or rest in peace without you upon the outpost?"5 wrote
Joseph Johnston ; and a noble enemy, who had been a
friend, Sedgwick, is reported to have said that Stuart was
" the greatest cavalry officer ever foaled in America." 6
Danger he met with more than stolid indifference, a
sort of furious bravado, thrusting himself into it with
manifest pleasure, and holding back, when he did hold
back, with a sigh. And some men's luck ! Johnston was

J. E. B. STUART 37
wounded a dozen times, was always getting wounded.
Yet Stuart, probably far more exposed, was wounded
only once in his life, among the Indians ; in the war not
at all. His clothes were pierced again and again. Ac
cording to Von Borcke, the general had half of his mous
tache cut off by a bullet "as neatly as it could have
been done by the hand of an experienced barber." 7 Yet
nothing ever drew blood till the shot which was mor
tal. Such an immunity naturally encouraged the sort of
fatalism not unusual with great soldiers, and Stuart once
said of the proximity of his enemies, "You might have
shot a marble at them — but I am not afraid of any ball
aimed at me." 8
In this spirit he got into scores of difficult places —
and got out again. Sometimes it was by quick action
and a mad rush, as when he left his hat and a few offi
cers behind him. Sometimes it was by stealth and se
crecy, as when he hid his whole command all night
within a few hundred yards of the marching enemy.
" And nothing now remained but to watch and wait and
keep quiet. Quiet? Yes, the men kept very quiet, for
they realized that even Stuart never before had them
in so tight a place. But many a time did we fear that we
were betrayed by the weary, hungry, headstrong mules
of the ordnance train. Men were stationed at the head
of every team ; but in spite of all precautions, a discord
ant bray would every now and then fill the air. Never
was the voice of a mule so harsh 1 " 9

38 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
The men who had watched and tried and tested him
on such occasions as these knew what he was and gave
him their trust. He asked nothing of them that he would
not do himself. Therefore they did what he asked of
them. Scheibert says that " he won their confidence and
inspired them by his whole bearing and personality, by
his kindling speech, his flashing eye, and his cheerful
ness which no reverse could overcome." 10 Stuart him
self describes his followers' enthusiastic loyalty with a
naivete as winning as it is characteristic. " There was
something of the sublime in the implicit confidence and
unquestioning trust of the rank and file in a leader guid
ing them straight, apparently, into the very jaws of the
enemy, every step appearing to them to diminish the
very faintest hope of extrication." n Yet he asked this
trust and they gave it simply on the strength of his word.
" You are about to engage in an enterprise which, to
ensure success, imperatively demands at your hands
coolness, decision, and the strictest order and sobriety
on the march and in the bivouac. The destination and
extent of this expedition had better be kept to myself
than known to you." 12
The men loved him also because, when the strain was
removed, he put on no airs, pretense, or remoteness of
superiority, but treated them as man to man. " He was
the most approachable of major-generals, and jested with
the private soldiers of his command as jovially as though
he had been one of themselves. The men were perfectly

J. E. B. STUART 39
unconstrained in his presence, and treated him more like
the chief huntsman of a hunting party than as a major-
general."13 His officers also loved him, and not only
trusted him for war, but enjoyed his company in peace.
He was constantly on the watch to do them kindnesses,
and would frolic with them — marbles, snowballs, quoits,
what not ? — like a boy with boys.
And Stuart loved his men as they loved him, did not
regard them as mere food for cannon, to be used, and
abused, and forgotten. There is something almost pa
thetic in his neglect of self in praising them. " The horse
man who, at his officer's bidding, without question,
leaps into unexplored darkness, knowing nothing except
that there is danger ahead, possesses the highest attri
bute of the patriot soldier. It is a great source of pride
to me to command a division of such men." 14 Careless
of his own danger always, he was far more thoughtful
of those about him. In the last battle he was peculiarly
reckless, and Major McClellan noticed that the general
kept sending him with messages to General Anderson.
"At last the thought occurred to me that he was endeav
oring to shield me from danger. I said to him : ' Gen
eral, my horse is weary. You are exposing yourself, and
you are alone. Please let me remain with you.' He smiled
at me kindly, but bade me go to General Anderson with
another message." 1S
Any reflection on his command arouses him at once
to its defense. "There seems to be a growing tendency

40 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
to abuse and underrate the services of that arm of the
service [cavalry] by a few officers of infantry, among
whom I regret to find General Trimble. Troops should
be taught to take pride in other branches of the service
than their own." 16
It is very rare that Stuart has any occasion to address
himself directly to the authorities at Richmond. Fight
ing, not writing, was his business. But when he feels that
his men and horses are being starved unnecessarily, he
bestirs himself, and sends Seddon a letter which is as
interesting for nervous and vigorous expression as for
.the character of the writer. " I beg to urge that in no
•case should persons not connected with the army, and
who are amply compensated for all that is taken, be
.allowed more subsistence per day than the noble veterans
who are periling their lives in the cause and at every
sacrifice are enduring hardship and exposure in the
.ranks."17 And the general's care and enthusiasm for his officers
was as great as for the privates. It is charming to see
how earnestly and how specifically he commends them
in every report. Particularly, he is anxious to impress
upon Lee that no family considerations should prevent
'the merited advancement of Lee's own son and nephew.
Even on his deathbed one of his last wishes was that his
faithful followers should have his horses, and he allotted
•them thoughtfully according to each officer's needs.
The general did not allow his feelings to interfere

J. E. B. STUART 41
with subordination, however. His discipline " was as firm
as could be with such men as composed the cavalry of
General Lee's army," writes Judge Garnett. " He never
tolerated nor overlooked disobedience of orders."18 Even
his favorites, Mosby and Fitz Lee, come in for reproof
when needed. Of the latter's failure to arrive at Raccoon
Ford when expected he writes : " By this failure to com
ply with instructions not only the movement of the cav
alry across the Rapidan was postponed a day, but a fine
opportunity was lost to overhaul a body of the enemy's
cavalry on a predatory excursion far beyond their lines."19
His tendency to severity in regard to a certain subordi
nate calls forth one of Lee's gently tactful cautions : " I
am perfectly willing to transfer him to Paxton's brigade,
if he desires it ; but if he does not, I know of no act of
his to justify my doing so. Do not let your judgment be
warped." 20 There were officers with whom Stuart could
not get along; for instance, "Grumble Jones," who per
haps could get along with no one. Yet, after Stuart's
death, Jones said of him : " By G  , Martin I You
know I had little love for Stuart, and he had just as little
for me ; but that is the greatest loss that army has ever
sustained except the death of Jackson." 21
From these various considerations it will be surmised
that Stuart was no mere reckless sworder, no Rupert,
good with sabre, furious in onset, beyond that signifying
nothing. He knew the spirit of the antique maxim, "Be
bold, and evermore be bold ; be not too bold." He had

42 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
learned the hardest lesson and the essential corrective
for such a temperament, self-control. To me there is an
immense pathos in his quiet, almost plaintive explana
tion to Lee, on one occasion: "The commanding gen
eral will, I am sure, appreciate how hard it was to desist
from the undertaking, but to any one on the spot there
could be but one opinion — its impossibility. I gave it
up." 22 On the other hand, no one knew better that in
some cases perfect prudence and splendid boldness are
one and the same thing. To use again his own language :
"Although the expedition was prosecuted further than
was contemplated in your instructions, I feel assured
that the considerations which actuated me will convince
you that I did not depart from their spirit and that the
bold development in the subsequent direction of the
march was the quintessence of prudence." 28 Lee always
found the right words. In one of his reports he says of
Stuart [italics mine] : "I take occasion to express to the
Department my sense of the boldness, judgment, and
prudence he displayed in its execution." 24
But one may have self-control without commanding
intelligence. Fremantle's description of Stuart's move
ments does not suggest much of the latter quality. " He
seems to roam over the country at his own discretion,
and always gives a good account of himself, turning up
at the right moment, and hitherto he has not got him
self into any serious trouble." 2B Later, more studious
observers do not take quite the same view. One should

J. E. B. STUART 43
read the whole of the Prussian colonel Scheibert's ac
count of Stuart's thorough planning, his careful calcula
tion, his exact methods of procedure. "Before Stuart
undertook any movement, he spared nothing in the way
of preparation which might make it succeed. He in
formed himself as exactly as possible by scouts and
spies, himself reconnoitred with his staff, often far be
yond the outposts, had his engineer officers constantly
fill out and improve the rather inadequate maps and as
certain the practicability of roads, fords, etc. In short,
he omitted no precaution and spared no pains or effort
to secure the best possible results for such undertakings
as he planned ; therefore he was in the saddle almost as
long again as his men." 26 Similar testimony can be
gathered incidentally everywhere in Stuart's letters and
reports, proving that he was no chance roamer, but
went where he planned to go and came back when he
intended. For instance, he writes of the Peninsular oper
ations : " It is proper to remark here that the com
manding general had, on the occasion of my late expe
dition to the Pamunkey, imparted to me his design of
bringing Jackson down upon the enemy's right flank
and rear, and directed that I should examine the country
with reference to its practicability for such a movement.
I therefore had studied the features of the country very
thoroughly and knew exactly how to conform my move
ments to Jackson's route." 27
On the strength of these larger military qualities it has

44 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
sometimes been contended that Stuart should have had
an even more responsible command than fell to him and
that Lee should have retained him at the head of Jack
son's corps after Jackson's death. Certainly Lee can have
expressed no higher opinion of any one : " A more zealous,
ardent, brave and devoted soldier than Stuart the Con
federacy cannot have."28 Johnston called him "calm,
firm, acute, active, and enterprising, I know of no one more
competent than he to estimate occurrences at their true
value." 29 Longstreet, hitting Jackson as well as praising
Stuart, said : " His death was possibly a greater loss to the
Confederate army than that of the swift-moving General
Stonewall Jackson." 30 Among foreign authorities Schei
bert writes that " General von Schmidt, the regenerator of
our [Prussian] cavalry tactics, has told me that Stuart was
the model cavalry leader of this century and has ques
tioned me very often about his mode of fighting." 31 And
Captain Battine thinks that he should have had Jackson's
place. 32 Finally, Alexander, sanest of Confederate writers,
expresses the same view strongly and definitely: "I
always thought it an injustice to Stuart and a loss to the
army that he was not from that moment continued in com
mand of facksori s corps. He had won the right to it. I
believe he had all of Jackson's genius and dash and origi
nality, without that eccentricity of character which some
times led to disappointment. Jackson's spirit and inspira
tion were uneven. Stuart, however, possessed the rare
quality of being always equal to himself at his very best." n

J. E. B. STUART 45
This is magnificent praise, coming from such a source.
Nevertheless, I find it hard to question Lee's judgment
There was notMng in the world to prevent his giving
Stuart the position, if he thought him qualified. It is not
absolutely certain how Stuart would have carried inde
pendent command. I can hardly imagine Davis, even
early in the war, writing of Jackson as he did of Stuart :
" The letter of General Hill painfully impresses me with
that which has before been indicated — a want of vigi
lance and intelligent observation on the part of General
Stuart." 34 Major Bigelow, who knows the battle of Chan
cellorsville as well as any one Hving, does not judge Stu
art's action so favorably as Alexander. And Cooke, who
adored Stuart and served constantiy under him, says : "At
Chancellorsville, when he succeeded Jackson, the troops,
although quite enthusiastic about him, complained that
he led them too recklessly against artillery ; and it is
hard for those who knew the man to believe that, as an
armj' commander, he would have consented to a strictly
defensive campaign. Fighting was a necessity of his
blood, and the slow movements of infantry did not suit
his genius." 3S
May it not be also that Lee thought Stuart indispen
sable where he was and believed it would be as difficult
to replace him as Jackson ? Most of Stuart's correspond
ence has perished and we are obliged to gather its tenor
from letters written to him, which is much like listening
to a one-sided conversation over the telephone. From

46 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
one of Lee's letters, however, it is fairly evident that
neither he nor Stuart himself had seriously considered
the latter's taking Jackson's place. Lee writes : "lam
obliged to you for your views as to the successor of the
great and good Jackson. Unless God in his mercy will
raise us up one, I do not know what we shall do. I
agree with you on the subject, and have so expressed
myself." 36
In any event, what his countrymen will always remem
ber of Stuart is the fighting figure, the glory of battle,
the sudden and tumultuous fury of charge and onset.
And what above all distinguishes him in this is his
splendid joy in it. Others fought with clenched fist and
set teeth, rejoicing, perhaps, but with deadly determina
tion of lip and brow. He laughed and sang. His blue eye
sparkled and his white teeth gleamed. To others it was
the valley of the shadow of death. To him it was a pic
nic and a pleasure party.
He views everything by its picturesque side, catches
the theatrical detail which turns terror and death into
a scenic surprise. "My arrival could not have been
more fortunately timed, for, arriving after dark, the pon
derous march, with the rolling artillery, must have im
pressed the enemy's cavalry, watching their rear, with the
idea of an immense army about to cut off their retreat." 37
He rushed gayly into battle, singing, " Old Joe Hooker,
won't you come out of the Wilderness ? " or his favorite
of favorites, " If you want to have a good time, jine the

J. E. B. STUART 47
cavalry." When he is riding off, as it were into the
mouth of hell, his adjutant asks, " How long ? " and he
answers, as Touchstone might, with a bit of old ballad,
" It maybe for years and it may be for ever." 38 His clear
laughter, in the sternest crises, echoes through dusty war
books, like a silver bell. As he sped back from his Pen
insular raid, the Union troops were close upon him and
the swollen Chickahominy in front, impassable, it seemed.
Stuart thought a moment, pulling at his beard. Then he
found the remains of an old bridge and set his men to
rebuild it. " While the men were at work upon it, Stuart
was lying down on the bank of the stream, in the gayest
humor I ever saw, laughing at the prank he had played
on McClellan."39
It is needless to enlarge on the effect of such a temper,
such exuberant confidence and cheerfulness in danger,
on subordinates. It lightened labor, banished fatigue,
warmed chill limbs and fainting courage. " My men and
horses are tired, hungry, jaded, but all right," 40 was the
last despatch he ever wrote. So long as he was with them,
they were all right. His very voice was like music, says
Fitz Lee, " like the silver trumpet of the Archangel." It
sounded oblivion of everything but glory. His gayety,
his laughter, were infectious and turned a raid into a
revel. " That summer night," writes Mosby of the Mc
Clellan expedition, " was a carnival of fun I can never
forget. Nobody thought of danger or sleep, when cham
pagne bottles were bursting and wine was flowing in

48 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
copious streams. All had perfect confidence in their
leader. . . . The discipline of the soldiers for a while
gave way to the wild revelry of Comus." 41
And this spirit of adventure, of romance, of buoyant
optimism and energy, was not merely reserved for occa
sions of excitement, was not the triumphant outcome of
glory and success. It was constant and unfailing. To be
gin with, Stuart had a magnificent physique. " Nothing
seemed strong enough to break down his powerful or
ganization of mind and body,"42 says his biographer;
and Mosby, " Although he had been in the saddle two
days and nights without sleep, he was as gay as a
lark." 43 When exhaustion finally fell upon him, he would
drop off his horse by the roadside, anywhere, sleep for
an hour, and arise as active as ever. Universal testimony
proves that he was overcome and disheartened by no
disaster. He would be thoughtful for a moment, pulling
at his beard, then seize upon the best decision that pre
sented itself and push on. Dreariness sometimes crushes
those who can well resist actual misfortune. Not Stuart.
" In the midst of rainstorms, when everybody was rid
ing along grum and cowering beneath the flood pour^
ing down, he would trot on, head up, and singing
gayly." 44
The list of his personal adventures and achievements
is endless. He braved capture and death with entire in
difference, trusting in his admirable horsemanship, which
often saved him, trusting in Providence, trusting in no-

J. E. B. STUART 49
thing at all but his quick wit and strong arm, curious
mainly, perhaps, to see what would happen. On one
occasion he is said to have captured forty-four Union
soldiers. He was riding absolutely alone and ran into
them taking their ease in a field. Instantly he chose his
course. "Throw down your arms or you are all dead
men." 45 They were green troops and threw down their
arms, and Stuart marched the whole squad into camp.
When duty forbids a choice adventure, he sighs, as might
Don Quixote : " A scouting party of one hundred and
fifty lancers had just passed toward Gettysburg. I re
gretted exceedingly that my march did not admit of the
delay necessary to catch them." 46
I have sometimes asked myself how much of this spirit
of romantic adventure, of knight-errantry, as it were, in
Stuart was conscious. Did he, like Claverhouse, read
Homer and Froissart, and try to realize in modern Vir
ginia the heroic deeds, still more, the heroic spirit, of
antique chivalry? In common with all Southerners, he
probably knew the prose and poetry of Scott and dreamed
of the plume of Marmion and the lance of Ivanhoe. He
must have felt the weight of his name, also, and believed
that "James Stuart" might be aptly fitted with valorous
adventure, and knightly deeds, and sudden glory. It is
extremely interesting to find him writing to Jackson:
" Did you receive the volume of Napoleon and his
Maxims I sent you ? " 47 I should like to own that volume.
And in his newspaper account of Brown's raid he quotes

50 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
Horace, horribly, but still Horace : Erant fortes ante
Agamemnona.
Yet I do not gather that he was much of a student. He
preferred to live poems rather than read them. The spirit
of romance, the instinct of the picturesque, was born in
him and would out anywhere and everywhere. Life was
a perpetual play, with ever shifting scenes, and gay lime
light, and hurrying incident, and passionate climax.
Again and again he reminds me of a boy playing sol
diers. His ambition, his love of glory, was of this order,
not a bit the ardent, devouring, frowning, far-sighted
passion of Jackson, but a jovial sense of pleasant things
that can be touched and heard and tasted here, to-day.
He had a childlike, simple vanity which all his biogra
phers smile at, liked parade, display, and pomp and gor-
geousness, utterly differing in this from Jackson, who was
too proud, or Lee, who was too lofty. Stuart rode fine
horses, never was seen on an inferior animal.48 He wore
fine clothes, all that his position justified, perhaps a little
more. Here is Fitz Lee's picture of him : " His strong
figure, his big brown beard, his piercing, laughing blue
eye, the drooping hat and black feather, the ' fighting
jacket' as he termed it, the tall cavalry boots, forming
one of the most jubilant and striking figures in the war." 4S
And Cooke is even more particular : " His fighting
jacket shone with dazzling buttons and was covered with
gold braid ; his hat was looped up with a golden star,
and decorated with a black ostrich plume; his fine buff

J. E. B. STUART 51
gauntlets reached to the elbow ; around his waist was
tied a splendid yellow sash, and his spurs were of pure
gold." 80 After this, we appreciate the biographer's as
sertion that Stuart was as fond of colors as a boy or girl,
and elsewhere we read that he never moved without his
gorgeous red battle-flag which often drew the fire of the
enemy.51 As to the spurs, they were presented to the general by
the ladies of Baltimore and he took great pride in them,
signing himself sometimes in his private letters, K.G.S.,
Knight of the Golden Spurs.52
This last touch is perfectly characteristic and the Stuart
of the pen is precisely the same as the Stuart of the sword.
He could express himself as simply as Napoleon : " Tell
General Lee that all is right. Jackson has not advanced,
but I have; and I am going to crowd them with artillery."53
But usually he did not. Indeed, the seyere taste of Lee
recoiled from his subordinate's fashions of speech : " The
general deals in the flowery style, as you will perceive,
if you ever see his reports in detail." 54 But I love them,
they ring and resound so with the temper of the man,
gorgeous scraps of tawdry rhetoric, made charming by
their riotous sincerity, as with Scott and Dumas. " Their
brave men behaved with coolness and intrepidity in
danger, unswerving resolution before difficulties, and
stood unappalled before the rushing torrent of the Chick
ahominy, with the probability of an enemy at their heels
armed with the fury of a tigress robbed of her whelps." 5B

52 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
Could anything be worse from Lee's point of view? But
it does put some life into an official report. Or take this
Homeric picture of a charge, which rushes like a half-
dozen stanzas of " Chevy Chase " : " Lieutenant Rob
bins, handling it in the most skilful manner, managed to
clear the way for the march with little delay, and infused
by a sudden dash at a picket such a wholesome terror
that it never paused to take a second look. . . . On, on
dashed Robbins, here skirting a field, there leaping a
fence or ditch, and clearing the woods beyond." 66
When I read these things, I cannot but remember
Madame de Sevigne's fascinating comment on the his
torical novels of her day. "The style of La Calprenede
is detestable in a thousand ways : long-winded, romantic
phrases, ill-chosen words, I admit it all. I agree that it is
detestable ; yet it holds me like glue. The beauty of the
sentiments, the violence of the passions, the grandeur of
the events, and the miraculous success of the hero's re
doubtable sword — it sweeps me away as if I were a
child." And Stuart's was a real sword !
Then, too, as in Shakespearean tragedy or modern
melodrama, the tension, in Stuart's case, is constantly
relieved by hearty, wholesome, cheery laughter, which
shook his broad shoulders and sparkled in his blue eyes.
See what a strange comedy his report makes of this lurid
night scene, in which another might have found only
shadow and death: "It so far succeeded as to get pos-

J. E. B. STUART 53
session of his [General Bartlett' s] headquarters at one
o'clock at night, the general having saved himself by
precipitate flight in his nether garments. The head
quarters flag was brought away. No prisoners were at
tempted to be taken, the party shooting down every one
within reach. Some horses breaking loose near head
quarters ran through an adjacent regimental camp, caus
ing the greatest commotion, mid firing and yelling and
cries of ' Halt ! ' ' Rally 1 ' mingling in wild disorder, and
ludicrous stampede which beggars description." 57 Can't
you hear him laugh ?
It must not be concluded from this that Stuart was cruel
in his jesting. Where gentleness and sympathy were really
called for, all the evidence shows that no man could give
more. But he believed that the rough places are made
smooth and the hard places soft and the barren places
green and smiling by genial laughter. Who shall say
that he was wrong? Therefore he would have his jest,
with inferior and superior, with friend and enemy. Even
the sombre Jackson was not spared. Once he had floun
dered into winter-quarters oddly decorated. Stuart sug
gested "that a drawing of the apartment should be
made, with the race-horses, gamecocks, and terrier in bold
relief, the picture to be labelled: 'View of the winter-
quarters of General Jackson, affording an insight into
the tastes and character of the individual.' " 68 And Jack
son enjoyed it.
When it came to his adversaries, Stuart's fun was

54 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
unlimited. Everybody knows his telegraphed complaint
to the United States Commissary Department that the
mules he had been getting lately were most unsatisfac
tory and he wished they would provide a better quality.
Even more amusing is the correspondence that occurred
at Lewinsville. One of Stuart's old comrades wrote, ad
dressing him by his West Point nickname. " My dear
Beauty, — lam sorry that circumstances are such that
I can't have the pleasure of seeing you, although so near
you. Griffin says he would like to have you dine with
him at Willard's at 5 o'clock on Saturday next. Keep
your Black Horse off me, if you please. Yours, etc.,
Orlando M. Poe." On the back of this was penciled in
Stuart's writing: "I have the honor to report that 'cir
cumstances ' were such that they could have seen me if
they had stopped to look behind, and I answered both
at the cannon's mouth. Judging from his speed, Griffin
surely left for Washington to hurry up that dinner." 59
I had an old friend who adored the most violent melo
drama. When the curtain and his tears had fallen to
gether, he would sigh and murmur, " Now let 's have a
little of that snare-drum music." Such was Stuart. " It
might almost be said that music was his passion," writes
his biographer.60 I doubt, however, whether he dealt
largely in the fugues of Bach. His favorites, in the seri
ous order, are said to have been "The dew is on the
blossom," and " Sweet Evelina." But his joy was the up
roarious "If you get there before I do" ; or his precious

J. E. B. STUART 55
" If you want to have a good time, jine the cavalry."
He liked to live in the blare of trumpets and the crash
of cymbals, liked to have his nerves tingle and his blood
leap to a merry hunts-up or a riotous chorus, liked to
have the high strain of war's melodrama broken by the
sudden crackle of the snare-drum. His banjo-player,
Sweeney, was as near to him as an aide-de-camp, fol
lowed him everywhere. " Stuart wrote his most impor
tant correspondence with the rattle of the gay instru
ment stunning everybody, and would turn round from
his work, burst into a laugh, and join uproariously in
Sweeney's chorus." 61
And dance was as keen a spice to peril as song and
laughter. To fight all day and dance all night was a
good day's work to this creature of perfect physique and
inexhaustible energy. If his staff officers could not keep
pace with him and preferred a little sleep, the general
did not like it at all. What? Here is — or was — a gay
town, and pretty girls. Just because we are here to-day
and gone to-morrow, shall we not fleet the time care
lessly, as they did in the golden world? And the girls
are got together, and a ball is organized, and the fun
grows swifter and swifter. Perhaps a fortunate officer
picks the prettiest and is about to stand up with her.
Stuart whispers in his ear that a hurried message must
be carried, laughs his gay laugh, and slips into the vacant
place. Then an orderly hurries in, covered with dust.
The enemy are upon us. "The officers rushed to their

56 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
weapons and called for their horses, panic-stricken fathers
and mothers endeavored to collect around them their
bewildered children, while the young ladies ran to and
fro in most admired despair. General Stuart maintained
his accustomed coolness and composure. Our horses
were immediately saddled, and in less than five min
utes we were in rapid gallop to the front." 62 Oh, what
a life! You divine that with such a temperament Stuart would
love women. So he did. Not that he let them interfere
with duty. He would have heartily accepted the pro
found doctrine of Enobarbus in regard to the fair : " It
were pity to cast them away for nothing ; yet between
them and a great cause they should be esteemed as
nothing." Stuart arrested hundreds of ladies, says his
biographer, and remained inexorable to their petitions.
Cooke's charming account of one of these arrests should
be read in full : how the fair captives first raved, and
then listened, and then laughed, and then were charmed
by the mellifluous Sweeney and the persuasive general,
and at last departed with kissed hands and kindly hearts,
leaving Stuart to explain to his puzzled aide, who inquired
why he took so much pains : " Don't you understand ?
When those ladies arrived they were mad enough with
me to bite my head off, and I determined to put them in
good humor before they left me." 63
But Cooke dresses his viands. I prefer the following
taste of Stuart and girls and duty, as we get it unspiced

J. E. B. STUART 57
from the rough-spoken common soldier: "General Lee
would come up and spend hours studying the situation
with his splendid glasses ; and the glorious Stuart would
dash up, always with a lady, and a pretty one, too. I
wonder if the girl is yet alive who rode the general's fine
horse and raced with him to charge our station. When
they had reached the level platform, and Stuart had left
her in care of one of us and took the other off to one side
and questioned the very sweat out of him about the
enemy's position, he was General Stuart then, but when
he got back and lifted the beauty into the saddle and
rode off humming a breezy air . . . he was Stuart the
beau." 64
And the women liked Stuart. It was a grand thing to
be the first officer in the Confederate cavalry, with a blue
eye and a fair beard, and all gold, like Horace's Lydia,
from hat to spurs. When he rode singing and laughing
into a little town, "by river or seashore," they flocked to
meet him, young and old, and touched his garments, and
begged his buttons and kissed his gloved hands, until
he suggested that his cheeks were available, and then
they kissed those, young and old alike. 65 They showered
him with flowers also, buried him under nosegays and
garlands, till he rode like old god Bacchus or the queen
of May. What an odd fashion of making war ! And the
best I have met with is, that one day Stuart described one
of these occurrences to his great chieftain. " I had to
wear her garland, till I was out of sight," apologized the

58 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
young cavalier. " Why are n't you wearing it now ? " re
torted Lee. Isn't that admirable ? I verily believe that if
any young woman had had the unimaginable audacity
to throw a garland over Lee, he would have worn it
through the streets of Richmond itself. 66
You say, then, this Stuart was dissipated, perhaps, a
scapegrace, a rioter, imitating Rupert and Murat in other
things than great cavalry charges. That is the curious
point. The man was nothing of the sort. With all his in
stinct of revelry, he had no vices, a very Puritan of laugh
ter. He liked pretty girls everywhere ; but when he was
charged with libertinism, he answered, in the boldness
of innocence, " That person does not live who can say
that I ever did anything improper of that description " ; 67
and he liked his wife better than any other pretty girl.
He married her when he was twenty-two years old and
his last wish was that she might reach him before he
died. His few letters to her that have been printed are
charming in their playful affection. He adored his chil
dren also ; in short, was a pattern of domesticity. He did,
indeed, love his country more, and telegraphed to his
wife, when she called him to his dying daughter's bed
side, " My duty to the country must be performed be
fore I can give way to the feelings of a father" ; but
the child's death was a cruel blow to him. With his inti
mates he constantly referred to her, and when he himself
was dying, he whispered, " I shall soon be with my little
Flora again." 6S

J. E. B. STUART 59
" I never saw him touch a card," writes one who was
very near him, " and he never dreamed of uttering an
oath under any provocation, nor would he permit it at his
headquarters." 69 We are assured by many that he never
drank and an explicit statement of his own on the subject
is reported : " I promised my mother in my childhood
never to touch ardent spirits and a drop has never passed
my lips, except the wine of the communion." 70
As the last words show, he had religion as well as
morals. He joined the Methodist church when he was
fifteen ; later the Episcopal. When he was twenty-four,
he sent money home to his mother to aid in the building
of a church. He carried his Bible with him always. In
his reports religion is not obtrusive. When it does occur,
it is evidently sincere. " The Lord of Hosts was plainly
fighting on our side, and the solid walls of Federal in
fantry melted away before the straggling, but nevertheless
determined, onset of our infantry columns." 71 " Believing
that the hand of God was clearly manifested in the signal
deliverance of my command from danger, and the crown
ing success attending it, I ascribe to Him the praise, the
honor, and the glory." 72 He inclined to strictness in the
observance of Sunday. Captain Colston writes me that
when twelve struck of a Saturday night Stuart held up
his hand relentlessly and stopped song and dance in their
full tide, though youth and beauty begged for just one
more. He was equally scrupulous in the field, though, in
his feeling of injury because the enemy were not, I seem

60 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
to detect his habitual touch of humor : " The next morn
ing being the Sabbath, I recognized my obligation to do
no duty other than what was absolutely necessary, and
determined, so far as possible, to devote it to rest. Not
so the enemy, whose guns about 8 A.M. showed that he
would not observe it." 73
I have no doubt that Stuart's religion was inward as
well as outward and remoulded his heart. But, after all,
he was but little over thirty when he died, and I love to
trace in him the occasional working of the old Adam
which had such lively play in the bosom of many an offi
cer who was unjustly blamed or missed some well-de
served promotion. Stuart's own letters are too few to
afford much insight of this kind. But here again we get
that one-sided correspondence with Lee which is so teas-
ingly suggestive. On one occasion Lee writes: "The
expression 'appropriated by the Stuart Horse Artillery'
was not taken from a report of Colonel Baldwin, nor in
tended in any objectionable sense, but used for want of
a better phrase, without any intention on my part of
wounding." 74 And again, after Chancellorsville : " As
regards the closing remarks of your note, I am at a loss
to understand their reference or to know what has given
rise to them. In the management of the difficult opera
tions at Chancellorsville, which you so promptly under
took and creditably performed, I saw no errors to cor
rect, nor has there been a fit opportunity to commend
your conduct. I prefer your acts to speak for themselves,

J. E. B. STUART 61
nor does your character or reputation require bolstering
up by out-of-place expressions of my opinion." 7B
But by far the most interesting human revelation of
this kind is one letter of Stuart's own, written to justify
himself against some aspersions of General Trimble.
With the right or wrong of the case we are not con
cerned; simply with the fascinating study of Stuart's
state of mind. He begins evidendy with firm restraint
and a Christian moderation : " Human memory is frail I
know." But the exposure of his wrongs heats his blood,
as he goes on, and spurs him, though he still endeavors
to check himself : " It is true I am not in the habit of
giving orders, particularly to my seniors in years, in a
dictatorial and authoritative manner, and my manner
very likely on this occasion was more restive than im
perative ; indeed, I may have been content to satisfy
myself that the dispositions which he himself proposed
accorded with my own ideas, without any blustering
show of orders to do this or that. . . . General Trimble
says I did not reach the place until seven or eight
o'clock. I was in plain view all the time, and rode
through, around, and all about the place soon after its
capture. General Trimble is mistaken."78 Nay, in his
stammering eagerness to right himself, his phrases, usu
ally so crisp and clear, stumble and fall over each other :
"In the face of General Trimble's positive denial of
sending me such a message, 'that he would prefer wait
ing until daylight,' or anything like it, while my recol-

62 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
lection is clear that I did receive such a message, and
received it as coming from General Trimble, yet, as he
is so positive to not having sent such a message or
anything like it, I feel bound to believe that either the
message was misrepresented or made up by the mes
senger, or that it was a message received from General
Robertson, whose sharpshooters had been previously
deployed." 77
A real man, you see, like the rest of us ; but a noble
one, and lovable. Fortunate, also, in his death as in his
life. For he was not shot down in the early days, like
Jackson and Sidney Johnston, when it seemed as if his
great aid might have changed destiny. He had done all
a man in his position could do. When he went, hope too
was going. He was spared the long, weary days of
Petersburg, spared the bitter cup of Appomattox, spared
the cruel domination of the conqueror, spared what was
perhaps worst of all, the harsh words and reproaches
which flew too hotly where there should have been
nothing but love and silence. He slept untroubled in his
glory, while his countrymen mourned and Lee " yearned
for him." His best epitaph has been written by a mag
nanimous opponent: "Deep in the hearts of all true
cavalrymen, North and South, will ever burn a sentiment
of admiration mingled with regret for this knightiy sol
dier and generous man." 78

Ill
James Longstreet

CHRONOLOGY
Born in Edgefield District, South Carolina, January 8, 1821.
Graduated at West Point, 1842.
Second Lieutenant, July I, 1842.
Served in Texas during 1845-46.
Served in Mexican War, 1846-47.
First Lieutenant, February 23, 1847.
Married Maria Louise Garland, March 8, 1848.
Served in West till 1861.
Captain, December 7, 1852.
Major, July 19, 1858.
Major-General in Confederate Army, 1861.
Served with Army of Northern Virginia till April, 1863.
Independent command south of James River, April, May, 1863.
With Army of Northern Virginia till autumn of 1863.
Served in Tennessee till January, 1864.
With Army of Northern Virginia till close of war.
After war became a Republican.
Minister to Turkey, 1880.
Married Helen Dortch, September 8, 1897.
Died, January 2, 1904.

JAMES LONGSTREET

Ill
JAMES LONGSTREET
LONGSTREET had half New Jersey blood and probably
part Dutch. It shows in him. He is far more the mod
ern, practical nineteenth-century American than most of
his fellows. What Southern romance he has sits awk
wardly and is mixed with mocking. He reminds you
again and again of Grant and Sherman in his bulldog
pugnacity and tenacity, his brusque, sharp fashions of
hitting right out at men and measures. Southern easy
going ways and shiftlessness vexed him : " Our people
have been so accustomed to having things at their hands
that they seem at a loss for resources when emergencies
arise. 'Where there is a will there is a way' of over
coming all human obstacles. It is left for us to find it
out." i
He was hard-headed, solid, stolid ; and he looked it.
" A thick-set, determined-looking man," 2 says Freman
tle. And Pollard describes his appearance as " not en
gaging. It was decidedly sombre ; the bluish-gray eye
was intelligent, but cold ; a very heavy brown beard was
allowed to grow untrimmed ; he seldom spoke unneces
sarily ; his weather-stained clothes, splashed boots, and
heavy black hat gave a certain fierce aspect to the
man." 3 His health, vigor, power of supporting fatigue

66 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
were remarkable. " The iron endurance of General Long-
street is most extraordinary : he seems to require neither
food nor sleep." 4
As a fighter he was superb, the best fighter in the Army
of Northern Virginia, the soldiers called him. This per
haps refers more to character than to brains, as it is
admitted that he was no great student at West Point or
anywhere else. In Mexico he fought most creditably,
side by side with Grant and other contemporaries. From
Bull Run to Appomattox he was always where the fight
ing was hottest. His soldiers believed in him and trusted
him. He spoke straight out to them, as if he meant it.
Sometimes it was with a heavy sarcasm, as at Gettys
burg, to an officer who complained of not being able to
bring up his troops: "Very well, never mind, then, Gen
eral ; just let them remain where they are ; the enemy 's
going to advance, and will spare you the trouble."5
More often he gave them sound, direct, practical advice,
of the kind to put heart into a man : " Let officers and
men, even under the most formidable fire, preserve a
quiet demeanor and self-possessed temper. Keep cool,
obey orders, and aim low. Remember, while you are
doing this, and driving the enemy before you, your
comrades may be relied upon to support you on either
side, and are in turn relying upon you." 6
Such advice coming from the War Department might
not have amounted to much. Coming from a man who
was as cool in battle as in a ballroom, it must have been

JAMES LONGSTREET 67
almost as if he laid a hand on your shoulder. How im
perturbable he was is shown by many witnesses, notably
Fremantle : " No person could have been more calm
or self-possessed than General Longstreet under these
trying circumstances [after Gettysburg], aggravated as
they now were by the movements of the enemy, who
began to show a strong disposition to advance,. I could
now appreciate the term bulldog which I had heard
applied to him by the soldiers. Difficulties seem to make
no other impression upon him than to make him a lit
tle more savage." 7 He may not have felt the dancing
ecstasy with which Stuart charged and which Long-
street himself admirably describes in another : " He
came into battle as gayly as a beau, and seemed to re
ceive orders which threw him into more exposed posi
tions with peculiar delight." 8 But he was always ready
to face any exposure — too ready. " Every one deplores
that Longstreet will expose himself in such a reck
less manner. To-day he led a Georgian regiment in a
charge against a battery, hat in hand and in front of
everybody." 9
The same imperturbable coolness that distinguished
Longstreet in actual fighting characterized him as a
leader. He was never anxious, never flurried. Victory
could not over-excite him with triumph, nor defeat with
confusion. He made every preparation, took every pre
caution, was ready for difficulties and indifferent to dan
gers. Unfortunately, however, consummate generalship

68 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
requires something more than imperturbability. It re
quires brains and speed. Had Longstreet these? His
work as an independent commander suggests some
doubt. Intelligence of a certain order, the solid, firm,
Dutch grasp of a situation, and common sense in the
handling of it, can never be denied him. But quick in
sight, long penetration, the sudden conception of what
is daring to be done and not too daring, — in short,
a brain like Jackson's, I do not think he had. As to
speed there will be less question. Even Lee is said to
have remarked, " Longstreet is the hardest man to move
in my army." In every case the general was able to
give a good reason for not arriving in time. But Jack
son, when at his best, arrived in time in spite of good
reasons. Both these defects and many of Longstreet's excel
lences are intimately bound up with one strongly marked
trait which is often an excellence but runs into a defect
too easily ; I mean a singular, an unfailing, an almost
unlimited self-confidence. Self-confidence does nearly all
the great things that are done in the world. " Trust thy
self," says Emerson ; " every heart vibrates to that iron
string." Doubt of one's powers, doubt of one's nerve,
dread of responsibility — these weaknesses will paralyze
the keenest perceptions, the finest intelligence. But self-
confidence, to achieve the highest, must be tempered
with insight and sympathy. A man must trust himself,
but he must trust others. Before he decides, resolves,

JAMES LONGSTREET 69
executes, he must listen. His own judgment must pre
vail with him ; but it must be his own judgment quali
fied, enriched, by the judgment of those wiser, or even
less wise. No one can impose his own personality, how
ever solid and sturdy, on the whole world.
This is what Longstreet tried to do, with exquisite and
naive unconsciousness. And this quality of an immense
self-confidence runs through his whole career with a
steadiness which is very peculiar, very instructive — and
very unfortunate. Note that Johnston's trouble was an
over-sensitive pride. This is not Longstreet's main trou
ble ; nor was he largely stirred by wounded ambitions.
" I am not prompted by any desire to do, or to attempt
to do, great things. I only wish to do what I regard as
my duty — give you the full benefit of my views." 10
And again : " If there is no duty to which I can be as
signed on this side of the Mississippi River without dis
placing an officer, I will cheerfully accept service in the
trans-Mississippi Department." n Note also that it is not
a foolish conceit, or pig-headed pride of opinion. Once
convince the man that he was in the wrong and he
would have been perfectly ready to say, " All my fault,"
and begin over again. But you never could convince him
that he was wrong. There was one way to see the ques
tion in hand and that was the way he saw it, one way
to act and that was the way he acted. Other ways and
other views were incomplete, or unenlightened, or sim
ply stupid. No single quotation can sum up this attitude,

70 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
naturally. It will, I think, appear in overwhelming sig
nificance, as we go on. Page after page of Longstreet's
book is stamped with it. But perhaps one paragraph
near the beginning is as characteristic as any. " Speak
ing of the impending struggle [spring of 1861], I was
asked as to the length of the war, and said, 'At least
three years, and if it holds for five you may begin to
look for a dictator,' at which Lieutenant Ryan, of the
Seventh Infantry, said, ' If we have to have a dictator, I
hope that you may be the man.' " 12 No doubt, for the
good of the country, Longstreet himself hoped that he
would be the man.
It is in his relation to Lee that this stolid self-confidence
of Longstreet manifests itself most interestingly. The two
men loved each other. Lee showed his affection for his
second in command more frankly and directly than for
almost any one else, even Jackson. " My old war-horse,"
he called him, perhaps characterizing the subordinate
more fully than he meant. If so, Longstreet was quite
oblivious of it and refers to the phrase with proud com
placency, as he does to another point which most of us
are inclined to view a little differently, that is, the fact
that "on his march he [Lee] usually had his headquar
ters near mine." 13 Lee has other words, however, of a
less equivocal nature. Thus, he writes to the general in
the West: "I think you can do better than I could.
It was with that view I urged your going." 14 But he
longs to have him back : " I missed you dreadfully and

JAMES LONGSTREET 71
your brave corps. Your cheerful face and strong arm
would have been invaluable. I hope you will soon return
to me." 1B
Longstreet's love for his great chief was equally fervent
Speaking of him after the war he says : " The relations
existing between us were affectionate, confidential, and
even tender, from first to last. There was never a harsh
word between us." 16 Writing to Lee from the West he
expresses feeling as evidendy deep as it is genuine : " All
that we have to be proud of has been accomplished under
your eye and under your orders. Our affections for you
are stronger, if it is possible for them to be stronger,
than our admiration for you." 17 And Fremantle, who had
observed both men closely, corroborates these words in
the most charming manner: "It is impossible to please
Longstreet more than by praising Lee. I believe these
two generals to be as little ambitious and as thoroughly
unselfish as any men in the world." 18
But Longstreet did not propose to allow judgment to
be hoodwinked by affection. Not for him was the atti
tude so passionately expressed by Jackson: "General
Lee is a phenomenon. I would follow him blindfold."
On the contrary, the commander of the First Corps was
keenly aware of his chief's defects and has recorded them
mercilessly for posterity. "In the field his characteristic
fault was headlong combativeness. . . . In the immediate
presence of the enemy General Lee's mind, at all other
times calm and clear, became excited." 19 These defects

72 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
it was naturally the duty of an affectionate lieutenant to
watch for and remedy in every possible way. And Long-
street watched.
From the first day Lee took command we have his
subordinate's delightful accounts of the way in which he
advised, suggested, as some might almost say, dictated.
It was Longstreet who conceived the plan by which Jack
son was to be called from the Valley that McClellan
might be driven from the Peninsula ; and if Jackson had
been at all equal to the occasion, a great triumph would
have been achieved.20 It was Longstreet who found Lee
hesitating about going into Maryland on account of lack
of supplies. " But I reminded him of my experiences in
Mexico, where sometimes we were obliged to live two
or three days on green corn. . . . Finally he determined
to go on." 21 It was Longstreet who pointed out to his
commander the folly of the Harper's Ferry scheme and
supposed it was abandoned. But he could not be on the
watch all the time and the pestilent Jackson took ad
vantage of his absence to impose on a mind always too
easily led.22 Later Longstreet did his best to remedy a
bad state of things. "Lee listened patiently enough, but
did not change his plans, and directed that I should go
back the next day and make a stand at the mountain.
After lying down, my mind was still on the battle of the
next day, and I was so impressed with the thought that
it would be impossible for us to do anything at South
Mountain . . . that I rose and, striking a light, wrote a

JAMES LONGSTREET 73
note to General Lee, urging him to order Hill away
and concentrate at Sharpsburg. To that note I got no
answer." 23 Do you wonder why?
But Gettysburg is the best of all. And observe, I take
no part in the controversy as to what Longstreet actually
did. It does not become an outsider and a civilian to do
so. His judgment as to possibilities before and as to
events after may have been wise, may have been correct.
What interests me solely is Longstreet's character as
displayed in Longstreet's own words.
To begin with, then, he is opposed to the campaign
from the start, believing that the main operations should
be carried on in the West. However, finding Lee unwill
ing to agree to this, Longstreet permits his commander
to enter upon his project. " I then accepted his proposal
to make a campaign into Pennsylvania, provided it
should be offensive in strategy, but defensive in tactics." 24
Judge of his disgust when they found themselves at
Gettysburg and the commander ventured to overstep the
lines which his mentor had laid down for him. " I sug
gested that the course seemed to be at variance with the
plan of the campaign that had been agreed on before
leaving Fredericksburg. He said, ' If the enemy is there
to-morrow, we must attack him.' ... I said that it
seemed to me that if, during our council at Fredericks
burg, we had described the position in which we de
sired to get the two armies, we could not have expected
to get the enemy in a better position for us than he then

74 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
occupied. . . . He, however, did not seem to abandon
the idea of attack on the next day." 28
And they attacked and failed all along the line, be
cause Longstreet's heart was not in it, say his ene
mies, because success was impossible, says Longstreet
himself. And the scene was renewed again the day following,
Lee deciding, ordering, Longstreet protesting, with im
perturbable confidence in his own judgment, and snubbed
in a fashion made tenfold more dramatic by its being Lee
who did it and Longstreet who recorded it, apparently
without the dimmest perception of what it meant [italics
mine] : " I said : ' General, I have been a soldier all my
life. I have been with soldiers engaged in fights by
couples, by squads, companies, regiments, divisions, and
armies, and should know as well as any one what soldiers
can do. It is my opinion that no 15,000 men ever ar
rayed for battle can take that position,' pointing to
Cemetery Hill. General Lee in reply to this ordered me
to prepare Picket? s division for the attack." 2a
When everything was over, Lee declared, with divine
humility, that it was all his fault. " Fine," says Long-
street, in effect, "especially as it was."
In the autumn of 1863 Longstreet went West. He had
long felt that he was needed there and he finally pre
vailed on Davis and Lee to let him go. It would be im
possible to surpass the serene confidence with which he
viewed this undertaking. Note also that he disclaims,

JAMES LONGSTREET 75
and no doubt sincerely, all thought of personal ambition
in the matter [italics mine] : " If my corps cannot go
West, I think that we might accomplish something by
giving me Jenkins, Wise, and Cooke's brigades, and
putting me in General Bragg's place, and giving him my
corps. . . . We would surely run no risk in such a change
and we might gain a great deal. I feel that I am influ
enced by no personal motive in making this suggestion ;
and will most cheerfully give up, when we have a fair
prospect of holding our Western country. I doubt if
General Bragg has great confidence in his troops or
himself either. He is not likely to do a great deal
for us." ™
He was not put in Bragg's place, however, but under
Bragg's orders, and therefore naturally was unable to
accomplish all the great things that he had counted on.
If he had found it difficult to place much reliance on Lee,
how was it to be expected that he should place any on
Bragg ? He did not, and said so. Here again, I do not
think there was any set purpose of malice or mischief-
making. Bragg was wrong. Longstreet was right. This
must be so obvious to every one that outspoken com
ment could hardly make it any plainer. The effect, how
ever, was not happy \ witness Mackall, who was no friend
to Bragg : " I think Longstreet has done more injury
to the general than all the others put together. You
may understand how much influence with his troops a
remark from a man of his standing would have to the

76 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
effect that Bragg was not on the field and Lee would
have been." s
This sort of thing seems incredible in a man of Long-
street's age, training, and soldierly habits; but the lan
guage of his own letters shows abundantly what Ins
attitude was. He writes to Buckner: "As every other
move had been proposed to the general and rejected or
put off till time made them more convenient, I came to
the conclusion that this was to be the fate ot our army
— to wait till all good opportunities passed, and then, in
desperation, to seize upon the least favorable one." s
And here again, as at Gettysburg, we can ask nothing
more characteristic than the little scene that the general
paints for us, apparently quite unconscious of its signifi
cance, but depicting himself and a dozen men of similar
type that we all know, as effectively as Rembrandt might
have done: "The only notice my plan received was a
remark that General Hardee was pleased to make : 'I
dont think that is a bad idea of Longstreet's.' ... I
repeated my ideas, but they did not even receive notice.
It was not till I had repeated them, however, that Gen
eral Hardee even noticed me." w Unconscious self-inter
pretation like this, as with Pepys, amounts to genius.
No one could attack Bragg without attacking Davis,
and to Longstreet, Davis — when he was wrong — was no
more than Bragg. Twice, at least, in full and formal military
council, the general offered his advice to the President —
and was snubbed. The first time was early in the war

JAMES LONGSTREET 77
before the Peninsular campaign. " From the hasty inter
ruption I concluded that my opinion had only been asked
through polite recognition of my presence, not that it
was wanted, and said no more." 31 The second time was
in connection with the movements of Bragg and John
ston in the West and involved Lee as well as Longstreet.
As described by the latter, it is a singularly impressive
and characteristic incident. He had given his views in
regard to the situation at some length, and assumes that
Lee agreed with them. The President did not. " General
Lee wore his beard full, but neatly trimmed. He pulled
at it nervously, and more vigorously as time and silence
grew, till his nervousness was conquered. The profound
quiet of a minute or more seemed an hour. When he
spoke, it was of other matters, but the air was troubled
by his efforts to surrender hopeful anticipations to the
caprice of empirics. He rose to take leave of the august
presence, gave his hand to the President, and bowed
himself out of the council chamber. His assistant went
through the same forms, and no one approached the
door to offer parting courtesy." 32 Even after this Long-
street could not get the responsibility of the matter off
his mind. On returning to the West, "it occurred to me
to write to the President, and try to soften the asperities
of the Richmond council. ... In reply the President
sent a rebuke of my delay." 33
The most significant element of all in Longstreet's
Western campaign is his dealings with his own subordi-

78 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
nates, McLaws, Law, and Robertson. The dramatic
genius of Sophocles could not have devised a finer cli
max than that situation. At Gettysburg, just before, as
second in command to Lee, the general had thoroughly
disapproved of his chief's action and had not hesitated
to say so. Likewise, he had failed to carry out his chief's
wishes, through either indifference or inability. Lee, with
supreme generosity, intent on the future, not on the
past, had accepted the latter solution and found no word
of fault with his lieutenant's motives in any way whatso
ever. Then Longstreet goes West and is placed in charge
of the Knoxville expedition. His second in command,
McLaws, disapproves of the assault on Fort Loudon,
exactly as Longstreet disapproved of the assault at Get
tysburg. Hear McLaw's own words : " I object to being
put forward as a blind to draw attention away from the
main issue, which is the conduct of the campaign in
East Tennessee by General Longstreet. I assert that the
enemy could have been brought to an engagement be
fore reaching Knoxville ; that the town, if assaulted at
all, should have been on the first day we arrived or on
the next at furthest ; that when the assault was made on
Fort Loudon it was not called for by any line of policy
whatever." 34
If he had been endowed with divination, could he
have anticipated more perfectly Longstreet's later atti
tude with regard to Gettysburg?

JAMES LONGSTREET 79
But how different was Longstreet's treatment of his
subordinate under these circumstances from Lee's I As
soon as he suspects disaffection, he writes sharply through
his aide, " I am directed to say that throughout the cam
paign on which we are engaged you have exhibited a
want of confidence in the efforts and plans which the
commanding general has thought proper to adopt, and
he is apprehensive that this feeling will extend more or
less to the troops under your command." 3B When the
assault is imminent, he insists that previous conviction
of failure is the surest road to it. " Please urge upon
your officers the importance of making the assault with
a determination to succeed. If the assault is made with
that spirit, I shall feel no doubt of its success." 36 And
again : " If we go in with the idea that we shall fail, we
will be sure to do so. But no men who are determined
to succeed can fail. Let me urge you not to entertain
such feelings for a moment. Do not let any one fail, or
any thing." 37 Imagine how Lee would have liked to say
that to Longstreet on the morning of July 3, and if he
had, what Longstreet would have answered.
When all is over, the general does, indeed, admit to
the War Department that it may have been his fault :
" It is fair to infer that the fault is entirely with me, and
I desire, therefore, that some other commander may be
tried." 88 This does not mean, however, that he forgets
or forgives, so far as his subordinates are concerned. He
prefers charges against McLaws, Law, and Robertson.

80 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
They are tried by a court martial, which only partially
sustains the commander, and even this insufficient ver
dict is reversed by the Richmond authorities. " The pro
ceedings, finding, and sentence of the court are disap
proved. Major-General McLaws will at once return to duty
with his command." 39 Longstreet rebels and receives an
even harsher snub from Davis: "General Longstreet has
seriously offended against good order and military dis
cipline in re-arresting an officer who had been released
by the War Department, without any new offense having
been committed." 40 Longstreet has a final word on the
matter in his book, whether to his own advantage or dis
advantage, I leave to the reader's judgment. " Confi
dence in the conduct of the war was broken, and with it
the tone and spirit for battle further impaired by the
efforts of those in authority to damage, if not pre
vent the success of work ordered in their own vital
interest." 41
It might be supposed that, after these varied expe
riences, the general would have returned to Lee's supre
macy with a saddened and a chastened spirit. I do not
find this indicated. Through the spring of 1864 and
later, when he returned to duty after his Wilderness
wound, he was always cheerfully ready to patronize his
commander and to give abundant advice, when it was
asked for and when it was not. " I am pleased at all
times to have any suggestions that you may make, and
am gratified to find that you in your numerous duties

JAMES LONGSTREET 81
do not lose sight of these small matters," 42 is the usual
tone. Perhaps the most curious suggestion offered is that
the military authorities should " impress " all the gold in
the country and use it for the necessities of defense.43
Unfortunately most of Lee's replies to his subordinate's
exhortations are lost. We have his comment on this gold
matter, however, — a gentle reminder that the specie is
not accumulated in chests which troopers can walk off
with, but is scattered and hidden all over the Confeder
acy. Longstreet, perfectiy unconcerned, insists as before :
" The gold is in the country, and most of it is lying idle.
Let us take it at once and [use] it to save Richmond
and end the war." 44
Finally, in considering Longstreet's conduct after the
war was over, I think we shall find the best excuse or
explanation for it in this same trait of overmastering
self-confidence. Here we should turn to Mrs. Long-
street. It is worth observing that the lives of three of the
most prominent Southern leaders — Davis, Jackson, and
Longstreet — have been written by their wives with lov
ing eulogy, and that in each case these ladies furnish —
quite unintentionally — the most striking testimony as
to their husbands' weaknesses and defects. It is a not
able illustration of the old poet's remark, —
"Those have most power to hurt us that we love;
We lay our sleeping lives within their arms."
Thus, when Mrs. Longstreet insists that her hero, in
joining the Republican party and accepting government

82 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
office, sacrificed personal advantage to a spirit of lofty
patriotism, much as did Lee at the beginning of the war,
she makes him ridiculous. Her own naive account of the
activities and the luxury of his last years emphasizes
this, and the swelling phrases of her affectionate enthusi
asm require no comment : " I love best to think of him,
not as the warrior leading his legions to victory, but as
the grand citizen after the war was ended, nobly dedi
cating himself to the rehabilitation of his broken people,
offering a brave man's homage to the flag of the estab
lished government, and standing steadfast in all the
passions, prejudices, and persecutions of that unhappy
period. It was the love and honor and soul of the man
crystallized into a being of wonderful majesty, immov
able as Gibraltar." 45
Verily, "those have most power to hurt us that we
love." Yet, as to the substance, I think Mrs. Longstreet
is right, and the many Southerners who accuse her hus
band of mere place-hunting, of flattering the conqueror
for his own aggrandizement, are totally wrong. He was
patriotic. He did believe that he was doing the best for
his country. He was a practical American. The war was
over. The Union must be restored. The sooner it was
restored, the better. And the more good men that took
hold to restore it, the better still. The sentiment of lost
causes, and fallen flags, and consecrated graves was —
sentiment. Those who were to make the future had no
time for it. That was his view. And, as all his life, he

JAMES LONGSTREET 83
could not imagine that there could be any other. He
acted on it at once — and found himself, among thousands
of old comrades, all alone.
And now, surely, we are eager to probe the " wonder
ful majesty" of this "immovable Gibraltar" for what was
human under it, to thrust below the stolid Dutch phleg
matic surface of grim work and rocklike confidence and
find the emotions of mortality.
They were there. Let us take the unsightly ones first
and be rid of them. They had a grip on the man's soul
that forbids us to pass them by. He was jealous, he was
harsh, he was bitter to his enemies. Much there was, un
doubtedly, to bring out these feelings in him. But others
have borne as much in a different spirit.
To begin with his attitude towards Lee — or Lee's ad
mirers. Immediately after Gettysburg, perhaps under the
influence of Lee's example, he wrote the noble letter to
his uncle in which he says : "As we failed, I must take
my share of the responsibility. In fact, I would prefer
that all the blame should rest upon me. As General Lee
is our commander, he should have all the support and in
fluence we can give him. If the blame, if there is any,
can be shifted from him to me, I shall help him and our
cause by taking it." 46 But this mood did not last. On
which side the fault-finding began is disputed, but it soon
grew into bitter recrimination. Longstreet's course, justly
or unjustly, was condemned by many, and he retorted
with the utmost acridity, in the Philadelphia "Times"

84 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
articles, in " Battles and Leaders," and finally in his book.
The lofty determination to exonerate Lee at his own ex
pense was gradually transformed into assertions — before
quoted — that his old chief was not a master of offensive
battle;47 that "in the field his characteristic fault was
headlong combativeness " ; 48 that " in the immediate pres
ence of the enemy General Lee's mind, at all other times
calm and clear, became excited" ; 49 and that the fighting
at Gettysburg had to go on until " blood enough was
shed to appease him." 50
But Longstreet's attitude towards some of his comrades
in arms shows even more unpleasant features than his
attitude towards his beloved commander. And let me
repeat that these things must be insisted on because they
indicate such a fatal and such an instructive flaw in a
nature of unusual depth and power. The proposed duel
with A. P. Hill early in the war, if it really was proposed,
sprang from pride in his troops as much as in himself. 51
No such excuse will avail for his cruel language towards
Early. It is true that Early had criticized him; but just
here Longstreet's weakness comes out most. Early, in
explaining his criticisms later, says with noble and Chris
tian charity, "You will observe that in my article there
is some causticity of expression, which was provoked by
the character of the article I was replying to. I now sin
cerely regret the necessity which called forth the personal
strictures contained in my replies, and would be glad if
they could be eliminated." 62 Yet Longstreet, writing his

JAMES LONGSTREET 85
book much later still, could express himself in this venom
ous fashion: "There was a man on the left of the line
who did not care to make the battle win. He knew where
it was, had viewed it from its earliest formation, had
orders for his part in it, but so withheld part of his com
mand from it as to make cooperative concert of action
impracticable. He had a pruriency for the honors of the
field of Mars, was eloquent, before the fires of the bivouac
and his chief, of the glory of war's gory shield ; but when
its envied laurels were dipping to his grasp, when the
heavy field called for bloody work, he found the placid
horizon, far and beyond the cavalry, more lovely and
inviting." M
This spirit is even more apparent in Longstreet's re
marks about Jackson and Virginia. Here again one
should read Colonel Allan's noble expression of Virginia's
opinion about Longstreet.154 This only emphasizes such
remarks as the following, in regard to Harper's Ferry :
"Jackson was quite satisfied with the campaign, as the
Virginia papers made him the hero of Harper's Ferry,
although the greater danger was with McLaws, whose
service was the severer and more important" ; 56 or this
other, when Jackson declined Longstreet's assistance in
the Valley : " I had been left in command on the Rapidan,
but was not authorized to assume command of the Val
ley district. As the commander of the district did not
care to have an officer there of higher rank, the subject
was discontinued." oa These things make one recur to

86 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
Mrs. Longstreet's eulogy and to her quotation of her
husband's appeal to his countrymen at the outbreak of
the Spanish War : "HI could recall one hour of my dis
tant but glorious command, I would say, on the eve of
battle with a foreign foe, 'Little children, love one an
other.' " 57
The most characteristic, most important, and most un
fortunate of all Longstreet's writings about his old com
panions is the deliberate close of his article in the second
volume of "Battles and Leaders." I do not think the
most ardent admirer of Lincoln can approve either the
feeling or the taste with which his name is introduced
here. " I cannot close this sketch without reference to
the Confederate commander. When he came upon the
scene for the first time, General Lee was an unusually
handsome man, even in his advanced life. He seemed
fresh from West Point, so trim was his figure, and so
elastic his step. Out of battle he was as gentle as a wo
man, but when the clash of arms came, he loved fight,
and urged his battle with wonderful determination. As
a usual thing he was remarkably well balanced — always
so, except on one or two occasions of severe trial when
he failed to maintain his exact equipoise. Lee's orders
were always well considered and well chosen. He de
pended almost too much on his officers for their exe
cution. Jackson was a very skillful man against such
men as Shields, Banks, and Fremont, but when pitted
against the best of the Federal commanders, he did not

JAMES LONGSTREET 87
appear so well. Without doubt the greatest man of re
bellion times, the one matchless among forty millions
for the peculiar difficulties of the period, was Abraham
Lincoln." 58
But who could leave Longstreet so? It is incontestable
that, with all these marked and disastrous defects, the
man was immensely lovable and had not only force, but
charm. Under the stolid exterior there were kindly emo
tions as well as sharper ones. Socially he is said to have
been quiet and undemonstrative, yet at times he showed
a tenderness and affection which were all the more appre
ciated. There can be no doubt that his patriotism and devo
tion to the cause he served were strong and genuine.
" While we weep with the friends of our gallant dead,
we must confess that a soldier's grave, in so holy and just
a cause, is the highest honor that a man can attain." 59
" For myself," he says, after Vicksburg and Gettysburg,
" I felt that our last hope was gone, and that it was only a
question of time with us." 60 Yet he fought on as steadily,
as bravely, as persistently as ever, and declared, in Janu
ary, 1865, " We are better able to cope with the enemy
now than we have ever been, if we will profit by our
experience and exert ourselves properly in improving
our organization." 61
He was as thoughtful in his sympathy for noncombat-
ants as he was hardy in fighting. Thus after Fredericks
burg he directs a subscription to be taken up for the

88 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
inhabitants and describes their sufferings and their devo
tion with the most evident tenderness. 62
I have cited many bitter things that he wrote of his
enemies. Alas, they are in print, set solid in history, and
injure him far more than those he attacked. But we should
weigh against them the kindly, charitable things which
Mrs. Longstreet describes him as saying. When Gordon,
who had uttered harsh words as to Gettysburg, was re
ported ill, Longstreet inquired, with touching concern,
about his condition. 63 Judge Speer and the general had
had disagreements. When asked how he would receive
the judge, Longstreet answered: "As I would receive
any other distinguished American. And as for our past
differences, that has been a long time ago, and I have
forgotten what it was all about."64 General Hampton
felt bitterly as to Longstreet's politics and would not
meet him. Mrs. Longstreet commented on the matter
with some harshness. But her husband said: "There
was not a finer, braver, more gallant officer in the Con
federate service than Wade Hampton." 65 Most touching
also is Mrs. Longstreet's picture of her husband's yearning
for the lost esteem of his fellow-Southerners. "General
Longstreet said nothing, but his eyes slowly filled. While
he bore unjust criticism in silence, he was visibly moved by
any evidence of affection from the Southern people." 68
And he is said to have been most deeply touched by
the enthusiasm shown for him by his old followers at
the unveiling of the Lee Monument.

JAMES LONGSTREET 89
Indeed, if one wishes to forget the general's unami-
able peculiarities, one must turn to his relation with his
soldiers, and one cannot fail to appreciate what a really
great heart he had. He loved his men, sympathized with
them, laughed at and understood their failings, saw their
needs and strove with all his might to remedy them.
When he found troops altering the works for better se
curity, although the engineers objected, he approved,
saying, "If you save the finger of a man's hand, that
does some good." 67 When the cavalry leaders were in
clined to scoff at the infantry, he rebukes them: "The
commanding general regrets that you entertain the im
pression that your forces are fighting for the bread of the
infantry. Your troops are in the service of the Govern
ment, and are battling for a common cause and a com
mon country. The infantry of this army have fought too
many battles to be told that their bread is earned by the
cavalry." 68
And better even than Longstreet's love for his men is
his men's love for him. The immense collection of testi
monial letters printed in Mrs. Longstreet's book goes
far beyond mere conventional eulogy. It shows a devo
tion and a regret which can only have been bred by
something great. Concretely these feelings are best illus
trated by the old soldier who brought his gray jacket
and his enlistment papers to be buried in his general's
grave : " I 've served my time, and the General, he 's
served his time, too. And I reckon I won't need my uni-

90 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
form and papers again. But I 'd like to leave them with
him for always." 69 Beside which should be put Stiles's
striking account, well-paralleled by another instance in
Fremantle,70 of the behavior of the officers at the time
of Longstreet's wound : " The members of his staff sur
rounded the vehicle, some on one side and some on the
other, and some behind. One, I remember, stood upon
the rear step of the ambulance, seeming to desire to be as
near him as possible. I never on any occasion during the
four years of the war saw a group of officers and gentle
men so deeply distressed. They were literally bowed
down with grief. All of them were in tears. One, by
whose side I rode for some distance, was himself severely
hurt, but he made no allusion to his wound and I do not
think he felt it. It was not alone the general they admired
who had been shot down — it was rather the man they
loved." 71
To inspire devotion like that a leader must, indeed,
have noble qualities ; and, morever, it confirms one in
the belief that a round self-confidence, backed by tried
capacity, is a trait men cling to, as much as to anything,
in the hour of trouble.
Towards the end of his life Longstreet joined the
Catholic Church. This forms such a remarkable close to
his career that it cannot be passed over. Mrs. Longstreet,
with another of those shrewd blows that come most
stingingly from those we love, says he did it because his
former Episcopal associates would not sit in the same

JAMES LONGSTREET 91
pew with him after his political conversion and he wanted
a church that had more charity.
I cannot suppose that he was a man of naturally reli
gious bent. Such references as he makes to the subject
have an excess of unction which I would not for a mo
ment call insincere, but which suggests an excursion
into paths not habitually traveled ; and these references
have a rhetorical turn which appears in almost all his
attempts to express unusual emotion. Thus, he writes of
General Jenkins's death: "In a moment of highest earthly
hope he was transported to serenest heavenly joy ; to
that life beyond which knows no bugle call, beat of drum,
or clash of steel. May his beautiful spirit, through the
mercy of God, rest in peace ! Amen ! " 72 He himself
closes his book with a little anecdote which strongly
confirms my opinion as to this phase of his character.
He visits an old servant long after the war. " ' Marse
Jim,' says the negro, ' do you belong to any church ? '
' Oh, yes, I try to be a good Christian.' He laughed loud
and long, and said, — ' Something must have scared
you mighty bad, to change you so from what you was
when I had to care for you.' " 73
Yet this man became a Roman Catholic ! This man
who had all his life trusted nobody, who had placed his
own judgment above that of every other, took the
Church which substitutes authority for individual judg
ment, treats kings and commanders and babes and
sucklings alike ! It may have been for this very reason.

92 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
If he was to make the surrender, he may have preferred
to make it absolute, and where the Lees and Jacksons
would have had to make it too. Nevertheless, I find a
singular piquancy in the image of him who is said to
have jeoparded great battles by his stiff-necked self-will
becoming as a little child again, of him who had rejected
the generalship of Lee submitting his soul to the guid
ance of a ghostly confessor.

IV
P. G. T. BEAUREGARD

CHRONOLOGY
Born in Louisiana, May 28, 1818.
Graduated at West Point, 1838.
Second Lieutenant, July I, 1838.
Served in Mexican War, 1846-47.
Superintendent at West Point, January 23-28, 1861.
General in Confederate Army, 1 861.
Commanded at Charleston, spring of 1 86 1.
Commanded at Battle of Bull Run, July, 1861.
Commanded in West, Battle of Shiloh, spring of 1862.
Commanded at Charleston during 1863.
Commanded south of James River, spring of 1864.
Died at New Orleans, February 20, 1893.

P. G. T. BEAUREGARD

IV
P. G. T. BEAUREGARD
WE are apt to feel that at the time of the Civil War the
South was more homogeneous, more typically Anglo-
Saxon than the North. Yet among the Confederate
leaders we find Longstreet the Dutchman, Benjamin the
Jew, and Beauregard, who was French as if from Paris.
Born in French Louisiana, Beauregard carried his
French traditions and manners to West Point and
through the Mexican War, in which he served with dis
tinguished gallantry. He was a small, dark man, of
French physique, justly proud of great muscular strength,
compact, alert, thoroughly martial. For the most part,
his face was grave and quiet, but in battle it lighted up
with a splendid glory. During the war his hair grew
suddenly gray. This was attributed by some to over
whelming anxiety, by others, ill-naturedly, to the scar
city of imported Parisian cosmetics.
He had too much real genius to ape any one. Yet
being a Frenchman and a soldier, he could not but
dream nightly and daily of Napoleon, and that over
shadowing influence modeled, perhaps unconsciously, a
good many of his habits and methods. " He possesses
large concentrativeness and vivid perception ; and hav
ing once formed his determinations, is inflexible in his

96 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
purpose. In appearance and habits of life he resembles
the first Napoleon, and like him eats but frugally. At
supper I have frequently observed him only partake of
a small portionof biscuit and a glass of water." J Whether
Napoleonic or not, temperance, almost complete absti
nence, from stimulants and tobacco marked Beauregard
through life.
Chivalrous and courteous in all things, he was a de
voted admirer of women. " Like many of our other dis
tinguished soldiers, especially of his race," says Wise,
"he was fond of the gentler sex, and at his best when
in their company." 2 This is severe, but Wise is inclined
to be satirical. Cooke's account of the general's social
relations is more just. With both men and women he
was polite and kindly, " wholly free from affectation and
assumption." And the biographer tells a pretty story of
the presentation of a bouquet from some young ladies,
which the general received " stammering and blushing
like a girl." 3
Persons of a different race will perhaps consider as a
Gallic trait in Beauregard his singular, simple, outspoken,
ever-present vanity, not so much a high conceit of self
as an instinctive desire, unrepressed and irrepressible, to
occupy the centre of the stage, no matter what is going
on. Note that in Beauregard's case, as in D'Artagnan, in
Dumas, for that matter in Napoleon himself, this vanity
is quite compatible with genius, with real greatness, even

P. G. T. BEAUREGARD 97
with a certain sort of modesty ; at any rate, simplicity.
Beauregard is large enough at moments to get outside
the blur of his own egotism : " My duty is to defend
Charleston and Savannah; hence I may think them
more important than they really are." 4 When he drops
his rhetoric, he has words so simple as to approach
grandeur. Thus, some one complained of the name
Bull Run as unrefined. Beauregard said, "Let us try
to make it as great a name as your South Carolina
Cowpens." 5
But, for the most part, the general takes himself, his
army, his gifts, his plans, and all his doings in a very
serious manner and never shows the least disposition to
underrate their importance. He has French talents of
speech, and even in the lavish military rhetoric which the
war produced on both sides his stands out with proud
preeminence. How he does luxuriate in large language
to his soldiers : " Soldiers, untoward events saved the
enemy from annihilation. His insolent presence still pol
lutes your soil, his hostile flag still flaunts before you.
There can be no peace so long as these things are." 6
What pleasure he must have taken in writing the cele
brated " beauty and booty " proclamation I " All rules of
civilized warfare are abandoned, and they proclaim by
their acts, if not on their banners, that their war-cry is,
' Beauty and booty.' " 7 What greater pleasure in the
accidental publicity which distributed it both South and
North ! Less critical than Captain Dugald Dalgetty, he

98 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
urges that weapons are indifferent. " Come with pikes
and scythes, so you come." And Victor Hugo might
have been glad to own the sonorous call for church bells
to be melted into cannon.
Even an official report seemed a pleasant medium for
bestowing phraseology on word-thirsty millions, and
over the head of the staid Cooper this eager warrior
speaks far out to the adoring Confederacy. " O my coun
try ! I would readily have sacrificed my life and those of
all the brave men around me to save your honor and to
maintain your independence from the degrading yoke
which those ruthless invaders had come to impose and
render perpetual." 8
Beauregard's amiable vanity is, however, much more
obvious than in the mere habit of luxuriant proclama
tions. It shows in little things. Pierre Gustave Toutant
Beauregard ! How large and high-sounding! But vulgar
war-office officials quickly make it, Peter. Fancy 1 Peter!
In a very few months G. T. Beauregard is all that is left
and Peter is no more heard of.
Then there is delightful commendation of the general
by the general. Bull Run was a brilliant victory, no
doubt, but others might have been left to mention it.
The retreat from Corinth could not have been conducted
better. So the retreater assures us, and he ought to
know. He will make Charleston as famous for defense
as Sarragossa. The defense, when made, is unsurpassed
in the world's history, and it causes in the North dis-

P. G. T. BEAUREGARD 99
couragement as black as followed the triumph of the
first Manassas.
Among many fascinating passages in this connection
two are perhaps especially significant. " Notwithstand
ing my additional experience in the command of armies
and departments, I feel less confidence in myself than I
did two years ago, for I know that if I succeed, I only
increase the irritation of certain persons against me, and
if I fail, their satisfaction and ire. Without intending to
flatter myself, I feel like Samson shorn of his locks." 9
And imagine either Lee, or Jackson, or Johnston writing
the following letter to a lady friend, with its delicious
mixture of naivete, self-confidence, and also genuine mod
esty : " I then had suddenly on the spur of the moment
to change my whole plan of battle, with troops which had
never yet fought and could scarcely manoeuvre. My
heart for a moment failed me 1 I felt as though all was
lost, and I wished I had fallen in the battle of the 18th ;
but I soon rallied, and I then internally pledged my life
that I would that day conquer or die. Immediately every
thing appeared again clear and hopeful, though the worst
was yet to come." 10
After the war Beauregard adopted a curious, ingen
ious, and not altogether happy method of self-laudation.
He had his life written by Colonel Roman who could say
things that not even his commander could say himself.
The device is not, of course, new. Badeau's "Grant"
comes dangerously near the same category. And the old

ioo CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
Chancellor Sully, three centuries ago, sat by and heard
his secretary chant his master's astonishing glory to his
face. But the Roman-Beauregard partnership takes in-
contestably the lead of all of them. In an introductory
paragraph the general guarantees all his biographer's
statements — except those complimentary. The excep
tion might really have been dispensed with.
As one brief specimen of the way the method works
take an extract from a letter addressed to the commander-
in-chief in regard to Shiloh. " An order was sent quickly
along the lines, informing the men that you should ride
in front of them and that no cheering should be indulged
in. You passed in front of the lines, and never was an
order so reluctantly obeyed as was this order, ' No cheer
ing, men ! ' which had to be repeated at every breath,
and enforced by continuous gesture. General Johnston's
prestige was great, but the hearts of the soldiers were
with you, and your presence awakened an enthusiasm
and confidence magical in its effect." u
Pages and pages of this sort of thing, with the vivid
image of the subject of it smiling and nodding his modest
approval, produce the most singular impression on the
reader's nerves.
In much the same way, Beauregard's own little book
on the first battle of Bull Run is written throughout in
the third person, perhaps with the genuine intention of
being more modest, but with the practical result of being
much less so.

P. G. T. BEAUREGARD 101
It is to be noted, what indeed we should expect, that
this perpetual, complacent vanity was accompanied by
little if any sense of humor. No man who caught glimpses,
even momentarily, of himself and his achievements
under the aspect of eternity could ever have regarded
his achievements or himself with such smug satisfaction.
Stuart was vain, too ; but more in the sense of a full-
blooded self-consciousness. He liked to be heard, to be
seen, to make the world ring with his mellow voice. But
it was a laughing voice and as ready to mock at Stuart
as at any one. Beauregard, as a member of his staff
writes me,12 rarely jested with officers or soldiers. The
gleam of a jest in his correspondence is also rare enough.
" I have written and telegraphed on the subject until my
hand is hoarse." 13 And Cooke never saw a smile upon
his face from their first meeting until some months later,
after the battle of Manassas, though the biographer
gives other instances of laughter in the following years.
Cooke's comment on the general's smile is worth record
ing: "His laugh was peculiar; the eyes sparkled, the
firm muscles slowly moved, and the white teeth came out
with a quite startling effect under the heavy black
moustache."14 The laughter of a martialist, you see,
grudging and of necessity, not Stuart's perpetual, joyous
bubbling all over.
In one aspect Beauregard's vanity is harmless and
amusing ; but it had its more serious side in that it made
him jealous, sensitive, suspicious, and so contributed a

102 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
large chapter to the pitiful history of recrimination and
fault-finding which makes the years after the war so de
pressing to read about. Mrs. Chesnut's apt and passion
ate exclamation on the subject is suitable to many, North
and South, besides Beauregard. " Another outburst from
Jordan. Beauregard is not properly seconded. Hklas! To
think that any mortal general (even though he had
sprung up in a month or so from captain of artillery to
general) could be so puffed up with vanity, so blinded
by any false idea of his own consequence as to write, to
intimate that any man, or men, would sacrifice their
country, injure themselves, ruin their families, to spite
the aforesaid general." 15 No doubt, personal animosity
makes men do strange things, without looking to con
sequences so far as Mrs. Chesnut could do in cold blood.
But oh, if some of these really great, really noble, really
extraordinary men could for once have dropped their
vast ingenuity of self-justification and said simply, "I
was wrong, I made a mistake, I am sorry ! " Lee did it.
And his example shines like a star in a dark night.
Meantime, we must take human nature as it is. Beaure
gard's was attractive, in some ways really charming ; but
it had its kinks and quirks and oddities.
He could not get along with Davis. Neither could
many others. Estimating himself as highly as Beauregard
did, it was natural that he should attribute any apparent
slight or neglect on Davis's part to pique and jealousy.
Possibly there may have been something of these feelings

P. G. T. BEAUREGARD 103
in the President's attitude. Beauregard at one time al
lowed himself to be talked of as a presidential candidate
and made the movement rather more prominent by os
tentatious modesty. It was natural that Davis should not
like this. But I think his treatment of his subordinate was
based chiefly on lack of confidence in the subordinate's
ability, and on a feeling that the work could be done
quite as well by men who were more thoroughly in sym
pathy with the Government.
At any rate, the relations between the two were un
pleasant, with evident fault on both sides. Davis, as always
where he disliked, made himself extremely disagreeable.
Sometimes he patronizes, as when Beauregard complains
of a rebuke from Benjamin : " Now, my dear sir, let me
entreat you to dismiss this small matter from your mind.
In the hostile masses before you, you have a subject
more worthy of your contemplation." 16 Sometimes the
president takes a sharper tone, as on the same topic :
" You surely did not intend to inform me that your army
or yourself are outside the limits of the law." 17 If the
general proposes a plan, it is disregarded. If he asks for
more men, he is told that he should do more with what
he has. If he retreats, he has done it too soon, or too late,
or unskillfully. If he absents himself for a little time on
account of illness, his departure is taken advantage of to
put another in his place.
No doubt these things were trying. But they were
partly brought about by Beauregard's own desire to be

104 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
prominent and they were allowed to breed a counter-
spirit of animosity quite as discreditable as the presi
dent's. The subordinate said very harsh things of his
superior. He speaks of the Government's policy in com
parison with his own as "the passive defensive of an
intellect timid of risk and not at home in war, and the
active defensive reaching for success through enterprise
and boldness." 18 He assumes, rightly or wrongly, a
bitter jealousy on the part of the president and all con
nected with him. " Kemper quickly obtained for me some
two hundred good wagons, to which number I had
limited him so as not to arouse again the jealousy of
the President's staff."19 He does not hesitate to say,
through his biographer, that the president's neglect of
the general's advice had fatal consequence : " The Presi
dent of the Confederacy, by thus persisting in these
three lamentable errors, lost the South her independ
ence." 20 And one little phrase, addressed to the gen
eral by a favorite staff officer, is perhaps most significant
of all : " As soon as you feel rested I hope you will report
for duty and orders to the War Department. I hope that
you will be able to do so soon, and thus force your arch
enemy to show his hand decisively at an early day if he
dare do it." 21 Arch-enemy ! It would have been better
if Grant or Lincoln had been the arch enemy and not
the head of the country all were trying to save.
If Beauregard's hurt vanity had set him at odds with
Davis only, there would have been less to complain of.

P. G. T. BEAUREGARD 105
So many were at odds with Davis ! But the circle in
cluded more than the president. To establish the record
of what the general might have done, it was necessary to
cast slurs upon Benjamin, — here not wholly undeserved,
— upon Ewell, upon Bragg, upon A. S. Johnston, even
upon Lee, who might easily have saved the Confederacy,
if he would have done as Beauregard wished him to.
But the most unfortunate of all these contentions was
that between Beauregard and Joseph E. Johnston about
the first battle of Bull Run. There were undue suscepti
bilities on both sides. Obviously there was misunder
standing on both sides, which a frank, generous, straight
forward spirit of self-sacrifice might easily have removed.
Beauregard thought he had won the victory. Johnston
thought he had won it. Johnston's tone in the controversy
is unamiable and unconciliating. But Beauregard's is far
more so. "General Johnston came to Manassas beset
with the idea that our united force would not be able to
cope with the Federal army, and that we should be
beaten — a catastrophe in which he was not anxious to
figure on the pages of history as the leading and responsi
ble actor." 22
Alas, that generous and high-minded men can be be
trayed by their passions into such language as this. And
Beauregard has altogether too much of it in his little
book on the battle of Manassas, published — let us hope
by accident — when Johnston was on his deathbed and
unable to reply.

106 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
In the midst of a great deal of vague and unwarranted
attribution of motive the Louisiana soldier does, indeed,
make one good point, though it is something in the
nature of a boomerang. If Bull Run had been a defeat, he
says, does any one suppose that General Johnston would
have been so eager to claim the command? We all know
he would not. But, then, neither would Beauregard.
And both of them, in slapping back and forth at each
other, assume that they have no personal motive, but
only desire to establish the truth of history. Oh, the truth
of history ! How many crimes have been committed in
that name I Surely the truth of history is of infinitely less
importance than brotherly love. At any rate, it would be
far better if history should confuse the leadership of a
battle and be able to record that heroic souls lived free
from petty carping and ungenerous complaint. It will,
indeed, be urged that precisely the truth of history is lead
ing me to unveil these weaknesses. But, at least, it is the
truth of history, and not sore pride masking in an odious
disguise. It should, however, be said that during the actual
course of the war Beauregard does not seem to have
allowed himself to be greatly affected by prejudice or
irritability. Later, under the influence of disappointment
and criticism and flatterers, his vanity, his dreams of what
might have been, grew into an obsession, and made him
say things that should never have been said. But while
he was actually fighting for the Confederacy, he, for the

P. G. T. BEAUREGARD 107
most part, bore slights and unkindnesses in a charitable
and Christian spirit. Thus, he declares himself ready to
serve when and where he may be required to do so : "I
know not yet to what point I shall be ordered. . . . How
ever, lL!homme propose et Dieu dispose'; hence, I shall go
with alacrity wherever I am ordered." 23 Instead of scold
ing Seddon, as most generals were too prone to do,
Beauregard recognized the immense difficulties. " In con
clusion I can but express my thanks to the Honorable
Secretary of War for his good intentions to assist us here.
I feel convinced that, so far as he is concerned, we can
rely upon him." 24 And again : " I can well understand
the perplexities of Mr. Seddon's position." 25 While the
following touch is so noble as to outweigh many bitter
words and harsh judgments [italics mine]: "Why will
not those in authority do promptly what should be done?
This reflection I apply also to myself. " 26
The truth is, the man was a genuine patriot, however
his patriotism may have been mixed with earthly strain,
as in all of us. To be sure, the story of his conduct dur
ing the few days of his superintendency at West Point,
as General Schaff tells it, is not exactly pretty. When
Southern cadets consulted him as to the proper course
to pursue, the answer was: "Watch me, and when I jump,
you jump. What 's the use of jumping too soon?" 27 But
those months were a time when decisions were difficult.
The best of men, in such a crisis, need to be judged sym
pathetically, if not leniently. Once enlisted in the war,

108 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
Beauregard's thought was really first and foremost for
his country.
Words are perhaps hardly sufficient evidence of this ;
yet some of his words have an energy and a genuineness
which it is difficult to resist. "I have not time, if I were
so disposed, to favor friends or persecute enemies. My
soul and body are in this contest, which is one of life and
death to a nation of which I, my family, and friends form
a part. I believe and hope that my love of country is un
sullied by personal considerations." 28
Words were by no means all, however. In the general's
own narrative of his first meeting with A. S. Johnston
note how instinctive pleasure in taking part in a "scene"
is mingled with really noble and patriotic feeling. " When
General Johnston first met me at Corinth, he proposed,
after our staff had retired, to turn over the command of
the united forces to me ; but I positively declined, on his
account and that of the ' cause,' telling him that I had
come to assist, but not to supersede him, and offering to
give him all the assistance in my power. He then con
cluded to remain in command. It was one of the most
affecting scenes of my life." 29
There are other incidents about which there was no
scene and no display whatever. Thus, after Bragg had
been put in his commander's place, Beauregard writes
to the War Department, offering to submit his plan of
campaign, which he believed meant victory, for Bragg's
use.30 Again, Jordan wrote begging his chief to refuse

P. G. T. BEAUREGARD 109
the command of Charleston as an indignity. Yet when
it was offered him, he answered; "I have no preference
to express. Will go wherever ordered. Do for the
best." 31 Surely it was the response of a noble and finely
tempered spirit.
As regards purely military qualities Beauregard was
in many ways interesting. He was a fighter, there can
be no question of that ; had martial instincts that were
French, if nothing else was, the furia francese, in its
native purity. How characteristic are the trifling anec
dotes of his youth. When he was a boy of nine, a grown
man teased him past bearing. The child seized a stick
and flew at his tormentor with such stormy violence that
he was obliged to retreat to a shed and remain there till
higher powers released him.32 Again, the boy was walk
ing solemnly into church to his first communion. He
heard a drum outside, forgot everything, and ran from
the very altar.33
As a mature soldier, he had perfect calmness and con
trol in strain and exposure. Defeat could not alter him.
He took his measures and gave his orders with prompt
ness and lucidity. When the right moment came, he
could rush to lead a charge and sweep every man along
with him. In critical dispatches he could drop all his
rodomontade and rhetoric. Does not this one, to Van
Dorn asking for arms, ring with the crystal sonority of
Napoleon's? "I regret I have none; could not remove
all I took, but we will take more. Come on ! " 34

no CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
As a commander, he always had a grip on his men
and could make them do what he wanted. His discipline
was founded on sympathy and a thorough understand
ing of a subordinate's position. At Drewry's Bluff he
thought Whiting had failed him utterly and said so in
his report, yet in such a way as to keep Whiting's affec
tion and devotion. Those things are the test of a true
leader. How simple and charmingly characteristic is the
general's own account of a bit of disciplinary work : " By
the by, I discharged a few days ago my mounted orderly,
the famous Aaron Jones, for neglect of duty, but could
not resist his appeal, which was, 'General, I enlisted
purposely to be with you, and I would rather die under
you than live under any other general.' I scolded him
and let him off." 35 He believed that, in a volunteer army,
at any rate, more was to be obtained by encouragement
and inspiration than by severity. Therefore he urged
promotions, honors, and rewards, so far as lay in his
power, and he employed a system of himself distributing
badges of bravery which made a scene no doubt as
grateful to the commander as to the commanded.
Yet he could be absolutely unyielding, if circumstances
required it. When a battle was imminent, a soldier begged
leave to visit his dying mother. " I can grant no leave."
"Only ten days, general." "I will not give you ten
hours." 36 That was all there was to it. And where will
you find a more terse, vigorous, and scathing accusation
of a subordinate than this letter about Ripley, who, it

P. G. T. BEAUREGARD m
may be remarked, was as rebellious with Lee as he was
with Beauregard : " Brigadier-General Ripley is active,
energetic, intelligent, ambitious, cunning, and fault-find
ing. He complains of every commanding officer he has
served under, and has quarreled (or had difficulty) with
almost every one of his immediately subordinate com
manders since his promotion to his present rank in
1 86 1. He obeys orders only so far as they suit his pur
pose, provided, by disobeying them, he does not incur
the risk of a court martial, which, however, he does not
much fear, trusting to his intelligence and ability to get
clear of the consequences thereof." 37
As to Beauregard's personal relations with officers
and soldiers witnesses differ somewhat. J. E. Cooke says
that he had the French habit of mingling freely with the
soldiers, chatting with them, and lighting his cigar at
their camp-fires.38 Others describe his manner as distant,
though courteous and kindly, and his aide, Major Cooke,
writes me that the general was too reserved to have care
lessly familiar intercourse with those about him. There
was nothing of Stuart's light jest and cordial laughter to
make the men feel that their commander was as human
as themselves.
Yet Beauregard's popularity was immense. That he
should be worshiped in Louisiana was natural, and who
would not forgive the Louisianian's remark: "Lee?
Lee? Yes, I've heard Beauregard speak well of Lee."
The universal enthusiasm that hailed the victor of Sum-

112 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
ter and Bull Run perhaps waned a little, as the war
went on ; but many continued to the end to cherish the
feelings of an admiring civilian who says : "The country
looks hopefully — ohl how hopefully — to you in this
hour of its deepest trials." 39 When Beauregard went to
Charleston, Governor Pickens wrote : "lam rejoiced to
see you here again, as there is no general who could
have been selected to whom South Carolina could have
looked with more confidence for her defense than to
yourself." 40 While the testimony of a military man is
equally impressive : " Floyd does understand this coun
try and knows how to defend it. Above all, the country
believes in him and desires him to be entrusted with its
defense. . . . Joe Johnston or Beauregard could alone
command the same confidence or more." 41
With the soldiers everywhere there was even more
devotion than with civilians. Beauregard seems to have
had the magnetic quality which is hard to seize or to
define, but which inspires men to do anything. Pollard
quotes the strong assertion that up to the very last days
the Army of Northern Virginia would have greeted
Beauregard's presence among them with "shouts of joy
and demonstrations of wild affection which no other living
man could elicit." 42
The staff officers were devotedly attached to their com
mander and preferred remaining with him to all other
assignments, although the disfavor of the Government
made promotion unlikely. It is worth observing that with

P. G. T. BEAUREGARD 113
many of the generals who were in some ways subject to
criticism, — Johnston, Beauregard, Longstreet, — those
who knew them best thought most of them. Fault-find
ing might come from outside. But the officers who lived
in intimate contact with their chiefs, and should have
seen all the faults there were, are usually enthusiastic in
devotion and reverence. Do we need better testimony
that, in spite of faults, the chiefs were men of heroic
stamp and of genuine greatness ?
That Beauregard was a general who studied, thought,
reflected is not disputable. He read widely on the cam
paigns of great commanders, Napoleon especially, and
the military maxims printed at the end of the little vol
ume on Manassas must be of profit to professional men.
Indeed, it is in this field of brains, of the intellectual
side of military matters, that we come across the gen
eral's most curious and most interesting characteristic —
French, possibly ; at any rate, to some degree — his ex
traordinary activity and fertility of invention and imagi
nation. Not D'Artagnan was more ready with a sudden
device or a long-laid scheme for helping a friend or out
witting an enemy. The time which others spent in drilling,
or social relaxation, or kindly sleep, was consecrated by
Beauregard to devising plans of all kinds worked out in
minute detail with adaptation to all possible contingencies.
Naturally, this planning dealt in the main with the
grand strategy of the general's own campaigns. Yet he
had plenty of imagination to spare for minor matters or

H4 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
those not concerning him. Thus, he propounded to Fre
mantle at the beginning of the war a scheme for the
speedy ending of it,43 and was only too ready to impart
similar schemes to the Government at any time. He was
quite prepared to undertake the business of Congress,
when the pressure of his own affairs was not too great :
" If I can find time before the assembling of Congress
again, I may submit the details of these plans for your
consideration as a legislator." On the other hand, when
a minor expedition is entrusted to a subordinate, the
commander throws his imagination as vividly into the
detail of it as if he were writing a novel : " About dark
on the first calm night (the sooner the better) I would
rendezvous all my boats at the mouth of the creek in
rear of Cummings Point, Morris Island. Then I would
await the proper time of the night, which should not be
too early nor too late, in order to take advantage of the
present condition of the moon ; I would then coast quietly
along the beach of Morris Island to a point nearest the
enemy's present position, where General Ripley shall
station a picket to communicate with you and show
proper lights immediately after your attack to guide the
return of your boats." 44 Lee would simply have picked
out the right man for the job and told him to go and
do it. And note that with Beauregard it is not so much
a disposition to interfere in the execution of orders as a
tendency to outrun in tthoqgbt the desired course of an
artistic conception.

P. G. T. BEAUREGARD 115
But on actual strategy the man's imagination was inex
haustible. To appreciate its golden and beneficent luxuri
ance I must summarize briefly the lines it followed. To be
gin with, in Mexico, a mere captain, he is said to have
devised the plan that took the city. Before Bull Run he was
urgent with schemes for himself and Johnston, which
Lee rejected. Then he made a plan for the battle, which
Johnston rejected. Perhaps I cannot better illustrate the
sparkling eagerness with which these schemes were
conceived than by quoting part of a letter written to
Johnston shortly before the battle. Ardor bubbles out of
the man like champagne. "We will probably have, in a
few days, about forty thousand men to operate with.
This force would enable us to destroy the forces of Gen
erals Scott and McDowell in my front. Then we would
go back with as many men as necessary to attack and
disperse General Patterson's army, before he could know
positively what had become of you. We could then pro
ceed to General McClellan's theatre of war and treat him
likewise, after which we could pass over into Maryland
to operate in rear of Washington. I think this whole
campaign could be completed brilliantly in from fifteen
to twenty-five days. Oh, that we had but one good head
to conduct all our operations ! " 4B Now, whose head do
you think he meant?
Early in 1862 Beauregard was sent West. Immedi
ately he proposed an elaborate design to Albert Sidney
Johnston. Rejected again. All the sojourn in the West

116 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
was divided between theoretical advance and practical
retreat, most skillfully conducted. When Bragg was
given the command, his predecessor employed his days
of invalid leisure in evolving dazzling outlines of grand
strategy, which, as I have said, he was generous enough
to offer to the War Department. Here they are, in brief.
" You ask what should be done to end this exhausting
war [May, 1863]. We must take the offensive, as you
suggest ; not by abandoning all other points, however,
but by a proper selection of the point of attack — the
Yankees themselves tell us where. I see by the papers
of this morning that Vallandigham is being sent into
Bragg's lines. Hooker is disposed of for the next six
months at least. Well, let Lee act on the defensive, and
send to Bragg 30,000 men for him to take the offensive
with at once ; let him (or whoever is put in his place)
[Beauregard ?] destroy or capture (as it is done in Eu
rope) Rosecrans' army ; then march into Kentucky, raise
30,000 more men there and in Tennessee ; then get into
Ohio, and call upon the friends of Vallandigham to rise
for his defense and support ; then call upon Indiana, Il
linois, and Missouri to throw off the yoke of the accursed
Yankee nation ; then upon the whole Northwest to join
in the movement, form a Confederacy of their own, and
join us by a treaty of alliance offensive and defensive.
What would then become of the North East ? How long
would it take us to bring it back to its senses ? As
I have once written you, 'Battles without diplomacy

P. G. T. BEAUREGARD 117
will never end this war.' History is there to support my
assertion." 46
The strenuous and magnificent defense of Charleston
left less leisure for brilliant meditation. Yet even during
that time the general's brain was far from idle. Then, in
the spring of 1864, he went to Petersburg and immedi
ately it became obvious to him that Lee, though a good-
enough fighter, knew nothing about the science of war.
There was an infallible plan — Beauregard saw it at once
— by which Grant could be crushed, Richmond saved,
and the Confederacy established. Unfortunately Davis
was jealous, and Lee — well, perhaps Lee was busy, and
it all came to nothing.
Even when the last guns were firing, at the beginning
of March, 1865, this indefatigable dreamer writes to John
ston proposing action by which the tables may be turned :
"We could then confidently attack Sherman, expecting
to destroy his army. . . . We could then attack Grant
with superior forces and expect to defeat him signally."
Or, by another alternative, "We could give immediate
battle to Sherman, which could be done with almost cer
tainly decisive success." 47
And what about the value of all these plans ? No qual
ity can be of more importance to a really great com
mander than imagination. We all know what Napoleon's
imagination was, magnificently inventive, ceaselessly
working. We all know what was achieved by the imag
ination of Jackson. Beauregard is right in general, when,

118 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
crying out against Johnston's conservatism, he exclaims :
" The history of war is full of buried feasibilities that might
have been brilliant realities, if it were not for this ' I dare
not' waiting upon 'I would.' " 48
Only, when a man's imagination overflows with these
"feasibilities" for four years and not one of them be
comes a "brilliant reality" even once, we grow a littie
suspicious. In spite of his own ill-health, in spite of the
Government's hostility, Beauregard surely had oppor
tunities. Yet no one of his splendid dreams of strategy
during the war ever even approached fulfillment. Sumter
fell into his arms. Bull Run was won by character, not
by genius. At Shiloh he failed to harvest any fruits of
Johnston's victory. Some believe he threw them away. At
Drewry's Bluff he himself admits that — naturally through
the fault of others — his full plans were not carried out.
By the very irony of fortune, his greatest glory is in a
defense which required no aggressive imagination at all.
He listens with beatific contentment to his inspired biog
rapher's assertion that Jackson and Beauregard were the
two great strategic geniuses of the war. Alas, he would
have been far less contented with the quiet characteriza
tion of his own countryman, Grasset: "An ardent heart,
a fine-looking soldier, a mediocre strategist, an able engi
neer." 49 And Lee's gentle comment in a particular in
stance is equally conclusive: "General Lee spoke in
terms of compliment and kindness to General Beaure
gard; thought the plan well conceived and might be

P. G. T. BEAUREGARD 119
brilliant in its results if we should meet with no disaster in
the details, and if the time for its execution had arrived." B0
Again, imagination so highly developed has its positive
dangers. It distracts a man from reality. " Driveling on
possibilities," writes Davis to Beauregard himself.51 Again
and again the phrase occurs to me, in spite of its un
reasonable savageness. " Driveling on possibilities."
And plans so elaborately developed hamper, because
they can never be exactly carried out, and the breaking
of one link disorders the whole. If your plan does not
work in all its complications, what are you to do?
This befell Beauregard at Bull Run, as he himself admits.
It befell again at Shiloh. It would have befallen elsewhere.
Also, if you are apt at imagining plans for yourself,
you imagine them for your enemy. This was a weakness
of Beauregard's. He would have withdrawn before Shiloh
because he conceived that Grant would do what Beaure
gard might have done in his place. And the same thing
occurred frequently.
Yet Beauregard's confidence in these schemes of his
is inexhaustible and he is able to communicate it to his
admirers. He does at times admit the bare possibility of
accident. "There still remains, of course, the hazard of
accidents in execution, and the apprehension of the
enemy's movements upsetting your own." 52 But, for the
most part, his plans are absolutely certain of success ;
they cannot fail, if adopted, to shatter the enemy and free
the Confederacy forever and forever. If Lee will do as

120 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
he says, in the spring of 1864, he will stake his profes
sional reputation that Grant will be crushed and Rich
mond delivered. Apparently there are to-day people who
think that because he was confident, therefore he was
right. In short, even during the war, this " driveling on possi
bilities" approached a mania. But after the war the re
sults of it were, indeed, deplorable. For the man was by
nature kindly, self-sacrificing, patriotic. But his dreams
had become realities to him to such an extent that those
who had followed their own judgment instead of his grew
to seem public enemies, traitors, who had sacrificed a
great cause to a personal spite.
A careful study of many of these great soldiers —
Johnston, Longstreet, Beauregard, and Northern generals
also — leads one to feel that much of the pitiable post-
bellum discussion, quarreling, and controversy was simply
an outlet for nervous wear and tear, a brooding over what
might have been — coming to seem what ought to have
been — as a consolation for defeat, humiliation, and failure.
Beauregard's case is the most curious of these. He lived
in an atmosphere of dreams unrealized, of marvelous
things that General Beauregard would have done, if only
the thoughtless world would have stood by admiring
and watched him do them. It was, after a fashion, a use
ful anodyne for hopes ruined and a great cause lost. Yet
it seems to me that I should prefer the laureled grave of
Stuart or the last heroic sacrifice of Sidney Johnston.

V
Judah P. Benjamin

CHRONOLOGY
Born in St. Thomas, West Indies, August 6, 1811.
Entered Yale College, 1825.
Admitted to Louisiana Bar, December 16, 1832. '
Married Natalie St. Martin, 1832.
United States Senate, 1852.
Bade farewell to Senate, February 4, 1861.
Attorney-General of Confederacy, February, 1861.
Secretary of War, September, 1 861.
Secretary of State, March, 1862.
Admitted to bar in England, June, 1866.
Publication of Benjamin on Sales, 1868.
Became Queen's Counsel, 1872.
Retired, 1883.
Died in Paris, May 6, 1884.

JUDAH P. BENJAMIN

JUDAH P. BENJAMIN
BENJAMIN was a Jew. He was born a British subject.
He made a brilliant reputation at the Louisiana Bar and
was offered a seat in the Supreme Court of the United
States.1 He became United States Senator. When his
State seceded, he went with it, and filled three cabinet
positions under the Confederacy. He fell with the im
mense collapse of that dream fabric. Then, at the age of
fifty-four, he set himself to build up a new fortune and a
new glory ; and he died one of the most successful and
respected barristers in London. Such a career seems to
offer piquant matter for portraiture. Let us see if it does.
Characteristic of the man at the very threshold is his
attitude about such portraiture. He will not have it, if
he can help it, will not aid in it, destroys all letters and
papers that may contribute to it. " I have never kept a
diary, or retained a copy of a letter written by me. . . .
I have read so many American biographies which re
flected only the passions and prejudices of their writers,
that I do not want to leave behind me letters and docu
ments to be used in such a work about myself.''2 And
he is said to have quoted early advice given him to the
effect that the secret of human happiness was the de
struction of writing.3 On this principle he acted and by

124 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
so doing certainly made my task more difficult. Indeed,
it would have been impossible, except for the researches
of Professor Pierce Butler, whose excellent biography
must form the basis of all future writing about the Jewish
lawyer and statesman.
But if Benjamin's view of biography and its materials
is characteristic in its secretiveness, it is also character
istic in its limitation and inadequacy. I take him to have
been an honest man. Now an honest man has nothing
to gain by destroying records. Talleyrand spent hours
of his retirement in burning paper after paper. John
Quiney Adams spent hours of both active life and retire
ment in noting every detail of his existence for posterity.
Has he not gained by it ? Is there a line of his that does
not emphasize his honesty, his dignity, his human worth ?
Do we not love Pepys far better for his minute confes- _
sions, even if he loses a little of his bewigged respect
ability? No, Benjamin's endeavors to conceal himself
remind me a good deal of the ostrich which rests satis
fied when it has left perfectly obvious the least intelli
gent part of it.
The truth is, destruction of records hampers only the
honest investigator. The partisan and the scandal-mon
ger remain wholly indifferent. Professor Butler's earnest
efforts have accomplished everything possible, in the
scarcity of materials, to clear the subject of his biography ;
but Benjamin's popular reputation will probably remain
what it was at the end of the war. That is, both North

JUDAH P. BENJAMIN 125
and South will regard him with dislike approaching to
contempt. "The ability of Benjamin was undoubted,"
says Mr. Rhodes, expressing the mildest Northern view ;
" but he was by many considered untrustworthy." 4 And
the same authority sees nothing in the secretary's career
incompatible with complicity in the raid on St. Albans
and the attempted burning of New York. A few South
ern amenities may also be cited. " The oleaginous Mr.
Benjamin," Wise calls him; "his keg-like form and
over-deferential manner suggestive of a prosperous shop
keeper."5 "The hated Jew," says Dodd, "whom the
President had retained at his council table, despite the
protests of the Southern people and press." 6 And Foote
sums him up choicely as " Judas Iscariot Benjamin." 7
It is our affair, from the mass of anecdote and recol
lection and especially from such scanty evidence as the
gentleman himself could not avoid leaving us, to find
out how far this attitude is justified.
To begin, then, with Benjamin's professional life ; for
he was first and last a lawyer, only by avocation a states
man. And to-day he is probably best, certainly most fa
vorably, known as the author of the exhaustive work en
titled " Benjamin on Sales." It is universally recognized
that as a pleader in court he had few superiors. His
power of direct, lucid statement was admirable, and no
one knew better how to present every remote possibility
of argument on either side of a case.8 Even his admirers
confess that he sometimes imposed on himself in this

126 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
way. His enemies maintain that he was not imposed on
at all, but argued for the side that paid him, with serene
indifference to the right and wrong of it.9 And they con
clude that in politics he was equally indifferent. They
forget, however, that the lawyer's second nature does not
always drive out the first. Cicero pleaded for many a
client whom he despised. Nevertheless, he was a pas
sionate lover of Rome.
As to Benjamin's oratory opinions differ. In England
more stress was laid on his matter than on his manner.
But in America friends and enemies alike seem to agree
that he had unusual gifts. On this point mere printed
speeches are not sufficient for a judgment. They lack
the gesture, the expression, the fire, cunningly simulated
or real. But, so far as such printed testimony goes, I fail
to find the basis for the extravagant praise of Benjamin's
biographers. His eloquence is neither better nor worse
than that of a dozen of his contemporaries, a clever
knack of turning large phrases on subjects that breed
rhetoric in the very naming of them. His farewell speech
in the Senate is lofty and impressive. Who could have
failed to be so on such an occasion? He can pass a noble
compliment like that to Judge Taney : " He will leave
behind him in the scanty heritage that shall be left for
his family the noblest evidence that he died, as he had
lived, a being honorable to the earth from which he
sprang and worthy of the heaven to which he aspired." 10
And a few minutes later he can fall into screaming melo-

JUDAH P. BENJAMIN 127
drama : " Accursed, thrice accursed is that fell spirit of
party which desecrates the noblest sentiments of the
human heart, and which, in the accomplishment of its
unholy purposes, hesitates at no violence of assault on
all which is held sacred by the wise and good. . . . Mr.
President, in olden times a viper gnawed a file." "
In both the graces and the defects of Benjamin's ora
tory it is interesting to note the riches of a well-stored
mind. He was a reader all his life, a lover of Shakespeare
and the great poets, quoted them and filled his thoughts
with them ; and this, too, although he was self-educated
and had to fight hard for book hours, perhaps all the
sweeter when thus purchased.
'The strongest feature of Benjamin's speaking is a sin
gular frankness and directness. Now and then he comes
out with an abrupt sentence that must have struck the
Senate like cold water? " I did not think I could be pro
voked to say another word on this subject, of which I am
heartily sick." 12 " If the object [of a certain bill] is to pro
vide for friends and dependents, let us say so openly." 13
" For you cannot say two words on this floor on any
subject whatever that Kansas is not thrust into your
ears." 14
If the test of professional ability is success, Benjamin
has been surpassed by few. His income, for America of
the fifties, was very large, and when, an old man, he
rebuilt his fortunes in London, it climbed again from
nothing to seventy or eighty thousand dollars a year. I

128 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
can find no evidence whatever that these earnings were
based upon improper or dubious practice. Just as Pro
fessor Butler has succeeded in showing that the stories
about the brief sojourn at Yale were purely scandalous,
so, I think he has made it clear that Benjamin's con
nection with various financial schemes before the war,
while perhaps indiscreet, was in no way dishonest. And
certainly his professional standing in Louisiana was to
tally different from that of a man like Benjamin F. Butler
in Massachusetts.
Moreover, no one can read the universal testimony to
his position at the English Bar without believing him to
have been a high-minded gentleman. Blaine's contention
that the English admired Benjamin because they hated
the North must indeed be allowed some weight at the
beginning of his career. But no man could have gained
increasingly for fifteen years the esteem and personal
affection of the first lawyers in London, if he had not de
served it. "The success of Benjamin at the English Bar
is without parallel in professional annals," says a good
authority,15 and attributes the fact that it excited no jeal
ousy to " the simplicity of his manners, his entire freedom
from assumption, and his kindness of heart." 16 Lord
Coleridge called him " the common honor of both Bars,
of England and of America " ; 17 and Sir Henry James,
speaking at the farewell dinner given Benjamin on his
retirement, says : "The honor of the English Bar was as
much cherished and represented by him as by any man

JUDAH P. BENJAMIN 129
who has ever adorned it, and we all feel that if our profes
sion has afforded him hospitality, he has repaid it, amply
repaid it, not only by the reputation which his learning has
brought to us, but by that which is far more important,
the honor his conduct has gained for us." 18 Few men
can show a higher testimonial to character than that.
Now let us turn to the political aspects of this varied
career. The Senate reports in the " Congressional Globe "
during the later fifties show how constant and how many-
sided was Benjamin's activity. What has struck me,
especially in some of the large semi-private interests that
he espoused, is that he failed. He should not have failed.
He may have been a great lawyer. To be a great man,
he failed too often.
On public questions he invariably took the extreme
Southern view ; but it is characteristic that he did this
without exciting animosity. No senator seems to have
been more popular on both sides of the house, and his
adversaries regarded him with respect, sometimes even
with affection.
"When the Confederate Government was organized,
Benjamin was first made attorney-general. From this
position he quickly passed to that of secretary of war.
Here again he was a failure. He had no special knowl
edge, and this made him obnoxious to soldiers. Even
his extraordinary quickness and business instinct were
hardly equal to learning a new profession in the com
plicated conditions then prevailing. Charges of laxity

130 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
and of corruption amounting to treason are brought
against him, I think wholly without foundation. But he
struck one rock after another and was finally wrecked by
the unfortunate affair of Roanoke Island. Wise charged
that the secretary ordered him to remain in an impos
sible position, refused him powder, and so led up to the
disaster. Benjamin remained silent at the time, but after
wards explained that there was no powder, and that he
willingly submitted to public censure rather than reveal
the deficiency. This is assuredly to his credit. Congress
censured him, however, and a resolution was offered,
though tabled, " that it is the deliberate judgment of this
House that the Hon. Judah P. Benjamin, as secretary of
war, has not the confidence of the people of the Con
federate States, nor of the Army, to such an extent as to
meet the exigencies of the present crisis." 19
Davis, thereupon, to show his confidence in his favor
ite, transferred him to the still higher post of secretary
of state. It is said that Benjamin here served his chief
in innumerable ways, drafting public documents, sug
gesting and advising on lines quite outside the technical
limits of his office. The best known of these activities are
in regard to the Hampton Roads Peace Commission and
the attempt to make military use of the negroes and even
to emancipate them for the sake of securing foreign sup
port. In these attempts also Benjamin failed, or what
slight measure of success there was went to the credit of
others.

JUDAH P. BENJAMIN 13 1
In the State Department proper he devoted all his
energy for three years to securing foreign recognition
— and failed again, where perhaps no one could have
succeeded. A side issue in this departmental work has
thrown more serious discredit on his reputation than any
other charge that can be plausibly brought against him.
Acting generally under Davis, he authorized and in
structed the agents in Canada who were to attack the
Northern States from the rear, that is, who not only fos
tered discontent and insurrection, but carried out the raid
on St. Albans and attempted to burn New York with its
thousands of innocent women and children. There is
no evidence that Benjamin planned these undertakings.
But we know that he received and read his agent's,
Thompson's, account of them, and we do not know that
he ever expressed any disapproval. Looked at now, in
cold blood, they seem without excuse. We can only re
mind ourselves that passion has strange pleas, and that
the whole South believed the North to be capable of
worse deeds than any Thompson contemplated, nay, to
have done them.
In this matter of the Canadian attempts Mr. Rhodes
is very careful to distinguish Davis from his secretary
and to express disbelief that the president could have
been capable of such infamy, while implying that his
subordinate might perfectly well have been so. I hardly
think Benjamin's character deserves this sharp distinc
tion. In any case, I have been most interested to find

132 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
one of the very greatest of Virginia's statesmen and
philanthropists explicidy advocating just such an attempt
as that made to fire New York. "She [England]," writes
Thomas Jefferson in 1812, " may burn New York, indeed,
by her ships and Congreve rockets, in which case we must
burn the city of London by hired incendiaries, of which
her starving manufacturers will furnish abundance." 20
In all these manifold schemes of Benjamin I look in
vain, so far as the records go, for evidence of large, far-
reaching, creative statesmanship. Again and again I ask
myself what Cavour would have thought, have devised,
have done in that position. For it is sufficiently manifest
that a man of Cavour's type was what the Confederacy
needed — and did not get. Yet would any man of high
statesmanlike genius and close practical grasp have at
tempted to solve the impossible problem of reconciling
the loose theory of state rights and the fiercely central
ized government required to cope with the overwhelm
ing force of the United States?
At any rate, Benjamin was no Cavour. His biographer
does indeed point out that he had something of the
dreamy side of his race, as shown in the unpractical con
ceptions of his early business effort. But dreamers do
not make statesmen, usually quite the contrary. And
Benjamin's practical statesmanship was, I think, rather
of the makeshift order. It is very rare that in his diplo
matic correspondence we find any reference to the cloudy
future of the Confederacy, and the only instance in which

JUDAH P. BENJAMIN 133
he amplified on the subject, predicting that "North
America is on the eve of being divided into a number of
independent Governments, with rival, if not conflicting,
interests," 21 is distinctly in the nature of a dream.
A dream also, the dim vision of a Jewish prophet, and
clung to with a Jewish prophet's obstinacy, is his ever-
recurring hope of European recognition, which should
free the South and end the war. Here, again, it seems
to me that Cavour would either have put the thing
through or early seen its hopelessness. Even Benjamin's
own foreign agent declares that failure should have been
foreseen and accepted at a very early stage. 22 But Benja
min would not foresee, would not accept. Up to the very
last months he believed that recognition must come, that
Europe could not be so foolish as to neglect its own in
terest. And long after the war he told Russell, in London,
that "though I have done with politics, thank God! I
consider your government made a frightful mistake which
you may have occasion to rue hereafter." 23
Of a similar character, though even more general in
the South and less persistent in Benjamin, was the delu
sion as to the supremacy of cotton.
If, then, Benjamin was not a statesman of a high order
or of large and commanding ideas, how was it that he so
long held such a prominent place in the Confederate
Government? The answer is simple and two good rea
sons furnish more than the solution of the difficulty.
In the first place, Benjamin was an admirable man of

134 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
business, and those who have had the privilege of meet
ing a good many business men know how rare an ad
mirable man of business is. He was a worker. While he
loved ease and luxury, he was capable of enormous labor,
did not shirk long hours or cumbrous documents, went
right at a job and finished it. He would remain at his
desk, when necessary, from eight o'clock one morning
till one or two the next. He would work Sundays and
holidays. And he did this without fatigue, complaint, or
murmur, always cheerfully and easily, and as if he en
joyed it.
Mere industry does not go far, however, or not the
whole way. Benjamin had what is worth far more than
industry, system. When he went into the War Office, he
was no soldier and could not please soldiers. But he was
an administrator, and if he had stuck to that phase, I im
agine he would have been useful. He began right away
to bring order out of hopeless confusion, organized, sys
tematized, docketed. " Having had charge of the War
Department but a few days," he writes, " my first effort
was to master our situation, to understand thoroughly
what we had and in what our deficiencies consisted, but
I have been completely foiled at all points by the absence
of systematic returns." 24 And again, " Without them
[returns] we cannot, of course, administer the service ;
can make no calculations, no combinations, can provide
in advance with no approximation to certainty, and can
not know how to supply deficiencies." 25 A systematizer

JUDAH P. BENJAMIN 135
of this order was a useful creature in Richmond during
those four years.
But another quality, even more valuable than business
habits, sustained Benjamin in his office : he knew how to
handle men. He watched character perpetually, studied
the motives of others, their wants, their weaknesses,
knew how to adapt himself to them. "No shade of emo
tion in another escaped Mr. Benjamin's penetration,"
writes the keen-sighted Mrs. Davis, whose warm admi
ration of her husband's adviser is one of his best cre
dentials. " He seemed to have a kind of electric sym
pathy with every mind with which he came into contact,
and very often surprised his friends by alluding to some
thing they had not expressed nor desired him to inter
pret." 28
How useful this quality was in dealing with Davis can
only be appreciated by those who have studied carefully
the peculiarities of that noble but complicated person
age. A patriotic idealist in purpose, he wished to save
his country, but he wished to save it in his own way.
From his subordinates he desired labor, quick compre
hension, a hearty support of all his plans and methods.
Advice he did not desire, and those who gave it had to
give it with tact and extreme delicacy. Here was exactly
the chance for Judah P. Benjamin. Advice he did not
especially care to give, but no man could divine Davis's
wishes with finer sympathy, no man could carry out his
plans with more intelligent cooperation and at the same

136 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
time with heartier self-effacement. The patient skill
with which the result was accomplished is well indicated
by Mrs. Davis when she says : " It was to me a curious
spectacle ; the steady approximation to a thorough friend
liness of the President and his war minister. It was a very
gradual rapprochement, but all the more solid for that
reason." 27 J. B. Jones, who disliked and distrusted his
Jewish superior, analyzes the relation between presi
dent and secretary with much less approval. "Mr. B.
unquestionably will have great influence with the Presi
dent, for he has studied his character most carefully. He
will be familiar not only with his ' likes,' but especially
with his ' dislikes.' " 28 And when the diarist hears that the
president is about to be baptized and confirmed, he takes
comfort because " it may place a gulf between him and
the descendant of those who crucified the Saviour." 29 If
we accept Benjamin's own words, however, and I think
we may, we shall conclude that his devotion to Davis
was founded, at any rate in part, on a sincere esteem and
admiration. Writing to the London " Times," after the
war, he says : " For the four years during which I have
been one of his most privileged advisers, the recipient
of his confidence and sharer to the best of my ability in
his labors and responsibilities, I have learned to know
him better perhaps than he is known by any other living
man. Neither in private conversation nor in Cabinet
council have I ever heard him utter one unworthy thought,
one ungenerous sentiment." s0

JUDAH P. BENJAMIN 137
No one, then, could long retain Davis's confidence
without an abundant supply of tact and sympathy. Prob
ably the two men who made most use of these qualities
in their dealings with the President were Lee and Ben
jamin. But a most instructive difference strikes us here.
Lee's tact sprang spontaneously from natural human
kindness. He treated his inferiors exactly as he treated
his sole superior and was as courteous and sympathetic
to the humblest soldier as to the president of the Con
federacy. With Benjamin it is wholly otherwise. He
was at the War Office for just six months. In that time
I will not say he quarreled with everybody under him,
but he alienated everybody, and quarreled with so many
that his stay there is but a record of harsh words and
recrimination. One brief telegram to McCulloch will
abundantly illustrate the cause of this state of things :
"I cannot understand why you withdrew your troops
instead of pursuing the enemy when his leaders were
quarreling and his army separated into parts under dif
ferent commanders. Send an explanation." 31
This sort of dispatch, from a lawyer who had never
seen a skirmish to generals of old experience and solid
training, was not likely to breed good feeling, much less
to restore it. It did not. Benjamin had trouble with Wise,
trouble with Beauregard, trouble repeatedly with J. E.
Johnston, and drove Jackson to a resignation which, if it
had been accepted, might have changed the course of
the war. This is surely a pretty record for six months.

138 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
And observe that in many instances the secretary ap
pears to have been right and wise. This only emphasizes
the misfortune of his getting into such difficulty. The
suavity, the graceful tact, which served him so well with
Davis, seem to have deserted him in dealing with those
over whom he had control. Or rather, it is said that
the very suavity produced double exasperation when it
was used merely to glove an arbitrary display of au
thority. " When I do not agree with Benjamin, I will not
let him talk to me," said Slidell, who was his friend ; "he
irritates me so by his debonnair ways." 32
And now, with the qualities of Benjamin's public ca
reer clearly suggested, let us turn for a moment to his
private life and see how that helps to illuminate the other.
To begin with his social interests, involving, as they
do, what we have just been discussing. As with Davis,
so with all equals, in daily intercourse his manner was
full of courtesy, some even say, charm. To be sure, Wise
calls him " oleaginous " ; but Alfriend, who knew him
well, goes to the other extreme : "I have never known a
man socially more fascinating than Judah P. Benjamin.
He was in his attainments a veritable Admiral [sic]
Crichton, and I think, excepting G. P. R. James, the
most brilliant, fascinating conversationalist I have ever
known." 33 One is tempted to blend these two views in
Charles Lamb's pleasant characterization of the singer
Braham : " He was a rare composition of the Jew, the
gentleman, and the angel ; yet all these elements mixed

JUDAH P. BENJAMIN 139
up so kindly in him, that you could not tell which pre
ponderated." 34
Less prejudiced judges than those above quoted ren
der a verdict which is still decidedly favorable. In his
earlier career in the United States Senate Benjamin is
said to have been generally popular, and to have en
deavored always to foster social relations ; and Sumner,
his bitterest opponent, bore testimony to his kindness of
manner and conformity to the proprieties of debate.35
W. H. Russell speaks of his "brisk, lively, agreeable
manner" and calls him "the most open, frank, and
cordial of the Confederates whom I have yet met." 36
Thomas F. Bayard, surely a connoisseur, says that Ben
jamin's "manner was most attractive — gentle, sympa
thetic, and absolutely unaffected," and that " he certainly
shone in social life as a refined, genial, charming com
panion." 37 And the testimony of his English friends is
equally decided. "A charming companion," writes Sir
Frederick Pollock, " an accomplished brother lawyer, and
a true friend, one I could not easily replace." 38
In many of these social sketches of Benjamin there is
a curious insistence on his smile, which seems to have
been as perennial as Malvolio's, if a little more natural.
" The perpetual smile that basked on his Jewish lips," 39
says the acrid Pollard. And Jones, in his " Diary," recurs
to it almost as a third-rate playwright does to a character
tag, so much so that on one occasion he notes Mr. Ben
jamin's appearance without his smile as of inauspicious

140 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
omen. "Upon his lip there seems to bask an eternal
smile ; but if it be studied, it is not a smile — yet it bears
no unpleasant aspect." 40
The implication in some descriptions that the smile
and the courtesy were only on the surface is, I think,
clearly unjust. Benjamin was not, perhaps, a philanthro
pist ; but there is record of many kindly deeds of his,
none the less genuine for not being trumpeted. He once
lost sixty thousand dollars by indorsing a note for a
friend.41 Although never especially enthusiastic for his
religion, he was ready to give help to a fellow Hebrew
who wanted it, and it is said that old and needy Con
federates in London did not apply to him for aid in vain.
Also, the smile was for himself, as well as for others.
That is, it represented an attitude towards life. Through
many ups and downs and odd turns and freaks of For
tune, Benjamin was never discouraged, never depressed.
I do not think this meant in him any great strain of
heroic fortitude. The smile shows that. It was an easy
going egotism, which neither touched nor was touched
deeply, a serene, healthy well-being, which let the blows
of adversity strike and glance off, which turned trifles
into great pleasures and very great evils into trifles.
When work was needed, he worked with all the strength
that was in him. When he failed and fell, instead of
being crushed, he jumped up, smiled, brushed off his
clothes, and worked again. Where will you find a finer
instance of recovery after utter disaster than this man's

JUDAH P. BENJAMIN 141
rise in old age from nothing to fortune in a new country
and an untried sphere ? Even in his formal and official
correspondence you catch little glimpses of the easy,
devil-may-care fashion in which he took responsibilities
that would have crushed others. Thus, he ends a long
letter of difficulty and trouble to his predecessor in the
War Office : "What a bed of roses you have bequeathed
me ! " 42 Or he writes to Sidney Johnston — of all men :
"In Mississippi and Tennessee your unlucky offer to re
ceive unarmed men for twelve months has played the
deuce with our camps." 43 Fancy Lee or Davis writing
that! For a man armed with a smile of this kind religion is a
superfluity and it appears that Benjamin had none. He
practically dropped his own and never had the interest
to pick up any other. He did, indeed, — unless he has
been confused with Disraeli, — tell a sneerer at Judaism
that his ancestors were receiving the law from Deity on
Mount Sinai when the sneerer' s were herding swine in
the forests of Saxony ; 44 but this was to make a point
for the gallery, just as his burial in Paris with Catholic
rites was pour p lair e aux dames, unless it was wholly the
ladies' doing. His religion would not have been worth
alluding to but for the delightful anecdote of Daniel
Webster's assuring him and Maury, the scientist, that
they were all three Unitarians together. Benjamin denied
this, and invited Webster to dine with him to prove it.
They dined and argued, but Benjamin would not be con-

142 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
vinced, though he did not know enough about the Bible
to hold his ground.45 Oh, to have been present at that
dinner ! What conversation — and what wine and cigars !
As this discussion may imply, and as abundant evi
dence proves, Benjamin, for all his smiles and all his
optimism, was neither cold nor always perfect in com
mand of his temper. " He was like fire and tow," says
Mrs. Davis, perhaps exaggerating in view of an incident
to be shortly mentioned, " and sensitive about his dig
nity." 46 I do not imagine this went very deep, but at any
rate the Southern sun had touched the surface with a
singular vivacity and petulance. Even in age and in Lon
don fogs the temper would fly out. As when, before the
solemn dignity of the House of Lords, Benjamin was
arguing a case and heard the Lord Chancellor mutter
" Nonsense"; the barrister stopped, gathered up his pa
pers, and abruptly departed. So high was his standing
at that time that the Chancellor felt obliged to make
things right by an apology.
Even more entertaining is the earlier spat between
Benjamin and Davis. Senatorial tempers were high-
strained in Washington in the fifties and men sometimes
fell foul of friends as well as foes. The slap-dash, boyish
interchange of curt phrases, even as staled in the cold
storage of the "Congressional Globe," must have re
joiced Seward and Sumner. Its straight-from-the-shoul-
der quality, coming from such reverend sages, recalls the
immortal dialogue which Dr. Johnson reports as occur-

JUDAH P. BENJAMIN 143
ring between himself and Adam Smith. "What did
Smith say, sir?" Dr.fohnson: "He said I was a liar."
"And what did you say?" "I said he was a" — never
mind what. Benjamin's language was more senatorial,
but not too much so. " The Senator is mistaken and has
no right to state any such thing. His manner is not
agreeable at all." Davis : " If the Senator happens to
find it disagreeable, I hope he will keep it to himself."
Benjamin : " When directed to me, I will not keep it to
myself, I will repel it instanter :" Davis: "You have got
it, sir." 47
And pistols for two, of course. But kind friends pre
vented the future Secretary of State from shooting at his
President. More seriously instructive and profitable is
the contrast between the explanations offered by the two
men in the Senate. Davis's is in his best vein, nobly
characteristic, as thoroughly frank as it is manly and dig
nified. Benjamin's is well enough, but cautious, as if he
were afraid of his position and anxious not to say a word
too much.48
The keen sensibility, whether superficial or not, which
appears in these incidents, characterized Benjamin in
other ways besides temper. He liked excitement. It was
the excitement of public contest that made for him, I
think, the charm of his profession. After the war he was
offered an excellent opening in Parisian finance, but he
preferred to fight his way up in the English courts. And
there is a remarkable sentence in his speech at the fare-

144 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
well dinner, when he mentions having been ordered to
avoid the excitement of active practice : "I need hardly
tell an audience like this that to tell me or any person of
a nature like mine to abstain from all possible excitement
is to tell him to cease the active exercise of the profession ;
for without the ardor of forensic contest what is the pro
fession worth ? " 49
He liked excitement in the form of games also ; liked
billiards and whist. Russell even records as Washington
scandal that he lost the major part of his very large in
come at cards.50 His biographer denies this, but in rather
mild fashion, asserting that he was " not a rabid gam
bler," 51 and Benjamin himself seems rather less con
cerned at the accusation than at Russell's ingratitude in
making it.62
On graver points of morals I find no trace of any
charge against Benjamin whatever. But, in spite of his
immense capacity for work, he was generally known as
a lover of ease and good living. This, assuredly no vice
in itself, came almost to appear like one in the last
hungry months of the Confederacy. Very characteristic
of the man, more so, perhaps, than she meant it, is Mrs.
Davis's little sketch : " He used to say that with bread
made of Crenshaw's flour, spread with paste made from
English walnuts from an immense tree in our grounds,
and a glass of McHenry sherry, of which we had a scanty
store, ' a man's patriotism became rampant.' " 53 Alfriend,
also, gives us a significant touch : " Mr. Benjamin loved

JUDAH P. BENJAMIN 145
a good dinner, a good glass of wine, and revelled in the
delights of fine Havana cigars. Indeed, even when Rich
mond was in a state of siege he was never without
them." 54 Right beside this I do not think it cruel to put
his own letter to soldiers who were starving on half
rations and to whom a crust was luxury [italics mine].
" Hardship and exposure will undoubtedly be suffered
by our troops, but this is war, and we cannot hope to
conquer our liberties or secure our rights by ease and
comfort." 55
On this very point of good eating, however, we must
at the same time note the man's kindliness and gentle
heart. What he liked he thought others would like and
was glad to get it for them, if he could. Thus Mrs. Davis
records that at a very good dinner Benjamin seemed ill
at ease and confessed that he was thinking how much his
brother-in-law, left alone at home, would enjoy some of
the delicacies ; whereupon he received a share to take
with him and went away contented.
Undeniably, in the matter of relatives Benjamin ap
pears at his best, and his affection and thought for them
— thoroughly racial attributes — are pleasant to read
about. With his French Catholic wife he did not indeed
wholly agree. There was no formal separation or quar
rel. But for the greater part of the time, she lived in Paris
and her husband in America. Benjamin's biographer at
tributes this largely to faults of her disposition. Perhaps
he is right. But I would give a good deal for Mrs. Ben-

146 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
jamin's view of her husband. So far as I know, only one
recorded sentence of her writing twinkles in the memory
of men. But that one is a jewel. It paints the woman ; it
paints the Southern and Creole class, and much that is
Northern and human also ; it suggests wide possibilities
of domestic infelicity ; and it shows charmingly that Ben
jamin had found the superlative in an art in which he
could furnish a good comparative himself. He writes to
his wife urging economy, and she writes back : " Do not
speak to me of economy ; it is so fatiguing." 56 Miss
Austen might have invented the phrase, she could not
have bettered it.
But Benjamin afforded rather a singularity in matri
monial affairs by apparently caring much more about
his wife's relatives than he did about her. And to those
connected with him by blood, his daughter, sisters, nieces,
and nephews, he was deeply and devotedly attached.
His few extant letters to them form very attractive read
ing and show a man as lovable as he was clever. They
are full of a light and graceful playfulness, gossiping of
trivial things in just the way that love appreciates.
Yet how infinite are the shades and diversities of char
acter 1 For all this graceful playfulness in his private let
ters, for all his reported wit in conversation, I do not find
that Benjamin had much of that complicated emotion
which we call humor. Is it that he does not view life from
a large enough angle? In this regard how striking is the
difference between him and Lincoln I When the Lord

JUDAH P. BENJAMIN 147
Chancellor said, "Nonsense," Lincoln would not have
stalked out. He would have told a story and the Lord
Chancellor would have wished to do the stalking. When
Davis said a sharp thing, Lincoln would have said a
gentle one, and got the best of it. Read in the "Con
gressional Globe " the debate on secession and see how
Baker of Oregon simply demolishes Benjamin, not by
argument, but by pure Lincolnian quizzing, which Ben
jamin cannot meet because he cannot understand it.
Benjamin smiled perpetually, Lincoln, I imagine, rarely.
But how much more Lincoln's smile meant ! Benjamin's
cheerful countenance gave no weight at all to the trag
edies of existence.
And now, I think, we are in a position to consider what
was Benjamin's real attitude towards the Confederacy.
First, was he an able, selfish, scheming, unscrupulous
adventurer, who played the game simply for his own
personal ambition and aggrandizement, a sort of Talley
rand ? This may be excluded at once. It would be diffi
cult to imagine Talleyrand writing confidentially, as
Benjamin did in regard to the release of Brownlow :
" Better that any, the most dangerous enemy, however
criminal, should escape, than that the honor and good
faith of the Government should be impugned or even
suspected." 57 If there were no other evidence that the sec
retary did not belong to the type above indicated, little
more would be needed than his own clearly genuine com
parison of Gladstone and Disraeli, all in favor of the

148 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
former, who, indeed, is said to have been his idol.58 Gil-
more's brief description is vital on this point : " There is
something, after all, in moral power. Mr. Benjamin does
not possess it, nor is he a great man. He has a keen,
shrewd, ready intellect, but not the stamina to originate,
or even to execute, any great good or great wicked
ness." 69
But again, some who recognize Benjamin's honesty
assert that he took up the Confederate cause as a mere
law case, utterly indifferent to the wrong or right, or to
any personal issue, giving it his best service as long
as he could, then turning cheerfully to something else.
Here also I think there is error. The man's whole heart
was in the work and he felt for it as deeply as he could
feel. Passage after passage in his public and private
writings shows indisputably the partisan hatred and the
devoted enthusiasm of the loyal citizen. " I entertain no
doubt whatever that hundreds of thousands of people at
the North would be frantic with fiendish delight if in
formed of the universal massacre of the Southern people,
including women and children, in one night." 60 " No
people have poured out their blood more freely in de
fence of their liberty and independence, nor have en
dured sacrifices with greater cheerfulness than have the
men and women of these Confederate States. They ac
cepted the issue which was forced on them by an arro
gant and domineering race, vengeful, grasping, and
ambitious. They have asked nothing, fought for nothing,

JUDAH P. BENJAMIN 149
but for the right of self-government, for independence." 61
" How it makes one's breast swell with emotion to wit
ness the calm, heroic, unconquerable determination to
be free that fills the breast of all ages, sexes, and con
ditions." 62
Like many other Southerners, Benjamin rather melo
dramatically declared that he would never be taken
alive. He never was. Like many others, he declared that
he would never, never, submit. Lee, Johnston, Davis,
Stephens submitted ; Benjamin never. His Jewish obsti
nacy would not be overcome.
No, it is utterly unjust to deny that his patriotism was
genuine or that he gave his very best sincerely and in his
way unselfishly to what he felt to be his country. Only with
him nothing went deep. When the struggle was over, it
was over. Some measure of his sunny cheerfulness must
be credited to self-control. Most of it was temperament.
Lee, too, made no complaint; but the tragedy of his
people was written perpetually on his face. Benjamin's
face would not take impressions of that nature. Not one
regret for a lost cause or a vanished country is to be
found in his few personal letters that have come down to
us. " I am contented and cheerful under all reverses," he
writes. And, though this particular phrase was used to
cheer his anxious family, it is intimately characteristic
of his permanent attitude.
The truth is, he was a man placed in a position too
large for him, and he rattles about in it. The crises of

150 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
history always exhibit such misfits, in lamentable num
ber. But with Benjamin the impression prevails that he
was of remarkable ability, an adventurer of genius but
of little character. This view was strong upon me when
I began to study him. Now I am forced to the opposite
conclusion, that his character was respectable, if not un
exceptionable, but his ability mediocre. Davis, while
meaning only to be complimentary, damned the ability
with the faintest possible praise, to perfection : " Mr.
Benjamin, of Louisiana, had a very high reputation as a
lawyer, and my acquaintance with him in the Senate had
impressed me with the lucidity of his intellect, his sys
tematic habits, and capacity for labor." 63
In short, he was an average, honorable, and, in poli
tics, rather ineffectual gentleman. Perhaps he would
have preferred a different verdict. If so, he should not
have destroyed those papers.

VI
ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS

CHRONOLOGY
Born in Wilkes County, Georgia, February II, 1812.
Franklin College, Athens, Georgia, 1828.
Country school teacher, 1833.
Admitted to the bar, 1834.
Member of State Legislature, 1836.
Member of Congress, 1843.
Retired, 1859.
Vice-President of Confederacy, February 9, 1861.
Took part in Hampton Roads Conference, February 3, 1865.
Arrested, May n, 1865.
Imprisoned in Fort Warren, Boston Harbor, till October 12, 1865.
Member of Congress, 1873.
Governor of Georgia, 1882.
Died March 4, 1883.

ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS

VI
ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS
HUMAN nature is full of contradictions, which give it
much of its charm. But the character and career of Alex
ander H. Stephens seem to involve contradictions be
yond the share of most of us.
In physique he was abnormally frail, delicate, and sen
sitive, nervous sometimes to the point of hysteria ; yet
he had the spirit of a gamecock, was ready for a duel
when honor required it, walked right up and struck a far
bigger man who had insulted him and who nearly mur
dered him in consequence. Perhaps with some bragga
docio, but with more truth, he said of himself : " I am
afraid of nothing on earth, or above the earth, or under
the earth, but to do wrong." 1
He was studious by nature, longed for quiet, and soli
tude, and meditation. Yet he lived in a perpetual whirl,
either drawn by a thousand activities abroad, or beset by
a throng of visitors at home. " I supposed when I got
this room I should be by myself, ... but I do nothing
the livelong day but jabber with each transient interlo
per who may be disposed to give me a call." *
He was probably one of the most logical, clear-headed,
determined defenders of slavery and of the thorough
subordination of black to white. Yet few men have been

154 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
more sensitively humane, more tenderly sympathetic
with suffering in either white or black. The negroes loved
him, and on one occasion after the war three thousand
freedmen gathered on his lawn and serenaded him with
passionate admiration and devotion.
No man was more bitterly opposed to secession and to
the war than he was. No Southerner made a harder or
more nearly successful fight to prevent the withdrawal
of his State. Yet when Georgia went, he not only went
with her, but became the vice-president of the Confed
eracy. He himself puts this contrast vividly in his diary,
written while a prisoner at Fort Warren, in 1865. " How
strange it seems to me that I should thus suffer, I who
did everything in my power to prevent [the war] ....
On the fourth of September, 1848, I was near losing my
life for resenting the charge of being a traitor to the
South, and now I am here, a prisoner under charge, I
suppose, of being a traitor to the Union. In all, I have
done nothing but what I thought was right." 3
Nor is the list of Stephens's contradictions yet summed
up — not nearly. The second officer of the Confederacy
and a devoted champion of its cause, he was persist
ently opposed to the conduct of the Government from
beginning to end. He opposed Davis radically as to the
finances and as to cotton, he opposed conscription, he
opposed martial law, he considered that the president's
whole course was dictated either by gross misjudgment
or by a belief in the necessity of dictatorial power. And

ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS 155
here we have, I think, a rather piquant attitude for a man
who held the next to the highest place in a new-born
nation fighting for life and death.
These considerations make the vice-president, if not
the greatest, certainly the most curious and interesting,
figure in the lightning-lit panorama of Confederate his
tory. In analyzing Stephens's career, the question of health,
negatively important for most leaders of men, becomes
enormously positive. From his birth in 181 2 to his death
in 1883, his life seems to have been a long disease, for
ever on the verge of terminating fatally. It may be that
the rough experiences of pioneer farming in his child
hood — the corn-dropping, the sheep-tending, exposure,
hardship — injured him permanently, or saved him, who
knows ? So with the long, desperate battle for an educa
tion and a profession, in solitude and poverty. The battle
may have weakened, may have toughened, perhaps both.
At any rate, we rarely hear of him, except suffering.
All the descriptions of him emphasize some phase of
physical weakness and inadequacy. His own account at
twenty-one sets the note : " My weight is ninety-four
pounds, my height sixty-seven inches, my waist twenty-
seven inches in circumference, and my whole appearance
that of a youth of seventeen or eighteen. When I left
college, two years ago, my net weight was seventy
pounds. If I continue in a proportionate increase, I shall
reach one hundred pounds in about two years more."4

156 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
Later portrayals have sometimes an unkindly touch, as
the caustic diatribe of the robust Dick Taylor, no doubt
in some points slightly justified : " Like other ills, feeble
health has its compensations, especially for those who
unite restless vanity and ambition to a feminine desire for
sympathy. It has been much the habit of Mr. Stephens
to date controversial epistles from 'a sick chamber,'
as do ladies in a delicate condition. A diplomat of
the last century, the Chevalier d'Eon, by usurping the
privileges of the opposite sex, inspired grave doubts
concerning his own." 5
But most observers rather seem impressed with the
contrast between the man's physical deficiencies and his
splendid spiritual strength. At the height of his congres
sional career in Washington (1855) a keen-sighted jour
nalist noted that, in the stress of great occasions, " the
poor, sickly, emaciated frame, which looks as if it must
sink under the slightest physical exertion, at once grows
instinct with a galvanic vitality which quickens every
nerve with the energy of a new life, imparts to every
feature a high, intellectual expression, makes the languid
eyes glow like living coals, and diffuses a glow of re
viving animation over the pallid countenance." 6 Even
more striking is another picture taken in the same place
in 1872, after war and imprisonment had done their
worst. "An immense cloak, a high hat, and peering
somewhere out of the middle a thin, pale, sad face. How
anything so small and sick and sorrowful could get here

ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS 157
all the way from Georgia is a wonder. If he were laid
out in his coffin, he need n't look any different, only that
the fire would have gone out in the burning eyes. Set as
they are in the wax-white face, they seem to burn and
blaze. That he is here at all to offer the counsels of mod
eration and patriotism proves how invincible is the soul
that dwells in this sunken frame. He took the modified
oath in his chair, and his friends picked him up and
carried him off in it as if he were a feather." 7
How far this fiery energy of the soul was responsible
for the weary failure of the body, who shall say ? But
never was there man in mind and spirit more heartily
and vividly and incessantly and at every point alive than
Alexander H. Stephens. From childhood he fought his
way in the world, fought for education, fought for suc
cess as a lawyer, fought for political distinction. He liked
fighting. " I was made to figure in a storm, excited by
continual collisions. Discussion and argument are my
delight ; and a place of life and business therefore is
my proper element. ... I long to be where I shall have
an argument daily." 8
In age and in prison the fire, indeed, might burn a
little low. "Personal ambition had no part in anything
I have done." 9 But in the early days the man panted to
get upward, to do something, to be something. " I be
lieve I shall never be worth anything, and the thought
is death to my soul. I am too boyish, childish, unman-
ful, trifling, simple in my manners and address." 10 When

158 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
he had become something — not enough — never enough
— the record of work he did is, for an invalid, quite in
explicable ; or rather, it fully explains the invalidism. " I
rise and breakfast at eight ; then commence with my
mail. Frequently I do not get half through that before
I am bored almost to death with calls on business of all
sorts ; then to the Committee at ten ; then to the House
at twelve ; then to dinner at four ; then calls before I
leave the table till twelve at night. Then I take up and
get through my unfinished reading of letters and news
papers of the morning ; and then at one o'clock get to
bed. I now have about one hundred letters before me
unanswered." u
This petulance, this vivacity, this mad energy of living
in a frame half dead remind one constantly of Voltaire,
who, with his little, weak, and shattered body, went on
for fifty years, making enemies and smashing them,
puncturing social rottenness with his fierce wit, blasting
others' great lies and telling petty lies of his own, some
times pitiable, sometimes malignant, often fascinating,
but always, always splendidly alive. Stephens made few
enemies, told no lies, was neither pitiable nor malignant ;
but he was splendidly alive until the coffin-lid put out
the torch that seemed to have exhausted its fuel long
before. But though Voltaire had plenty of physical ills, I find
no evidence that he suffered from melancholy or mental
depression. Stephens did. The jar of over-tense nerves

ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS 159
mingles curiously with his eager bursts of ambition and
aspiration: "My feelings and hopes seem ever to be
vibrating between assurance and despondency. My soul
is bent upon success in my profession, and when indulg
ing in brightest anticipations, the most trivial circum
stance is frequently sufficient to damp my whole ardor
and drive me to despair." 12
This tendency to depression was not merely the re
action from disappointed hopes or dreams unrealized. It
was a constitutional melancholy, which, not only in youth,
but even in middle life, seems to have eaten into the
man's very soul. The words in which he describes it most
definitely have a strange, poignant bitterness that wrings
the heart : " Sometimes I have thought that of all men
I was most miserable ; that I was especially doomed to
misfortune, to melancholy, to grief. . . . The misery, the
deep agony of spirit I have suffered, no mortal knows,
nor ever will. . . . The torture of body is severe ; I have
had my share of that. . . . But all these are slight when
compared with the pangs of an offended or wounded
spirit. The heart alone knoweth its own sorrow. I have
borne it these many years. I have borne it all my
life." 18
To his beloved brother Linton he endeavors to describe
his spiritual malady. " It is the secret of my life. I have
never told it to any one." 14 But his speech, usually so
lucid, is incoherent, stumbling, and obscure. It appears
that his physical deficiencies wounded him, as they did

160 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
Byron ; he shrank and withered under the jeers and
mocking looks of those who could not see his soul. Then
the stung soul rebounded and strove with every ounce
of will to make the mockers love him by doing good to
them in strange new ways of overwhelming potency.
But the explanation is neither clear nor wholly sufficient,
sounds manufactured to fit facts beyond the vision of
even the explainer. All we can say is that we get dim
glimpses of a spiritual hell.
What is supremely interesting about Stephens is that
he neither accepts this condition of things nor submits to
it. Such a wretched frame for such a fierce vitality might
easily have made another Leopardi, veiling all the light
of heaven in black pessimism, cursing man and nature
and God with cold irony for the vile mistake of his cre
ation. Stephens fights his ills, makes head against them,
never lets himself be really prostrated by physical tor
ture or mental agony. Worsted for the moment, he
forever reemerges, with some new refuge, some new
comfort, some new device of cure.
One day he tries Burton's " Anatomy of Melancholy,"
finds it excellent on homoeopathic principles, and
recommends it to his brother, though Burton himself
is inclined to advise all melancholy persons to shun his
majestic folio.
More serious than such bookishness is the clear deter
mination to overcome mental misery by effort of will.
" I have in my life," he says, " been one of the most

ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS 161
miserable beings that walked the earth. . . . Without
enjoyment, without pleasure, without hope, and without
sympathy with the world." 15 But the unfailing remedy,
for those who will but try it, is the absolute control of
thought. "Never let the mind dwell upon anything
disagreeable — turn it to something else." "Great and
heroic effort was necessary at first and for a long time."
But "with a proper discipline of oneself in this way,
ever keeping the passions in perfect subjection, content
ment and happiness are attainable by all." 16 I do not
read that he ever attained them, but others may by fol
lowing his precepts. He fought for them, at any rate.
Stoical self-control was not his only refuge. He had
one higher — God. In his youth he declined to be edu
cated for the ministry and I do not think he was ever
consistently satisfied as to speculative religion. But he
seems to have had a keen and mighty sense of the
divine in spiritual things and in his hours of agony he
seeks solace there and finds it. He devotes a portion of
every day to communion with God in prayer and gets
from it comfort in his anguish, light in the valley of dark
shadows, and the growth of a kindlier, sweeter temper
towards his fellow-men.17 In old age, in sickness, in soli
tude, in prison, he sums up thus the mighty help that
God has been to him : "That the Lord is a strong hold
in the day of trouble I know. But for his sustaining
grace, I should have been crushed in body and soul long
ere this." 18

162 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
Nevertheless, with a temperament so introspective,
brooding, and sensitive, it is doubtful whether even re
ligious contemplation would have saved Stephens from
melancholy and morbidness. It might have lifted him
above the pessimism and misanthropy of Leopardi only
to land him in the deeper spiritual wretchedness of
Amiel. Contemplation, even divine, is not always suffi
cient to save such a temperament from ruining itself.
A better, surer remedy, at least a needed balance-
wheel, is action, constant contact with the busy, outward,
stupid hurry of the world. Stephens knew this and had
the courage and the energy to force himself out of him
self. He may have possessed " a charm against loneli
ness," as his brother writes ; but he knew that in loneli
ness lay his danger and he kept as much as possible in
the bright current of turbulent humanity, even when all
his inclinations bade him fly from it. " It seems to me
that but for an effort that no other mortal upon earth
would make, I should sink into profound indifference to
all things connected with men and their affairs. But with
that effort that I daily exert, to the persons about me I
appear, I have no doubt, to be one of the most cheerful
and happy men upon earth." 19
As a result of this he had people near him always.
His hospitality was notorious even in the hospitable
South. Though he was far from wealthy, his mansion,
Liberty Hall, was open to all men at all times. Rich and
poor, high and low, ignorant and learned, gathered there,

ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS 163
and feasted at the owner's spiritual table as well as at
the material. " Distinguished visitors from everywhere
sought the sage's dwelling ; so did hungry tramps, black
and white." 20
Like many persons of melancholy temperament, he
was rich in delightful social qualities, made his guests
feel thoroughly at home, studied their needs and minis
tered to them. And that specially frequent concomitant
of melancholy, a dainty and sometimes a boisterous sense
of humor, he had in a very high degree. His letters and
his diary abound with good stories. What a quaint comic
invention is the imaginary Finkle, through whom at
irregular intervals he narrates his autobiography. His
prison life at Fort Warren appears to him to be full of
humorous matter. When he is not weeping over it, he is
laughing at it. One of the best specimens of his dry wit,
though more bitter than is usual with him, is the com
ment with which he closes some rather severe remarks
on Davis. " It is certainly not my object to detract from
Mr. Davis, but the truth is that as a statesman he was
not colossal. . . . After the Government was organized
at Montgomery, it was reported that he said it was
' now a question of brains.' I thought the remark a good
one." 21
These social qualities — cheerfulness, kindliness, sym
pathy — won friends for Stephens everywhere. In col
lege, though poor, he was generally beloved and gath
ered all the young men around him. During his political

164 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
life in Washington it was the same. The venerable John
Quiney Adams saluted him with verses more notable for
feeling than for genius. Members of all parties treated
him with affection and respect. When he gave up his
congressional seat in 1859, he received the unusual honor
of a dinner tendered by a list of members of both houses
of Congress without party distinction, headed by the
Speaker of the House and the Vice-President. " I like
Stephens," wrote an opponent. "With all his bad politics
he is a generous-hearted fellow and of brilliant genius." 22
This universal popularity was by no means confined
to men of Stephens's own rank in life, but was perhaps
even greater among the common people. " Thank God
for littie Alex," shouted crowds assembled on his first
appearance after being wounded by a political adver
sary. And the negroes, especially those in his own serv
ice, were as enthusiastic and devoted as the whites.
It will be evident that qualities like these seemed to
pave the straight way to political success. In a certain
sense Stephens had such success in large measure. Why
that success was limited will become clearer as we go on.
But in the tactful management of men for a political pur
pose he had few superiors. And his art was largely sin
cerity. He made it manifest that he himself acted only
from a profound and well-reasoned conviction ; that he
would throw over his party and even his constituents in
a moment, if his conviction was against them ; and the
remnant of honesty which is latent in all men, politicians

ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS 165
as well as others, responded to such straightforward
uprightness. History records few finer things than
Stephens's manly stand against the rush of secession in
his State. Protesting in the face of angry thousands, he
almost swept the current back. And what is perhaps most
impressive of all, he so far retained the confidence and
affection of his opponents that they elected him a chief
officer of their government when they had established it.
The same qualities that made Stephens acceptable in
general social and political circles made him deeply be
loved in the more intimate relations of life. He never
married. Yet children were very dear to him and he was
keenly susceptible to the charm of women's society.
Twice at least he was in love. In the first case poverty
as well as ill-health obliged him to control his passion.
On the second occasion, he was already in Congress and
well-to-do in the world. The match was suitable and the
lady, it seems, not unwilling. But he would not ask her
to marry so frail a bit of humanity. " A woman's due,"
he thought, " was a husband on whom she could lean
and not an invalid whom she must nurse." 23 It was, per
haps, a mistake, for both him and her. At any rate, it
added to his bitterness of spirit. Once again one is re
minded of Leopardi.
In every way Stephens was a man to whom affection
meant much. He had the deepest love for home, for
Georgia, her hills, and streams, and forests. His outcry
for her from his Northern prison is poignant in its pathos :

166 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
" Let my days be brought to an end in my own native
land I Let my last breath be of my own native air ! My
native land, my country, the only one that is country to
me, is Georgia. The winds that sweep over her hills are
my native air. There, I wish to live, and there to die." 24
His home farm may be barren, may be simple. It has
neither luxury nor splendor. But to him it is everything.
When a young man, just beginning life, with boundless
ambition, a good opening and large salary were offered
him away from home. But he unhesitatingly preferred
to practice in his native town, though earning only a few
hundred dollars a year.25 And in old age and exile, as he
turned generally to Georgia, so he longed most of all for
the remembered haunts of youth and happiness. " That
old homestead and that quiet lot, Liberty Hall, in Craw-
fordsville, sterile and desolate as they may seem to others,
are bound to me by associations tender as heartstrings
and strong as hooks of steel." 26
These local affections sometimes take the place of hu
man ties, and there are men — men especially — who, if
they can live where they will, care not with whom they
live. It was not so with Stephens. His love for his friends
was as deep as his love for home. Among the great num
ber of these none was nearer than Robert Toombs, and
the marked contrast between the two men makes their
intimate relation singularly charming. Stephens was little
and frail ; Toombs huge and solid. Stephens was a
thinker ; Toombs a liver. Toombs conquered men ; Ste-

ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS 167
phens charmed them. Very often the two took different
sides and opposed each other energetically. Yet at the
same time they praised, admired, and loved each other,
and were rarely estranged, even for a brief interval. In
the midst of the secession fury there was a certain cold
ness ; but after Stephens's great anti-secession speech
Toombs led the cheering for the beloved enemy, though
he remarked to a friend who complimented him on it,
" I always try to behave myself at a funeral." 27
The best of Stephens's affection, however, went to his
family. His mother died when he was very young, but
his love for his father's memory has a depth and tender
ness which is quite irresistible. Surely few sons could
write, in old age, a tribute so impressive and so complete
as the following : " Never was human anguish greater
than that which I felt upon the death of my father. He
was the object of my love, my admiration, my reverence.
It seemed to me impossible that I could live without
him ; and the whole world for me was filled with the
blackness of despair. . . . Whenever I was about to do
something that I had never done before, the first thought
that occurred to me was, what would my father think of
this? . . . The principles and precepts he taught me
have been my guiding-star through life." 28
Even deeper and more absorbing was Stephens's love
for his young half-brother, Linton, whom he educated,
trained, and advised through boyhood and young man
hood, and who afterward became his closest confidant.

168 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
To Linton he poured out all his hopes and sorrows and
desires both public and private. Linton himself was a
man of great ability, deservedly prominent in Georgia
politics. He was also a man of singular charm, as fully
appears from Waddell's excellent life of him. To have
been looked up to and worshiped by such a man is not
the least of Stephens's claims upon our interest, and the
elder brother returned the devotion of the younger with
all the passion of a heart keenly sensitive and not dis
tracted from its sole object by either wife or child. The
perpetual recurrence of Linton's name in his brother's
letters and diary almost recalls Madame de Sevigne's
unlimited adoration of her daughter. " Oh, if I had Lin
ton with me now, how full would be my joy notwith
standing I am a prisoner ! How light is my burden com
pared with what it has been ! The full dawn of day is
certainly upon me ! May the sun of my deliverance soon
arise ! Oh, may Linton soon come 1 " 29
The. affection which could not satiate itself with hu
manity overflowed further in a notable tenderness for
animals, especially for dogs. Stephens had always one
or more of these to tend, to confide in, or to frolic with.
When absent from home, he writes of them with a solici
tude which is sometimes amusing, but more often pa
thetic. Over the blindness of one of them, Rio, he sor
rows as over the affliction of a friend. He walks with Rio
to guide the dog's steps and he buries him with a touch
as characteristic in its simple vanity as in its profound

ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS 169
emotion: " The world will never see another Rio. And
few dogs ever had, or ever will have, such a master.
Over his grave I shed a tear, as I did over him fre
quently as I saw nature failing." 30
Perhaps it is possible to overdo this matter of sym
pathy with animals. It seems to some of us that the uni
versal pity of the nineteenth century rather tended to
increase the aggregate of sentient woe than to diminish
it. When Uncle Toby spares the pestilent fly, we love
him for it, especially as he was not aware of the huge
maleficence with which later investigation was to load
that domestic parasite. But when Stephens mourns over
the necessary destruction of prison bedbugs, he seems to
push altruism to the edge of the ludicrous — and over.
" I have often felt sorry for what I have to do to these
bloodsuckers. Most willingly would I turn them loose
and let them go away, if they would go and stay, but
this they will not do. Between them and me, therefore,
there is ' an irrepressible conflict.' Either I or they must
be extinguished." 31
In the more important field of pity for human suffering
and of attempts to relieve the wretched and to assist the
struggling and downtrodden, we can have nothing but
admiration for Stephens's persistent endeavor. He does,
indeed, as with regard to Rio above, indulge in very
frank statement of his own merit in this kind : " While I
have been here I have with free will and of my own ac
cord labored, I think, more for the benefit of others than

170 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
I have for myself, which is more than many mortals I
ever knew could say for themselves." 82 But the merits
require no such emphasis. They are great and indis
putable. Probably few persons of his means have done
more for others than Stephens did. He was constantly
educating young men, so that all those of promise in his
home town appealed to him and many from outside.
During the war he was devoted in his attendance upon
prisons and hospitals, visiting them often with fruit and
flowers, which, I think, was inventing a charming func
tion for that generally useless functionary, a vice-presi
dent. " Whenever I see a head at an iron grate, my heart
is interested," 33 he wrote, before he had passed four
months behind an iron grate himself. It may be noted
that one of the points in which he differed from the Gov
ernment was his belief that prisoners of war should be
set free, since the Confederacy was not able to provide
for them properly. If sometimes, with men as with ani
mals, his heart outran his head, who will blame him ? It
is worth while to be fooled occasionally by vice and idle
ness, worth while to be " like a ship otherwise stanch but
eaten up by barnacles that he cannot dislodge" for the
sake of winning the slave's simple eulogy : " He is kind
to folks that nobody else will be kind to. Mars Alex is
kinder to dogs than mos' folks is to folks." 34
It is to be observed here, further, that Stephens's
charity went much back of the hand. Oftentimes the
fingers spread widely when the heart is tight shut, and

ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS 171
some who are ready to give to a beggar are less ready
to forgive an enemy. In spite of momentary outbursts
and conflicts Stephens cherished no grudges and hated
no one. The quick petulance of his nervous tempera
ment sometimes leads him to express himself violently
in his private letters. But the tone of his controversial
book on the war is throughout tolerant with a tolerance
which I find in few besides Lincoln and Lee. Indeed, it
is interesting that one of Lincoln's last efforts at concili
ation before the great struggle should have been his
well-known correspondence with Stephens, in which both
men appear so much to advantage.
This tolerance is still more marked in dealing with
friends than with foes. Coming fresh from the reading
of so many volumes of reminiscences that were harsh
and bitter, filled with striving to justify the author at the
expense of all those who had fought side by side with
him, I was especially impressed with the gentleness and
courtesy of Stephens's book. He disagrees with many.
He condemns none. Even of Davis, whose policy he
thought absolutely wrong, he has no unkind or cruel
personal criticism. They met as friends, he says, and
they parted as such. " I doubt not that all — the Presi
dent, the Cabinet, and Congress — did the best they
could from their own conviction of what was best to be
done at the time." 35 It does not seem a great admission ;
yet how few are ready to make it.
The root of this kindly and universal tolerance is to be

172 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
found in a cardinal principle of Stephens's nature, which
it is now time to take up and investigate. The man was
essentially an intellectualist, and guided his life, far more
than most men do, by systematic reasoning. I have al
ready made it quite clear that this does not mean that
he was cold or insensible. Most certainly he was not.
Neither does it mean that he had the calm, dispassionate,
scientific spirit of the nineteenth century, which observes
all facts curiously without special eagerness to relate
them to preconceived theories. Stephens was a deductive
thinker of an older type. He reasoned from accepted
generalizations to very positive conclusions. And even
in this line his thinking was neither profound nor orig
inal. In his letters he is perpetually turning over rather
glaring commonplaces, and the comparison of his diary
with that of Amiel, which I have already suggested, will
show at once that the Southern statesman had very little
power of going to the bottom of things.
Nevertheless, in a tumult of passions, and preconcep
tions, and prejudices, he strove mightily to clear his
mind of cant, to get at the conclusions of calm reason as
to the terrible questions put before him, and then to act
on those conclusions singly, honestly, unflinchingly, with
absolute disregard of party, or tradition, or convention.
In a time when the still voice of thought was well-nigh
drowned in the furious outcry of politicians and fanatics,
surely this quality must receive a high degree of com
mendation.

ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS 173
It was this which made him so patient with those who
differed from him, this which made him so genuinely
humble and modest. He reasoned to his conclusions and
acted on them. But others had their own conclusions
and must act on them. Oddly enough this very intel
lectual tendency which made him modest made him vain ;
as we have exactly the same tendencies exhibited in
Cicero, as confirmed an intellectualist as ever lived, and
placed in times and situations quite similar to Stephens's.
To a man like Cicero it is equally natural to admit that
his opponent may be right and to feel that his opponent
and everybody else should recognize the simple fact of
Cicero's own power and achievement. In Stephens the
vanity is, of course, in no way so colossal as Cicero's,
though at times it finds an expression curiously like that
of the Roman orator: "I made a speech on Wednes
day in Sparta. I produced I was told a powerful effect.
Many said it was the greatest speech I ever made. This
I say to you though but to few would I so express
myself " ; 36 which reminds one of Professor Phillips's
characterization, "A chronic magnifier of his own im
portance." 37 But the allowance for possible error in his
reasoning is as large and fine in Stephens as ever in any
man. "It may be that if the course which I thought
would or could then save it [the Confederate Govern-.
ment] , or would or could have saved it at any time, had
been adopted, it would have come as far short of success
as the one which was pursued ; and it may be, that the

174 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
one which was taken on that occasion, as well as on all
the other occasions on which I did not agree, was the
very best that could have been taken." 38 How refreshing
that is in all the jar and clash of positive assertions and
violent opinions and dogmatic assurance of a world of
might-have-beens. One should read also the admirable
letter in which Stephens discusses the possibilities, if the
whole burden of the Government, in the event of Davis's
death, should fall upon his own shoulders.39 The clear
appreciation of the abstract end to be attained is no finer
than the full recognition of the immense difficulties and
his own unfitness to encounter them.
Yet if Stephens was modest where he admitted the
possibility of error, and anxious for confirmation when
he mistrusted his own judgment — " I did not wish to be
coarser in my language than the occasion required. Was
I enough so or not? Was I too short or not?"40 — he
was rocklike when he had deduced his conclusions, knew
his ground, and felt that he was right. " I cannot be mis
taken — I never was deceived a second time by any
man," 41 he writes as to human character ; and an inter
ruption during his celebrated answer to Campbell, of
Ohio, brought out one of those tremendous sentences in
which a man strips his whole soul bare all at once. " You
are wrong in that," interjects Campbell. "No, sir," re
plies Stephens. "I am never wrong upon a matter I
have given as close attention to as I have given to this."
So a god might answer.42

ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS 175
And he would stand by these intellectual conclusions
to the issue of life or death. Huge Judge Cone had called
Stephens a traitor. Stephens retorted with the lie and
threatened to slap the judge's face. They met. The judge
demanded a withdrawal. Stephens refused and struck.
There was an instant collision. Cone pulled out a knife
and slashed his opponent again and again, got him down,
and cried, " Retract, or I '11 cut your damned throat."
" Never 1 " said Stephens ; " cut if you like." He caught
the descending knife-blade in his bare hand, which was
cut to pieces, and he went to the hospital, when his ad
versary was dragged off, with eighteen knife-thrusts in
his body and arms. The man simply could not say he
was wrong when he knew he was right. It is like the
legend of Galileo, who succumbed to the gentle per
suasions of the Church and yet whispered, " E pur si
muove." It is most interesting to follow out this intellectual ten
dency in the different phases of Stephens's life. To be
gin with, he was a man of system and exactness. Mani
fold and varied as his occupations were, he yet, where
possible, arranged his time according to a schedule and v
gave certain hours to certain pursuits. Moreover, he had
a fine memory for minute details and was always strong
in dealing with figures and statistics. Art and the artistic
side of literature seem to have had little attraction for
him. His reading, which was both careful and extensive,
was mainly in history and in lines of practical thinking

176 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
and morals. So with the natural world. He had, as al
ready noted, a profound, instinctive love for the sur
roundings that meant home. Beyond this, he was chiefly
interested in minute observation of the weather and took
just pride in having been the means of publishing the
reports of the weather bureau which have since become
of such immense value to the country.
As regards religion, I have already pointed out its sig
nificance to Stephens on the emotional side of his nature.
He always retained a respect for the literal interpretation
of the Bible, which was perhaps rather inconsistent with
advanced thought, even in his day. Yet in some quarters
he had the reputation of an atheist, and it is evident from
his diary that he had a strong disposition to subject
religious views to the strict intellectual test which he
applied to other matters. It seems odd at first, yet it is
really characteristic, that with this tendency he should
have combined a strong tincture of superstition. His
diary contains numerous discussions of good and ill
luck, and he takes an undeniable interest in seeing
the new moon over the right shoulder. " If there is
anything in signs, I shall certainly have good luck this
moon." 43
In his own profession of the law Stephens's fine intellec
tual sincerity stands out fully and well proves that success
requires neither dishonesty nor shuffling. " What busi
ness do you follow, Alex ? " said his uncle to him in the
early days. "lama lawyer." After a solemn silence, the

ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS 177
uncle spoke again. " Alex, don't you have to tell lies ? " 44
Alex did not have to tell lies. Hear what he says, review
ing his career in old age : " No advocate should ever
assert as matter of fact in his client's case what he knows
is not such ; any code of morals justifying him in this
does not deserve the name." 45 And again, more person
ally : " My rule from the time I was admitted to the bar
was : first, to investigate a case submitted to me, to in
quire into the facts and the law applicable to it ; then, if
I did not believe the party entitled to success before the
court, I told him so and declined to appear or prosecute
the case." 46 Stephens believed that the object of law was
justice and that the lawyer's high function was to recon
cile differences and remedy evils. He detested prejudice
of party, or locality, or class, or station. This feeling he
carried so far that it sometimes itself became prejudice
and led him into a singular tirade against what is surely
a most worthy and respectable portion of the community.
" If I am ever to be tried for anything, may Heaven de
liver me from a jury of preachers ! . . . Their most
striking defect is a want of that charity which they, above
all men, should not only preach but practise." And he
speaks further of "The usual bloodthirsty propensity"
of "that calling."47 Stephens's religion was different
enough from Voltaire's. Yet here one would think Vol
taire was speaking.
It was in politics, however, that Stephens's natural
characteristics came to their fullest fruition. As a speaker

178 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
he was much praised and was effective and successful.
" All lungs and brains," one admirer said of him.48 But
to me the most impressive eulogy is Lincoln's. Think of
winning these words from such a source : " I just take
up^my pen to say that Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, a
little, slim, pale-faced, consumptive man, has just con
cluded the very best speech of an hour's length I
ever heard. My old withered dry eyes are full of tears
yet." 49
Nevertheless, Stephens mistrusted oratory, as one who
knew its dangerous power.50 When he had conviction
with him, he could give it all the graces of persuasive
eloquence. But conviction was essential. Without it the
rest was but as a tinkling cymbal. Where conviction led
him he would go, no matter what friend deserted him or
what party disclaimed him. He even carried his anti-
partisan feeling so far as to hope that the presidential
election of 1852 might fall into the House of Represen
tatives. " It would be a decided step towards putting an
end to these party conventions and irresponsible bodies
of men who now virtually make choice of our chief mag
istrate to the entire subversion of the theory of the Con
stitution." 51 He argued for the abolition of his own seat
in Congress. He told the South that their agitators had
done more than anything else to bring on the war.52
He fought secession with all his might. "If they [the se
cession leaders] without cause destroy the present Gov
ernment, the best government in the world," he wrote,

ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS 179
" what hope would I have that they would not bring un
told hardships upon the people in their efforts to give us
one of their own modeling? " 53 At the same time he was
an ardent advocate of slavery, believing — with Lee —
that slavery presented the most satisfactory solution of
the difficult relation between whites and blacks and that
it was the duty of the superior race to protect and care
for the inferior. On behalf of his State he resented the
usurping attitude of the Richmond Government. Yet
when the state governor began to act as the president
had acted, Stephens was just as hot in opposition.
All these things he did in perfect good temper and
kindliness and he could not understand why his oppo
nents would not take it so. He was only acting from his
convictions. He supposed they were acting from theirs.
Why should they be angry with him ? Yet they were, and
too many of his compatriots sympathized with the caustic
remark of General Taylor, " Mr. Stephens, with all the
impartiality of an equity judge, marked many of the vir
tues of the Government north of the Potomac and all
the vices of that on his own side of the river." 54
First, last, and always the compass of Stephens's po
litical life was his belief in human liberty, as expressed
in the compact between sovereign States known as the
Constitution. Admirably characteristic is the account of
his youthful interview with President Jackson. Stephens
expressed some doubt as to the action of the troops
against the Indians, in view of state jurisdiction. " Juris-

180 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
diction, by the Eternal ! When the United States Mail
is robbed and citizens murdered ! " 55 shouted the presi
dent. But Stephens was ready to be murdered himself
rather than give up a principle. Why should not others
be ? I really believe he would have preferred being torn
to pieces by a mob to having that mob repressed by
troops illegally. This is fine, but is perhaps carrying in-
tellectualism rather far.
So after the war. He was ready to accept the result
and to work loyally for the future. But he could not give
up the principle — never. And he wrote his immense,
two-volume book — dialogued, thoroughly Platonic,
thoroughly intellectual, in which, as in Plato, men of
straw are set up to be bowled over by masterly dialectic
— a learned book, an awe-inspiring book, as dead as a
volume of eighteenth-century sermons.
In short, he was an idealist, an ideologue, Napoleon
would have said, who would have introduced reason into
this chaos of unreason, this curious and fascinating in
ferno, which we call life. Because life would not heed
him he resented it, but in the gentlest and most affec
tionate fashion, returning good for evil in every way he
knew. In the political world, where he figured most, he seems
to have been pitifully ineffectual. We saw in the case of
Benjamin that the lack of deep and heartfelt convictions,
a shallow opportunism, prevented the man from mak
ing any distinguished mark on the history of his time.

ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS 181
Curiously enough, with Stephens the same result followed
from an exactly opposite cause, and the excess of convic
tion most nobly nullified a prominent and notable career.
But I feel sure that posterity will adjust the difference
and that Stephens will grow more and more in our his
tory as a figure of commanding purity, sincerity, distinc
tion, and patriotism.

VII
ROBERT TOOMBS

CHRONOLOGY
Born in Wilkes County, Georgia, July 2, 1810.
Entered Franklin College, Athens, Georgia, 1824.
Admitted to the bar, 1830.
Married Julia DuBose, 1830.
Entered State Legislature, 1837.
Entered Congress, 1844.
Supported Compromise of 1850.
Entered U.S. Senate, 1853.
Pro-slavery speech in Tremont Temple, January 24, 1856.
Confederate Secretary of State, February 27, 1861.
Resigned, July 24, 1861.
Brigadier-General, 1861-62.
Resigned, March 4, 1863.
Active in framing of Georgia Constitution, 1877.
Died, December 15, 1885.

ROBERT TOOMBS

VII
ROBERT TOOMBS
" HE is the most remarkable man in many respects that
the South has ever produced and it is doubtful if the
records of a lordlier life than his can be found in the his
tory of our Republic. He has never moved as other men,
never worked by ordinary standards. He has been kingly
in all his ways, lavish in his opinions, disdaining all ex
pediency or deliberation, and moving to his ambitions
with a princely assumption that has never been gainsaid
by the people, and seldom by circumstances." x
This paragraph, printed in a Georgia paper at the
time of Toombs's death, for all its extravagance of state
ment and eulogy, strikes a good note for beginning the
study of him. There was something lordly in the man, •
something commanding ; and it is a matter of the great
est interest to see why his achievements did not corre
spond to his apparent gifts.
All agree that his physique was most impressive. Con
stant riding and other vigorous exercise kept him in ex
cellent condition up to advanced years, though the as
sertions of some of his biographers as to his unfailing
health are contradicted by many passages in his letters.
Mrs. Davis's admirable portrait of him should be borne
in mind. "Mr. Toombs was over six feet tall, with

186 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
broad shoulders ; his fine head set well on his shoulders,
and was covered with long, glossy black hair, which,
when speaking, he managed to toss about so as to
recall the memory of Danton. His coloring was good,
and his teeth brilliantly white, but his mouth was some
what pendulous and subtracted from the rest of the
strong face. His eyes were magnificent, dark and flash
ing, and they had a certain lawless way of ranging
about that was indicative of his character. His hands
were beautiful and kept like those of a fashionable
woman." 2
These physical qualities must be taken into account in
considering Toombs's speaking, and it was as a speaker
that he most impressed his contemporaries. Though his
enunciation was too thick and harsh, Stephens considered
him to be one of the greatest stump orators of any age
or country.3 All the vigor, all the violence, all the fiery
ardor and eager enthusiasm of that passionate tempera
ment were poured into his words. He spoke to convince,
if possible ; if not, to overwhelm. Energy, frankness,
directness were the qualities of his oratory. His great
admirer, Colonel Reed, does not believe that he corrected
his speeches, does not believe that he could correct them.
" Of all speakers and orators I ever knew or heard of, he
has used the file the least." 4
For the man was essentially a fighter and would yield
to no one. His college life, in the late twenties, was in
the main a record of unruly pranks, ending in a hasty

ROBERT TOOMBS 187
request for honorable dismissal before some exceptional
enormity became known to the authorities.
A little later he earned the title of captain by serving
under General Scott in the Creek War.
The chief fighting of Toombs's early life, however, was
done at the bar. He threw himself into the study of law
with the passion which he showed in everything. At first
he did not succeed in practice. Perhaps clients distrusted
his too combative qualities. But his energy, enthusiasm,
and splendid gift of speech soon overcame this coldness,
and wealth began to pour in upon him in a steady stream.
He not only had " a passion for the contest of the court
house," but he was willing to prepare himself for it by
determined labor. He would bear down opposition by
the rush and vehemence of his oratory ; but, if neces
sary, he could also analyze a complicated question, finan
cial or other, in its minutest details. No one was more
voluble where speech seemed indicated ; yet when cir
cumstances required brevity, he could eliminate every
superfluous word. In one instance his adversary had
exhausted the court, the jury, and the subject. Toombs
simply rose and said : " May it please your Honor,
Seizin, Marriage, Death, Dower," sat down, and won his
case.5 Few lawyers of that day kept out of politics. None
was less likely to keep out of them than Toombs. He
early began to devote his thought and his tongue to
what he considered the welfare of his country, and he

188 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
continued to do so, in one way or another, almost until
his death. But to a temperament like Toombs's the
natural course of politics was usually opposition. Heaven
knows, there is enough to fight in the world, if a man
wants fighting. And Toombs did. When he saw a ras
cal's head, he hit it, and few even determined optimists
will deny that he might be kept busy. I cannot vouch for
the following comment on him ; but if not true, it is well
invented : " Revolution was the one instinct of his nature,
absolute as that of sex in other men. 'Do you mean
revolution ? ' a gentleman once asked of him in my pres
ence. ' Revolution, yes ; always, and ever, and from the
first, revolution. Revolutionary times,' he added, ' there
are, and there will be no good times but revolutionary
times.' " 6 And almost equally significant in the same
line are his own undisputed words, written when he was
looking for a refuge after all the tempests of the Civil
War : " I now think best of Mexico. It has many ad
vantages for the people who seek to establish themselves
of the better classes. I do not care for its disorders. That
perhaps is not unfavorable to ' novi homines.' " 7 And
this was a broken man of nearly sixty !
» Thus, both as representative and senator, Toombs's
voice was apt to be heard loud in the negative. Curi
ously enough, he and Stephens were always intimate
friends and their course was usually the same, but from
somewhat different reasons. Stephens's cool intellect saw
the doubts, the modifications, to any popular course of

ROBERT TOOMBS 189
action. If his clear vision led him away from his friends,
he left them, but he left them with reluctance. Toombs,
too, had his intellectual convictions, often admirably
sane, and broad, and far-reaching ; but he had no re
luctance about following them anywhere.
To begin with, he hated the party system. " A nurs
ery of faction," 8 he called it. It was not recognized by
the Constitution. Why should he recognize it ?_^
Acting on this principle, he fought friends as well as
foes. If the common cry was war, this panoplied herald
of good tidings could raise his trumpet voice for peace.
Why should we fight England over a boundary ? He
was for peace — for honorable peace. " It is the mother
of all the hopes and virtues of mankind." 9 Why should
we annex Texas and plunder Mexico ? Greed, greed, all
greed. " A people who go to war without just and suffi
cient cause, with no other motive than pride and the love
of glory, are enemies to the human race and deserve the
execration of all mankind. What, then, must be the
judgment of a war for plunder?" 10
With domestic matters there was the same strenuous
ardor. Congress itself was not to be respected, if not re
spectable. He speaks of " members of the two Houses of
Congress who come here three months in one year and
eight months in another — which is about three times too
long in my judgment." Public improvements and public
facilities which tended to abridge the rights of the indi
vidual — he would have none of them. The post-office

190 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
— a dubious thing, the post-office. "I do not think it
right, before God, for me to make another man pay my
expenses." 12 Rivers, harbors 1 What are they compared
to corruption ? " Instead of leaving the taxes or the money
in the pockets of the people, you have spent nine months
in endeavoring to squander and in arranging to have
more to squander in the next Congress." 13 Railroads !
Why, our old Roman virtue will not allow us even to
approve of one to benefit our own home town. l4
Then there are pensions, a pestilent legacy of a heroic
struggle. The old soldiers themselves, if they are the
men I take them for, will refuse them. Hurt my popu
larity ? What do I care for my popularity ? Do you sup
pose I am here to please myself ? I had rather be at
home, on my farm, with my wife, my slaves, and my
cattle. Another thing, this cry of Americanism, Know-
Nothingism. I scorn it to your faces. And you may turn
me out, if you like. Are not Catholics as good as Prot
estants, if they serve God ? So he spoke, in the height
of the fanatical fury, and openly gave a large subscrip
tion to a Catholic church.
Everywhere it was the individual against the mob,
high or low, forward or backward. The rich were not to
be favored at the expense of the poor. At the same time,
let his enemies criticize his own lavish living and see
what they would get. " Who would say that he had not
earned his money? He had a right to spend it as he
chose. Perish such demagogy — such senseless stuff." 1B

ROBERT TOOMBS 191
And the people cheered him for his candor and au
dacity. As for that mysterious phantom, the money power,
which broods, like a shadow, over the young twentieth
century, this Boanerges of liberty divined, detected, and
defied it sixty years ago, in a little different form, but in
language which might come from the White House to
day. " I have perceived that this mischief is widespread,
this corruption greater, this tendency to the destruction
of the country is more dangerous. The tendency to place
the whole government under the money power of the
nation is greater and greater." 16
And while many of these protests were uttered in the
name of the sacred principle of State Rights, let that
principle itself once impose any obnoxious restraint, and
its sanctity became as questionable as that of any other.
Thus, in opposing certain obstructions to a projected
scheme, he cries out : " Public opinion will take them
away, even though a sovereign state may stand up for
them. Nothing else can reach Pennsylvania in this mat
ter but public opinion, and public opinion will prevail in
Pennsylvania as it has done elsewhere." 17 And the pub
lic opinion of the world finally prevailed in all the States
of the Confederacy, in spite of Toombs and thousands
like him, with their inviolable sovereignty.
In all these various causes of opposition there was the
same impetuous ardor of argument, the same splendid
fury of invective, which, backed by the masterful pres-

192 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
ence and the thunderous voice, must have gone a long
way to produce submission, if not conviction. Listen to
the way in which he upbraids the Senate for sloth and
hesitancy. " Are we incapable of deciding subjects here ?
Why, sir, the gravest questions of peace and war and
finance and everything concerning a great government,
are decided in almost all countries in one sitting. Here,
after years of labor, seas of words, boundless, illimitable
seas of words, and speeches to enlighten others, we come
now to what I trust is a consummation of this difficulty,
and we are asked for time because gentlemen do not un
derstand it. I do not think they will ever understand it
any better." 18
But of course all other disputes and battles were trifling
and of minor significance compared to the great struggle
between slavery and abolition, between North and South.
The opportunities given by such a conflict were things
of ecstasy to a nature like Toombs's, and he breathed
the fiery atmosphere as if it were his native clime. Scene
after scene is depicted, in which he stood out alone
against a howling mob, bellowing at them what pleased
him without regard to what pleased them, and in the end
overcoming even hatred by mere force of temperament.
Toombs's power in this regard was divined by Ste
phens long before the actual crisis came and the latter
gives a striking account of sending his friend to New
York to face a bitterly hostile audience and of the way
in which Toombs, partly by clever ruse, partly by over-

ROBERT TOOMBS 193
mastering argument, succeeded in gaining a hearing and
more than a hearing.
Then there was the furious contest over the speaker
ship of the House in 1849. Owing to the secession of the
Southern Whigs, of whom Toombs was one, no majority
vote could be secured and Toombs insisted that the
House, not yet formally organized, could take no ac
tion in the matter. Members proceeded to take action.
Toombs protested. Members shouted him down. He
would not be shouted down. " You may cry ' order,'
gentlemen, until the heavens fall ; you cannot take this
place from me." 19 " Confusion increased," says the biog
rapher. "Members called out to encourage Mr. Toombs,
and others to put him down. In the midst of this Babel
he continued to speak, his black hair thrown back, his
face flushed, and his eyes blazing like suns." 20 He con
tinued to speak, and in the end they heard him. It was
a disgraceful exhibition, said the Northern papers. How
ever that may be, one cannot help agreeing with Stephens
that it was a splendid physical and oratorical achieve
ment. Even more notable, though the opposition was moral,
not physical, was Toombs's defense of slavery in Tre
mont Temple, Boston, in 1856. The actual audience was
decorous enough ; but when one thinks of the man and
the place, of all he represented and of the passionate
anti-slavery spirit boiling about him, the occasion stands
out as picturesque, to say the least.

194 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
Not less characteristic, in view of all it meant, is the
coolness of his testimony concerning the assault made
by Brooks upon Charles Sumner. Toombs was charged
with having given Brooks the support of his presence,
if not more. His answer, not merely to the indignant
Senate, but to the angry millions of the insulted North,
is startling in its imperturbable insolence. " As for ren
dering Mr. Sumner any assistance, I did not do it. As to
what was said, some gentlemen present condemned it
in Mr. Brooks ; I stated to him, or to some of my own
friends, probably, that I approved it. That is my opin
ion." 21 And again: "So far as relates to interfering, or
giving assistance, he is right. I gave none. I did not put
in, and should not on that side." 22
So we come to the break and the great parting. But
before considering Toombs's activity in this, let us look
at some of the other elements of his character. For the
more I study these prominent men of the Civil War pe
riod, and indeed the prominent men of any period, the
more I see that their greatness consists largely in a bal
ance of qualities; that is, even when they have one
quality in marked excess, it is tempered, restrained, and
modified by a striking makeweight of its opposites.
Thus, so far, we have seen Toombs as a fighter, riotous,
rebellious, exulting in the extravagant and often ill-timed
display of violence, almost a sort of political mounte
bank. Yet he was also something far more than this and
usomething far different.

ROBERT TOOMBS 195
He had a splendid sense of humor. This, as might be
expected, was often rough, noisy, and boisterous, and did
him damage; but it had its charm, nevertheless. He
enjoyed practical jokes, like a great boy, as when, at
Taylor's suggestion, he switched off in the dark a train-
load of Governor Brown's pet state troops for a fight in
South Carolina.23 He used a shrewd and savage wit in
assailing his political adversaries. " You have heard what
the gentleman says about my coming home to practice
law. He promises, if elected to Congress, he will not
leave his seat. I leave you to judge, fellow-citizens,
whether your interests in Washington will be best pro
tected by his continued presence or his occasional ab
sence." 24 Some one urged that an antagonist had made
at least one good appointment. "That may be," an
swered Toombs, " but that was not the reason it was
made. Bacon was not accused of selling injustice. He
was eternally damned for selling justice." 2B
The same shining vivacity of repartee seems to have
been always ready, in private society as in public gather
ings. That keen and passionate tongue must indeed
have been somewhat dreaded. How bitter is the story of
the red-headed man! Toombs was dining with Scott
and told of a woman who rushed about in a steamer
explosion, crying, " Save the red-headed man, save the
red-headed man." The red-headed man was saved, but
the woman appeared quite indifferent. "He owes me
ten thousand dollars," she explained. " General," said

196 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
Toombs, turning to Scott, "the Union owes you ten
thousand dollars." 26 These outbursts must have done
Toombs more harm than any one else, as the rodomon
tade about calling the roll of his slaves at Bunker Hill
Monument, or the careless remark, " We are the gentle
men of this country," which gave rise to William Whit-
more's pamphlet of " The Cavalier Dismounted," or the
stuffing of an innocent English peer with monstrous tales
of slaveholding obliquity which were afterwards recorded
in print to the serious discredit of the narrator.27
Yet there is general agreement that Toombs was one
of the most brilliant and fascinating of talkers, and Lin
ton Stephens, no bad judge, says : " Toombs, or Tom
Thomas, can, and frequently do, speak more witticisms
in one night than Rabelais in a lifetime wrote." 28
The sunniest, the sweetest, the most winning picture
of Toombs and his laughter is that admirably given by
Mrs. Davis. " During the time of the highest excitement
over the compromise measures, when Mr. Toombs was
on his feet twenty times a day, he rose at daylight, took
French lessons with his daughter, and became a good
French scholar so far as reading the language went. He
would sit with his hands full of the reporter's notes on his
speeches for correction, with ' Le Medecin Malgre Lui'
in the other hand, roaring over the play. I said to him,
' I do not see how you can enjoy that so much.' He an
swered, ' Whatever the Almighty lets his geniuses create,
He makes some one to enjoy : these plays take all the

ROBERT TOOMBS 197
soreness out of me.' " 29 Something to love here, is there
not? And if the man liked laughter, he liked sunshine and
quiet also, country air, and trees, and flowers. He him
self said that " in a very busy and tempestuous life a
spacious garden with orchards and vineyards, was to him
an unfailing source of recreation and pleasure." 30 He
was a practical farmer, too, himself superintended vast
plantations and had an army of slaves under his charge.
Stephens, an unimpeachable witness, tells us that " his
plantation discipline and his treatment of his slaves was
on a perfect system of reason, justice, and humanity,
looking as much to the welfare of his dependents as to his
own pecuniary interests," and that his system and its
success were wonderful. He would have as overseers
only men of sobriety, good sense, and humanity.31
In the personal relations of life, also, Toombs seems to
have been full of charm. One vice he had, the taste for
alcohol, which in later years overcame him disastrously.
But even this, throughout his active life, he could and
did control, when necessary, just as he dropped smoking,
when he thought it injurious. " I found that smoking
was ruining my throat and I quit it." 32 In any case ex
cessive drinking was but a feature of his strong social
instinct and his love for the warm contact of his fel-
lowmen. A true Southerner, he was ready to entertain
everybody, and protested against the establishment of
a hotel in his home town. " If a respectable man comes

198 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
to town, he can stay at my house. If he is n't respect
able, we don't want him here at all." 33 How charming
is the phrase, quoted by Reed, with which he made right
a momentary awkwardness of unexpected guests at table.
" O, I do not object to having more friends than room ;
it is usually the other way in this world." 34 He was sen
sitive, emotional, ready to respond to any stimulus of
affection or pathos. " In speaking of the death of Mr.
Brooks the other day in the Senate, he broke out in
weeping and had to stop," writes Stephens.35 The
warmth and whole-heartedness of his friendship show
in his words about Crittenden : "The very prince of good
fellows. I know not his superior on all the earth, in all
those qualities of head and heart which we must love and
respect " ; 86 and Gabriel Toombs's passionate outburst
reflects something of the feeling of those who had inti
mate personal relations with his brother : " While I am
entirely independent of my brother in the sense the world
calls independent, no mortal perhaps was ever more de
pendent upon another for happiness, than I am upon
him." 37 These vital, abounding natures win a devotion
which paler souls can never know.
Toombs's religious experience seems to have been
rather elementary, but sincere. It was amusingly mixed
with the impetuosity which characterized him in every
thing. When his wife was dying, he had some talks on
serious subjects with the family doctor, who was anxious
to put him in the right way. "Why, doctor, I am a

ROBERT TOOMBS 199
prayerful man. I read the Bible and the Prayer Book
every day." " Then why not be baptized, General ? "
" Baptize me, doctor," was the prompt reply.38
Especially attractive is Toombs's affection for his wife
and the tenderness apparent in the few published frag
ments of his letters to her. She was a woman well worth
his attachment and the perfect marital fidelity, empha
sized by all his biographers, is distinctly noticeable in a
man of such a vigorous and impetuous temperament,
beset at all times by so many temptations. The frank
ness, sincerity, and genuine humility of his nature show
well in a passage written to Mrs. Toombs, after their
daughter's death : " God bless you ! Pray for me, that I
may be a better man in the next year than in all the old
ones before in my time." 39 And equally attractive is the
following expression of gratitude after twenty years of
marriage : " I know for whatever success in life I may
have had, whatever evil I may have avoided, or what
ever good I may have done, I am indebted to the beau
tiful, pure-hearted, true, little girl, who on the 18th of
November, 1830, came trustingly to my arms, the sweet
est and dearest of wives." 40
Toombs's excellent balancing traits were by no means
confined to domestic and social life. We have seen some
thing of his headlong fury ; but this was constantly tem
pered by shrewdness, by foresight, by restraint and mod
eration, when these qualities were clearly called for by
circumstances. We have already heard Stephens testify-^

200 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
ing that his friend was an admirable man of business.
Adversaries even asserted that " he loaned like a prince
and collected like a Shylock." 41 Certain it is that he had
a remarkable grasp of finance, could unravel a compli
cated web of figures with precision and rapidity, and
seize and clarify the essential features of the most bewil
dering business tangle. His letter to the Augusta " Con
stitution" (August 12, 1863) is one of the clearest and
ablest criticisms of the unfortunate Confederate financial
policy.42 In his profession I have before referred to his immense
labor in getting at the facts. He was, indeed, quick to
grasp essential points, but he did not neglect supple
menting them by details that were essential also. " In
reading the report of a case, or an author on any sub
ject, he at once seizes upon the real ideas, gleaning the
vital part from the general verbiage by a process rapid
as intuition," says Stephens.43 And when the material
was thus once prepared it was presented to the court,
with vigor and passion, indeed, but also with method
and thoughtful intelligence. " As a lawyer, I have never
seen his equal before judge and jury," adds the same ex
cellent authority.44
And in law he was as honest as he was able. " An
able lawyer and an honest man," writes Mr. Rhodes ;
" though harsh and intolerant in expression, he was frank
in purpose." 45 Good stories are told, illustrating his ab
solute probity and determination to keep his hands clean.

ROBERT TOOMBS 201
" Yes, you can recover in this suit," he said once to a
client, " but you ought not to do so. This is a case in
which law and justice are on opposite sides." And on
the client's insisting, Toombs remarked, " Then you must
hire some one else to assist you in your damned ras
cality." 46 Again, a lawyer asked him what fee should
be charged in a certain case. " Well," said Toombs, " I
should have charged a thousand dollars ; but you ought
to have five thousand, for you did a great many things
I could not have done." 47 And to the end of his life he
boasted that he had never had a dirty shilling in his
pocket Even in politics we find these curious contradictions
of moderation and sagacity, often of marked conserva
tism, mingling with the ardor of Toombs's general tem
perament. It was said of him that he was "violent in
speech but safe in counsel," and many things prove that
it was often so, though careful study of his general cor
respondence and of his whole career makes it evident
that the violence went deeper than speech. It would be
an entire mistake to set him down as a fanatic. Accord
ing to his own definition, " a fanatic is one of strong feel
ings and weak points." 4S About him there was nothing
weak, neither points nor feelings. A fanatic is apt to bej
a mild man worked by an idea into fury. Toombs worked
fury into the mildest ideas. Yet, when he willed, he could
be sedate and reasonable. To one who has been startledj
by the vehemence of some particular outburst, the full

202 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
reading of many of his speeches is a revelation of dig
nity, sobriety, and common sense. In numerous instances
the course he recommended and urged and followed was
the course of moderation and fairness. And what finer
warning could be held out before a radical party than his
conservative reminder : " Truth is often strangled in the
house and by the hands of its own friends by a struggle
for that which is impossible to-day but which may easily
be accomplished to-morrow." 49
Acting in this spirit, he supported Clay and Webster
in the Compromise measures of 1850, making himself
extremely obnoxious to the Southern fire-eaters by doing
so. And I think the importance of this conduct of the
moderate Whigs cannot be too much insisted upon.
They roused the wrath of violent partisans in all sections,
and Webster, at least, earned the hatred and contempt
of a large number of his constituents. Yet it would be
easy to maintain that the patriotic action of that group
of Whig leaders in 1850 saved the Union, not only then,
but forever. They delayed the conflict for ten years, and
during those ten years the North had time to accumulate
the resources which, even so, were barely sufficient to
enable it to overcome.
Again in the great Kansas struggle, Toombs's voice
was given for moderation and prudence. "Senator
Toombs introduced a bill which, in fairness to the free-
state settlers, went far beyond the measure that earlier
in the season had been drawn by Douglas," says Mr.

ROBERT TOOMBS 203
Rhodes.50 And elsewhere, " When Toombs said he was
willing to take the will of the people [of Kansas] in a
proper and just manner and abide by the result, he was
sincere. An old Whig, he had the Whig love of the
Union." 51
Still another curious case of Toombs's moderation is
the Boston speech above referred to. In going straight
into the centre of the hostile country and speaking on the
subject of bitterest contention, slavery, he was indulging
all his native instincts of combativeness. But once there,
the speech he made was a model of simple, honest, rea
sonable statement of the very best that could be said for
his fellows and himself. No more persuasive, more manly,
more human argument for negro servitude was ever
uttered than Toombs presented in the headquarters of
abolition on the platform of Tremont Temple in 1856.
And so, when we come to the last great crisis of all,
we find Toombs, the revolutionist, the hothead, the fire-
eater, not doing his best at every opportunity to foment
sedition and urge an outbreak, but keeping his temper,
counseling moderation, anxious, to the very end, to cling
to the old ties, if it were possible. " The temper of the
North," he writes at one time, "is good, and with kind
ness and patronage skilfully adjusted, I think we can
work out of our present troubles, preserve the Union, and
disappoint bad men and traitors." 52 It is true, he had his
moments of forgetf ulness. " Toombs has just delivered
a speech of the most abusive and inflammatory character

204 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
of Judge Douglas. He spoke like a madman and acted
like a fanatic," writes Stephens.53 Yet, during much of
the time, his counsel was for restraint, deliberation, and
endurance as long as endurance was possible. With calm
foresight he deprecated any contemptuous assertion that
the people of either section of the Union would be found
cowardly when the crisis came : " Sir, if there shall ever
be civil war in this country, when honest men shall set
about cutting each other's throats, those who are least to
be depended on in a fight will be the people who set
them at it." 64 So late as December, i860, he earned the
ill will of the violent party in his own State by opposing
immediate secession. He thought that definite action
should be fixed for March 4, yet even as to this he adds
the admirable words : " I certainly would yield that point
to correct and honest men who were with me in prin
ciple, but who were more hopeful of redress from the
aggressors than I am, especially if any such active meas
ures should be taken by the wrongdoers as promised to
give us redress in the Union." 55 It is only when he has
been forced to abandon all hope that he commits him
self in final and characteristically decisive language : " I
will tell you, upon the faith of a true man, that all further
looking to the North for security for your constitutional
rights ought to be abandoned. . . . Secession by the 4th
day of March next should be thundered from the ballot-
box by the unanimous voice of Georgia on the 2d day of
January next." 66

ROBERT TOOMBS 205
The same spirit of provident foresight followed Toombs
even into the inception of the Confederate policy, when
all the hotheads were clamoring for fire and steel. Dur
ing the discussion in the cabinet over attacking Sumter,
he spoke vehemently and decidedly in opposition : " Mr.
President, at this time, it is suicide, murder, and will lose
us every friend at the North. You will wantonly strike
a hornet's nest which extends from mountains to ocean,
and legions, now quiet, will swarm out and sting us to
death. It is unnecessary ; it puts us in the wrong ; it is
fatal." 57
We might, then, suppose that this arch-rebel, with
brains tempering his rebellion, who had been so prom
inent all through the long political contest, would have
stood out among the foremost when rebellion took or
ganized shape. It is most curious and instructive to
see how, after all, the dominant instincts of his nature
prevented this from coming to pass. At first his name
was mentioned for president of the Confederacy and he
was thought of by many very seriously as a candidate.
How far he himself sought the office may be questioned.
In earlier life he declared, " I have an unaffected repug
nance to official station and my interests harmonize with
my inclination in this respect. Politics with me is but an
episode in life, not its business." 58 While, under the
Confederacy, writing, with entire frankness, to his wife,
he disclaims all ambition : " I want nothing but the de
feat of the public enemy and to retire with you for the

206 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
balance of my life in peace and quiet in any decent cor
ner of a free country." 69 But such disclaimers do not
count for much.
Stephens, who liked Toombs and disliked Davis, but
who was not usually much blinded by his feelings, would
have preferred to see the former at the head of the
Government. " Thrift follows him, unthrift Davis. Had
Toombs been made President — that he was not, was
only an accident — it is my conviction that the whole
scheme of action, nay, the results would have been
changed. . . . The object sought would have been one
less objectionable to the North. It would, after two years
of war, have been gained by a special treaty because it
was strictly constitutional. But Davis, Davis — I know
not why he was elected president of the Confederacy,
except that he never succeeded in anything he under
took." 8t»
In spite of Stephens's weighty authority, I cannot im
agine Toombs succeeding at the head of a great govern
ment. Impetuous tempers are, indeed, sometimes sobered
by responsibility ; yet is it possible that one so utterly un
trained to obey should ever have been able to command ?
The president of the Confederacy required a tact in deal
ing with difficult situations and difficult characters, a
tolerance of opinion contrary to his own, a breadth of
human understanding and sympathy, such as were hardly
to be found in Lee and Washington, and such as are
certainly not indicated in Toombs. Those who are in-

ROBERT TOOMBS 207
clined to Stephens's view should consider well the little
scene depicted by the diarist, Jones, as occurring in the
War Office at Montgomery, when the Confederacy was
hardly born. Toombs was holding forth to members of
the cabinet — in a public office, mind you, before the
gaping clerks. " He was most emphatic in the advocacy
of his policy, and bold almost to rashness in his denun
ciation of the mainly defensive idea. He was opposed to
all delays as fraught with danger. . . . He was for mak-'
ing the war as terrible as possible from the beginning.
It was to be no child's play. . . . He denounced with
bitterness the neglect of the authorities in Virginia. The
enemy should not have been permitted to cross the Po
tomac. . . . Virginia alone could have raised and thrown
across the Potomac 25,000 men, and driven the Yankees
beyond the Susquehanna. But she, to avoid responsibility,
had been telegraphing Davis to come to the rescue ; and
if he (Toombs) had been in Davis's place, he would have
taken the responsibility." 61 This is the tongue which,
Stephens thinks, could have saved the Confederacy !
Well, he did not become president, at any rate, and it
is to be noted that he characteristically gave his hearty
support to the election of Davis. What then ? Davis, who
realized how mighty a power the man had been, was
ready to offer him a place in the cabinet, the most hon
orable, if not the most important, and Toombs became
secretary of state. He held the position about five months.
His biographer implies that having put everything in the

208 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
best possible shape, he sought a more active life. This is
not the general view. Some maintain that he had not the
system or the practical gifts for managing so great an
office and they cite his sarcastic remark that he carried
the records of the State Department under his hat. They
misjudge him. We have already seen that he was master
of all the details of handling a great plantation and that
in these he could be systematic enough. Such of his state
papers and dispatches as have been printed are admir
able in their vigor, brevity, and point.
The true explanation of his failure is supplied by Mrs.
Chesnut, in her usual terse and vivid fashion : " Incom
patibility of temper. Mr. T. rides too high a horse ; that
is, for so despotic a person as Jeff Davis." 62 And Toombs
himself indicates the same condition of things in a letter
to his wife referring to a later suggestion that he should
be secretary of war, a position, by the way, for which
Stephens considered him peculiarly qualified : " I thought
I had been very explicit on that point. I would not be
Mr. Davis's chief clerk. His Secretary of War can never
be anything else. ... So far as I am concerned, Mr.
Davis will never give me a chance for personal distinc
tion. He thinks I pant for it, poor fool." 63 As a practical
illustration of Toombs's respect for government and em
powered authority nothing could be more delightful than
his public dispatch to a quite properly qualified commit
tee which required him to give up some part of his
cotton-planting and substitute the production of food-

ROBERT TOOMBS 209
supply. Toombs does not believe in this policy and there
fore answers : " I refuse a single hand. My property, as
long as I live, shall never be subject to the orders of
those cowardly miscreants, the Committee of Public Safety
of Randolph County, Georgia, and Eufaula. You may
rob me in my absence, but you cannot intimidate me." 64
There remained the army. It is true that few civilian
generals on either side greatly distinguished themselves.
Yet it seems as if Toombs's fighting temper might have
come to the front, if any one's could. Did it ? A friend
who knew him well said of him : " He had one ambition,
and that to the highest office within the Confederacy.
That could not be gratified. He had another, to be Com
mander-in-Chief of the armies. That could not be grati
fied. He had no more." 65 As to the ambitions, who shall
say ? The fact is that the disappointed statesman plunged
into a military career with headlong energy and that he
came out of it pretty much as he had come out of the
political. Why?
Certain excellent military qualities he undoubtedly
had. He was brave, rashly, extravagantly brave. He had
the gift of inspiring others with his own bravery. History
will not forget his magnificent defense of the bridge at
Antietam. Lee's praise of any man is the most enduring
badge of glory, and Lee said : " General Toombs's small
command repulsed five different assaults made by greatly
superior forces, and maintained its position with dis
tinguished gallantry." 66

210 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
Also, Toombs was beloved by the men of his brigade
and took excellent care of them. He looked out for their
health and comfort in every possible way. " Whether
against Johnston, Longstreet, or Hill, the First Bri
gade, First Division, was sure of a fearless champion
in the person of its commander," says the ardent bi
ographer.67 The biographer seems to overlook the somewhat ex
traordinary sound of commending an officer with so much
enthusiasm for his bellicose attitude against his own su
periors. But here, as everywhere, we meet in Toombs
the same old defect. He was a splendid individual fighter ;
but he could not learn that fighting, like everything else,
to be fruitful and efficient, requires, first of all, subordi
nation. He could not learn discipline.
Thus, one of his sick soldiers was refused hospital on
account of some technicality. Toombs was told that the
rules were fixed by General Johnston. He rode right
up to the general's tent and spoke out in his emphatic
fashion. " You have been too rash," protested his own
surgeon; "you will be arrested."68 Johnston did not
arrest him, because he liked him and was generous him
self. But another commander would have done so.
Again, Toombs lost no opportunity of holding forth,
even to his men, on the proper conduct of the war. If he
disapproved of the action of his superiors, he did not
hesitate to say so, and often without very thorough
knowledge of what his superiors were aiming at. He

ROBERT TOOMBS 211
hated West Point because it meant discipline and train
ing. Thus he writes of Joseph E. Johnston : " I never
knew as incompetent [an] executive officer. As he has
been to West Point, tho, I suppose he knows everything
about it." 69 And again : "Johnston is a poor devil, small,
arbitrary, and inefficient. Like Walker, he undertakes to
do everything from a mere fondness for power and does
nothing well. He harasses and obstructs but cannot
govern the army." 70 Toombs hated Davis, because Davis
supported West Point. "Davis and his janissaries [the
regular army] conspire for the destruction of all who
will not bend to them, and avail themselves of the
public danger to aid them in their selfish and infamous
schemes."71 When the general rejoined his regiment
after arrest, he is said to have cried out, " Go it, boys ! I
am with you again. Jeff Davis can make a general, but
it takes God Almighty to make a soldier." 72 Comment
is needless. Nor did he hesitate at direct disobedience when it
suited him. The attack at Golding's farm, during the
Seven Days' battles, made against Lee's explicit orders,
is hardly in point, because Toombs claimed to have in
structions from his immediate superior. But in the cam
paign of Second Bull Run Toombs's brigade was ordered
by Longstreet to guard a certain ford. Longstreet's de
licious, patronizing account of the affair should be read
in full 73 and compared with Toombs's considerably dif
fering version.74 But from both it is evident that Toombs

212 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
withdrew the picket without orders, and, however ex
cellent his motives, it was quite natural that Longstreet
should put him under arrest, which he did.
Moreover, ready as Toombs was to criticize others, he
had no notion of being criticized himself. D. H. Hill, not
noted for his soft tongue, rode up in the middle of an
action, and not understanding the circumstances, blamed
Toombs for the conduct of his troops. " You are always
crying out, fight, fight," said Hill, in substance ; " why
don't you fight ? " Toombs resented this bitterly and
would have insisted on a duel if Hill would have met
him.75 It is hardly necessary to follow Toombs the soldier any
further. Many fine things are told of him, notably his
whole-hearted submission when taken back to duty after
the arrest by Longstreet.76 Longstreet liked him, as, in
deed, did every one, and said of him admiringly that
he needed only discipline to make him a great general.
Perhaps he needed some other things ; but discipline was
the crying need of his whole life, and it is pathetic to see
such exceptional gifts falling, falling by rapid stages from
the candidacy for president to a petty and insignificant
position in the Georgia militia. Mrs. Chesnut sums up
his career and the whole tone of his correspondence un
der the Confederacy with splendid vividness, if perhaps
a little too vividly : " Toombs is ready for another revo
lution and curses freely every Confederate from the
President to a horseboy. He thinks there is a conspiracy

ROBERT TOOMBS 213
against him in the army. Why ? Heavens and earth !
Why?"77 The Confederacy falls and Toombs falls with it, what
distance he has left to fall. In his own opinion, at any
rate, the North was thirsting for his blood, and the melo
dramatic incidents of his escape from capture must have
afforded him infinite pleasure ; flights, disguises, con
cealments, thrilling hints of treachery, also the protection
of lovely and intellectual young women. He was " a
Chesterfield with ladies," says his biographer. " The gen
eral would walk to and fro along the shaded walks and
pour forth, in his matchless way, the secret history of the
ruin of the Confederate hopes." 78 How I should like to
have heard him !
And now comes the last curiosity in this extraordinary
career. Before the war, in times of organized society, the
man had stood forth a splendid rebel. Then, when re
bellion became the fashion and had spread to every
body about him, he sank into complete insignificance.
Comparative peace was restored, comparative organiza
tion ; and immediately, as a rebel and a fighter, he came
once more to the front. After he returned from his long
exile in Europe, he struck in at once with vehement
battle against all the sins and errors of carpetbag recon
struction. Heaven knows it was a fine opportunity!
How he must have luxuriated in the tempest of epithets
which he hurled against the dominant party that was
over-riding him and his fellows : " Its tyranny, its cor-

214 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
ruption, its treachery to the Caucasian race, its patron
age of vice, of fraud, of crime and criminals." 79 What
hearty wealth of honest egotism rings in his cry of dis
gust at the things that were going on about him : " I am
sorry I have got so much sense. I see into the tricks of
these public men too quickly. When God Almighty
moves me from the earth, he will take away a heap of
experience. I expect when a man gets to be seventy he
ought to go, for he knows too much for other people's
convenience." 80 But the best thing in the later corre
spondence, as illustrating the value of a man's comment
on his own character, is the following [italics mine] : " I
had hoped to be there myself, but the arbitration in the
Whitfield case is protracted by Hill and his villains with
the hope of annoying me out, but you know I generally
take a through ticket. The thing is unbearable except by
a man of 'my philosophy :' '81
In this last phase, again, as so frequently before, we
should note the makeweight of sound common sense and
real constructive intelligence. No one's brain was more
helpful than Toombs's in framing the new constitution
of Georgia. And in opposing things in general, he op
posed some particular things for which wise men can
never commend him too much. He opposed the popular
election of judges, and when told that it worked well
where it had been tried, answered, with the classical col
loquialism he loved to use : " It is easy to take the road
to hell, but few people ever return from it." 82 He op-

ROBERT TOOMBS 215
posed the too hasty allotment of privileges and powers
to railroads and corporations. His words would find
many to-day to echo them, few to improve them. " What
do I see before me? The grave. What beyond that?
Starving millions of our posterity, that I have robbed by
my action here, in giving them over to the keeping of
these corporations. The right to control these railroads
belongs to the State, to the people, and as long as I re
present the people, I will not relinquish it, so help me
God!"83 A fighter, you see, so long as breath was in him, a
rampant individualist, a champion of all the wordy ideals
of the eighteenth century, the embodiment of passionate
will, which would not be over-persuaded or over-ridden,
or broken down. Although he nominally accepted Chris
tianity and even declared on his deathbed that he " had
not a resentment. I would not pang a heart," 84 yet he
remained proud, haughty, self-confident to the very end.
" Yes, I know I am fast passing away. Life's fitful fever
will soon be over. I would not blot out a single act of
my life." 85 The United States Government had con
quered him, subdued him, constrained him. It governed
Georgia and he was a Georgian. But he never forgave.
" Pardon ?" he said, when they asked him to sue for am
nesty ; " Pardon for what? I have not pardoned you all
yet." 86 And he declared that he would die as he had
lived, "an unpardoned, unreconstructed, unrepentant
rebel." 87

216 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
Together with not a few other of the admirable quali
ties of Milton's Satan, he had in a high degree the one
quality which we respect most in that heroic, if some
what unregenerate, type of Promethean rebellion, —
" The courage never to submit or yield,
And what is else not to be overcome."

VIII
RAPHAEL SEMMES

CHRONOLOGY
Born Charles County, Maryland, September 27, 1809.
Midshipman, United States Navy, 1826.
Admitted to the bar, 1834.
Lieutenant, 1837.
Married, 1837, Annie E. Spencer, of Cincinnati.
Both land and sea service in Mexican War.
Commander, 1855.
Secretary Lighthouse Board, 1858-61.
Commanded Sumter, 1 861.
Commanded Alabama from August, 1862, to June, 1864.
Defeated by Winslow in the Kearsarge, June 19, 1864.
Confederate Rear Admiral, 1864.
Surrenders with Johnston, May I, 1865.
Arrested, 1865, but released under amnesty.
Law and journalism till death, August 30, 1877.

RAPHAEL SEMMES

VIII
RAPHAEL SEMMES
It is not likely that the romance of the one hundred and
thirty volumes of Civil War Records will ever be writ
ten ; yet the diligent searcher of those records finds
many picturesque points to relieve his tedious hours.
For instance, there is the matter of proper names. The
novelist who invented " Philip St. George Cocke " as a
military hero would be laughed at for excess of fancy.
Yet the Confederates rejoiced in such a general, who was
killed early and is said to have been a good fighter. At
any rate, he wrote up to his name in almost unbelievable
fashion. He is not to be confused with his feebler Union
duplicate — I mean feebler as regards nomenclature —
Philip St. George Cooke.
Then there is Captain Coward, a brave and able sol
dier, who has served his state efficiently both during the
war and since. Still with that name would you not have
chosen to be a preacher, or a plumber, or to follow any
respectable profession of peace, rather than to inflict such
a military lucus e non lucendo on a mocking world ? And
the parents of this unfortunate, when they had the whole
alphabet to choose from, preferred to smite their offspring
with the initial " A.," perhaps hoping, affectionately but

220 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
mistakenly, that Alexander, or Ajax, or Achilles, would
suffice to overcome the patronymic blight.
All which is but a prelude to the introduction of
Raphael Semmes. Is not the name a jewel in itself? In
Latin countries Raphael may be a fairly common appel
lation; but we Saxons are usually familiar with only
three instances of it, two artists and an archangel. Ele
ments of both these characters appear in the subject be
fore us, but I think the artist predominated and the other
irresistibly suggests Lamb's description of Coleridge,
" an archangel — a little damaged."
Really, for a pirate, could anything be finer than
"Raphael Semmes" ? And it is always as a pirate that
I shuddered at the commander of the Alabama in my boy
hood dreams. I thought of him as a joyous freebooter,
a Kidd, or a Red Rover, or a Cleveland, skimming the
blue main like a bird of prey, eager to plunder and de
stroy, young, vigorous, splendidly bloodthirsty, gay in
lace and gold, perhaps with the long locks, which, Plu
tarch assures us, make lovers more lovely and pirates
more terrible. I cherished this vision even while I knew
only vaguely of a certain Semmes. When better knowl
edge added " Raphael," my dream became complete.
Now it must go with the other dreams of boyhood ;
for better knowledge still assures me that the man was
not a pirate at all. I have his own word for this — or
words, some hundred and fifty thousand of them. I have
also most touching and impressive narratives of his

RAPHAEL SEMMES 221
crew, who were of so sympathetic a disposition that they
were moved by their first captive's tears to the point of
collecting a purse for him. x I do not understand that
they continued this habit ; but to the very end I have no
doubt the hard plight of an orphan would have worked
upon their feelings as volcanically as upon the pirates of
Gilbert and Sullivan.
Perhaps more convincing than such somewhat ex parte
evidence, and, indeed, conclusive, are the calm state
ments of Union authorities. Through the war " pirates "
was the universal cry of the Northern Government and
press. But Professor Soley, as competent as any one to
give an opinion, declares that, " Neither the privateers,
like the Petrel and the Savannah, nor the commissioned
cruisers, like the Alabama and the Florida, were guilty
of any practices which, as against their enemies, were
contrary to the laws of war." 2 While Robert A. Bolles,
legal adviser of the Navy Department, writing in the
" Atlantic Monthly," shortly after the war, to explain
why Semmes was not prosecuted, asserts that he was
"entitled to all of the customary cheats, falsehoods,
snares, decoys, false pretences, and swindles of civilized
and Christian warfare," and that "the records of the
United States Navy Department effectually silence all
right to complain of Semmes for having imitated our
example in obedience to orders from the Secretary of
the Confederate Navy." 3
It is impossible to imagine anything more satisfactory

222 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
than this, coming from such a source, and the talk of
" pirates " seems to be forever disposed of. Nevertheless,
there is one authority on the other side, of such weight
and significance that I cannot altogether pass him by.
This authority — American — is, indeed, speaking of pri
vateers in the Mexican War ; but the methods and prac
tices animadverted upon are so closely akin to those of
the Alabama that that vessel could hardly have escaped
being included in the condemnation, in spite of her claim
to be a duly authorized Confederate cruiser.
Our authority, then, speaks thus of the composition
of crews. " It is necessary that at least a majority of the
officers and crew of each vessel should be citizens ; not
citizens made ad hoc, in fraud of the law, but bona fide
citizens ; and any vessel which might have attempted to
cruise under a letter of marque and reprisal, without this
essential requisite, would have become, from that mo
ment, a pirate." 4
Again, this writer expresses himself in the severest
terms as to commerce-destroying generally. "Indeed,
there is a growing disposition among civilized nations,
to put an end to this disreputable mode of warfare under
any circumstances. It had its origin in remote and bar
barous ages, and has for its object rather the plunder of
the bandit than honorable warfare. . . . From the na
ture of the material of which the crews of these vessels
are composed — the adventurous and desperate of all
nations — the shortness of their cruises, and the demor-

RAPHAEL SEMMES 223
alizing pursuit in which they are engaged, it is next to
impossible that any discipline can be established or
maintained among them. In short, they are little better
than licensed pirates ; and it behooves all civilized na
tions, and especially nations who, like ourselves, are ex
tensively engaged in foreign commerce, to suppress the
practice altogether." 5
By this time, I imagine that the indignant Southern
reader is inquiring what twopenny authority I am thus
setting up against the best legal judgment of the North
itself. I answer, with hilarious satisfaction, no less an
authority than Captain Raphael Semmes, who, in dis
cussing the question generally with regard to Mexico,
had little forethought of himself as a commissioned offi
cer of the Confederate States.
No doubt he would have had a luxury of excuses and
explanations, many of them reasonable. Still, I think we
have here a delightful illustration of the difference be
tween abstract theories and concrete applications, and if
Seward and Welles could have got hold of this passage,
they would have hailed it with infinite glee, as indeed
the utterance of a Daniel come to judgment.
Pirate or not, the career of the Sumter, and far more
that of the Alabama, have a flavor of desperate adven
ture about them, which does not lack fascination for
lovers of romance. " Engaged in acts somewhat sug
gesting the pranks of the buccaneers," is the modest
comment of Second Lieutenant Sinclair, and the facts

224 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
amply bear him out. The Alabama was built by stealth
in England, sailed from Liverpool under the British flag,
and was commissioned practically on the high seas. Her
crew were largely ruffians, sharked up from the worst
corners of British seaports, requiring at all times a watch
ful eye and a heavy hand. The voyage was everywhere,
now in Atlantic fog, now in Indian sunshine, battles
with tropic storms, owl-flittings in murky twilight. Some
times there would come a few days' repose in dubiously
neutral ports. The captain would slip on shore for a
touch of firm land, the sound of a woman's voice, per
haps a long ride over snowy mountains or through
strange forests. On his return he would find half his
crew drunk, the United States consul stirring up all
sorts of trouble, and an order to depart at once, half-
coaled and half-provisioned. Or, as at Cape Town, among
the friendly English, he would be nearly suffocated with
intrusive popularity.
Then it was up anchor and away, long months at sea,
incessant watchfulness. But the monotony was broken
almost daily by fierce swoops upon Northern merchant
men, which were stopped, examined, seized, their crews
taken aboard the Alabama, the vessels themselves —
since there were no Confederate ports to send them to —
usually burned with all their cargo, serving sometimes as
a decoy to lure yet other victims within the reach of the
greedy aggressor. Any passengers on board the prizes
were treated as were the crews, detained on the Alabama

RAPHAEL SEMMES 225
only until some convenient means was found of getting
rid of them. Now and then among these were ladies,
who at first regarded their captors with exaggerated
fears. But the young officers managed to overcome this
in most cases and the lieutenant who boarded one large
steamer returned with his coat quite bare of buttons
which had been cut off for mementoes. Assuredly this
was playing the pranks of the buccaneers with a certain
gayety. The sordid side of such work is obvious enough. For
a commissioned war-vessel to sail about the world, do
ing no fighting, but simply capturing and destroying
unarmed merchantmen, seems in itself neither very use
ful, very creditable, nor very amusing. As to the useful
ness, however, the Alabama's depredations probably did
as much as anything to develop the peace spirit among
the merchants of the North, and Semmes was no doubt
right in thinking that he seriously diminished the pres
sure of the blockade by drawing so much attention to
himself. And he is further right in asserting, as to dis
credit, that what damage he did to property and injury
to persons is not to be named with the damage and in
jury done by Sherman without one whit more military
excuse. As to amusement, that is, excitement, the course of the
Alabama supplied enough of it. Not to speak of winds
and storms, to which she was incessantly exposed in her
practically unbroken cruise of two years, there was the

226 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
ever-present necessity of avoiding the Union men-of-war,
a fleet of which were on the lookout, flying close upon
her traces in every quarter of the globe. With the North
ern press and the suffering merchants everywhere calling
for redoubled vigilance and an immense reward of glory
awaiting the destroyer of the dreaded destroyer, every
Union officer was most keenly alert. For instance, it is
interesting to find Admiral Mahan, as a young midship
man, begging the Navy Department to give him a ship
that he may pursue Semmes, then in command of his
first vessel, the Sumter : " Suppose it fails, what is lost ?
A useless ship, a midshipman, and a hundred men. If it
succeeds, apart from the importance of the capture, look
at the prestige such an affair would give the service." 6
To evade hostility like this meant excitement enough.
Yet for three years, in his two ships, Semmes did it,
fighting only once with an inferior vessel, the Hatteras,
which he sank. When at last, on the 19th of June, 1864,
in the English Channel, he met the Kearsarge on nearly
equal terms, it was by his own choice, not by compul
sion, and on the whole, his ship made a good and cred
itable ending, though Professor Soley is no doubt right
in thinking that the defeat was owing rather to inferior
training and marksmanship on the Alabama than to the
chain protection of the Union vessel of which the Con
federates made so much.
But what we are seeking is a closer knowledge of
Semmes himself. To accord with his firefly craft and

RAPHAEL SEMMES 227
with "pranks resembling those of the buccaneers" you
no doubt imagine a gay young adventurer, handsome,
gold-laced, laughing, swearing, singing, in short, the
romantic freebooter of my dreams above mentioned.
The real Semmes was nothing of the sort. To begin
with, at the outbreak of the war he was an elderly man.
Born in 1809, he took his early training in the United
States Navy, then returned to civil life and practiced
law, then went into the Mexican War, and served all
through it with credit and distinction, disappearing after
ward in the routine of government service.
Seen as others saw him in i860, he was anything but
a gallant adventurer. He was not handsome, he was not
winning, he was not magnetic. In fact, he gave rather
the impression of a grave and reverend professional man
than of a dashing captain, and some of his prisoners at
first sight mistook him for a parson, an illusion quickly
dispelled by a habit of marine phraseology which would
not have been pleasing to Lee or Jackson. " Lean, sal
low, and nervous, much less like a mariner than a sea-
lawyer," says Rideing of him, after the war.7 He was
cold, quiet, and reserved, talked little with his officers,
depended little on their advice, but made his own de
cisions and took all the responsibility for them. When
the approach of the great final conflict aroused him suf
ficiently to make him ask Lieutenant Sinclair how he
thought it would turn out, the lieutenant was quite over
come : " I was surprised that he should care to have my

228 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
opinion, or that of any one else ; for he rarely addressed
any of us off duty, and never asked the advice or opinion
of his subordinates on weighty matters." 8
I do not know what better testimony to respectability,
sanity, and conservatism could be had than that of Alex
ander H. Stephens, and Stephens speaks of Semmes as
follows : " For some years before secession he was at the
head of the Lighthouse Board in Washington. He re
signed as soon as Alabama seceded, though he agreed
with me thoroughly in my position on that question, as
his letters to me show. He was a Douglas man, and you
need not therefore be surprised when I tell you that I
considered him a very sensible, intelligent, and gallant
man. I aided him in getting an honorable position in
our navy, and in getting him afloat as soon as possible,
which he greatly desired." 9
Fortunately, however, we are not obliged to depend
on any external testimony. We have plenty of writing of
the man's own which throws wide light upon his soul.
He kept a careful log-book of both his cruises. This was
used as a basis for the book written about him, called,
" Log of the Sumter and Alabama," and again, by him
self, in his huge " Memoir of Service Afloat during the
War Between the States." But the original, as printed in
the " Official Records," is far more valuable than the
later studied and literary narratives.
To begin with, one cannot help being impressed with
his fine intelligence. He had a mind constantly working,

RAPHAEL SEMMES 229
and trained to work with ease, assurance, and dispatch.
This is perhaps most striking in his immense legal in
genuity. His position brought him daily into contact with
the nicest and most puzzling international questions, both
of law and morals, from the disposition of his prizes to
the disposition of himself, when he surrendered his ves
sel, let her sink under his feet, and after he was picked
out of the water by the English yacht, Deerhound, be
took himself to England and safety, instead of to the
Kearsarge and a Northern prison. On all these points he
is inexhaustible in legal lore, fertile in persuasive argu
ment, and most apt and energetic in making every pos
sible suggestion tell.
Nor would I intimate that in all this abundant dis
cussion he is not sincere, or any less so than the average
lawyer. He is, indeed, quick to take advantage of every
quibble. But the long legal cases in regard to many of
his captures recorded in his log-book — that is, mainly
for his own eye — seem to me to indicate a mind much
open to conscientious scruples and a feeling that his
elaborate argument must convince himself as well as
others. More attractive evidence of Semmes' s intellectual
power than that furnished by his legal pyrotechnics is
his early book about the Mexican War. This is as intel
ligent a narrative of travel as can readily be found.
There is not only the wide-open eye of the sympathetic
observer; but the comments on the social life of the

230 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
people, on their industries, their manners, their morals,
their government, and their religion, are sober, fruitful,
and suggestive, and may be read to-day with perhaps
even more profit than fifty years ago.
Still, a pirate might be intelligent. Let us take other
aspects of Semmes' s character. How did he treat his
prisoners, of whom, first and last, there must have been
hundreds ? His own account and that of his officers is, of
course, highly favorable. He admits that at first, as a
measure of retaliation for Union treatment of captured
" pirates," he was unnecessarily rigid in the use of irons ;
but in the main he asserts that captives were made as
comfortable as circumstances permitted and he insists
especially that at no time was there any pillaging of pri
vate personal property. " We may as well state here,"
writes Lieutenant Sinclair, " that all our prisoners were
housed on deck from necessity, the berth-deck being
crowded by our own men. But we made them as com
fortable as we could under the circumstances, spread
awnings and tarpaulins over them in stormy weather, and
in every way possible provided for their comfort. They
were allowed full rations (less the spirit part) and their
own cooks had the range of the galley in preparing
their food to their taste. Indeed, when it is considered
that our men had watch to keep and they none, they were
better off for comfort than ourselves." 10 This, of course,
refers only to the men. When women were brought on
board, they were given the officers' own staterooms.

RAPHAEL SEMMES 231
Both Semmes and his lieutenants take great pride in
the humane treatment of those on board the large steam
ship, Ariel. When the ship was taken, the plan was to
burn her and land the prisoners at Kingston. There was
fever in Kingston, however ; so, rather than expose so
many persons to danger of infection, the vessel was
allowed to go on her way under bond. Semmes's re
mark on this in his log (not in his published narrative)
savors delightfully of the charity of Glossin in "Guy
Mannering." " It would have been inhuman to put ashore,
even if permitted (and I greatly doubted on this point),
so large a number of persons, many of whom were
women and children, to become victims, perhaps, to the
pestilence." "
And what do the prisoners themselves say about it?
Naturally their view was somewhat different. Complaints
appear of rough usage, chiefly of the employment of
irons, which was at times manifestly necessary, where the
number of captives was so large. " The manner of the
master of the steamer was overbearing and insolent in
the extreme," writes one victim; "and it was at the
great risk of the personal safety, if not of the life, of the
deponent, that he so strenuously insisted upon his ship
and cargo being released." 12 But in general there is a
remarkable — all the more so because grudging — agree
ment that things were conducted peaceably and civilly
and that no personal violence was used in any case.
Here again the testimony of Bolles, who had made a

232 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
thorough and hostile investigation, is conclusive. " In
no one single solitary instance was there furnished a
particle of proof that 'the pirate Semmes,' as many of
my correspondents called him, had ever maltreated his
captives, or subjected them to needless and unavoidable
deprivation." 13
It may be suggested that this line of conduct was
dictated rather by policy than by kindness of heart.
What, then, was Semmes's treatment of his crew? On
this point, also, the testimony is conflicting. I have said
that they were necessarily a rough lot. Semmes puts it
more strongly: "The fact is, I have a precious set of
rascals on board — faithless in the matter of abiding by
their contracts, liars, thieves, and drunkards."14 To
have managed such a company, in sole authority, for
two years, over the vast solitudes of ocean, is in itself
strong testimony to executive ability and force of char
acter. It is evident that stern and constant severity was
needed and Semmes employed it, as he himself admits.
I do not find any proof that the severity was excessive.
In cases of open and extreme disorder punishment was
awarded by formal court martial, and not suddenly, nor
in anger. The harshest instance seems to have been that
of the captured deserter Forrest,18 who, after being sev
eral times "spread-eagled" in strenuous fashion, was
put ashore in irons on a desert coast, the crew, without
the knowledge of the captain, subscribing a purse which
they hoped would enable him to get off, as it did. But

RAPHAEL SEMMES 233
the officers agree that Forrest's rascality stood out, even
in that choice collection.
It is as to the result of this severity in discipline that
there is a most interesting disagreement of witnesses.
Semmes himself declares that it accomplished its ob
ject. "Many of my fellows, no doubt, thought they
were shipping in a sort of privateer, where they would
have a jolly good time and plenty of license. They have
been wofully disappointed, for I have jerked them down
with a strong hand, and now have a well-disciplined
ship of war." 16 His officers confirm his statement ener
getically. Lieutenant Sinclair writes : " No better proof
of the judicial methods of discipline outlined by Semmes
could be submitted, than that under them, though en
gaged in acts somewhat suggesting the pranks of the
buccaneers, our crew were as well held in hand as though
serving on an English man-of-war in times of perfect
peace, and at the same time in a state of perfect content
ment." 17
With this beatific vision it is really amusing to
compare the assertions of some of the prisoners on the
Alabama, who inspected conditions with a curious, though
perhaps a somewhat malignant eye. " All the men for
ward are English and Irish," says one observer, "no
Americans. The officers are Southerners, and, with the
exception of the captain and first lieutenant, seem igno
rant of their duties. The discipline on board was not very
good, though the men seemed to be good seamen. They

234 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
were over an hour setting the two topgallant sails. The
men appeared to be dissatisfied." 18 And if it be urged
that this was in September, 1862, before conditions were
comfortably adjusted, we can turn to a still more severe
account given by a reliable witness, in November, 1863,
when the Alabama had run more than half of her troubled
course. "Crew much dissatisfied, no prize money, no
liberty, and see no prospect of getting any. Discipline
very slack, steamer dirty, rigging slovenly. Semmes
sometimes punishes, but is afraid to push too hard. . . .
Crew do things for which would be shot on board
American man-of-war ; for instance, saw one of crew
strike a master's mate ; crew insolent to petty officers ;
was told by at least two thirds of them that they would
desert on the first opportunity. . . . While on board saw
drill only once, and that at pivot guns, very badly done ;
men ill-disciplined and were forced to it ; lots of curs
ing." 19
In such surroundings it might be vain to look for per
sonal attachment. Perhaps even Jackson or Stuart would
have been unable to inspire any. Still, in his book — the
passage does not occur in his log — Semmes speaks of
both officers and crew with what appears to be real affec
tion. " When men have been drenched and wind-beaten
in the same storm, . . . there is a feeling of brotherhood
that springs up between them, that it is difficult for a
landsman to conceive." 20 His sailors certainly had im
mense confidence in him, as well they might, and it is said

RAPHAEL SEMMES 235
that after the loss of the Alabama, many of them came and
begged him to procure another ship. I do not find re
lated of him, however, any incident so touching as that
told by his first officer, Lieutenant Kell, — too simple and
too human to have been invented, by Kell, at any rate, —
of the dying seaman, who, as his superior was leaving
the Alabama, then about to sink, " caught my hand and
kissed it with such reverence and loyalty — the look, the
act, lingers in my memory still." 21 Surely they were not
all infernal rascals on board that pirate.
If we look at Semmes, for a moment, in other concerns
of life besides the official, we shall find much that is at
tractive to complete the picture of him.
So far from having anything of the typical pirate's
mercurial affections, he seems to have been a man of
peculiarly domestic habit, much attached to his wife and
to his children. The temporary presence of children and
their mothers on the Alabama is referred to in his book
with great feeling: "When I would turn over in my cot,
in the morning, for another nap, in that dim conscious
ness which precedes awakening, I would listen, in dreamy
mood, to the sweet voices over my head, . . . and giving
free wing to fancy, I would be clasping again the absent
dear ones to my heart." 22 Less literary, and therefore
even more convincing, are the little touches of tender
ness interspersed among the scientific observations and
political discussion of the log-book. " The governor sent
me off a fine turkey, and some fruit, and his lady a bou-

236 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
quet of roses. The roses were very sweet, and made me
homesick for a while." 23 Again, " I am quite homesick
this quiet Sunday morning. I am two long, long years
and more absent from my family, and there are no signs
of an abatement of the war." 24
The same sensibility that shows in this home feeling
manifests itself in other ways. Semmes was not only a
wide reader in his profession and in lines connected with
it, but he loved literature proper, read much poetry and
quotes it often. He was singularly sensitive to beauty in
any form.
Above all, his diary reads almost like that of a natural
ist — Darwin or Bates — in its singularly close, intelligent,
and affectionate observation of nature. Roving all over
the tropic world of land and water, at a time when such
study was less common than now, he kept his eyes open
for both exceptional and ordinary natural phenomena.
He had the keenest interest in the working of tides,
storms, and currents, and not only records minutely
all the empirical detail of such matters, but goes into
elaborate discussion of the causes of them, illustrat
ing with plans and diagrams which quaintly diversify
the cargo-lists of Yankee schooners and the recital of
attempts to blarney pompous officials of Portugal and
Spain. Nor is the appreciation of the charm of nature less
than the sense of its scientific interest. Every opportu
nity of landing is seized as giving the tired sea-wanderer

RAPHAEL SEMMES 237
a chance to satisfy his love of the soil, and he paints de
lightful pictures of tropic scenes and things and people.
Here again the more elaborate specimens are to be found
in the books, especially in the earlier one on Mexico ;
but I prefer the piquant freshness of little touches jotted
down, under the immediate impression, in the diary of
the day. How graceful, for instance, is this description
of Fernando de Noronha : " The island in the season at
which we visited it was a gem of picturesque beauty, ex
ceedingly broken and diversified with dells and rocks and
small streams, etc. It was the middle of the rainy season.
The little mountain paths as we returned became little
brooks, that hummed and purled on their rapid course." 25
Or this, again, of Martinique : " In the afternoon strolled
on the heights in the rear of the town, and was charmed
with the picturesque scenery on every hand. The little
valleys and nooks in which nestle the country houses are
perfect pictures, and the abrupt and broken country pre
sents delightful changes at every turn." 26 While the
following passage adds a personal note which is as at
tractive as it is evidently sincere : " Visited the Savan
nah [Fort St. Louis] to hear the music, which is given
every Sunday evening. It was a gay and beautiful scene,
the moon, the shade trees, the statue of Josephine, the
throng of well-dressed men and women, the large band
and the fine music, the ripple of the sea, and last, though
not least, the katydids, so fraught with memories of
home, dear home 1 " 27

238 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
And if Semmes was emotional and sensitive, he was
also conscientious, high-principled, and genuinely re
ligious. Aide-toi et Dieu t'aidera, " God helps those who
help themselves," was the delightful motto of the Ala
bama, and past question her commander trusted in God
as well as in his own right arm. He inherited the Catho
lic faith and persisted in it with evidently sincere as well
as intelligent devotion. His argument, in his book on
Mexico, for the value to humanity of a liturgical service
is as clear and cogent as his criticism of the excessive
influence of an ignorant clergy in Mexican life. The
touches of personal religion in his diary are absolutely
free from pretentiousness and are very winning in their
simplicity. Sometimes, indeed, there is a naive mixture
of his worldly occupations with his spiritual zeal : " I
have thus spent a busy day, without having time even
to read a chapter in the Bible, and all for nothing — one
Dutchman and two Englishmen." 28 But elsewhere the
fervent outpouring of pious ejaculation is quite un-
mingled with any taint of sordid cares. " My life has been
one of great vicissitude, but not of calamity or great
suffering, and I have reason to be thankful to a kind
Providence for the many favors I have received. I have
enjoyed life to a reasonable extent, and I trust I shall have
fortitude to meet with Christian calmness any fate that
may be in store for me, and to undergo the great change,
which awaits us all, with composure and a firm reliance
upon the justice and goodness of God." 29 I think you

RAPHAEL SEMMES 239
must be asking now, with some astonishment, where is
that pirate?
The practical Christian virtues, too, seem to be pres
ent, in desire at least, as well as Christian aspiration.
Some of Semmes' s reported utterances might make one
think he lacked patience. He thinks so himself : " I am
not discouraged, but I have had an excellent opportu
nity to practice the Christian virtue of patience, which
virtue, I think, I am a little deficient in." 30 Humility,
also, he endeavors to cultivate, when winds and seas
tempt an angry criticism of the order of nature. " One of
the most temper-trying of the contretemps of a seaman's
life is, when your position is such as to render your lati
tude very important to you, to have a squall come up,
just before it is time to look out for the sun, and to rain
and obscure everything until it is a very [few] minutes
too late for you, and then to have the sun shine out
brightly, as if in mockery of your baffled desire. Such
was the case to-day, this being the second day that we
are without an observation for latitude. But I endeavor
to profit by these trials, as they teach me a lesson of
humility. What is man, that the sun should shine for
him ? And then, in our stupidity, we fail to see things in
their true light ; all the occurrences of nature, being in
obedience to wise laws, must of course, be the best." 31
With the insight into Semmes' s inner life and private
character thus acquired we are better able to appreciate
the really lofty motives that animated him in his public

240 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
service. His perfect courage, his entire determination and
persistence in effort, are beyond dispute. Read the ac
counts of the calmness and self-sacrifice with which, in
spite of a painful wound, he managed every detail of his
last combat. The only aspersion upon him here is that
he did not give himself up as a prisoner after being
rescued by the Deerhound. It is possible that Lee or
Albert Sidney Johnston would have done this ; but I do
not believe there were many officers in either the Union
or the Confederate service who would have strained
honor to a point so quixotically fine.
And back of the persistence in effort was an equally
indisputable patriotism. Whether we agree with Semmes
or not, we must recognize that he believed as heartily
in the cause he was fighting for as did Davis or Lee.
Thoughts like the following, confided to the intimate
privacy of his diary, are incontestable evidence of sin
cerity as well as of devotion : " My dear family I consign
with confidence to God's care, and our beloved country
I feel certain He will protect and preserve, and in due
time raise up to peace, independence, and prosperity.
Our struggle must be just and holy in His sight, and as
He governs the world by inexorable laws of right and
wrong, the wicked and cruel people who are seeking our
destruction cannot fail to be beaten back and destroyed.
But it may be His pleasure to scourge us severely for our
past sins and unworthiness, and to admit us to His favor
again, only when we shall have been purified." 32

RAPHAEL SEMMES 241
Nor was this patriotism of Semmes much tempered by
personal ambition or by any stimulus of excitement or
adventure. As to ambition, however, it may be interest
ing to compare Semmes's letter to Howell Cobb, sug
gesting that it would be well for the Confederacy to have
only a small regular navy and to give resigning United
States naval officers rank equivalent to what they for
merly held.33 But the captain of the Alabama was well
over fifty, and at that age personal comfort means more
than plaudits and laurels. It is really most curious to see
the supposedly triumphant and exultant pirate sighing
over the tediousness and weariness of his lot and eager
to give " a thousand leagues of sea for one acre of bar
ren ground." " Perhaps this constant, stormy tumbling
about at sea is the reason why we seamen are so calm
and quiet on shore. We come to hate all sorts of com
motion, whether physical or moral." 34 And again, even
more vividly and pointedly : " Barometer gradually fall
ing. Ship rolling and pitching in the sea and all things
dreary looking and uncomfortable. I am supremely
disgusted with the sea and all its belongings. The
fact is, I am past the age when man ought to be
subjected to the hardships and discomforts of the sea..
Seagoing is one of those constant strifes which none
but the vigorous, the hardy, and the hopeful — in
short, the youthful, or, at most, the middle-aged —
should be engaged in. The very roar of the wind
through the rigging, with its accompaniments of roll-

242 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
ing and tumbling, hard, overcast skies, etc., gives me
the blues." 3B
Yet, in spite of age, of gray respectability, of undeni
able fine qualities, there is in Semmes a certain strain of
the pirate, after all. About many of his utterances there
is a violence not only fierce but coarse, a tone of offen
sive vituperation much more appropriate to Captain Kidd
than to a Christian soldier. His own friends recognize
this to the extent of apologizing for it. " Semmes's ver
bal and written utterances," says Sinclair, "manifest a
bitterness of feeling towards his foes which is calculated
to mislead one respecting his real character. . . . He
was uniformly just in his decisions. He respected pri
vate property and private feelings. And it was the rule,
rather than the exception, that he provided in the best
possible way for his prisoners, military and civil ; and we
have often seen that he gave them boats and whatever
their ships afforded of comfort and luxury to get away
with. This was not the conduct of a malevolent partisan,
but distinctly that of a generous and chivalrous foe. It
is by his acts rather than by his utterances that a man
like Semmes should be judged. He had a noble and
generous soul."36 Unfortunately our words sometimes
go further than our acts, especially when we print them,
and it is hard to reconcile all that Semmes wrote with
perfect nobility or generosity.
It is true, he had much excuse. He was pursued with
scorn and vilification which no one thought of bestowing

RAPHAEL SEMMES 243
on Johnston or Lee ; yet there was no reason for calling
him a common malefactor and enemy of the human race,
any more than them. It is true, further, that his tongue
often belied his real feeling, as it occasionally showed
itself, for instance when, long after the war, he replied
" very gently" to Mrs. Kell, who asked him to help re
concile her husband, "He has fifteen years or more
longer to live to feel as I do. I am fifteen years his
senior. Give him that long to grow reconciled to things
as they are." 37 Finally, it is true that the ugly violence
of expression does not appear in the earlier Mexican
book, which is a model of dignity, sanity, and self-re
straint. In short, a nervous, sensitive, high-strung na
ture was irritated beyond control of itself by the long
strain of toil and hardship and exposure. As Semmes
himself admirably expresses it, speaking of his own an
tagonist, Winslow : " I had known, and sailed with him,
in the old service, and knew him then to be a humane
and Christian gentleman. What the war may have made
of him, it is impossible to say. It has turned a great deal
of the milk of human kindness to gall and wormwood." 38
Certainly Semmes's human kindness had been gravely
affected in that fashion, and none of the above expla
nations will serve to excuse a manner of speech which
would have been impossible not only for Lee or Stephens,
but even, under any circumstances, for Beauregard, or
Johnston, or Longstreet.
Such a charge must be supported by illustrations,

244 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
however offensive. But it should be understood that
these illustrations are not unique, but merely represent
the general tone of Semmes's book, " Memoirs of Service
Afloat during the War between the States." Even in
the earlier, simpler diary of actual war days, a note is
sounded that is far from agreeable. " If the historian
perform his duty faithfully, posterity will be amazed at
the wickedness and corruption of the Northern and
.Western people, and will wonder by what process such
a depth of infamy was reached in so short a time. The
secret lies here: The politicians had become political
stockjobbers, and the seekers of wealth had become
knaves and swindlers ; and into these classes may be
divided nearly the whole Yankee population. Such is
' Plymouth Rock ' in our day, with its Beechers in the
pulpit and its Lincolns in the chair of Washington, its
Sumners and Lovejoys in Congress, et id omne genus in
the contract market." 39
One expects this sort of abuse from irresponsible
agitators, both North and South. One does not expect
it from officers and gentlemen. But the language of
Semmes's book is far worse. " The pay of the Federal
Consul at Maranham, was, I believe, at the time I visited
the town, about twelve hundred dollars per annum. As
was to be expected, a small man filled the small place.
He was quite young, and with commendable Yankee
thrift, was exercising, in the consular dwelling, the occu
pation of a dentist ; the 'old flag' flying over his files,

RAPHAEL SEMMES 245
false teeth, and spittoons. He probably wrote the de
spatch, a copy of which had been handed me, in the
intervals between the entrance and exit of his customers.
It was not wonderful, therefore, that this semi-diplomat,
charged with the affairs of the Great Republic, and with
the decayed teeth of the young ladies of Maranham, at
one and the same time, should be a little confused as to
points of international law, and the rules of Lindley Mur
ray." 40
The man who wrote that had a coarse streak in him
somewhere. Stuart liked rhetoric, but he could never
have written that. Jackson detested Yankees, but he
could never have written that.
And with this vein of detestable facetiousness Semmes
mingles an almost equally trying assortment of cheap
heroics. He quotes Byron, "Don Juan," and "The Cor
sair," and " The Island," until you would think Conrad
and Lara were his ideals and Jack Bunce, alias Alta-
mont, his model.
Such a tribute to the power of the gallery goes far
to prepare us for the description furnished by one of
Semmes's captives, the master of the Brilliant, a descrip
tion no doubt exaggerated, but which may not seem so
much so now, as when we were fresh from the touching
— and absolutely genuine — confessions about home
and God. It may be added that this passage furnishes the
only explanation I have seen of " Old Beeswax," a name
accepted by Semmes himself and frequently referred to

246 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
by officers and crew. I quote from the New York " Her
ald" of October 17, 1862 : "Captain Hagar says that,
however much Semmes may have had the appearance
of a gentleman when an officer of the United States
Navy, he has entirely changed now. He sports a huge
mustache, the ends of which are waxed in a manner
to throw that of Victor Emmanuel entirely into the
shade, and it is evident that it occupies much of his at
tention. His steward waxes it every day carefully, and
so prominent is it that the sailors of the Alabama call
him ' Old Beeswax.' His whole appearance is that of a
corsair, and the transformation appears to be complete
from Commander Raphael Semmes, U.S.N., to a combi
nation of Lafitte, Kidd, and Gibbs, the three most noted
pirates the world has ever known."
So, you see, I can cherish a watery image of my pi
rate, after all. And if the words attributed to him by his
near friend, Maffitt, on the sinking of his ship, are genu
ine, neither Cleveland nor the Red Rover could have
struck an attitude or phrased an exit more effectively.
"Raising his sword with affectionate solicitude, he gently
placed it on the binnacle, sorrowfully exclaiming, ' Rest
thee, excalibur, thy grave is with the Alabama.' " 41
Excalibur! oh!

IX
The Battle of Gettysburg

IX
THE BATTTLE OF GETTYSBURG
IT was the climax of a struggle that had been inevitable
for fifty years ; and only now, fifty years later, can we look
back calmly and disentangle the complicated motives
and passions that led up to it.
In the Revolutionary War Massachusetts and Vir
ginia, New York and Georgia, fought side by side, with
equal courage and equal sacrifice. All alike felt that free
men must move freely to the full and perfect realization
of a great republic in a great new continent.
Then the dividing-line came to be drawn more and
more sharply. The North was busy, eager, restless, full
of new thoughts and new devices, impatient of tradition
and dignity, always looking forward. It lived in cities,
amidst the hurry and bustle of cities, the whir of ma
chinery, the smoke of factory chimneys, everywhere the
ardor for progress, material and spiritual.
The South was dreamy and quiet ; it loved old days
and old ways, old stately manners. It dwelt in broad
fields, by quiet rivers, handed down possessions and
ideas from father to son, and read the books and thought
the thoughts of a hundred years before. To a people
so living, the sleepy service of the negro slave was in
the natural order of things, just as the impatient North

250 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
believed that nothing was well done that a man did not
do for himself.
In the same way the North, with its seven-league
boots of progress, stepped right over the old state lim
its, and forgot them, looking every day more to the
Union as the central organ of government, while the
South wanted as little governing as possible, and that
little done by Virginia, or South Carolina, or Missis
sippi. How could they long get on together? Both sides
loved their country and American ideals. Both sides
produced great men, men of power, men of patriotism,
who strove with all their might to reconcile the differ
ence between the opposing forces. As we look back now,
it seems as if that could and should have been done.
But the chasm was too wide and too deep. The South
called the North "shopkeepers," and said the Northern
soul was tainted with the sordid greed of gain — and
there was some truth in it. The North called the South
" slave-drivers," and said that slavery was a relic of bar
barism, utterly out of date in free America — and there
was truth in this also. Bitter words bred bitter feelings,
and bitter feelings bitter words again, until it seemed as
if there was nothing but bitterness.
Meanwhile the great West was growing. Which should
it belong to, North or South ? Whichever won the West
would undoubtedly be the controlling power in the na
tion. The struggle was long and complicated. When at

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG - 251
last the North definitely won, politically, with the elec
tion of Lincoln, the Southern States had become so
estranged from their Northern sisters that they refused
to live with them any longer, and that meant war.
Perhaps war was indispensable to show each side the
great qualities of the other. For at the beginning each
despised the other. The war would be brief enough, said
the North, for the South was all bluff and bluster, but
when it came to real fighting, would do nothing. The
war would be brief enough, said the South, for what
could clerks and lawyers and factory hands do against
a people who lived on horseback, and were quick with
their weapons ? So both sides talked in the early days
of '61. After four years they were wiser.
At first the South was doubtless better prepared.
More clearly than the North, she had seen trouble com
ing. Her leaders were men of fighting spirit, who took
practical military measures at once. The common sol
diers, though all a little too ready to be officers, as Stuart
said, were in fine training, accustomed to outdoor life,
good riders, and much more used to arms than the aver
age Northerner. The heavy, unwieldy bulk of the North
got into battle slowly ; it could not realize that a life-
and-death struggle was at hand. Moreover, the North
had to invade and attack, always the more difficult part
to play.
The great drama falls as naturally into acts as a
Shakespearean tragedy. Act one: alarms, excursions,

252 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
challenge, and counter-challenge, still some belated at
tempts at conciliation and reconciliation. Then the guns
heard at Sumter wake the dullest from their sleep. There
is busy marching to and fro, a death here, a death there,
a broken skirmish with uncertain victory. Two armed
mobs gather near Washington, rush at each other, sway
back and forth like two monsters in blind fury, part, and
the routed Unionists hurry in confusion from the field
of Bull Run, leaving the South victor in the first great
battle. Act two keeps the South still ahead. In the West, to be
sure, one Union man, with slow, steady, iron fist, ham
mers his way upward, regardless of opposition, indiffer
ent to failure, seeing the end clearly from the beginning.
Moreover, the Union navy, with its strangling blockade,
played from the first the part that was to prove most
significant of all.
But the eastern side of the stage, the more conspicu
ous side, was for two years full of Southern triumph.
Jackson, dashing hither and thither with the speed of
Napoleon, drove his bewildered opponents from the Val
ley. Lee, succeeding Johnston in command of the Army
of Northern Virginia, drew Jackson to himself, and com
pelled the superior forces of McClellan to abandon the
Peninsula. Lincoln, seeking a great man in vain, tried
the boasting Pope. Lee and Jackson beat him at Bull
Run. McClellan was tried again, failed to conquer at
Antietam, and was dropped once more. Lincoln turned

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 253
to Burnside, and Burnside hurled thousands to death
against Lee and Jackson on the heights of Fredericks
burg. Lincoln turned to Hooker, and Hooker entangled
"the finest army on this planet " in the thickets of Chan
cellorsville, where Lee and Jackson throttled it in a close-
drawn net of woven steel.
And act two closed with Southern triumph, so that
Lincoln told his God " that we could not stand another
Chancellorsville or Fredericksburg." And his God heard
him, for in Virginia the South never really triumphed
any more.
All this Southern victory came under one man, one of
the great soldiers of the world, Robert E. Lee. This man
typified all that was best in the South. A member of one
of the most distinguished Virginia families, he had the
fine qualities of his class, with none of its weaknesses.
He had courage without bluster, dignity without arro
gance, reserve without haughtiness, tranquillity without
sloth. A soldier in all his regal bearing, in every fibre of
his body, his character was far larger than is essential
to the profession of arms. In the great decisions of life
he guided his action by what seemed to him the prin
ciples of duty, and by those only. Political animosity
long called him, and sometimes still calls him, traitor ;
but if the word means a man who sells his convictions
for a price, it was never less deserved. For three years
the South gave him absolute trust, and no people ever
trusted more wisely.

254 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
As a soldier, Lee was bold to excess. Working with
the swift agency of "StonewaU" Jackson, he struck
blow after blow, each more aggressive and more au
dacious than the preceding one, till he came to feel that
the shifting and uncertain Union leadership was no
match for him anywhere. With Jackson's aid he won
the splendid victory of Chancellorsville. Then, although
Jackson was gone, Lee thought he could invade the
North, destroy Hooker and his demoralized army, and
perhaps dictate terms of peace in Washington, or even
in Philadelphia or New York. With triumph in his
heart and in the hearts of his soldiers, he crossed the
Potomac, and marched north to the vicinity of the little
town of Gettysburg;
Meanwhile the Union army had again changed com
manders, and Hooker had given place to General George
G. Meade. Meade was a plain man, a quiet man ; see
ing him in private life, you would never have taken him
for a soldier. He dealt little in the fuss and show of war,
little in words, wrote no magniloquent dispatches. The
last thing he talked of was himself, and therefore, after
the great struggle was over, others got much credit that
should have been his.
But he was a thinker ; he believed that battles de
pended more on brains than on sabres ; he thought out
his strategy to the end, yet was quick also to meet an
emergency that disarranged his thinking. Above all, he
should be forever honored for the circumstances under

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 255
which he fought Gettysburg. To take a beaten army
from a beaten commander, and at three days' notice
fight a battle against troops like Lee's under a general
like Lee, was as hard a task as was ever imposed on
mortal man in this fighting world. Meade accepted it
without a murmur, and saved a nation. Yet some grumble
because he did not do more.
So the battle at Gettysburg came. Neither commander
meant to fight just there. But the strange chances of
war brought on a conflict in a position eminently favor
able to the Union army, and correspondingly difficult for
the Confederates. Meade's troops held a curved ridge,
where he could easily support one part of his line with
another. Lee had to spread his forces outside the ridge,
and could not be sure of their attacking all at once. Yet,
overconfident, he determined to fight, feeling that to
withdraw would mean the foiling of all his hopes.
On the last day of June the Union troops entered the
town of Gettysburg at the northern end of the ridge
above mentioned. On July 1, the Confederates began to
attack them there. Neither commander-in-chief was on
the field. Reynolds, one of the ablest and one of the no
blest of the Northern generals, had charge at first, and
would probably have prevented disaster if he had lived.
But he was shot early in the fighting.
Doubleday and Howard, who succeeded him, could
not control the situation. The Confederates swept on
impetuously, and it almost looked as if the experience of

256 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
Chancellorsville were to be repeated. But there was no
Stonewall Jackson to profit instantly by the enemy's con
fusion. Hancock, sent forward by Meade to take entire
command, succeeded in pulling the troops together ; and
Ewell, who was at the head of Jackson's corps, did not
venture, in the uncertainties of coming darkness, to carry
out the discretionary instructions that Lee had given him.
Therefore, when night closed, the Union army still
held the strong position on the ridge, and the Confeder
ates had won no real victory. Their success had been
such, however, as to convince most of them, including
the commander-in-chief, that the next day would set
Meade and his troops in full retreat toward Washington.
The next day came, July 2. Meade had established
himself firmly on the curve of the ridge ; his flanks sup
ported each other. But at the southern end of the ridge,
Great Round Top and Little Round Top were, in the
morning, unduly exposed. It was here that Lee, relying
upon Ewell at the northern end to distract the attention
of the enemy, determined to make his main attack.
This attack was to be led by Longstreet, a splendid
fighter, but a man too confident in his own opinions, and
in this case, perhaps justly, in the opinion that Lee was
making a mistake. Longstreet's heart was therefore not
wholly in his work, and either from this reason, or from
difficulties really insurmountable, he did not begin the
assault on the Round Tops until the afternoon, when it
was too late.

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 257
When he did attack, it was indeed magnificent. Gray
and blue fought with equal valor. Perhaps they realized
that they were making history, and that the fate of a na
tion depended on their efforts ; or perhaps they fought
without any realization except that they were Americans,
and that those heights were to be taken or to be held.
But, as throughout the whole war, with courage so equal,
defense was stronger than attack.
Again and again Longstreet hurled his columns at
those rocky slopes, sometimes gaining a foothold in one
place, sometimes in another. Each time Sickles, Warren,
Humphreys, and the rest threw the aggressors back, and
the immense advantage of the curved Union position
enabled Meade to sustain weak and threatened points,
while Lee's separated flanks could not act in harmony
with each other.
Thus, at the end of the second day, the Confederate
general had tried both wings of his antagonist, and in
spite of temporary shifts of fortune, had found them both
invulnerable. There remained the Union centre, Cemetery Hill, as
yet untried. To storm that high point, which could be
readily strengthened by troops hurried from either flank,
seemed a wild adventure. Events proved that it was a
wild adventure. When the general-in-chief assigned the
task to Pickett's splendid division, which had all this
time been held in reserve, Longstreet, the corps com
mander, again protested. " There never yet were 15,000

258 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
men who could cross that plain and take that hill," he
said. But Lee believed in his troops ; believed that they
could go anywhere and do anything. He believed that
with proper support from other divisions and from artil
lery, Pickett's 15,000 men could cross that plain and
take that hill. And he ordered them to do it.
Friends assert and foes admit that it was one of the
great charges of the world. First came the prelude
from an orchestra of scores of cannon, the roar of an
artillery duel unsurpassed even in the battles of Na
poleon. Still the cannon thundered, and still Long-
street delayed to say the word for those 15,000 to march
out to death. At last, when ammunition was failing, he
gave in.
Forth rode Pickett, with his long locks and his chiv
alrous bearing. At his back were regiments with the
best blood of the South — men ready to die for what
they believed as good a cause as any man ever died for.
In front of them rose the slopes of Cemetery Hill, crowned
by walls and fences, and defended by men whose cour
age was equal to their own. On swept those splendid
lines, winning the admiration of friend and foe alike. Shell
hissed over them, shot tore through them, men fell to
right and left, ranks thinned, whole regiments wavered ;
still they pressed on, reached the foot of the hill, swarmed
up it, and for a moment mingled in furious conflict with
the defenders. Then they rolled back, the few that were

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 259
left of them, not routed, not flying, but sullenly, slowly,
back across the blood-soaked plain, among the heaps of
dead. Gettysburg was over. The third act of the drama
was finished. The Union was saved.
Yes, saved. Gettysburg, with Vicksburg, completed
the climax. The fourth act dragged on through the vicis
situdes of Chickamauga and Chattanooga in the West.
The repulses of the Wilderness and Cold Harbor gave
the Confederacy momentary hope. But the slow, strang
ling grip of Sherman's host in Georgia at last prepared
the way for the fifth and final act, which terminated in
the long agony of Petersburg and Appomattox.
Yes, the Union was saved. And to-day the North has
no more reason to rejoice at it than the South has.
Think what secession and separation would have meant :
two nations forever facing each other in arms across the
Potomac! A standing army of half a million men on
each side would have been needed, in instant readiness
for war likely to come at any moment over disputes
about territory, disputes about emigration, disputes about
commerce ; especially disputes about slavery, if, as is
probable, the Confederacy had continued to be a great
slave empire.
Think what it means for the development of this great
continent ! Instead of two, or perhaps half a dozen, rival
nations straining every effort to outdo one another in
military equipment, jealous of one another's glory and
prosperity, we are one great nation of brothers, all

260 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
profiting by one another's progress, all alike proud of
one civilization, one Constitution, and one flag.
Think what it means for more than this one conti
nent ! Nearly one hundred and fifty years ago our fathers
began a great new experiment in democracy — the gov
ernment of the people, by the people, and for the peo
ple. What if, after less than a century of trial, the ex
periment had failed, and the great, growing, triumphant
republic had fallen to pieces, shattered by its own weight,
giving evidence to its enemies that the people could not
harmonize their discords ; that they could not govern
and control themselves. For this the old aristocracies of
Europe had waited ; this they had gloated over in antici
pation. Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville filled
the French and English conservatives with ecstasy.
Gettysburg taught them that the United States were not
yet dead, Appomattox that they were still united, and
that democracy was still the hope of the world.
As South and North grow nearer and nearer together,
the anniversaries of these events must be more and more
cherished. All animosity will pass out of them. Meade
and Lee, Hancock and Longstreet, Reynolds and Pick
ett, even more, the common soldiers, North and South
both, were all Americans, all ours, ours to praise, ours to
be proud of, ours to learn from. The inheritance of their
courage, their sacrifice, their loyalty to high ideals is one
of which no country can ever have too much. And if the
tradition of these great souls brings with it glory, it

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 261
brings duty with it also. We are not called upon to go
out and fight in arms as they did, but there is plenty of
fighting left. The danger to a republic from open war is
great. The danger from self-indulgence, from pampered
living, from the spirit of letting others do things, is even
greater. I am ready to believe that at a sudden call of
duty our automobiling, dancing, money-getting youth
would respond as did those of '61, drop their play, and
go out to attack or defend a Cemetery Hill. But I wish
we could make them remember that even in common,
humdrum, daily life every man has his Gettysburg sooner
or later. Let him fight it and win it, so that his little re
public — for of such is made the great Republic — shall
be forever triumphant and free.

THE END

NOTES

TITLES OF BOOKS MOST FREQUENTLY CITED,
SHOWING ABBREVIATIONS USED

Battles and Leaders of the Civil War.
Butler, Pierce, Jtidah P. Benjamin.
Chesnut, Mary Boykin, A Diary from Dixie.
Cleveland, Henry, Alexander H. Stephens.
The Cruise of the Alabama and Sumter. From
the private journals and other papers of
Commander Raphael Semmes, C.S.N., and
other officers.
The Congressional Globe.
Cooke, John Esten, The Wearing of the Gray.
Davis, Jefferson, The Rise and Fall of the Con
federate Government.
Davis, Varina Howell, Jefferson Davis.
Fremantle, A. J., Three Months in the Southern
States.
Hughes, Robert M., General Johnston.
Johnson, Bradley T., A Memoir of the Life
and Public Services of Joseph E. Johnston.
Johnston, Joseph E., A Narrative of Military
Operations.
Johnston, R. M., and Browne, W. H., Life of
Alexander H. Stephens.
Jones, J. B., A Rebel War Clerk's Diary.
Kell, John McIntosh, Recollections of a Naval
Life.
Kohler, Max J., Judah P. Benjamin: States
man and Jurist, in Publications of the Ameri
can Jewish Society, no. 12.
Longstreet, Helen D., Lee and Longstreet at
High Tide.
Longstreet, James, From Manassas to Appo
mattox.
McClellan, H. B., Life and Campaigns of
Major General J. E. B. Stuart.
Maury, Dabney H., Recollections of a Vir
ginian in the Mexican, Indian, and Civil
Wars.

B. and L.
Butler. Mrs. Chesnut.
Cleveland.

Alabama and Sumter.
Globe.Cooke, Wearing.
Davis, Rise and Fall.
Mrs. Davis.
Fremantle.Hughes.Johnson.Johnston, Narrative.
Johnston and Browne.
Jones, Diary.
Kell.
Kohler. Mrs. Longstreet.
Longstreet, M. to A.
McClellan. Maury.

266

NOTES

Official Records of the Union and Confederate
Armies (volumes referred to by serial num
bers, Arabic).
Official Records of the Union and Confederate
Navies.
Phillips, Ulrich B., The Life of Robert
Toombs.
Pollard, Edward A., The Early Life, Cam
paigns, and Public Services of Robert E. Lee,
with a Record of the Campaigns and Heroic
Deeds of his Companions in Arms.
Pollard, Edward A., The Life of Jefferson
Davis.
Pollard, Edward A., The Lost Cause.
Reed, John C, The Brothers' War.
Rhodes, James Ford, A History of the United
States from the Compromise of 1850.
Richardson, J. D., Messages and Papers of the
Confederacy.
Roman, Alfred, The Military Operations of
General Beauregard.
Semmes, Raphael, Service Afloat and Ashore
during the Mexican War.
Semmes, Raphael, Memoirs of Service Afloat
during the War between the States.
Sinclair, Arthur, Two Years on the Alabama.
Southern Historical Society Papers.
Stephens, Alexander H., Recollections of.
Stephens, Alexander H., A Constitutional
View of the Late War between the States.
Stovall, Pleasant A., Robert Toombs.
Toombs, Robert; Stephens, Alexander H.;
and Cobb, Howell, The Correspondence of,
edited by Ulrich B. Phillips, in Annual
Report of American Historical Association,
for the year 1911.
Wise, John S., The End of an Era.

O.R.
0. R. N.
Phillips.
Pollard, Lee.
Pollard, Davis.
Pollard, L. C.
Reed.
Rhodes, U.S.
Richardson. Roman.Mexican War.
Service Afloat.
Sinclair.
5. H. S. P.
Stephens, Diary.
Stephens, War between
the States.
Stovall.

Toombs Correspondence.
Wise.

NOTES
CHAPTER I
i. J. D. Cox, Military Reminiscences of the Civil War, vol. n, p. 190.
2. E. P. Alexander, Military Memoirs of a Confederate, p. 577
3. M. to A., p. 432.
4. L. C, p. 439.
5. Quoted in Hughes, p. 293.
6. Johnson, p. 304.
7. J. R. Young, Around the World with General Grant, vol. 1, p. 212.
8. The Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 264.
9. J. C. Ropes, The Story of the Civil War, vol. 11, p. 158.
10. Maury, p. 176.
II. Fremantle, p. 124.
12. Hughes, p. 32.
13. J. W. Jones, Life and Letters of General Robert E. Lee, p. 41.
14. Hughes, p. 195.
15. 0. R., vol. 14, p. 464.
16. Johnson, p. 99.
17. 0. R., vol. 99, p. 1247.
18. Johnson, p. 266.
19. Mrs. Chesnut, p. 249.
20. Mrs. D. Giraud Wright, A Southern Girl in '61, p. 155.
21. Johnson, p. 567.
22. 0. R., vol. 36, p. 199.
23. O. R., vol. 76, p. 882.
24. O. R., vol. 5, p. 987.
25. O. R., vol. 14, p. 508.
26. 0. R., vol. 36, p. 216.
27. O. R., vol. 36, p. 207.
28. 0. R., vol. 38, p. 1070.
29. Hughes, p. 86.
30. W. T. Sherman, Memoirs, vol. II, p. 141.
31. In Pollard, Davis, p. 376.
32. Fremantle, p. 125.
33. O. R., vol. 14, p. 551.
34. 0. R., vol. 5, p. 1065.
35. Hughes, p. 85.

268 NOTES
36. 0. R., vol. 14, p. 499.
37. 0. R., vol. 5, p. 107s.
38. 0. R., vol. 35, p. 726.
39- 0. R., vol. 53, p. 742.
40. 0. R., vol. 56, p. 801.
41. Communicated by Captain F. M. Colston, to whom it was related by
General S. D. Lee.
42. Hughes, p. 155.
43- 0. R., vol. 56, p. 857.
44. 0. R., vol. 5, p. 1062.
45. 0. R., vol. 58, p. 603.
46. 0. R., vol. 58, p. 604.
47. 0. R., vol. 59, p. 618.
48. O. R., vol. 35, p. 781.
49. Harvie to Davis, O. R., vol. 53, p. 490.
50. Mrs. D. Giraud Wright, A Southern Girl in '61, p. I85.
51. No Name Magazine, September, 1890, p. 226.
52. EvansviUe Courier, April 12, 1891.
53. R. and F., vol. I, p. 355.
54. 0. R., vol. 99, p. 1308.
55. B. and L., vol. iv, p. 273.
56. Military Historical Society of Massachusetts, Publications, vol. I, p.
122.
57. B. and L., vol. 11, 209.
58. B. and L., vol. 11, p. 203.
59. B. and L., vol. 11, p. 205.
60. Narrative, p. 54.
61. Narrative, p. 229.
62. Narrative, p. 269.
63. Conversation with Colonel Allan, in Marshall Papers (MS.).
64. U.S., vol. 11, p. 460.
65. Johnson, p. 327.
66. Johnson, p. 329.
67. Johnson, p. 308.
68. 0. R., vol. 5, p. 105.
69. Hughes, p. 84.
70. R. Stiles, Four Years under Marse Robert, p. 90.
71. J. D. Cox, Military Reminiscences of the Civil War, vol. 11, p. 53.
72. Fremantle, p. 117.
73. Hughes, p. 306.
74. The History of the Rebellion (American ed., 1827), vol. m, p. 1327.
75. 0. R., vol. 5, p. 1059.
76. 0. R., vol. 35, p. 624.

NOTES 269
77- 0. R., vol. 5, p. 777.
78. John Esten Cooke, Life of General Robert E. Lee, p. 66.
79. 0. R., vol. 12, p. 275.
80. 0. R., vol. 35, p. 624.
81. R. Stiles, Four Years under Marse Robert, p. 90.
82. Mrs. D. Giraud Wright, A Southern Girl in '61, p. 240.
83. Four Years under Marse Robert, p. 90.
84. Hughes, p. 29.
85. 0. R., vol. 58, p. 543.
86. O. R., vol. 38, p. 948.
87. M. to A., p. 100.
88. 0. R., vol. 56, p. 878.
89. D. H. Maury, in 5. H. S. P., vol. xvm, p. 179.
90. 0. R., vol. 76, p. 891.
91. Mrs. Chesnut, p. 350.
92. Mrs. Pickett, in Lippincott's Magazine, vol. lxxix, p. 55.
CHAPTER II
1. In S. H. S. P., vol. 1, p. 100.
2. McClellan, p. 8.
3. R. E. Frayser, in 5. H. S. P., vol. XXVI, p. 89.
4. McClellan, p. 29.
5. McClellan, p. 32.
6. Cooke, Wearing, p. 39.
7. H. von Borcke, Memoirs of the Confederate War for Independence, vol.
11, p. 60.
8. John Esten Cooke, Mohun, p. 158.
9. McClellan, p. 390.
10. J. Scheibert, Der Biirgerkrieg in den nordamerikanischen Staaten, p. 67.
11. 0. R., vol. 12, p. 1038.
12. 0. R., vol. 28, p. 55.
13. Cooke, Wearing, p. 27.
14. 0. R., vol. 16, p. 732.
15. McClellan, p. 409.
16. 0. R., vol. 16, p. 742.
17. 0. R., vol. 108, p. 860.
18. In letter to the author.
19. 0. R., vol. 16, p. 726.
20. 0. R., vol. 40, p. 789.
21. McClellan, p. 321.
22. O. R., vol. 16, p. 731.
23. 0. R., vol. 12, p. 1036.

270 NOTES
24. 0. R., vol. 28, p. 54.
25. Fremantle, p. 293.
26. J. Scheibert, Der Bilrgerkrieg in den nordamerikanischen Staaten, p. 59.
27. 0. R., vol. 13, p. 514.
28. In Fitzhugh Lee, General Lee, p. 337.
29. 0. R., vol. 5, p. 177.
30. Longstreet, M. to A., p. 573.
31. J. Scheibert to J. W. Jones, in 5. H. S. P., vol. IX, p. 571.
32. John S. Mosby, Stuart's Cavalry in the Gettysburg Campaign, p. xix.
33. Letter to McClellan, in McClellan, p. 256.
34. 0. R., vol. 5, p. 1063.
35. Cooke, Wearing, p. 31.
36. 0. R., vol. 40, p. 821.
37. 0. R., vol. 13, p. 518.
38. John S. Mosby, War Reminiscences and Stuart's Cavalry Campaigns,
p. 220.
39. John S. Mosby, War Reminiscences, p. 229.
40. Fitzhugh Lee, in 5. H. S. P., vol. I, p. 102.
41. John S. Mosby, War Reminiscences, p. 228.
42. Cooke, Wearing, p. 18.
43. War Reminiscences, p. 231.
44. Cooke, Wearing, p. 23.
45. John Esten Cooke, Stonewall Jackson, p. 51.
46. 0. R., vol. 28, p. 54.
47. 0. R., vol. 108, p. 594.
48. 5. H. S. P., vol. xi, p. 510.
49. In 5. H. S. P., vol. 1, p. 101.
50. Wearing, p. 19.
51. Cooke, Wearing, p. 23.
52. H. von Borcke, Memoirs of the Confederate War for Independence, vol.
1, p. 309.
53. John Esten Cooke, Stonewall Jackson, p. 375.
54. J. W. Jones, Life and Letters of General Robert E. Lee, p. 391.
55. 0. R., vol. 12, p. 1040.
56. O. R., vol. 12, p. 1037.
57. 0. R., vol. 48, p. 102.
58. John Esten Cooke, Stonewall Jackson, p. 399.
59. H. B. McClellan, in 5. H. S. P., vol. vm, p. 191.
60. Cooke, Wearing, p. 25.
61. Cooke, Wearing, p. 25.
62. H. von Borcke, Memoirs, vol. I, p. 195.
63. Cooke, Wearing, p. 200.
64. H. W. Manson, in The Confederate Veteran, vol. n, p. 12.

NOTES 271
65. H. von Borcke, Memoirs, vol. n, p. 16.
66. Cooke, Wearing, p. 26.
67. John Esten Cooke, Mohun, p. 26.
68. H. von Borcke, Memoirs, vol. 11, p. 49.
69. Cooke, Wearing, p. 29.
70. John Esten Cooke, Mohun, p. 26.
71. 0. R., vol. 16, p. 737.
72. 0. R., vol. 28, p. 54.
73. 0 R., vol. 44, p. 690.
74. 0. R., vol. 40, p. 836.
75. 0. R., vol. 40, p. 792.
76. 0. R., vol. 16, p. 741.
77. 0. R., vol. 16, p. 742.
78. General T. F. Rodenbough, in Photographic History of the Civil War,

vol. iv, p. 69.

CHAPTER III

1. O. R., vol. 26, p. 903.
2. Fremantle, p. 242.
3. Pollard, Lee, p. 420.
4. Fremantle, p. 273.
5. Fremantle, p. 267.
6. Pollard, Lee, p. 419.
7. Fremantle, p. 273.
8. 0. R., vol. 2, p. 544.
9. Fremantle, p. 261.
10. 0. R., vol. 26, p. 926.
11. 0. R., vol. 89, p. 1 140.
12. M. to A., p. 30.
13. B. and L., vol. 11, p. 524.
14. 0. R., vol. no, p. 549.
15. O. R., vol. no, p. 550.
16. S. H. S. P., vol. v, p. 71 (in article reprinted from the Philadelphia
Times).
17. 0. R., vol. 49, p. 713.
18. Fremantle, p. 246.
19. Quoted by Mrs. Longstreet, p. 83.
20. B. and L., vol. 11, p. 390.
21. B. and L., vol. 11, p. 663.
22. B. and L., vol. 11, p. 663.
23. B. and L., vol. 11, p. 665.
24. B. and L., vol. in, p. 246.

272 NOTES
25. 5. H. S. P., vol. v, p. 60 (in article reprinted from Philadelphia Times)
26. 5. H. S. P., vol. v, p. 68 (in article reprinted from Philadelphia Times).
27. To Lee, 0. R., vol. 49, p. 699.
28. Mackall to Johnston, 0. R., vol. 53, p. 742.
29. 0. R., vol. no, p. 560.
30. Ibid.
31. M. to A., p. 66.
32. M. to A., p. 546.
33- M.toA., p. 547.
34. 0. R., vol. 54, p. 502.
35- O. R., vol. 54, p. 498.
36. O. R., vol. 56, p. 756.
37. O. R., vol. 56, p. 757.
38. 0. R., vol. 54, p. 468.
39. 0. R., vol. 54, p. 500.
40. Jones, Diary, vol. 11, p. 215.
41. M. to A., p. 507.
42. O. R., vol. 89, p. 1268.
43. 0. R., vol. 96, p. 1258.
44. 0. R., vol. 96, p. 1289.
45. Mrs. Longstreet, p. 1 15.
46. Mrs. Longstreet, p. 65.
47. Mrs. Longstreet, p. 83.
48. Mrs. Longstreet, p. 62.
49. Mrs. Longstreet, p. 84.
50. M. to A., p. 384.
51. G. M. Sorrel, Recollections of a Confederate Staff Officer, p. 88.
52. 5. H. S. P., vol. iv, p. 64.
53. M. to A., p. 375.
54. S. H. S. P., vol. xiv, p. 118.
55. B. and L., vol. 11, p. 674.
56. M. to A., p. 65.
57. Mrs. Longstreet, p. 125.
58. B. and L., vol. 11, p. 405.
59. O. R., vol. 12, p. 566.
60. B. and L., vol. m, p. 350.
61. 0. R., vol. 108, p. 1056.
62. 0. R., vol. 108, p. 663.
63. Mrs. Longstreet, p. 118.
64. Ibid.
65. Mrs. Longstreet, p. 117.
66. Mrs. Longstreet, p. 116.
67. Lieutenant Owen, in B. and L., vol. m, p. 97.

NOTES 273
68. 0. R., vol. no, p. 582.
69. Mrs. Longstreet, p. 224.
70. Fremantle, p. 278.
71. R. Stiles, Four Years under Marse Robert, p. 247.
72. M. to A.,p. 566.
73. M. to A., p. 638.
CHAPTER IV
1. Samuel Phillips Day, Down South; or an Englishman's Experience at
the Seat of the American War, vol. I, p. 311.
2. Wise, p. 330.
3. Cooke, Wearing, p. 93.
4. 0. R., vol. 19, p. 772.
5. Mrs. Chesnut, p. 63.
6. 0. R., vol. 10, p. 397.
7. 0. R., vol. 2, p. 907.
8. O. R., vol. 2, p. 492.
9. O. R., vol. 19, p. 955.
10. 0. R., vol. 108, p. 689.
11. Roman, vol. 1, p. 347.
12. Major Giles P. Cooke.
13. O. R., vol. 19, p. 918.
14. Cooke, Wearing, p. 86.
15. Mrs. Chesnut, p. 99.
16. 0. R., vol. 5, p. 920.
17. O. R., vol. 5, p. 945.
18. B. and L., vol. I, p. 223.
19. B. and L., vol. I, p. 220.
20. Roman, vol. I, p. 88.
21. 0. R., vol. 25, p. 440.
22. B. and L., vol. I, p. 277.
23. Pollard, Lee, p. 255.
24. 0. R., vol. 19, p. 911.
25. 0. R., vol. 19, p. 825.
26. 0. R., vol. 19, p. 918.
27. Morris Schaff, The Spirit of Old West Point, p. 196.
28. O. R., vol. 19, p. 910.
29. William P. Johnston, Life of General Albert Sidney Johnston, p. 549.
30. Roman, vol. I, p. 414.
31. Roman, vol. 11, p. 2.
32. Roman, vol. I, p. 4.
^3. Roman, vol. I, p. 5.

274 NOTES
34. 0. R., vol. 11, p. 405.
35. 0. R., vol. 19, p. 773.
36. Cooke, Wearing, p. 92.
37. 0. R., vol. 99, p. 1031.
38. Cooke, Wearing, p. 91.
39. O. R., vol. 10, p. 353.
40. O. R., vol. 19, p. 603.
41. 0. R., vol. 2, p. 514.
42. Pollard, Lee, p. 268.
43. Fremantle, p. 33.
44. 0. R., vol. 19, p. 895.
45. G. T. Beauregard, Commentary on the Campaign and Battle of Manas
sas, p. 150.
46. 0. R., vol. 19, p. 955.
47. 0. R., vol. no, p. 804.
48. G. T. Beauregard, Commentary on the Campaign and Battle of Manas
sas, p. 37.
49. E. Grasset, La Guerre de la Secession, vol. II, p. 199.
50. O. R., vol. 2, p. 511.
51. 0. R., vol 2, p. 508. In Rise and Fall Davis printed "dwelling," which
is certainly more civil than "driveling."
52. B. and L., vol. 1, p. 223.
CHAPTER V
1. Kohler, p. 71.
2. Butler, p. 8.
3. Butler, p. 424.
4. U.S., vol. v, p. 63.
5. Wise, p. 401.
6. W. E. Dodd, Jefferson Davis, p. 343.
7. Kohler, p. 79.
8. London Times, May 9, 1884.
9. Wise, p. 176.
10. Globe, 1857-58, pt. 1, p. 1070.
11. Globe, 1857-58, pt. 1, p. 1071.
12. Globe, 35th Congress, ist Sess., vol. I, p. 87.
13. Globe, 35th Congress, ist Sess., vol. 1, p. 157.
14. Globe, 35th Congress, 1st Sess., vol. 1, p. 700.
15. A Generation of Judges, by their Reporter, p. 202.
16. A Generation of Judges, p. 199.
17. E. H. Coleridge, Life and Correspondence of John Duke, Lord Coleridge,
vol. 11, p. 327.

NOTES 275
18. London Times, quoted in Butler, p. 439.
19. Journals of the Confederate Congress, March 5, 1862.
20. Works (ed. Ford), vol. IX, p. 362.
21. To Mason, in Richardson, vol. 11, p. 616.
22. T. C. De Leon, Four Years in Rebel Capitals, p. 276.
23. William H. Russell, in North American Review, vol. 166, p. 373 ,
quoted in Kohler.
24. 0. R., vol. 5, p. 883.
25. O. R., vol. 4, p. 453.
26. In Butler, p. 426.
27. Butler, p. 332.
28. Diary, August 10, 1861.
29. Diary, April 18, 1862.
30. S. H. S. P., vol. vi, p. 186.
31. 0. R., vol. 8, p. 699.
32. Mrs. Davis, in Butler, p. 245.
33. 5. H. S. P., vol. xix, p. 384.
34. The Letters of Charles Lamb (Ainger, 1896), vol. 1, p. 258.
35. E. L. Pierce, Memoirs and Letters of Charles Sumner, vol. ill, p. 391.
36. William H. Russell, My Diary, North and South, p. 175.
37. Butler, p. 174.
38. The Green Bag, vol. x, p. 396.
39. Davis, p. 151.
40. Jones, Diary, May 22, 1861.
41. Butler, p. 61.
42. 0. R., vol. no, p. 198.
43. O. R., vol. 4, p. 474-
44. Kohler, p. 52.
45. Kohler, p. 82.
46. Butler, p. 405.
47. Globe, 1857-58, pt. 11, p. 2782.
48. Globe, 1857-58, pt. 11, p. 2823.
49. London Times, July 2, 1883.
50. William H. Russell, My Diary, North and South, p. 175.
51. Butler, p. 64.
52. Fremantle, p. 213.
53. Butler, p. 335.
54. S. H. S. P., vol. Xix, p. 384.
55. 0. R., vol. 5, p. 955-
56. Butler, p. 228.
57. 0. R., vol. 7, p. 785.
58. S. H. S. P., vol. xxxii, p. 170.
59. Moore's Rebellion Record, vol. xi, p. 82.

276 NOTES
60. Richardson, vol. 11, p. 619.
61. Virginia Mason, The Public Life and Diplomatic Correspondence of
James Murray Mason, p. 542.
62. Virginia Mason, Life of Mason, p. 404.
63. Rise and Fall, vol. 1, p. 242.

CHAPTER VI
1. Johnston and Browne, p. 294.
2. Johnston and Browne, p. 81.
3. Diary, p. 107.
4. Johnston and Browne, p. 77.
5. Richard Taylor, Destruction and Reconstruction, p. 30.
6. Cleveland, p. 6.
7. Diary, p. 550.
8. Johnston and Browne, p. 83.
9. Diary, p. 146.
10. Johnston and Browne, p. 82.
II. Johnston and Browne, p. 342.
12. Johnston and Browne, p. 73.
13. Johnston and Browne, p. 262.
14. Johnston and Browne, p. 263.
15. Johnston and Browne, p. 451.
16. Ibid.
ly. Johnston and Browne, p. 439.
18. Diary, p. 472.
19. Johnston and Browne, p. 288.
20. Diary, p. 43.
21. Diary, p. 326.
22. Dobbin to Cobb, January 15, 1848, Toombs Correspondence.
23. Diary, p. 10.
24. Diary, p. 253.
25. Johnston and Browne, p. 90.
26. Diary, p. 139.
27. Diary, p. 58.
28. Johnston and Browne, p. 40.
29. Diary, p. 474.
30. Johnston and Browne, p. 438.
31. Diary, p. 473.
32. Cleveland, p. 795.
33. Diary, p. 96.
34. Diary, p. 42.

NOTES 277
35. War Between the States, vol. 11, p. 625.
36. To J. Henley Smith, October 13, i860, Toombs Correspondence.
37. Phillips, p. 228.
38. War Between the States, vol. 11, p. 625.
39. Johnston and Browne, p. 448.
40. To Thomas W. Thomas, December 12, 1856, Toombs Correspondence.
41. To Crittenden, February 6, 1849, Toombs Correspondence.
42. Cleveland, p. 452.
43. Diary, p. 380.
44. Diary, p. 14.
45. Diary, p. 383.
46. Diary, p. 385.
47. Diary, p. 311.
48. Johnston and Browne, p. 298.
49. Diary, p. 61.
50. Diary, p. 48.
51. To editor of Augusta Chronicle and Sentinel, January 28, 1852,
Toombs Correspondence.
52. Johnston and Browne, p. 239.
53. To J. Henley Smith, February 24, i860, Toombs Correspondence.
54. Richard Taylor, Destruction and Reconstruction, p. 29.
55. Johnston and Browne, p. 104.

CHAPTER VII
1. Richardson, vol. 11, p. 152.
2. Mrs. Davis, vol. I, p. 410.
3. Stephens, Diary, p. 427.
4. Reed, p. 237.
5. Stovall, p. 28.
6. C. J. Woodbury, in Overland Monthly, Series 2, vol. 7, p. 125.
7. To Stephens, December 15, 1865, Toombs Correspondence.
8. Stovall, p. 104.
9. Stovall, p. 57-
10. Stovall, p. 53.
11. Globe, April 25, 1856.
12. Stovall, p. 198.
13. Stovall, p. 188.
14. Stovall, p. 192.
15. Stovall, p. 90.
16. Stovall, p. 191.
17. Globe, April 25, 1856.

278 NOTES
18. Globe, April 27, 1858.
19. Stovall, p. 71.
20. Stovall, p. 72.
21. Globe, May 27, 1856.
22. Ibid.
23. Richard Taylor, Destruction and Reconstruction, p. 215.
24. Stovall, p. 19.
25. Stovall, p. 321.
26. Mrs. Chesnut, February 19, 1861.
27. Communicated by Mrs. F. M. Colston, from personal recollection.
28. James D. Waddell, Linton Stephens, p. 387.
29. Mrs. Davis, vol. 1, p. 411.
30. Stovall, p. 330.
31. Stephens, Diary, p. 426.
32. To Stephens, May 17, 1862, Toombs Correspondence.
33. Stovall, p. 357.
34. Reed, p. 280.
35. Johnston and Browne, p. 218.
36. To Thomas W. Thomas, May 1, 1848, Toombs Correspondence.
37. Gabriel Toombs to Stephens, July 3, 1861, Toombs Correspondence.
38. Stovall, p. 372.
39. Stovall, p. 312.
40. Stovall, p. 355.
41. Stovall, p. 185.
42. Toombs Correspondence.
43. Diary, p. 427.
44. Diary, p. 426.
45. U.S., vol. 11, p. 91.
46. Stovall, p. 18.
47. Stovall, p. 19.
48. Reed, p. 281.
49. To Rhett, Collins, and others, May 10, i860, Toombs Correspondence.
50. U.S., vol. 11, p. 89.
51. U.S., vol. 11, p. 353.
52. To Crittenden, January 3, 1849, Toombs Correspondence.
53. Diary, p. 55.
54. William P. Trent, Southern Statesmen of the Old Regime, p. 235.
55. Savannah Republican, quoted in Rhodes, U.S., vol. in, p. 213.
56. Charleston Mercury, quoted in Rhodes, U.S., vol. in, p. 214.
57. Stovall, p. 226.
58. To Crittenden, February 9, 1849, Toombs Correspondence.
59. Stovall, p. 242.
60. C. J. Woodbury, in Overland Monthly, Series 2, vol. vti, p. 125.

NOTES 279
61. Jones, Diary, May 22, 1861.
62. Mrs. Chesnut, p. 108.
63. Stovall, p. 242.
64. To G. Hill and others, June 11, 1862, Toombs Correspondence.
65. Quoted by C. J. Woodbury, in Overland Monthly, Series 2, vol. vii, p.
126.
66. Stovall, p. 264.
67. Stovall, p. 269.
68. Stovall, p. 243.
69. To Stephens, September, 1861 (day uncertain), Toombs Correspond
ence.
70. To Stephens, September 22, 1861, Toombs Correspondence.
71. To Stephens, July 14, 1862, Toombs Correspondence.
72. Stovall, p. 262.
73. M. to A., p. 161.
74. Toombs to Stephens, August 22, 1862, Toombs Correspondence.
75. Stovall, p. 254.
76. B. and L., vol. 11, p. 525.
77. Mrs. Chesnut, p. 171.
78. Stovall, p. 302.
79. Stovall, p. 325.
80. Stovall, p. 320.
81. To Stephens, November 19, 1870, Toombs Correspondence.
82. Stovall, p. 342.
83. Stovall, p. 349.
84. Stovall, p. 374.
85. Stovall, p. 375.
86. Stovall, p. 314.
87. 5. H. S. P., vol. XIV, p. 303.

CHAPTER VIII
1. Kell, p. 149.
2. J. Russell Soley, The Blockade and the Cruisers, p. 229.
3. Atlantic Monthly, vol. xxx, p. 95.
4. Semmes, Mexican War, p. 80.
5. Semmes, Mexican War, p. 82.
6. 0. R. N, vol. 1, p. 88.
7. W. H. Rideing, Many Celebrities and a Few Others, p. 2.
8. Sinclair, p. 275.
9. Johnston and Browne, p. 433.
10. Sinclair, p. 55.

280 NOTES
n. 0. R. N., vol. I, p. 811.
12. Executive Documents, Forty-first Congress, Alabama Claims, vol. in,
p. 200.
13. Atlantic Monthly, vol. xxx, p. 150.
14. O.R. N., vol. 1, p. 758.
15. Sinclair, p. 40. Executive Documents, Forty-first Congress, Alabama
Claims, vol. m, p. 212; vol. IV, p. 184, et seq.
16. 0. R. N., p. 816.
17. Sinclair, p. 167.
18. Executive Documents, Forty-first Congress, Alabama Claims, vol. in,
P-75-
19. O. R. N., vol. 11, p. 562.
20. Service Afloat, p. 343.
21. Kell, p. 249.
22. Service Afloat, p. 497.
23. O. R. N., vol. 11, p. 741.
24. 0. R. N., vol. 11, p. 745.
25. O. R. N., vol. 11, p. 739.
26. O. R. N., vol. 1, p. 719.
27. 0. R. N., vol. 1, p. 719.
28. O. R. N., vol. 11, p. 737.
29. 0. R. N., vol. 11, p. 768.
30. 0. R. N., vol. 1, p. 715.
31. O.R.N., vol. 11, p. 757.
32. 0. R. N., vol. 11, p. 768.
33. January 26, 1861, Toombs Correspondence.
34. 0. R. N., vol. 11, p. 775.
35. 0. R. N., vol. 11, p. 764.
36. Service Afloat, p. 301.
37. Kell, p. 276.
38. Service Afloat, p. 760.
39. 0. R. N., vol. 11, p. 728.
40. Service Afloat, p. 212.
41. Southern Magazine, November, 1877, quoted in Kell, p. 279.

INDEX

INDEX

Adams, John Quiney, diary of, 124;
wrote verses to A. H. Stephens,
164.
Alabama, the, 221, 222, 223; built by
stealth, 224; her crew largely ruf
fians, 224; her career, 224; her
usefulness, 225; not a fighting
ship, 225, 226; testimony of pris
oners, 233, 234.
Alexander, General E. P., his judg
ment of Johnston, 4; of Stuart, 44.
Alfriend, F. N., on Benjamin, 138,
144, H5-
Allan, Colonel William, cited, 85.
Anderson, Colonel Archer, his por
trayal of Johnston, 24.
Antietam, Toombs's magnificent
defense of the bridge at, 209.
Badeau, General Adam, his Life of
Grant, 99.
Baker, E. D., demolishes Benjamin
in debate on secession, 147.
Bartlett, General Joseph J., 53.
Battine, Captain Cecil, his estimate
of Stuart, 44.
Bayard, Thomas F., on Benjamin,
139-
Beauregard, General P. G. T., 19,
118; chronology, 94; born in
French Louisiana, 95 ; his appear
ance and some of his characteris
tics, 95, 96; contrasted with Na
poleon, 95, 96; had French talents
of speech, 97; his "beauty and
booty" proclamation, 97; his van
ity, 96, 98, 101; naive letters of,
99; adopts ingenious method of
self laudation, 99; Colonel Ro
man's biography of, 99, 100; his
own book on first battle of Bull

Run, 100,105, 113; contrasted with
Stuart, 101 ; had little sense of hu
mor, 101; Cooke's comment on
his smile, 101 ; relations with Da
vis unpleasant, 102-104; casts
slurs upon other generals, 105,
117; contention with Joseph E.
Johnston, 105; his conduct during
the actual course of the war, 106;
his superintendency at West
Point, 107; love of country, 107,
108; meeting with A. S. Johnston
at Corinth, 108; offers plans for
Bragg's use, 108; anecdotes of
childhood, 109; at Drewry's Bluff,
no, 118; as a commander, no;
letter about General Ripley, no,
m; personal relations with offi
cers and soldiers, in; worshiped
in Louisiana, in, 112; attitude of
soldiers and officers toward, 112;
his vivid imagination, 113, 114,
117-120; always ready with ad
vice and schemes, 1 14-120; strate
gic qualities, 115; a captain in
Mexico, 115; offers plan to War
Department to end the war, 116;
an indefatigable dreamer, 117-
120; exclaims against Johnston's
conservatism, 118 ; his weaknesses,
118, 119; Davis's sharp comment,
119.
Benjamin, Judah P., not admired
by Johnston, 14; a Jew, 95, 123;
chronology, 122; born a British
subject, 123; became U.S. Senator,
seceded with his state, and died a
London barrister, 123; his view of
biography, 123, 124; his reputa
tion, 124, 125; known best as au
thor of Benjamin on Sales, 125;

284

INDEX

connection with St. Albans raid
and the attempt to burn New
York, 125, 131; his oratory, 126,
127; self-educated, 127; his in
come, 127, 128; success at the
English Bar, 128; tributes to, 128,
129, 139; political aspects of his
career, 129; his offices in the Con
federate Government, 129, 130;
censured by Congress for Roa
noke Island affair, 130; advanced
by Davis, 130; contrasted with
Cavour, 132; prediction in regard
to North America, 133; his hope
of European recognition, 133; an
admirable man of business, 133,
134; knew how to handle men,
135; his devotion to President
Davis, 135, 136; contrasted with
Lee, 137; trouble with other gen
erals, 137; personal characteris
tics, 138, 139; his smile, 139, 140;
some kindly deeds of, 140; atti
tude towards life, 140, 141; had
no religion, 141; buried in Paris
with Catholic rites, 141; quick
tempered, 142; his "spat" with
Davis, 142, 143; fond of games,
144; a lover of good living, 144,
145; affectionate toward rela
tives, 145, 146; relations with his
wife, 145, 146; contrasted with
Lincoln, 146, 147; his real atti
tude towards the Confederacy,
147-149; compares Gladstone and
Disraeli, 147; Gilmore's descrip
tion of, 148; of mediocre ability,
150; contrasted with Alexander
H. Stephens, 180.
Bigelow, Major John, Jr., 45.
Blaine, J. G., on Benjamin, 128.
Bolles, Robert A., explains why
Semmes was not prosecuted, 221;
his defense of "the pirate
Semmes," 231, 232.
Bragg, General Braxton, superseded
by Johnston, 3,4; Johnston's con-
, fidence in, 28; his regard for John

ston, 29; relations with Long-
street, 75, 76.
Brooks, Preston, his assault on
Charles Sumner, 194.
Brown, John, capture of, 36.
Buckner, General S. B., letter from
Longstreet, quoted, 76.
Bull Run, Johnston in control at, 3;
the name "unrefined," 97; a bril
liant victory, 98; Beauregard's
book on, 100, 105; contention be
tween Beauregard and Johnston
about, 105, 106; two armed mobs
at, 252.
Burnside, General Ambrose E., 253.
Burton, Robert, his Anatomy of Mel
ancholy, 160.
Butler, Benjamin F., 128.
Butler, Professor Pierce, biographer
of Benjamin, 124, 128.
Byron, Lord, 160, 245.
Cavour, Count, 132, 133.
Chancellorsville, Stuart at, 45, 60.
Chesney, Colonel C. C, his estimate
of Johnston, 5.
Chesnut, Mrs. Mary B., 9; quoted
in regard to Johnston, 31; on
Beauregard's vanity, 102; ex
plains failure of Toombs as Secre
tary of State, 208 ; sums up career
of Toombs, 212, 213.
Cicero, as a pleader, 126; a con
firmed intellectualist, 173.
Clarendon, Earl of, on the Earl of
Essex, 26, 27.
Cobb, Howell, letter of Semmes to,
241.
Cocke, General Philip St. George,
219.
Coleridge, Lord, his tribute to Ben
jamin, 128.
Colston, Captain F. M., on Stuart's
scrupulousness, 59.
Cone, Judge, his affair with Alexan
der H. Stephens, 175.
Cooke, Major Giles P., Beaure
gard's aide, m.

INDEX

285

Cooke, John Esten, on Stuart at
Chancellorsville, 45; pen pictures
of Stuart, 50, 56; his account of
Beauregard's social relations, 96;
his comment on Beauregard's
smile, 101 ; describes Beauregard's
relations with officers, m.
Cooke, General Philip St. George,
219.
Cooper, General Samuel, his rank in
the Confederate army, 10.
Cox, General J. D., an admirer of
Johnston, 4, 25, 26.
Crittenden, John J., Toombs's friend
ship for, 198.
Dalgetty, Captain Dugald, 97.
D'Artagnan, 96, 1 13.
Davis, Jefferson, his hopes of John
ston's success, 3; growing un
friendliness between them, 7, 8,
10; placed Johnston fourth in
Confederate army, 10; had his
own ideas of military policy, 11;
writes sharply to Johnston, 11, 12;
characterizes letter of Johnston as
insubordinate, 14; more diplo
matic than Johnston, 17; his later
utterances more savage than
Johnston's, 19; his patriotism, 20;
contrasted with Lincoln, 22, 147;
on Stuart, 45; snubs Longstreet,
80; unpleasant relations with
Beauregard, 102, 103; writes
sharply to Beauregard, 119;
shows confidence in Benjamin,
130; a patriotic idealist in pur
pose, 135; objects to advice, 135;
"spat" with Benjamin, 143; com
plimentary to Benjamin, 150; op
posed by Stephens, 154; com
ments on, by Stephens, 163, 171;
criticism of, 207, 211.
Davis, Mrs. Jefferson, writes Life of
her husband, 81 ; writes of Benja
min, 135, 136, 142, 144, 145; her
portrait of Robert Toombs, 185,
186, 196.

Deerhound, the, English yacht that
rescued Semmes, 229, 240.
de Sevigne, Madame, her com
ment on the historical novels of
her day, 52.
Dodd, W. E., calls Benjamin
"hated Jew," 125.
Drewry's Bluff, General Whiting at,
no; Beauregard's plans not car
ried out at, 118.
Dumas, Alexandre, 96.
Early, General J. A., explains criti
cism of Longstreet, 84.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, on self-
confidence, 68.
Enobarbus, profound doctrine of, in
regard to women, 56.
Ewell, General Richard S., 14, 105,
256.
Fair Oaks, 3; Johnston struck down
by a shell at, 6, 23.
Fernando de Noronha, 237.
Floyd, General John B., 112.
Fort Loudon, Longstreet and Mc
Laws at, 78, 79.
Fort Warren, A. H. Stephens im
prisoned in, 163, 165.
Fremantle, A. J. L., 6; quoted, 13,
14, 26; his description of Stuart's
movements, 42; on Longstreet,
65. 67, 71-
Garnett, Judge Theodore S, writes
of Stuart's discipline, 41.
Gettysburg, battle of, Longstreet's
connection with, 66, 67, 73, 74, 78,
83, 256, 257; the climax of an in
evitable struggle, 249; Lee and
Meade in command at, 254; posi
tion of opposing forces, 255; the
first day, 255, 256; the second day,
256, 257; Pickett's great charge,
257-259; consequences of, 259,
260.
Gilmore, J. R., describes Benjamin,
148.

286

INDEX

Gordon, General J. B., says John
ston was not ambitious, 26; and
Longstreet, 88.
Grant, General U. S., 104, 117, 119,
120; on Johnston, 5.
Grasset, E., his characterization of
Beauregard, 118.
Hampton, General Wade, tribute of
Longstreet to, 88.
Hampton Roads Peace Commission,
130.
Hancock, General Winfield S., 256,
260.
Hardee, General William J., 76.
Harper's Ferry, Johnston's first
command at, 3; capture of John
Brown at, 35, 36; Jackson and
McLaws at, 85.
Hatteras, the, sunk by the Ala
bama, 226.
Hill, General A. P., 45; his pro
posed duel with Longstreet,
84.
Hill, General D. H., his difficulty
with Toombs, 212.
Hood, General John B., supersedes
Johnston, 4, 14, 19.
Hooker, General Joseph, 116, 253.
Hugo, Victor, 98.
Imagination, value of, to a com
mander, 117.
Jackson, Andrew, youthful inter
view of A. H. Stephens with, 179,
180.
Jackson (T. J.), Stonewall, criti
cized by Johnston, 13, 14; his es
timate of Longstreet, 44; con
trasted with Stuart, 50; Stuart's
jest at his expense, 53; his pas
sionate affection for Lee, 71; his
imagination, 117; had trouble
with Benjamin, 137; and Lee,
252-254-
James, Sir Henry, praises Benjamin,
128, 129.

Jefferson, Thomas, quoted as to
burning London, 132.
Jenkins, General Albert G., death
of, 91.
Johnson, Dr. Samuel, quoted, 22;
dialogue between him and Adam
Smith, 143.
Johnston, General Albert Sidney,
120; his rank in the Confederate
Army, 10; his meeting with Beau
regard at Corinth, 108.
Johnston, General Joseph E., chro
nology, 2 ; his distinguished serv
ice, 3 , 4 ; rank in Confederate Army,
3, 10; often wounded, 3, 6, 8, 9,
!7> 23, 36, 37; his relations with
Davis, 3, 7, 8, 10-20; superseded
by Hood, 4, 14, 19; restored,4; un
surpassed in retreat and defense,
4, 5; opinions of, expressed by
Cox, Alexander, Longstreet, Pol
lard, 4; by Chesney, Grant,
Young, Sherman, Ropes, 5; his
wife's understanding of, 6; his ill
luck, 7, 9, 10, 23; criticizes Lee,
Jackson, and other generals, 13,
14; writes an "insubordinate"
letter to Davis, 14, 15; but seeks to
be obedient and respectful, 17, 18;
an admirable writer, 20 ; his book,
20, 22, 31; loose in statement, 21;
over-sensitive, 22, 26; had many
attractive qualities, 23, 25; his
bravery, 23; afraid of kerosene
lamps, 23, 24; honest and up
right, 24, 25; candidate for Con
gress after the war, 25; cared no
thing for display, 26; his warmth
of nature, 27, 28, 29; praises
Stuart, Longstreet, Bragg, and
Lee, 27, 28; adored his wife, 29;
was loved and trusted by officers
and soldiers, 29, 30; a magnetic
leader, 30, 31; his opinion of Stu
art, 44; contention between him
and Beauregard about first battle
of Bull Run, 105.
Johnston, Mrs. Joseph E., 6, 29.

INDEX

287

Jones, Aaron, Beauregard's orderly,
no.
Jones, J. B., his estimate of Stuart,
41 ; his distrust of Benjamin, 136,
139, 140.
Kearsarge, the, destroys the Ala
bama, 226.
Kell, Lieutenant John M., devotion
of sailors to, 235.
Knoxville expedition, Longstreet in
charge of, 78, 79.
Lamb, Charles, quoted, 138; his de
scription of Coleridge, 220.
Law, General E. M., and Longstreet,
78, 79-
Lay, Bishop Henry C, 5.
Lee, General Fitzhugh, on Stuart at
West Point, 35; a favorite of Stu
art, 41; his characterization of
Stuart's voice, 47; his picture of
Stuart, 50.
Lee, General Robert E., in, 117;
wounded but once, 6; with John
ston on voyage to Mexico, 7; his
original rank in the Confederate
army, 10; criticized by Johnston,
13; on Johnston's sensitiveness,
22; Johnston's letter to Wigfall
about, 28; an officer's comment on,
31 ; his high opinion of Stuart, 42,
44, 45, 46; too lofty for vanity, 50;
his severe taste, 51; retort to Stu
art, 58; writes to Stuart after
Chancellorsville, 60; affection for
Longstreet, 70; Jackson's praise
of, 71; disregards Longstreet's ad
vice, 72-74; takes blame for fail
ure at Gettysburg, 74, 102; gen
erosity toward Longstreet, 78 ; his
personal appearance, 86; his kind
ness to Beauregard, 118; his tact,
137; his praise of Toombs, 209;
typified all that was best in the
South, 253; some characteristics
of, 253, 254.
Lee, General S. D., 16.

Leopardi, Giacomo, Alexander H.
Stephens contrasted with, 160,
162, 165.
Lincoln, Abraham, 86, 87, 104; con
trasted with Benjamin, 146, 147;
his correspondence with Alexan
der H. Stephens, 171; his eulogy
of Stephens, 178.
Longstreet, General James, on
Johnston, 4, 30; praised by John
ston, 27, 28; his estimate of Stu
art, 44; chronology, 64; of mixed
blood, 65; his appearance and
characteristics, 65, 66; a superb
fighter, 66; at Gettysburg, 66, 67,
73. 74. 78, 83, 256, 257; his reck
lessness, 67; his defects, 68, 83-
87; his stolid self-confidence, 68-
70, 81 ; his love of Lee, 71 ; his atti
tude as Lee's subordinate, 71, 72,
73. 74! objects to the campaign
into Pennsylvania, 73; sent to the
West, 74; his attitude toward
Bragg, 75; writes to Buckner
about Bragg, 76; offers advice to
Davis, 76, 77; his dealings with
subordinates in the West, 77-80;
in charge of Knoxville expedition,
78; snubbed by Davis, 76, 77, 80;
suggests "impressing" all the
gold in the country, 81; conduct
after the war, 81, 82; a practical
American, 82; attitude toward
Lee after the war, 83, 84, 86; his
cruel language towards Early,
84, 85; remarks about Jackson
and Virginia, 85; appeal at out
break of Spanish War, 86; refer
ence to Lincoln, 87; genuinely
patriotic, 87; his sympathy for
noncombatants, 87, 88; rela
tions with his men, 88-90;
becomes a Roman Catholic, 90-
92.
Longstreet, Mrs. James, writes Life
of her husband, 81, 82 ; quotes him,
86; comments on General Hamp
ton, 88.

288

INDEX

Mackall, W. W., letter to Johnston,
quoted, 15, 16; on Longstreet, 75.
MacTurk, Captain, joyous com
ment of, 13.
Maffitt, John N, saying attributed
by him to Semmes, 246.
Mahan, Admiral A. T., as a young
midshipman begged permission to
pursue Semmes, 226.
Maranham, the Federal Consul at,
244, 245.
Martinique, 237.
McClellan, General George B., 47,
H5. 252.
McClellan, Major H. B., incident of
General Stuart, 39.
McCulloch, General Ben, harsh tele
gram of Benjamin to, 137.
McLaws, General Lafayette, his crit
icism of Longstreet, at Knox
ville, 78 ; charges against, 79, 80; at
Harper's Ferry, 85.
Meade, General George G., suc
ceeds Hooker at Gettysburg, 254;
personal characteristics of, 254,
255-
Mosby, General John S., a favorite
of Stuart, 41; writes of Stuart's
gayety and power of endurance,
48.
Napoleon, 51, 95, 96, 113, 117.
Navy, the Union, played significant
part in the war, 252.
New York, attempted burning of,
125, 131.
North, the, contrast with the South
before the war, 249, 250.
"Old Beeswax," a nickname for
Semmes, 245.
Palfrey, General F. W., his opinion
of Johnston's accuracy, 21.
Patterson, General Robert, outman
oeuvred by Johnston, 3; proposed
scheme of Beauregard against, 115.
Pemberton, General John C, 14, 16.

Pepys, Samuel, diary of, 124.
Phillips, Ulrich B., characterization
of A. H. Stephens, 173.
Pickens, Governor F. W., writes to
Beauregard, 112.
Pickett, General George E., at Get
tysburg, 257, 258, 259.
Pickett, Mrs. George E., remark of
an officer to, in regard to John
ston, 31.
Plutarch, cited, 220.
Poe, Orlando M., and General Stu
art, 54.
Pollard, E. A., on Johnston, 4, 5;
describes Longstreet's appear
ance, 65; on Beauregard, 112;
notes Benjamin's smile, 139.
Pollock, Sir Frederick, praises Ben
jamin, 139.
Public opinion, power of, 191.
Rabelais, 196.
Randolph, General George W., ad
mired by Johnston, 14.
Reed, Colonel John C, an admirer
of Toombs, 186.
Reynolds, General John F., 255.
Rhodes, James Ford, contrasts
Johnston with Lee, 22; compares
Davis and Lincoln, 22; on Benja
min, 125, 131; comments on Rob
ert Toombs, 200; on Toombs's bill
in connection with Kansas strug
gle, 202, 203.
Rideing, W. H., on Semmes, 227.
Ripley, General Roswell S., Beaure
gard's accusations of, no, m.
Roanoke Island, 130.
Robbins, Lieutenant W. T., 52.
Robertson, General J. B., and Long-
street, 78, 79.
Roman, Colonel Alfred, his biogra
phy of Beauregard, 99, 100.
Ropes, John Codman, on Johnston,
5-
Russell, William H., on Benjamin,
139-
Ryan, Lieutenant George, 70.

INDEX

289

St. Albans, raid on, 125, 131.
Schaff, General Morris, tells of
Beauregard at West Point, 107.
Scheibert, J., on General Stuart,
38, 44; his account of Stuart's
planning, 43; quotes General
von Schmidt's opinion of Stuart,
44.
Scott, General Winfield, 6, 115; and
Toombs, 195.
Seddon, J. A., 22, 107; letter of Stu
art to, 40.
Sedgwick, General John, his esti
mate of Stuart, 36.
Semmes, Raphael, considered as a
pirate, 220; on the composition of
pirate crews, 222, 223; his defense
of his methods, 225; sank the Hat
teras, 226; defeated by the Kear
sarge, 226; the real Semmes, 227;
early life, 227; personal appear
ance and characteristics, 227; a
Douglas man, 228; kept log-book
of his cruises, 228; his legal lore,
229; his sincerity, 229; wrote book
on Mexican War, 229, 230; his
treatment of prisoners, 230, 231;
the prisoners' view, 231, 234; his
treatment of his crew, 232, 233;
had confidence of his sailors, 234,
235; incident told by Lieutenant
Kell, 235; much attached to his
wife and children, 235, 236; liter
ary in tastes, 236; his diary re
cords love of nature, 236, 237;
deeply religious, 238, 239; his
courage and patriotism, 240; let
ter to Howell Cobb, 241 ; defended
by Sinclair, 242; pursued with
scorn and abuse, 242, 243; reply
to Mrs. Kell, 243; his speech often
belied his real feeling, 243; quota
tion from his war diary, 244;
coarse streak shows in some of his
writing, 244, 245; "Old Bees
wax," 245, 246; his words on the
sinking of the Alabama, 246.
Seven Pines, Johnston's one aggres

sive battle, 4; Johnston wounded
at, 8.
Sherman, General W. T., on John
ston, 5, 117.
Shiloh, Beauregard at, 100, 118, 119.
Slidell, John, comment on Benja
min, 138.
Sinclair, Lieutenant Arthur, 27;
comments of, on the Alabama,
223; tells of treatment of prison
ers, 230; of discipline of crew, 233;
defends utterances of Semmes,
242.
Smith, General Kirby, his feeling
toward Johnston, 29, 30.
Soley, Professor J. Russell, defends
Confederate privateers, and cruis
ers, 221; on the defeat of the Ala
bama, 226.
South, the, conditions in, contrasted
with those in the North before the
war, 249, 250.
Speer, Judge Emory, and Long-
street, 88.
Stephens, Alexander H., chronology,
152; character and career of, in
volve contradictions, 153, 154; his
physique, 153, 155; distinctive
traits, 153, 175, 176; a logical de
fender of slavery, 153, 154, 179;
bitterly opposed secession, 154,
165, 178; imprisoned at Fort War
ren, 154, 163; extracts from his
diary, 154, 166, 168; opposed to
the conduct of the Government,
154; devotion of Negroes to, 154,
164; his health, 155; Dick Taylor's
diatribe on, 156; contrast be
tween physical lack and spiritual
strength, 156, 157; quoted in re
gard to himself , 157, 158, 159, 160,
161, 162; contrasted with Vol
taire, 158; constitutionally melan
choly, 159; sensitive as to his ap
pearance, 159, 160; his physical
and spiritual courage, 160; his re
ligious life, 161, 162, 176, 177; his
home, Liberty Hall, open to all,

290

INDEX

162; rich in social qualities, 163;
comments on Davis, 163, 206;
generally beloved, 163, 164; never
married, 165; his affection for his
native state, 165, 166; contrasted
with Toombs, 166, 167, 188, 189;
his love for his family, 167, 168;
tenderness toward animals, 168,
169; his dog Rio, 168; constant
ly helping other men, 169, 170;
his tolerance, 171; a deductive
thinker, 172; his vanity compared
with Cicero's, 173; modest, but
self-confident, 174; his affair with
Judge Cone, 175; as a lawyer, 176,
177; as a politician, 177, 178, 180;
Lincoln's eulogy of, 178; de
pended on his convictions, 178,
179; caustic remark of Richard
Taylor about, 179; youthful inter
view with President Jackson, 179,
180; attitude after the war, 180;
an idealist, 180; on Robert
Toombs, 206; on Semmes, 228.
Stephens, Linton, half-brother of A.
H. Stephens, 159; their mutual
devotion, 167, 168; quoted in re
gard to Toombs, 196.
Stevens, General Clement H., on
general feeling of army towards
Johnston, 30, 31.
Stiles, Robert, estimate of Johnston,
28, 29; his account of behavior of
officers at time of Longstreet's
wound, 90.
Stuart, General J. E. B., praised by
Johnston, 27; chronology, 34; a
fighter by nature, 35, 36, 46; dis
tinguishing characteristics, 35;
an exceptional horseman, 35, 48;
his account of the capture of John
Brown, 36; wounded but once, 37;
his naivete, 38; won love of his
men, 38; his love for and care of
his men, 39, 40; sends characteris
tic letter to Secretary Seddon, 40;
his discipline, 41 ; his self-control,
42; Lee's tribute to, 42, 44, 45;

careful in planning, 43; opinions of
other generals about him, 44; con
sidered for command of Jackson's
corps, 44, 45; at Chancellorsville,
45; his exuberant cheerfulness,
46, 47; his resourcefulness, 47, 48;
his voice like music, 47; magnifi
cent physique, 48; single handed
capture of forty-four Union sol
diers, 49; quotes Horace, 50; Fitz
hugh Lee's picture of, 50; Cooke's
picture, 50, 51; his golden spurs,
51; his flowery style, 51, 52; jests
at Jackson's expense, 53; has fun
with his adversaries, 53, 54; his
West Point nickname, 54; his taste
in music, 54, 55; fond of dancing,
55; his attitude toward women,
56-58; married at twenty-two, 58;
of high moral character, 58, 59; his
religion, 59, 60; a strict observer
of Sunday, 59, 60; died at thirty,
60; answers aspersions of General
Trimble, 61 , 62 ; hisbest epitaph , 62 ;
contrasted with Beauregard, 101.
Sully, Chancellor, 100, 147.
Sumner, Charles, on Benjamin, 139;
assault by Brooks on, 194.
Sumter, career of the, 223.
Sweeney, " Bob," Stuart's banjo-
player, 55.
Talleyrand, 124, 147.
Taney, Roger Brooke, Benjamin's
compliment to, 126.
Taylor, General Richard, on health
of Alexander H. Stephens, 156;
caustic remark by, about Ste
phens, 179.
Toombs, Gabriel, his tribute to his
brother Robert, 198.
Toombs, Robert, contrasted with A.
H. Stephens, 166, 188, 189; chro
nology, 184; a Georgian estimate
of, 185; his physique impressive,
185; Mrs. Davis's portrait of, 185,
186; a fighter, 186, 187, 194, 215;
as a speaker, 186, 187, 191, 192;

INDEX

291

as a lawyer, 187, 200; a believer in
Revolution, 188; his feeling about
Mexico, 188; hated the party sys
tem, 189; his view of war, 189; an
individualist, 189, 190, 215; indif
ferent to popularity, 190; de
plored rise of the money power,
191 ; on public opinion, 191 ; power
given by his temperament, 192;
contest over the speakership of
the House (1849), 193; defended
slavery in Tremont Temple
(1856), 193, 203; his testimony in
regard to Brooks's assault on
Sumner, 194; had sense of humor
and a shrewd wit, 195 ; his story of
the red-headed man, 195, 196; a
brilliant and fascinating talker,
196; fond of nature, 197; his treat
ment of his slaves, 197; his taste
for alcohol, 197; ready to enter
tain everybody, 197; tribute of his
brother, 198; his religious experi
ence, 198, 199, 215; affection for
his wife, 199; letters to her, 199; a
good man of business, 200; his
honesty, 200, 201; "violent in
speech, but safe in counsel," 201;
supported Clay and Webster,
202 ; his part in the Kansas strug
gle, 202, 203; opposed immediate
secession, 204; his attitude toward
the attack on Sumter, 205; men
tioned for presidency of Confeder
acy, 205, 206; lacked necessary
qualities for that office, 206, 207;
made secretary of state, 207; his
failure, 208; refused to become
secretary of war, 208; his ambi
tions, 209; his bravery, 209;
praised by Lee at Antietam, 209;
beloved by his men, 210; lacked
self-discipline, 210, 212; hated
West Point, 211; his opinion of J.
E. Johnston, 211; his feeling
toward Davis, 211; disobeys or
ders at Second Bull Run, 211,212;
has trouble with D. H. Hill, 212;

Longstreet's opinion of, 212; a
Chesterfield with ladies, 213; his
course after returning from Eu
rope, 213, 214; helps form new
constitution for Georgia, 214, 215;
an unreconstructed rebel, 215.
Trimble.General, underrated cavalry,
40; his aspersions of Stuart, 61, 62.
Truth of history, the, 106.
Vallandigham, Clement L., 116.
Van Dorn, General Earl, dispatch
from Beauregard to, 109.
Voltaire, Alexander H. Stephens
contrasted with, 158, 177.
Von Borcke, H., quoted, 37.
Von Schmidt, General, his opinion
of Stuart, 44.
Waddell, James D., his life of Linton
Stephens, 168.
War, the, between the North and
South, indispensable, 251; some
results of, 259, 260; some lessons
learned from, 260, 261.
Webster, Daniel, anecdote of, 141.
West, the great, question of its
place in struggle between North
and South, 250, 251.
West Point, Davis and Johnston
said to have been hostile at, 8;
Stuart's characteristics at, 35;
Beauregard's superintendency at,
107; hated by Toombs, 211.
Whiting, General W. H. C., no.
Whitmore, William, his pamphlet,
The Cavalier Dismounted, 196.
Wigfall, General Louis T., letter
from Johnston to, about Lee, 28.
Williamsburg, Johnston at, 3.
Winslow, Commodore John A., com
mander of the Kearsarge, 243.
Wise, John S., on Beauregard's ad
miration for women, 96; uncom
plimentary to Benjamin, 125, 130,
138.
Young, J. R., 5.

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