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diff --git a/43329-0.txt b/43329-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d8c174c --- /dev/null +++ b/43329-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19443 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43329 *** + +THE LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS + + + + +[Illustration: Jefferson Davis] + + + + + THE LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. + + + _BY FRANK H. ALFRIEND, + Late Editor of The Southern Literary Messenger._ + + + CINCINNATI AND CHICAGO: + CAXTON PUBLISHING HOUSE. + + PHILADELPHIA, RICHMOND, ATLANTA AND ST. LOUIS: + NATIONAL PUBLISHING CO. + + BALDWYN, MISS.: P. M. SAVERY & COMPANY. + + SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.: J. LAWS & CO. + + 1868. + + + + +Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by FRANK H. +ALFRIEND, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United +States, for the District of Virginia. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +In offering this volume to the public, the occasion is embraced to avow, +with unfeigned candor, a painful sense of the inadequate manner in which +the design has been executed. Emboldened rather by his own earnest +convictions, than by confidence in his capacity, the author has undertaken +to contribute to American History, an extended narration of the more +prominent incidents in the life of JEFFERSON DAVIS. Whatever may be the +decision of the reader upon the merits of the performance, the author has +the satisfaction arising from a conscientious endeavor to subserve the +ends of truth. In pursuit of the purpose to write _facts_ only, to the aid +of familiar acquaintance with many of the topics discussed, and to +information derived from the most accurate sources, has been brought +laborious investigation of numerous interesting papers, which his +avocation made accessible. It is therefore claimed that no statement is to +be found in this volume, which is not generally conceded to be true, or +which is not a conclusion amply justified by indisputable evidence. + +Nor is it to be fairly alleged that the work exhibits undue sectional +bias. As a Southern man, who, in common with his countrymen of the South, +was taught to believe the principles underlying the movement for Southern +independence, the only possible basis of Republicanism, the author has +regarded, as a worthy incentive, the desire to vindicate, as best he +might, the motives and conduct of the South and its late leader. + +Disclaiming the purpose of promoting sectional bitterness, or of a +wholesale indictment of the Northern people, he deems it needless to dwell +upon the obvious propriety of discrimination. Holding in utter abhorrence +the authors of those outrages, wanton barbarities and petty persecutions, +of which her people were the victims, the South yet feels the respect of +an honorable enemy for those distinguished soldiers, Buell, Hancock, +McClellan and others, who served efficiently the cause in which they were +employed, and still illustrated the practices of Christian warfare. To +fitly characterize the remorseless faction in antagonism to the sentiments +of these honorable men, it is only necessary to recall the malice which +assails a "lost cause" with every form of detraction, and aspires to crown +a triumph of arms with the degradation and despair of a conquered people. + +In his especial solicitude for a favorable appreciation of his efforts, by +his Southern countrymen, the author has striven to avoid affront to those +considerations of delicacy which yet affect many incidents of the late +war. He has not sought to revive, unnecessarily, questions upon which +Southern sentiment was divided, and has rarely assailed the motives or +capacity of individuals in recognized antagonism to the policy of +President Davis. Perhaps a different course would have imparted interest +to his work, and have more clearly established the vindication of its +subject. But besides being wholly repugnant to the tastes of the author, +it would have been in marked conflict with the consistent aim of Mr. +Davis' career, which was to heal, not to aggravate, the differences of the +South. + +A large part of the labor, which would otherwise have devolved upon this +enterprise, if adequately performed, had already been supplied by the +writings of Professor Bledsoe. To the profound erudition and philosophical +genius of that eminent writer, as conspicuously displayed in his work +entitled, "Is Davis a Traitor?" the South may, with confidence, intrust +its claims upon the esteem of posterity. + +The author heartily acknowledges the intelligent aid, and generous +encouragement, which he has received from his publishers. + +JANUARY, 1868. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +INTRODUCTION. (Page 13-19.) + + ATTRACTIONS OF THE LATE WAR TO POSTERITY--MR. LINCOLN'S + REMARK--DISADVANTAGES OF MR. DAVIS' SITUATION--SUCCESS NOT SYNONYMOUS + WITH MERIT--ORIGIN OF THE INJUSTICE DONE MR. DAVIS--REMARK OF + MACAULAY--REMARK OF MR. GLADSTONE--THE EFFECT THAT CONFEDERATE SUCCESS + WOULD HAVE HAD UPON THE FAME OF MR. DAVIS--POPULAR AFFECTION FOR HIM + IN THE SOUTH--HIS VINDICATION ASSURED. + +CHAPTER I. (Page 20-33.) + + BIRTH--EDUCATION--AT WEST POINT--IN THE ARMY--RETIREMENT--POLITICAL + TRAINING IN AMERICA--MR. DAVIS NOT EDUCATED FOR POLITICAL LIFE AFTER + THE AMERICAN MODEL--BEGINS HIS POLITICAL CAREER BY A SPEECH AT THE + MISSISSIPPI DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION--A GLANCE PROSPECTIVELY AT HIS + FUTURE PARTY ASSOCIATIONS--HIS CONSISTENT ATTACHMENT TO STATES' RIGHTS + PRINCIPLES--A SKETCH OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE QUESTION OF STATES' + RIGHTS--MR. CALHOUN NOT THE AUTHOR OF THAT PRINCIPLE--HIS VINDICATION + FROM THE CHARGE OF DISUNIONISM--MR. DAVIS THE SUCCESSOR OF MR. CALHOUN + AS THE STATES' RIGHTS LEADER. + +CHAPTER II. (Page 34-48.) + + RESULTS OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN 1844--MR. DAVIS ELECTED TO + CONGRESS--HIS FIRST SESSION--PROMINENT MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE--DOUGLAS, + HUNTER, SEDDON, ETC.--DAVIS' RAPID ADVANCEMENT IN REPUTATION-- + RESOLUTIONS OFFERED BY HIM--SPEECHES ON THE OREGON EXCITEMENT, AND ON + THE RESOLUTION OF THANKS TO GENERAL TAYLOR AND HIS ARMY--NATIONAL + SENTIMENTS EMBODIED IN THESE AND OTHER SPEECHES--A CONTRAST IN THE + MATTER OF PATRIOTISM--MASSACHUSETTS AND MISSISSIPPI IN THE MEXICAN + WAR--DEBATE WITH ANDREW JOHNSON--JOHN QUINCY ADAMS' ESTIMATE OF + JEFFERSON DAVIS. + +CHAPTER III. (Page 49-67.) + + THE NAME OF JEFFERSON DAVIS INSEPARABLE FROM THE HISTORY OF THE + MEXICAN WAR--HIS ESSENTIALLY MILITARY CHARACTER AND TASTES--JOINS + GENERAL TAYLOR'S ARMY ON THE RIO GRANDE, AS COLONEL OF THE FAMOUS + "MISSISSIPPI RIFLES"--MONTEREY--BUENA VISTA--GENERAL TAYLOR'S ACCOUNT + OF DAVIS' CONDUCT--DAVIS' REPORT OF THE ACTION--NOVELTY AND + ORIGINALITY OF HIS STRATEGY AT BUENA VISTA--INTERESTING STATEMENT OF + HON. CALEB CUSHING--RETURN OF DAVIS TO THE UNITED STATES--TRIUMPHANT + RECEPTION AT HOME--PRESIDENT POLK TENDERS HIM A BRIGADIER'S + COMMISSION, WHICH HE DECLINES ON PRINCIPLE. + +CHAPTER IV. (Page 68-84.) + + MR. DAVIS IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE, FIRST BY EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENT, + AND SUBSEQUENTLY BY UNANIMOUS CHOICE OF THE LEGISLATURE OF HIS + STATE--POPULAR ADMIRATION NOT LESS FOR HIS CIVIC TALENTS THAN HIS + MILITARY SERVICES--FEATURES OF HIS PUBLIC CAREER--HIS CHARACTER AND + CONDUCT AS A SENATOR--AS AN ORATOR AND PARLIAMENTARY LEADER--HIS + INTREPIDITY--AN INCIDENT WITH HENRY CLAY--DAVIS THE LEADER OF THE + STATES' RIGHTS PARTY IN CONGRESS--THE AGITATION OF 1850--DAVIS OPPOSES + THE COMPROMISE--FOLLY OF THE SOUTH IN ASSENTING TO THAT + SETTLEMENT--DAVIS NOT A DISUNIONIST IN 1850, NOR A REBEL IN 1861--HIS + CONCEPTION OF THE CHARACTER OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT--LOGICAL + ABSURDITY OF CLAY'S POSITION EXPOSED BY DAVIS--THE IDEAL UNION OF THE + LATTER--WHY HE OPPOSED THE COMPROMISE--THE NEW MEXICO BILL--DAVIS' + GROWING FAME AT THIS PERIOD--HIS FREQUENT ENCOUNTERS WITH CLAY, AND + WARM FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN THEM--SIGNAL TRIUMPH OF THE UNION SENTIMENT, + AND ACQUIESCENCE OF THE SOUTH. + +CHAPTER V. (Page 85-97.) + + OPPOSITION TO THE COMPROMISE IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND MISSISSIPPI--DAVIS + A CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR--HIS DEFEAT REALLY A PERSONAL TRIUMPH--IN + RETIREMENT, SUPPORTS GENERAL PIERCE'S ELECTION--DECLINES AN + APPOINTMENT IN PIERCE'S CABINET, BUT SUBSEQUENTLY ACCEPTS + SECRETARYSHIP OF WAR--REMARKABLE UNITY OF PIERCE'S ADMINISTRATION, AND + HIGH CHARACTER OF THE EXECUTIVE--DAVIS AS SECRETARY OF WAR-- + KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL AND THE EXCITEMENT WHICH FOLLOWED--DAVIS AGAIN + ELECTED TO THE SENATE--SPEECHES AT PASS CHRISTIAN AND OTHER POINTS + WHILE ON HIS WAY TO WASHINGTON. + +CHAPTER VI. (Page 98-191.) + + RETURN OF MR. DAVIS TO THE SENATE--OPENING EVENTS OF MR. BUCHANAN'S + ADMINISTRATION--TRUE INTERPRETATION OF THE LEGISLATION OF + 1854--SENATOR DOUGLAS THE INSTRUMENT OF DISORGANIZATION IN THE + DEMOCRATIC PARTY--HIS ANTECEDENTS AND CHARACTER--AN ACCOMPLISHED + DEMAGOGUE--DAVIS AND DOUGLAS CONTRASTED--BOTH REPRESENTATIVES OF THEIR + RESPECTIVE SECTIONS--DOUGLAS' AMBITION--HIS COUP D'ETAT, AND ITS + RESULTS--THE KANSAS QUESTION--DOUGLAS TRIUMPHS OVER THE SOUTH AND THE + UNITY OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY LOST--"SQUATTER SOVEREIGNTY"--PROPERLY + CHARACTERIZED--DAVIS' COURSE IN THE KANSAS STRUGGLE--DEBATE WITH + SENATOR FESSENDEN--PEN-AND-INK SKETCH OF MR. DAVIS AT THIS + PERIOD--TRUE SIGNIFICANCE OF POLITICAL EVENTS TO THE SOUTH--SHE + RIGHTLY INTERPRETS THEM--MR. DAVIS' COURSE SUBSEQUENT TO THE KANSAS + IMBROGLIO--HIS DEBATES WITH DOUGLAS--TWO DIFFERENT SCHOOLS OF + PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKING--DAVIS THE LEADER OF THE REGULAR DEMOCRACY IN + THE THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS--HIS RESOLUTIONS--HIS CONSISTENCY--COURSE AS + TO GENERAL LEGISLATION--VISITS THE NORTH--SPEAKS IN PORTLAND, BOSTON, + NEW YORK, AND OTHER PLACES--REPLY To AN INVITATION TO ATTEND THE + WEBSTER BIRTH-DAY FESTIVAL--MR. SEWARD'S ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE + "IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT"--MR. DAVIS BEFORE MISSISSIPPI DEMOCRATIC + STATE CONVENTION--PROGRESS OF DISUNION--DISSOLUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC + PARTY--SPEECHES OF MR. DAVIS AT PORTLAND AND IN SENATE. + +CHAPTER VII. (Page 192-232.) + + ELECTION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN--HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE EVENT--THE + OBJECTS AIMED AT BY HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY IDENTICAL IN THE DISCUSSION + OF EVENTS OF THE LATE WAR--NORTHERN EVASION OF THE REAL QUESTION--THE + SOUTH DID NOT ATTEMPT REVOLUTION--SECESSION A JUSTIFIABLE RIGHT + EXERCISED BY SOVEREIGN STATES--BRIEF REVIEW OF THE QUESTION--WHAT THE + FEDERALIST SAYS--CHIEF-JUSTICE MARSHALL--MR. MADISON--COERCION NOT + JUSTIFIED AT THE NORTH PREVIOUS TO THE LATE WAR--REMARKS OF JOHN + QUINCY ADAMS--OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN--OF HORACE GREELEY--SUCCESSFUL + PERVERSION OF TRUTH BY THE NORTH--PROVOCATIONS TO SECESSION BY THE + SOUTH--AGGRESSIONS BY THE NORTH--ITS PUNIC FAITH--LOSS OF THE BALANCE + OF POWER--PATIENCE OF THE SOUTH--REMARKS OF HON. C. C. CLAY--WHAT THE + ELECTION OF MR. LINCOLN MEANT--HIS ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY--REVELATIONS + OF THE OBJECTS OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY--WENDELL PHILLIPS--NO SECURITY + FOR THE SOUTH IN THE UNION--MEETING OF CONGRESS--MR. DAVIS' ASSURANCE + TO PRESIDENT BUCHANAN--CONCILIATORY COURSE OF MR. DAVIS--HIS + CONSISTENT DEVOTION TO THE UNION, AND EFFORTS TO SAVE IT--FORESEES WAR + AS THE RESULT OF SECESSION, AND URGES THE EXHAUSTION OF EVERY + EXPEDIENT TO AVERT IT--THE CRITTENDEN AMENDMENT--HOPES OF ITS + ADOPTION--DAVIS WILLING TO ACCEPT IT IN SPITE OF ITS INJUSTICE TO THE + SOUTH--REPUBLICAN SENATORS DECLINE ALL CONCILIATORY MEASURES--THE + CLARKE AMENDMENT--WHERE RESTS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF DISUNION?-- + STATEMENTS OF MESSRS. DOUGLAS AND COX--SECESSION OF THE COTTON + STATES--A LETTER FROM JEFFERSON DAVIS TO R. B. RHETT, JR.--MR. DAVIS' + FAREWELL TO THE SENATE--HIS REASONS FOR WITHDRAWING--RETURNS TO + MISSISSIPPI--MAJOR-GENERAL OF STATE FORCES--ORGANIZATION OF THE + CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT--MR. DAVIS PRESIDENT OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES. + +CHAPTER VIII. (Page 233-265.) + + THE CONFEDERACY ESTABLISHED AND IN OPERATION--CALMNESS AND MODERATION + OF THE SOUTH--THE MONTGOMERY CONSTITUTION--THE IMPROVEMENTS UPON THE + FEDERAL INSTRUMENT--POPULAR DELIGHT AT THE SELECTION OF MR. DAVIS AS + PRESIDENT--MOTIVES OF HIS ACCEPTANCE--HIS PREFERENCE FOR THE + ARMY--DAVIS THE SYMBOL OF SOUTHERN CHARACTER AND HOPES--ON HIS WAY TO + MONTGOMERY--A CONTRAST--INAUGURATION AND INAUGURAL ADDRESS--THE + CONFEDERATE CABINET--TOOMBS--WALKER--MEMMINGER--BENJAMIN--MALLORY-- + REAGAN--HISTORICAL POSITION OF PRESIDENT DAVIS--THE TWO POWERS-- + EXTREME DEMOCRACY OF THE NORTH--NOBLE IDEAL OF REPUBLICANISM CHERISHED + BY THE SOUTH--DAVIS' REPRESENTATIVE QUALITIES AND DISTINGUISHED + SERVICES--THE HISTORIC REPRESENTATIVE OF THE CONFEDERATE CAUSE--EARLY + HISTORY OF THE GOVERNMENT AT MONTGOMERY--CONFIDENCE IN PRESIDENT DAVIS + UNLIMITED--PRESIDENT DAVIS' ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITY--HIS MILITARY + ADMINISTRATION--THE CONFEDERATE ARMY--WEST POINT--NEGOTIATIONS FOR + SURRENDER OF FORTS SUMTER AND PICKENS--MR. BUCHANAN'S PITIABLE + POLICY--THE ISSUE OF PEACE OR WAR--PERFIDIOUS COURSE OF THE LINCOLN + ADMINISTRATION--MR. SEWARD'S DALLIANCE WITH THE CONFEDERATE + COMMISSIONERS--HIS DECEPTIONS--THE EXPEDITION TO PROVISION THE + GARRISON OF SUMTER--REDUCTION OF THE FORT--WAR--GUILT OF THE + NORTH--ITS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE WAR. + +CHAPTER IX. (Page 266-293.) + + EVENTS CONSEQUENT UPON THE BOMBARDMENT OF FORT SUMTER--MR. LINCOLN + BEGINS THE WAR BY USURPATION--THE BORDER STATES--CONTINUED DUPLICITY + OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT--VIRGINIA JOINS THE COTTON STATES--AFFAIRS + IN MARYLAND, MISSOURI, AND KENTUCKY--UNPROMISING PHASES OF THE + SITUATION, AFFECTING THE PROSPECTS OF THE SOUTH--DIVISIONS IN SOUTHERN + SENTIMENT--THE NORTHERN DEMOCRACY--PRESIDENT DAVIS' ANTICIPATIONS + REALIZED--HIS RESPONSE TO MR. LINCOLN'S PROCLAMATION OF WAR--PUBLIC + ENTHUSIASM IN THE SOUTH--PRESIDENT DAVIS' MESSAGE--VIRGINIA THE + FLANDERS OF THE WAR--REMOVAL OF THE CONFEDERATE CAPITAL TO + RICHMOND--POLICY OF THAT STEP CONSIDERED--POPULAR REGARD FOR MR. DAVIS + IN VIRGINIA--ACTION OF THE VIRGINIAN AUTHORITIES--NORTH CAROLINA; HER + NOBLE CONDUCT, AND EFFICIENT AID TO THE CONFEDERACY--MILITARY + PREPARATIONS IN VIRGINIA--GENERAL LEE--HIS SERVICES IN THE EARLY + MONTHS OF THE WAR--MINOR ENGAGEMENTS--PREPARATIONS FOR THE GREAT + STRUGGLE IN VIRGINIA--AN IMPORTANT HISTORICAL QUESTION--CHARGES + AGAINST MR. DAVIS CONSIDERED--HIS STATESMAN-LIKE PREVISION--DID HE + ANTICIPATE AND PROVIDE FOR WAR?--WHEN MR. DAVIS' RESPONSIBILITY + BEGAN--HIS ENERGETIC PREPARATION--THE PREVAILING SENTIMENT AT + MONTGOMERY AS TO THE WAR--QUOTATIONS FROM GENERAL EARLY AND GENERAL + VON MOLKTE. + +CHAPTER X. (Page 294-325.) + + CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WAR IN 1861--THE TWO GOVERNMENTS MORE DIRECTLY + CONNECTED WITH RESULTS IN THE FIELD THAN AT SUBSEQUENT PERIODS--MR. + DAVIS' CONNECTION WITH THE MILITARY POLICY OF THE CONFEDERACY--THE + CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT ADOPTS, IN THE MAIN, THE DEFENSIVE POLICY OF + THE VIRGINIAN AUTHORITIES--FEDERAL PREPARATIONS--GENERAL SCOTT-- + DEFENSIVE PLANS OF THE CONFEDERATES--DISTRIBUTION OF THEIR FORCES--THE + CONFEDERATE CAMPAIGN OF 1861 JUSTIFIED--DISTRIBUTION OF THE FEDERAL + FORCES--PROGRESS OF THE CAMPAIGN--GENERALS PATTERSON AND JOHNSTON-- + JUNCTION OF BEAUREGARD AND JOHNSTON--MANASSAS--PRESIDENT DAVIS ON THE + BATTLE-FIELD--HIS DISPATCH--HIS RETURN TO RICHMOND--A SPEECH NEVER + PUBLISHED BEFORE--REFLECTIONS UPON THE RESULTS OF MANASSAS--MR. DAVIS + NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ABSENCE OF PURSUIT--STONEWALL JACKSON'S + VIEWS--DAVIS IN FAVOR OF PURSUIT OF THE FEDERALS--MISREPRESENTATIONS-- + MILITARY MOVEMENTS IN VARIOUS QUARTERS--THE "TRENT AFFAIR"--RESULTS OF + THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. + +CHAPTER XI. (Page 326-360.) + + PROSPECTS AT THE BEGINNING OF 1862--EXTREME CONFIDENCE OF THE + SOUTH--EXTRAVAGANT EXPECTATIONS--THE RICHMOND EXAMINER ON CONFEDERATE + PROSPECTS--WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND AND THE UNITED STATES PREDICTED--THE + BLOCKADE TO BE RAISED--THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY DECREED BY HEAVEN-- + RESULT OF THE BOASTFUL TONE OF THE SOUTHERN PRESS--THE CONFEDERATE + GOVERNMENT NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DISASTERS OF 1862--PRESIDENT DAVIS + URGES PREPARATION FOR A LONG WAR--HIS WISE OPPOSITION TO SHORT + ENLISTMENTS OF TROOPS--PREMONITIONS OF MISFORTUNES IN THE WEST--THE + CONFEDERATE FORCES IN KENTUCKY--GENERAL ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON--HIS + CAREER BEFORE THE WAR--CHARACTER--APPEARANCE--THE FRIEND OF JEFFERSON + DAVIS--MUTUAL ESTEEM--SIDNEY JOHNSTON IN KENTUCKY--HIS PLANS--HIS + DIFFICULTIES--THE FORCES OF GRANT AND BUELL--CRUEL DILEMMA OF GENERAL + SIDNEY JOHNSTON--A REVERSE--GRANT CAPTURES FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON-- + LOSS OF KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE--FEDERAL DESIGNS IN THE EAST--BURNSIDE + CAPTURES ROANOKE ISLAND--SERIOUS NATURE OF THESE REVERSES--POPULAR + DISAPPOINTMENT--ORGANIZED OPPOSITION TO THE CONFEDERATE + ADMINISTRATION--CHARACTER AND MOTIVES OF THIS OPPOSITION--AN EFFORT TO + REVOLUTIONIZE PRESIDENT DAVIS' CABINET--ASSAULTS UPON SECRETARIES + BENJAMIN AND MALLORY--CORRECT EXPLANATION OF THE CONFEDERATE + REVERSES--CONGRESSIONAL CENSURE OF MR. BENJAMIN--SECRETARY + MALLORY--CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SOUTHERN MIND--THE PERMANENT + GOVERNMENT--SECOND INAUGURATION OF MR. DAVIS--SEVERITY OF THE + SEASON--THE CEREMONIES--APPEARANCE OF PRESIDENT DAVIS--HIS INAUGURAL + ADDRESS--ITS EFFECT--POPULAR RE-ASSURANCE--MESSAGE TO CONGRESS-- + COMMENTS OF RICHMOND PRESS. + +CHAPTER XII. (Page 361-389.) + + POPULAR DELUSIONS IN THE EARLY STAGES OF THE WAR--A FEW CONFLICTS AND + SACRIFICES NOT SUFFICIENT--MORE POSITIVE RECOGNITION OF MR. DAVIS' + VIEWS--HIS CANDID AND PROPHETIC ANNOUNCEMENTS--MILITARY REFORMS-- + CONSCRIPTION LAW OF THE CONFEDERACY--THE PRESIDENT'S VIEWS AND COURSE + AS TO THIS LAW--HIS CONSISTENT REGARD FOR CIVIL LIBERTY AND OPPOSITION + TO CENTRALIZATION--RECOMMENDS CONSCRIPTION--BENEFICIAL RESULTS OF THE + LAW--GENERAL LEE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, "UNDER THE PRESIDENT"--NATURE OF + THE APPOINTMENT--FALSE IMPRESSIONS CORRECTED--MR. DAVIS' CONFIDENCE IN + LEE, DESPITE POPULAR CENSURE OF THE LATTER--CHANGES IN THE CABINET-- + MR. BENJAMIN'S MANAGEMENT OF THE WAR OFFICE--DIFFICULTIES OF THAT + POSITION--THE CHARGE OF FAVORITISM AGAINST MR. DAVIS IN THE SELECTION + OF HIS CABINET--HIS PERSONAL RELATIONS WITH THE VARIOUS MEMBERS OF HIS + CABINET--ACTIVITY IN MILITARY OPERATIONS--THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI-- + BATTLE OF ELK HORN--OPERATIONS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI--GENERALS + SIDNEY JOHNSTON AND BEAUREGARD--ISLAND NO. 10--CONCENTRATION OF TROOPS + BY THE CONFEDERATE AUTHORITIES--FAVORABLE SITUATION--SHILOH--A + DISAPPOINTMENT--DEATH OF SIDNEY JOHNSTON--TRIBUTE OF PRESIDENT + DAVIS--POPULAR VERDICT UPON THE BATTLE OF SHILOH--GENERALS BEAUREGARD, + BRAGG, AND POLK ON THE BATTLE--THE PRESIDENT AGAIN CHARGED WITH + "INJUSTICE" TO BEAUREGARD--THE CHARGE ANSWERED--FALL OF NEW + ORLEANS--NAVAL BATTLE IN HAMPTON ROADS--NAVAL SUCCESSES OF THE ENEMY. + +CHAPTER XIII. (Page 390-421.) + + THE "ANACONDA SYSTEM"--HOW FAR IT WAS SUCCESSFUL--TERRITORIAL + CONFIGURATION OF THE SOUTH FAVORABLE TO THE ENEMY--ONE THEATRE OF WAR + FAVORABLE TO THE CONFEDERATES--THE FEDERAL FORCES IN VIRGINIA--THE + CONFEDERATE FORCES--THE POTOMAC LINES--CRITICAL SITUATION IN + VIRGINIA--EVACUATION OF MANASSAS--TRANSFER OF OPERATIONS TO THE + PENINSULA--MAGRUDER'S LINES--EVACUATION OF YORKTOWN--STRENGTH OF THE + OPPOSING FORCES BEFORE RICHMOND--DESTRUCTION OF THE "VIRGINIA"--PANIC + IN RICHMOND--MR. DAVIS' CALMNESS AND CONFIDENCE--HE AVOWS HIMSELF + "READY TO LEAVE HIS BONES IN THE CAPITAL OF THE CONFEDERACY"--REPULSE + OF THE GUNBOATS--"MEMENTOES OF HEROISM"--JACKSON'S VALLEY CAMPAIGN--A + SERIES OF VICTORIES, WITH IMPORTANT RESULTS--BATTLE OF "SEVEN + PINES"--A FAILURE--GENERAL JOHNSTON WOUNDED--PRESIDENT DAVIS ON THE + FIELD--PRESIDENT DAVIS AND GENERAL JOHNSTON--AN ATTEMPT TO FORESTALL + THE DECISION OF HISTORY--RESULTS OF LEE'S ACCESSION TO COMMAND-- + JOHNSTON'S GENERALSHIP--MR. DAVIS' ESTIMATE OF LEE--LEE'S PLANS--THE + ADVISORY RELATION BETWEEN DAVIS AND LEE--THEIR MUTUAL CONFIDENCE NEVER + INTERRUPTED--CONFEDERATE STRATEGY AFTER M'CLELLAN'S DEFEAT BEFORE + RICHMOND--MAGICAL CHANGE IN THE FORTUNES OF THE CONFEDERACY--THE + INVASION OF MARYLAND--ANTIETAM--TANGIBLE PROOFS OF CONFEDERATE + SUCCESS--GENERAL BRAGG--HIS KENTUCKY CAMPAIGN--CONFEDERATE HOPES-- + BATTLE OF PERRYVILLE--BRAGG RETREATS--ESTIMATE OF THE KENTUCKY + CAMPAIGN OF 1862--OTHER INCIDENTS OF THE WESTERN CAMPAIGN--REMOVAL OF + M'CLELLAN--A SOUTHERN OPINION OF M'CLELLAN--BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG-- + BATTLE OF MURFREESBORO'--BATTLE OF PRAIRIE GROVE--THE SITUATION AT THE + CLOSE OF 1862--PRESIDENT DAVIS' RECOMMENDATIONS TO CONGRESS--HIS VISIT + TO THE SOUTH-WEST--ADDRESS BEFORE THE MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE. + +CHAPTER XIV. (Page 422-449.) + + RESPECT OF MANKIND FOR THE SOUTH--THE MOST PROSPEROUS PERIOD OF THE + WAR--HOW MR. DAVIS CONTRIBUTED TO THE DISTINCTION OF THE SOUTH-- + FACTION SILENCED--THE EUROPEAN ESTIMATE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS--HOW HE + DIGNIFIED THE CAUSE OF THE SOUTH--HIS STATE PAPERS--HIS ADMINISTRATION + OF CIVIL MATTERS--THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE TWO PRESIDENTS--MR. DAVIS' + OBSERVANCE OF CONSTITUTIONAL RESTRAINTS--ARBITRARY ADMINISTRATION OF + MR. LINCOLN--MR. DAVIS' MODERATION--HE SEEKS TO CONDUCT THE WAR UPON + CIVILIZED IDEAS--AN ENGLISH CHARACTERIZATION OF DAVIS--COLONEL + FREEMANTLE'S INTERVIEW WITH HIM--MR. GLADSTONE'S OPINION--THE PURELY + PERSONAL AND SENTIMENTAL ADMIRATION OF EUROPE FOR THE + SOUTH--INCONSISTENT CONDUCT OF THE EUROPEAN GREAT POWERS--THE LONDON + "TIMES" BEFORE M'CLELLAN'S DEFEAT--THE CONFEDERACY ENTITLED TO + RECOGNITION BY EUROPE--ENGLAND'S SYMPATHY WITH THE NORTH--DIGNIFIED + ATTITUDE OF PRESIDENT DAVIS UPON THE SUBJECT OF RECOGNITION--HIS EARLY + PREDICTION UPON THE SUBJECT--FRANCE AND ENGLAND EXPOSED TO INJURIOUS + SUSPICIONS--TERGIVERSATIONS OF THE PALMERSTON CABINET--THE BROAD FARCE + OF "BRITISH NEUTRALITY"--ENGLAND DECLINES TO UNITE WITH FRANCE IN AN + OFFER OF MEDIATION BETWEEN THE AMERICAN BELLIGERENTS--ENGLAND'S + "POLICY"--SHE SOUGHT THE RUIN OF BOTH SECTIONS OF AMERICA--CULMINATION + OF THE ANTISLAVERY POLICY OF THE NORTH--MR. LINCOLN'S CONVERSATION + WITH A KENTUCKY MEMBER OF CONGRESS--THE WAR A "CRIME" BY MR. LINCOLN'S + OWN SHOWING--VIOLATION OF PLEDGES AND ARBITRARY ACTS OF THE FEDERAL + GOVERNMENT--THE MASK REMOVED AFTER THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM--THE REAL + PURPOSE OF EMANCIPATION--MR. DAVIS' ALLUSION TO THE + SUBJECT--INDIGNATION OF THE SOUTH AT THE MEASURE--MILITARY OPERATIONS + IN TEXAS AND MISSISSIPPI--VICKSBURG--PORT HUDSON--LOSS OF ARKANSAS + POST--FEDERAL FLEET REPULSED AT CHARLESTON--PREPARATIONS FOR THE + CAMPAIGN--UNITY AND CONFIDENCE OF THE SOUTH--MR. DAVIS' ADDRESS TO THE + COUNTRY--IMPORTANT EXTRACTS--GENERAL LEE PREPARES FOR BATTLE--HIS + CONFIDENCE--CONDITION OF HIS ARMY--BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE-- + JEFFERSON DAVIS' TRIBUTE TO STONEWALL JACKSON. + +CHAPTER XV. (Page 450-476.) + + CONFEDERATE PROSPECTS AFTER THE BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE--THE + MILITARY SITUATION--PRIMARY OBJECTS OF THE CONFEDERATES--AFFAIRS IN + THE WEST--A BRIEF CONSIDERATION OF SEVERAL PLANS OF CAMPAIGN SUGGESTED + TO THE CONFEDERATE AUTHORITIES--VISIONARY STRATEGY--AN OFFENSIVE + CAMPAIGN ADOPTED--THE INVASION OF PENNSYLVANIA JUSTIFIED--CONDITION OF + THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA AT THIS PERIOD--THE MOVEMENT FROM THE + RAPPAHANNOCK--LEADING FEATURES OF THE CONFEDERATE PLAN--LEE'S STRATEGY + AGAIN ILLUSTRATED--GETTYSBURG--A FATAL BLOW TO THE SOUTH--LEE RETURNS + TO VIRGINIA--THE SURRENDER OF VICKSBURG--OTHER REVERSES--EXULTATION OF + THE NORTH--THE CONFEDERATE ADMINISTRATION AGAIN ARRAIGNED BY ITS + OPPONENTS--THE CASE OF GENERAL PEMBERTON--POPULAR INJUSTICE TO A + GALLANT OFFICER--A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE SUBJECT--PEMBERTON'S + APPOINTMENT RECOMMENDED BY DISTINGUISHED OFFICERS--HIS ABLE + ADMINISTRATION IN MISSISSIPPI--HIS RESOLUTION TO HOLD VICKSBURG, AS + THE GREAT END OF THE CAMPAIGN--HIS GALLANTRY AND RESOURCES--NOBLE + CONDUCT OF THIS PERSECUTED OFFICER--A FURTHER STATEMENT--THE MISSION + OF VICE-PRESIDENT STEPHENS--ITS OBJECTS--PRESIDENT DAVIS SEEKS TO + ALLEVIATE THE SUFFERINGS OF WAR--MAGNANIMITY AND HUMANITY OF THE + OFFER--PROUD POSITION IN THIS MATTER OF THE SOUTH AND HER RULER--THE + FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DECLINES INTERCOURSE WITH MR. STEPHENS--EXPLANATION + OF ITS MOTIVES--CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN MESSRS. DAVIS AND STEPHENS. + +CHAPTER XVI. (Page 477-501.) + + OPERATIONS OF GENERAL TAYLOR IN LOUISIANA--THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY + IRRECOVERABLY LOST TO THE CONFEDERACY--FEDERALS FOILED AT + CHARLESTON--THE DIMINISHED CONFIDENCE OF THE SOUTH--FINANCIAL + DERANGEMENT--DEFECTIVE FINANCIAL SYSTEM OF THE SOUTH--MR. DAVIS' + LIMITED CONNECTION WITH IT--THE REASONS FOR THE FINANCIAL FAILURE OF + THE CONFEDERACY--INFLUENCE OF SPECULATION--ANOMALOUS SITUATION OF THE + SOUTH--MR. DAVIS' VIEWS OF THE FINANCIAL POLICY OF THE SOUTH AT THE + BEGINNING OF THE WAR--MILITARY OPERATIONS IN TENNESSEE--BRAGG RETREATS + TO CHATTANOOGA--MORGAN'S EXPEDITION--SURRENDER OF CUMBERLAND + GAP--FEDERAL OCCUPATION OF CHATTANOOGA--BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA--BRAGG'S + EXPECTATIONS--GRANT'S OPERATIONS--BRAGG BADLY DEFEATED--PRESIDENT + DAVIS' VIEW OF THE DISASTER--GENERAL BRAGG RELIEVED FROM COMMAND OF + THE WESTERN ARMY--CENSURE OF THIS OFFICER--HIS MERITS AND + SERVICES--THE UNJUST CENSURE OF MR. DAVIS AND GENERAL BRAGG FOR THE + REVERSES IN THE WEST--OPERATIONS IN VIRGINIA IN THE LATTER PART OF + 1863--CONDITION OF THE SOUTH AT THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR--SIGNS OF + EXHAUSTION--PRESIDENT DAVIS' RECOMMENDATIONS--PUBLIC DESPONDENCY--THE + WORK OF FACTION--ABUSE OF MR. DAVIS IN CONGRESS--THE CONTRAST BETWEEN + HIMSELF AND HIS ASSAILANTS--DEFICIENCY OF FOOD--HOW CAUSED--THE + CONFEDERACY EVENTUALLY CONQUERED BY STARVATION. + +CHAPTER XVII. (Page 502-532.) + + AN EFFORT TO BLACKEN THE CHARACTER OF THE SOUTH--THE PERSECUTION OF + MR. DAVIS AS THE SUBSTITUTE FOR THE ASSUMED OFFENSES OF THE + SOUTH--REPUTATION OF THE SOUTH FOR HUMANITY--TREATMENT OF PRISONERS OF + WAR--EARLY ACTION OF THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT UPON THE SUBJECT--MR. + DAVIS' LETTER TO MR. LINCOLN--THE COBB-WOOL NEGOTIATIONS--PERFIDIOUS + CONDUCT OF THE FEDERAL AUTHORITIES--A CARTEL ARRANGED BY GENERALS DIX + AND HILL--COMMISSIONER OULD--HIS CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE FEDERAL AGENT + OF EXCHANGE--REPEATED PERFIDY OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT--SUSPENSION + OF THE CARTEL CAUSED BY THE BAD FAITH OF THE FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION, + AND THE SUFFERING WHICH IT CAUSED--EFFORTS OF THE CONFEDERATE + AUTHORITIES TO RENEW THE OPERATION OF THE CARTEL--HUMANE OFFER OF + COMMISSIONER OULD--JUSTIFICATION OF THE CONFEDERATE AUTHORITIES--GUILT + OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT--MR. DAVIS' STATEMENT OF THE MATTER--COLONEL + OULD'S LETTER TO MR. ELDRIDGE--NORTHERN STATEMENTS: GENERAL BUTLER, + NEW YORK TRIBUNE, ETC.--THE CHARGE OF CRUELTY AGAINST THE SOUTH--A + CONTRAST BETWEEN ANDERSONVILLE AND ELMIRA--IMPOVERISHMENT OF THE + SOUTH--DISREPUTABLE MEANS EMPLOYED TO AROUSE RESENTMENT OF THE + NORTH--THE VINDICATION OF THE SOUTH AND OF MR. DAVIS--HIS STAINLESS + CHARACTER, HIS HUMANITY AND FORBEARANCE--AN INQUIRY OF HISTORY. + +CHAPTER XVIII. (Page 533-562.) + + INDICATIONS OF POPULAR FEELING AT THE BEGINNING OF 1864--APATHY AND + DESPONDENCY OF THE NORTH--IMPROVED FEELING IN THE CONFEDERACY--THE + PROBLEM OF ENDURANCE--PREPARATIONS OF THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT-- + MILITARY SUCCESS THE GREAT DESIDERATUM--A SERIES OF SUCCESSES-- + FINNEGAN'S VICTORY IN FLORIDA--SHERMAN'S EXPEDITION--FORREST'S + VICTORY--THE RAID OF DAHLGREN--TAYLOR DEFEATS BANKS--FORREST'S + TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN--HOKE'S VICTORY--THE VALUE OF THESE MINOR + VICTORIES--CONCENTRATION FOR THE GREAT STRUGGLES IN VIRGINIA AND + GEORGIA--FEDERAL PREPARATIONS--GENERAL GRANT--HIS THEORY OF WAR--HIS + PLANS--THE FEDERAL FORCES IN VIRGINIA--SHERMAN--FEEBLE RESOURCES OF + THE CONFEDERACY--THE "ON TO RICHMOND" AND "ON TO ATLANTA"--GENERAL + GRANT BAFFLED--HE NARROWLY ESCAPES RUIN--HIS OVERLAND MOVEMENT A TOTAL + FAILURE--SHERIDAN THREATENS RICHMOND--DEATH OF STUART--BUTLER'S + ADVANCE UPON RICHMOND--THE CITY IN GREAT PERIL--BEAUREGARD'S PLAN OF + OPERATIONS--VIEWS OF MR. DAVIS--DEFEAT OF BUTLER, AND HIS CONFINEMENT + IN A "CUL DE SAC"--FAILURE OF GRANT'S COMBINATIONS--CONSTANTLY BAFFLED + BY LEE--TERRIBLE LOSSES OF THE FEDERAL ARMY--GRANT CROSSES THE + JAMES--HIS FAILURES REPEATED--HIS NEW COMBINATIONS--EARLY'S OPERATIONS + IN THE VALLEY AND ACROSS THE POTOMAC--THE FEDERAL COMBINATIONS AGAIN + BROKEN DOWN--FAVORABLE SITUATION IN VIRGINIA--THE MISSION OF MESSRS. + CLAY, THOMPSON, AND HOLCOMBE--CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. LINCOLN--THE + ARROGANT AND MOCKING REPLY OF THE FEDERAL PRESIDENT. + +CHAPTER XIX. (Page 563-589.) + + DISAPPOINTMENT AT RESULTS OF THE GEORGIA CAMPAIGN--HOW FAR IT WAS + PARALLEL WITH THE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGN--DIFFERENT TACTICS ON BOTH + SIDES--REMOVAL OF GENERAL JOHNSTON--THE EXPLANATION OF THAT STEP--A + QUESTION FOR MILITARY JUDGMENT--THE NEGATIVE VINDICATION OF GENERAL + JOHNSTON--DIFFERENT THEORIES OF WAR--THE REAL PHILOSOPHY OF THE + SOUTHERN FAILURE--THE ODDS IN NUMBERS AND RESOURCES AGAINST THE + SOUTH--WATER FACILITIES OF THE ENEMY--STRATEGIC DIFFICULTIES OF THE + SOUTH--THE BLOCKADE--INSIGNIFICANCE OF MINOR QUESTIONS--JEFFERSON + DAVIS THE WASHINGTON OF THE SOUTH--GENERAL JOHN B. HOOD--HIS + DISTINGUISHED CAREER--HOPE OF THE SOUTH RENEWED--HOOD'S + OPERATIONS--LOSS OF ATLANTA--IMPORTANT QUESTIONS--PRESIDENT DAVIS IN + GEORGIA--PERVERSE CONDUCT OF GOVERNOR BROWN--MR. DAVIS IN MACON--AT + HOOD'S HEAD-QUARTERS--HOW HOOD'S TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN VARIED FROM MR. + DAVIS' INTENTIONS--SHERMAN'S PROMPT AND BOLD CONDUCT--HOOD'S + MAGNANIMOUS ACKNOWLEDGMENT--DESTRUCTION OF THE CONFEDERATE POWER IN + THE SOUTH-WEST. + +CHAPTER XX. (Page 590-613.) + + INCIDENTS ON THE LINES OF RICHMOND AND PETERSBURG DURING THE SUMMER + AND AUTUMN--CAPTURE OF FORT HARRISON--OTHER DEMONSTRATIONS BY + GRANT--THE SITUATION NEAR THE CONFEDERATE CAPITAL--EARLY'S VALLEY + CAMPAIGN--POPULAR CENSURE OF EARLY--INFLUENCE OF THE VALLEY CAMPAIGN + UPON THE SITUATION NEAR RICHMOND--WHAT THE AGGREGATE OF CONFEDERATE + DISASTERS SIGNIFIED--DESPONDENCY OF THE SOUTH--THE INJURIOUS EXAMPLES + OF PROMINENT MEN--THE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL LEE--MR. DAVIS' + POPULARITY--WHY HE DID NOT FULLY COMPREHEND THE DEMORALIZATION OF THE + PEOPLE--HE HOPES FOR POPULAR REANIMATION--WAS THE CASE OF THE + CONFEDERACY HOPELESS?--VACILLATING CONDUCT OF CONGRESS--THE + CONFEDERATE CONGRESS A WEAK BODY--MR. DAVIS' RELATIONS WITH + CONGRESS--PROPOSED CONSCRIPTION OF SLAVES--FAVORED BY DAVIS AND + LEE--DEFEATED BY CONGRESS--LEGISLATION DIRECTED AGAINST THE + PRESIDENT--DAVIS' OPINION OF LEE--RUMORS OF PEACE--HAMPTON ROADS + CONFERENCE--THE FEDERAL ULTIMATUM--THE ABSURD CHARGE AGAINST MR. DAVIS + OF OBSTRUCTING NEGOTIATIONS--HIS RECORD ON THE SUBJECT OF PEACE--A + RICHMOND NEWSPAPER ON THE FEDERAL ULTIMATUM--DELUSIVE SIGNS OF PUBLIC + SPIRIT--NO ALTERNATIVE BUT CONTINUED RESISTANCE--REPORT OF THE HAMPTON + ROADS CONFERENCE. + +CHAPTER XXI. (Page 614-636.) + + MILITARY OPERATIONS IN THE EARLY PART OF 1865--LAST PHASE OF THE + MILITARY POLICY OF THE CONFEDERACY--THE PLAN TO CRUSH SHERMAN--CALM + DEMEANOR OF PRESIDENT DAVIS--CHEERFULNESS OF GENERAL LEE--THE QUESTION + AS TO THE SAFETY OF RICHMOND--WEAKNESS OF GENERAL LEE'S ARMY-- + PREPARATIONS TO EVACUATE RICHMOND BEFORE THE CAMPAIGN OPENED--A NEW + BASIS OF HOPE--WHAT WAS TO BE REASONABLY ANTICIPATED--THE CONTRACTED + THEATRE OF WAR--THE FATAL DISASTERS AT PETERSBURG--MR. DAVIS RECEIVES + THE INTELLIGENCE WHILE IN CHURCH--RICHMOND EVACUATED--PRESIDENT DAVIS + AT DANVILLE--HIS PROCLAMATION--SURRENDER OF LEE--DANVILLE + EVACUATED--THE LAST OFFICIAL INTERVIEW OF MR. DAVIS WITH GENERALS + JOHNSTON AND BEAUREGARD--HIS ARRIVAL AT CHARLOTTE--INCIDENTS AT + CHARLOTTE--REJECTION OF THE SHERMAN-JOHNSTON SETTLEMENT--MR. DAVIS' + INTENTIONS AFTER THAT EVENT--HIS MOVEMENTS SOUTHWARD--INTERESTING + DETAILS--CAPTURE OF MR. DAVIS AND HIS IMPRISONMENT AT FORTRESS MONROE. + +CHAPTER XXII. (Page 637-645.) + + MOTIVE OF MR. DAVIS' ARREST--AN AFTER-THOUGHT OF STANTON AND THE + BUREAU OF MILITARY JUSTICE--THE EMBARRASSMENT PRODUCED BY HIS + CAPTURE--THE INFAMOUS CHARGES AGAINST HIM--WHY MR. DAVIS WAS TREATED + WITH EXCEPTIONAL CRUELTY--THE OUTRAGES AND INDIGNITIES OFFERED + HIM--HIS PATIENT AND HEROIC ENDURANCE OF PERSECUTION--HIS RELEASE FROM + FORTRESS MONROE--BAILED BY THE FEDERAL COURT AT RICHMOND--JOY OF THE + COMMUNITY--IN CANADA--RE-APPEARANCE BEFORE THE FEDERAL COURT--HIS + TRIAL AGAIN POSTPONED--CONCLUSION. + + + + +LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + ATTRACTIONS OF THE LATE WAR TO POSTERITY--MR. LINCOLN'S REMARK-- + DISADVANTAGES OF MR. DAVIS' SITUATION--SUCCESS NOT SYNONYMOUS WITH + MERIT--ORIGIN OF THE INJUSTICE DONE MR. DAVIS--REMARK OF MACAULAY-- + REMARK OF MR. GLADSTONE--THE EFFECT THAT CONFEDERATE SUCCESS WOULD + HAVE HAD UPON THE FAME OF MR. DAVIS--POPULAR AFFECTION FOR HIM IN THE + SOUTH--HIS VINDICATION ASSURED. + + +To future generations the period in American history, of most absorbing +interest and profound inquiry, will be that embracing the incipiency, +progress, and termination of the revolution which had its most pronounced +phase in the memorable war of 1861. Historians rarely concur in their +estimates of the limits of a revolution, and usually we find quite as much +divergence in their views of the scope of its operations, as in their +speculations as to its origin and causes, and their statements of its +incidents and results. If, however, it is difficult to assign, with minute +accuracy, the exact limits and proper scope of those grand trains of +consecutive events, which swerve society from the beaten track of ages, +divert nations from the old path of progress into what seems to be the +direction of a new destiny, and often transform the aspect of continents, +it is comparatively an easy task to reach a reliable statement of their +more salient and conspicuous incidents. It is in this aspect that the +Titanic conflict, which had its beginning with the booming of the guns in +Charleston harbor in April, 1861, and its crowning catastrophe at +Appomattox Court-house in April, 1865, will be chiefly attractive to the +future student. As a point of departure from the hitherto unbroken +monotony of American history, the beginning of a new order of things, the +extinction of important elements of previous national existence, embracing +much that was consecrated in the popular affections; in short, as a +complete political and social transformation, an abrupt, but thorough +perversion of the government from its original purposes and previous +policy, this period must take its place, with important suggestions of +theory and illustration, among the most impressive lessons of history. + +The profound interest which shall center upon the period that we have +under consideration, must necessarily subject to a rigid investigation the +lives, characters, and conduct of those to whom were allotted conspicuous +parts in the great drama. It is both a natural and reasonable test that +the world applies in seeking to solve, through the qualities and +capacities of those who direct great measures of governmental policy, the +merits of the movements themselves. The late President of the United +States, Mr. Lincoln, avowed his inability to escape the judgment of +history, and the bare statement sufficiently describes the inevitable +necessity, not only of his own situation, but of all who bore a prominent +part on either side of the great controversy. + +JEFFERSON DAVIS confronts posterity burdened with the disadvantage of +having been the leader of an unsuccessful political movement. "Nothing +succeeds like success," was the pithy maxim of Talleyrand, to whose astute +observation nothing was more obvious than the disposition of mankind to +make success the touchstone of merit. It is, nevertheless, a vulgar and +often an erroneous criterion. What could be more absurd than to determine +by such a test the comparative valor, generalship, and military character +of the two contestants in the late war? Concede its applicability, +however, and we exalt the soldiership of the North above all precedent, +and consign the unequaled valor of the Southern soldiery to reproach, +instead of the deathless fame which shall survive them. To such a judgment +every battle-field of the war gives emphatic and indignant contradiction. +History abounds with evidence of the influence of accident and of +extraneous circumstances, in the decision of results, which, if controlled +by the question of merit, as understood by the predominant sense of +mankind, would have borne a vastly different character. + +But, in addition to the disparaging influence of the failure of the cause +which he represented, Mr. Davis has encountered an unparalleled degree of +personal hate, partizan rancor, of malignant and gratuitous +misrepresentation, the result, to a great extent, of old partizan +rivalries and jealousies, engendered in former periods of the history of +the Union, and also of the spirit of domestic disaffection and agitation +which inevitably arises against every administration of public affairs, +especially at times of unusual danger and embarrassment.[1] The almost +fanatical hatred of the Northern masses against Mr. Davis, as the wicked +leader of a causeless rebellion against the Government of his country, as +a conspirator against the peace and happiness of his fellow-citizens, and +as a relentless monster, who tortured and starved prisoners of war, +springs from the persistent calumnies of such leaders of Northern opinion, +as have an ignoble purpose of vindictive hatred to gratify by the +invention of these atrocious charges. Yet this feeling of the North hardly +exceeds in violence, the resentment with which it was sought to inflame +the Southern people against him, at critical stages of the war, as an +unworthy leader, whose incapacity, pragmatism, nepotism, and vanity were +rushing them into material and political perdition. Of popular +disaffection to the Confederate cause, or dislike of Mr. Davis, there was +an insignificantly small element, never dangerous in the sense of +attempted revolt against the authorities, but often hurtful, because it +constituted the basis of support to such prominent men as fancied their +personal ambition, or _amour propre_, offended by the President. A +misfortune of the South was that there were not a few such characters, and +their influence upon certain occasions was as baleful to the public +interests as their animus was malignant against Mr. Davis. Hoping to +advance themselves by misrepresentations of him, during the war they +persistently charged upon him every disaster, and do not scruple to impute +to his blame those final failures so largely traceable to themselves. A +patriotic regard for the public safety imposed silence upon Mr. Davis +while the war continued, and a magnanimity which they have neither +deserved nor appreciated, coupled with a proper sense of personal dignity, +have impelled him since to refrain from refutation of misstatements +utterly scandalous and inexcusable. + +The distinguished English statesman,[2] who, during the progress of the +late war, declared that "Mr. Jefferson Davis had created a nation," stated +more than the truth, though he hardly exaggerated the flattering estimate +which the intelligent public of Europe places upon the unsurpassed ability +and energy with which the limited resources of the South, as compared with +those of her enemies, were, for the most part, wielded by the Confederate +administration. Nor, indeed, would such an estimate have been too +extravagant to be entertained by his own countrymen, had the South +achieved her independence by any stroke of mere good fortune, such as +repeatedly favored her adversaries at critical moments of the war, when, +apparently, the most trifling incidents regulated the balance. More than +once the South stood upon the very threshold of the full fruition of her +aspirations for independence and nationality. Had Jackson not fallen at +Chancellorsville, the Federal Army of the Potomac, the bulwark of the +Union in the Atlantic States, would have disappeared into history under +circumstances far different from those which marked its dissolution two +years later. At Gettysburg the Confederacy was truthfully said to have +been "within a stone's-throw of peace." If at these fateful moments the +treacherous scales of fortune had not strangely turned, and in the very +flush of triumph, who doubts that now and hereafter there would have come +from Southern hearts, an ascription of praise to Jefferson Davis, no less +earnest than to his illustrious colaborers? At all events, it is +undeniable that, as the Confederate arms prospered, so the affection of +the people for Mr. Davis was always more enthusiastic and demonstrative. +Only in moments of extreme public depression could the malcontents obtain +even a patient audience of their assaults upon the chosen President of +the Confederacy. + +The people of the late Confederate States, whose destinies Jefferson Davis +directed during four years, the most momentous in their history, are +competent witnesses as to the fidelity, ability, and devotion with which +he discharged the trust confided to him. + +Their judgment is revealed in the affectionate confidence with which, +during their struggle for liberty, they upheld him, and in the joyful +acclaim, which echoed from the Potomac to the Rio Grande upon the +announcement of his release from his vicarious captivity. As he was the +chosen representative of the power, the will, and the aspirations of a +chivalrous people, so they will prove themselves the jealous custodians of +his fame. Be the verdict of posterity as it may, they will not shrink from +their share of the odium, and will be common participants with him in the +award of eulogy. There is more than an unreasoning presentiment, something +more tangible than vague hope, in the calm and cheerful confidence with +which both look forward to that ample vindication of truth which always +follows candid and impartial inquiry. + +That time will triumphantly vindicate Mr. Davis is as certain, as that it +will dispel the twilight mazes which yet obscure the grand effort of +patriotism which he directed. The rank luxuriance of prejudice, asperity, +and falsehood must eventually yield to the irresistible progress of reason +and truth. Bribery, perjury, every appliance which the most subtle +ingenuity of eager and unscrupulous malice could invent, have been +exhausted in the vain effort to make infamous, in the sight of mankind, a +noble cause, by imputation of personal odium upon its most distinguished +representative. Day by day he rises beyond the reach of calumny, and his +character expands into the fair proportions of the grandest ideals of +excellence. An adamantine heroism of the _antique_ pattern; purity exalted +to an altitude beyond conception even of the vulgar mind; devotion which +shrank from no sacrifice and quailed before no peril, were qualities +giving tone to the genius, which, wielding the inadequate means of a +feeble Confederacy, for years, withstood the shock of powerful invasion, +baffled and humiliated a nation, unlimited in resources, and in spite of +disastrous failure, lends unexampled dignity to the cause in which it was +employed. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + BIRTH--EDUCATION--AT WEST POINT--IN THE ARMY--RETIREMENT--POLITICAL + TRAINING IN AMERICA--MR. DAVIS NOT EDUCATED FOR POLITICAL LIFE AFTER + THE AMERICAN MODEL--BEGINS HIS POLITICAL CAREER BY A SPEECH AT THE + MISSISSIPPI DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION--A GLANCE PROSPECTIVELY AT HIS + FUTURE PARTY ASSOCIATIONS--HIS CONSISTENT ATTACHMENT TO STATES' RIGHTS + PRINCIPLES--A SKETCH OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE QUESTION OF STATES' + RIGHTS--MR. CALHOUN NOT THE AUTHOR OF THAT PRINCIPLE--HIS VINDICATION + FROM THE CHARGE OF DISUNIONISM--MR. DAVIS THE SUCCESSOR OF MR. CALHOUN + AS THE STATES' RIGHTS LEADER. + + +Jefferson Davis was born on the third day of June, 1808, in that portion +of Christian County, Kentucky, which, by subsequent act of the +Legislature, was made Todd County. His father, Samuel Davis, a planter, +during the Revolutionary war served as an officer in the mounted force of +Georgia, an organization of local troops. Subsequently to the Revolution +Samuel Davis removed to Kentucky, and continued to reside in that state +until a few years after the birth of his son JEFFERSON, when he removed +with his family to the neighborhood of Woodville, Wilkinson County, in the +then territory of Mississippi. At the period of his father's removal to +Mississippi, Jefferson was a child of tender years. After having enjoyed +the benefits of a partial academic training at home, he was sent, at an +earlier age than is usual, to Transylvania University, Kentucky, where he +remained until he reached the age of sixteen. In 1824 he was appointed, +by President Monroe, a cadet at the West Point Military Academy. + +Among his contemporaries at the academy were Robert E. Lee, Joseph E. +Johnston, Albert Sidney Johnston, Leonidas Polk, John B. Magruder, and +others who have since earned distinction. Ordinary merit could not have +commanded in such an association of talent and character the position +which Davis held as a cadet. A fellow-cadet thus speaks of him: "Jefferson +Davis was distinguished in the corps for his manly bearing, his high-toned +and lofty character. His figure was very soldier-like and rather robust; +his step springy, resembling the tread of an Indian 'brave' on the +war-path." He graduated in June, 1828, receiving the customary appointment +of Brevet Second Lieutenant, which is conferred upon the graduates of the +academy. Assigned to the infantry, he served with such fidelity in that +branch of the service, and with such especial distinction as a staff +officer on the North-western frontier in 1831-32, that he was promoted to +the rank of First Lieutenant and Adjutant of a new regiment of dragoons in +March, 1833. + +About this period the Indians, on various portions of the frontier, +stimulated by dissatisfaction with the course of the Government concerning +certain claims and guarantees, which had been accorded them in previous +treaties, were excessively annoying, and the Government was forced to +resort to energetic military measures to suppress them. Lieutenant Davis +had ample opportunity for the exhibition of his high soldierly qualities, +cool courage, and admirable self-possession, in the Black Hawk war, during +which he was frequently employed in duties of an important and dangerous +character. During the captivity of Black Hawk, that famous Indian +chieftain and warrior is said to have conceived a very strong attachment +for Lieutenant Davis, whose gallantry and pleasing amenities of bearing +greatly impressed the captive enemy. After his transfer to the dragoons, +Lieutenant Davis saw two years of very active service in the various +expeditions against the Pawnees, Camanches, and other Indian tribes, and +accompanied the first expedition which successfully penetrated the +strongholds of the savages, and conquered a peace by reducing them to +subjection. + +Though attached to the profession of arms, for which he has on repeated +occasions, during his subsequent life, evinced an almost passionate +fondness and a most unusual aptitude, Lieutenant Davis resigned his +commission in June, 1835, and returning to Mississippi devoted his +attention to the cultivation of cotton and to the assiduous pursuit of +letters. Not long after his resignation, he had married the daughter of +Col. Zachary Taylor, under whose eye he was destined, in a few years, to +win such immortal renown upon the fields of Mexico. Living upon his +plantation in great seclusion, he devoted himself with zeal and enthusiasm +to those studies which were to qualify him for the eminent position in +politics and statesmanship which he had resolved to assume. In that +retirement were sown the seed, whose abundant fruits were seen in those +splendid specimens of senatorial and popular eloquence, at once models of +taste and exhibitions of intellectual power; in the pure, terse, and +elegant English of his matchless state papers, which will forever be the +delight of scholars and the study of statesmen, and in that elevated and +enlightened statesmanship, which scorning the low ambition of demagogues +and striving always for the ends of patriotism and principle, illumines, +for more than a score of years, the legislative history of the Union. + +The period of Mr. Davis' retirement is embraced within the interval of +his withdrawal from the army, in 1835, and the beginning of his active +participation in the local politics of Mississippi, in 1843, a term of +eight years. The diligent application with which he was employed daring +these years of seclusion constituted a most fortunate preparation for the +distinguished career upon which he at once entered. There is not, in the +whole range of American biography, an instance of more thorough +preparation, of more ample intellectual discipline, and elaborate +education for political life. + +The _trade_ of politics is an avocation familiar to Americans, and in the +more ordinary maneuvers of party tactics, in that lower species of +political strategy which, in our party vocabulary, is aptly termed +"wire-pulling," our politicians may boast an eminence in their class not +surpassed in the most corrupt ages of the most profligate political +establishments which have ever existed. Statesmanship, in that broad and +elevated conception which suggests the noblest models among those who have +adorned and illustrated the science of government, combining those higher +attributes of administrative capacity which are realized equally in a +pure, sound, and just polity, and in a free, prosperous, and contented +community, is a subject utterly unexplored by American politicians at the +outset of their career, and is comparatively an after-thought with those +intrusted with the most responsible duties of state. + +The political training of Mr. Davis was pursued upon a basis very +different from the American model. It has been more akin to the English +method, under which the faculties and the tastes are first cultivated, and +the mind qualified by all the light which theory and previous example +afford for the practical labors which are before it. The tastes and habits +formed during those eight years of retirement have adhered to Mr. Davis +in his subsequent life. When not engrossed by the absorbing cares of +state, he has, with rare enthusiasm and satisfaction, resorted to those +refining pleasures which are accessible only to intellects which have +known the elevating influences of culture. + +Emerging from his seclusion in 1843, when the initiatory measures of party +organization were in course of preparation for the gubernatorial canvass +of that year and the Presidential campaign of the next, he immediately +assumed a prominent position among the leaders of the Democratic party in +Mississippi. At this time, probably, no state in the Union, of equal +population, excelled Mississippi in the number and distinction of her +brilliant politicians. Especially was this true of Vicksburg, and of the +general neighborhood in which Mr. Davis resided.[3] The genius of Seargent +S. Prentiss was then in its meridian splendor, and his reputation and +popularity were coëxtensive with the Union. Besides Prentiss were Foote, +Thompson, Claiborne, Gholson, Brown, and many others, all comparatively +young men, who have since achieved professional or political distinction. +The appearance of Mr. Davis was soon recognized as the addition of a star +of no unworthy effulgence to this brilliant galaxy. + +The Democratic State Convention, held for the purpose of organization for +the gubernatorial canvass, and for the appointment of delegates to the +National Convention, assembled at Jackson in the summer of 1843. From the +meeting of this convention, which Mr. Davis attended as a delegate, may be +dated the beginning of his political life. In the course of its +deliberations he delivered his first public address, which immediately +attracted toward him much attention, and a most partial consideration by +his party associates. The occasion is interesting from this circumstance, +and as indicating that consistent political bias which, beginning in early +manhood, constituted the controlling inspiration of a long career of +eminent public service. The undoubted preference of the convention, as of +an overwhelming majority of the masses of the Southern Democracy, was for +Mr. Van Buren, and its entire action in the selection of delegates, and +formal expressions of feeling, was in accordance with this +well-ascertained preference. To a proposition instructing the delegates to +the National Convention, to support the nomination of Mr. Van Buren so +long as there was a reasonable hope of his selection by the party, Mr. +Davis proposed an amendment instructing the delegates to support Mr. +Calhoun as the second choice of the Democracy of Mississippi, in the event +of such a contingency as should render clearly hopeless the choice of Mr. +Van Buren. In response to an inquiry from an acquaintance if his amendment +was meant in good faith, and did not contemplate detriment to the +interests of Mr. Van Buren, Mr. Davis rose and addressed the convention in +explanation of his purpose, and in terms of such earnest and appropriate +eulogy of Mr. Calhoun and his principles as to elicit the most +enthusiastic commendation. + +So favorable was the impression which Mr. Davis made upon his party, and +so rapid his progress as a popular speaker, that in the Presidential +campaign of 1844, the Democracy conferred upon him the distinction of a +place upon its electoral ticket. In this canvass he acquired great +reputation, and established himself immovably in the confidence and +admiration of the people of Mississippi. + +This seems an appropriate point from which to glance prospectively at the +political principles and party associations of Mr. Davis in his after +career. Until its virtual dissolution at Charleston, in 1860, he was an +earnest and consistent member of the Democratic party. To those who are +familiar with the party nomenclature of the country, no inconsistency with +this assertion will appear involved in the statement, that he has also +been an ardent disciple of the doctrine of States' Rights. The Democratic +party and the States' Rights party were indeed identical, when a +profession of political faith in this country was significant of something +ennobling upon the score of principle, something higher than a mere +aspiration for the spoils of office. When, in subsequent years, to the +large majority of its leaders, the chief significance of a party triumph, +consisted in its being the occasion of a new division of the spoils, many +of the most eminent statesmen of the South became in a measure indifferent +to its success. Its prurient aspiration for the rewards of place provoked +the sarcasm of Mr. Calhoun, that it "was held together by the cohesive +power of the public plunder," and the still more caustic satire of John +Randolph, of Roanoke, that it had "seven principles: five loaves and two +fishes." + +Nevertheless, in its spirit thoroughly national, catholic in all its +impulses, for many years shaping its policy in harmony with the protection +of Southern institutions, and with few features of sectionalism in its +organization, it worthily commanded the preference of a large majority of +the Southern people. To this organization Mr. Davis adhered until the +inception of the late conflict, supporting its Presidential nominations, +in the main favoring such public measures as were incorporated in the +policy of the party, and he was, for several years prior to the war, by +no means the least prominent of those named in connection with its choice +for the Presidency in 1860. + +It is no part of the task which has been undertaken in these pages to +sketch the mutations of political parties, or to trace the historical +order and significance of events, save in their immediate and +indispensable connection with our appropriate subject. So closely +identified, however, has been the public life of Mr. Davis with the +question of States' Rights, so ardent has been his profession of that +faith, and so able and zealous was he in its advocacy and practice, that +his life virtually becomes an epitome of the most important incidents in +the development of this great historical question. His earliest appearance +upon the arena of politics was at a period when the various issues which +were submitted to the arbitrament of arms in the late war began to assume +a practical shape of most portentous aspect. The address which first +challenged public attention, and that extensive interest which has rarely +been withdrawn since, was an emphatic indorsement of the political +philosophy of Mr. Calhoun and a glowing panegyric upon the character and +principles of that immortal statesman and expounder. Unreservedly +committing himself, then, he has steadfastly held to the States' Rights +creed, as the basis of his political faith and the guide of his public +conduct. + +If it be true that the decision of the sword only establishes facts, and +does not determine questions of principle, then the principle of States' +Rights will be commemorated as something more valuable, than as the mere +pretext upon which a few agitators inaugurated an unjustifiable revolt for +the overthrow of the Government of the Union. Nothing is more likely than +that many who recently rejoiced at its suppression by physical force, may +mourn its departure as of that one vital inspiration, which alone could +have averted the decay of the public liberties. Practically a "dead +letter" now in the partizan slang of the demagogues who rule the hour, +since its prostration by military power in the service of the antipodal +principle of consolidation, it will live forever as the motive and +occasion of a struggle, unparalleled in its heroism and sacrifices in +behalf of constitutional liberty. + +There is little ground for wonder at the total ignorance and persistent +misconception in the mind of Europe, at the commencement of the war, of +the motives and purposes of the Confederates in seeking a dissolution of +the Union, when we consider the limited information and perverted views of +the Northern people and politicians respecting the nature of the Federal +Government and the intentions of its authors. Naturally enough, perhaps, +the North, seeing in the Union the source of its marvelous material +prosperity, and with an astute appreciation of its ability, by its +rapidly-growing numerical majority, to pervert the Government to any +purpose of sectional aggression agreeable to its ambition or interests, +refused to tolerate, as either rational or honest, any theory that +contemplated disunion as possible in any contingency. In their willful +ignorance and misapprehension most Northern orators and writers denounced +the doctrines of States' Rights as _new inventions_--as innovations upon +the faith of the fathers of the Republic--and professed to regard the most +enlightened and patriotic statesmen of the South, the pupils and followers +of illustrious Virginians and Carolinians of the Revolutionary era, as +agitators, conspirators, and plotters of treason against the Union. Upon +the score of antiquity, States' Rights principles have a claim to +respectability--not for a moment to be compared with the wretched devices +of expediency or the hybrid products of political atheism, to which the +brazen audacity and hypocrisy of the times apply the misnomer of +"principles." + +They are, in fact, older than the Union, and antedate, not only the +present Constitution, but even the famous Articles of Confederation, under +which our forefathers fought through the first Revolution. The Congress +which adopted the Declaration of Independence emphatically negatived a +proposition looking to consolidation, offered by New Hampshire on the 15th +of June, 1776, that the Thirteen Colonies be declared a "free and +independent State," and expressly affirmed their separate sovereignty by +declaring them to be "free and independent States." The declaration of the +Articles of Confederation was still more explicit--that "each State +retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, +jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly +delegated to the United States in Congress assembled." The Convention of +1787 clearly designed the present Constitution to be the instrument of a +closer association of the States than had been effected by the Articles of +Confederation, but the proof is exceedingly meager of any general desire +that it should establish a consolidated nationality. + +At this early period the antagonism of the two schools of American +politics was plainly discernible. The conflict of faith is easily +indicated. The advocates of States' Rights regarded the Union as a +_compact between the States_--something more than a mere league formed for +purposes of mutual safety, but still a strictly _voluntary_ association of +Sovereignties, in which certain general powers were specifically delegated +to the Union; and all others not so delegated were reserved by the States +in their separate characters. The advocates of Consolidation considered +the Union a _National_ Government--in other words, a centralized power--to +which the several States occupied the relation of separate provinces. + +The famous resolutions of '98, adopted respectively by the Virginia and +Kentucky Legislatures, were the formal declarations of principles upon +which the States' Rights party was distinctly organized under Mr. +Jefferson, whom it successfully supported for the Presidency against the +elder Adams at the expiration of the term of the latter. With the progress +of time the practical significance of these opposing principles became +more and more apparent, and their respective followers strove, with +constantly-increasing energy, to make their party creed paramount in the +policy of the Government. A majority of the Northern people embraced the +idea of a perpetual Union, whose authority was supreme over all the +States, and regulated by the will of a numerical majority, which majority, +it should be observed, they had already secured, and were yearly +increasing in an enormous ratio. The South, in the course of years, with +even more unanimity, clung to the idea of State Sovereignty, and the +interpretation of the Government as one of limited powers, as its shield +and bulwark against the Northern majority in the collision which it was +foreseen the aggressive spirit of the latter would eventually occasion. + +A common and totally erroneous impression of the Northern mind is that +John C. Calhoun _invented_ the idea of State Sovereignty for selfish and +unpatriotic designs, and as the pretext of a morbid hatred to the Union. +That eminent statesman and sincere patriot never asserted any claim to the +paternity of the faith which he professed. It is true that, in a certain +sense, he was the founder of the States' Rights party as it existed in his +day, and which survived him to make a last unsuccessful struggle to save +first the Union, and, failing in that, to rescue the imperiled liberties +of the South. During the eventful life of Mr. Calhoun the question of the +relative powers of the Federal and State Governments assumed a more +practical bearing than before, and his far-reaching sagacity was +illustrated in his efforts to avert the impending evils of consolidation. +He was the authoritative exponent and revered leader of the votaries of +those principles which he advocated, but did not originate or invent, and +sought to apply as the legitimate and safe solution of the circumstances +by which he was surrounded. + +Equally absurd and unfounded with the pretense, asserted at the North, of +the novelty of the idea of State Sovereignty and its incompatibility with +the spirit of the Constitution, was the charge so persistently iterated +against Mr. Calhoun and his followers, of disunionism; of a restless, +morbid discontent, which sought continually revenge for imaginary wrongs +in a dissolution of the Union. To the contrary we have the irrefutable +arguments of Mr. Calhoun himself in favor of the superior efficacy of the +States' Rights interpretation, as an agency for the preservation of the +Union as it was designed to exist by its authors. So far from having an +anarchical or disorganizing tendency, he, on all occasions, maintained +that his theory was "the only solid foundation of our system and the Union +itself." + +To this faith the public life of Jefferson Davis has been dedicated. For +more than twenty years he sought to illustrate it in the realization of a +splendid but barren vision of a time-honored and time-strengthened Union, +consecrated in the common affections and joint aspirations of a people, +now, alas! united only in name. + +During the period of their public service together, Mr. Davis received a +large share of the confidence and regard of Mr. Calhoun, and when the +death of the latter deprived the South of the counsels of an illustrious +public servant, Mr. Davis, though comparatively a young man, stood +foremost as heir to the mantle of the great apostle of States' Rights.[4] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + + RESULTS OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN 1844--MR. DAVIS ELECTED TO + CONGRESS--HIS FIRST SESSION--PROMINENT MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE--DOUGLAS, + HUNTER, SEDDON, ETC.--DAVIS' RAPID ADVANCEMENT IN REPUTATION-- + RESOLUTIONS OFFERED BY HIM--SPEECHES ON THE OREGON EXCITEMENT, AND ON + THE RESOLUTION OF THANKS TO GENERAL TAYLOR AND HIS ARMY--NATIONAL + SENTIMENTS EMBODIED IN THESE AND OTHER SPEECHES--A CONTRAST IN THE + MATTER OF PATRIOTISM--MASSACHUSETTS AND MISSISSIPPI IN THE MEXICAN + WAR--DEBATE WITH ANDREW JOHNSON--JOHN QUINCY ADAMS' ESTIMATE OF + JEFFERSON DAVIS. + + +The Presidential canvass of 1844 was one of the most memorable and +exciting in the annals of American politics. By its results the popular +verdict was rendered upon vital questions involved in the administrative +and legislative policy of the Government. The Democratic party was fully +committed to the annexation of Texas, with the prospect of war with Mexico +as an almost inevitable condition of the acquisition of that immense +territory, desirable to the Union at large, but especially popular with +the South, for obvious and sufficient reasons. But apart from the signal +victory achieved by the Democracy, in favor of this and other leading +measures of that party, the election of 1844 had an incidental +significance, which the country generally recognized, in its final and +irrevocable disappointment of the Presidential aspirations of Henry Clay. +This canvass, too, has a peculiar historical interest in the demonstration +which it gave of the real popular strength of the respective parties +which had so long divided the country. Comparatively few temporary issues, +of a character to excite strong popular feeling respecting either party or +its candidates, were made, and there was a square and obstinate battle of +Democracy against Whiggery, of what Governor Wise called the old-fashioned +"Thomas-Jefferson-Simon-Snyder-red-waistcoat-Democracy," against Henry +Clay and his "American System." + +The canvass was remarkable not only for its duration and the ardor with +which it was conducted, but for its unsurpassed exhibitions of "stump +oratory." The best men of both parties were summoned to the fierce +conflict; and many were the youthful paladins, hitherto unknown to fame, +who won their golden spurs upon this their first battle-field. Mr. Davis +had borne a leading part in support of Polk and Dallas and Texas +annexation in Mississippi. His services were not of a character to be +forgotten by his party, nor did an intelligent and appreciative public +fail to discover in the young man whose eloquence and manly bearing had so +enlisted their admiration, such abilities and acquirements as qualified +him to represent the honor of his State in any capacity which they might +intrust to his keeping. + +Of Mississippi it might have been said, as of Virginia, that "the sun of +her Democracy knew no setting." If possible, however, the State was more +closely than ever confirmed in her Democratic moorings by the decisive +results of the election in 1844. When Mr. Davis received the appropriate +acknowledgment of popular appreciation in his election to the House of +Representatives, in November, 1845, Mississippi sent an unbroken +Democratic delegation to Washington. His associates were Messrs. Roberts +and Jacob Thompson (afterward Secretary of the Interior under Mr. +Buchanan) in the House, and Messrs. Foote and Speight in the Senate. + +On Monday, December 8, 1845, Mr. Davis was qualified as a member of the +House of Representatives, and from that day dates his eventful and +brilliant legislative career. The Twenty-ninth Congress was charged with +some of the gravest duties of legislation. The questions of the tariff, +the Oregon excitement, during which war with England was so imminent, and +the settlement of important details pertaining to the Texas question, were +the absorbing concerns which engaged its attention until the provisions +and appropriations necessary to the successful prosecution of the Mexican +war imposed still more serious labors. The records of this Congress reveal +many interesting facts concerning individuals who have since figured +prominently in the history of the country. The fact to which we have +alluded of the unusual interest which had been exhibited in the recent +Presidential contest, doubtless had a considerable influence in the choice +of members of Congress in the various States, and largely contributed to +its elevated standard of ability. + +The debates in the House of Representatives of the Twenty-ninth Congress, +are unsurpassed in ability and eloquence by those of any preceding or +subsequent session of that body, and upon its rolls are to be found many +names, now national in reputation, which were then but recently introduced +to public attention. Stephen A. Douglas, the most thoroughly +representative American politician of his time, uniting to a more than +average proportion of the respectability of his class, his full share of +its vicious characteristics, politic, adroit, and ambitious, was +comparatively a new member, and, at this time, in the morning of his +reputation. R. M. T. Hunter, of Virginia, a statesman of sound judgment +and accurate information, who based his arguments upon the facts, and +reduced the complicated problems of governmental economy to the conditions +of a mathematical demonstration, had not yet been transferred to the +Senate. James A. Seddon, the safe theorist, whose study, like Edmund +Burke's, was "_rerum cognoscere causas_," the acute dialectician, who, in +his mental characteristics, no less than in his principles, was so closely +allied to Mr. Calhoun, was, like Jefferson Davis, for the first time a +member of Congress. Andrew Johnson was then a member of the House and at +the outset of his remarkable career; and in addition to these were +Brinkerhoff, Washington Hunt, Dromgoole, George S. Houston, and a score of +others, whose names recall interesting reminiscences of the day in which +they figured. + +To a man of ordinary purpose, or doubtful of himself, the prospect of +competition with such men, at the very outset of his public career, would +not have been encouraging. But there are men, designed by nature, to +rejoice at, rather than to shrink from those arduous and hazardous +positions to which their responsibilities summon them. An attribute of +genius is the consciousness of strength, and that sublime confidence in +the success of its own efforts, which doubly assures victory in the battle +of life. It was with an assurance of triumph, far different from the +harlequin-like effrontery which is often witnessed in the political arena, +that Jefferson Davis advanced to contest the awards of intellectual +distinction. With the activity and vigor of the disciplined gladiator, +with the _gaudia certaminis_ beaming in every feature, with the calm +confidence of the trained statesman, and yet with all the radiant _elan_ +of a youthful knight contending for his spurs at Templestowe, he pursued +his brief but impressive career in the lower house of Congress. + +As a member of the House of Representatives Mr. Davis rapidly and steadily +won upon the good opinion of his associates, and the favorable estimate of +him, entertained by his constituents and friends, was confirmed by his +greatly advanced reputation at the period of his withdrawal from Congress +in the ensuing summer. He became prominent, less by the frequency with +which he claimed the attention of the House, than by the accuracy of his +information, the substantial value of his suggestions and the easy dignity +of his demeanor. His speeches, though not comparable with his senatorial +efforts, were characterized by great perspicuity, argumentative force, and +propriety of taste, and frequently rose to the dignity of true eloquence. +They, in every instance, gave promise of that rhetorical finish, power of +statement, unity of thought and logical coherence, which, in subsequent +years, were so appropriately illustrated on other theaters of intellectual +effort. Mr. Davis participated prominently in the debates upon the Oregon +excitement, Native Americanism, and the various other contemporary topics +of interest, which were then before Congress, but was especially prominent +in the discussion of military affairs, the interests and requirements of +the army, and the measures devised for the prosecution of the Mexican war. +Upon the latter subjects his experience was of great practical value. + +On the 19th of December, 1845, he offered the following resolutions: +"_Resolved_, That the Committee on Military Affairs be instructed to +inquire into the expediency of converting a portion of the forts of the +United States into schools for military instruction, on the basis of +substituting their present garrisons of enlisted men, by detachments +furnished from each State of our Union, in the ratio of their several +representation in the Congress of the United States." + +"_Resolved_, That the Committee on the Post-office and Post-roads be +required to inquire into the expediency of establishing a direct daily +mail route from Montgomery, Alabama, to Jackson, Mississippi." + +The occasion of these motions was the first upon which he occupied the +floor of the House. + +On the 29th of December, Mr. Davis spoke in a very earnest and impressive +manner upon Native Americanism, which he strongly opposed, and on +subsequent occasions addressed the House in favor of the bill to receive +arms, barracks, fortifications, and other public property, the cession of +which to the Federal Government, by Texas, had been provided to take place +upon its admission to the Union; in favor of the proposition to raise +additional regiments of riflemen; in opposition to appropriations for +improvement of rivers and harbors; upon the Oregon question, and in favor +of a resolution of thanks to General Taylor and his army. + +The extracts from his speech on the Oregon question, and the speech in +favor of thanks to General Taylor and his army, which is here given in +full, are taken from the reports of the _Congressional Globe_. The +intelligent reader will appreciate their real value, as to accuracy, +without any suggestion from us. + +On February 6, 1846, the House, having resolved itself into Committee of +the Whole, and having under consideration the joint resolution of notice +to the British Government concerning the abrogation of the Convention +between the United States and Great Britain respecting the territory of +Oregon, Mr. Davis spoke at some length, and in an attractive and +instructive style, upon the subject before the House. A great portion of +the speech consists of interesting historical details, evincing a most +accurate acquaintance with the subject, and giving a clear and valuable +analysis of facts. We have space for only brief extracts, which are +sufficient to reveal Mr. Davis' position upon this important question: + +... "Sir, why has the South been assailed in this discussion? Has it been +with the hope of sowing dissensions between us and our Western friends? +Thus far, I think, it has failed. Why the frequent reference to the +conduct of the South on the Texas question? Sir, those who have made +reflections on the South as having sustained Texas annexation from +sectional views have been of those who opposed that great measure and are +most eager for this. The suspicion is but natural in them. But, sir, let +me tell them that this doctrine of the political balance between different +portions of the Union is no Southern doctrine. We, sir, advocated the +annexation of Texas from high national considerations. It was not a mere +Southern question; it lay coterminous to the Western States, and extended +as far north as the forty-second degree of latitude. Nor, sir, do we wish +to divide the territory of Oregon; we would preserve it all for the +extension of our Union. We would not arrest the onward progress of our +pioneers; we would not, as has been done in this debate, ask why our +citizens have left the repose of civil government and gone to Oregon? We +find in it but that energy which has heretofore been characteristic of our +people, and which has developed much that has illustrated our history. It +is the onward progress of our people toward the Pacific which alone can +arrest their westward march, and on the banks of which, to use the +language of our lamented Linn, the pioneer will sit down to weep that +there are no more forests to subdue.... It is, as the representative of a +high-spirited and patriotic people, that I am called on to resist this +war clamor. My constituents need no such excitements to prepare their +hearts for all that patriotism demands. Whenever the honor of the country +demands redress; whenever its territory is invaded--if, then, it shall be +sought to intimidate by the fiery cross of St. George--if, then, we are +threatened with the unfolding of English banners if we resent or +resist--from the gulf shore to the banks of that great river, throughout +out the length and breadth--Mississippi will come. And whether the +question be one of Northern or Southern, of Eastern or Western aggression, +we will not stop to count the cost, but act as becomes the descendants of +those who, in the war of the Revolution, engaged in unequal strife to aid +our brethren of the North in redressing their injuries.... We turn from +present hostility to former friendship--from recent defection to the time +when Massachusetts and Virginia, the stronger brothers of our family, +stood foremost and united to defend our common rights. From sire to son +has descended the love of our Union in our hearts, as in our history are +mingled the names of Concord and Camden, of Yorktown and Saratoga, of +Moultrie and Plattsburgh, of Chippewa and Erie, of Bowyer and Guildford, +and New Orleans and Bunker Hill. Grouped together, they form a monument to +the common glory of our common country; and where is the Southern man who +would wish that monument were less by one of the Northern names that +constitute the mass? Who, standing on the ground made sacred by the blood +of Warren, could allow sectional feeling to curb his enthusiasm as he +looked upon that obelisk which rises a monument to freedom's and his +country's triumph, and stands a type of the time, the men and event that +it commemorates; built of material that mocks the waves of time, without +niche or molding for parasite or creeping thing to rest on, and pointing +like a finger to the sky, to raise man's thoughts to philanthropic and +noble deeds." + +It is well known that, upon this subject, there was considerable division +among the Democracy. The effort to commit the party, as a unit, to a +position which would have inevitably produced war with England signally +failed. The country had not then reached its present pitch of arrogant +inflation, which emboldens it to seek opportunity for exhibition in the +vainglorious role of braggadocio. Mr. Davis, upon this and other +occasions, significantly rebuked the demagogical clamor which would have +precipitated the country into a calamitous war. His reply, on the 17th of +April, 1846, to Stephen A. Douglas, who was among the leading instigators +of the war-feeling in the House, is exceedingly forcible and spirited. + +The following speech in favor of the resolution of thanks to General +Taylor, the officers and men of his army, for their recent successes on +the Rio Grande, was delivered May 28, 1846: + +"As a friend to the army, he rejoiced at the evidence, now afforded, of a +disposition in this House to deal justly, to feel generously toward those +to whom the honor of our flag has been intrusted. Too often and too long +had we listened to harsh and invidious reflections upon our gallant little +army and the accomplished officers who command it. A partial opportunity +had been offered to exhibit their soldierly qualities in their true light, +and he trusted these aspersions were hushed--hushed now forever. As an +American, whose heart promptly responds to all which illustrates our +national character, and adds new glory to our national name, he rejoiced +with exceeding joy at the recent triumph of our arms. Yet it is no more +than he expected from the gallant soldiers who hold our post upon the Rio +Grande--no more than, when occasion offers, they will achieve again. It +was the triumph of American courage, professional skill, and that +patriotic pride which blooms in the breast of our educated soldier, and +which droops not under the withering scoff of political revilers. + +"These men will feel, deeply feel, the expression of your gratitude. It +will nerve their hearts in the hour of future conflicts, to know that +their country honors and acknowledges their devotion. It will shed a +solace on the dying moments of those who fall, to be assured their country +mourns their loss. This is the meed for which the soldier bleeds and dies. +This he will remember long after the paltry pittance of one month's extra +pay has been forgotten. + +"Beyond this expression of the nation's thanks, he liked the _principle_ +of the proposition offered by the gentleman from South Carolina. We have a +pension system providing for the disabled soldier, but he seeks well and +wisely to extend it to all who may be wounded, however slightly. It is a +reward offered to those who seek for danger, who first and foremost plunge +into the fight. It has been this incentive, extended so as to cover all +feats of gallantry, that has so often crowned the British arms with +victory, and caused their prowess to be recognized in every quarter of the +globe. It was the sure and high reward of gallantry, the confident +reliance upon their nation's gratitude, which led Napoleon's armies over +Europe, conquering and to conquer; and it was these influences which, in +an earlier time, rendered the Roman arms invincible, and brought their +eagle back victorious from every land on which it gazed. Sir, let not that +parsimony (for he did not deem it economy) prevent us from adopting a +system which in war will add so much to the efficiency of troops. Instead +of seeking to fill the ranks of your army by increased pay, let the +soldier feel that a liberal pension will relieve him from the fear of want +in the event of disability, provide for his family in the event of death, +and that he wins his way to gratitude and the reward of his countrymen by +periling all for honor in the field. + +"The achievement which we now propose to honor richly deserves it. Seldom, +sir, in the annals of military history has there been one in which +desperate daring and military skill were more happily combined. The enemy +selected his own ground, and united to the advantage of a strong position +a numerical majority of three to one. Driven from his first position by an +attack in which it is hard to say whether professional skill or manly +courage is to be more admired, he retired and posted his artillery on a +narrow defile, to sweep the ground over which our troops were compelled to +pass. There, posted in strength three times greater than our own, they +waited the approach of our gallant little army. + +"General Taylor knew the danger and destitution of the band he left to +hold his camp opposite Matamoras, and he paused for no regular approaches, +but opened his field artillery, and dashed with sword and bayonet on the +foe. A single charge left him master of their battery, and the number of +slain attests the skill and discipline of his army. Mr. D. referred to a +gentleman who, a short time since, expressed extreme distrust in our army, +and poured out the vials of his denunciation upon the graduates of the +Military Academy, He hoped now the gentleman will withdraw these +denunciations; that now he will learn the value of military science; that +he will see, in the location, the construction, the defenses of the +bastioned field-works opposite Matamoras, the utility, the necessity of a +military education. Let him compare the few men who held that with the +army who assailed it; let him mark the comparative safety with which they +stood within that temporary work; let him consider why the guns along its +ramparts were preserved, whilst they silenced the batteries of the enemy; +why that intrenchment stands unharmed by Mexican shot, whilst its guns +have crumbled the stone walls in Matamoras to the ground, and then say +whether he believes a blacksmith or a tailor could have secured the same +results. He trusted the gentleman would be convinced that arms, like every +occupation, requires to be studied before it can be understood; and from +these things to which he had called his attention, he will learn the power +and advantage of military science. He would make but one other allusion to +the remarks of the gentleman he had noticed, who said nine-tenths of the +graduates of the Military Academy abandoned the service of the United +States. If he would take the trouble to examine the records upon this +point, he doubted not he would be surprised at the extent of his mistake. +There he would learn that a majority of all the graduates are still in +service; and if he would push his inquiry a little further, he would find +that a large majority of the commissioned officers who bled in the action +of the 8th and 9th were graduates of that academy. + +"He would not enter into a discussion on the military at this time. His +pride, his gratification arose from the success of our arms. Much was due +to the courage which Americans have displayed on many battle-fields in +former times; but this courage, characteristic of our people, and +pervading all sections and all classes, could never have availed so much +had it not been combined with military science. And the occasion seemed +suited to enforce this lesson on the minds of those who have been +accustomed, in season and out of season, to rail at the scientific +attainments of our officers. + +"The influence of military skill--the advantage of discipline in the +troops--the power derived from the science of war, increases with the +increased size of the contending armies. With two thousand we had beaten +six thousand; with twenty thousand we would far more easily beat sixty +thousand, because the general must be an educated soldier who wields large +bodies of men, and the troops, to act efficiently, must be disciplined and +commanded by able officers. He but said what he had long thought and often +said, when he expressed his confidence in the ability of our officers to +meet those of any service--favorably to compare, in all that constitutes +the soldier, with any army in the world; and as the field widened for the +exhibition, so would their merits shine more brightly still. + +"With many of the officers now serving on the Rio Grande he had enjoyed a +personal acquaintance, and hesitated not to say that all which skill, and +courage, and patriotism could perform, might be expected from them. He had +forborne to speak of the general commanding on the Rio Grande on any +former occasion; but he would now say to those who had expressed distrust, +that the world held not a soldier better qualified for the service he was +engaged in than General Taylor. Trained from his youth to arms, having +spent the greater portion of his life on our frontier, his experience +peculiarly fits him for the command he holds. Such as his conduct was in +Fort Harrison, on the Upper Mississippi, in Florida, and on the Rio +Grande, will it be wherever he meets the enemy of his country. + +"Those soldiers, to whom so many have applied depreciatory epithets, upon +whom it has been so often said no reliance could be placed, they too will +be found, in every emergency renewing such feats as have recently graced +our arms, bearing the American flag to honorable triumphs, or falling +beneath its folds, as devotees to our common cause, to die a soldier's +death. + +"He rejoiced that the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Black) had shown +himself so ready to pay this tribute to our army. He hoped not a voice +would be raised in opposition to it--that nothing but the stern regret +which is prompted by remembrance of those who bravely fought and nobly +died will break the joy, the pride, the patriotic gratulation with which +we hail this triumph of our brethren on the Rio Grande." + +A striking feature of these two speeches, as, indeed, of all Mr. Davis' +Congressional speeches, is the strong and outspoken _national_ feeling +which pervades them. It is a part of the history of these times, that +while Jefferson Davis eloquently avowed a noble and generous sympathy with +his heroic compatriots in Mexico, a prominent Northern politician bespoke +for the American army, "a welcome with bloody hands to hospitable graves." +When, a few months afterwards, the names of Jefferson Davis and his +Mississippi Rifles were baptized in blood amid those frowning redoubts at +Monterey, and when, upon the ensanguined plain of Buena Vista, he fell +stricken in the very moment of victory, just as his genius and the valor +of his comrades had broken that last, furious onset of the Mexican +lancers, New England and her leaders stood indifferent spectators of the +scene.[5] Yet the same New England bounded eagerly to the conquest and +spoliation of their countrymen, and the same leaders clamored valiantly +for the humiliation, for the blood even, of Jefferson Davis, _as a traitor +and a rebel. Quosque tandem._ + +An interesting sequel of this speech was the debate, which it occasioned +two days afterwards, between Mr. Davis and Andrew Johnson, now President +of the United States. Mr. Johnson, who boasts so proudly of his plebeian +origin, and is yet said to be morbidly sensitive of the slightest allusion +to it by others, excepted to Mr. Davis' reference to the "tailor and +blacksmith," warmly eulogized those callings and mechanical avocations in +general, and took occasion to expatiate extensively upon the virtue and +intelligence of the masses. Mr. Davis, whose language is clearly not +susceptible of any interpretation disparaging to "blacksmiths and +tailors," disclaimed the imputation, saying that he had designed merely to +illustrate his argument, that the profession of arms, to be understood, +must be studied, and that a mechanic could no more fill the place of an +educated soldier, than could the latter supply the qualifications of the +former. Mr. Johnson, however, was resolved to seize the opportunity for a +panegyric upon the populace, and no explanations could avail. The _Globe_ +reports this debate as, "in all its stages, not being of an entirely +pleasant nature." + +As an appropriate conclusion to this sketch of Mr. Davis' career in the +House of Representatives, we quote the following extract from an +interesting work,[6] published some years since: "John Quincy Adams had a +habit of always observing new members. He would sit near them on the +occasion of their Congressional _debut_, closely eyeing and attentively +listening if the speech pleased him, but quickly departing if it did not. +When Davis first arose in the House, the Ex-President took a seat close +by. Davis proceeded, and Adams did not move. The one continued speaking +and the other listening; and those who knew Mr. Adams' habits were fully +aware that the new member had deeply impressed him. At the close of the +speech the 'Old Man Eloquent' crossed over to some friends and said, 'That +young man, gentlemen, is no ordinary man. He will make his mark yet, mind +me.'" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + THE NAME OF JEFFERSON DAVIS INSEPARABLE FROM THE HISTORY OF THE + MEXICAN WAR--HIS ESSENTIALLY MILITARY CHARACTER AND TASTES--JOINS + GENERAL TAYLOR'S ARMY ON THE RIO GRANDE, AS COLONEL OF THE FAMOUS + "MISSISSIPPI RIFLES"--MONTEREY--BUENA VISTA--GENERAL TAYLOR'S ACCOUNT + OF DAVIS' CONDUCT--DAVIS' REPORT OF THE ACTION--NOVELTY AND + ORIGINALITY OF HIS STRATEGY AT BUENA VISTA--INTERESTING STATEMENT OF + HON. CALEB CUSHING--RETURN OF DAVIS TO THE UNITED STATES--TRIUMPHANT + RECEPTION AT HOME--PRESIDENT POLK TENDERS HIM A BRIGADIER'S + COMMISSION, WHICH HE DECLINES ON PRINCIPLE. + + +The name of Davis is inseparable from those lettered glories of the +American Union, which were the brilliant trophies of the Mexican war. In +those bright annals it was engraven with unfading lustre upon the +conquering banners of the Republic, and his genius and valor were rewarded +with a fame which rests securely upon the laurels of Monterey and Buena +Vista. + +Jefferson Davis is a born soldier. Even if we could forget the glories of +the assault upon Teneria and El Diablo, and banish the thrilling +recollection of that movement at Buena Vista, the genius, novelty, and +intrepidity of which electrified the world of military science, and +extorted the enthusiastic admiration of the victor of Waterloo, we must +yet recognize the impress of those rare gifts and graces which are the +titles to authority. The erect yet easy carriage, the true martial dignity +of bearing, which is altogether removed from the supercilious _hauteur_ +of the mere martinet, the almost fascinating expression of _suaviter in +modo_, which yet does not for an instant conceal the _fortiter in re_, +constitute in him that imperial semblance, to which the mind involuntarily +concedes the right to supreme command. It is impossible, in the presence +of Mr. Davis, to deny this recognition of his intuitive soldiership. Not +only is obvious to the eye the commanding mien of the soldier, but the +order, the discipline of the educated soldier, whose nature, stern and +unflinching, was yet plastic to receive the impressions of an art with +which it felt an intuitive alliance. This military precision is +characteristic of Mr. Davis in every aspect in which he appears. There is +the constant fixedness of gaze upon the object to be reached, and the +cautious calculation of the chances of success with the means and forces +ready at hand; a constant regard for bases of supply and a proper concern +for lines of retreat, and, above all, the prompt and vigorous execution, +if success be practicable and the attack determined upon. Even in his +oratory and statesmanship are these characteristics evinced. In the former +there is far more of rhetorical order, harmony, and symmetry, than of +rhetorical ornament and display; and in the latter there is purpose, +consistency, and method, with little regard for the shifts of expediency +and the suggestions of hap-hazard temerity. + +The attachment of Mr. Davis for the profession of arms is little less than +a passion--an inspiration. True, he voluntarily abandoned the army, at an +age when military life is most attractive to men, but the field of +politics was far more inviting to a commendable aspiration for fame, than +the army at a season of profound peace. But a more potent consideration, +of a domestic nature, urged his withdrawal from military life. He was +about to be married, and preferred not to remain in the army after having +assumed the responsibilities of that relation. His speeches in the House +of Representatives, indicating his earnest interest in military affairs, +his solicitude in behalf of the army, his enthusiastic championship of the +Military Academy, and his thorough information respecting all subjects +pertaining to the military interests of the country, show his ambitious +and absorbing study of his favorite science. + +In common with an overwhelming majority of the Southern people, he had +favored the annexation of Texas, and cordially sustained Mr. Polk's +Administration, in all the measures which were necessary to the triumphant +success of its policy. While in the midst of his useful labors, as a +member of Congress, in promoting the war policy of the Government, he +received, with delight, the announcement of his selection to the command +of the First Regiment of Mississippi Volunteers. He immediately resigned +his seat in Congress and started to take command of his regiment, after +obtaining for it, with great difficulty, the rifles which were afterwards +used with such deadly effect upon the enemy. Overtaking his men, who were +already _en route_ for the scene of action, at New Orleans, by midsummer +he had reinforced General Taylor on the Rio Grande. + +The incidents of the Mexican war are too fresh in the recollection of the +country to justify here a detailed narrative of the operations of the +gallant army of General Taylor in its progress toward the interior from +the scenes of its splendid exploits at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. +For several weeks after the arrival of Colonel Davis and his +Mississippians, active hostilities were suspended. When the preparations +for the campaign were completed, the army advanced, and reached Walnut +Springs, about three miles from Monterey, on the 19th of September, 1846. +Two days afterwards began those series of actions which finally resulted +in the capitulation of a fortified city of great strength, and defended +with obstinate valor. Of the part borne in these brilliant operations +which so exalted the glory of the American name, and immortalized the +heroism of Southern volunteers, by Colonel Davis and his "Mississippi +Rifles," an able and graphic pen shall relate the story: + +"In the storming of Monterey, Colonel Davis and his riflemen played a most +gallant part. The storming of one of its strongest forts (Teneria) on the +21st of September was a desperate and hard-fought fight. The Mexicans had +dealt such death by their cross-fires that they ran up a new flag in +exultation, and in defiance of the assault which, at this time, was being +made in front and rear. The Fourth Infantry, in the advance, had been +terribly cut up, but the Mississippians and Tennesseeans steadily pressed +forward, under a galling fire of copper grape. They approached to within a +hundred yards of the fort, when they were lost in a volume of smoke. +McClung,[7] inciting a company which formerly had been under his command, +dashed on, followed by Captain Willis. Anticipating General Quitman, +Colonel Davis, about the same time, gave the order to charge. With wild +desperation, his men followed him. The escalade was made with the fury of +a tempest, the men flinging themselves upon the guns of the enemy. Sword +in hand, McClung has sprung over the ditch. After him dashes Davis, +cheering on the Mississippians, and then Campbell, with his Tennesseeans +and others, brothers in the fight, and rivals for its honors. Then was +wild work. The assault was irresistible. The Mexicans, terror-stricken, +fled like an Alpine village from the avalanche, and, taking position in a +strongly-fortified building, some seventy-five yards in the rear, opened a +heavy fire of musketry. But, like their mighty river, nothing could stay +the Mississippians. They are after the Mexicans. Davis and McClung are +simultaneously masters of the fortifications, having got in by different +entrances. In the fervor of victory the brigade does not halt, but, led on +by Colonel Davis, are preparing to charge on the second post, (El Diablo,) +about three hundred yards in the rear, when they are restrained by +Quitman. This desperate conflict lasted over two hours. The charge of the +Mississippi Rifle Regiment, without bayonets, upon Fort Teneria, gained +for the State a triumph which stands unparalleled. + +"Placed in possession of El Diablo, on the dawn of the 23d Colonel Davis +was exposed to a sharp fire from a half-moon redoubt, about one hundred +and fifty yards distant, which was connected with heavy stone buildings +and walls adjoining a block of the city. Returning the fire, he proceeded, +with eight men, to reconnoitre the ground in advance. Having reported, he +was ordered, with three companies of his regiment and one of Tennesseeans, +to advance on the works. + +"When they reached the half-moon work a tremendous fire was opened from +the stone buildings in the rear. Taking a less-exposed position, Davis was +reinforced, and, the balance of the Mississippians coming up, the +engagement became general in the street, while, from the house-tops, a +heavy fire was kept up by the Mexicans. 'The gallant Davis, leading the +advance with detached parties, was rapidly entering the city, penetrating +into buildings, and gradually driving the enemy from the position,' when +General Henderson and the Texan Rangers dismounted, entered the city, and, +through musketry and grape, made their way to the advance. The conflict +increased, and still Davis continued to lead his command through the +streets to within a square of the Grand Plaza, when, the afternoon being +far advanced, General Taylor withdrew the Americans to the captured +forts."[8] + +Thus, in their first engagement, the Mississippians and their commander +achieved a reputation which shall endure so long as men commemorate deeds +of heroism and devotion. Veteran troops, trained to despise death by the +dangers of a score of battles, have been immortalized in song and story +for exploits inferior to those of the "Mississippi Rifles" at Monterey. +Colonel Davis became one of the idols of the army, and took a prominent +place among the heroes of the war. The nation rang with the fame of "Davis +and his Mississippi Rifles;" the journals of the day were largely occupied +with graphic descriptions of their exploits; and the reports of superior +officers contributed their proud testimony to the history of the country, +to the chivalrous daring and consummate skill of Colonel Davis. A becoming +acknowledgment of his conduct was made by General Taylor in assigning him +a place on the commission of officers appointed to arrange with the +Mexicans the terms of capitulation. The result of the negotiations, +though approved by General Taylor, was not approved by the Administration, +which ordered a termination of the armistice agreed upon by the +commissioners from the respective armies and a speedy resumption of +hostilities. The terms of capitulation were assailed by many, who thought +them too lenient to the Mexicans; among others, by General Quitman, the +warm, personal, and political friend of Colonel Davis. A very important +portion of the history of the war consists of the latter's defense of the +terms of surrender and his memoranda of the incidents occurring in the +conferences with the Mexican officers. + +To sustain the proud prestige of Monterey--if possible to surpass it, +became henceforth the aspiration of the Mississippians. But the name of +Mississippi was to be made radiant with a new glory, beside which the +lustre of Monterey paled, as did the dawn of Lodi by the full-orbed +splendor of Austerlitz. All the world knows of the conduct of Jefferson +Davis at Buena Vista. How he virtually won a battle, which, considering +the disparity of the contending forces, must forever be a marvel to the +student of military science; how like Dessaix, at Marengo, he thought +there was "still time to win another battle," even when a portion of our +line was broken and in inglorious retreat, and acting upon the impulse +rescued victory from the jaws of defeat; saving an army from destruction, +and flooding with a blaze of triumph a field shrouded with the gloom of +disaster, are memories forever enshrined in the Temple of Fame. Americans +can never weary of listening to the thrilling incidents of that +ever-memorable day. By the South, the lesson of Buena Vista and kindred +scenes of the valor of her children, can never be forgotton. In these days +of her humiliation and despair, their proud memories throng upon her, as +do a thousand noble emotions upon the modern Greek, who stands upon the +sacred ground of Marathon and Plætea. + +The following vivid and powerful description of the more prominent +incidents of the battle is from the pen of Hon. J. F. H. Claiborne, of +Mississippi: + +"The battle had been raging sometime with fluctuating fortunes, and was +setting against us, when General Taylor, with Colonel Davis and others, +arrived on the field. Several regiments (which were subsequently rallied +and fought bravely) were in full retreat. O'Brien, after having his men +and horses completely cut up, had been compelled to draw off his guns, and +Bragg, with almost superhuman energy, was sustaining the brunt of the +fight. Many officers of distinction had fallen. Colonel Davis rode forward +to examine the position of the enemy, and concluding that the best way to +arrest our fugitives would be to make a bold demonstration, he resolved at +once to attack the enemy, there posted in force, immediately in front, +supported by cavalry, and two divisions in reserve in his rear. It was a +resolution bold almost to rashness, but the emergency was pressing. With a +handful of Indiana volunteers, who still stood by their brave old colonel +(Bowles) and his own regiment, he advanced at double-quick time, firing as +he advanced. His own brave fellows fell fast under the rolling musketry of +the enemy, but their rapid and fatal volleys carried dismay and death into +the adverse ranks. A deep ravine separated the combatants. Leaping into +it, the Mississippians soon appeared on the other side, and with a shout +that was heard over the battle-field, they poured in a well-directed fire, +and rushed upon the enemy. Their deadly aim and wild enthusiasm were +irresistible. The Mexicans fled in confusion to their reserves, and Davis +seized the commanding position they had occupied. He next fell upon a +party of cavalry and compelled it to fly, with the loss of their leader +and other officers. Immediately afterwards a brigade of lancers, one +thousand strong, were seen approaching at a gallop, in beautiful array, +with sounding bugles and fluttering pennons. It was an appalling +spectacle, but not a man flinched from his position. The time between our +devoted band and eternity seemed brief indeed. But conscious that the eye +of the army was upon them, that the honor of Mississippi was at stake, and +knowing that, if they gave way, or were ridden down, our unprotected +batteries in the rear, upon which the fortunes of the day depended, would +be captured, each man resolved to die in his place sooner than retreat. +Not the Spartan martyrs at Thermopylæ--not the sacred battalion of +Epaminondas--not the Tenth Legion of Julius Cæsar--not the Old Guard of +Napoleon--ever evinced more fortitude than these young volunteers in a +crisis when death seemed inevitable. They stood like statues, as frigid +and motionless as the marble itself. Impressed with this extraordinary +firmness, when they had anticipated panic and flight, the lancers advanced +more deliberately, as though they saw, for the first time, the dark shadow +of the fate that was impending over them. Colonel Davis had thrown his men +into the form of a reëntering angle, (familiarly known as his famous V +movement,) both flanks resting on ravines, the lancers coming down on the +intervening ridge. This exposed them to a converging fire, and the moment +they came within rifle range each man singled out his object, and the +whole head of the column fell. A more deadly fire never was delivered, and +the brilliant array recoiled and retreated, paralyzed and dismayed. + +"Shortly afterwards the Mexicans, having concentrated a large force on the +right for their final attack, Colonel Davis was ordered in that direction. +His regiment had been in action all day, exhausted by thirst and fatigue, +much reduced by the carnage of the morning engagement, and many in the +ranks suffering from wounds, yet the noble fellows moved at double-quick +time. Bowles' little band of Indiana volunteers still acted with them. +After marching several hundred yards they perceived the Mexican infantry +advancing, in three lines, upon Bragg's battery, which, though entirely +unsupported, held its position with a resolution worthy of his fame. The +pressure upon him stimulated the Mississippians. They increased their +speed, and when the enemy were within one hundred yards of the battery and +confident of its capture, they took him in flank and reverse, and poured +in a raking and destructive fire. This broke his right line, and the rest +soon gave way and fell back precipitately. Here Colonel Davis was severely +wounded." + +The wound here alluded to was from a musket ball in the heel, and was +exceedingly painful, though Colonel Davis refused to leave the field until +the action was over. For some time grave apprehensions were entertained +lest it should prove dangerous by the setting in of erysipelas. + +General Taylor, who was deeply impressed with the large share of credit +due to Colonel Davis, in his official report of the battle, says: "The +Mississippi Riflemen, under Colonel Davis, were highly conspicuous for +their gallantry and steadiness, and sustained throughout the engagement, +the reputation of veteran troops. Brought into action against an immensely +superior force, they maintained themselves for a long time, unsupported +and with heavy loss, and held an important part of the field until +reinforced. Colonel Davis, though severely wounded, remained in the saddle +until the close of the action. His distinguished coolness and gallantry, +at the head of his regiment on this day, entitle him to the particular +notice of the Government." + +The report of Colonel Davis, of the operations of his regiment, is highly +important as a description of the most important features of the action, +and as an explanation of his celebrated strategic movement. We omit such +portions as embrace mere details not relevant to our purpose. + + "SALTILLO, MEXICO, 2d March, 1847. + + "SIR: In compliance with your note of yesterday, I have the honor to + present the following report of the service of the Mississippi + Riflemen on the 23d ultimo: + + "Early in the morning of that day the regiment was drawn out from the + head-quarters encampment, which stood in advance of and overlooked the + town of Saltillo. Conformably to instructions, two companies were + detached for the protection of that encampment, and to defend the + adjacent entrance of the town. The remaining eight companies were put + in march to return to the position of the preceding day, now known as + the battle-field of Buena Vista. We had approached to within about two + miles of that position, when the report of artillery firing, which + reached us, gave assurance that a battle had commenced. Excited by the + sound, the regiment pressed rapidly forward, manifesting, upon this, + as upon other occasions, their more than willingness to meet the + enemy. At the first convenient place the column was halted for the + purpose of filling their canteens with water; and the march being + resumed, was directed toward the position which had been indicated to + me, on the previous evening, as the post of our regiment. As we + approached the scene of action, horsemen, recognized as of our troops, + were seen running, dispersed and confusedly from the field; and our + first view of the line of battle presented the mortifying spectacle of + a regiment of infantry flying disorganized from before the enemy. + These sights, so well calculated to destroy confidence and dispirit + troops just coming into action, it is my pride and pleasure to + believe, only nerved the resolution of the regiment I have the honor + to command. + + "Our order of march was in column of companies, advancing by their + centers. The point which had just been abandoned by the regiment + alluded to, was now taken as our direction. I rode forward to examine + the ground upon which we were going to operate, and in passing through + the fugitives, appealed to them to return with us and renew the fight, + pointing to our regiment as a mass of men behind which they might + securely form. + + "With a few honorable exceptions, the appeal was as unheeded, as were + the offers which, I am informed, were made by our men to give their + canteens of water to those who complained of thirst, on condition that + they would go back. General Wool was upon the ground making great + efforts to rally the men who had given way. I approached him and asked + if he would send another regiment to sustain me in an attack upon the + enemy before us. He was alone, and, after promising the support, went + in person to send it. Upon further examination, I found that the slope + we were ascending was intersected by a deep ravine, which, uniting + obliquely with a still larger one on our right, formed between them a + point of land difficult of access by us, but which, spreading in a + plain toward the base of the mountain, had easy communication with + the main body of the enemy. This position, important from its natural + strength, derived a far greater value from the relation it bore to our + order of battle and line of communication with the rear. The enemy, in + number many times greater than ourselves, supported by strong + reserves, flanked by cavalry and elated by recent success, was + advancing upon it. The moment seemed to me critical and the occasion + to require whatever sacrifice it might cost to check the enemy. + + "My regiment, having continued to advance, was near at hand. I met and + formed it rapidly into order of battle; the line then advanced in + double-quick time, until within the estimated range of our rifles, + when it was halted, and ordered to 'fire advancing.' + + "The progress of the enemy was arrested. We crossed the difficult + chasm before us, under a galling fire, and in good order renewed the + attack upon the other side. The contest was severe--the destruction + great upon both sides. We steadily advanced, and, as the distance + diminished, the ratio of loss increased rapidly against the enemy; he + yielded, and was driven back on his reserves. A plain now lay behind + us--the enemy's cavalry had passed around our right flank, which + rested on the main ravine, and gone to our rear. The support I had + expected to join us was nowhere to be seen. I therefore ordered the + regiment to retire, and went in person to find the cavalry, which, + after passing round our right, had been concealed by the inequality of + the ground. I found them at the first point where the bank was + practicable for horsemen, in the act of descending into the ravine--no + doubt for the purpose of charging upon our rear. The nearest of our + men ran quickly to my call, attacked this body, and dispersed it with + some loss. I think their commander was among the killed. + + "The regiment was formed again in line of battle behind the first + ravine we had crossed; soon after which we were joined upon our left + by Lieutenant Kilbourn, with a piece of light artillery, and Colonel + Lane's (the Third) regiment of Indiana volunteers.... We had proceeded + but a short distance when I saw a large body of cavalry debouche from + his cover upon the left of the position from which we had retired, and + advance rapidly upon us. The Mississippi regiment was filed to the + right, and fronted in line across the plain; the Indiana regiment was + formed on the bank of the ravine, in advance of our right flank, by + which a reëntering angle was presented to the enemy. Whilst this + preparation was being made, Sergeant-Major Miller, of our regiment, + was sent to Captain Sherman for one or more pieces of artillery from + his battery. + + "The enemy, who was now seen to be a body of richly-caparisoned + lancers, came forward rapidly, and in beautiful order--the files and + ranks so closed as to look like a mass of men and horses. Perfect + silence and the greatest steadiness prevailed in both lines of our + troops, as they stood at shouldered arms waiting an attack. Confident + of success, and anxious to obtain the full advantage of a cross-fire + at a short distance, I repeatedly called to the men not to shoot. + + "As the enemy approached, his speed regularly diminished, until, when, + within eighty or a hundred yards, he had drawn up to a walk, and + seemed about to halt. A few files fired without orders, and both lines + then instantly poured in a volley so destructive that the mass yielded + to the blow and the survivors fled.... At this time, the enemy made + his last attack upon the right, and I received the General's order to + march to that portion of the field. The broken character of the + intervening ground concealed the scene of action from our view; but + the heavy firing of musketry formed a sufficient guide for our course. + After marching two or three hundred yards, we saw the enemy's infantry + advancing in three lines upon Captain Bragg's battery; which, though + entirely unsupported, resolutely held its position, and met the attack + with a fire worthy the former achievements of that battery, and of the + reputation of its present meritorious commander. We pressed on, + climbed the rocky slope of the plain on which this combat occurred, + reached its brow so as to take the enemy in flank and reverse when he + was about one hundred yards from the battery. Our first fire--raking + each of his lines, and opened close upon his flank--was eminently + destructive. His right gave way, and he fled in confusion. + + "In this, the last contest of the day, my regiment equaled--it was + impossible to exceed--my expectations. Though worn down by many hours + of fatigue and thirst, the ranks thinned by our heavy loss in the + morning, they yet advanced upon the enemy with the alacrity and + eagerness of men fresh to the combat. In every approbatory sense of + these remarks I wish to be included a party of Colonel Bowles' Indiana + regiment, which served with us during the greater part of the day, + under the immediate command of an officer from that regiment, whose + gallantry attracted my particular attention, but whose name, I regret, + is unknown to me. When hostile demonstrations had ceased, I retired to + a tent upon the field for surgical aid, having been wounded by a + musket ball when we first went into action.... Every part of the + action having been fought under the eye of the commanding General, the + importance and manner of any service it was our fortune to render, + will be best estimated by him. But in view of my own responsibility, + it may be permitted me to say, in relation to our first attack upon + the enemy, that I considered the necessity absolute and immediate. No + one could have failed to perceive the hazard. The enemy, in greatly + disproportionate numbers, was rapidly advancing. We saw no friendly + troops coming to our support, and probably none except myself expected + reinforcement. Under such circumstances, the men cheerfully, ardently + entered into the conflict; and though we lost, in that single + engagement, more than thirty killed and forty wounded, the regiment + never faltered nor moved, except as it was ordered. Had the expected + reinforcement arrived, we could have prevented the enemy's cavalry + from passing to our rear, results more decisive might have been + obtained, and a part of our loss have been avoided.... + + "I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant. + + "JEFFERSON DAVIS, + "_Colonel Mississippi Rifles_. + + "MAJOR W. W. S. BLISS, _Assistant Adjutant-General_." + +The reputation earned by Colonel Davis at Buena Vista could not fail to +provoke the assaults of envy. An effort, equally unwarranted and +unsuccessful, has since been made to deprive him of a portion of his +merited fame of having conceived and executed a movement decisive of the +battle. It has been pretended, in disparagement of the strategy of Colonel +Davis, that his celebrated V movement (for so it is, and will always be +known) had not the merit of originality, and besides was forced upon him +by the circumstances in which he was placed, and especially by the +conformation of the ground, which would not admit of a different +disposition of his troops. Such a judgment is merely hypercritical. There +is no account in military history, from the campaigns of Cæsar to those of +Napoleon, of such a tactical conception, unless we include a +slightly-analogous case at Waterloo. The movement in the latter +engagement, however, differs essentially from that executed by Davis at +Buena Vista. A party of Hanoverian cavalry, assailed by French huzzars, at +the intersection of two roads, by forming a salient, repulsed their +assailants almost as effectually as did the reëntrant angle of the +Mississippians at Buena Vista. As to the second criticism, it is certainly +a novel accusation against an officer, that he should, by a quick +appreciation of his situation, avail himself of the only possible means by +which he could not only extricate his own command from imminent peril of +destruction, but also avert a blow delivered at the safety of the entire +army. + +In a lecture on "The Expatriated Irish in Europe and America," delivered +in Boston, February 11, 1858, the Hon. Caleb Cushing thus alludes to this +subject: "In another of the dramatic incidents of that field, a man of +Celtic race (Jefferson Davis) at the head of the Rifles of Mississippi, +had ventured to do that of which there is, perhaps, but one other example +in the military history of modern times. In the desperate conflicts of the +Crimea, at the battle of Inkermann, in one of those desperate charges, +there was a British officer who ventured to receive the charge of the +enemy without the precaution of having his men formed in a hollow square. +They were drawn up in two lines, meeting at a point like an open fan, and +received the charge of the Russians at the muzzle of their guns, and +repelled it. Sir Colin Campbell, for this feat of arms, among others, was +selected as the man to retrieve the fallen fortunes of England in India. +He did, however, but imitate what Jefferson Davis had previously done in +Mexico, who, in that trying hour, when, with one last desperate effort to +break the line of the American army, the cavalry of Mexico was +concentrated in one charge against the American line; then, I say, +Jefferson Davis commanded his men to form in two lines, extended as I have +shown, and receive that charge of the Mexican horse, with a plunging fire +from the right and left from the Mississippi Rifles, which repelled, and +repelled for the last time, the charge of the hosts of Mexico." + +These puerile criticisms, however, were unavailing against the concurrent +testimony of Taylor, Quitman, and Lane, and the grateful plaudits of the +army, to shake the popular judgment, which rarely fails, in the end, to +discriminate between the false glare of cheaply-earned glory and the just +renown of true heroism. + +The term of enlistment of his regiment having expired, Colonel Davis, in +July, 1847, just twelve months after the resignation of his seat in the +House of Representatives, returned to the United States. His progress +toward his home was attended by a series of congratulatory receptions, the +people every-where assembling _en masse_ to do honor to the "Hero of Buena +Vista." Mississippi extended a triumphant greeting to her +soldier-statesman, who, resigning the civic trust which she had confided +to his keeping, had carried her flag in triumph amid the thunders of +battle and the wastes of carnage, carving the name of Mississippi in an +inscription of enduring renown. + +During his journey homeward, there occurred a most impressive illustration +of that strict devotion to principle which, above all other +considerations, is the real solution of every act of his life, public and +private. While in New Orleans, Colonel Davis was offered, by President +Polk, a commission as Brigadier-General of Volunteers, an honor which he +unhesitatingly declined, on the ground that no such commission could be +conferred by Federal authority, either by appointment of the President or +by act of Congress. As an advocate of States' Rights, he could not +countenance, even for the gratification of his own ambition, a plain +infraction of the rights of the States, to which respectively, the +Constitution reserves the appointment of officers of the militia.[9] The +soldier's pride in deserved promotion for distinguished services, could +not induce the statesman to forego his convictions of Constitutional +right. The declination of this high distinction was entirely consistent +with his opinions previously entertained and expressed. Before he resigned +his seat in the House of Representatives, the bill authorizing such +appointments by the President was introduced, and rapidly pressed to its +passage. Mr. Davis detected the Constitutional infraction which it +involved, and opposed it. He designed to address the House, but was +suddenly called away from Washington, and before leaving had an +understanding with the Chairman of the Committee from which the bill had +come, that it would not be called up before the ensuing Monday. On his +return, however, he found that the friends of the measure had forced its +passage on the previous Saturday. + +This is but one in a thousand evidences of an incorruptible loyalty to his +convictions, which would dare face all opposition and has braved all +reproach. It is an attribute of true greatness in the character of +Jefferson Davis, which not even his enemies have called in question, to +which candor must ever accord the tribute of infinite admiration. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + MR. DAVIS IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE, FIRST BY EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENT, + AND SUBSEQUENTLY BY UNANIMOUS CHOICE OF THE LEGISLATURE OF HIS + STATE--POPULAR ADMIRATION NOT LESS FOR HIS CIVIC TALENTS THAN HIS + MILITARY SERVICES--FEATURES OF HIS PUBLIC CAREER--HIS CHARACTER AND + CONDUCT AS A SENATOR--AS AN ORATOR AND PARLIAMENTARY LEADER--HIS + INTREPIDITY--AN INCIDENT WITH HENRY CLAY--DAVIS THE LEADER OF THE + STATES' RIGHTS PARTY IN CONGRESS--THE AGITATION OF 1850--DAVIS OPPOSES + THE COMPROMISE--FOLLY OF THE SOUTH IN ASSENTING TO THAT SETTLEMENT-- + DAVIS NOT A DISUNIONIST IN 1850, NOR A REBEL IN 1861--HIS CONCEPTION + OF THE CHARACTER OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT--LOGICAL ABSURDITY OF + CLAY'S POSITION EXPOSED BY DAVIS--THE IDEAL UNION OF THE LATTER--WHY + HE OPPOSED THE COMPROMISE--THE NEW MEXICO BILL--DAVIS' GROWING FAME AT + THIS PERIOD--HIS FREQUENT ENCOUNTERS WITH CLAY, AND WARM FRIENDSHIP + BETWEEN THEM--SIGNAL TRIUMPH OF THE UNION SENTIMENT, AND ACQUIESCENCE + OF THE SOUTH. + + +Within less than two months from his return to Mississippi, Colonel Davis +was appointed by the Governor of the State to fill the vacancy in the +United States Senate occasioned by the death of General Speight. At a +subsequent session of the Legislature, the selection of the Governor was +confirmed by his unanimous election for the residue of the unexpired term. +Seldom has there been a tender of public honor more deserved by the +recipient, and more cheerfully accorded by the constituent body. It was +the grateful tribute of popular appreciation to the hero who had risked +his life for the glory of his country, and the worthy recognition of +abilities which had been proven adequate to the responsibilities of the +highest civic trust. Doubtless Colonel Davis owed much of the signal +unanimity and enthusiasm which accompanied this expression of popular +favor to his brilliant services in Mexico. The military passion is strong +in the human breast, and the sentiment of homage to prowess, illustrated +on the battle-field and in the face of danger, is one of the few +chivalrous instincts which survive the influence of the sordid vices and +vulgarisms of human nature. In all ages men have declaimed and reasoned +against the expediency of confiding civil authority to the keeping of +soldiers, and have cautioned the masses against the risk of entrusting the +public liberties to the stern and dictatorial will educated in the rugged +discipline and habits of the camp. Yet the masses, in all time, will +continue their awards of distinction to martial exploits with a fervor not +characteristic of their recognition of any other public service. + +But the tribute had a higher motive, if possible, than the generous +impulse of gratitude to the "Hero of Buena Vista," in the universal +conviction of his eminent fitness for the position. His service in the +House of Representatives, brief as it was, had designated him, months +before his Mexican laurels had been earned, as a man, not only of mark, +but of promise; of decided and progressive intellectual power; of +pronounced mental and moral individuality. + +Of all the public men of America, Jefferson Davis is the least indebted +for his long and noble career of distinction to adventitious influences or +merely temporary popular impulses. The sources of his strength have been +the elements of his character and the resources of his genius. Never +hoping to _stumble_ upon success, by a stolid indifference amid the +fluctuations of fortune, nor engaged in the role of the trimmer, who +adjusts his conduct conformably with every turn of the popular current, +his hopes of success have rested upon the merits of principle alone. He +has succeeded in all things _where success was possible_, and failed, at +last, in contradiction of every lesson of previous experience, with the +light of all history pleading his vindication, and to the disappointment +of the nearly unanimous judgment of disinterested mankind. + +A peculiar feature in the public career of Mr. Davis was its steady and +consecutive development. He has accepted service, always and only, in +obedience to the concurrent confidence of his fellow-citizens in his +peculiar qualifications for the emergency. From the beginning he gave the +promise of those high capacities which the fervid eulogy of Grattan +accorded to Chatham--to "strike a blow in the world that should resound +through its history." His first election to Congress was the spontaneous +acknowledgment of the profound impression produced by his earliest +intellectual efforts. The consummate triumph of his genius and valor at +Buena Vista did not exceed the anticipations of his friends, who knew the +ardor and assiduity of his devotion to his cherished science, and now in +the noble arena of the American Senate his star was still to be in the +ascendant. + +At the first session of the Thirtieth Congress, Jefferson Davis took his +seat as a Senator of the United States from the State of Mississippi. The +entire period of his connection with the Senate, from 1847 to 1851, and +from 1857 to 1861, scarcely comprises eight years; but those were years +pregnant with the fate of a nation, and in their brief progress he stood +in that august body the equal of giant intellects, and grappled, with the +power and skill of a master, the great ideas and events of those +momentous days. Mr. Davis could safely trust, whatever of ambition he may +cherish for the distinguished consideration of posterity, to a faithful +record of his service in the Senate. His senatorial fame is a beautiful +harmony of the most pronounced and attractive features of the best +parliamentary models. He was as intrepid and defiant as Chatham, but as +scholarly as Brougham; as elegant and perspicuous in diction as Canning, +and often as profound and philosophical in his comprehension of general +principles as Burke; when roused by a sense of injury, or by the force of +his earnest conviction, as much the incarnation of fervor and zeal as +Grattan, but, like Fox, subtle, ready, and always armed _cap a pie_ for +the quick encounters of debate. + +Among all the eminent associates of Mr. Davis in that body, there were +very few who possessed his peculiar qualifications for its most +distinguished honors. His character, no less than his demeanor, may be +aptly termed senatorial, and his bearing was always attuned to his noble +conception of the Senate as an august assemblage of the embassadors of +sovereign States. He carried to the Senate the loftiest sense of the +dignity and responsibility of his trust, and convictions upon political +questions, which were the result of the most thorough and elaborate +investigation. Never for one instant varying from the principles of his +creed, he never doubted as to the course of duty; profound, accurate in +information, there was no question pertaining to the science of government +or its administration that he did not illuminate with a light, clear, +powerful, and original. + +It has been remarked of Mr. Davis' style as a speaker, that it is "orderly +rather than ornate," and the remark is correct so far as it relates to the +mere statement of the conditions of the discussion. For mere rhetorical +glitter, Mr. Davis' speeches afford but poor models, but for clear logic +and convincing argument, apt illustration, bold and original imagery, and +genuine pathos, they are unsurpassed by any ever delivered in the American +Senate. Though the Senate was, undoubtedly, his appropriate arena as an +orator, and though it may well be doubted whether he was rivaled in +senatorial eloquence by any contemporary, Mr. Davis is hardly less gifted +in the attributes of popular eloquence. Upon great occasions he will move +a large crowd with an irresistible power. As a popular orator, he does not +seek to sway and toss the will with violent and passionate emotion, but +his eloquence is more a triumph of argument aided by an enlistment of +passion and persuasion to reason and conviction. He has less of the +characteristics of Mirabeau, than of that higher type of eloquence, of +which Cicero, Burke, and George Canning were representatives, and which is +pervaded by passion, subordinated to the severer tribunal of intellect. It +was the privilege of the writer, on repeated occasions, during the late +war, to witness the triumph of Mr. Davis' eloquence over a popular +assemblage. Usually the theme and the occasion were worthy of the orator, +and difficult indeed would it be to realize a nobler vision of the majesty +of intellect. To a current of thought, perennial and inexhaustible, +compact, logical and irresistible, was added a fire that threw its warmth +into the coldest bosom, and infused a glow of light into the very core of +the subject. His voice, flexible and articulate, reaching any compass that +was requisite, attitude and gestures, all conspired to give power and +expression to his language, and the hearer was impressed as though in the +presence of the very transfiguration of eloquence. The printed efforts of +Mr. Davis will not only live as memorials of parliamentary and popular +eloquence, but as invaluable stores of information to the political and +historical student. They epitomize some of the most important periods of +American history, and embrace the amplest discussion of an extended range +of subjects pertaining to almost every science. + +The development in Mr. Davis of the high and rare qualities, requisite to +parliamentary leadership, was rapid and decisive. His nature instinctively +aspires to influence and power, and under no circumstances could it rest +contented in an attitude of inferiority. Independence, originality, and +intrepidity, added to earnest and intelligent conviction; unwavering +devotion to principle and purpose; a will stern and inexorable, and a +disposition frank, courteous, and generous, are features of character +which rarely fail to make a representative man. After the death of Mr. +Calhoun, he was incomparably the ablest exponent of States' Rights +principles, and even during the life of that great publicist, Mr. Davis, +almost equally with him, shared the labors and responsibilities of +leadership. His personal courage is of that knightly order, which in an +age of chivalry would have sought the trophies of the tourney, and his +moral heroism fixed him immovably upon the solid rock of principle, +indifferent to the inconvenience of being in a minority and in no dread of +the storms of popular passion. His faith in his principles was no less +earnest than his confidence in his ability to triumphantly defend them. In +the midst of the agitation and excitement of 1850, Henry Clay, the Great +Compromiser, whose brilliant but erring genius so long and fatally led +estray, from the correct understanding of the vital issue at stake between +the North and the South, a numerous party of noble and true-hearted +Southern gentlemen, furnished the occasion of an impressive illustration +of this quality. Turning, in debate, to the Mississippi Senator, he +notified the latter of his purpose, at some future day, to debate with him +elaborately, an important question of principle. "Now is the moment," was +the reply of the intrepid Davis, ever eager to champion his beloved and +imperiled South, equally against her avowed enemies, and the not less +fatal policy of those who were but too willing to compromise upon an issue +vital to her rights and dignity. And what a shock of arms might then have +been witnessed, could Clay have dispelled thirty years of his ripe +three-score and ten! Each would have found a foeman worthy of his steel. +In answer to this bold defiance, Clay, like Hotspur, would have rushed to +the charge, with visor up and lance _couchant_; and Davis, another +Saladin, no less frank than his adversary, but far more dexterous, would +have met him with a flash of that Damascus scymetar, whose first blow +severed the neck of the foeman. + +That would have been a bold ambition that could demand a formal tender of +leadership from the brilliant array of gallant gentlemen, ripe scholars, +distinguished orators and statesmen, who, for twenty years before the war, +were the valiant champions in Congress of the principles and aspirations +of the South. Yet few will deny the preëminence of Mr. Davis, in the eye +of the country and the world, among States' Rights leaders. Equally with +Mr. Calhoun, as the leader of a great intellectual movement, he stamped +his impress upon the enduring tablets of time. + +Like Mr. Calhoun, too, Mr. Davis gave little evidence of capacity or taste +for mere party tactics. Neither would have performed the duties of +drill-sergeant, in local organizations, for the purposes of a political +canvass, so well as hundreds of men of far lighter calibre and less +stability. Happily, both sought and found a more congenial field of +action. + +The unexpired term, for which Mr. Davis had been elected in 1847, ended in +1851, and, though he was immediately reëlected, in consequence of his +subsequent resignation his first service in the Senate ended with the term +for which he had first been elected. A recurrence to the records of +Congress will exhibit the eventful nature of this period, especially in +its conclusion. In the earlier portion of his senatorial service, Mr. +Davis participated conspicuously in debate and in the general business of +legislation. Here, as in the House of Representatives, his views upon +military affairs were always received with marked respect, and no measure +looking to the improvement of the army failed to receive his cordial +coöperation. + +The extensive conquests of the army in Mexico, and the necessity of +maintaining the authority of the Federal Government in the conquered +country until the objects of the war could be consummated, created +considerable embarrassment. Upon this subject Mr. Davis spoke frequently +and intelligently. His sagacity indicated a policy equally protective of +the advantages which the valor of the army had achieved, and humane to the +conquered. In a debate with Mr. John Bell, in February, 1848, he defined +himself as favoring such a military occupation as would "prevent the +General Government of Mexico, against which this war had been directed, +from reëstablishing its power and again concentrating the scattered +fragments of its army to renew active hostilities against us." He +disclaimed the motive, in this policy, of territorial acquisition, and +earnestly deprecated interference with the political institutions of the +Mexicans. The estimate entertained by the Senate, of his judgment and +information upon military subjects, was indicated by his almost unanimous +election, (thirty-two for Mr. Davis, and five for all others,) during the +session of the Thirty-first Congress, as Chairman of the Committee on +Military Affairs. His speeches on the subject of offering congratulations +to the French people upon their recent successful political revolution, +resulting in the establishment of a republican form of government, the +proposed organization of the territorial government of Oregon, upon +various subjects of practical and scientific interest, and his incidental +discussions of the subject of slavery, were able, eloquent, and +characteristic. + +The session of Congress in 1849 and 1850 brought with it a most angry and +menacing renewal of sectional agitation. Previous events and innumerable +indications of popular sentiment had clearly revealed to candid minds, +every-where, that the increasing sectional preponderance of the North, and +its growing hostility to slavery, portended results utterly ruinous to the +rights and institutions of the South. To the South it was literally a +question of vitality, to secure some competent check upon the aggressive +strength of the North. To maintain any thing like a sectional balance, the +South must necessarily secure to her institutions, at least, a fair share +of the common domain to be hereafter created into States. The immense +territorial acquisitions resulting from the Mexican war were now the +subjects of controversy. After a contest, protracted through several +months, and eliciting the most violent exhibitions of sectional feeling, a +plan of adjustment, under the auspices chiefly of Henry Clay, whose fatal +gift was to preserve, for a time, the peace of the country by the +concession of the most precious and vital rights of his section to an +insolent and insatiate fanaticism, was finally reached. This settlement, +known, by way of distinction, as the "Compromise of 1850," averting for +the time the dangers of disunion and civil war, met the approval of the +advocates of expediency, but was opposed, with heroic pertinacity, by Mr. +Davis and his associates of the States' Rights party. They saw the +hollowness of its pretended justice, its utter worthlessness as a +guarantee to the South, and sought to defeat it--first in Congress, and +afterwards by the popular voice. But the sentiment of attachment to the +Union triumphed over every consideration of interest, principle, even +security, and the snare succeeded. Again the South receded, again received +the stone instead of the asked-for loaf, and again did she _compromise_ +her most sacred rights and dearest interests, receiving, in return, the +reluctant and insincere guarantee of the recovery of her stolen slaves. + +The folly of the South in assenting to this adjustment is now obvious to +the dullest understanding, and subsequent events were swift to vindicate +the wisdom, patriotism, and foresight of Mr. Davis and those who sustained +him in opposition to the much-vaunted Union-saving compromise. Yet, they +were no more disunionists in 1850 than rebels and traitors in 1861. The +charge of disunionism was freely iterated against them, and not without +effect, even in their own section, where the sentimental attachment to the +Union was stronger, just as its sacrifices in behalf of the Union were +greater, than those of the North. Jefferson Davis never was a disunionist, +not even in his subsequent approval of secession, in the sense of a wanton +and treasonable disposition to sever the bonds of that association of +co-equal sovereignties which the founders of the Federal Government +bequeathed to their posterity. + +His action, at all times, has been thoroughly consistent with his +declared opinions, and with the earnest attachment to the Union, avowed in +his congressional speeches and in his public addresses every-where. In +1850 and in 1861 his course was the logical sequence of his opinions, +maintained and asserted from his introduction to public life. To save the +Union, upon the only basis upon which it could rest as a guarantee of +liberty,--the basis of absolute equality among the States; to blend +Federal power and States' Rights, was the grand, paramount object to which +all his aspirations and all his investigations of political science were +directed. Repudiating the power of a State to nullify an act of Congress, +and yet not surrender its normal relations as a member of the Union, he +always asserted the right of secession, in the last resort, as an +original, inherent, and vital attribute of State Sovereignty. The Federal +Government, to his mind, was a mere agent of the States, created by them +for a few general and intestate purposes, but having in it no principle +subversive of the paramount sovereignty of the States. Rapidly extending +its power by enactments of Congress and judicial constructions, he +foresaw, and sought to counteract, its tendency to obliterate all State +individuality, and ultimately absorb into its own keeping the liberties of +the people. With dread and indignation, he contemplated its progress +towards that _monstrum horrendum_, a consolidated democracy--the Union of +to-day, in which we see that the _will of the majority is the sole measure +of its powers_. + +Such was his consistency, and such his sagacity, as vindicated in the +light of subsequent events, and patent to the eyes of the world to-day. +Who can now doubt which was the better and more logical theory? Clay said: +"I owe allegiance to two sovereignties, and only two: one is to the +sovereignty of this Union, and the other is to the sovereignty of the +State of Kentucky." Thus he held to the paradox of an _imperium in +imperio_, that obvious absurdity in our system of government, a divided +sovereignty. In his ardent Unionism, the great exponent of expediency +disavowed allegiance to the _South_, though still holding to his +allegiance to Kentucky. But suppose Kentucky asserts her sovereignty, and +chooses to unite with the South, what, then, becomes of State Sovereignty +and State allegiance? Just here was the _hiatus_ in Clay's logic, and, +closely pressed by Davis, he emphatically declared his _first_ allegiance +to the Union as the supreme authority; and the State Sovereignty of Clay's +conception was seen to be as intangible and unreal as the "baseless fabric +of a vision." + +Far more fair in its semblance, noble in its proportions, and beautiful in +its harmonies, was the ideal of Davis. In his speech on the compromise +measures, July 31, 1850, he said: + + "Give to each section of the Union justice; give to every citizen of + the United States his rights as guaranteed by the Constitution; leave + this Confederacy to rest upon that basis from which it arose--the + fraternal feelings of the people--and I, for one, have no fear of its + perpetuity; none that it will not survive beyond the limits of human + speculation, expanding and hardening with the lapse of time, to extend + its blessings to ages unnumbered, and a people innumerable; to include + within its empire all the useful products of the earth, and exemplify + the capacity of a confederacy, with general, well-defined powers, to + extend illimitably without impairing its harmony or its strength." + +The grounds of Mr. Davis' opposition to the so-called "Compromise" +programme of Mr. Clay were far otherwise than a factious and impracticable +hostility to an amicable adjustment of sectional differences. He +conscientiously doubted the disposition of the North to abstain from all +future interference with Southern institutions, and he detected and +exposed the utter want of efficacy of the compromise measures as an +assurance of protection against future aggression. He abhorred the +substitution of expediency for principle; could see no _compromise_ where +one side simply _surrendered_ what the other had no right to demand, and +correctly estimated this settlement, like those which had preceded it, as +but an invitation to still more intolerable exactions by an implacable +sectional majority. While discussing, in private conversation with Mr. +Clay, the merits of Mr. Webster's memorable speech of the 7th of March, +1850, a few days after its delivery, he briefly, but sufficiently defined +his position. "Come," said Mr. Clay, "my young friend; join us in these +measures of pacification. Let us rally Congress and the people to their +support, and they will assure to the country thirty years of peace. By +that time" (turning to John M. Berrien, who was a party to the +conversation) "you and I will be under the sod, and my young friend may +then have trouble again." "No," said Davis, "I can not consent to transfer +to posterity a question which is as much ours as theirs, when it is +evident that the sectional inequality, as it will be greater then than +now, will render hopeless the attainment of justice." + +His clear, penetrating glance discovered, under the guise of a friendly +and pacific purpose, the insidious presence so mischievous to Southern +interests, just as George Mason, more than fifty years before, had seen +the "poison under the wing of the Federal Constitution." While the bill +for the organization of the Territory of New Mexico was pending, the +vigilance and sagacity of Mr. Davis elicited the most flattering +commendation from his Southern associates. In this bill there was a +general grant, in loose and ambiguous phraseology, of legislative power, +with a reservation that no law should be passed "in respect to African +slavery." Strangely enough, this provision, though obviously involving an +inhibition against the enactment of laws for the protection of Southern +property, escaped general detection. Mr. Davis promptly exposed its +purpose, and offered an amendment, striking out the restraint against +legislation "in respect to African slavery," and prohibiting the enactment +of any law interfering "with those rights of property growing out of the +institution of African slavery as it exists in any of the States of this +Union." To meet the concurrence of other Senators, the amendment was +variously modified, until, as explained by Mr. Davis, it embodied "the +general proposition that the Territorial Legislature should not be +prevented from passing the laws necessary for the protection of the rights +of property of every kind which might be legally and constitutionally held +in that territory." It is needless to say that so just a proposition, +affording equal protection to Southern with Northern institutions, was +defeated. + +While there was little in Mr. Clay's plan of pacification to recommend it +to Southern support, beyond the merely temporary staving off of a +dissolution of the Union and civil war, it embodied propositions utterly +incompatible with the security of the South. Mr. Davis especially and +persistently combated its provision for the abolition of the slave-trade +in the District of Columbia, and the concession that slavery did not +legally exist in the newly-acquired territory. His position upon the +general issues involved can not be more clearly and forcibly stated than +in his own language: + + "But, sir, we are called upon to receive this as a measure of + compromise!--as a measure in which we of the minority are to receive + something. A measure of compromise! I look upon it as a modest mode of + taking that, the claim to which has been more boldly asserted by + others; and that I may be understood upon this question, and that my + position may go forth to the country in the same columns that convey + the sentiments of the Senator from Kentucky, I here assert that never + will I take less than the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific + Ocean, with specific right to hold slaves in the territory below that + line; and that before such territories are admitted into the Union as + States, slaves may be taken there from any of the United States, at + the option of the owners. I can never consent to give additional power + to a majority to commit further aggression upon the minority in this + Union; and I will never consent to any proposition which will have + such a tendency without a full guarantee or counteracting measure is + connected with it." + +The parliamentary annals of the Union embrace no period more prolific of +grand intellectual efforts than the debates incident to this gigantic +struggle. The prominence of Mr. Davis, with his extreme ardor in behalf of +the rights and interests of his section, brought him constantly into +conflict with the most eminent leaders of both the great political +parties, who had cordially agreed to ignore all minor issues and unite in +the paramount purpose of saving the Union. Cass, Douglas, Bright, +Dickinson, and King, earnestly coöperated with Clay, Webster, and other +Whig champions, in the advocacy of the measures of compromise. That Davis, +younger in years and experience than most of these distinguished men, +amply sustained his honorable and responsible role as the foremost +champion of the South, contemporary public opinion and the Congressional +records give abundant testimony. The great compromise chieftain, between +whom and Davis occurred such obstinate and protracted encounters in +debate, delighted to testify his respect for the talents and intrepidity +of his "young friend," which was his habitual salutation to Davis. Despite +the pronounced antagonism between them, on all measures of public policy, +and their comparatively brief acquaintance, Mr. Clay repeatedly evinced, +in a most touching manner, his warm regard for one who had been the +companion-in-arms and cherished friend of a noble son,[10] who lost his +life on the same field, upon which Davis won such deathless distinction. +"My poor boy," were his words to the latter, upon his return from Mexico, +"usually occupied about one-half of his letters home in praising you." A +still more touching incident, illustrative of his friendly regard, at the +moment not understood by those present, occurred, in the heat of +discussion during the exciting period, which we have had under +consideration. Replying to Davis, said Mr. Clay: "My friend from +Mississippi--and I trust that he will permit me to call him my friend, for +between us there is a tie, the nature of which we both well understand." +At this moment the utterance of the aged statesman became tremulous with +emotion, and, bowing his head, his eyes were seen to fill with tears. This +friendship was warmly reciprocated by Mr. Davis, and its recollections are +among those the most highly-cherished of his public life. + +With the defeat of those who had opposed the compromise, terminated, for +the present, Southern resistance in Congress, though it did not for an +instant check Northern aggression. Yet many prominent public characters at +the South, and, as the sequel demonstrated, indorsed by popular +sentiment, avowed themselves fully satisfied with a mere show of triumph +and pretense of justice--a few paltry concessions, not worth the parchment +upon which they were written. In the meantime, upon another arena, Mr. +Davis entered upon a gallant struggle, in opposition to a policy from +which he foresaw and predicted a fruitful yield of disaster in the +future. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + OPPOSITION TO THE COMPROMISE IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND MISSISSIPPI--DAVIS + A CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR--HIS DEFEAT REALLY A PERSONAL TRIUMPH--IN + RETIREMENT, SUPPORTS GENERAL PIERCE'S ELECTION--DECLINES AN + APPOINTMENT IN PIERCE'S CABINET, BUT SUBSEQUENTLY ACCEPTS + SECRETARYSHIP OF WAR--REMARKABLE UNITY OF PIERCE'S ADMINISTRATION, AND + HIGH CHARACTER OF THE EXECUTIVE--DAVIS AS SECRETARY OF WAR-- + KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL AND THE EXCITEMENT WHICH FOLLOWED--DAVIS AGAIN + ELECTED TO THE SENATE--SPEECHES AT PASS CHRISTIAN AND OTHER POINTS + WHILE ON HIS WAY TO WASHINGTON. + + +But, though the battle had been fought and won in Congress, and it was +evident, at an early date, that the weight of great names in favor of the +Compromise, aided by the ever-timid counsels of capital and commerce, +would command for that measure the overwhelming support of the country, +the States' Rights men were resolved upon a test of popular sentiment. +Accordingly, in South Carolina and Mississippi, States at all times the +most advanced in Southern feeling, the opponents of the Compromise +organized, as did its friends also. The issue, though substantially the +same, was presented in a somewhat different form in these two States. + +In South Carolina, where public sentiment was always singularly unanimous, +upon all questions affecting the honor and interests of the South, and in +entire accord as to the mode and measure of redress for the grievances of +the States, the propriety of resistance was a foregone conclusion. The +only question was, whether South Carolina should act separately, or await +the coöperation of other Southern States. The party of coöperation +triumphed in the election of members to a State convention, by the +decisive popular majority of seven thousand votes. + +In Mississippi the issue was one of _resistance_ or _acquiescence_. The +States' Rights, or resistance party, embraced four-fifths of the Democracy +of the State and a small accession of States' Rights Whigs; while the +Union, or Compromise party, was composed of the Clay Whigs and a fraction +of the Democracy. + +The Legislature provided an election for members of a State convention to +consider the subject of Federal aggressions, to be held in September, +1851, and, in the ensuing November the regular election of Governor +occurred. Much interest centred upon the gubernatorial contest, and the +State was for months previous to the election the scene of great +excitement. General John A. Quitman, one of the most distinguished +officers of the army, during the Mexican war, a man of the loftiest +character, a reliable statesman, and sterling patriot, was nominated by +the States' Rights Convention. Mr. Henry S. Foote, then a Senator from +Mississippi, and an active supporter of the Compromise measures, was the +candidate of the Union party. While an exceedingly animated canvass +between these candidates was still in progress, the election for members +of the convention resulted in an aggregate majority of seven thousand five +hundred votes for the Union candidates. General Quitman, disappointed by +such an unexpected and decisive exhibition of public sentiment, and +viewing it as the forerunner of the result of the gubernatorial election +in November, withdrew from the contest. + +Mr. Davis, who had already been elected for a second term to the Senate, +was now looked to as almost the sole dependence of the States' Rights men, +and they summoned him to take the field as the adversary of Mr. Foote. +There was little inducement, had he consulted selfish considerations, to +relinquish a high position, already secured, and become the leader of a +forlorn hope. Though greatly enfeebled in health, and at that time an +acute sufferer, he accepted the nomination. His sense of duty and devotion +to his principles triumphed even over his physical infirmities, and, +resigning his seat in the Senate, he entered upon the canvass. + +The result was, as had been foreseen, the defeat of Mr. Davis. Mr. Foote, +a man of more than average ability, and of varied and extensive +attainments, whose excessive garrulity and total want of discretion +disqualified him for usefulness as a member of a legislative body, or for +any practical end of statesmanship, was, nevertheless, an adroit party +tactician. With great dexterity he had conducted the canvass with General +Quitman, by skillfully evading the real issue, introducing side questions, +and thus breaking the force of the plain and statesman-like arguments of +his more open and less dexterous adversary. When Mr. Davis entered the +field, under all the disadvantages to which we have alluded, the election +of Foote was almost universally conceded. Had the canvass lasted a few +weeks, however, the result, in all probability, would have been different. +The popularity of Mr. Davis was indicated by the paltry majority (nine +hundred and ninety-nine votes) given against him, as compared with the +Union majority at the election in September, for members of the +convention. Under all the circumstances, his friends rightly viewed it as +a personal triumph, and he emerged from the contest with increased +reputation and public regard. + +The results of these appeals to popular judgment were scarcely less +decisive, in favor of the Compromise, than had been its congressional +victory. It was evident that the Southern people were yet far from being +ready for organized and practical resistance, and were not likely to be, +until some flagrant outrage should arouse their resentment. + +Mr. Davis was now in retirement, and, though abiding the decision of +Mississippi, he was yet avowedly determined to devote his energies to the +efficient organization of the States' Rights party for future struggles. +Yet nothing was farther from his purpose than a factious agitation. His +aim was to secure for the States' Rights principle a moral and numerical +support in the ranks of the Democracy, which should enable its friends to +wield an appropriate influence upon the policy of that party. He +contemplated no organization outside of the Democracy, for the promotion +of disunionism _per se_; and, in the Presidential canvass of 1852, +separated himself from many of his closest personal and political friends, +who had nominated the Presidential ticket of Troup and Quitman, upon the +distinctive platform of States' Rights and separation. + +The nomination of Franklin Pierce, upon the Baltimore platform, met his +cordial approbation, and received his active support. With General Pierce, +Mr. Davis held the most friendly relations, and in his constitutional +opinions he had entire confidence. His support of the platform was quite +as consistent as his advocacy of the nominee. Both indorsed, with +emphasis, the Compromise, which he had opposed, but which Mississippi had +ratified, and both avowed their acceptance of it, as a _finality_, beyond +which there was to be no farther agitation of the slavery question. In +Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee he participated actively in the +canvass, and rendered most efficient service to his party, especially in +the two latter States. + +General Pierce indicated his estimate of Davis, by a prompt tender of a +position in his Cabinet. Considering himself committed to the fortunes of +his principles in Mississippi, he preferred to "remain and fight the issue +out there," and reluctantly declined. Subsequently the President-elect +addressed him a letter expressing a desire that, upon personal grounds at +least, Mr. Davis should be present at his inauguration. After he had +reached Washington the tender of a Cabinet appointment was repeated. The +obvious advantages to the States' Rights party of representation in the +Government, an argument earnestly urged upon him by prominent Southern +statesmen, at length overcame his personal preference, and he accepted the +position of Secretary of War. + +With the policy of President Pierce's administration, Secretary Davis was, +of course, fully identified. Whatever of influence and sympathy he could +command, were employed in promoting its success, and between the President +and himself there was an uninterrupted harmony of personal and official +intercourse. Indeed the glory of this administration and the explanation +of its title to that high award which it earned from impartial criticism, +for its courageous pursuit of an upright, constitutional policy, was the +characteristic unity which prevailed between its head and his advisers. +During the four years of its existence the Cabinet of President Pierce +continued unchanged, at its close the head of each department surrendering +the seals of office which he had received at its inauguration. The history +of no other administration is adorned with such an instance of cordial and +unbroken coöperation, and the fact is equally creditable to the sagacity +of General Pierce in the selection of his advisers, and his consummate +tact in the reconciliation of those antagonisms, which are hardly to be +avoided in the operations of the complicated machinery of Government. + +A common statement of its enemies, that the administration must eventually +break down by disorganization, in consequence of the utterly discordant +elements which composed it, was never realized. At one time Mr. Marcy, the +Secretary of State, was the wily Macchiavelli, against whose intrigues the +rest of the Cabinet was in arms, while Mr. Davis was charged with playing +alternately the roles of Richelieu and Marplot. + +Of all American executives, Franklin Pierce is preëminently entitled to +the designation of the constitutional President. The great covenant of +American liberty, so ruthlessly despoiled in these degenerate days, when +opportunity and pretext are the sufficient justification of flagrant +violations of justice, was the guide whose precepts he followed without +deviation. His Northern birth and training did not swerve from his +obligations to extend an equal protection to the interests of other +sections, the patriotic executive, whom posterity will delight to honor, +for his wisdom, purity, and impartiality, just in proportion as those +qualities provoke the clamor of the dominant ignorance and passion of +to-day. + +In a Cabinet, noted for its ability, of which William L. Marcy was the +Premier, and Caleb Cushing the Attorney-General, Secretary Davis occupied +a position worthy of his abilities and his previous reputation, and +peculiarly gratifying to his military tastes. It is no disparagement of +his associates to say that his strongly-marked character commanded a +constant and emphatic recognition in the policy of the Government. + +Under his control the department of war was greatly advanced in dignity +and importance, receiving a character far more distinctive and independent +of other branches of the Government than it had previously claimed. He +infused into all its operations an energy till then unknown, introducing +improvements so extensive and comprehensive as to occasion apprehension of +an almost too powerful and independent system of military organization. It +is a fact universally conceded that his administration of the War Office +was incomparably superior to that of any official who has filled that +position--contributing more to the promotion of efficiency in the army, to +the advancement of those great national establishments so vital to the +security of the nation, and to the systematic, practical management of the +details of the office. In reviewing Mr. Davis' conduct of this important +department of the Government, the splendid improvements which he +inaugurated, his earnest and unceasing labors in behalf of the efficiency +of the army, it is impossible to overestimate his eminent services to the +Union, which even at that time his traducers and those of the South would +pretend he was plotting to destroy. In the Cabinet, as in the Senate, +there was no measure of national advantage to which he did not give his +cordial support, no great national institution which he would not have +fostered with generous and timely sympathy; nothing to which he was not +zealously committed, promising to redound to the glory, prosperity, and +perpetuity of that Union, in whose service he had been trained, whose +uniform he had proudly worn, and beneath whose banner he had braved a +soldier's death. + +Secretary Davis made many recommendations contemplating radical +alterations in the military system of the Union. One of his first measures +was a recommendation for the thorough revision of the army regulations. +He opposed the placing of officers, at an early period of service, +permanently upon the staff, and advocated a system, which, he contended, +would improve the discipline and efficiency of officers, "whereby the +right of command should follow rank by one certain rule." The increase of +the medical corps; the introduction of camels; the introduction of the +light infantry or rifle system of tactics, rifled muskets, and the +Minie-ball were all measures advocated by Secretary Davis, and discussed +in his official papers with a force and intelligence that make them highly +valuable to the military student. He urged a thorough exploration of the +Western frontier, and important changes in the arrangement of defenses +against the Indians, demonstrating the inefficiency of the system of small +forts for the purposes of war with the savages. To obviate, in a measure, +the expense, and almost useless trouble, of locating military posts in +advance of settlement, he suggested the plan of maintaining large +garrisons at certain points, situated favorably for obtaining supplies and +accessible by steamboat or railway. From these posts strong detachments +could be supplied and equipped for service in the Indian country. His +efforts were most strenuous to obtain an increase of pay to officers of +the army, and pensions to the widows and orphans of officers and men, upon +a basis similar to that of the navy. + +During the Crimean war, Secretary Davis sent a commission, of which +Major-General McClellan, then a captain of cavalry, was a member, to study +and report upon the science of war and the condition of European armies, +as illustrated in the operations incident to that struggle. At his +suggestion four new regiments--two of cavalry--were added to the army, and +numerous appropriations made for the construction of new forts, +improvements in small arms, and the accumulation of munitions of war. + +The Presidential term of Pierce expired on the 4th of March, 1857, and +with it terminated the connection of Mr. Davis with the executive branch +of the Government. He retired with the hearty respect of his associates, +and in the enjoyment of the most confiding friendship with the late head +of the Government, a feeling which is cherished by both, with unabated +warmth, at this day. All parties concurred in pronouncing Mr. Davis' +conduct of his department successful, able, and brilliant, and in the +midst of the tide of misrepresentation, with which, during and since the +war, it has been sought to overwhelm his reputation, the least candid of +his accusers have been compelled to this reluctant confession. + +Incidental to the late administration, but by no means traceable to its +influence, had been legislation by Congress of a most important character, +which was to give a powerful impulse to agencies long tending to the +destruction of the Union. The election of Pierce had been carried with a +unanimity unprecedented, upon the distinct pledge of the acceptance of the +Compromise as a _finality_. The country, for months subsequently, reposed +in profound quiet, produced by its confidence in an approaching season of +unequaled prosperity, and exempt from all danger of political agitation. +This hallucination was destined to be speedily and rudely dispelled by +events, which afford striking evidence of how completely the peace and +happiness of the American people have always been at the mercy of aspiring +and unscrupulous demagogues. Mr. Stephen A. Douglas must ever be held, +equally by both sections, responsible for the disastrous agitation, which +followed his introduction of certain measures, under the pretense of a +sentimental justice, or a concession of principle to the South, but in +reality prompted by his personal ambition, and which greatly aided to +precipitate the catastrophe of disunion. + +Upon the application of the Territory of Nebraska for admission into the +Union, Senator Douglas, from the Committee on Territories, submitted a +bill creating the two Territories of Nebraska and Kansas, and affirming +the supersession of the Missouri restriction of 1820, which prohibited +slavery north of 36° 30', by the Compromise of 1850. It declared the +Missouri restriction inconsistent with the principle of _non-intervention_ +by Congress with territorial affairs, which had been adopted in the +settlement of 1850, and therefore inoperative. + +This bill was apparently a mere concession of principle to the South, not +likely to be of much practical value, but still gratifying, as it gave to +her citizens the right to carry their property into districts from which +it had been hitherto inhibited. Passing both houses of Congress, in 1854, +it was approved by the Pierce administration,[11] sanctioned by the +Democracy generally, and greeted by the South as a triumph. It was not +imagined that a victory, so purely sentimental and intangible, could be +accepted by the North, as a pretext for violent eruptions of sectional +jealousy, and least of all did the South believe its author capable of the +subsequent duplicity with which, by specious arguments and verbal +ingenuity, he claimed for the measure, a construction far more insidious, +but not less fatal to her interests, than the designs of proclaimed +Abolitionists. The immediate result was a tempest of excitement in the +Northern States, in the midst of which the so-called Republican party, for +the first time, appeared as a formidable contestant in political +struggles, and defeated the Democracy in almost every State election. The +latter, with extreme difficulty, elected Mr. Buchanan to the Presidency +two years afterwards. + +In the meantime, while his term of office as Secretary of War was still +unexpired, Mr. Davis had been elected, by the Legislature of Mississippi, +to the Senate, for the term beginning March 4, 1857. On his return home, +he was received by the Democracy of the State with distinguished honors. +Dinners, receptions, and public entertainments of various kinds were +tendered him; and, during the summer and autumn, previous to his departure +for Washington, he addressed numerous large popular gatherings with his +accustomed force and boldness upon pending issues. These addresses +commanded universal attention, and were highly commended for their able, +dispassionate, and statesman-like character. + +His speech at Pass Christian, while on his journey to Washington, was a +masterly and eloquent review of the condition of the country, with its +causes and remedies. He attributed the national difficulties chiefly to +the puritanical intolerance and growing disregard of constitutional +obligations of the North. These influences seriously menaced the safety of +the Union, for which he had no hope, unless in the event of a reaction in +Northern sentiment, or of such resolute action by a united South as should +compel her enemies to respect their constitutional duties. To the latter +policy he looked as the best guarantee of the security of the South and +the preservation of the Union. Interference by one State with the +institutions of another could not, under any circumstances, be tolerated, +even though resistance should eventually result in a dissolution of the +Union. The latter event was possible--indeed, might become necessary--but +should never be undertaken save in the last extremity. He would not +disguise the profound emotion with which he contemplated the possibility +of disunion. The fondest reminiscences of his life were associated with +the Union, into whose military service, while yet a boy, he had entered. +In his matured manhood he had followed its flag to victory; had seen its +graceful folds wave in the peaceful pageant, and, again, its colors +conspicuous amid the triumphs of the battle-field; he had seen that flag +in the East, brightened by the sun at its rising, and, in the West, gilded +by his declining rays--and the tearing of one star from its azure field +would be to him as would the loss of a child to a bereaved parent. + +This speech--one of the most eloquent he has ever made--was received by +his audience with unbounded enthusiasm, and was approvingly noticed by the +press of both sections. + +At Mississippi City he delivered an address in explanation of his personal +course, and in vindication of the administration of which he had lately +been a member. He had obeyed the will of Mississippi, respecting the +legislation of 1850, though against his convictions, and, in the present +disorders in Kansas, he saw the fruits of the unwise substitution of +expediency for principle. Of President Pierce he could speak only in terms +of eulogy, defended his vetoes of bills "for internal improvements and +eleemosynary purposes," depicting, in passages of rare and fervent +eloquence, his heroic adherence to the Constitution, elevated patriotism, +and distinguished virtues. Contrasting the conduct of the Fillmore and +Pierce administrations concerning the Cuban question, he avowed his belief +that Cuba would then be in possession of the United States had Congress +sustained General Pierce in his prompt and decided suggestions as to the +Black Warrior difficulty. + +Mr. Davis expressed his approbation of the course pursued by the late +administration with reference to Nicaragua. "Unlawful expeditions" should +be suppressed, though he should rejoice at the establishment of American +institutions in Central America, and maintained the right of the United +States to a paramount influence in the affairs of the continent, with +which European interference should be, at all times, promptly checked. + +When the Thirty-fifth Congress assembled in December, 1857, the Kansas +question had already developed a difficult and critical phase. The rock +upon which Mr. Buchanan's administration was to split had been +encountered, and the wedge prepared, with which the Democratic party was +destined to be torn asunder. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + RETURN OF MR. DAVIS TO THE SENATE--OPENING EVENTS OF MR. BUCHANAN'S + ADMINISTRATION--TRUE INTERPRETATION OF THE LEGISLATION OF 1854-- + SENATOR DOUGLAS THE INSTRUMENT OF DISORGANIZATION IN THE DEMOCRATIC + PARTY--HIS ANTECEDENTS AND CHARACTER--AN ACCOMPLISHED DEMAGOGUE--DAVIS + AND DOUGLAS CONTRASTED--BOTH REPRESENTATIVES OF THEIR RESPECTIVE + SECTIONS--DOUGLAS AMBITION--HIS COUP D'ETAT, AND ITS RESULTS--THE + KANSAS QUESTION--DOUGLAS' TRIUMPHS OVER THE SOUTH AND THE UNITY OF THE + DEMOCRATIC PARTY LOST--"SQUATTER SOVEREIGNTY"--PROPERLY + CHARACTERIZED--DAVIS' COURSE IN THE KANSAS STRUGGLE--DEBATE WITH + SENATOR FESSENDEN--PEN-AND-INK SKETCH OF MR. DAVIS AT THIS PERIOD-- + TRUE SIGNIFICANCE OF POLITICAL EVENTS TO THE SOUTH--SHE RIGHTLY + INTERPRETS THEM--MR. DAVIS' COURSE SUBSEQUENT TO THE KANSAS + IMBROGLIO--HIS DEBATES WITH DOUGLAS--TWO DIFFERENT SCHOOLS OF + PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKING--DAVIS THE LEADER OF THE REGULAR DEMOCRACY IN + THE THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS--HIS RESOLUTIONS--HIS CONSISTENCY--COURSE AS + TO GENERAL LEGISLATION--VISITS THE NORTH--SPEAKS IN PORTLAND, BOSTON, + NEW YORK, AND OTHER PLACES--REPLY TO AN INVITATION TO ATTEND THE + WEBSTER BIRTH-DAY FESTIVAL--MR. SEWARD'S ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE + "IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT"--MR. DAVIS BEFORE MISSISSIPPI DEMOCRATIC + STATE CONVENTION--PROGRESS OF DISUNION--DISSOLUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC + PARTY--SPEECHES OF MR. DAVIS AT PORTLAND AND IN SENATE. + + +Mr. Davis returned to the Senate at a period marked by agitation, no less +menacing to the Union than that which had so seriously threatened it in +1850. His health at this time was exceedingly infirm, and for several +months he was so much prostrated by his protracted sufferings, that a +proper regard for the suggestions of prudence would have justified his +entire abstinence from the labors and excitements of this stormy period. +Again and again, however, did his heroic devotion carry him from his sick +bed to the capitol, to engage in the death-struggle of the South, with her +leagued enemies, for safety in the Union, which she was still loath to +abandon, even under the pressure of intolerable wrong. Frequently, with +attenuated frame and bandaged eyes, he was to be seen in the Senate, at +moments critical in the fierce sectional conflict; and at the final +struggle upon the Kansas question, not even the earnest admonitions of his +physician, that to leave his chamber would probably be followed by the +most dangerous results, were availing to induce his absence from the +scene. + +The opening events of the first session of the Thirty-fifth Congress, (the +first incidental to the administration of Mr. Buchanan,) were far from +being auspicious of the continued unity of the Democratic party, which, +for several years past, the intelligence of the country had correctly +appreciated as an essential condition to the preservation of the Union. + +Mainly through the undivided support given him by the South, Mr. Buchanan +was elected upon the Cincinnati platform of 1856, which was a +re-affirmation of the cardinal tenets of the Democratic faith, involving +also emphatic approval of the Kansas-Nebraska legislation two years +previous. Not until months after his inauguration were there any +indications of hostility to his administration within the ranks of his own +party. Nor had there been any avowed difference of construction as to the +end and effect of the legislation of 1854. The rare unanimity with which +the South had been rallied to the support of the Democracy was based upon +the unreserved admission, by all parties, that the Kansas-Nebraska act +was designedly friendly in its _spirit_, at all events, to Southern +interests. No Southern statesman, for a moment, dreamed that it was +capable of an interpretation unfriendly to his section. That the plain +purpose of the bill was to remove the subject of slavery outside the +bounds of congressional discussion, and to place it in the disposition of +the States separately, and in the _Territories_, _when organizing for +admission as States_, was regarded by the South as the leading vital +principle which challenged her enthusiastic support. Such, indeed, was the +doctrine asserted by the entire Democratic party of the South, enunciated +by the administration, and tacitly approved by the Northern Democracy. +Very soon, however, after the meeting of Congress, the action of Senator +Douglas revealed him as the instrument of disorganization in his party. To +a proper understanding of his motives and conduct at this conjuncture, a +brief statement of his antecedents is essential. + +Stephen A. Douglas was now in the meridian of life and the full maturity +of his unquestionably vigorous intellectual powers. For twenty-five years +he had been prominent in the arena of politics, and as a member of +Congress his course had been so eminently politic and judicious as to make +him a favorite with the Democracy, both North and South. To an unexampled +degree his public life illustrated the combination of those +characteristics of the demagogue, a fertile ingenuity, facile +accommodation to circumstances, and wonderful gifts of the _ad captandum_ +species of oratory, so captivating to the populace, which in America +peculiarly constitute the attributes of the "rising man." Douglas was not +wanting in noble and attractive qualities of manhood. His courage was +undoubted, his generosity was princely in its munificence to his personal +friends, and he frequently manifested a lofty magnanimity. In his early +youth, deprived of the advantages of fortune and position, the discipline +of his career was not propitious to the development of the higher +qualities of statesmanship--with which, indeed, he was scantily endowed by +nature. It is as the accomplished politician, subtle, ready, fearless, and +indefatigable, that he must be remembered. In this latter character he was +unrivaled. + +Not less than Davis was Douglas a representative man, yet no two men were +more essentially dissimilar, and no two lives ever actuated by aspirations +and instincts more unlike. Douglas was the representative of +expediency--Davis the exponent of principles. In his party associations +Douglas would tolerate the largest latitude of individual opinion, while +Davis was always for a policy clearly defined and unmistakable; and upon a +matter of vital principle, like Percy, would reluctantly surrender even +the "ninth part of a hair." To maintain the united action of the +Democratic party on election day, to defeat its opponents, to secure the +rewards of success, Douglas would allow a thousand different constructions +of the party creed by as many factions. Davis, on the other hand, would, +and eventually did, approve the dissolution of the party, when it refused +an open, manly enunciation of its faith. For mere party success Douglas +cared every thing, and Davis nothing, save as it ensured the triumph of +Constitutional principles. Both loved the Union and sought its perpetuity, +but by different methods; Douglas by never-ending compromises of a +quarrel, which he should have known that the North would never permit to +be amicably settled; by staving off and ignoring issues which were to be +solved only by being squarely met. Davis, too, was not unwilling to +compromise, but he wearied of perpetual concession by the South, in the +meanwhile the North continuing its hostility, both open and insidious, +and urged a settlement of all differences upon a basis of simple and exact +justice to both sections. + +Douglas was preëminently the representative politician of his section, and +throughout his career was a favorite with that boastful, bloated, and +mongrel element, which is violently called the "American people," and +which is the ruling element in elections in the Northern cities. In +character and conduct he embodied many of its materialistic and +socialistic ideas, its false conception of liberty, its pernicious dogmas +of equality, and not a little of its rowdyism. + +Davis was the champion of the South, her civilization, lights, honor, and +dignity. He was the fitting and adequate exponent of a civilization which +rested upon an intellectual and æsthetical development, upon lofty and +generous sentiments of manhood, a dignified conservatism, and the proud +associations of ancestral distinction in the history of the Union. Always +the Senator in the sense of the ideal of dignity and courtesy which is +suggested by that title, he was also the _gentleman_ upon all occasions; +never condescending to flatter or soothe the mob, or to court popular +favor, he lost none of that polished and distinguished manner, in the +presence of a "fierce Democracie," which made him the ornament of the +highest school of oratory and statesmanship of his country. + +The ambition of Douglas was unbounded. The recognized leader, for several +years, of the Northern Democracy, his many fine personal qualities and +courageous resistance of the ultra Abolitionists secured for him a +considerable number of supporters in the Southern wing of that party. The +Presidency was the goal of his ambition, and for twenty years his course +had been sedulously adjusted to the attainment of that most coveted of +prizes to the American politician. On repeated occasions he had been +flattered by a highly complimentary vote in the nominating conventions of +the Democracy. Hitherto he had been compelled to yield his pretensions in +favor of older members of his party or upon considerations of temporary +availability. It was evident, however, that in order to be President, he +must secure the nomination in 1860. The continued ascendancy of the +Democracy was no longer, as heretofore, a foregone conclusion, and, +besides, there were others equally aspiring and available. His +Presidential aspirations appeared, indeed, to be without hope or resource, +save through the agency of some adroit _coup d'etat_, by which the +truculent and dominant free-soil sentiment of the North, which he had so +much affronted by his bid for Southern support in the introduction of the +Kansas-Nebraska bill, could be conciliated. In Illinois, his own State, +the Abolition strength was alarmingly on the increase, and to secure his +return to the Senate at the election to be held in 1858, an object of +prime importance in the promotion of his more ambitious pretensions, he +did not scruple to assume a position, falsifying his previous record, +wantonly insulting and defiant to his Southern associates, and in bold +antagonism to a Democratic administration. The sequel of this rash and +ill-judged course was the overthrow of his own political fortunes, the +disintegration of his party, and the attempted dissolution of the Union. + +The earliest recommendations of Mr. Buchanan, respecting the Kansas +controversy, which, several months since, had developed in that Territory +into a species of predatory warfare, marked by deeds of violence and +atrocity, between the Abolition and Pro-slavery parties, were signalized +by a coalition of the followers of Douglas with the Abolitionists and +other opponents of the administration. The speedy pacification of the +disorders in Kansas, by the prompt admission of that Territory, was the +condition essential to the success of Mr. Buchanan's entire policy. He +accordingly recommended the admission of Kansas into the Union, with the +"Lecompton" constitution, which had been adopted in September, 1857, by +the decisive vote of six thousand two hundred and twenty-six in favor of +that constitution, with slavery, and five hundred and nine for it, without +slavery. A rival instrument, adopted by an election notoriously held +exclusively under the control of Abolitionists, prohibiting slavery, was +likewise presented. + +For months the controversy was waged in Congress between the friends of +the administration and its enemies, and finally resulted in a practical +triumph of the Free-soil principle. The Anti-Lecompton coalition of +Douglas and the Abolitionists, aided by the defection of a few Southern +members, successfully embarrassed the policy of the administration by +defeating its recommendations, and eventually carried a measure acceptable +to Northern sentiments and interests. + +Mr. Douglas thus triumphed over a Democratic administration, at the same +time giving a shock to the unity of the Democratic party, from which it +has never recovered, and effectually neutralized its power as a breakwater +of the Union against the waves of sectional dispute. The alienation +between himself and his former associates was destined never to be +adjusted, as indeed it never should have been, in consideration of his +inexcusable recreancy to the immemorial faith of his party. Mr. Douglas +simply abandoned the South, at the very first moment when his aid was +seriously demanded. Nay, more; he carried with him a quiver of Parthian +arrows, which he discharged into her bosom at a most critical moment in +her unequal contest. + +It is not to be denied that Mr. Douglas' new interpretation of the +Kansas-Nebraska act was urged by himself and his advocates as having a +merit not to be overlooked by the North, in its suggestion of a method of +restricting slavery, presenting superior advantages. "Squatter +sovereignty," as advocated by Mr. Douglas, proposing the decision of the +slavery question by the people of the Territories, while yet unprepared to +ask admission as States, was far more effectual in its plans against +slavery, and only less prompt and open, than the designs of the +Abolitionists. It would enable the "Emigrant Aid Societies," and imported +janizaries of Abolition to exclude the institutions of the South from the +Territories, the joint possessions of the two sections, acquired by an +enormously disproportionate sacrifice on the part of the South, with a +certainty not to be realized, for years to come, perhaps, from the +Abolition policy of congressional prohibition.[12] According to Mr. +Douglas' theory, the existence of slavery in all the Territories was to +depend upon the verdict of a few hundred settlers or "squatters" upon the +public lands. It practically conceded to Northern interests and ideas +every State to be hereafter admitted, and under the operation of such a +policy it was not difficult to anticipate the fate of slavery, at last +even in the States. + +From the inception of this controversy until its close Mr. Davis was fully +committed to the policy of Mr. Buchanan, and his position was in perfect +harmony with that of all the leading statesmen of the South. Less +prominent, perhaps, in debate, from his constant ill-health during the +first session, than at any other period of his public life, he was still +zealous and influential. + +An interesting incident of the session was a discussion between Mr. Davis +and Mr. Fessenden, of Maine, a Senator second only to Mr. Seward among +Abolition leaders, in point of intellect, and behind none in his truculent +animosity to Southern institutions. Reviewing the message of Mr. Buchanan +with great severity, Fessenden took occasion to discuss elaborately the +slavery question, with all its incidental issues. Mr. Davis replied, not +at great length, but with much force and spirit. The discussion terminated +with the following colloquy, which is interesting chiefly in its personal +allusions: + + "MR. FESSENDEN. ... Sir, I have avowed no disunion sentiments on this + floor--neither here nor elsewhere. Can the honorable gentleman from + Mississippi say as much? + + "MR. DAVIS. Yes. + + "MR. FESSENDEN. I am glad to hear it, then. + + "MR. DAVIS. Yes. I have long sought for a respectable man who would + allege the contrary. + + "MR. FESSENDEN. I make no allegation. I asked if he could say as much. + I am glad to hear him say so, because I must say to him that the + newspapers have represented him as making a speech in Mississippi, in + which he said he came into General Pierce's cabinet a disunion man. If + he never made it, very well. + + "MR. DAVIS. I will thank you to produce that newspaper. + + "MR. FESSENDEN. I can not produce it, but I can produce an extract + from it in another paper. + + "MR. DAVIS. An extract! then that falsifies the text. + + "MR. FESSENDEN. I am very glad to hear the Senator say so. I made no + accusation--I put the question to him. If he denies it, very well. I + only say that, with all the force and energy with which he denies it, + so do I. The accusation never has been made against me before. On what + ground does the Senator now put it?... + + "MR. DAVIS. Does the Senator ask me for an answer? + + "MR. FESSENDEN. Certainly, if the Senator feels disposed to give one. + + "MR. DAVIS. If you ask me for an answer, it is easy. I said your + position was fruitful of such a result. I did not say you avowed the + object--nothing of the sort, but the reverse.... + + "MR. FESSENDEN. That is a matter of opinion, on which I have a right + to entertain my view as well as the Senator his.... + + "MR. DAVIS. Mr. President, I rise principally for the purpose of + saying that I do not know whence springs this habit of talking about + intimidation. I am not the first person toward whom a reply has been + made, that we are not to carry our ends by intimidation. I try to + intimidate nobody; I threaten nobody; and I do not believe--let me say + it once for all--that any body is afraid of me--and I do not want any + body to be afraid of me. + + "MR. FESSENDEN. I am. [Laughter.] + + "MR. DAVIS. I am sorry to hear it; and if the Senator is really so, I + shall never speak to him in decided terms again. + + "MR. FESSENDEN. I speak of it only in an intellectual point of view. + [Laughter.] + + "MR. DAVIS. Then, sir, the Senator was in a Pickwickian sense when he + began; there were no threats, no intimidations, and he is just where + he would have been if he had said nothing." [Laughter.]... + +While the Kansas question was pending in Congress, a sketch of Mr. Davis, +in connection with two other prominent Southern Senators, which appeared +in the correspondence of a leading journal, was extensively copied in the +newspapers of the day. We extract that portion which relates specially to +Mr. Davis. The portrait is from the pen of one who had no sympathy with +his political views: + + DAVIS, HUNTER, AND TOOMBS, THE SOUTHERN TRIUMVIRATE. + + [Correspondence of the Missouri Democrat.] + + "WASHINGTON CITY, January 21. + + "Yesterday, when Hale was speaking, the right side of the chamber was + empty, (as it generally is during the delivery of an antislavery + speech,) with the exception of a group of three who sat near the + centre of the vacant space. This remarkable group, which wore the air + if not the ensigns of power, authority, and public care, was composed + of Senators Davis, Hunter, and Toombs. They were engaged in an earnest + colloquy, which, however, was foreign to the argument Hale was + elaborating; for though the connection of their words was broken + before it reached the gallery, their voices were distinctly audible, + and gave signs of their abstraction. They were thinking aloud. If they + had met together, under the supervision of some artist gifted with the + faculty of illustrating history and character by attitude and + expression, who designed to paint them, in fresco, on the walls of the + new Senate chamber, the combination could not have been more + appropriately arranged than chance arranged it on this occasion. + Toombs sits among the opposition on the left, Hunter and Davis on the + right; and the fact that the two first came to Davis' seat--the one + gravitating to it from a remote, the other from a near point--may be + held to indicate which of the three is the preponderating body in the + system, if preponderance there be; and whose figure should occupy the + foreground of the picture if any precedence is to be accorded. Davis + sat erect and composed; Hunter, listening, rested his head on his + hand; and Toombs, inclining forward, was speaking vehemently. Their + respective attitudes were no bad illustration of their individuality. + Davis impressed the spectator, who observed the easy but authoritative + bearing with which he put aside or assented to Toomb's suggestions, + with the notion of some slight superiority, some hardly-acknowledged + leadership; and Hunter's attentiveness and impassibility were + characteristic of his nature, for his profundity of intellect wears + the guise of stolidity, and his continuous industry that of inertia; + while Toomb's quick utterance and restless head bespoke his nervous + temperament and activity of mind. But, though each is different from + either of the others, the three have several attributes in common. + They are equally eminent as statesmen and debaters; they are devoted + to the same cause; they are equals in rank, and rivals in ambition; + and they are about the same age, and none of them--let young America + take notice--wears either beard or mustache. I come again to the + traits which distinguish them from each other. In face and form, Davis + represents the Norman type with singular fidelity, if my conception of + that type be correct. He is tall and sinewy, with fair hair, gray + eyes, which are clear rather than bright, high forehead, straight + nose, thin, compressed lips, and pointed chin. His cheek bones are + hollow, and the vicinity of his mouth is deeply furrowed with + intersecting lines. Leanness of face, length and sharpness of feature, + and length of limb, and intensity of expression, rendered acute by + angular, facial outline, are the general characteristics of his + appearance." + +The controversy, excited by the question of the admission of Kansas, can +not be viewed as having terminated with the mere practical decision of her +status, as a State tolerating or prohibiting slavery. Southern men had +freely admitted the improbability of the permanent abiding of the +institution in that Territory, or elsewhere, north of the line of 36° 30', +and their defeat had a far more alarming significance than the exclusion +of slavery from soil where the laws of nature opposed its location. +Important conclusions were deducible from the lesson of Kansas, which the +South must have been smitten with voluntary blindness not to have +accepted. Of the purpose of the Republican party, never to consent to the +admission of additional slave States, there was added to constantly +accumulating proof from other sources, the bold declarations of Abolition +members of Congress. Recent experience clearly demonstrated that the South +could no longer rely upon the Northern Democracy in support of the +plainest guarantees of the Constitution, for the protection of her +property, when they were in conflict with the dominant fanaticism of that +section. Accordingly, the Southern Democracy, wisely and bravely resolved, +and the unfortunate issue should not prejudge their action, to require of +their Northern associates, as the condition of continued coöperation, a +pledge of better faith in the future. + +It was in the progress of events, which may be justly called the sequel of +the Kansas controversy, that Mr. Davis was most conspicuous during his +second service in the Senate. His course was such as might have been +anticipated from his zealous and vigilant regard for constitutional +principles, and the rights and interests of his section. His feeble health +had prevented his frequent participation in the struggles incidental to +the Kansas question, but in those subsequent struggles, which marked the +dissolution of the Democratic party, he was the constant, bold, and able +adversary of Douglas. The ingenious sophistries of the latter were +subjected to no more searching and scathing refutations than those with +which Davis met his every attempt at their illustration. + +At this period the position of Mr. Davis was no less prominent than in +1850, though his speeches were less frequent and voluminous. Upon both +occasions his elevation was an ample reward to honorable ambition, but +would have been perilous in the extreme had he been deficient in those +great and rare qualities which were necessary to its maintenance. Among +his numerous contests with the distinguished exponents of the sentiment in +opposition to the South, none are more memorable than his collisions with +Douglas. + +Of these the most striking occurred on the 23d of February, 1859, and on +the 16th and 17th of May, 1860. To have matched Douglas with an ordinary +contestant, must always have resulted in disaster; it would have been to +renew the contest of Athelstane against Ivanhoe. Douglas was accustomed to +testify, cheerfully, to the power of Davis, as evinced in their senatorial +struggles; and it is very certain that at no other hands did he fare so +badly, unless an exception be made in favor of the remarkable speech of +Senator Benjamin, of Louisiana. The latter was an adept in the strategy of +debate, a parliamentary Suchet. + +The 23d of February, 1859, was the occasion of a protracted battle between +Davis and Douglas, lasting from midday until nearly night. This speech of +Mr. Davis is, in many respects, inferior to his higher oratorical efforts, +realizing less of the forms of oratory which he usually illustrated so +happily, and is wanting somewhat in that symmetry, harmony, and comeliness +in all its features, with which his senatorial efforts are generally +wrought to the perfection of expression. The circumstances under which it +was delivered, however, fully meet this criticism, and show a most +remarkable readiness for the instantaneous and hurried grapple of debate, +and this latter quality was the strong point of Douglas' oratory. The +latter had replied at great length, and with evident preparation, to a +speech made by Mr. Davis' colleague (Mr. Brown), who was not present +during Douglas' rejoinder. Without hesitation Mr. Davis assumed the place +of his absent colleague, and the result was a running debate, lasting +several hours, and exhibiting on both sides all the vivacious readiness of +a gladiatorial combat. + +In their ordinary and characteristic speeches there was an antithesis, no +less marked than in their characters as men. Douglas was peculiarly +_American_ in his style of speaking. He dealt largely in the _argumentum +ad hominem_; was very adroit in pointing out immaterial inconsistencies in +his antagonists; he rarely discussed general principles; always avoided +questions of abstract political science, and struggled to force the entire +question into juxtaposition with the practical considerations of the +immediate present. + +In nearly all of Davis' speeches is recognized the pervasion of intellect, +which is preserved even in his most impassioned passages. He goes to the +very "foundations of jurisprudence," illustrates by historical example, +and throws upon his subject the full radiance of that noble light which is +shed by diligent inquiry into the abstract truths of political and moral +science. Strength, animation, energy without vehemence, classical +elegance, and a luminous simplicity, are features in Mr. Davis' oratory +which rendered him one of the most finished, logical, and effective of +contemporary parliamentary speakers. + +During the Thirty-sixth Congress, which assembled in December, 1859, Mr. +Davis was the recognized leader of the Democratic majority of the Senate. +His efforts, during this session, were probably the ablest of his life, +and never did his great powers of analysis and generalization appear to +greater advantage. On the second of February, 1860, Mr. Davis presented a +series of seven resolves, which embodied the views of the administration, +of an overwhelming majority of the Democratic members of the Senate, and +of the Southern Democracy, and were opposed by Mr. Douglas (though absent +from the Senate by sickness), Mr. Pugh, and by the Abolition Senators. +They are important as the substantial expression of the doctrines upon +which the Southern Democracy were already prepared to insist at the +approaching National Convention. + +The _first_ resolution affirms the sovereignty of the States and their +delegation of authority to the Federal Government, to secure each State +against _domestic_ no less than foreign dangers. This resolution was +designed with special reference to the recent outrages of John Brown and +his associate conspirators, several of whom had expiated their crimes upon +the gallows, at the hands of the authorities of Virginia. + +Resolution _second_ affirms the recognition of slavery as property by the +Constitution, and that all efforts to injure it by citizens of +non-slaveholding States are violations of faith. + +_Third_ insists upon the absolute equality of the States. + +The _fourth_ resolution of the series, which embodied the material point +of difference between Mr. Douglas and the majority of Democratic Senators, +was modified, as stated by Mr. Davis, "after conference with friends," and +finally made to read thus: + + "_Resolved_, That neither Congress nor a Territorial Legislature, + whether by direct legislation, or legislation of an indirect and + unfriendly character, possesses power to annul or impair the + constitutional right of any citizen of the United States to take his + slave property into the common Territories, and there hold and enjoy + the same while the territorial condition remains." + +_Fifth_ declares it the duty of Congress to supply any needed protection +to constitutional rights in a Territory, provided the executive and +judicial authority has not the adequate means. + +The _sixth_ resolution was an emphatic repudiation of what Mr. Douglas, by +an ingenious perversion of terms, and a bold array of sophisms, was +pleased to designate "popular sovereignty"--reading thus: + + "_Resolved_, That the inhabitants of a Territory of the United States, + when they rightfully form a constitution to be admitted as a State + into the Union, may then, for the first time, like the people of a + State when forming a new constitution, decide for themselves whether + slavery, as a domestic institution, shall be maintained or prohibited + within their jurisdiction; and 'they shall be admitted into the Union, + with or without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at the + time of their admission.'" + +The _seventh_ and last of the series affirmed the validity and sanctity of +the Fugitive Slave Law, and denounced all acts, whether of individuals or +of State Legislatures, to defeat its action. + +The struggle upon these resolutions lasted more than three months, the +Senate not reaching a vote upon the first of the series until May 24, +1860. They constituted substantially the platform presented by the South +at the Charleston Democratic Convention, in April, and upon which, after +the withdrawal of the Southern delegations, the Presidential ticket of +Breckinridge and Lane was nominated, and supported in the ensuing canvass, +receiving the electoral votes of eleven States of the South. + +It was alleged against these resolutions, and the general principle of +protection to Southern property in the Territories, which their advocates +demanded should be asserted in the Democratic creed, that they involved a +new issue, raised for factious purposes, and were not sanctioned by any +previous action of the party. This, even if it had been true, which +assuredly it was not, constituted no sufficient reason for denying a plain +constitutional right. + +But, however sustained might have been this charge of inconsistency +against other Southern leaders, it had no application to Davis. Indeed, +Douglas unequivocally admitted that the position assumed by Davis in 1860 +was precisely that to which he had held for twenty years previous. While +the Oregon Bill was pending in the Senate, on the 23d of June, 1848, Mr. +Davis offered this amendment: + + "_Provided_, That nothing contained in this act shall be so construed + as to authorize the prohibition of domestic slavery in said Territory + whilst it remains in the condition of a Territory of the United + States." + +Eleven years afterwards, in his address before the Mississippi Democratic +Convention, July 5, 1859, he said: + + "But if the rules of proceeding remain unchanged, then all the + remedies of the civil law would be available for the protection of + property in slaves; or if the language of the organic act, by + specifying chancery and common-law jurisdiction, denies to us the more + ample remedies of the civil law, then those known to the common law + are certainly in force; and these, I have been assured by the highest + authority, will be found sufficient. If this be so, then we are + content; if it should prove otherwise, then we but ask what justice + can not deny--the legislation needful to enable the General Government + to perform its legitimate functions; and, in the meantime, we deny the + power of Congress to abridge or to destroy our constitutional rights, + or of the Territorial Legislature to obstruct the remedies known to + the common law of the United States." + +In 1848 he advocated General Cass' election _in spite_ of the Nicholson +letter, and not because he either approved or failed to detect the +dangerous heresies which it contained. As a choice of evils, he preferred +Cass, even upon the Nicholson letter, to General Taylor, his +father-in-law, both because Cass was the choice of his own party, and he +distrusted the influences which he foresaw would govern the administration +of Taylor. + +The attention of Mr. Davis was far from being confined to the slavery +question and the issues which grew out of it during the important period +which we have sketched. His extensive acquaintance with the practical +labors of legislation, and his uniformly thorough information upon all +questions of domestic economy, foreign affairs, the finances, and the +army, were amply exemplified, to the great benefit of the country. + +During the debate in the Thirty-fifth Congress, on the bill proposing the +issue of $20,000,000 of Treasury notes, which he opposed, he avowed +himself in favor of the abolition of custom-houses, and the disbanding of +the army of retainers employed to collect the import duties. Free trade +was always an important article of his political creed. He valued its +fraternizing effects upon mankind, its advantages to the laboring classes; +and held that, under a system of free trade, the Government would not be +defrauded. He traced the financial distress of the country, in the +"crisis" of 1857, to its commercial dependence on New York, whose +embarrassments must, so long as that dependence continued, always afflict +the country at large. The army, as on previous occasions, received a +large share of his attention, and he advocated its increase on a plan +similar to that of Mr. Calhoun, when Secretary of War under President +Monroe, providing a skeleton organization in peace, capable of expansion +in the event of war. The fishing bounties he opposed, as being obnoxious +to the objections urged against class legislation. + +In the summer of 1858, during the recess of Congress, Mr. Davis visited +the North, with a view to the recuperation of his health. Sailing from +Baltimore to Boston, he traversed a considerable portion of New England, +and sojourned for some time in Portland, Maine. His health was materially +benefited by the bracing salubrity of that delightful locality, and, both +here and at other points, he was received with demonstrations of profound +respect. Upon several occasions he was persuaded to deliver public +addresses, which were largely read and criticized. They were every-where +commended for their admirable catholicity of sentiment, and not less for +their bold assertions of principles than for their emphatic avowals of +attachment to the union of the States. His speech at Portland, Maine,[13] +was especially admired for its statesman-like dignity, and was singularly +free from partisan or sectional temper. In his journey through the States +of Massachusetts and New York, he was tendered distinguished honors, and +addressed the people of the leading cities. On the 10th of October, he +spoke in Faneuil Hall, Boston, and, on the 19th, he addressed an immense +Democratic ratification meeting in New York. + +The following is an extract from his address upon the latter occasion: + + "To each community belongs the right to decide for itself what + institutions it will have--to each people sovereign in their own + sphere. It belongs only to them to decide what shall be property. You + have decided it for yourselves, Mississippi has done so. Who has the + right to gainsay it? [Applause.] It was the assertion of the right of + independence--of that very right which led your fathers into the war + of the Revolution. [Applause.] It is that which constitutes the + doctrine of State Rights, on which it is my pleasure to stand. + Congress has no power to determine what shall be property anywhere. + Congress has only such grants as are contained in the Constitution; + and it conferred no power to rule with despotic hands over the + independence of the Territories." + +The second session of the Thirty-fifth Congress was comparatively +uneventful. Mr. Davis was an influential advocate of the Pacific Railroad +by the Southern route. His most elaborate effort during this session was +his argument against the French Spoliation Bill--denying that the failure +of the Government, in its earlier history, to prosecute the just claims of +American citizens on the Government of France, made it incumbent upon the +present generation to satisfy the obligations of justice incurred in the +past. + +In reply to an invitation to attend the Webster Birthday Festival, held in +Boston, in January, 1859, Mr. Davis wrote as follows: + + "At a time when partisans avow the purpose to obliterate the landmarks + of our fathers, and fanaticism assails the barriers they erected for + the protection of rights coeval with and essential to the existence of + the Union--when Federal offices have been sought by inciting + constituencies to hostile aggressions, and exercised, not as a trust + for the common welfare, but as the means of disturbing domestic + tranquillity--when oaths to support the Constitution have been taken + with a mental reservation to disregard its spirit, and subvert the + purposes for which it was established--surely it becomes all who are + faithful to the compact of our Union, and who are resolved to maintain + and preserve it, to compare differences on questions of mere + expediency, and, forming deep around the institutions we inherited, + stand united to uphold, with unfaltering intent, a banner on which is + inscribed the Constitutional Union of free, equal, and independent + States. + + "May the vows of 'love and allegiance,' which you propose to renew as + a fitting tribute to the memory of the illustrious statesman whose + birth you commemorate, find an echo in the heart of every patriot in + our land, and tend to the revival of that fraternity which bore our + fathers through the Revolution to the consummation of the independence + they transmitted to us, and the establishment of the more perfect + Union which their wisdom devised to bless their posterity for ever! + + "Though deprived of the pleasure of mingling my affectionate memories + and aspirations with yours, I send you my cordial greeting to the + friends of the Constitution, and ask to be enrolled among those whose + mission is, by fraternity and good faith to every constitutional + obligation, to insure that, from the Aroostook to San Diego, from Key + West to Puget's Sound, the grand arch of our political temple shall + stand unshaken." + +In the meantime a variety of events measurably added to the vehemence of +the sectional dispute, which never, for a moment, had exhibited any +abatement since the opening of the Kansas _imbroglio_. The antagonism +between the two sections, becoming more and more pronounced each day, +rapidly developed the true character of the struggle, as one for existence +on the part of the South, against the revolutionary designs of the North. +Mr. Seward, the Ajax of Black Republicanism, the founder and leader of +the party organized for the destruction of Southern institutions, in the +fall of 1858, at the city of Rochester, for the first time proclaimed his +revolutionary doctrine of an "irrepressible conflict" between the +civilizations of the two sections. This announcement, from such a source, +could only be accepted by the South as a menace to her peace and security. +Such was her construction of it. + +In his address before the Mississippi Democratic Convention, in July, +1859, from which we have already quoted, Mr. Davis said: + + "We have witnessed the organization of a party seeking the possession + of the Government, not for the common good, not for their own + particular benefit, but as the means of executing a hostile purpose + against a portion of the States." + +Approaching more directly the doctrine of Mr. Seward, he said: + + "The success of such a party would indeed produce an 'irrepressible + conflict.' To you would be presented the question, Will you allow the + Constitutional Union to be changed into the despotism of a majority? + Will you become the subjects of a hostile Government? or will you, + outside of the Union, assert the equality, the liberty and sovereignty + to which you were born? For myself I say, as I said on a former + occasion, in the contingency of the election of a President on the + platform of Mr. Seward's Rochester speech, let the Union be dissolved. + Let the 'great, but not the greatest, evil' come; for, as did the + great and good Calhoun, from whom is drawn that expression of value, I + love and venerate the Union of these States, but I love liberty and + Mississippi more." + +When Congress assembled, in December, 1859, the lawless expedition of +John Brown had greatly accelerated the inevitable climax of disunion. +Thenceforward the incipient revolution was, to a great extent, transferred +from the hands of Congress, whose action was but lightly regarded in +comparison with the animated scenes which marked the State conventions and +popular assemblages, held with reference to the approaching presidential +nominations. + +Mr. Davis approved the test made at the Charleston Convention, by the +Southern Democracy, as to the construction of the Cincinnati platform, and +the demand for a more explicit announcement of the position of the party +concerning slavery in the Territories. His speech, in reply to Judge +Douglas, on the 16th and 17th of May, 1860, is a vindication of Southern +action at Charleston, and an exhaustive discussion of all the phases of +the issue upon which the Democracy had divided. + +Events soon demonstrated the irreconcilable nature of the antagonism which +had severed this giant organization. It had simply realized the destiny of +political parties. In one generation they rise, as a virtue and a +necessity, to remedy disorders and reform abuses; in another generation, +they are themselves the apologists of corruption and the perpetrators of +wrong. The Democratic party became insensible to the appeals of principle, +and its fifty years' lease of power terminated, not speedily to be +recovered. + + +HON. JEFFERSON DAVIS AT PORTLAND, MAINE. + +[From the Eastern Argus.] + +We are gratified in being able to offer our readers a faithful and quite +full report of the speech of Hon. Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, on the +occasion of the serenade given him by the citizens of Portland, without +distinction of party, on Friday evening last. It will be read with +interest and pleasure, and we can not doubt that every sentiment, uttered +by the distinguished Mississippian, will find a hearty response and +approval from the citizens of Maine. The occasion was indeed a pleasing, a +hopeful one. It was in every respect the expression of generous +sentiments, of kindness, hospitality, friendly regard, and the brotherhood +of American citizenship. Prominent men of all parties were present, and +the expression, without exception, so far as we have heard, has been that +of unmingled gratification; and the scene was equally pleasant to look +upon. The beautiful mansion of Rensallaer Cram, Esq., directly opposite to +Madame Blanchard's, was illuminated, and the light thrown from the windows +of the two houses revealed to view the large and perfectly orderly +assemblage with which Park and Danforth Streets were crowded. We regret +that our readers can get no idea of the musical voice and inspiring +eloquence of the speaker from a report of his remarks; but it is the best +we can do for them. After the music had ceased, Mr. Davis appeared upon +the steps, and as soon as the prolonged applause with which he was greeted +had subsided, he spoke in substance as follows: + +FELLOW-CITIZENS: Accept my sincere thanks for this manifestation of your +kindness. Vanity does not lead me so far to misconceive your purpose as to +appropriate the demonstration to myself; but it is not the less gratifying +to me to be made the medium through which Maine tenders an expression of +regard to her sister, Mississippi. It is, moreover, with feelings of +profound gratification that I witness this indication of that national +sentiment and fraternity which made us, and which alone can keep us, one +people. At a period but as yesterday, when compared with the life of +nations, these States were separate, and, in some respects, opposing +colonies, their only relation to each other was that of a common +allegiance to the Government of Great Britain. So separate, indeed almost +hostile, was their attitude, that when General Stark, of Bennington +memory, was captured by savages on the headwaters of the Kennebec, he was +subsequently taken by them to Albany, where they went to sell furs, and +again led away a captive, without interference on the part of the +inhabitants of that neighboring colony to demand or obtain his release. +United as we now are, were a citizen of the United States, as an act of +hostility to our country, imprisoned or slain in any quarter of the world, +whether on land or sea, the people of each and every State of the Union, +with one heart and with one voice, would demand redress, and woe be to him +against whom a brother's blood cried to us from the ground. Such is the +fruit of the wisdom and the justice with which our fathers bound +contending colonies into confederation, and blended different habits and +rival interests into a harmonious whole, so that, shoulder to shoulder, +they entered on the trial of the Revolution, and step with step trod its +thorny paths until they reached the height of national independence, and +founded the constitutional representative liberty which is our birthright. + +When the mother country entered upon her career of oppression, in +disregard of chartered and constitutional rights, our forefathers did not +stop to measure the exact weight of the burden, or to ask whether the +pressure bore most upon this colony or upon that, but saw in it the +infraction of a great principle, the denial of a common right, in defense +of which they made common cause--Massachusetts, Virginia, and South +Carolina vieing with each other as to who should be foremost in the +struggle, where the penalty of failure would be a dishonorable grave. +Tempered by the trials and sacrifices of the Revolution, dignified by its +noble purposes, elevated by its brilliant triumphs, endeared to each other +by its glorious memories, they abandoned the Confederacy, not to fly apart +when the outward pressure of hostile fleets and armies were removed, but +to draw closer their embrace in the formation of a more perfect Union. + +By such men, thus trained and ennobled, our Constitution was framed. It +stands a monument of principle, of forecast, and, above all, of that +liberality which made each willing to sacrifice local interest, individual +prejudice, or temporary good to the general welfare and the perpetuity of +the republican institutions which they had passed through fire and blood +to secure. The grants were as broad as were necessary for the functions of +the general agent, and the mutual concessions were twice blessed, blessing +him who gave and him who received. Whatever was necessary for domestic +government--requisite in the social organization of each community--was +retained by the States and the people thereof; and these it was made the +duty of all to defend and maintain. Such, in very general terms, is the +rich political legacy our fathers bequeathed to us. Shall we preserve and +transmit it to posterity? Yes, yes, the heart responds; and the judgment +answers, the task is easily performed. It but requires that each should +attend to that which most concerns him, and on which alone he has rightful +power to decide and to act; that each should adhere to the terms of a +written compact, and that all should coöperate for that which interest, +duty, and honor demand. + +For the general affairs of our country, both foreign and domestic, we have +a national Executive and a national Legislature. Representatives and +Senators are chosen by districts and by States, but their acts affect the +whole country, and their obligations are to the whole people. He who, +holding either seat, would confine his investigations to the mere +interests of his immediate constituents, would be derelict to his plain +duty; and he who would legislate in hostility to any section, would be +morally unfit for the station, and surely an unsafe depository, if not a +treacherous guardian, of the inheritance with which we are blessed. No one +more than myself recognizes the binding force of the allegiance which the +citizen owes to the State of his citizenship, but that State being a party +to our compact, a member of the Union, fealty to the Federal Constitution +is not in opposition to, but flows from the allegiance due to one of the +United States. Washington was not less a Virginian when he commanded at +Boston, nor did Gates or Greene weaken the bonds which bound them to their +several States by their campaigns in the South. In proportion as a citizen +loves his own State, will he strive to honor by preserving her name and +her fame free from the tarnish of having failed to observe her obligations +and to fulfill her duties to her sister States. Each page of our history +is illustrated by the names and deeds of those who have well understood +and discharged the obligation. Have we so degenerated that we can no +longer emulate their virtues? Have the purposes for which our Union was +formed lost their value? Has patriotism ceased to be a virtue, and is +narrow sectionalism no longer to be counted a crime? Shall the North not +rejoice that the progress of agriculture in the South has given to her +great staple the controlling influence of the commerce of the world, and +put manufacturing nations under bond to keep the peace with the United +States? Shall the South not exult in the fact that the industry and +persevering intelligence of the North has placed her mechanical skill in +the front ranks of the civilized world--that our mother country, whose +haughty Minister, some eighty odd years ago, declared that not a hob-nail +should be made in the colonies, which are now the United States, was +brought, some four years ago, to recognize our preëminence by sending a +commission to examine our workshops and our machinery, to perfect their +own manufacture of the arms requisite for their defense? Do not our whole +people, interior and seaboard, North, South, East and West, alike feel +proud of the hardihood, the enterprise, the skill, and the courage of the +Yankee sailor, who has borne our flag far as the ocean bears its foam, and +caused the name and character of the United States to be known and +respected wherever there is wealth enough to woo commerce and intelligence +to honor merit? So long as we preserve and appreciate the achievements of +Jefferson and Adams, of Franklin and Madison, of Hamilton, of Hancock, and +of Rutledge, men who labored for the whole country, and lived for mankind, +we can not sink to the petty strife which would sap the foundations and +destroy the political fabric our fathers erected and bequeathed as an +inheritance to our posterity forever. + +Since the formation of the Constitution a vast extension of territory, and +the varied relations arising therefrom, have presented problems which +could not have been foreseen. It is just cause for admiration, even +wonder, that the provisions of the fundamental law should have been so +fully adequate to all the wants of government, new in its organization, +and new in many of the principles on which it was founded. Whatever fears +may have once existed as to the consequences of territorial expansion must +give way before the evidence which the past affords. The General +Government, strictly confined to its delegated functions, and the State +left in the undisturbed exercise of all else, we have a theory and +practice which fits our Government for immeasurable domain, and might, +under a millennium of nations, embrace mankind. + +From the slope of the Atlantic our population, with ceaseless tide, has +poured into the wide and fertile valley of the Mississippi, with eddying +whirl has passed to the coast of the Pacific; from the West and the East +the tides are rushing toward each other, and the mind is carried to the +day when all the cultivable land will be inhabited, and the American +people will sigh for more wildernesses to conquer. But there is here a +physico-political problem presented for our solution. Were it purely +physical your past triumphs would leave but little doubt of your capacity +to solve it. A community which, when less than twenty thousand, conceived +the grand project of crossing the White Mountains, and unaided, save by +the stimulus which jeers and prophecies of failure gave, successfully +executed the Herculean work, might well be impatient if it were suggested +that a physical problem was before us too difficult for mastery. The +history of man teaches that high mountains and wide deserts have resisted +the permanent extension of empire, and have formed the immutable +boundaries of States. From time to time, under some able leader, have the +hordes of the upper plains of Asia swept over the adjacent country, and +rolled their conquering columns over Southern Europe. Yet, after the lapse +of a few generations, the physical law, to which I have referred, has +asserted its supremacy, and the boundaries of those States differ little +now from those which were obtained three thousand years ago. + +Rome flew her conquering eagles over the then known world, and has now +subsided into the little territory on which the great city was originally +built. The Alps and the Pyranees have been unable to restrain imperial +France; but her expansion was a feverish action, her advance and her +retreat were tracked with blood, and those mountain ridges are the +reëstablished limits of her empire. Shall the Rocky Mountains prove a +dividing barrier to us? Were ours a central consolidated Government, +instead of a Union of sovereign States, our fate might be learned from the +history of other nations. Thanks to the wisdom and independent spirit of +our forefathers, this is not the case. Each State having sole charge of +its local interests and domestic affairs, the problem, which to others has +been insoluble, to us is made easy. Rapid, safe, and easy communication +between the Atlantic and the Pacific will give co-intelligence, unity of +interest, and coöperation among all parts of our continent-wide Republic. +The net-work of railroads which bind the North and the South, the slope of +the Atlantic and the valley of the Mississippi, together testify that our +people have the power to perform, in that regard, whatever it is their +will to do. + +We require a railroad to the States of the Pacific for present uses; the +time no doubt will come when we shall have need of two or three, it may +be, more. Because of the desert character of the interior country the work +will be difficult and expensive. It will require the efforts of a united +people. The bickerings of little politicians, the jealousies of sections +must give way to dignity of purpose and zeal for the common good. If the +object be obstructed by contention and division as to whether the route +shall be Northern, Southern, or Central, the handwriting is on the wall, +and it requires little skill to see that failure is the interpretation of +the inscription. You are practical people, and may ask, How is that +contest to be avoided? By taking the question out of the hands of +politicians altogether. Let the Government give such aid as it is proper +for it to render to the company which shall propose the most feasible +plan; then leave to capitalists with judgment, sharpened by interest, the +selection of the route, and the difficulties will diminish, as did those +which you overcame when you connected your harbor with the Canadian +provinces. + +It would be to trespass on your kindness and to violate the proprieties of +the occasion were I to detain the vast concourse which stands before me by +entering on the discussion of controverted topics, or by further indulging +in the expression of such reflections as circumstances suggest. I came to +your city in quest of health and repose. From the moment I entered it you +have showered upon me kindness and hospitality. Though my experience has +taught me to anticipate good rather than evil from my fellow-man, it had +not prepared me to expect such unremitting attention as has here been +bestowed. I have been jocularly asked in relation to my coming here, +whether I had secured a guarantee for my safety, and lo! I have found it. +I stand in the midst of thousands of my fellow-citizens. But, my friends, +I came neither distrusting nor apprehensive, of which you have proof in +the fact that I brought with me the objects of tenderest affection and +solicitude, my wife and my children; they have shared with me your +hospitality, and will alike remain your debtors. If, at some future time, +when I am mingled with the dust, and the arm of my infant son has been +nerved for deeds of manhood, the storm of war should burst upon your city, +I feel that, relying upon his inheriting the instincts of his ancestors +and mine, I may pledge him in that perilous hour to stand by your side in +the defense of your hearth-stones, and in maintaining the honor of a flag +whose constellation, though torn and smoked in many a battle by sea and +land, has never been stained with dishonor, and will, I trust, forever fly +as free as the breeze which unfolds it. + +A stranger to you, the salubrity of your location, and the beauty of its +scenery were not wholly unknown to me, nor were there wanting associations +which busy memory connected with your people. You will pardon me for +alluding to one whose genius shed a lustre upon all it touched, and whose +qualities gathered about him hosts of friends wherever he was known. +Prentiss, a native of Portland, lived from youth to middle age in the +county of my residence; and the inquiries which have been made show me +that the youth excited the interest which the greatness of the man +justified, and that his memory thus remains a link to connect your home +with mine. A cursory view, when passing through your town on former +occasions, had impressed me with the great advantages of your harbor, its +easy entrance, its depth, and its extensive accommodations for shipping. +But its advantages and its facilities, as they have been developed by +closer inspection, have grown upon me, until I realize that it is no +boast, but the language of sober truth, which, in the present state of +commerce, pronounces them unequaled in any harbor of our country. + +And surely no place could be more inviting to an invalid who sought refuge +from the heat of Southern summer. Here waving elms offer him shaded walks, +and magnificent residences, surrounded by flowers, fill the mind with +ideas of comfort and rest. If, weary of constant contact with his +fellow-men, he seeks a deeper seclusion, there, in the background of this +grand amphitheater, lie the eternal mountains, frowning with brow of rock +and cap of snow upon smiling fields beneath, and there in its recesses may +be found as much wildness and as much of solitude as the pilgrim, weary of +the cares of life, can desire. If he turn to the front, your capacious +harbor, studded with green islands of ever-varying light and shade, and +enlightened by all the stirring evidences of commercial activity, offer +him the mingled charms of busy life and nature's calm repose. A few miles +further, and he may sit upon the quiet shore to listen to the murmuring +wave until the troubled spirit sinks to rest; and in the little sail that +vanishes on the illimitable sea we find the type of the voyage which he is +soon to take, when, his ephemeral existence closed, he embarks for that +better state which lies beyond the grave. + +Richly endowed as you are by nature in all which contributes to pleasure +and to usefulness, the stranger can not pass without paying a tribute to +the much which your energy has achieved for yourselves. Where else will +one find a more happy union of magnificence and comfort? Where better +arrangements to facilitate commerce? Where so much of industry with so +little noise and bustle? Where, in a phrase, so much effected in +proportion to the means employed? We hear the puff of the engine, the roll +of the wheel, the ring of the ax and the saw, but the stormy, passionate +exclamation so often mingled with the sounds are nowhere heard. Yet +neither these nor other things which I have mentioned, attractive though +they be, have been to me the chief charm which I have found among you. Far +above all these, I place the gentle kindness, the cordial welcome, the +hearty grasp which made me feel truly and at once, though wandering afar, +that I was still at home. My friends, I thank you for this additional +manifestation of your good-will. + + +REPLY OF HON. JEFFERSON DAVIS, OF MISSISSIPPI, TO THE SPEECH OF SENATOR +DOUGLAS, IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE, MAY 16 AND 17, 1860. + +[The Senate resumed the consideration of the resolutions submitted by Mr. +Davis on the first of March, relative to State rights, the institution of +slavery in the States, and the rights of citizens of the several States in +the Territories.] + +MR. DOUGLAS having concluded his speech-- + +MR. DAVIS arose and said: + +_Mr. President_: When the Senator from Illinois commenced his speech, he +announced his object to be to answer to an arraignment, or, as he also +termed it, an indictment, which he said I had made against him. He +therefore caused extracts to be read from my remarks to the Senate. Those +extracts announce that I have been the uniform opponent of what is called +squatter sovereignty, and that, having opposed it heretofore, I was now, +least of all, disposed to give it quarter. At a subsequent period, the +fact was stated that the Senator from Illinois and myself had been opposed +to each other, on those questions which I considered as most distinctly +involving Southern interests in 1850. He has not answered to the +allegation. He has not attempted to show that he did not stand in that +position. It is true he has associated himself with Mr. Clay, and, before +closing, I will show that the association does not belong to him; that +upon those test questions they did not vote together. He then, somewhat +vauntingly, reminded me that he was with the victorious party, asserted +that the Democracy of the country then sustained his doctrine, and that I +was thus outside of that organization. With Mr. Clay! If he had been with +him, he would have been in good company; but the old Jackson Democracy +will be a little surprised to learn that Clay was the leader of our party, +and that a man proves his allegiance to it by showing how closely he +followed in the footsteps of Henry Clay. + +When the Senator opened his argument, by declaring his purpose to be fair +and courteous, I little supposed that an explanation made by me in favor +of the Secretary of State, and which could not at all disturb the line of +his argument, would have been followed by the rude announcement that he +could not permit interruption thereafter. A Senator has the right to claim +exemption from interruption if he will follow the thread of his argument, +direct his discourse to the question at issue, and confine himself to it; +but if he makes up a medley of arraignments of the men who have been in +public life for ten years past, and addressing individuals in his +presence, he should permit an interruption to be made for correction as +often as he misrepresents their position. It would have devolved on me +more than once, if I had been responsible for his frequent references to +me, to correct him and show that he misstated facts; but as he would not +permit himself to be interrupted, I am not responsible for any thing he +has imputed to me. + +The Senator commenced with a disclaimer of any purpose to follow what he +considered a bad practice of arraigning Senators here on matters for which +they stood responsible to their constituents; but straightway proceeded to +make a general arraignment of the present and the absent. I believe I +constitute the only exception to whom he granted consistency, and that at +the expense of party association, and, he would have it, at the expense of +sound judgment. He not only arraigned individuals, but even +States--Florida, Alabama, and Georgia--were brought to answer at the bar +of the Senate for the resolutions they had passed; Virginia was held +responsible for her policy; Mississippi received his critical notice. +Pray, sir, what had all this to do with the question? Especially, what had +all this to do with what he styled an indictment against him? It is a mere +resort to a species of declamation which has not been heard to-day for the +first time; a pretext to put himself in the attitude of a persecuted man, +and, like the satyr's guest, blowing hot and cold in the same breath, in +the midst of his complaint of persecution, vaunts his supreme power. If +his opponents be the very small minority which he describes, what fear has +he of persecution or proscription? + +Can he not draw a distinction between one who says: "I give no quarter to +an idea," and one who proclaims the policy of putting the advocates of +that idea to the sword? Such was his figurative language. That figure of +the sword, however, it seemed, as he progressed in his development, +referred to the one thought always floating through his brain--exclusion +from the spoils of office, for, at last, it seemed to narrow down to the +supposition that no man who agreed with him was, with our consent, to be +either a Cabinet officer or a collector. Who has advanced any such +doctrine? Have I, at this or any other period of my acquaintance with him, +done any thing to justify him in attributing that opinion to me? I pause +for his answer. + +MR. DOUGLAS. I do not exactly understand the Senator. I have no complaint +to make of the Senator from Mississippi of ever having been unkind or +ungenerous towards me, if that is what he means to say. + +MR. DAVIS. Have I ever promulgated a doctrine which indicated that if my +friends were in power, I would sacrifice every other wing of the +Democratic party? + +MR. DOUGLAS. I understood the making of a test on this issue against me +would reach every other man that held my opinions; and, therefore, if I +was not sound enough to hold office, no man agreeing with me would be; and +hence, every man of my opinions would be excluded. + +MR. DAVIS. Ah, Mr. President; I believe I now have caught the clue to the +argument; it was not before apprehended. I was among those who thought the +Senator, with his opinions, ought not to be chairman of the Committee on +Territories. This, I suppose, then, is the whole imposition. But have I +not said to the Senator, at least once, that I had no disposition to +question his Democracy; that I did not wish to withhold from him any +tribute which was due to his talent and his worth? Did I not offer to +resign the only chairmanship of a committee I had if the Senate would +confer it upon him? Then, where is this spirit of proscription, the +complaint of which has constituted some hours of his speech? If others +have manifested it, I do not know it; and as the single expression of "no +quarter to the doctrine of squatter sovereignty" was the basis of his +whole allegation, I took it for granted his reference to a purpose to do +him and his friends such wrong must have been intended for me. + +The fact that the Senator criticised the idea of the States prescribing +the terms on which they will act in a party convention recognized to be +representative, is suggestive of an extreme misconception of relative +position; and the presumption with which the Senator censured what he was +pleased to term "the seceders," suggested to me a representation of the +air of the great monarch of France when, feeling royalty and power all +concentrated in his own person, he used the familiar yet remarkable +expression, "the State, that's me." Does the Senator consider it a modest +thing in him to announce to the Democratic Convention on what terms he +will accept the nomination; but presumptuous in a State to declare the +principle on which she will give him her vote? It is an advance on Louis +Quatorze. + +Nothing but the most egregious vanity, something far surpassing even the +bursting condition of swollen pride, could have induced the Senator to +believe that I could not speak of squatter sovereignty without meaning +him. + +Towards the Senator, personally, I have never manifested +hostility--indeed, could not, because I have ever felt kindly. Many years +of association, very frequent coöperation, manly support from him in times +of trial, are all remembered by me gratefully. The Senator, therefore, had +no right to assume that I was making war upon him. I addressed myself to +a doctrine of which he was not the founder, though he was one of the early +disciples; but he proved an unprofitable follower, for he became +rebellious, and ruined the logic of the doctrine. It was logical in Mr. +Cass's mind; he claimed the power to be inherent in the people who settled +a new Territory, and by this inherent power he held that they might +proceed to form government and to exercise its functions. There was logic +in that--logic up to the point of sovereignty. Not so with the Senator. He +says the inhabitants of the Territories derive their power to form a +government from the consent of Congress; that when we decide that there +are enough of them to constitute a government, and enact an organic law, +then they have power to legislate according to their will. This power +being derived from an act of Congress--a limited agency tied down to the +narrow sphere of the constitutional grant--is made, by that supposition, +the bestower of sovereignty on its creature. + +I had occasion the other day to refer to the higher law as it made its +first appearance on earth--the occasion when the tempter entered the +garden of Eden. There is another phase of it. Whoever attempts to +interpose between the supreme law of the Creator and the creature, whether +it be in the regions of morals or politics, proclaims a theory that wars +upon every principle of government. When Congress, the agent for the +States, within the limits of its authority, forms, as it were, a +territorial constitution by its organic act, he who steps in and proclaims +to the settlers in that Territory that they have the right to overturn the +Government, to usurp to themselves powers not delegated, is preaching the +higher law in the domain of politics, which is only less mischievous than +its other form, because the other involves both politics and morals in one +ruinous confusion. + +The Senator spoke of the denial of Democratic fellowship to him. After +what has been said and acknowledged by the Senator, it is not to be +supposed that it could have any application to me. It may be proper to +add, I know of no such denial on the part of other Democratic Senators. +Far be it from me to vaunt the fact of being in a majority, and to hold +him to the hard rule he prescribes to us, of surrendering an opinion where +we may happen to have been in a minority. Were I to return now to him the +measure with which he metes to us, when he assumes that a majority in the +Charleston Convention has a right to prescribe what shall be our tenets, I +might, in reply to him, say, as a sincere adherent of the Democratic +party, how can you oppose the resolutions pending before the Senate? If +twenty-seven majority in a body of three hundred and three constituent +members had, as he assumes, the power to lay down a binding law, what is +to be said of him who, with a single adherent, stands up against the whole +of his Democratic associates? He must be outside of the party, according +to his enunciation; he must be wandering in the dark regions to which he +consigns the followers of Mr. Yancey. + +The Senator said he had no taste for references to things which were +personal, and then proceeded to discuss that of which he showed himself +profoundly ignorant--the condition of things in Mississippi. It is +disagreeable for me to bring before the Senate matters which belong to my +constituents and myself, and I should not do so but for the fact of their +introduction into the Senator's elaborate speech, which is no doubt to be +spread over all parts of the country. The Senator, by some means or other, +has the name of very many citizens of Mississippi, and as there is nothing +in our condition to attract his special attention, his speech is probably +to be sent over a wide field of correspondence; and it is, therefore, the +more incumbent on me to notice his attempt to give a history of affairs +that were transacted in Mississippi. He first announces that Mississippi +rebuked the idea of intervention asserted in 1850; then that Mississippi +rejected my appeal; that Mississippi voted on the issue made up by the +compromise measure of 1850, and vaunts it as an approval of that +legislation of which he was the advocate and I the opponent. Now, +Mississippi did none of these things. Mississippi instructed her Senators, +and I obeyed her instructions. I introduced into this body the resolutions +which directed my course. On that occasion I vindicated Mississippi, and +especially the Southern rights men, from the falsehood of that day, and +reiterated now, of a purpose to dissolve the Union. I vindicated her by +extracts from the proceedings as well of her convention as of her primary +assemblies; and my remarks on that occasion, as fully as the events to +which he referred in terms of undeserved compliment, justified the Senator +in saying to-day that he knew I had always been faithful to the Government +of which I was a part. + +Acting under the instructions from Mississippi--not merely voting and +yielding reluctant compliance; but, according to my ideas of the +obligation of a Senator, laboring industriously and zealously to carry out +the instructions which my State gave me, I took and maintained the +position I held in relation to the measures of 1850. As it was with me a +cordial service, I went home to vindicate the position which was hers, as +well as my own. Shortly after that a canvass was opened, in which a +distinguished gentlemen of our party, who had not been a member of +Congress, was nominated for Governor. Questions other than the compromise +measures of 1850 arose in that canvass; they were discussed in a great +degree to the exclusion of a consideration of the merits of the action of +Congress in 1850; and, at the election in September, for delegates to a +convention, we had fallen from a party majority of some eight thousand to +a minority of nearly the same number. It was after the decision of the +question involved in calling a convention--after our party was +defeated--after the candidate for Governor had retired, that the Democracy +of Mississippi called upon me to bear their standard. It was esteemed a +forlorn hope, therefore an obligation of honor not to decline the +invitation. But so far as the action in the Senate in 1850 was concerned, +if it had any effect, it must have been the reverse of that assumed, as, +in the subsequent election for State officers on the first Monday in +November, this majority of nearly eight thousand against us was reduced to +about one thousand. + +But when this convention assembled, though a large majority of the members +belonged to the party which the Senator has been pleased to term the +"Submissionists"--a name which they always rejected--this convention of +the party most adverse to me, when they came to act on the subject said, +after citing the "compromise" measures of the Congress of 1850: + + "And connected with them, the rejection of the proposition to exclude + slavery from the Territories of the United States, and to abolish it + in the District of Columbia; and, _while they do not entirely + approve_, will abide by it as a permanent adjustment of this sectional + controversy, so long as the same, in all its features, shall be + faithfully adhered to and enforced." + +Then they go on to recite six different causes, for which they will resort +to the most extreme remedies which we had supposed ever could be +necessary. The case only requires that I should say that the party to +which I belonged did not then, nor at any previous time, propose to go out +of the Union, but to have a Southern convention for consultation as to +future contingencies, threatened and anticipated. It was at last narrowed +down to the question, whether we should meet South Carolina and consult +with her. Honoring that gallant State for the magnanimity she had +manifested in the first efforts for the creation of the Government, in the +preliminaries to the struggle for independence, when she, a favored +colony, feeling no oppression, nursed by the mother country, cherished in +every method, yet agreed with Massachusetts, then oppressed, to assert the +great principle of community independence, and to carry it to the extent +of war--honoring her for her unvarying defense of the Constitution +throughout her whole course--believing that she was true to her faith, and +would redeem all her pledges--feeling that a friendly hand might +restrain, while, if left to herself, her pride might precipitate her on +the trial of separation, I did desire to meet South Carolina in +convention, though nobody but ourselves should be there to join her. + +But, to close the matter, this convention, in its seventh resolution, +after stating all those questions on which it would resist, declared: + + "That, as the people of Mississippi, in the opinion of this + convention, desire all further agitation of the slavery question to + cease, and have acted upon and decided the foregoing questions, + thereby making it the duty of this convention to pass no act in the + perview and spirit of the law under which it is called, this + convention deems it unnecessary to refer to the people, for approval + or disapproval, at the ballot-box, its action in the premises." + +So that when the Senator appealed to this as evidence of what the people +of Mississippi had done, he was ignorant of the fact that the delegates of +the people of Mississippi did not agree with him; that their resolutions +did not sustain the view which he took, and that the people of Mississippi +never acted on them. If, then, there had been good taste in the +intervention of this local question, there was certainly very bad judgment +in hazarding his statements on a subject of which he was so little +informed. + +The Senator here, as in relation to our friends at Charleston, takes kind +care of us--supposes we do not know what we are about, but that he, with +his superior discrimination, sees what must necessarily result from what +we are doing; he says that, at Charleston, they--innocent people--did not +intend to destroy the Government; but he warns them that, if they do what +they propose, they will destroy it; and so he says we of Mississippi, not +desiring to break up the Union, nevertheless pursued a course which would +have had that result if it had not been checked. Where does he get all +this information? I have been in every State of the Union except +two--three now, since Oregon has been admitted--but I have never seen a +man who had as much personal knowledge. It is equally surprising that his +facts should be so contrary to the record. + +We believed then, as I believe now, that this Union, as a compact entered +into between the States, was to be preserved by good faith, and by a close +observance of the terms on which we were united. We believed then, as I +believe now, that the party which rested upon the basis of truth; +promulgated its opinions, and had them tested in the alembic of public +opinion, adopted the only path of safety. I can not respect such a +doctrine as that which says, "You may construe the Constitution your way, +and I will construe it mine; we will waive the merit of these two +constructions, and harmonize together until the courts decide the question +between us." A man is bound to have an opinion upon any political subject +upon which he is called to act; it is skulking his responsibility for a +citizen to say, "Let us express no opinion; I will agree that you may have +yours, and I will have mine; we will coöperate politically together; we +will beat the opposition, divide the spoils, and leave it to the court to +decide the question between us." + +I do not believe that this is the path of safety; I am sure it is not the +way of honor. I believe it devolves on us, who are principally sufferers +from the danger to which this policy has exposed us, to affirm the truth +boldly, and let the people decide after the promulgation of our opinions. +Our Government, resting as it does upon public opinion and popular +consent, was not formed to deceive the people, nor does it regard the men +in office as a governing class. We, the functionaries, should derive our +opinions from the people. To know what their opinion is, it is necessary +that we should pronounce, in unmistakable language, what we ourselves +mean. + +My position is, that there is no portion of our country where the people +are not sufficiently intelligent to discriminate between right and wrong, +and no portion where the sense of justice does not predominate. I, +therefore, have been always willing to unfurl our flag to its innermost +fold--to nail it to the mast, with all our principles plainly inscribed +upon it. Believing that we ask nothing but what the Constitution was +intended to confer--nothing but that which, as equals, we are entitled to +receive--I am willing that our case should be plainly stated to those who +have to decide it, and await, for good or for evil, their verdict. + +For two days, the Senator spoke nominally upon the resolutions, and upon +the territorial question; but, like the witness in the French comedy, who, +when called upon to testify, commenced before the creation, and was +stopped by the judge, who told him to come down, for a beginning, to the +deluge, he commenced so far back, and narrated so minutely, that he never +got chronologically down to the point before us. + +What is the question on which the Democracy are divided? Are we called +upon to settle what every body said from 1847 down to this date? Have the +Democracy divided on that? Have they divided on the resolutions of the +States in 1840, or 1844, or 1848? Have the Democracy undertaken to review +the position taken in 1854, that there should be a latitude of +construction upon a particular point of constitutional law while they did +await the decision of the Supreme Court? No, sir; the question is changed +from before to after the event; the call is on every man to come forward +now, after the Supreme Court has given all it could render upon a +political subject, and state that his creed is adherence to the rule thus +expounded in accordance with previous agreement. + +The Senator tells us that he will abide by the decision of the Supreme +Court; but it was fairly to be inferred, from what he said, that, in the +Dred Scott case, he held that they had only decided that a negro could not +sue in a Federal Court. Was this the entertainment to which we were +invited? Was the proclaimed boon of allowing the question to go to +judicial decision, no more than that, one after another, each law might be +tested, and that, one after another, each case, under every law, might be +tried, and that after centuries should roll away, we might hope for the +period when, every case exhausted, the decision of our constitutional +right and of the federal duty would be complete? Or was it that we were to +get rid of the controversy which had divided the country for thirty years; +that we were to reach a conclusion beyond which we could see the region of +peace; that tranquillity was to be obtained by getting a decision on a +constitutional question which had been discussed until it was seen that, +legislatively, it could not or would not be decided? If, then, the Supreme +Court has judicially announced that Congress can not prohibit the +introduction of slave property into a Territory, and that no one deriving +authority from Congress can do so, and the Senator from Illinois holds +that the inhabitants derive their power from the organic act of Congress, +what restrains his acknowledgment of our right to go into the Territories, +and his recognition of the case being closed by the opinion of the court? +I can understand how one who has followed to its logical consequences the +original doctrine of squatter sovereignty might still stand out, and say +this inherent right can not be taken away by judicial decision; but is not +one who claims to derive the power of the territorial legislation from a +law of Congress, and who finds the opinion of the court conclusive as to +Congress, and to all deriving their authority from it, estopped from any +further argument? + +Much of what the Senator said about the condition of public affairs can +only be regarded as the presentation of his own case, and requires no +notice from me. His witticism upon the honorable Senator, the Chairman of +the Committee on the Judiciary [Mr. Bayard], who is now absent, because of +the size of the State which he represents, reminds one that it was +mentioned as an evidence of the stupidity of a German, that he questioned +the greatness of Napoleon because he was born in the little island of +Corsica. I know not what views the Senator entertained when he measured +the capacity of the Senator from Delaware by the size of that State, or +the dignity of his action at Charleston by the number of his constituents. +If there be any political feature which stands more prominently out than +another in the Union, it is the equality of the States. Our stars have no +variant size; they shine with no unequal brilliancy. A Senator from +Delaware holds a position entitled to the same respect, as such, as the +Senator from any other State of the Union. More than that, the character, +the conduct, the information, the capacity of that Senator might claim +respect, if he was not entitled to it from his position. + +Twice on this occasion, and more than the same number of times heretofore, +has the Senator referred to the great benefit derived from that provision +which grants a trial in the local court, an appeal to the Supreme Court of +the Territory, and an appeal from thence to the Supreme Court of the +United States, on every question involving title to slaves. I wish to say +that whatever merit attaches to that belongs to a Senator to whom the +advocates of negro slavery have not often been in the habit of +acknowledging their obligations--the Senator from New Hampshire [Mr. +Hale], who introduced it in 1850 as an amendment to the New Mexico Bill. +We adopted it as a fair proposition, equally acceptable upon one side and +the other. On its adoption, no one voted against it. That proposition was +incorporated in the Kansas Bill, but unless we acknowledge obligations to +the Senator from New Hampshire, how shall they be accorded for that to the +Senator from Illinois? + +I am asked whether the resolutions of the Senate can have the force of +law. Of course not. The Senate, however, is an independent member of the +Government, and from its organization should be peculiarly watchful of +State rights. Before the meeting of the Charleston Convention, it was +untruly stated that these resolutions were concocted to affect the action +of the Charleston Convention. Now we are asked if they are to affect the +Baltimore Convention. They were not designed for the one; they are not +pressed in view of the other. They were introduced to obtain an +expression of the opinion of the Senate, a proceeding quite frequent in +the history of this body. It was believed that they would have a +beneficial effect, and that they were stated in terms which would show the +public the error of supposing that there was a purpose on the part of the +Democracy, or of the South, to enact what was called a slave code for the +Territories of the United States. It was believed that the assertion of +sound principles at this time would direct public opinion, and might be +fruitful of such reuniting, harmonizing results as we all desire, and +which the public need. Whether it is to have this effect or not; whether +at last we are to be shorn of our national strength by personal or +sectional strife, depends upon the conduct of those who have it in their +power to control the result. The Democratic party, in its history, +presents a high example of nationality; its power and its usefulness has +been its co-extension with the Union. The Democrats of the Northern States +who vote for these resolutions, but affirm that which we have so often +announced with pride, that there was a political opinion which pervaded +the whole country; there was a party capable to save the Union, because it +belonged to all the States. If the two Democratic Senators who alone have +declared their opposition should so vote, to that extent the effect would +be impaired, and they will stand in that isolation to which the Senator +points as a consequence so dreadful to the Southern men at Charleston. + + [Here Mr. Davis gave way for a motion to adjourn, and on the 17th + resumed.] + +MR. DAVIS. At the close of the session of yesterday, I was speaking of the +hope entertained that the Democratic party would yet be united; that the +party which had so long wielded the destinies of the country, for its +honor, for its glory, and its progress, was not about to be checked midway +in its career--to be buried in a premature grave; but that it was to go +on, with concentrated energy, toward the great ends for which it has +striven since 1800, by a long pull, and a strong pull, and a pull +altogether, to bring the ship of State into that quiet harbor where + + "Vessels safe, without their hawsers, ride." + +This was a hope, however, not founded on any supposition that we were to +escape from the issues which are presented--a hope not based on the +proposition that every man should have his own construction of our creed, +and that we should unite together merely for success; but that the party, +as heretofore, in each succeeding quadrennial convention, would add to the +resolutions of the preceding one such declarations as passing events +indicated, and the exigencies of the country demanded. + +In the last four years a division has arisen in the Democratic party, upon +the construction of one of the articles of its creed. It behooves us, in +that state of the case, to decide what the true construction is; for, if +the party be not a union of men upon principle, the sooner it is dissolved +the better; and if it be such a union, why shall not those principles be +defined, so as to remove doubt or cavil, and be applied in every emergency +to meet the demands of each succeeding case? Thus only can we avoid +division in council and confusion in action. + +The Senator from Illinois, who preceded me, announced that he had +performed a pleasing duty in defending the Democratic party. That party +might well cry out, Save me from my defender. It was a defense of the +party by the arraignment of its prominent members. It was the preservation +of the body by the destruction of its head--for the President of the +United States is, for the time being, the head of the party that placed +him in position; and the head of the party thus in position can not be +destroyed without the disintegration of the members and the destruction of +the body itself. I suppose the Senator, however, was at his favorite +amusement of "shooting at the lump." The "lump" heretofore has been those +Democratic Senators who dissented from him: this time he involved +Democrats all over the country. Not even the presiding officer, whose +position seals his lips, could escape him. And here let me say that I +found nothing in the extract read from that gentleman's address, which, +construed as was no doubt intended, does not meet my approval; but if +tried by the modern lexicon of the Senator, it might be rendered a +contradiction to his avowed opinions, and by the same mode of expounding, +non-intervention would be a sin of which the whole Democracy might be +convicted, under the indictment of squatter sovereignty. The language +quoted from the address of the Vice-President is to be construed as +understood at the time, at the place, and by men such as the one who used +it. + +With that force which usually enters into his addresses--with even more +than his usual eloquence--the Senator referred to the scene which awaited +him upon his return to Chicago, when, as represented, he met an infuriated +mob, who assailed him for having maintained the measures of 1850--those +compromises which, in the Northern section, it was urged had been passed +in the interest of the South. But, pray, what one of those measures was it +which excited the mob so described? Only one, I believe, was put in issue +at the North--the fugitive slave law; that one he did not vote for. But it +was the part of manliness to say that, though absent and not voting for +it, he approved of it. Such, I believe, was his commendable course on that +occasion. I give him, therefore, all due credit for not escaping from a +responsibility to which they might not have held him. Are we to give +perpetual thanks to any one because he did not yield to so senseless a +clamor, but conceded to us that small measure of constitutional +right--because he has complied with a requirement so plain that my regret +is that it ever required congressional intervention to enforce it? It +belonged to the honor of the States to execute that clause of the +Constitution. They should have executed it without congressional +intervention; congressional action should only have been useful to give +that uniformity of proceeding which State action could not have secured. + +Concurring in the depicted evil of the destruction of the Democratic +organization, it must be admitted that such consequence is the inevitable +result of a radical difference of principle. The Senator laments the +disease, but instead of healing, aggravates it. While pleading the evils +of the disruption of the party, it is quite apparent that, in his mind, +there is another still greater calamity; for, through all his arraignment +of others, all his self-laudation, all his complaints of persecution, like +an air through its variations, appears and re-appears the action of the +Charleston Convention. That seemed to be the beginning and the end of his +solicitude. The oft-told tale of his removal from the chairmanship of the +Committee on Territories had to be renewed and connected with that +convention, and even assumed as the basis on which his strength was +founded in that convention. I think the Senator did himself injustice. I +think his long Career and distinguished labors, his admitted capacity for +good hereafter, constitute a better reason for the support which he +received, than the fact that his associates in the Senate had not chosen +to put him in a particular position in the organization of this body. It +is enough that that fact did not divert support from him; and I am aware +of none of his associates here who have forced it upon public attention +with a view to affect him. + +He claims that an arraignment made against his Democracy has been answered +by the action of a majority of the Convention at Charleston; and then +proceeds to inform the minority men that he would scorn to be the +candidate of a party unless he received a majority of its votes. There was +no use in making that declaration; it requires not only a majority, but, +under our ruling, a vote of two-thirds, for a nomination. It was +unnecessary for any body to feel scorn toward that which he could not +receive. Other unfortunate wights might mourn the event; it belonged to +the Senator from Illinois to scorn it. The remark of Mr. Lowndes, which +has been so often quoted, and which, beautiful in itself, has acquired +additional value by time, that the Presidency was an office neither to be +sought nor declined, has no application, therefore, to the Senator, for, +under certain contingencies, he says he would decline it. It does not +devolve on me to decide whether he has sought it or not. + +But, sir, what is the danger which now besets the Democratic party? Is it, +as has been asserted, the doctrine of intervention by Congress, and is +that doctrine new? Is the idea that protection, by Congress, to all rights +of person or property, wherever it has jurisdiction, so dangerous that, in +the language employed by the Senator, it would sweep the Democratic party +from the face of the earth? For what was our Government instituted? Why +did the States confer upon the Federal Government the great functions +which it possesses? For protection--mainly for protection beyond the +municipal power of the States. I shall have occasion, in the progress of +my remarks, to cite some authority, and to trace this from a very early +period. I will first, however, notice an assault which the Senator has +thought proper to make upon certain States, one of which is, in part, +represented by myself. He says they are seceders, bolters, because they +withdrew from a party convention when it failed to announce their +principles. There can be no tie to bind me to a party beyond my will. I +will admit no bond that holds me to a party a day longer than I agree to +its principles. When men meet together to confer, and ascertain whether or +not they do agree, and find that they differ--radically, essentially, +irreconcilably differ--what belongs to an honorable position except to +part? They can not consistently act together any longer. It devolves upon +them frankly to announce the difference, and each to pursue his separate +course. + +The letter of Mr. Yancey--acknowledged to be a private letter, an +unguarded letter, but which, somehow or other, got into the press--was +read to sustain this general accusation against what are called the Cotton +States. I do not pretend to judge how far the Senator has the right here +to read a private letter, which, without the authority of the writer, has +gone into the public press. It is one of those questions which every man's +sense of propriety must, in his own case, decide. Whether or not the use +of that letter was justifiable, how is it to be assumed that the Southern +States are bound by any opinion there enunciated? How to be asserted that +we, the residents in those States, have pinned our faith to the sleeve of +any man, and that we will follow his behest, no matter whither he may go? +But was this the only source of information, or was the impression +otherwise sustained? Did Mr. Yancey, in his speech delivered at +Charleston, justify the conclusions which the Senator draws from this +letter? Did he admit them to be correct? There he might have found the +latest evidence, and the best authority. Speaking to that point, Mr. +Yancey said: + + "It has been charged, in order to demoralize whatever influence we + might be entitled to, either from our personal or political + characteristics, or as representatives of the State of Alabama, that + we are disruptionists, disunionists _per se_; that we desire to break + up the party in the State of Alabama--to break up the party of the + Union, and to dissolve the Union itself. Each and all of these + allegations, come from what quarter they may, I pronounce to be false. + There is no disunionist, that I know of, in the delegation from the + State of Alabama. There is no disruptionist that I know of; and if + there are factionists in our delegation, they could not have got in + there, with the knowledge upon the part of our State Convention that + they were of so unenviable a character. We come here with two great + purposes: first, to save the constitutional rights of the South, if it + lay in our power to do so. We desire to save the South by the best + means that present themselves to us; and the State of Alabama believes + that the best means now in existence is the organization of the + Democratic party, if we shall be able to persuade it to adopt the + constitutional basis upon which we think the South alone can be + saved." + +He further says: + + "We have come here, then, with the twofold purpose of saving the + country and saving the Democracy; and if the Democracy will not lend + itself to that high, holy, and elevated purpose; if it can not elevate + itself above the mere question of how perfect shall be its mere + personal organization, and how wide-spread shall be its mere voting + success, then we say to you, gentlemen, mournfully and regretfully, + that, in the opinion of the State of Alabama, and, I believe, of the + whole South, you have failed in your mission, and it will be our duty + to go forth, and make an appeal to the loyalty of the country to stand + by that Constitution which party organizations have deliberately + rejected." [Applause.] + +Mr. Yancey answers for himself. It was needless to go back to old letters. +Here were his remarks delivered before the convention, speaking to the +point in issue, and answering both as to his purposes and as to the +motives of those with whom he conferred and acted. + +The Senator next cited the resolutions of the State of Alabama; and here +he seemed to rest the main point in his argument. The Senator said that +Alabama, in 1856, had demanded of the Democratic convention, +non-intervention, and that, in 1860, she had retired from the convention +because it insisted upon non-intervention. He read one of the resolutions +of the Alabama Convention of 1856; but the one which bore upon the point +was not read. The one which was conclusive as to the position of Alabama +then, and its relation to her position now, was exactly the one that was +omitted--I read from the resolutions of this year--was as follows: + + "_Resolved, further_, That we re-affirm so much of the first + resolution of the platform adopted in the convention by the Democracy + of this State, on the 8th of January, 1856, as relates to the subject + of slavery, to-wit." + +It then goes on to quote from that resolution of 1856, as follows: + + "The unqualified right of the people of the slaveholding States to + the protection of their property in the States, in the Territories, + and in the wilderness, in which territorial governments are as yet + unorganized." + +That was the resolution of 1856; and like it was one of February, 1848: + + "That it is the duty of the General Government by all proper + legislation, to secure an entry into those Territories to all the + citizens of the United States, together with their property, of every + description; and that the same shall be protected by the United + States, while the Territories are under its authority." + +So stands the record of that State which is now held responsible for +retiring, and is alleged to have withdrawn because she received now what, +in former times, she had demanded as the full measure of her rights. Did +she receive it? The argument could only be made by concealing the fact +that her resolutions of 1848 and 1856 asserted the right to protection, +and claimed it from the General Government. What, then, is the necessary +inference? That, in the Cincinnati platform, they believed they obtained +that which they asserted, or that which necessarily involved it. So much +for the point of faith; so much for the point of consistency in the +assertion of right. But if it were otherwise; if they had neglected to +assert a right; would that destroy it? If they had failed at some time to +claim this protection, are they to be estopped, in all time to come, from +claiming it? Constitutional right is eternal--not to be sacrificed by any +body of men. A single man may revive it at any period of the existence of +the Constitution. So the argument would be worthless, if the facts were as +stated. That they are not so stated, is shown by the record. + +Here allow me to say, in all sincerity, that I dislike thus to speak about +conventions; it does not belong to the duties of the Senate; we did not +assemble here to make a President, except in the single contingency of a +failure by the people and by the House of Representatives to elect. When +that contingency arrives, the question will be before us. I am sorry that +it should have been prematurely introduced. But since the action of the +recent convention at Charleston is presented as the basis of argument, it +may be as well to refer to it, and see what it is. The majority report, +presented by seventeen States of the Union, and those the States most +reliable to give Democratic votes--the States counted so certain to give +Democratic votes that they have been regarded as a fixed basis, a nucleus +to which others were to be attracted--these seventeen States reported to +the convention a series of resolutions, one of which asserted the right to +protection. A minority of States reported another series, excluding the +avowal of the right--not exactly denying it, but not avowing it--and a +second minority report was submitted, being the Cincinnati platform, pure +and simple. It is true that a majority of delegates adopted the minority +report, but not a majority of States, nor does it appear, by an analysis +of the votes, and the best evidence I have been able to obtain, that it +was by a majority of delegates, if each had been left to his own choice; +but that, by one of those ingenious arrangements--one of those incidents +which, among jurists, is described as the favor the vigilant receives from +the law--it so happened that, in certain States, the delegates were +instructed to vote as a unit; in other States they were not; so that, +wherever they were instructed to vote as a unit, the vote must so be cast, +and wherever they were not, they might disintegrate. Thus minorities were +bound in one instance, and released in another; and, by a comparison made +by those who had an opportunity to know, it appears that the minority +report could not have got a majority of the delegates, if each delegate +had been permitted to cast his own vote in the Convention. Neither could +it have obtained, as appears by the action of the committee, in a majority +of the States, if they had been spoken as such. So that this vaunt as to +the effect of the adoption of the platform by a majority, seems to have +very little of substance in it. Again, I find that, after this adoption +of a platform, a delegate from Tennessee offered a resolution: + + "That all the citizens of the United States have an equal right to + settle, with their property, in the Territories of the United States; + and that, under the decision of the Supreme Court of the United + States, which we recognize as a correct exposition of the Constitution + of the United States, neither their rights of person or property can + be destroyed or impaired by congressional or territorial legislation." + +It does not appear that a vote was taken on it. There is a current belief +that it would have been adopted. If it had been, it would have been an +acknowledgment by the Democracy, in convention assembled, that the +question had been settled by the decisions of the Supreme Court. But in +the progress of the convention, when they came to balloting, it appears, +by an analysis of the vote for candidates, that the Senator from Illinois +received from seventeen undoubted Democratic States of the Union, casting +one hundred and twenty-seven electoral votes, but eleven votes. It is not +such a great triumph, then, in the Democratic view, as is claimed. It does +not suffice to add up the number of votes where they do not avail. It is +not fair to bring the votes of Vermont, where I believe nobody expects we +shall be successful, and count them for a particular candidate. The +electoral votes--and these alone, tell upon the result; and it appears +that in those States which have been counted certain to cast their +electoral votes for the candidate who might have been nominated at that +convention, the Senator received but eleven. This is but meagre claim to +bind us to his car as the successful champion of the majority. This is but +small basis for the boast that his hopes were gratified, that he would not +receive the nomination unless sustained by a majority of the party, and +that his opinions had received the indorsement of the Democracy. + +My devotion to the party is life-long. If the assertion be allowable, it +may be said that I inherited my political principles. I derive them from a +revolutionary father--one of the earnest friends of Mr. Jefferson; who, +after the revolution which achieved our independence, bore his full part +in the civil revolution of 1800, which emancipated us from federal +usurpation and consolidation. I therefore have all that devotion to party +which belongs to habitual reverence and confidence. But, sir, that +devotion to party rests on the assumption that it is to maintain sound +principles; that it is to strive hereafter, as heretofore, to carry out +the great cardinal creed in which the Democratic party was founded. When +the resolutions of 1798 and 1799 are discarded; when we fly from the +extreme of monarchy to land in the danger to republics, anarchy, and the +Democratic party says its arm is paralyzed--can not be raised to maintain +constitutional rights, my devotion to its organization is at an end. It +fails thenceforward in the purposes for which it was established; and if +there be a constitutional party in the land which, in the language of Mr. +Jefferson, would find in the vigor of the Federal Government the best hope +for our liberty and security, to that party I should attach myself +whenever that sad contingency arose. + +The resolutions of 1798 and 1799, though directed against usurpation, were +equally directed against the dangers of anarchy. Their principles are +alike applicable to both. Their cardinal creed was a Federal Government, +according to the grants conferred upon it, and these righteously +administered. It is not fair to the men who taught us the lessons of +Democracy that they should be held responsible for a theory which leaves +the Federal Government, as one who has abdicated all authority, to stand +at the mercy of local usurpations. Least of all does their teaching +maintain that this Government has no power over the Territories; that this +Government has no obligation to protect the rights of person and property +in the Territories; for, among the first acts under the Constitution, was +one which both asserted and exercised the power. + +After the adoption of the Constitution, in 1789, an act was passed, to +which reference is frequently made as being a confirmation of the +ordinance of 1787; and this has been repeated so often that it has +received general belief. There was a constitutional provision which +required all obligations and engagements under the confederation to hold +good under the Constitution. If there was an obligation or an engagement +growing out of the ordinance of 1787, out of the deed of cession by +Virginia, it was transmitted to the Government established under the +Constitution; but that Congress under the Constitution gave it no +vitality--that they added no force to it, is apparent from the fact which +is so often relied upon as authority. It was in view of this fact, in full +remembrance of this and of other facts connected with it, that Mr. Madison +said, in relation to passing regulations for the Territories, that +"Congress did not regard the interdiction of slavery among the needful +regulations contemplated by the Constitution, since, in none of the +territorial governments created by them, was such an interdict found." I +am aware that Justice McLean has viewed this as an historical error of Mr. +Madison. I shall not assume to decide between such high authorities. The +act is as follows: + + "_An Act to provide for the government of the Territory north-west of + the Ohio River._ + + "WHEREAS, In order that the ordinance of the United States in Congress + assembled, for the government of the territory north-west of the river + Ohio, may continue to have full effect, it is requisite that certain + provisions should be made so as to adapt the same to the present + Constitution of the United States. + + "SECTION 1. _Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives + of the United States of America in Congress assembled_, That, in all + cases in which, by the said ordinance, any information is to be given, + or communication made, by the governor of the said Territory to the + United States in Congress assembled, or to any of their officers, it + shall be the duty of the said governor to give such information, and + to make such communication, to the President of the United States; and + the President shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and consent + of the Senate, shall appoint all officers which, by the said + ordinance, were to have been appointed by the United States in + Congress assembled; and all officers so appointed shall be + commissioned by him; and in all cases where the United States in + Congress assembled might, by the said ordinance, make any commission, + or remove from any office, the President is hereby declared to have + the same powers to revocation and removal. + + "SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That in the case of the death, + removal, resignation, or necessary absence of the governor of the said + Territory, the secretary thereof shall be, and he is hereby authorized + and required to execute all the powers and perform all the duties of + the governor during the vacancy occasioned by the removal, + resignation, or necessary absence of the said governor. + + "Approved August 7, 1789." + +All that is to be found in this act which favors the supposition and +frequent assertion that, under the Constitution, the ordinance of 1787 was +ratified and confirmed is to be found in the preamble, and that preamble +so vaguely alludes to it that the idea is refuted by reference to an act +which followed soon afterwards--the act of 1793--from which I will read a +single section: + + "SEC. 3. _And be it further enacted_, That when a person held to labor + in any of the United States, or in either of the Territories on the + north-west or south of the river Ohio, under the laws thereof, shall + escape into any other of the said States or Territories, the person to + whom such service or labor may be due, his agent, or attorney, is + hereby empowered to seize or arrest such fugitive from labor," etc. + +Is it not apparent that, when the Congress legislated in 1793, they +recognized the existence of slavery and protected that kind of property in +the territory north-west of the river Ohio, and is it not conclusive that +they did not intend, by the act of 1789, to confirm, ratify, and give +effect to the ordinance of 1787, which would have excluded it? + +This doctrine of protection, then, is not new. It goes back to the +foundation of the Government. It is traceable down through all the early +controversies; and they arose at least as early as 1790. It is found in +the messages of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison, and in the legislation of +Congress; and also in the messages of the elder Adams. There was not one +of the first four Presidents of the United States who did not recognize +this obligation of protection, who did not assert this power on the part +of the Federal Government; and not one of them ever attempted to pervert +it to a power to destroy. If division in the Democratic party is to arise +now, because of this doctrine, it is not from the change by those who +assert it, but of those who deny it. It is not from the introduction of a +new feature in the theory of our Government, but from the denial of that +which was recognized in its very beginning. + +As I understood the main argument of the Senator, it was based upon the +general postulate that the Democratic Convention of 1848 recognized a new +doctrine, a doctrine which inhibited the General Government from +interfering in any way, either for the protection of property or +otherwise, with the local affairs of a Territory; he held the party +responsible for all the opinions entertained by the candidate in 1848, +because the party had nominated him, and he quoted the record to show what +States, by voting for him, had committed themselves to the doctrine of the +"Nicholson letter." He even quoted South Carolina, represented by that man +who became famous for a single act, and, as South Carolinians said, +without authority at home to sustain it. But this was cited as pledging +the faith of South Carolina to the doctrine of the "Nicholson letter;" +and, worse than all, the Senator did this, though he knew that the +doctrine of the "Nicholson letter" was the subject of controversy for +years subsequently; that, what was the true construction of that letter, +entered into the canvass in the Southern States; that the construction +which Mr. Cass himself placed upon it at a subsequent period was there +denied; and the Senator might have remembered, if he had chosen to +recollect so unimportant a thing, that I once had to explain to him, ten +years ago, the fact that I repudiated the doctrine of that letter at the +time it was published, and that the Democracy of Mississippi had well-nigh +crucified me for the construction which I placed upon it; there were men +mean enough to suspect that the construction I gave to the Nicholson +letter was prompted by the confidence and affection I felt for General +Taylor. At a subsequent period, however, Mr. Cass thoroughly reviewed it. +He uttered, for him, very harsh language against all who had doubted the +true construction of his letter, and he construed it just as I had done +during the canvass of 1848. It remains only to add that I supported Mr. +Cass, not because of the doctrine of the Nicholson letter, but in despite +of it; because I believed a Democratic President, with a Democratic +cabinet and Democratic counselors in the two houses of Congress, and he as +honest a man as I believed Mr. Cass to be, would be a safer reliance than +his opponent, who personally possessed my confidence as much as any man +living, but who was of and must draw his advisers from a party, the tenets +of which I believed to be opposed to the interests of the country as they +were to all my political convictions. + +I little thought at that time that my advocacy of Mr. Cass, upon such +grounds as these, or his support by the State of which I am a citizen, +would at any future day be quoted as an indorsement of the opinions +contained in the Nicholson letter, as those opinions were afterwards +defined. But it is not only upon this letter, but equally upon the +resolutions of the convention as constructive of that letter, that he +rested his argument. I will here say to the Senator that if, at any time, +I do him the least injustice, speaking as I do from such notes as I could +take while he progressed, I will thank him to correct me. + +But this letter entered into the canvass; there was a doubt about its +construction; there were men who asserted that they had positive authority +for saying that it meant that the people of a Territory could only exclude +slavery when the Territory should form a constitution and be admitted as a +State. This doubt continued to hang over the construction, and it was that +doubt alone which secured Mr. Cass the vote of Mississippi. If the true +construction had been certainly known he would have had no chance to get +it. Our majority went down from thousands to hundreds, as it was. In +Alabama the decrease was greater. It was not that the doctrine was +countenanced, but the doubt as to the true meaning of the letter, and the +constantly reiterated assertion that it only meant the Territories when +they should be admitted as States, enabled him to carry those States. + +But if I mistook the Senator there, I think probably I did not on another +point: that he claimed the support of certain Southern men for Mr. +Richardson as Speaker of the House to be by them an acknowledgment of the +doctrine of squatter sovereignty. + +I suppose those Southern men who voted for Mr. Richardson voted for him as +I did for Mr. Cass, in despite of his opinions on that question, because +they preferred Mr. Richardson to Mr. Banks, even with squatter +sovereignty. They considered that the latter was carrying an amount of +heresies which greatly exceeded the value of squatter sovereignty. It was +a choice of evils--not an indorsement of his opinions. Neither did they +this year indorse the opinions on that point of Mr. McClernand when they +voted for him. According to the Senator's argument I could show him that +Illinois was committed to the doctrine of federal protection to property +in the Territories and the remedy of secession as a State right; committed +irrevocably, unmistakably, with no right to plead any ignorance of the +political creed of the individual, or the meaning of his words. + +In 1852--I refer to it with pride--Illinois did me the honor to vote +consistently for me for the Vice-Presidency, up to the time of +adjournment; though in 1850, and in 1851, I had done all these acts which +have been spoken of, and the Senator has admitted my consistency, in +opinions which were avowed with at least such perspicuity as left nobody +in doubt as to my opinion. Did Illinois then adopt my theory of protection +in the Territories, or of the right of State secession? No, sir. I hold +them to no such consequences. Some of the old inhabitants of Illinois may +have remembered me when their northern frontier was a wilderness, when +they and I had kind relations in the face of hostile Indians. Some of them +may have remembered me, and, I believe, kindly, as associated with them, +at a later period, on the fields of Mexico. The Senator himself, I know, +remembered kindly his association with me in the halls of Congress. It was +these bonds which gave me the confidence of the State of Illinois. I never +misconstrued it. I never pretended to put them in the attitude of adopting +all my opinions. Never required it, never desired it, save as in so far as +wishing all men would agree with me, confidently believing my position to +be true. At a later period, and when these questions were more important +in the public mind, when public attention has been more directed to them, +when public opinion has been more matured, at the very time when the +Senator claims that his doctrine culminated, the State of Illinois voted +for a gentleman for Vice-President at Cincinnati who held the same +opinions with myself, or, if there was a difference, held them to a +greater extreme--I mean General Quitman. + +MR. DOUGLAS. We made no test on any one. + +MR. DAVIS. Then, how did the South become responsible for the doctrine of +General Cass, by consenting to his nomination in 1848, and supporting his +election? But at a later period, down to the present session, what is the +position in which the Senator places his friends--those sterling +Democrats, uncompromising Anti-Know-Nothings; men who give no quarter to +the American party, and yet who voted this year for Mr. Smith, of North +Carolina, to be Speaker of the House of Representatives. Is the Senator +answered? Does he not see that there is no justice in assuming a vote for +an individual to be the entire adoption of his opinions? + +He cited, in this connection, a resolution of 1848, as having been framed +to cover the doctrines of the Nicholson letter; and he claimed thus to +have shown that the convention not only understood it, but adopted it, and +made it the party creed, and that we were bound to it from that period +forward. He even had that resolution of 1848 read, in order that there +should be, at no future time, any question as to the principle which the +party then avowed; that it should be fixed as a starting point in all the +future progress of Democracy. I was surprised at the importance the +Senator attached to that resolution of 1848, because it was not new; it +was not framed to meet the opinions of the Nicholson letter, but came down +from a period as remote as 1840; was copied into the platform of 1844, and +again into that of 1848, being the expression which the condition of the +country in 1840 had induced--a declaration of opinion growing out of the +agitation in the two houses of Congress at that day, and the fearful +strides which antislavery was making, and which Mr. Calhoun had labored to +check by the declaration of constitutional truths, as set forth in his +Senate resolutions of 1837-'8. + +That there may be no mistake on this point, and particularly as the +Senator attached special importance to it, I will turn to the platform of +1840, and read from it, so that it shall be found to be-- + +MR. DOUGLAS. It is conceded. + +MR. DAVIS. The Senator concedes the fact, that the resolution of 1848 was +a copy of that of 1840, and with the concession falls his argument. The +platforms of 1840 and 1844 were re-affirmed in 1848; and, consequently, +the resolution of '48 being identical with that of '40, was not a +construction of the letter written in 1847. + +True to its instincts and to its practices, the Democratic party, from +time to time, continued to add to their "platform" whatever was needful +for action by the Government in the condition of the country. Thus, in +1844, they re-asserted the platform of 1840; and they added thereto, +because of a question then pending, that-- + + "The re-annexation of Texas, at the earliest practicable period, is a + great American measure, which the convention recommend to the cordial + support of the Democracy of the Union." + +In 1848 they re-adopted the resolutions of 1844; and were not a little +laughed at for keeping up the question of Texas after it had been annexed. +In 1852 a new question had arisen; the measures of 1850 had presented, +with great force to the public mind, the necessity for some expression of +opinion upon the disturbing questions which the measures of 1850 had been +designed to quiet. Therefore, in 1852, the party, true to its obligation +to announce its principles, and to meet issues as they arise, said: + + "_Resolved_, That the foregoing proposition (referring to the + resolution of 1848) covers, and was intended to embrace, the whole + subject of slavery agitation in Congress; and, therefore, the + Democratic party in the Union, standing on this national platform, + will abide by and adhere to a faithful execution of the act known as + the compromise measure, settled by the last Congress, the act for + reclaiming fugitives from labor included; which act, being designed to + carry out an express provision of the Constitution, can not, with + fidelity thereto, be repealed, or so changed as to destroy or impair + its efficacy. + + "_Resolved_, That the Democratic party will restrain all attempts at + renewing, in Congress or out of it, the agitation of the slave + question, under whatever shape or color the attempt may be made." + +This was the addition made in 1852, and it was made because of the +agitation which then prevailed through the country against the fugitive +slave act, and it was because the fugitive slave act, and that alone, was +assailed, that the Democratic convention met the issue on that measure +specifically, and for the same reason it received the approbation of the +Southern States. Had this been considered as the indorsement of the slave +trade bill for the District of Columbia, it would not have received their +approval. The agitation was in relation to recovering fugitive slaves, and +the Democratic party boldly and truly met the living issue, and declared +its position upon it. + +In 1856 other questions had arisen. It was necessary to meet them. The +convention did meet them, and met them in a manner which was satisfactory, +because it was believed to be full. I will not weary the Senate by reading +the resolutions of 1856; they are familiar to every body. I only quote a +portion of them: + + "The American Democracy recognize and adopt the principles contained + in the organic laws establishing the Territories of Kansas and + Nebraska as embodying the only sound and safe solution of the 'slavery + question' upon which the great national idea of the people of this + whole country can repose in its determined conservatism of the + Union--non-interference by Congress with slavery in State and + Territory, or in the District of Columbia. + + "That, by the uniform application of this Democratic principle to the + organization of Territories, and to the admission of new States, with + or without domestic slavery, as they may elect, the equal rights of + all States will be preserved intact, the original compacts of the + Constitution maintained inviolate, and the perpetuity and expansion of + this Union insured to its utmost capacity of embracing, in peace and + harmony, every future American State that may be constituted or + annexed with a republican form of government." + +Pray, what can this mean? Squatter sovereignty? Incapacity of the Federal +Government to enact any law for the protection of slave property anywhere? +Could that be in the face of a struggle that we were constantly carrying +on against the opponents of the fugitive slave law? Could that be, in the +face of the fact that a majority had trodden down our constitutional +rights in the District of Columbia, by legislating in relation to that +particular character of property, and that they had failed to redeem a +promise they had sacredly made to pass a law for the protection of slave +property, so as to punish any one who should seduce, or entice, or abduct +it from an owner in this District? + +With all these things fresh in mind, what did they mean? They meant that +Congress should not decide the question, whether that institution should +exist within a Territory or not. They did not mean to withdraw from the +inhabitants of the District of Columbia that protection to which they were +entitled, and which is almost annually given by legislation; and yet +States and Territories and the District of Columbia are all grouped +together, as the points upon which this idea rests, and to which it is +directed. It meant that Congress was not to legislate to interfere with +the rights of property anywhere; not to attempt to decide what should be +the institutions maintained anywhere; but surely not to disclaim the right +to protect property, whether on sea or on land, wherever the Federal +Government had jurisdiction and power. But some stress has been laid upon +the resolution, which says that this principle should be applied to + + "The organization of the Territories, and to the admission of new + States, with or without domestic slavery, as they may elect." + +What does "may elect" mean? Does it refer to organization of the +Territory? Who may elect? Congress organizes the Territories. Did it mean +that the Territories were to elect? It does not say so. What does it say? + + "That by the uniform application of this Democratic principle to the + organization of Territories, and to the admission of new States, with + or without domestic slavery, as they may elect." + +And here it met a question which had disturbed the peace of the country, +and well-nigh destroyed the Union--the right of a State holding slaves to +be admitted into the Union. It was declared here that the State so +admitted should elect whether it would or would not have slaves. There is +nothing in that which logically applies to the organization of a +Territory. But if this be in doubt, let us come to the last resolution, +which says: + + "We recognize the right of the people of all the Territories, + including Kansas and Nebraska, acting through the legally and + fairly-expressed will of a majority of actual residents--" + +Does it stop there? No-- + + "and whenever the number of their inhabitants justifies it, to form a + constitution, with or without domestic slavery, and be admitted into + the Union upon terms of perfect equality with the other States." + +If there had been any doubt before as to what "may elect" referred to, +this resolution certainly removed it. It is clear they meant, that when a +Territory had a sufficient number of inhabitants, and came to form a +constitution, then it might decide the question as it pleased. From that +doctrine, I know no Democrat who now dissents. + +I have thus, because of the assertion that this was a new idea attempted +to be interjected into the Democratic creed, gone over some portion of its +history. Important by its connection with the existing agitation, and last +in the series, is an act with the ushering in of which the Senator is more +familiar than myself, and on which he made remarks, to which, it is +probable, some of those who acted with him, will reply. I wish merely to +say, in relation to the Kansas-Nebraska act, that there are expressions in +it which seem to me not of doubtful meaning, such as, "in all cases +involving title to slaves, or involving the question of personal freedom," +there should be a trial before the courts, and without reference to the +amount involved, an appeal to the Supreme Court of the Territory, and from +thence to the Supreme Court of the United States. If there was no right of +property there; if we had no right to recognize it there; if some +sovereign was to determine whether it existed or not, why did we say that +the Supreme Court of the United States, in the last resort, should decide +the question? If it was an admitted thing, by that bill, that the +Territorial Legislature should decide it, why did we provide for taking +the case to the Supreme Court? If it had been believed then, as it is +asserted now, that a Territory possessed all the power of a State; that +the inhabitants of a Territory could meet in convention and decide the +question as the people of a State might do, there was nothing to be +carried to the Supreme Court. You can not appeal from the decision of a +constitutional convention of a State to the Supreme Court of the United +States, to decide whether slave property shall be prohibited or admitted +within the limits of a State; and if they rest on the same footing, what +is the meaning of that clause of the bill? + +But this organic law further provides, just as the resolution of the +convention had done, that when a legal majority of the residents of either +Territory formed a constitution, then, at their will, they might recognize +or exclude slavery, and come into the Union as co-equal States. This fixes +the period, defines the time at which the territorial inhabitants may +perform this act, and clearly forbids the idea that it was intended, by +those who enacted the law, to acknowledge that power to be existent in the +inhabitants of a Territory during their territorial condition. If I am +mistaken in this; if there was a contemporaneous construction of it +differing from this, the Senators who sit around me and who were then +members of the body, will not fail to remember it. + +The Senator asserts that, in relation to this point, those who acted with +him have changed, and claims for himself to have been consistent. If this +be so, it proves nothing as to the present, and only individual opinions +as to the past. I do not regard consistency as a very high virtue; +neither, it appears, does he; for he told us that if it could be shown to +him that he was in error on any point, he would change his opinion. How +could that be? Who would undertake to show the Senator that he was in +error? Who would undertake to measure the altitude of the Colossus who +bestrides the world, and announces for, and of, and by himself, "We, the +Democracy," as though, in his person, all that remained of the party was +now concentrated! Other men are permitted to change, because other men may +be mistaken; and if they are honest, when convicted of their error, they +must change, but how can one expect to convince the Senator, who, where +all is change, stands changeless still? + +In the course of his reply to me--if indeed it may be called such; it +seemed to be rather a review of every thing except what I had said--he set +me the bad example of going into the canvass in my own State. It is the +first, I trust it will be the last time, I shall follow his example; and +now only to the extent of the occasion, where criticism was invited by +unusual publicity. In the canvass which the Senator had with his opponent, +Mr. Lincoln, and the debates of which have been published in a book, we +find much which, if it be consistent with his course as I had known it, +only proves to me how little able I was to understand his meaning in +former times. + +The Kansas-Nebraska Bill having agreed the right for which I contend to be +the subject of judicial decision; it having specially provided the mode +and facilitated the process by which that right should be brought to the +courts and finally decided; not allowing any check to be interposed +because of amount, that bill having continued the provision which had been +introduced into the New Mexico Bill, how are we to understand the +Senator's declarations, that, let the Supreme Court decide as they may, +the inhabitants of a Territory may lawfully admit or exclude slavery as +they please? What a hollow promise was given to us in the provision +referring this vexed question to judicial decision, in order that we might +reach a point on which we might peacefully rest, if the inhabitants of the +Territories for which Congress had legislated could still decide the +question and set aside any decision of the Supreme Court, and do this +lawfully. I ask, was it not to give us a stone, when he promised us bread; +to incorporate a provision in the organic act securing the right of appeal +to the courts, if, as now stated, those courts were known to be powerless +to grant a remedy? + +Here there is a very broad distinction to be drawn between the power of +the inhabitants of a Territory, or of any local community, lawfully to do +a thing, and forcibly to do it. If the Senator had said, that whatever +might be the decision of the Supreme Court, whatever might be the laws of +Congress, whatever might be the laws of the Territories, in the face of an +infuriated mob, such as he described on another occasion, it would be +impossible for a man to hold a slave against their will, he would but have +avowed the truism that in our country the law waits upon public opinion. +But he says that they can do it lawfully. If his position had been such as +I have just stated, it would have struck me as the opinion I had always +supposed him to entertain. More than that, it would have struck me as the +opinion which no one could gainsay; which, at any time, I would have been +ready to admit. Nothing is more clear than that no law could prevail in +our country, where force, as a governmental mean, is almost unknown, +against a pervading sentiment in the community. Every body admits that; +and it was in that view of the case that this question has been so often +declared to be a mere abstraction. It is an abstraction so far as any one +would expect in security to hold against the fixed purpose and +all-pervading will of the community, whether territorial or other, a +species of property, ambulatory, liable, because it has mind enough to go, +to be enticed away whenever freed from physical restraint, and which would +be nearly valueless if so restrained. It may be an abstraction as a +practical question of pecuniary advantage, but it is not the less dear to +those who assert the constitutional right. It would constitute a very good +reason why no one should ever say there was an attempt to force slavery on +an unwilling people, but no reason why the right should not be recognized +by the Federal Government as one belonging to the equal privileges and +immunities of every citizen of the United States. + +But the main point of the Senator's argument--and it deserved to be so, +because it is the main question now in the public mind--was, what is the +meaning of non-intervention? He defined it to be synonymous with squatter +sovereignty, or with popular sovereignty.... + +The Senator and myself do not seem to be getting any nearer together; +because the very thing which he describes constitutes the only case in +which I would admit the necessity, and, consequently, the propriety of the +people acting without authority. If men were cast upon a desert island, +the sovereignty of which was unknown, over which no jurisdiction was +exercised, they would find themselves necessitated to establish rules +which should subsist between themselves; and so the people of California, +when the Congress failed to give them a government; when it refused to +enact a territorial law; when, paralyzed by the power of contending +factions, it left the immigrants to work their own unhappy way; they had a +right--a right growing out of the necessity of the case--to make rules for +the government of their local affairs. But this was not sovereignty. It +was the exercise, between man and man, of a social function necessary to +preserve peace in the absence of any controlling power--essential to +conserve the relations of person and property. The sovereignty, if it +existed in any organization or government of the world, remained there +still; and whenever that sovereignty extended itself over them, whether +shipwrecked mariners, or adventurous Americans--whether cast off by the +sea, or whether finding their weary way across the desert plains which +lie west of the Mississippi--whenever the hand of the Government holding +sovereign jurisdiction was laid upon them, they became subject; their +sovereign control of their own affairs ceased. In our case, the directing +hand of the Government is laid upon them at the moment of the enactment of +an organic law. Therefore, the very point at which the Senator begins his +sovereignty, is the point at which the necessity, and, in my view, the +claim ceases. + +But suppose that a territorial legislature, acting under an organic law, +not defining their municipal powers further than has been general in such +laws, should pass a law to exclude slave property, would the Senator vote +to repeal it? + +MR. DOUGLAS. I will answer. I would not, because the Democratic party is +pledged to non-intervention; because, furthermore, whether such an act is +constitutional or not is a judicial question. If it is unconstitutional, +the court will so decide, and it will be null and void without repeal. If +it is constitutional, the people have a right to pass it. If +unconstitutional, it is void, and the court will ascertain the fact; and +we pledged our honors to abide the decision.... + +MR. DAVIS. If it will not embarrass the Senator, I would ask him if, as +Chief Executive of the United States, he would sign a bill to protect +slave property in State, Territory, or District of Columbia--an act of +Congress? + +MR. DOUGLAS. It will be time enough for me, or any other man, to say what +bills he will sign, when he is in a position to exercise the power. + +MR. DAVIS. The Senator has a right to make me that answer. I was only +leading on to a fair understanding of the Senator and myself about +non-intervention.... + +I think it now appears that, in the minds of the gentlemen, +non-intervention is a shadowy, unsubstantial doctrine, which has its +application according to the circumstances of the case. It ceased to +apply when it was necessary to annul an act in Kansas in relation to the +political rights of the inhabitants. It had no application when it was +necessary to declare that the old French laws should not be revived in the +Territory of Kansas after the repeal of the Missouri Compromise; but it +rose an insurmountable barrier when we proposed to sweep away the Mexican +decrees, usages, or laws, and leave the Constitution and laws of the +United States unfettered in their operation in the Territory acquired from +Mexico. It thus seems to have a constantly varying application, and, as I +have not yet reached a good definition, one which quite satisfies me, I +must take it as I find it in the Senator's speech, in which he says +Alabama asserted the doctrine of non-intervention in 1856. The Alabama +resolutions of 1856 asserted the right to protection, and the duty of the +Federal Government to give it. So, if he stands upon the resolutions of +Alabama in 1856, non-intervention is very good doctrine, and exactly +agrees with what I believe--no assumption, by the Federal Government, of +any powers over the municipal territorial governments which is not +necessary; that the hand of Federal power shall be laid as lightly as +possible upon any territorial community; that its laws shall be limited to +the necessities of each case; that it shall leave the inhabitants as +unfettered in the determination of their local legislation as the rights +of the people of the States will permit, and the duty of the General +Government will allow. But when non-intervention is pressed to the point +of depriving the arm of the Federal Government of its one great function +of protection, then it is the doctrine which we denounce--which we call +squatter sovereignty; the renunciation by Congress, and the turning over +to the inhabitants a sovereignty which, rightfully, it does not belong to +the one to grant or the other to claim, and, further and worse, thus to +divest the Federal Government of a duty which the Constitution requires it +to perform. + +To show that this view is not new--that it does not rest singly on the +resolutions of Alabama, I will refer to a subject, the action upon which +has already been quoted in this debate--the Oregon Bill. During the +discussion of the Oregon Bill, I offered in the Senate, June 23, 1848, an +amendment which I will read: + + "_Provided_, That nothing contained in this act shall be so construed + as to authorize the prohibition of domestic slavery in said Territory, + whilst it remains in the condition of a Territory of the United + States." + +Upon this, I will cite the authority of Mr. Calhoun, in his speech on the +Oregon Bill, June 27, 1848: + + "The twelfth section of this bill is intended to assert and maintain + this demand of the non-slaveholding States, while it remains a + Territory, not openly or directly, but indirectly, by extending the + provisions of the bill for the establishment of the Iowa Territory to + this, and by ratifying the acts of the informal and self-constituted + government of Oregon, which, among others, contains one prohibiting + the introduction of slavery. It thus, in reality, adopts what is + called the Wilmot proviso, not only for Oregon, but, as the Bill now + stands, for New Mexico and California. The amendment, on the contrary, + moved by the Senator from Mississippi, near me [Mr. Davis], is + intended to assert and maintain the position of the slave-holding + States. It leaves the Territory free and open to all the citizens of + the United States, and would overrule, if adopted, the act of the + self-constituted Territory of Oregon, and the twelfth section, as far + as it relates to the subject under consideration. We have thus fairly + presented the grounds taken by the non-slave-holding and the + slave-holding States, or as I shall call them, for the sake of + brevity, the Northern and Southern States, in their whole extent, for + discussion."--_Appendix to Congressional Globe, Thirtieth Congress, + first Session_, p. 868. + +I will quote also one of the speeches which he made near the close of his +life, at a time when he was so far wasted by disease that it was necessary +for him to ask the Senator from Virginia, who sits before me [Mr. Mason], +to read the speech which his tameless spirit impelled him to compose, but +which he was physically unable to deliver; and once again he came to the +Senate chamber, when standing yet more nearly on the confines of death; he +rose, his heart failing in its functions, his voice faltered, but his will +was so strong that he could not realize that the icy hand was upon him, +and he erroneously thought he was oppressed by the weight of his overcoat. +True to his devotion to the principles he had always advocated, clinging, +to the last hour of his life, to the duty to maintain the rights of his +constituents, still he was here, and his honored, though feeble, voice was +raised for the maintenance of the great principle to which his life had +been devoted. From the speech I read as follows: + + "The plan of the administration can not save the Union, because it can + have no effect whatever towards satisfying the States composing the + Southern section of the Union, that they can, consistently with safety + and honor, remain in the Union. It is, in fact, but a modification of + the Wilmot proviso. It proposes to effect the same object--to exclude + the South from all territory acquired by the Mexican treaty. It is + well known that the South is united against the Wilmot proviso, and + has committed itself, by solemn resolutions, to resist should it be + adopted. Its opposition _is not to the name_, but that which it + _proposes to effect_. That, the Southern States hold to be + unconstitutional, unjust, inconsistent with their equality as members + of the common Union, and calculated to destroy irretrievably the + equilibrium between the two sections. These objections equally apply + to what, for brevity, I will call the executive proviso. There is no + difference between it and the Wilmot, except in the mode of effecting + the object; and in that respect, I must say that the latter is much + the least objectionable. It goes to its object openly, boldly, and + distinctly. It claims for Congress unlimited power over the + Territories, and proposes to assert it over the territories acquired + from Mexico by a positive prohibition of slavery. Not so the executive + proviso. It takes an indirect course, and, in order to elude the + Wilmot proviso, and thereby avoid encountering the united and + determined resistance of the South, it denies, by implication, the + authority of Congress to legislate for the Territories, and claims + the right as belonging exclusively to the inhabitants of the + Territories. But to effect the object of excluding the South, it takes + care, in the meantime, to let in immigrants freely from the Northern + States, and all other quarters, except from the South, which it takes + special care to exclude by holding up to them the danger of having + their slaves liberated under the Mexican laws. The necessary + consequence is to exclude the South from the Territories, just as + effectually as would the Wilmot proviso. The only difference, in this + respect, is, that what one proposes to effect directly and openly, the + other proposes to effect indirectly and covertly. + + "But the executive proviso is more objectionable than the Wilmot in + another and more important particular. The latter, to effect its + object, inflicts a dangerous wound upon the Constitution, by depriving + the Southern States, as joint partners and owners of the Territories, + of their rights in them; but it inflicts no greater wound than is + absolutely necessary to effect its object. The former, on the + contrary, while it inflicts the same wound, inflicts others equally + great, and, if possible, greater, as I shall next proceed to explain. + + "In claiming the right for the inhabitants, instead of Congress, to + legislate for the Territories, the executive proviso assumes that the + sovereignty over the Territories is vested in the former, or, to + express it in the language used in a resolution offered by one of the + Senators from Texas [General Houston, now absent], they 'have the same + inherent right of self-government as the people in the States.' The + assumption is utterly unfounded, unconstitutional, without example, + and contrary to the entire practice of the Government, from its + commencement to the present time, as I shall proceed to + show."--_Calhoun's Works_, vol. 4, p. 562. + +MR. DAVIS. I find that I must abridge, by abstaining from the reading of +extracts. When this question arose in 1820, Nathaniel Macon, by many +considered the wisest man of his day, held the proposed interference to be +unauthorized and innovative. In arguing against the Missouri Compromise, +as it was called--the attempt by Congress to prescribe where slaves might +or might not be held--the exercise, by the Federal Government north of a +certain point, of usurped power by an act of inhibition, Mr. Macon said +our true policy was that which had thus far guided the country in safety: +the policy of non-intervention. By non-intervention he meant the absence +of hostile legislation, not the absence of governmental protection. Our +doctrine on this point is not new, but that of our opponents is so. + +The Senator from Illinois assumes that the congressional acts of 1850 +meant no legislation in relation to slave property; while, in the face of +that declaration, stand the laws enacted in that year, and the promise of +another, which has not been enacted--laws directed to the question of +slavery and slave property; one even declaring, in certain contingencies, +as a penalty on the owner, the emancipation of his slave in the District +of Columbia. If no action upon the question was the prevailing opinion, +what does the legislation mean? Was it non-action in the District of +Columbia? Be it remembered, the resolution of the Cincinnati platform +says, "Non-interference, by Congress, with slavery in State and Territory, +or in the District of Columbia." They are all upon the same footing. + +Again, he said that the Badger amendment was a declaration of no +protection to slave property. The Badger amendment declares that the +repeal of the Missouri Compromise shall not revive the laws or usages +which preëxisted that compromise; and the history of the times, so far as +I understand it, is, that it intended to assure those gentlemen who feared +that the laws of France would be revived in the Territories of Kansas and +Nebraska, by the repeal of the act of 1820, and that they would be held +responsible for having, by congressional act, established slavery. The +Southern men did not desire Congress to establish slavery. It has been our +uniform declaration that we denied the power of the Federal Government +either to establish or prohibit it; that we claimed for it protection as +property recognized by the Constitution, and we claimed the right for it, +as property, to go, and to receive federal protection wherever the +jurisdiction of the United States is exclusive. We claim that the +Constitution of the United States, in recognizing this property, making it +the basis of representation, put it, not upon the footing which it holds +between foreign nations, but upon the basis of the compact or union of the +States; that, under the delegated grant to regulate commerce between the +States, it did not belong to a State; therefore, without breach of +contract, they can not, by any regulation, prohibit transit, and the +compact provided that they should not change the character of master and +slave in the case of a fugitive. Could Congress surrender, for the States +and their citizens, the claim and protection for those or other +constitutional rights, against invasion by a State? If not, surely it can +not be done in the case of a Territory, a possession of the States. The +word "protecting," in that amendment, referred to laws which +preëxisted--laws which it was not designed, by the Democrats, to revive +when they declared the repeal of the Missouri Compromise; and, therefore, +I think, did not affect the question of constitutional right and of +federal power and duty. + +In all these territorial bills we have the language "subject to the +Constitution;" that is to say, that the inhabitants are to manage their +local affairs in their own way, subject to the Constitution; which, I +suppose, might be rendered thus: "In their own way, provided their own way +shall be somebody else's way;" for "subject to the Constitution" means, in +accordance with an instrument with which the territorial inhabitants had +nothing to do; with the construction of which they were not concerned; in +the adoption of which they had no part, and in relation to which it has +sometimes been questioned whether they had any responsibility. My own +views, as the Senator is aware from previous discussions, (and it is +needless to repeat,) are that the Constitution is co-extensive with the +United States; that the designation includes the Territories, that they +are necessarily subject to the Constitution. But if they be subject to +the Constitution, and subject to the organic act, that is the language +used; that organic act being the law of Congress, that Constitution being +the compact of the States--the territorial inhabitants having no lot or +part in one or the other, save as they are imposed upon them--where is +their claim to sovereignty? Where is their right to do as they please? The +States have a compact, and the agent of the States gives to the +Territories a species of constitution in the organic act, which endures +and binds them until they throw off what the Senator on another occasion +termed the minority condition, and assume the majority condition as a +State. The remark to which I refer was on the bill to admit Iowa and +Florida into the Union. The Senator then said: + + "The father may bind the son during his minority, but the moment that + he (the son) attains his majority, his fetters are severed, and he is + free to regulate his own conduct. So, sir, with the Territories; they + are subject to the jurisdiction and control of Congress during + infancy, their minority; but when they attain their majority, and + obtain admission into the Union, they are free from all restraints and + restrictions, except such as the Constitution of the United States + imposes upon each and all of the States." + +This was the doctrine of territorial sovereignty--perhaps that is the +phrase--at that period. At a later period, in March, 1856, the Senator +said: + + "The sovereignty of a Territory remains in abeyance, suspended in the + United States in trust for the people, until they shall be admitted + into the Union as a State. In the meantime, they are admitted to enjoy + and exercise all the rights and privileges of self-government, in + subordination to the Constitution of the United States, and in + obedience to the organic law passed by Congress in pursuance of that + instrument." + +If it be admitted--and I believe there is no issue between the Senator and +myself on that point--that the Congress of the United States have no +right to pass a law excluding slaves from a Territory, or determining in +the Territory the relation of master and slave, of parent and child, of +guardian and ward; that they have no right anywhere to decide what is +property, but are only bound to protect such rights as preëxisted the +formation of the Union--to perform such functions as are intrusted to them +as the agent of the States--then how can Congress, thus fettered, confer +upon a corporation of its creation--upon a territorial legislature, by an +organic act, a power to determine what shall be property within the limits +of such Territory? + +But, again, if it were admitted that the territorial inhabitants did +possess this sovereignty: that they had the right to do as they pleased on +all subjects, then would arise the question, if they were authorized, +through their representatives, thus to act, whence came the opposition to +what was called the Lecompton Constitution? How did Congress, under this +state of facts, get the right to inquire whether those representatives in +that case really expressed the will of the people. Still more; how did +Congress get the right to decide that those representatives must submit +their action to a popular vote in a manner not prescribed by the people of +the Territory, however eminently it may have been advisable, convenient, +and proper in the judgment of the Congress of the United States? What +revisory function had we, if they, through their representatives, had full +power to act on all such subjects whatsoever? + +I have necessarily, in answering the Senator, gone somewhat into the +_argumentum ad hominem_. Though it is not entirely exhausted, I think +enough has been said to show the Senate in what the difference between us +consists. If it be necessary further to illustrate it, I might ask how did +he propose to annul the organic act for Utah, if the recognition by the +Congress of a sufficient number of inhabitants to justify the organization +of a territorial government transferred the sovereignty to the +inhabitants of the Territory? If sovereignty passed by the recognition of +the fact, how did he propose, by congressional act, to annul the +territorial existence of Utah? + +It is this confusion of ideas, it is this confounding of terms, this +changing of language, this applying of new meanings to words, out of +which, I think, a large portion of the dispute arises. For instance, it is +claimed that President Pierce, in using the phrase "existing and incipient +States," meant to include all Territories, and thus that he had bound me +to a doctrine which precluded my strictures on what I termed squatter +sovereignty. This all arises from the misuse of language. An incipient +State, according to my idea, is the territorial condition at the moment it +changes into that of a State. It is when the people assemble in convention +to form a constitution as a State, that they are in the condition of an +incipient State. Various names were applied to the Territories at an +earlier period. Sometimes they were called "new States," because they were +expected to be States; sometimes they were called "States in embryo," and +it requires a determination of the language that is employed before it is +possible to arrive at any conclusion as to the differences of +understanding between gentlemen. Therefore, it was, and, I think, very +properly, (but not, as the Senator supposed, to catechise him,) that I +asked him what he meant by non-intervention, before I commenced these +remarks. + +In the same line of errors was the confusion which resulted in his +assuming that the evils I described as growing out of his doctrine on the +plains of Kansas, were a denunciation, on my part, of the bill called the +Kansas-Nebraska Bill. At the time that bill passed, I did not foresee all +the evils which have resulted from the doctrine based upon it, but which I +do not think the bill sustains. I am not willing now to turn on those who +were in a position which compelled them to act, made them responsible, and +to divest myself of any responsibility which belongs to any opinion I +entertained. I will not seek to judge after the fact and hold the measure +up against those who had to judge before. Therefore I will frankly avow +that I should have sustained that bill if I had been in the Senate; but I +did not foresee or apprehend such evils as immediately grew up on the +plains of Kansas. I looked then, as our fathers had looked before, to the +settlement of the question of what institutions should exist there, as one +to be determined by soil and climate, and by the pleasure of those who +should voluntarily go into the country. Such, however, was not the case. +The form of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill invited to a controversy--not +foreseen. I was not charging the Senator with any responsibility for it, +but the variation of its terms invited contending parties to meet on the +plains of Kansas, and had well-nigh eventuated in civil war. The great +respect which even the most lawless of those adventurers in Kansas had for +the name and the laws of the United States, served, by the timely +interposition of the Federal force and laws, to restrain the excited +masses and prevented violence from assuming larger proportions than +combats between squads of adventurers. + +This brings me in the line of rejoinder, to the meaning of the phrase, +"the people of a Territory, like those of a State, should decide for +themselves," etc., the language quoted against the President in the +remarks of the Senator. This, it was announced, was squatter sovereignty +in its broadest sense; and it was added, that the present Executive was +elected to the high office he holds on that construction of the platform. +Now, I do not know how it is that the Senator has the power to decide why +the people voted for a candidate. I rather suppose, among the many +millions who did vote, there must have been a variety of reasons, and that +it is not in the power of any one man to declare what determined the +result. But waiving that, is it squatter sovereignty in its broadest +sense? Is it a declaration that the inhabitants of a Territory can +exercise all the powers of a State? It says that, "like the people of a +State," they may decide for themselves. Then how do the people of a State +decide the question of what shall be property within the State? Every one +knows that it is by calling a convention, and that the people, represented +in convention, and forming a constitution their fundamental law, do this. +Every one knows that, under the constitutions and bills of rights which +prevail in the republican States of this Union, no legislature is invested +with that power. If this be the mode which is prescribed in the +States--the modes which the States must pursue--I ask you, in the name of +common sense, can the language of the President be construed to mean that +a territorial legislature may do what it is admitted the legislature of a +State can not; or that the inhabitants of a Territory can assemble a +convention, and form a fundamental law overriding the organic act, to +which the Senator has already acknowledged they stand subject until they +be admitted as a State? + +We of the South, I know, are arraigned, and many believe justly, for +starting a new question which distracts the Democratic party. I have +endeavored, therefore, to show that it is not new. I have also asserted, +what I think is clear, that if it were new, but yet a constitutional +right, it is not only our province, but our duty to assert it--to assert +it whenever or wherever that right is controverted. It is asserted now +with more force than at a former period, for the simple reason that it is +now denied, to an extent which has never been known before. We do not +seek, in the cant language of the day, to force slavery on an unwilling +people. We know full well there is no power to do it; and our limited +observation has not yet made us acquainted with the man who was likely to +have a slave forced upon him, or who could get one without paying a very +high price for him. He must first have the will, and, secondly, he must +put money in his purse to enable him to get one. They are too valuable +among those by whom they are now owned, to be forced upon any body. Not +admitting the correctness of the doctrine which the Senator promulgated +in his magazine article in relation to a local character of slave +property, I recognise the laws of nature, and that immigration will follow +in the lines where any species of labor may be most profitably employed; +all, therefore, we have asked--fulfillment of the original compact of our +fathers--was that there should be no discrimination; that all property +should be equally protected; that we should be permitted to go into every +portion of the United States save where some sovereign power has said +slaves shall not be held, and to take with us our slave property in like +manner as we would take any other; no more than that. For that, our +Government has contended on the high seas against foreign powers. That has +entered into our negotiations, and has been recognized by every government +against whom a claim has been asserted. Where our property was captured on +the land during the period of an invasion, Great Britain, by treaty, +restored it, or paid for it. Wherever it has suffered loss on the high +seas, down to a very recent period, we have received indemnity; and where +we have not, it was only because the power and duty of the Federal +Government was sacrificed to this miserable strife in relation to +property, with the existence of which, those making the interference had +no municipal connection, or moral responsibility. + +I do not admit that sovereignty necessarily exists in the Federal +Government or in a territorial government. I deny the Senator's +proposition, which is broadly laid down, of the necessity which must exist +for it in the one place or the other. I hold that sovereignty exists only +in a State, or in the United States in their associated capacity, to whom +sovereignty may be transferred, but that their agent is incapable of +receiving it, and, still more, of transferring it to territorial +inhabitants. + +I was sorry for some of the remarks which he thought it necessary to make, +as to the position of the South on this question, and for his assertion +that the resolutions of the convention of 1848 put the pro-slavery men +and the Abolitionists on the same ground. I think it was altogether +unjust. I did not think it quite belonged to him to make it. I was aware +that his opponent, in that canvass to which I referred, had made a +prophecy that he was, sooner or later, to land in the ranks of the +Republicans. Even if I had believed it, I would not have chosen--and it is +due to candor to say I do not believe----.... + +MR. DAVIS. Well, it is unimportant. I feel myself constrained, because I +promised to do it, to refer to some portion of the joint record of the +Senator and myself in 1850, or, as I have consumed so much time, I would +avoid it. In that same magazine article, to which I have referred, the +Senator took occasion to refer to some part which I had taken in the +legislation of 1850; and I must say he presented me unfairly. He put me in +the attitude of one who was seeking to discriminate, and left himself in +the position of one who was willing to give equal protection to all kinds +of property. In that magazine article the Senator represents Mr. Davis, of +Mississippi, as having endeavored to discriminate in favor of slave +property, and Mr. Chase, of Ohio, as having made a like attempt against +it; and he leaves himself, by his argument, in the attitude of one who +concurred with Mr. Clay in opposition to both propositions. + +I offered an amendment to the compromise bill of 1850, which was to strike +out the words "in respect to," and insert "and introduce or exclude," and +after the word "slavery" to insert the following: + + "_Provided_, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to + prevent said territorial legislature passing such laws as may be + necessary for the protection of the rights of property of any kind + which may have been or may be hereafter, conformably to the + Constitution and laws of the United States, held in, or introduced + into, said Territory." + +Mr. Chase's amendment is in these words: + + "_Provided further_, That nothing herein contained shall be construed + as authorizing or permitting the introduction of slavery, or the + holding of persons as property within said Territory." + +Whilst the quotation in the magazine article left me in the position +already stated, the debates which had occurred between us necessarily +informed the Senator that it was not my position, for I brought him in +that debate to acknowledge it. + +On that occasion, I argued for my amendment as an obligation of the +Government to remove obstructions; to give the fair operation to +constitutional right; and so far from the Senator having stood with Mr. +Clay against all these propositions, the fact appears, on page 1134 of the +_Globe_, that, upon the vote on Chase's amendment, Douglas voted for it, +and Davis and Clay voted against it; that upon the vote on Davis' +amendment, Clay and Davis voted for it, and Douglas voted against it. + +MR. DOUGLAS. The Senator should add, that that vote was given under the +very instructions to which he referred the other day, and which are well +known to the Senate, and are on the table. + +MR. DAVIS. I was aware that the Senator had voted for Mr. Seward's +amendment, the "Wilmot proviso," under these instructions, but I receive +his explanation. Mr. Berrien offered an amendment to change the provision, +which said there should be no legislation in respect to slavery, so as to +make it read, "there shall be no legislation establishing or prohibiting +African slavery." Mr. Clay voted for that; so did Mr. Davis. Mr. Douglas +voted against it. Mr. Hale offered an amendment to Mr. Berrien's +amendment, to add the word "allowing." Here Mr. Douglas voted for Mr. +Hale's amendment, and against Davis and Clay. Then a proposition was made +to continue the Mexican laws against slavery until repealed by Congress. I +think I proved--at least I did to my own satisfaction--that there was no +such Mexican law; that it was a decree, and that the legislation which +occurred under it had never been executed. But that proposition by Mr. +Baldwin, which was to continue the Mexican laws in force, was brought to +a vote, and again Mr. Douglas voted for it, and Mr. Davis and Mr. Clay +voted against it. When another proposition was brought forward to amend by +"removing the obstructions of Mexican laws and usages to any right of +person or property by the citizens of the United States in the Territories +aforesaid," I do not find the Senator's name among those who voted, +though, by reference to the Appendix, I learned he was present immediately +afterwards, by his speaking to another amendment. + +Thus we find the Senator differing from me on this question, as was +stated; but we do not find him concurring with Mr. Clay, as was stated; +and we do not find the proposition which I introduced, and which was +mentioned in the magazine article, receiving the joint opposition of +himself and Mr. Clay; and yet his remarks in the Senate the other day went +upon the same theory, that Mr. Clay and himself had been coöperating. Now, +the fact of the case is, that they agreed in supporting the final passage +of the bill, and I was against it. I was one of the few Southern men who +resisted, in all its stages, what was called the compromise, or omnibus +bill. I have consumed the time of the Senate by this reference, made as +brief as I could, on account of the remarks the Senator had made. + +Coupled with this arraignment of myself, at a time when he says he had +leisure to discuss the question with the Attorney-General, but when there +was nothing in my position certainly to provoke the revision of my course +in Congress, is his like review of it in the Senate. As I understood his +remarks, for I did not find them in the _Congressional Globe_ the next +morning, he vaunted his own consistency and admitted mine, but claimed his +to be inside and mine outside of the Democratic organization. Is it so? +Will our votes on test questions sustain it? The list of yeas and nays +would, on the points referred to, exhibit quite the reverse. And it +strikes me that, on the recent demonstrations we have had, when the +Democratic administration was, as it were, put on its trial in relation +to its policy in Kansas, the Senator's associations, rather than mine, +were outside of the Democratic organization. How is it, on the pending +question--the declaration of great principles of political creed--the +Senator's position is outside of the Senate's Democracy, and mine in it, +so that I do not see with what justice he attempts that discrimination +between him and me? That the difference exists, that it involves a +division greater or less in Democratic ranks, is a personal regret, and I +think a public misfortune. It gives me, therefore, no pleasure to dwell +upon it, and it is now dismissed. + +Mr. President, after having for forty years been engaged in bitter +controversy over a question relating to common property of the States, we +have reached the point where the issue is presented in a form in which it +becomes us to meet it according to existing facts; where it has ceased to +be a question to be decided on the footing of authority, and by reference +to history. We have decided that too long had this question been +disturbing the peace and endangering the Union, and it was resolved to +provide for its settlement by treating it as a judicial question. Now, +will it be said, after Congress provided for the adjustment of this +question by the courts, and after the courts had a case brought before +them, and expressed an opinion covering the controversy, that no +additional latitude is to be given to the application of the decision of +the court, though Congress had referred it specially to them; that it is +to be treated simply and technically as a question of _meum et tuum_, such +as might have arisen if there had been no such legislation by Congress? +Surely it does not become those who have pointed us to that provision as +the peace-offering, as the means for final adjustment, now to say that it +meant nothing more than that the courts would go on hereafter, as +heretofore, to try questions of property. + +The courts have decided the question so far as they could decide any +political question. A case arose in relation to property in a slave held +within a Territory where a law of Congress declared that such property +should not be held. The whole case was before them; every thing, except +the mere technical point that the law was not enacted by a territorial +legislature. Why, then, if we are to abide by the decision of the Supreme +Court in any future case, do they maintain this controversy on the mere +technical point which now divides, disturbs, distracts, destroys the +efficiency and the power of the Democratic party? To the Senator, I know, +as a question of property, it is a matter of no consequence. I should do +him injustice if I left any one to infer that I treated his argument as +one made by a man prejudiced against the character of property involved in +the question. That is not his position; but I assert that he is pursuing +an _ignis fatuus_--not a light caught from the Constitution--but a vapor +which has arisen from the corrupting cess-pools of sectional strife, of +faction, and individual rivalry. Measured by any standard of common sense, +its magnitude would be too small to disturb the adjustment of the balance +of our country. There can be no appeal to humanity made upon this basis. +Least of all could it be made to one who, like the Senator and myself, has +seen this species of property in its sparse condition on the north-western +frontier, and seen it go out without disturbing the tranquillity of the +community, as it had previously existed without injury to any one, if not +to the benefit of the individual who held it. He has no apprehension, he +can have none, that it is to retard the political prosperity of the future +States--now the Territories. He can have no apprehension that in that +country, to which they never would be carried except for domestic +purposes, they could ever so accumulate as to constitute a great political +element. He knows, and every man who has had experience and judgment must +admit, that the few who may be so carried there have nothing to fear but +the climate, and that living in that close connection which belongs to one +or half a dozen of them in a family, the kindest relations which it is +possible to exist between master and dependent, exist between these +domestics and their owners. + +There is a relation belonging to this species of property, unlike that of +the apprentice or the hired man, which awakens whatever there is of +kindness or of nobility of soul in the heart of him who owns it; this can +only be alienated, obscured, or destroyed by collecting this species of +property into such masses that the owner is not personally acquainted with +the individuals who compose it. In the relation, however, which can exist +in the north-western Territories, the mere domestic connection of one, +two, or, at most, half a dozen servants in a family, associating with the +children as they grow up, attending upon age as it declines, there can be +nothing against which either philanthropy or humanity can make an appeal. +Not even the emancipationist could raise his voice, for this is the high +road and the open gate to the condition in which the masters would, from +interest, in a few years, desire the emancipation of every one who may +thus be taken to the north-western frontier. + +Mr. President, I briefly and reluctantly referred, because the subject had +been introduced, to the attitude of Mississippi on a former occasion. I +will now as briefly say, that in 1851, and in 1860, Mississippi was, and +is, ready to make every concession which it becomes her to make to the +welfare and the safety of the Union. If, on a former occasion, she hoped +too much from fraternity, the responsibility for her disappointment rests +upon those who fail to fulfill her expectations. She still clings to the +Government as our fathers formed it. She is ready to-day and to-morrow, as +in her past, and though brief, yet brilliant history, to maintain that +Government in all its power, and to vindicate its honor with all the means +she possesses. I say brilliant history; for it was in the very morning of +her existence that her sons, on the plains of New Orleans, were announced, +in general orders to have been the admiration of one army and the wonder +of the other. That we had a division in relation to the measures enacted +in 1850, is true; that the Southern rights men became the minority in the +election which resulted, is true; but no figure of speech could warrant +the Senator in speaking of them as subdued; as coming to him or any body +else for quarter. I deemed it offensive when it was uttered, and the scorn +with which I repelled it at the instant, time has only softened to +contempt. Our flag was never borne from the field. We had carried it in +the face of defeat, with a knowledge that defeat awaited it; but scarcely +had the smoke of the battle passed away which proclaimed another victor, +before the general voice admitted that the field again was ours; I have +not seen a sagacious, reflecting man, who was cognizant of the events as +they transpired at the time, who does not say that, within two weeks after +the election, our party was in a majority; and the next election which +occurred showed that we possessed the State beyond controversy. How we +have wielded that power it is not for me to say. I trust others may see +forbearance in our conduct--that, with a determination to insist upon our +constitutional rights, then and now, there is an unwavering desire to +maintain the Government, and to uphold the Democratic party. + +We believe now, as we have asserted on former occasions, that the best +hope for the perpetuity of our institutions depends upon the coöperation, +the harmony, the zealous action of the Democratic party. We cling to that +party from conviction, that its principles and its aims are those of truth +and the country, as we cling to the Union for the fulfillment of the +purposes for which it was formed. Whenever we shall be taught that the +Democratic party is recreant to its principles; whenever we shall learn +that it can not be relied upon to maintain the great measures which +constitute its vitality, I, for one, shall be ready to leave it. And so, +when we declare our tenacious adherence to the Union, it is the Union of +the Constitution. If the compact between the States is to be trampled into +the dust; if anarchy is to be substituted for the usurpation and +consolidation which threatened the Government at an earlier period; if the +Union is to become powerless for the purposes for which it was +established, and we are vainly to appeal to it for protection, then, sir, +conscious of the rectitude of our course, the justice of our cause, +self-reliant, yet humbly, confidingly trusting in the arm that guided and +protected our fathers, we look beyond the confines of the Union for the +maintenance of our rights. A habitual reverence and cherished affection +for the Government will bind us to it longer than our interests would +suggest or require; but he is a poor student of the world's history who +does not understand that communities at last must yield to the dictates of +their interests. That the affection, the mutual desire for the mutual +good, which existed among our fathers, may be weakened in succeeding +generations by the denial of right, and hostile demonstration, until the +equality guaranteed, but not secured within the Union, may be sought for +without it, must be evident to even a careless observer of our race. It is +time to be up and doing. There is yet time to remove the causes of +dissension and alienation which are now distracting, and have for years +past divided the country. + +If the Senator correctly described me as having, at a former period, +against my own preferences and opinions, acquiesced in the decision of my +party; if when I had youth, when physical vigor gave promise of many days, +and the future was painted in the colors of hope, I could thus surrender +my own convictions, my own prejudices, and coöperate with my political +friends, according to their views, as to the best method of promoting the +public good; now, when the years of my future can not be many, and +experience has sobered the hopeful tints of youth's gilding; when, +approaching the evening of life, the shadows are reversed, and the mind +turns retrospectively, it is not to be supposed that I would abandon +lightly, or idly put on trial, the party to which I have steadily adhered. +It is rather to be assumed that conservatism, which belongs to the +timidity or caution of increasing years, would lead me to cling to--to be +supported by, rather than to cast off, the organization with which I have +been so long connected. If I am driven to consider the necessity of +separating myself from those old and dear relations, of discarding the +accustomed support, under circumstances such as I have described, might +not my friends who differ from me pause and inquire whether there is not +something involved in it which calls for their careful revision? + +I desire no divided flag for the Democratic party, seek not to depreciate +the power of the Senator, or take from him any thing of that confidence he +feels in the large army which follows his standard. I prefer that his +banner should lie in its silken folds to feed the moth; but if it +unrestrainedly rustles, impatient to be unfurled, we who have not invited +the conflict, shrink not from the trial; we will plant our flag on every +hill and plain; it shall overlook the Atlantic and welcome the sun as he +rises from its dancing waters; it shall wave its adieu as he sinks to +repose in the quiet Pacific. + +Our principles are national; they belong to every State of the Union; and +though elections may be lost by their assertion, they constitute the only +foundation on which we can maintain power, on which we can again rise to +the dignity the Democracy once possessed. Does not the Senator from +Illinois see in the sectional character of the vote he received, that his +opinions are not acceptable to every portion of the country? Is not the +fact that the resolutions adopted by seventeen States, on which the +greatest reliance must be placed for Democratic support, are in opposition +to the dogma to which he still clings, a warning that if he persists and +succeeds in forcing his theory upon the Democratic party, its days are +numbered? We ask only for the Constitution. We ask of the Democracy only +from time to time to declare, as current exigencies may indicate, what the +Constitution was intended to secure and provide. Our flag bears no new +device. Upon its folds our principles are written in living light; all +proclaiming the constitutional Union, justice, equality, and fraternity of +our ocean-bound domain, for a limitless future. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + ELECTION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN--HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE EVENT--THE + OBJECTS AIMED AT BY HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY IDENTICAL IN THE DISCUSSION + OF EVENTS OF THE LATE WAR--NORTHERN EVASION OF THE REAL QUESTION--THE + SOUTH DID NOT ATTEMPT REVOLUTION--SECESSION A JUSTIFIABLE RIGHT + EXERCISED BY SOVEREIGN STATES--BRIEF REVIEW OF THE QUESTION--WHAT THE + FEDERALIST SAYS--CHIEF-JUSTICE MARSHALL--MR. MADISON--COERCION NOT + JUSTIFIED AT THE NORTH PREVIOUS TO THE LATE WAR--REMARKS OF JOHN + QUINCY ADAMS--OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN--OF HORACE GREELEY--SUCCESSFUL + PERVERSION OF TRUTH BY THE NORTH--PROVOCATIONS TO SECESSION BY THE + SOUTH--AGGRESSIONS BY THE NORTH--ITS PUNIC FAITH--LOSS OF THE BALANCE + OF POWER--PATIENCE OF THE SOUTH--REMARKS OF HON. C. C. CLAY--WHAT THE + ELECTION OF MR. LINCOLN MEANT--HIS ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY--REVELATIONS + OF THE OBJECTS OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY--WENDELL PHILLIPS--NO SECURITY + FOR THE SOUTH IN THE UNION--MEETING OF CONGRESS--MR. DAVIS' ASSURANCE + TO PRESIDENT BUCHANAN--CONCILIATORY COURSE OF MR. DAVIS--HIS + CONSISTENT DEVOTION TO THE UNION, AND EFFORTS TO SAVE IT--FORESEES WAR + AS THE RESULT OF SECESSION, AND URGES THE EXHAUSTION OF EVERY + EXPEDIENT TO AVERT IT--THE CRITTENDEN AMENDMENT--HOPES OF ITS + ADOPTION--DAVIS WILLING TO ACCEPT IT IN SPITE OF ITS INJUSTICE TO THE + SOUTH--REPUBLICAN SENATORS DECLINE ALL CONCILIATORY MEASURES--THE + CLARKE AMENDMENT--WHERE RESTS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF DISUNION?-- + STATEMENTS OF MESSRS. DOUGLAS AND COX--SECESSION OF THE COTTON + STATES--A LETTER FROM JEFFERSON DAVIS TO R. B. RHETT, JR.--MR. DAVIS' + FAREWELL TO THE SENATE--HIS REASONS FOR WITHDRAWING--RETURNS TO + MISSISSIPPI--MAJOR-GENERAL OF STATE FORCES--ORGANIZATION OF THE + CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT--MR. DAVIS PRESIDENT OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES. + + +As had been foreseen, and, indeed, as was the inevitable sequence of the +disruption of the Democratic party, Abraham Lincoln, the candidate of the +Republican party, was, in November, 1860, elected President of the United +States. This was the supreme and sufficient incitement to the adoption of +the dreaded resort of disunion. As the _occasion_ which finally brought +the South to the attitude of resistance, the event acquires vast +historical importance. + +When it is conceded that Mr. Lincoln was elected in accordance with the +_forms_ of the Constitution, having received a majority of electoral +votes; that the mere ceremony of election was attended by no unusual +circumstances, we concede every possible ground upon which can be based an +argument denying its ample justification of the course pursued by the +South. Such an argument, however, leads to a wholly untenable conclusion, +and may be easily exposed in its hypocritical evasion of the real +question. We are here required to note the distinction between _cause_ and +_occasion_. As the final consummation of tendencies, long indicating the +result of disunion, this event has an appropriate place in the +recapitulation of those influences, and can be rightly estimated only in +connection with their operation. + +Trite observations upon the influence of passion and prejudice, over +contemporary judgment, are not necessary to a due conception of the +obstacles which, for the present, exclude candor from the discussion of +the late movement for Southern independence. In the face of the disastrous +overthrow of that movement, the wrecked hopes and fortunes of those who +participated in it, discussion is chiefly serviceable, as it throws +additional light upon the development of those eternal principles in whose +ceaseless struggles men are only temporary agents. + +History and biography are here most intimately blended; beginning from +the same stand-point, they encounter common difficulties, and aim to +explore the same general grounds of observation. So far as a verdict--from +whatever tribunal, whether rendered at the bar of justice or in the award +of popular opinion, when the embers of recent strife are still fiercely +glowing--can affect the dispassionate judgment of History, the Southern +people can not be separated, either in fact or in sentiment, from +Jefferson Davis. He was the illustrious compatriot of six millions of +freemen, who struck for nationality and independence, and lost--as did +Greece and Poland before them; or he and they were alike insurgents, +equally guilty of the crime of treason. + +With an adroitness which does credit to the characteristic charlatanism of +the North, an infinite variety of special questions and side issues have +been interwoven with the narrative of the late war, for the obvious +purpose of confounding the judgment of mankind regarding the great +question which really constitutes the gravamen of the controversy. +Conspicuous among these efforts, from both audacity and plausibility, are +appeals to the sympathies of the world, in consideration of the abolition +of slavery, which it is well known was merely an incident, and not the +avowed design of the war. + +Persistent in its introduction of the _moral_ question of slavery, the +North seeks to shield itself from the reproach justly visited upon its +perpetration of an atrocious political crime, by an insolent intrusion of +a false claim to the championship of humanity. Whatever may be the +decision of Time upon the merits of slavery, it is in vain for the North +to seek escape from its responsibility for an institution, protected and +sustained by a government which was the joint creation of Southern and +Northern hands. + +The attempted dissolution of the Union by the South was a movement +involving moral and political considerations, not unlike those incidental +to revolutions in general, yet presenting certain peculiar +characteristics, traceable to the inherent and distinctive features of the +American political system. These latter considerations constitute a vital +part of its justification. The South did not appeal only to the +inalienable right of revolution, which is the natural guarantee of +resistance to wrong and oppression. Nor did the States, severally, as they +assumed to sever their connection with the Union, announce a purpose of +constitutional revolution, or adopt a course inviting or justifying +violence. Mr. Davis and those who coöperated with him, neither by the acts +of secession, nor the subsequent confederation of the States under a new +government, could have committed _treason_ against Mr. Lincoln, since they +were not his subjects. Nor yet were they traitors to the Government of the +United States, since the States of which they were citizens had rescinded +the grant of powers voluntarily made by them to that Government, and begun +to exercise them in conjunction with other powers which they had withheld +by express reservation. + +It is impossible to conceive a movement, contemplating such important +political changes, more entirely unattended by displays of violence, +passion, and disorder. A simple assertion, with due solemnity, by each +State, of its sovereignty--a heritage which it had never surrendered, but +which had been respected by innumerable forms of recognition in the +history of the Union--and the exercise of those attributes of sovereignty, +which are too palpable to require that they shall be indicated, was the +peaceable method resorted to of terminating a political alliance which had +become injurious to the highest interests of one of the parties. Could +there have been a more becoming and dignified exercise of the vaunted +right of self-government? It is that right to which America is so +conspicuously committed, and which has been such an inexhaustible theme +for the tawdry rhetoric of Northern eloquence. + +Even in the insolence of its triumph, the North feels the necessity of at +least a decent pretext for its destruction of the cardinal feature in the +American system of government--the sovereignty of the States. With +habitual want of candor, Northern writers pretend that the Constitution of +the United States does not affirm the sovereignty of the States, and that, +therefore, secession was treason against that Constitution to which they +had subscribed; in other words, the created does not give authority to the +creator--_i. e._, the Constitution, which the States created, does not +accredit sovereignty to the States, and, therefore, the States are not +sovereign. It is not pretended that the States were not, each of them, +originally independent powers, since they were so recognized by Great +Britain, in the plainest terms, at the termination of the first +revolution. Nor is it asserted that the union of the States, under the +title of United States, was the occasion of any surrender of their +individual sovereignty, as it was then declared that "each State retains +its sovereignty, freedom, and independence." A conclusive demonstration of +the retention of sovereignty by the States is seen in the entire failure +of the Constitution, either by direct assertion or by implication, to +claim its surrender to the Union. + +If the sovereignty of the States be conceded, the South stands justified +as having exercised an unquestionable right. It was never formally denied, +even at the North, until Mr. Webster, in his debate with Mr. Calhoun, +affirmed the doctrine of the supremacy of the Union, to which conclusion +the Northern masses sprung with alacrity, as an available justification +for compelling the submission of the South to the outrages which they had +already commenced. + +Volumes of testimony have been adduced, proving the theory of State +sovereignty to have been the overwhelmingly predominant belief among the +statesmen most prominent in the establishment of the Union, and in shaping +the policy of the Government in its earlier history. Argument proved an +unavailing offset to the stern decrees of the sword, and is quite +unnecessary so long as the unanswerable logic of Calhoun, Davis, and a +score of Southern statesmen remains upon the national records--a perpetual +challenge, as yet unaccepted, to the boasted intellect of the North, and a +significant warning of the final adjudication of the centuries. We shall +intrude no argument of our own in support of State sovereignty, upon which +rests the vindication of the South and her leaders. Before us are the +apposite and conclusive assumptions of men who have been the revered +sources of political inspiration among Americans. + +The _Federalist_, that most powerful vindication of the Constitution, and +earnest plea for its adoption by the States, assumes that it was a +"compact," to which "the States, as distinct and independent sovereigns," +were the parties. Yet this doctrine, the basis upon which rests the august +handiwork of Madison and Hamilton, the "architects of the Constitution," +when applied by Davis and his compatriots, becomes treason! Such is the +extremity to which despotism, in its wretched plea of expediency, is +driven; and the candid, enlightened American of to-day realizes, in his +country, a land in which "truth is treason, and history is rebellion." + +Chief-Justice Marshall, the great judicial luminary of America, and an +authority not usually summoned to the support of doctrines hostile to the +assumptions of Federal power, gave most emphatic testimony to the +propriety of the States' Rights view of the relations of State and Federal +authority. In the Virginia Convention which ratified the Constitution, he +said: "The State governments did not derive their powers from the General +Government. But each government derived its powers from the people, and +each was to act according to the powers given it. Would any gentleman deny +this? He demanded, if powers not given were retained by implication? Could +any man say, no? Could any man say that this power was not retained by the +States, since it was not given away?" The view so earnestly urged by +Marshall, was not only avowed generally, but Virginia, Massachusetts, and +Pennsylvania insisted upon a written declaration, in the Constitution, of +the principle that certain attributes of sovereignty, which they did not +delegate to the Union, were retained by the States. + +Mr. Madison, whose great abilities were taxed to the utmost to secure the +ratification of the Constitution by Virginia, vigorously and earnestly +defended it against the allegation that it created a consolidated +government. With the utmost difficulty, he secured a majority of ten +votes, in the Virginia Convention, in favor of the Constitution, which his +rival, Patrick Henry, denounced as destructive of State sovereignty. + +Defining the expression, "We, the people," Mr. Madison said: "The parties +to it were the people, but not the people as composing one great society, +but the people as composing '_thirteen sovereignties_.'" To quote Mr. +Madison again: "If it were a consolidated government, the assent of a +majority of the people would be sufficient to establish it. But it was to +be binding on the people of a State only by their own separate consent." +Under the influence of these arguments, and others of the same import from +Mr. Madison, whom she thought, from his close relations to the +Constitution, high authority upon all questions pertaining to its +character, Virginia finally acceded to the Union. It is especially +noteworthy, however, that Virginia, when becoming a party to the +Constitution, expressly affirmed, in the most solemn manner, the right to +"resume" her grants of power to the Federal Government. + +In deference to the accumulated evidence upon this subject, came the +unqualified statement, from eminent Northern authority,[14] that, "This +right [of secession] must be considered an ingredient in the original +composition of the General Government, which, though not expressed, was +mutually understood." + +But whatever may be thought of the prescriptive and inherent right of +sovereignty, exercised by the South in withdrawing from the Union, as +deducible from the peculiar nature of the American system, and as +expounded by the founders of that system, there can be no question as to +its entire accordance with the _spirit_ of American polity. Authority is +abundant in support of the assertion that, not even in the North, previous +to the inception of the present revolution, was the idea of a constrained +connection with the Union entertained. From every source of Northern +opinion has come indignant repudiation of a coerced association of +communities, originally united by a common pledge of fealty to the right +of self-government. + +Upon this subject Mr. John Quincy Adams spoke in language of +characteristic fervor: "The indissoluble link of union between the people +of the several States of this confederated nation is, after all, not in +the _right_, but in the _heart_. If the day should ever come (may heaven +avert it!) when the affections of the people of these States shall be +alienated from each other--when the fraternal spirit shall give way to +cold indifference, or collision of interest shall fester into hatred, the +bands of political association will not long hold together parties no +longer attracted by the magnetism of conciliated interests and kindly +sympathies; and far better will it be for the people of the disunited +States to part in friendship from each other than to be held together by +constraint." + +Even Mr. Lincoln, whose statesmanship is not likely to be commemorated for +its profundity or scholarship, fully comprehended the exaggerated +reverence of the American mind for the "sacred right of self-government." +Now that his homely phrases are dignified by the Northern masses with the +sanctity of the utterances of Deity, assuredly there should be no +apprehension that his opinions may not be deemed conclusive. In 1848, Mr. +Lincoln said: "Any people whatever have the right to abolish the existing +government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most +valuable, a most sacred right." + +A brave affirmation was this of the doctrine of the Declaration of +Independence, that "Governments derive their just powers from the consent +of the governed;" and one which would have commanded the united applause +of the North, then and now, had the application concerned Hungary, Poland, +Greece, or Mexico. But, with reference to the South, there was a most +important modification of this admirable principle of equity and humanity. +When asked, "Why not let the South go?" Abraham Lincoln, _the President_, +in 1861, said: "_Let the South go! Where, then, shall we get our +revenue?_" And the united North reëchoed: "_Let the South go! Where, then, +shall we look for the bounties and monopolies which have so enriched us at +the expense of those improvident, unsuspecting Southerners? Where shall we +find again such patient victims of spoliation?_" + +Mr. Horace Greeley frequently and emphatically, previous to the war, +affirmed the right of changing its political association asserted by the +South. Three days after the election of Mr. Lincoln, in November, 1860, +his paper, the New York _Tribune_, said: "If the Cotton States shall +become satisfied that they can do better out of the Union than in it, we +insist on letting them go in peace.... We must ever resist the right of +any State to remain in the Union, and nullify or defy the laws thereof. +_To withdraw from the Union is quite another matter; and whenever any +considerable section of our Union shall deliberately resolve to go out, we +shall resist all coercive measures designed to keep it in._ We hope never +to live in a Republic whereof one section is pinned to another by +bayonets." On the 17th of December, 1860, the _Tribune_ said: "If it [the +Declaration of Independence] justifies the secession of three millions of +colonists in 1776, _we do not see why it would not justify the secession +of five millions of Southerners from the Federal Union in 1861_." + +Such are a few illustrations, to which might be added innumerable +quotations, of the same import, from the most prominent sources of +Northern opinion. Never has there been a question so capable of positive +solution and easy comprehension, when subjected to the test of candid +investigation, and never so successful a purpose to exclude the +illumination of facts by persistent and ingenious misrepresentation. The +North has reason for its extravagant exultation at the skill and audacity +with which the brazen front of hypocrisy, for a time, at least, has +successfully sustained, in the name of humanity and liberty, the most +monstrous imposition and transparent counterfeit of virtue ever designed +upon an intelligent age. + +To the triumphant historical vindication of the South, there remains only +the essential condition of a clear and truthful statement of the +provocations which impelled her to adopt that long-deferred remedy, which +is the last refuge of a people whose liberties are imperiled. Secession, +however strong in its prescriptive or implied justification as a +principle, was not to be undertaken from caprice, or trivial causes of +dissatisfaction. + +Abuses, numerous, serious, and consecutive, were required before disunion +became either desirable or acceptable to the South. The native +conservatism of the Southern character renders it peculiarly averse to +agitation; to this were added social features, the safety of which would +be greatly imperiled by civil war, and thus a train of influences tended +to make Southern soil, of all others, the least favorable to the growth of +revolutionary principles. + +In the development of this volume, we have glanced at the progress of +those sectional differences, at various periods precipitated by the +insolent aggressions of Abolitionism, which steadily depreciated the +value of the Union in Southern estimation. Continued aggressions by her +enemies; their Punic faith, illustrated in a series of violated pledges, +and habitual disregard of the conditions of the covenant which bound South +and North together; petty outrages, taunts and insults, emanating from +every possible source of public expression at the North, for many years +had banished fraternal feeling and precluded those interchanges of comity +between the sections which were the indispensable requisites to national +harmony. It is undeniable, that for years previous to secession, the +sentimental attachment to the Union, which was the distinctive +characteristic of Southern patriotism--unlike the coarse, utilitarian +estimate of the Union as a source of pecuniary profit, which constituted +its value to the North--had been greatly impaired. Since 1850, and to a +considerable extent during the preceding decade, the most sagacious +statesmen of the South contemplated disunion as an event almost +inevitable, unless averted by a contingency of very improbable occurrence. +There must be an awakening by the North to a more just appreciation of its +constitutional and patriotic obligations, or an unmanly submission by the +South, to a condition of degrading inferiority, in a government to whose +construction, prosperity, and distinction, she had contributed more than a +proportionate share of influence. + +Chief among the considerations which admonished the South of the perils +which environed her situation in the Union, was the total destruction of +that sectional balance, which had been wisely adjusted by its founders, as +the safeguard of the weaker against the stronger influence. Having in mind +the wise saying of Aristotle, that "the weak always desire what is equal +and just, but the powerful pay no regard to it," the statesmen of 1787 +designedly shaped the chart of government with a view to the preservation +of equality. The struggle between the weaker element, naturally contending +in behalf of the equilibrium, and the stronger striving for its overthrow, +was, at an early period, distinctly foreshadowed. With characteristic +prevision, Alexander Hamilton, probably the foremost statesman of his day, +foretold the nature of this contest over the principle of equality. Said +that sagacious publicist: "The truth is, it is a contest for power, not +for liberty." + +This contest, indeed, so long waged, was, many years since, decided +overwhelmingly against the South. In 1850, the Northern majority in the +House of Representatives, the popular branch of the government, had +increased from a majority, in 1790, of five votes, to fifty-four. Years +before, the legislation of Congress assumed that sectional bias, which was +undeviatingly adhered to for the purpose, and with ample success, of the +material depression of the South. Under the baleful influences of hostile +legislation, of tariffs aimed directly at her commercial prosperity, of +bounties for fostering multifarious Northern interests, her position in +the Union was helpless and deplorable in the extreme. Yet, like a +rock-bound Prometheus, with the insidious elements of destruction gnawing +at her vitals, the South suffered herself to be chained by an influence of +sentiment, of association, and reminiscence to the Union, fully conscious +of the growing rapacity of her despoiler and of her own hopeless decline. +Her infatuation was indeed marvelous, in trusting to the dawning of +justice and generosity in a fierce, vindictive, and remorseless sectional +majority. + +The alarming portents of ultimately complete material prostration, to be +consummated by these perversions of the purposes of the Union, were +terribly significant, in view of the venom which actuated the enemies of +the South. The sectional balance was hopelessly gone; Southern material +prosperity destroyed by sectional legislation; not a check, originally +provided by the Constitution for the protection of the weaker section, but +had been virtually obliterated; Northern perfidy illustrated in the +violation of every compact which, in operation, proved favorable to the +South, while the latter was held to a rigid fidelity in all agreements +favorable to her enemies; the nullification, by the legislatures of half +the Northern States, of Federal laws for the protection of Southern +property, are a few of those grievances which presented to the South the +hard and inexorable alternative of resistance, or abject submission to +endless insult and outrage. + +A Southern Senator,[15] announcing the secession of his State, and his own +consequent withdrawal from the Senate, stated the question in a form, +which even then had the authority of history. + + "Not a decade, nor scarce a lustrum, has elapsed (since Alabama became + a State) that has not been strongly marked by proofs of the growth and + power of that antislavery spirit of the Northern people, which seeks + the overthrow of that domestic institution of the South, which is not + only the chief source of her prosperity, but the very basis of her + social order and State polity. It is to-day the master-spirit of the + Northern States, and had before the secession of Alabama, of + Mississippi, of Florida, or of South Carolina, severed most of the + bonds of the Union. It denied us Christian communion, because it could + not endure what it calls the moral leprosy of slave-holding; it + refused us permission to sojourn, or even to pass through the North + with our property; it claimed freedom for the slave, if brought by + his master into a Northern State; it violated the Constitution, and + treaties, and laws of Congress, because designed to protect that + property; it refused us any share of lands acquired mainly by our + diplomacy, and blood, and treasure; it refused our property any + shelter or security beneath the flag of a common government; it robbed + us of our property, and refused to restore it; it refused to deliver + criminals against our laws, who fled to the North with our property or + our blood upon their hands; it threatened us by solemn legislative + acts, with ignominious punishment, if we pursued our property into a + Northern State; it murdered Southern men when seeking the recovery of + their property on Northern soil; it invaded the borders of Southern + States, poisoned their wells, burnt their dwellings, and murdered + their people; it denounced us by deliberate resolves of popular + meetings, of party conventions, and of religious, and even legislative + assemblies, as habitual violators of the laws of God and the rights of + humanity; it exerted all the moral and physical agencies that human + ingenuity can devise, or diabolical malice can employ, to heap odium + and infamy upon us, and to make us a by-word of hissing and of scorn + throughout the civilized world." + +There was no room for uncertainty as to the significance of the election +of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency, in 1860, by a party exclusively +sectional in organization, and upon a platform, which virtually declared +the Union, as then constituted, in opposition to justice, humanity, and +civilization. + +The real danger to the South, involved in this election, was that it was a +_sectional_ triumph--a victory of North over South, in a contest where the +South risked every thing, the North nothing. From time immemorial sincere +patriots of both sections had deprecated the formation of sectional +parties, organized upon geographical interests, or upon ideas confined to +limited portions of the Union. Washington, in his farewell injunction, +admonished his countrymen of the deplorable results which must follow the +presentation of such issues. + +The Chicago platform was more than a menace to the South; it was a +defiance of law, a declaration of war upon the Constitution. The election +of Lincoln was both a legal and moral severance of the bonds of Union. +While he received the united vote of the North, save New Jersey, he did +not receive one electoral vote from the South. His shaping of his +administration was consistent with the character of the party which +elected him. All his constitutional advisers were Northern men or Southern +Abolitionists; social outlaws in their own section, in consequence of +their notorious personal depravity, and infidelity to their immediate +fellow-citizens. Of like character were the subordinate appointments of +the Federal Government in Southern communities. + +Nor was there reason to doubt the policy of the Government under its new +management. Mr. Lincoln had been sufficiently communicative of his own +bitter hostility to Southern institutions. In fact, with much show of +justice, his admirers claimed for him the original suggestion of the idea +of an "irrepressible conflict," afterwards so elaborately pronounced by +William H. Seward. Public announcements, from prominent speakers of the +successful party, amply revealed the feast to which the South was invited. +Wendell Phillips, the most able, eloquent, and sagacious of the original +Abolitionists, thus pointedly defined the situation: "No man has a right +to be surprised at this state of things. It is just what we have attempted +to bring about. It is the first sectional party ever organized in this +country. It does not know its own face, and calls itself national; but it +is not national--it is sectional. The Republican party is a party of the +North pledged against the South." + +Such was the complexion to which political affairs were brought by the +election of Abraham Lincoln. There remained hardly a hope, even for future +security or domestic tranquillity to the South, except in withdrawal from +an association, in which she had become an inferior and an outcast--an +object of oppression, outrage, and contumely. From a relentless Abolition +majority she could expect no favors; and the Northern Democracy, so long +her ally, for common purposes of party, had cowered before the storm of +fanaticism, and repudiated the first demand made upon its fidelity to +principle. + +Congress assembled on the first Monday of December, 1860, a few weeks +subsequent to the Presidential election. Never had that body met under +circumstances of such gravity. Universal foreboding of peril to the nation +was mingled with hope of such action, as would avert the impending +calamities of disunion and civil war. There were few indications, at the +opening of the session, of conciliatory sentiments; from the +representatives of both sections came open defiance, and Northern members +of both houses were more than ever bold in the utterance of insult and +menace. Before the opening of the session, President Buchanan received +from Mr. Davis the most satisfactory assurances of his coöperation with +the administration in a pacific policy, having for its object the +settlement of the national difficulties upon terms promotive of the peace +of the country, and assuring the security of the South.[16] To such a +settlement the efforts of Mr. Davis were addressed so long as there was +the slightest ground for the indulgence of hope. + +This session of Congress, the last which was held previous to the +commencement of civil war, is chiefly interesting as the historical record +of those patriotic efforts which were made to save the Union, and as +furnishing incontestible proof of the guilt of those who, by their +persistent refusal of all conciliatory propositions, are justly +responsible for the calamities which were to befall the country. Happily +for the reputation of Mr. Davis, the proof is authentic and conclusive in +his favor upon these important questions. There is no portion of his +career in which statesmanship, patriotism, and a noble appreciation of the +claims of humanity shine forth more conspicuously. So overwhelming is the +evidence that, in these last days of the Union, he was false to none of +these high considerations, that the most mendacious assailants of himself +and the cause he lately represented have not yet ventured to call it in +question. + +A disposition is frequently evinced to plead for him immunity from the +responsibility of his position, as the leader of the Confederate movement, +upon the score of his consistent Unionism, manifested in the prevailing +conservatism of his course as a politician. He needs no such palliation. +His devotion to the Union of the American fathers was as unquestionable as +was that of Washington. His patriotism was illustrated by every mode of +exemplification in the service of country. To substantiate his attachment +to that association of States, designed by the fathers, sublime in its +objects of mutual fidelity, generous sympathies, justice, and equality, no +elaborate statement is required, nor could formal vindication strengthen +its defenses.[17] He never arrayed himself against such a Union, but, +abhorring that perverted instrument of sectional aggression, which the +Government had become, he did accompany and lead his fellow-citizens in +their exercise of the highest privilege of freemen. + +He was always prepared to follow the principles of States' Rights to their +logical consequences, and was yet consistent in his attachment to the +Union. Thus he was a firm believer in the absolute sovereignty of the +States, and of the enjoyment, by the States, of all the attributes of +sovereignty, including, necessarily, the right of secession. He had never +urged the expediency of secession, though, upon repeated occasions, he had +foreshadowed its probable necessity in the future, as the only remedy +remaining to the South in certain contingencies. In the Senate, in 1850, +he thus alluded to the possibility of a successful organization of a +sectional party: "The danger is one of our own times, and it is that +sectional division of the people which has created the necessity of +looking to the question of the balance of power, and which carries with +it, when disturbed, the danger of disunion." + +In 1859, again, he proclaimed, in unequivocal terms, his course in the +event of the success of a party indorsing the Rochester pronunciamento of +Mr. Seward. Yet his course, subsequent to the election of Mr. Lincoln, +was directed entirely in the interest of moderation. Having little hope of +concession from the enemies of the South, in the moment of their +overwhelming victory, he yet anxiously, earnestly entered that last +struggle for the Constitution, before it passed into the keeping of +iconoclasts, who were pledged to its destruction. + +His zeal in behalf of pacification was actuated by considerations of +humanity, no less ennobling than his impulse of disinterested patriotism. +Regarding a long and bloody war as the certain result of dissolution, he +anxiously sought to avert that calamitous result, and stood pledged to the +acceptance of any basis of settlement which should guarantee the safety +and honor of the South. At no time, however, did he advocate submission. +His language in the Senate is explicit. Speaking of the secession of +Mississippi, he said: "I, however, may be permitted to say, that I do +think she has justifiable cause, and I approve of her act. I conferred +with her people before that act was taken, counseled them then that, if +the state of things which they apprehended should exist when the +convention met, they should take the action which they have now adopted." + +During the session, numerous efforts at compromise were made, in every +instance emanating from Southern Representatives or Northern Democrats, +the dominant party of the North declining all tenders of pacification, and +offering no terms of conciliation in return. It is unnecessary to trace +the progress of these abortive efforts, which, in the main, received the +support of feeble minorities, and had, from their inception, no prospect +of adoption. + +There was one proposition, and probably only one, which embodied a +competent basis of settlement, and was entitled to favor. This was called +the "Crittenden Compromise," and originated with the venerable Kentucky +Senator, by whose name it is designated. For a time it seemed that the +demonstrations of popular sentiment in its favor, especially the +well-ascertained readiness of a large majority of the Southern people to +accept it, and its exceedingly practical nature, as a _final_ settlement +of the slavery question, would eventually secure its adoption by Congress. +The result was a disappointment of this patriotic expectation, and a +conclusive demonstration of the purpose of the Republican party to consent +to no settlement which the South could accept. + +An examination of the Crittenden proposition will reveal a most striking +illustration of the ever-present spirit of accommodation, in matters +affecting the safety of the Union, which, even in its last hours, was +characteristic of the leaders and people of the South, and of the narrow, +selfish, and exacting sectionalism of the North. In reality, it was little +short of a surrender, in its ample concessions, to the encroachments of +Abolitionism. + +The resolutions introduced by Mr. Crittenden, in the Senate, on the 18th +of December, 1860, contemplated amendments to the Constitution having the +following objects: The prohibition of slavery in all Territories north of +the old Missouri Compromise line, and providing protection for it south of +that line; a denial of the power of Congress to abolish slavery in the +District of Columbia, or in ports, arsenels, dock-yards, or wherever else +the Federal Government exercised jurisdiction; remuneration to owners of +escaped slaves by communities in which the Federal laws, providing +rendition of slaves, might be violently obstructed. Such were the material +features of the "Crittenden Compromise." + +It will be seen at a glance how absurd was the misnomer of "compromise" +applied to so one-sided a settlement. The South was required, by its +provisions, to abandon the sacred right of protection to her property, +guaranteed by the Constitution and unequivocally re-affirmed by the +highest judicial tribunal in the land. The Supreme Court, in the Dred +Scott case, had already decided the right to take slaves into all the +Territories, while the Crittenden proposition prohibited it entirely in +the major portion of the common Territory, and merely tolerated it in the +residue. The Constitution, as expounded by the Supreme Court, guaranteed +the right of introduction and protection of slavery in all the +Territories, in whatever latitude, as the common property of the States. +The Crittenden amendment proposed to confine this right to Territory south +of 36° 30', prohibiting, in the meanwhile, slavery _forever_ north of that +line, and in regions where its legal existence had been emphatically +affirmed by that august tribunal, the Supreme Court. If adopted, it would +have yielded every thing to Abolition rapacity, save a mere abstraction. +Of all the vast territory yet remaining to be hereafter divided into +States, only in New Mexico did it propose even to tolerate slavery, and in +that locality the laws of nature precluded its permanent establishment. + +A few days after its introduction in the Senate, the Crittenden amendment +was proposed by its author to a special committee of thirteen, created on +motion of Senator Powell, of Kentucky, for the consideration of all +questions pertaining to the pending national difficulties. This committee +was composed of the most eminent and influential Senators, embracing five +leading Republicans, five Southern Senators, and Messrs. Bright, Bigler, +and Douglas, on behalf of the Northern Democracy. Mr. Davis, originally +appointed, at first declined to serve, but finally consented, in +compliance with the urgent requests of other Senators. At the first +meeting of the committee, 21st December, it was "resolved that no +proposition shall be reported as adopted, unless sustained by a majority +of each of the classes of the committee; Senators of the Republican party +to constitute one class, and Senators of the other parties to constitute +the other class." + +This resolution was necessary, in consequence of the obvious futility of +any settlement which did not meet the approval of a majority of the +Republican Senators. In this Committee the Crittenden proposition was +defeated. Not one of the Republican Senators voted for it, and Messrs. +Davis and Toombs likewise voted against it when it was ascertained that it +would not receive the sanction of a majority of the Republican Senators. + +Despite its unfairness as a measure of settlement, and its great injustice +to the South, Mr. Davis would have accepted it, as would a large majority +of Southern Senators, as a _finality_, if the Republican Senators had +tendered it. This, however, the latter were determined not to do, nor did +a single Republican Senator, at any time during the session, express even +a desire that any action, conciliatory to the South, should be +adopted.[18] Insolent, dictatorial, and defiant, they proclaimed their +purpose, at all hazards, to assert the authority of the Government, and +their acts clearly indicated their stern purpose to refuse every +proposition contemplating concession or compromise. In substitution of the +Crittenden adjustment, they voted solidly for the amendment of Senator +Clarke, of New Hampshire, which denied the necessity of amendments to the +Constitution, which ought to be obeyed rather than amended, and declared +that the remedy for present difficulties was to be sought in a stern +enforcement of the laws, rather than in assurances to peculiar ideas and +guarantees to peculiar interests. This palpable defiance, and emphatic +avowal of a purpose to concede nothing to Southern demands, was indorsed +by the action of Republican caucusses of both houses of Congress, by +resolutions of State Legislatures, and by tenders of men and means to +compel the submission of the South. The entire Republican party were +clearly committed to the purpose, avowed by Mr. Salmon P. Chase, in a +letter from the Peace Congress, to Portsmouth, Ohio, to "use the power +while they had it, and prevent a settlement."[19] + +On the 31st December, 1860, the Committee of Thirteen reported to the +Senate their inability to "agree upon any general plan of adjustment," and +thus, with the arrival of the new year, had vanished the last hope of +preserving the peace of the country. The failure of the Crittenden +proposition was decisive of the question of pacification; no other plan of +adjustment, that was presented, having either its merits or its practical +features. + +Southern resistance came none too soon for Northern power, hate, and +lust, but far too late for the precious goal of independence. Delay had +been fatal, and the golden opportunity long since lost. But there was +still time to emulate the glorious examples of the past. With marvelous +calmness and dauntless intrepidity, a heroic race prepared an exhibition +of noble devotion and willing sacrifice, the contemplation of which +revives the memories of Thermopylæ. + +Comparatively of little moment, now, is the question, whether the +acceptance of this basis of adjustment by the South would have been +consistent with discretion. In the end the result, in all likelihood, +would have been the same. Had a settlement been reached in 1861, Southern +liberties must eventually have perished, through the influences of +corruption and the demoralization engendered by continued submission to +wrong, no less effectually than by their overthrow in that gallant +struggle of arms, which terminated with such fatal results. But there +still remains the question of responsibility for those horrors of civil +strife, which the failure of the Crittenden amendment soon precipitated +upon the country. Those crimson spots which stain the subsequent history +of the Republic, are traceable to no parricidal hand raised by the South. +No historical question has received more satisfactory decision than this; +and the South is acquitted even by the testimony of her enemies. It is +unnecessary to give the evidence of Southern men, when there is such ample +testimony from those who deprecated and condemned the subsequent course of +the South. + +Senator Douglas, on the 3d January, 1861, only three days after the report +of the Committee of Thirteen had been submitted, and within hearing of its +members, thus expressed himself in the course of an address to the +Senate: + + "If you of the Republican side are not willing to accept this [a + proposition of his own] nor the proposition of the Senator from + Kentucky [Mr. Crittenden,] pray tell us what are you willing to do? I + address the inquiry to the Republicans alone, for the reason, that in + the Committee of Thirteen, a few days ago, every member from the + South, including those from the Cotton States [Messrs. Toombs and + Davis,] expressed their readiness to accept the proposition of my + venerable friend from Kentucky [Mr. Crittenden] as a final settlement + of the controversy, if tendered and sustained by the Republican + members. Hence, the sole responsibility of our disagreement, and the + only difficulty in the way of an amicable adjustment, is with the + Republican party." + +Again, on the 2d March, 1861, Mr. Douglas re-affirmed this important +statement. Said he: + + "The Senator has said that if the Crittenden proposition could have + been passed early in the session, it would have saved all the States + except South Carolina. I firmly believe it would. While the Crittenden + proposition was not in accordance with my cherished views, I avowed my + readiness and eagerness to accept it, in order to save the Union, if + we could unite upon it. No man has labored harder than I have to get + it passed. I can confirm the Senator's declaration that Senator Davis + himself, when on the Committee of Thirteen, was ready at all times to + compromise on the Crittenden proposition. I will go further, and say + that Mr. Toombs was also ready to do so." + +Hon. S. S. Cox, for several years an able and eloquent member of Congress +from Ohio, has made a most interesting statement upon this subject: + + The vote on the Crittenden proposition was well defined, but is not so + well understood. From the frequency of inquiries since the war as to + this latter vote, the people were eager to know upon whom to fix the + responsibility of its failure. It may as well be stated that all other + propositions, whether of the Peace Convention or the Border State + _project_, or the measures of the committees, were comparatively of no + moment; for the Crittenden proposition was the only one which could + have arrested the struggle. It would have received a larger vote than + any other. It would have had more effect in moderating Southern + excitement. Even Davis, Toombs, and others of the Gulf States, would + have accepted it. I have talked with Mr. Crittenden frequently on this + point. Not only has he confirmed the public declarations of Douglas + and Pugh, and the speech of Toombs himself, to this effect, but he + said it was so understood in committee. At one time, while the + committee was in session, he said: "Mr. Toombs, will this compromise, + as a remedy for all wrongs and apprehensions, be acceptable to you?" + Mr. Toombs, with some profanity, replied: "Not by a good deal; but my + State will accept it, and I will follow my State to ----." And he did. + + I will not open the question whether it was wise then to offer + accommodations. It may not be profitable now to ask whether the + millions of young men whose bodies are maimed, or whose bones are + decaying under the sod of the South, and the heavy load of public debt + under which we sweat and toil, have their compensation in black + liberty. Nor will I discuss whether the blacks have been bettered by + their precipitate freedom, passing, as so many have, from slavery, + through starvation and suffering, to death. There is no comfort in the + reflection that the negroes will be exterminated with the + extermination of slavery. The real point is, could not this Union have + been made permanent by timely settlement, instead of cemented by + fraternal blood and military rule? By an equitable partition of the + territory this was possible. We had then 1,200,000 square miles. The + Crittenden proposition would have given the North 900,000 of these + square miles, and applied the Chicago doctrines to that quantity. It + would have left the remaining fourth substantially to be carved out + as free or slave States, at the option of the people when the States + were admitted. This proposition the radicals denounced. It has been + stated, to rid the Republicans of the odium of not averting the war + when that was possible, that the Northern members tendered to the + Southern the Crittenden compromise, which the South rejected. This is + untrue. It was tendered by Southern Senators and Northern Democrats to + the Republicans. It was voted upon but once in the House, when it + received eighty votes against one hundred and thirteen. These eighty + votes were exclusively Democrats and Southern Americans, like Gilmer, + Vance, and others. Mr. Briggs, of New York, was the only one not a + Democrat who voted for it. He had been an old Whig, and never a + Republican. The Republican roll, beginning with Adams and ending with + Woodruff, was a unit against it. Intermingled with them was one + Southern extremist (General Hindman) who desired no settlement. There + were many Southern men who did not vote, believing that unless the + Republicans, who were just acceding to power, favored it, its adoption + would be a delusion. + + The plan adopted by the Republican Senators to defeat it was by + amendment and postponement. On the 14th and 15th of January they cast + all their votes against its being taken up; and on the 16th, when it + came up, Mr. Clark, of New Hampshire, moved to strike it out, and + insert something which he knew would neither be successful nor + acceptable. The vote on Clark's amendment was 25 to 23; every "aye" + being a Republican, and every "no," except Kennedy and Crittenden + (Americans), being Democrats. + + When this result was announced universal gloom prevailed. The people + favored this compromise. Petitions by thousands of citizens were + showered upon Congress for its passage. Had it received a majority + only, they would have rallied and sustained those who desired peace + and union. One more earnest appeal was made to the Republicans. + General Cameron answered it by moving a reconsideration. His motion + came up on the 18th, when he voted against his own motion. It was + carried, however, over the votes of the Republicans, although Wigfall + voted with them. When it was again up on the second of March, 1861, + the Southern States were nearly all gone. Even then it was lost by one + vote only. But on that occasion all the Democrats were for, and all + the Republicans against it. The truth is, there was nothing but sneers + and skepticism from the Republicans at any settlement. They broke down + every proposition. They took the elements of conciliation out of the + Peace Convention before it assembled. Senators Harlan and Chandler + were especially active in preparing that convention for a failure. If + every Southern man and every Northern Democrat had voted for this + proposition, it would have required some nine Republicans for the + requisite two-thirds. Where were they? Dreaming with Mr. Seward of a + sixty days' struggle, or arranging for the division of the patronage + of administration. The only Southern Senators who seemed against any + settlement were Iverson and Wigfall; that no man will challenge if he + will refer to the _Globe_ (1st part, Thirty-fifth Congress, page 270) + for the testimony of Douglas and Pugh, and to Mr. Bigler's Bucks + County speech, September 17, 1863. The latter knew it to be true when + he said that-- + + "When the struggle was at its height in Georgia, between Robert + Toombs for secession, and A. H. Stephens against it, had those men + in the Committee of Thirteen, who are now so blameless in their + own estimation, given us their votes, or even three of them, + Stephens would have defeated Toombs, and secession would have been + prostrated. I heard Mr. Toombs say to Mr. Douglas that the result + in Georgia was staked on the action of the Committee of Thirteen. + If it accepted the Crittenden proposition, Stephens would defeat + him; if not, he would carry the State out by 40,000 majority. The + three votes from the Republican side would have carried it at any + time; but union and peace in the balance against the Chicago + platform were sure to be found wanting." + + If other testimony were wanting, I would ask a suspension of judgment + until those facts, better known to Southern men, transpire. The + intercourse about to be reëstablished between the sections will + cumulate the proof. It will also bring to the light many facts showing + that, while President Buchanan was working for the Peace Conference, + while Virginia had been gained to our side with her ablest men, there + were even then in the Cabinet those who not only encouraged revolt, + but foiled by letter and speech the efforts of the Unionists at + Washington and Richmond. These letters and acts are referred to in the + recent speech of General Blair. They will be, and should be brought + into the sunshine, if only to vindicate the true Union men of that + dark hour, and to condemn those who have since made so much pretension + with so much zealotry, coupled with unexampled cruelty and tyranny. + + In the light of subsequent events that policy was developed. It was + the destruction of slavery at the peril of war and disunion; or, as + Senator Douglas expressed it, "a disruption of the Union, believing it + would draw after it, as an inevitable consequence, civil war, servile + insurrections, and finally the utter extermination of slavery in all + the Southern States." + +While these fruitless efforts at compromise were in progress at +Washington, public sentiment in the South, especially in the Cotton +States, was rapidly reaching a point of exasperation, which refused to +brook longer delay in the vain hope of justice from the exultant and +unyielding North. In several of the States, so excited was popular +feeling, that within a few weeks what was originally merely a purpose of +resistance, intensified into a determination of absolute national +independence and permanent separation. South Carolina, on the 20th +December, 1860, adopted her ordinance of secession, and thus bravely gave +the example, which other States speedily followed. + +The work of secession, so thoroughly started by the opening of the new +year, was not accomplished without a severe struggle in several of the +Cotton States, in which contest, those who advocated unconditional +separation were greatly assisted by the defiant position of the Republican +party. The more sagacious Southern leaders foresaw the inevitable failure +of the movement of separation, unless it should be sustained by an +extensive coöperation among the Southern States. To secure the united +action of the Cotton States, at least, was essential to give the movement +strength and dignity. Mr. Davis, who advocated secession only in the event +of the failure to obtain reasonable guarantees, and had never proposed to +abandon the Union without an effort to save it, was a most earnest and +influential advocate of the policy of coöperation. Of great historical +importance is the fact, that the counsels of himself and those who acted +with him, were adopted in preference to a more hasty policy, which, +however ample the provocation to immediate action, would have deprived the +South of the potent justification of having forborne until "endurance +ceased to be a virtue." + +In a letter written a few days after the election of Mr. Lincoln, he thus +expressed his views: + + WARREN COUNTY, MISS., NOV. 10, 1860. + + Hon. R. B. RHETT, JR.--_Dear Sir_: I had the honor to receive, last + night, yours of the 27th ult., and hasten to reply to the inquiries + propounded. Reports of the election leave little doubt that the event + you anticipated has occurred, that electors have been chosen, securing + the election of Lincoln, and I will answer on that supposition. + + My home is so isolated that I have had no intercourse with those who + might have aided me in forming an opinion as to the effect produced on + the mind of our people by the result of the recent election, and the + impressions which I communicate are founded upon antecedent + expressions. + + 1. I doubt not that the Governor of Mississippi has convoked the + Legislature to assemble within the present month, to decide upon the + course which the State should adopt in the present emergency. Whether + the Legislature will direct the call of a convention of the State, or + appoint delegates to a convention of such Southern States as may be + willing to consult together for the adoption of a Southern plan of + action, is doubtful. + + 2. If a convention of the State were assembled, the proposition to + secede from the Union, independently of support from neighboring + States, would probably fail. + + 3. If South Carolina should first secede, and she alone should take + such action, the position of Mississippi would not probably be changed + by that fact. A powerful obstacle to the separate action of + Mississippi is the want of a port; from which follows the consequence + that her trade, being still conducted through the ports of the Union, + her revenue would be diverted from her own support to that of a + foreign government; and being geographically unconnected with South + Carolina, an alliance with her would not vary that state of the case. + [_Sic._] + + 4. The propriety of separate secession by South Carolina depends so + much upon collateral questions that I find it difficult to respond to + your last inquiry, for the want of knowledge which would enable me to + estimate the value of the elements involved in the issue, though + exterior to your State. Georgia is necessary to connect you with + Alabama, and thus to make effectual the coöperation of Mississippi. If + Georgia would be lost by immediate action, but could be gained by + delay, it seems clear to me that you should wait. If the secession of + South Carolina should be followed by an attempt to coerce her back + into the Union, that act of usurpation, folly, and wickedness would + enlist every true Southern man for her defense. If it were attempted + to blockade her ports and destroy her trade, a like result would be + produced, and the commercial world would probably be added to her + allies. It is probable that neither of those measures would be adopted + by any administration, but that Federal ships would be sent to collect + the duties on imports outside of the bar; that the commercial nations + would feel little interest in that; and the Southern States would have + little power to counteract it. + + The planting States have a common interest of such magnitude, that + their union, sooner or later, for the protection of that interest, is + certain. United they will have ample power for their own protection, + and their exports will make for them allies of all commercial and + manufacturing powers. + + The new States have a heterogeneous population, and will be slower and + less unanimous than those in which there is less of the Northern + element in the body politic, but interest controls the policy of + States, and finally all the planting communities must reach the same + conclusion. _My opinion is, therefore, as it has been, in favor of + seeking to bring those States into coöperation before asking for a + popular decision upon a new policy and relation to the nations of the + earth._ If South Carolina should resolve to secede before that + coöperation can be obtained, to go out leaving Georgia, and Alabama, + and Louisiana in the Union, and without any reason to suppose they + will follow her, there appears to me to be no advantage in waiting + until the Government has passed into hostile hands, and men have + become familiarized to that injurious and offensive perversion of the + General Government from the ends for which it was established. I have + written with the freedom and carelessness of private correspondence, + and regret that I could not give more precise information. + + Very respectfully, yours, etc., + JEFFERSON DAVIS. + +Mr. Davis remained in the Senate, a friend of peace, and, until the last +moment, laboring for adjustment, when he received the summons of +Mississippi, forbidding the longer exercise of the trust which she had +given to his keeping. Mississippi seceded on the 9th of January, 1861. Mr. +Davis, receiving formal announcement of the event, withdrew on the 21st, +after pronouncing an impressive valedictory to the Senate. Its dignified, +courteous, and statesman-like character has challenged the unqualified +eulogy of the enlightened world. + + SPEECH OF HON. JEFFERSON DAVIS, ON WITHDRAWING FROM THE U. S. SENATE. + JAN. 21, 1861. + + MR. DAVIS. I rise, Mr. President, for the purpose of announcing to the + Senate that I have satisfactory evidence that the State of + Mississippi, by a solemn ordinance of her people, in convention + assembled, has declared her separation from the United States. Under + these circumstances, of course, my functions are terminated here. It + has seemed to me proper, however, that I should appear in the Senate + to announce that fact to my associates, and I will say but very little + more. The occasion does not invite me to go into argument; and my + physical condition would not permit me to do so, if otherwise; and yet + it seems to become me to say something on the part of a State I here + represent, on an occasion so solemn as this. + + It is known to Senators who have served with me here, that I have, for + many years, advocated, as an essential attribute of State sovereignty, + the right of a State to secede from the Union. Therefore, if I had not + believed there was justifiable cause; if I had thought that + Mississippi was acting without sufficient provocation, or without an + existing necessity, I should still, under my theory of the Government, + because of my allegiance to the State of which I am a citizen, have + been bound by her action. I, however, may be permitted to say that I + do think she has justifiable cause, and I approve of her act. I + conferred with her people before that act was taken, counseled them + then that if the state of things which they apprehended should exist + when the convention met, they should take the action which they have + now adopted. + + I hope none who hear me will confound this expression of mine with the + advocacy of the right of a State to remain in the Union, and to + disregard its constitutional obligations by the nullification of the + law. Such is not my theory. Nullification and secession, so often + confounded, are, indeed, antagonistic principles. Nullification is a + remedy which it is sought to apply within the Union, and against the + agent of the States. It is only to be justified when the agent has + violated his constitutional obligations, and a State, assuming to + judge for itself, denies the right of the agent thus to act, and + appeals to the other States of the Union for a decision; but when the + States themselves, and when the people of the States, have so acted as + to convince us that they will not regard our constitutional rights, + then, and then for the first time, arises the doctrine of secession in + its practical application. + + A great man, who now reposes with his fathers, and who has often been + arraigned for a want of fealty to the Union, advocated the doctrine of + nullification because it preserved the Union. It was because of his + deep-seated attachment to the Union--his determination to find some + remedy for existing ills short of a severance of the ties which bound + South Carolina to the other States, that Mr. Calhoun advocated the + doctrine of nullification, which he proclaimed to be peaceful--to be + within the limits of State power, not to disturb the Union, but only + to be a means of bringing the agent before the tribunal of the States + for their judgment. + + Secession belongs to a different class of remedies. It is to be + justified upon the basis that the States are sovereign. There was a + time when none denied it. I hope the time may come again, when a + better comprehension of the theory of our Government, and the + inalienable rights of the people of the States, will prevent any one + from denying that each State is a sovereign, and thus may reclaim the + grants which it has made to any agent whomsoever. + + I, therefore, say I concur in the action of the people of Mississippi, + believing it to be necessary and proper, and should have been bound by + their action if my belief had been otherwise; and this brings me to + the important point which I wish, on this last occasion, to present to + the Senate. It is by this confounding of nullification and secession, + that the name of a great man, whose ashes now mingle with his mother + earth, has been evoked to justify coercion against a seceded State. + The phrase, "to execute the laws," was an expression which General + Jackson applied to the case of a State refusing to obey the laws while + yet a member of the Union. That is not the case which is now + presented. The laws are to be executed over the United States, and + upon the people of the United States. They have no relation to any + foreign country. It is a perversion of terms--at least it is a great + misapprehension of the case--which cites that expression for + application to a State which has withdrawn from the Union. You may + make war on a foreign State. If it be the purpose of gentlemen, they + may make war against a State which has withdrawn from the Union; but + there are no laws of the United States to be executed within the + limits of a seceded State. A State, finding herself in the condition + in which Mississippi has judged she is--in which her safety requires + that she should provide for the maintenance of her rights out of the + Union--surrenders all the benefits (and they are known to be many), + deprives herself of the advantages (and they are known to be great), + severs all the ties of affection (and they are close and enduring), + which have bound her to the Union; and thus divesting herself of every + benefit--taking upon herself every burden--she claims to be exempt + from any power to execute the laws of the United States within her + limits. + + I well remember an occasion when Massachusetts was arraigned before + the bar of the Senate, and when the doctrine of coercion was rife, and + to be applied against her, because of the rescue of a fugitive slave + in Boston. My opinion then was the same that it is now. Not in a + spirit of egotism, but to show that I am not influenced, in my + opinion, because the case is my own, I refer to that time and that + occasion, as containing the opinion which I then entertained, and on + which my present conduct is based. I then said that if Massachusetts, + following her through a stated line of conduct, choose to take the + last step which separates her from the Union, it is her right to go, + and I will neither vote one dollar nor one man to coerce her back; but + will say to her, God speed, in memory of the kind associations which + once existed between her and the other States. + + It has been a conviction of pressing necessity--it has been a belief + that we are to be deprived, in the Union, of the rights which our + fathers bequeathed to us--which has brought Mississippi into her + present decision. She has heard proclaimed the theory that all men are + created free and equal, and this made the basis of an attack upon her + social institutions; and the sacred Declaration of Independence has + been invoked to maintain the position of the equality of the races. + The Declaration of Independence is to be construed by the + circumstances and purposes for which it was made. The communities were + declaring their independence; the people of those communities were + asserting that no man was born, to use the language of Mr. Jefferson, + booted and spurred, to ride over the rest of mankind; that men were + created equal--meaning the men of the political community; that there + was no divine right to rule; that no man inherited the right to + govern; that there were no classes by which power and place descended + to families; but that all stations were equally within the grasp of + each member of the body politic. These were the great principles they + announced; these were the purposes for which they made their + declaration; these were the ends to which their enunciation was + directed. They have no reference to the slave; else, how happened it, + that, among the items of arraignment against George III, was, that he + endeavored to do just what the North has been endeavoring of late to + do, to stir up insurrection among our slaves. Had the Declaration + announced that the negroes were free and equal, how was the prince to + be arraigned for raising up insurrection among them? And how was this + to be enumerated among the high crimes which caused the colonies to + sever their connection with the mother country? When our Constitution + was formed, the same idea was rendered more palpable; for there we + find provision made for that very class of persons as property; they + were not put upon the footing of equality with white men--not even + upon that of paupers and convicts; but, so far as representation was + concerned, were discriminated against as a lower caste, only to be + represented in the numerical proportion of three-fifths. + + Then, Senators, we recur to the compact which binds us together; we + recur to the principles upon which our Government was founded; and + when you deny them, and when you deny to us the right to withdraw from + a government, which, thus perverted, threatens to be destructive of + our rights, we but tread in the path of our fathers when we proclaim + our independence, and take the hazard. This is done, not in hostility + to others--not to injure any section of the country--not even for our + own pecuniary benefit; but from the high and solemn motive of + defending and protecting the rights we inherited, and which it is our + duty to transmit unshorn to our children. + + I find in myself, perhaps, a type of the general feeling of my + constituents toward yours. I am sure I feel no hostility toward you, + Senators from the North. I am sure there is not one of you, whatever + sharp discussion there may have been between us, to whom I can not now + say, in the presence of my God, I wish you well; and such, I am sure, + is the feeling of the people whom I represent toward those whom you + represent. I, therefore, feel that I but express their desire, when I + say I hope, and they hope, for peaceable relations with you, though we + must part. They may be mutually beneficial to us in the future, as + they have been in the past, if you so will it. The reverse may bring + disaster on every portion of the country; and if you will have it + thus, we will invoke the God of our fathers, who delivered them from + the power of the lion, to protect us from the ravages of the bear; and + thus, putting our trust in God, and in our firm hearts and strong + arms, we will vindicate the right as best we may. + + In the course of my service here, associated, at different times, with + a great variety of Senators, I see now around me some with whom I have + served long; there have been points of collision, but whatever of + offense there has been to me, I leave here--I carry with me no hostile + remembrance. Whatever offense I have given, which has not been + redressed, or for which satisfaction has not been demanded, I have, + Senators, in this hour of our parting, to offer you my apology for any + pain which, in the heat of discussion, I have inflicted. I go hence + unincumbered of the remembrance of any injury received, and having + discharged the duty of making the only reparation in my power for any + injury offered. + + Mr. President and Senators, having made the announcement which the + occasion seemed to me to require, it only remains for me to bid you a + final adieu. + +A frequent accusation alleged against Mr. Davis and other Southern +Senators who adopted his course of a formal withdrawal from the Senate, is +that they thus gave the Republican party control of the Senate, and +voluntarily surrendered its power to the hostile administration soon to be +inaugurated. It is a sufficient answer to this statement that the mere +admission that the administration was hostile to Southern interests, and +menacing to Southern safety and honor, or even that the South had good +reason for so believing, is to fix the responsibility of disunion +elsewhere than upon the Southern leaders. + +To have retained his seat under such circumstances would have been +altogether inconsistent with Mr. Davis' conception of the nature of the +position. He was committed, by public announcement, to a very different +view of the obligations of the representative of a State in the Federal +Congress. Holding it to be a point of honor not to occupy such a relation, +with the object of hostility to the Government, years ago he announced, in +connection with an allusion to a calumnious insinuation, that he would +answer in monosyllables the man who would charge him with being a +disunionist. + +Entertaining his view of the character of the American political system, +of which the foundation was the doctrine of a paramount allegiance of the +citizen to his State, when Mississippi withdrew from the Union, he had no +other alternative than to vacate the position which he held by her +commission, and which was, at once, the sign of the equality and +sovereignty of the States, and of the adherence of each to the league by +which she was united to the others. To represent a State adhering to the +Union, and use the position to make war upon the Government, or to retain +a seat in Congress when the State had, by its sovereign fiat, revoked its +grants, and withdrawn from the league, were offenses belonging to the last +stage of decadence in political morality and personal honor. + +Retiring from the Senate, Mr. Davis returned, within a few days +thereafter, to his residence in Mississippi. The State was not unmindful +of the necessity of preparations for a war which, though not deemed +inevitable, was yet extremely probable. Mr. Davis was honored by an +appointment to the command of the militia of the State, with the rank of +Major-General. His retirement upon his plantation thus promised to be of +short duration, but before he could assume the responsibilities which +Mississippi, in this reiteration of her confidence, had conferred, the +voice of millions invoked his guidance of their destinies in the hazardous +experiment of independent national existence. + +Secession, in its rapid progress, confirmed the threadbare theory of the +progressive tendency of revolutionary movements. Acquiring impetus as it +advanced, before the first of February, 1861, six States had declared +themselves no longer members of the Union.[20] Representatives from these +States met, in convention, at Montgomery, Alabama, on 4th February, 1861, +for the purpose of forming a provisional government. On the 8th February, +this body adopted a constitution, and proclaimed an addition to the family +of nations, under the title of THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA. + +The next day the Congress of the Confederate States announced its choice +of the two highest constitutional officers of the new Government: + + President, JEFFERSON DAVIS, of Mississippi. + + Vice-President, ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS, of Georgia. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + THE CONFEDERACY ESTABLISHED AND IN OPERATION--CALMNESS AND MODERATION + OF THE SOUTH--THE MONTGOMERY CONSTITUTION--THE IMPROVEMENTS UPON THE + FEDERAL INSTRUMENT--POPULAR DELIGHT AT THE SELECTION OF MR. DAVIS AS + PRESIDENT--MOTIVES OF HIS ACCEPTANCE--HIS PREFERENCE FOR THE ARMY-- + DAVIS THE SYMBOL OF SOUTHERN CHARACTER AND HOPES--ON HIS WAY TO + MONTGOMERY--A CONTRAST--INAUGURATION AND INAUGURAL ADDRESS--THE + CONFEDERATE CABINET--TOOMBS--WALKER--MEMMINGER--BENJAMIN--MALLORY-- + REAGAN--HISTORICAL POSITION OF PRESIDENT DAVIS--THE TWO POWERS-- + EXTREME DEMOCRACY OF THE NORTH--NOBLE IDEAL OF REPUBLICANISM CHERISHED + BY THE SOUTH--DAVIS' REPRESENTATIVE QUALITIES AND DISTINGUISHED + SERVICES--THE HISTORIC REPRESENTATIVE OF THE CONFEDERATE CAUSE--EARLY + HISTORY OF THE GOVERNMENT AT MONTGOMERY--CONFIDENCE IN PRESIDENT DAVIS + UNLIMITED--PRESIDENT DAVIS' ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITY--HIS MILITARY + ADMINISTRATION--THE CONFEDERATE ARMY--WEST POINT--NEGOTIATIONS FOR + SURRENDER OF FORTS SUMTER AND PICKENS--MR. BUCHANAN'S PITIABLE + POLICY--THE ISSUE OF PEACE OR WAR--PERFIDIOUS COURSE OF THE LINCOLN + ADMINISTRATION--MR. SEWARD'S DALLIANCE WITH THE CONFEDERATE + COMMISSIONERS--HIS DECEPTIONS--THE EXPEDITION TO PROVISION THE + GARRISON OF SUMTER--REDUCTION OF THE FORT--WAR--GUILT OF THE + NORTH--ITS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE WAR. + + +Thus, without the disorder of anarchy, and without the violence of armed +conflict, a new and imposing structure of state was speedily erected from +the separated fragments. The event was indeed unparalleled, and, to the +mind of the world, unused to the novel spectacle of the dismemberment of +an empire, except as the consummation of years of bloodshed, its +philosophy was difficult of comprehension. + +The sixth of November, 1860, was the ominous day upon which the +revolution, so long threatened, and so often deferred by Southern +concession and sacrifice, was inaugurated. Upon that day, with the +election of Abraham Lincoln, was opened a new volume in American history. +Upon that day, the American Union, "formed to establish justice," resting +upon the principle of equality as its foundation-stone, passed under the +control of an arrogant majority, pledged to its perversion, to the +oppression of nearly one-half its members. From the profession of +fraternity, and the outward pretense of comity, it passed under the +domination of principles whose origin was discord and whose logical result +was dissolution. + +The answer of those who were threatened most seriously by this subversion +of the Government of their fathers, though well considered, neither +debated with passion, nor concluded with rashness, was worthy of men--the +descendants of the authors of American Independence, and educated in that +political school which teaches the assertion of the rights of the few +against the power of the many. A manly resistance, such as only threatened +degradation inspires in the bosoms of freemen, which the insolence of +faction had long defied and a conscious physical superiority had haughtily +derided, was, at length, thoroughly aroused. Within a few months, the +revolutionary movement, begun in November, and pressed, by its authors, to +its inevitable consequences, had reached the important result of a +withdrawal of nearly one-fourth of the States constituting the American +Union. + +The new government, in the incidents attending its construction and +setting in operation, fully vindicated the earnest and conscientious +convictions of the people who had called it into existence. The absence of +tumult and of all passionate display, at Montgomery, was in marked +contrast with the indecent exultation witnessed at Washington from the +adherents of the incoming administration. The calmness, moderation, and +evident earnestness of purpose which prevailed at the South, and was thus +manifested by those who were intrusted with the framing of the new +government, impressed the world to an extent that prepared it to entertain +a sympathy for the Southern cause not to have been expected from the +prevalent, though erroneous, impressions of foreigners respecting the +merits of the sectional quarrel in America. + +That secession was not a revolutionary movement, but merely the necessary +defense of a people threatened with material ruin and political +degradation, by a revolution which had already been consummated, was amply +demonstrated by its immediate consequences. The Confederate leaders, at +Montgomery, exhibited an almost religious veneration for the spirit, +forms, and associations of the government which they had abandoned. The +strict adherence of the Montgomery Constitution to the features of the +Federal instrument, indicates the absurdity of the impression that it was +a proclamation of revolution; and the circumstances of its adoption are +totally inconsistent with a correct conception of the conduct of an +insurgent body. + +It was a signal improvement upon the original American Constitution, and +the few alterations made were commended by enlightened and conservative +intellects every-where, as necessary changes in the perfection of the +American polity. The object sought, and successfully consummated, was to +embody every valuable principle of the old Constitution with certain +remedial provisions for the correction of obvious evils, which experience +had fully indicated. Among these changes, which were universally +recognized as of the utmost value, were provisions making the Presidential +term six years, instead of four, as under the old system, and precluding +reëlection; permitting cabinet ministers to participate in the debates of +Congress, and the virtual abolition of the pernicious system of removing +all officials, of whatever degree, upon each advent of a new +administration. The Confederate Constitution positively prohibited the +African slave-trade, which the Federal Constitution had failed to do. A +striking provision, and one never before avowed in any similar instrument, +was the prohibition of duties for the purpose of protection. There was, +indeed, nothing whatever in the Montgomery instrument which a candid and +enlightened public sentiment, even at the North, might not have fully +approved, excepting the ample and avowed protection to property in slaves. +This, it was claimed, was not an alteration of the old Constitution, but +merely a formal interpretation of its obvious purpose. + +In no respect was the action of the new Confederacy deemed more fortunate +than in the selection of its leader. That, in the choice of Mr. Davis as +President, the Congress only responded to the preconceived choice of the +Southern people, was attested by the spontaneous acclamation with which +the announcement was received. Even those who had been in doubt as to the +proper personage to endow with the powers and responsibilities of a +position, at once the most onerous, and, looking to the contingencies of +the early future, a long and sanguinary war, with the chances of a +disastrous termination, the most precarious of modern times, yielded +hearty recognition of the wise selection of the Congress. + +The responsibilities and difficulties of the trust, did not suggest to Mr. +Davis hesitation as to its acceptance. If this, the highest distinction +which public appreciation had yet tendered him should prove a forlorn +hope, his sense of duty would no more permit hesitation than in the +assumption of more cheaply-earned honors. Entertaining no purpose of +inglorious ease, amid the trials and perils, which, with a prevision, +rare, indeed, at that period, he already anticipated, his own preference +was for a different station of public service. Months subsequently he +indicated the post of danger as the post of duty to which he had aspired +in that gigantic struggle through which his country must pass to the +assurance of independence. "I then imagined," said he, "that it might be +my fortune again to lead Mississippians in the field, and to be with them +where danger was to be braved and glory won. I thought to find that place +which I believed to be suited to my capacity--that of an officer in the +service of the State of Mississippi."[21] + +Of the public conviction as to his preëminent fitness, there could not be +a question. His character, his abilities, his military education and +experience, had long been recognized throughout the Union, and his exalted +reputation was a source of just pride to the South. No Southern statesman +presented so admirable a combination of purity, dignity, firmness, +devotion, and skill--qualities for which there is an inexorable demand in +revolutionary periods. William Tell, with his cross-bow and apple, to the +rustic simplicity of the Swiss, was the very embodiment of the genius of +liberty. Far beyond any influence of fiction was the magic potency of the +red shirt and felt hat of Garibaldi to imaginative Italy; and Washington, +as Lamartine said, with his sword and the law, was the symbol standing +erect at the cradle of American liberty. Equally with the greatest of +these prototypes was Jefferson Davis, the symbol of the noble aspirations +of the proud, impulsive, chivalrous race which confided to him the conduct +of its destinies through the wilderness of revolution to the goal of +independence and nationality beyond. He did not seek the position; had not +been conspicuous in flaming exhortations to popular assemblies; had not +employed any of the arts of the demagogue--of flattery or cajolery of the +masses into a false and extravagant estimate of his qualities; but before +the world were his character, fame, and services, in unadorned simplicity, +painted only in the severe colors of truth. It was the tribute to virtue, +most to be valued when unsought; the award of honor, only appropriate when +merited and becomingly worn. + +Mr. Davis' assumption of his trust was characterized by a dignity, absence +of ostentation, and profound appreciation of its delicate nature, in the +highest degree imposing. From it was augured such a worthy administration +of public affairs as would secure for the Confederacy, if permitted the +blessings of peace, an enviable position among the nations of the earth. +But his first announcement of its policy indicated his appreciation of the +danger of war, in which its utmost exertions would be required to +vindicate the independence which the States had declared. To the heroic +maintenance of that position he committed himself by the most emphatic +avowals; and in whatever contingency, whether of peace or war, his purpose +was one of deathless resistence to any denial of the right of +self-government, which his fellow-citizens had exercised. + +Informed of his election, Mr. Davis immediately left his home for the seat +of government. Along the route to Montgomery he was greeted, by the +people, with every possible demonstration of patriotic enthusiasm and +personal regard. In response to these demonstrations, he at several +points addressed the people in terms of characteristic eloquence, dignity +and moderation. + +Proud, indeed, must ever be, to the Southern people, the contrast of the +noble bearing of their chosen ruler with the display of vulgarity +attending the journey of Mr. Lincoln from Springfield to Washington. These +two men--the one with the calm dignity of the statesman and the polished +bearing of the gentleman; the other with coarse jests and buffoonery, upon +the eve of the most important event in their individual history, and +pregnant with significance to millions--were no bad indices of the +civilization of their respective sections. + +Arriving in Montgomery, Mr. Davis was inaugurated on the 18th February, +with a simplicity of ceremony, an absence of personal inflation, and a +degree of popular enthusiasm, which well befitted the formal assertion of +true republican liberty, equally protected against the license of mobs and +the usurpations of tyrants. The ceremonies of inauguration were little +more than the taking of the oath of office and the delivery of the +inaugural address. The inaugural of President Davis is unquestionably of +the highest order of state papers. As a model of composition, it is rarely +equaled; and its statement of the position of the South, the grievances +which had led to the assumption of that position, her hopes, aspirations, +and purposes, has never been surpassed in power and perspicuity, by any +similar document. + + INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT DAVIS, DELIVERED AT THE CAPITOL, + MONDAY, FEB. 18, 1861. + + _Gentlemen of the Congress of the Confederate States of America; + Friends and Fellow-Citizens_: + + Called to the difficult and responsible station of Chief Executive of + the Provisional Government which you have instituted, I approach the + discharge of the duties assigned to me with an humble distrust of my + abilities, but with a sustaining confidence in the wisdom of those who + are to guide and aid me in the administration of public affairs, and + an abiding faith in the virtue and patriotism of the people. + + Looking forward to the speedy establishment of a permanent government + to take the place of this, and which, by its greater moral and + physical power, will be better able to combat with the many + difficulties which arise from the conflicting interests of separate + nations, I enter upon the duties of the office, to which I have been + chosen, with the hope that the beginning of our career, as a + Confederacy, may not be obstructed by hostile opposition to our + enjoyment of the separate existence and independence which we have + asserted, and, with the blessing of Providence, intend to maintain. + Our present condition, achieved in a manner unprecedented in the + history of nations, illustrates the American idea that governments + rest upon the consent of the governed, and that it is the right of the + people to alter or abolish governments whenever they become + destructive of the ends for which they were established. + + The declared purpose of the compact of union from which we have + withdrawn, was "to establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, + provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and + secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and posterity;" and when, + in the judgment of the sovereign States now composing this + Confederacy, it had been perverted from the purposes for which it was + ordained, and had ceased to answer the ends for which it was + established, a peaceful appeal to the ballot-box, declared, that so + far as they were concerned, the government created by that compact + should cease to exist. In this they merely asserted a right which the + Declaration of Independence of 1776 had defined to be inalienable. Of + the time and occasion for its exercise, they, as sovereigns, were the + final judges, each for itself. The impartial and enlightened verdict + of mankind will vindicate the rectitude of our conduct, and He, who + knows the hearts of men, will judge of the sincerity with which we + labored to preserve the government of our fathers in its spirit. The + right solemnly proclaimed at the birth of the States, and which has + been affirmed and re-affirmed in the bills of rights of States + subsequently admitted into the Union of 1789, undeniably recognizes in + the people the power to resume the authority delegated for the + purposes of government. Thus the sovereign States, here represented, + proceeded to form this Confederacy, and it is by abuse of language + that their act has been denominated a revolution. They formed a new + alliance, but within each State its government has remained, and the + rights of person and property have not been disturbed. The agent, + through whom they communicated with foreign nations, is changed; but + this does not necessarily interrupt their international relations. + + Sustained by the consciousness that the transition from the former + Union to the present Confederacy, has not proceeded from a disregard + on our part of just obligations, or any failure to perform any + constitutional duty; moved by no interest or passion to invade the + rights of others; anxious to cultivate peace and commerce with all + nations, if we may not hope to avoid war, we may at least expect that + posterity will acquit us of having needlessly engaged in it. Doubly + justified by the absence of wrong on our part, and by wanton + aggression on the part of others, there can be no cause to doubt that + the courage and patriotism of the people of the Confederate States + will be found equal to any measures of defense which honor and + security may require. + + An agricultural people, whose chief interest is the export of a + commodity required in every manufacturing country, our true policy is + peace and the freest trade which our necessities will permit. It is + alike our interest, and that of all those to whom we would sell and + from whom we would buy, that there should be the fewest practicable + restrictions upon the interchange of commodities. There can be but + little rivalry between ours and any manufacturing or navigating + community, such as the North-eastern States of the American Union. It + must follow, therefore, that a mutual interest would invite good will + and kind offices. If, however, passion or the lust of dominion should + cloud the judgment or inflame the ambition of those States, we must + prepare to meet the emergency, and to maintain, by the final + arbitrament of the sword, the position which we have assumed among the + nations of the earth. We have entered upon the career of independence, + and it must be inflexibly pursued. Through many years of controversy + with our late associates, the Northern States, we have vainly + endeavored to secure tranquillity, and to obtain respect for the + rights to which we were entitled. As a necessity, not a choice, we + have resorted to the remedy of separation; and henceforth our energies + must be directed to the conduct of our own affairs, and the perpetuity + of the Confederacy which we have formed. If a just perception of + mutual interest shall permit us peaceably to pursue our separate + political career, my most earnest desire will have been fulfilled; but + if this be denied to us, and the integrity of our territory and + jurisdiction be assailed, it will but remain for us, with firm + resolve, to appeal to arms and invoke the blessings of Providence on a + just cause. + + As a consequence of our new condition, and with a view to meet + anticipated wants, it will be necessary to provide for the speedy and + efficient organization of branches of the Executive Department, + having special charge of foreign intercourse, finance, military + affairs, and the postal service. + + For purposes of defense, the Confederate States may, under ordinary + circumstances, rely mainly upon the militia; but it is deemed + advisable, in the present condition of affairs, that there should be a + well-instructed and disciplined army, more numerous than would usually + be required on a peace establishment. I also suggest that, for the + protection of our harbors and commerce on the high seas, a navy + adapted to those objects will be required. These necessities have + doubtless engaged the attention of Congress. + + With a Constitution differing only from that of our fathers, in so far + as it is explanatory of their well-known intent, freed from the + sectional conflicts which have interfered with the pursuit of the + general welfare, it is not unreasonable to expect that States, from + which we have recently parted, may seek to unite their fortunes with + ours under the government which we have instituted. For this your + Constitution makes adequate provision; but beyond this, if I mistake + not the judgment and will of the people, a reunion with the States + from which we have separated is neither practicable nor desirable. To + increase the power, develop the resources, and promote the happiness + of the Confederacy, it is requisite that there should be so much of + homogeneity that the welfare of every portion shall be the aim of the + whole. Where this does not exist, antagonisms are engendered which + must and should result in separation. + + Actuated solely by the desire to preserve our own rights and promote + our own welfare, the separation of the Confederate States has been + marked by no aggression upon others, and followed by no domestic + convulsion. Our industrial pursuits have received no check; the + cultivation of our fields has progressed as heretofore; and even + should we be involved in war, there would be no considerable + diminution in the production of the staples which have constituted our + exports, and in which the commercial world has an interest scarcely + less than our own. This common interest of the producer and consumer + can only be interrupted by an exterior force, which should obstruct + its transmission to foreign markets--a course of conduct which would + be as unjust toward us as it would be detrimental to manufacturing and + commercial interests abroad. Should reason guide the action of the + Government from which we have separated, a policy so detrimental to + the civilized world, the Northern States included, could not be + dictated by even the strongest desire to inflict injury upon us; but + if otherwise, a terrible responsibility will rest upon it, and the + suffering of millions will bear testimony to the folly and wickedness + of our aggressors. In the meantime, there will remain to us, besides + the ordinary means before suggested, the well-known resources for + retaliation upon the commerce of an enemy. + + Experience in public stations, of subordinate grade to this which your + kindness has conferred, has taught me that care, and toil, and + disappointment, are the price of official elevation. You will see many + errors to forgive, many deficiencies to tolerate, but you shall not + find in me either a want of zeal or fidelity to the cause that is to + me highest in hope and of most enduring affection. Your generosity has + bestowed upon me an undeserved distinction--one which I neither sought + nor desired. Upon the continuance of that sentiment, and upon your + wisdom and patriotism, I rely to direct and support me in the + performance of the duty required at my hands. + + We have changed the constituent parts but not the system of our + Government. The Constitution formed by our fathers is that of these + Confederate States, in their exposition of it; and, in the judicial + construction it has received, we have a light which reveals its true + meaning. + + Thus instructed as to the just interpretation of the instrument, and + ever remembering that all offices are but trusts held for the people, + and that delegated powers are to be strictly construed, I will hope, + by due diligence in the performance of my duties, though I may + disappoint your expectations, yet to retain, when retiring, something + of the good-will and confidence which welcomed my entrance into + office. + + It is joyous, in the midst of perilous times, to look around upon a + people united in heart, where one purpose of high resolve animates and + actuates the whole--where the sacrifices to be made are not weighed in + the balance against honor, and right, and liberty, and equality. + Obstacles may retard--they can not long prevent--the progress of a + movement sanctified by its justice, and sustained by a virtuous + people. Reverently let us invoke the God of our fathers to guide and + protect us in our efforts to perpetuate the principles which, by his + blessing, they were able to vindicate, establish, and transmit to + their posterity, and with a continuance of His favor, ever gratefully + acknowledged, we may hopefully look forward to success, to peace, and + to prosperity. + +Working in great harmony between its executive and legislative +departments, the new government, within a very few weeks, presented an +extraordinary spectacle of compact organization, though in all its parts +it was yet purely provisional. The Cabinet announced by the President, +embraced, for the most part, names well known to the country in connection +with important public trusts. It may not be inappropriate to speak briefly +here of those who sustained to President Davis the close relations of +constitutional advisers. + +Mr. Robert Toombs, the Secretary of State, was indebted for his +appointment not less to the position of his State, the first in rank in +the Confederacy, than to the public appreciation of his abilities. For +several years he had represented Georgia in the United States Senate, and +in that body his reputation was very high as a debater and orator. His +oratory, however, was a good index of his mind and disposition, strong and +impassioned, but desultory, vehement and blustering. Mr. Toombs had +contributed largely to prepare the people of Georgia for secession, and +his fierce and persistent eloquence had greatly accelerated the movement. +His capacity for agitation and destruction was indeed immeasurably +superior to any qualification that he may have had for reconstructing the +broken and scattered fragments of the governmental column. Restless, +arrogant, and intolerant--a born destructive and inveterate agitator--Mr. +Toombs speedily demonstrated his deficiency in statesmanship. His +connection with the Confederate Cabinet was of brief duration, and his +subsequent military service undistinguished. The War Department--the +second post of distinction in the Cabinet--was given to Alabama, the +second State of the Confederacy, in the person of Mr. Leroy P. Walker. His +connection with the Government, like that of Mr. Toombs, was brief, and +wholly unmarked by evidence of fitness. Mr. Memminger, of South Carolina, +the Secretary of the Treasury, made an exceedingly unpopular officer, and, +as the sequel demonstrated, was incompetent to the delicate task of +financial management. The Attorney-General, Mr. Benjamin, of Louisiana, an +eminent lawyer and a prominent Senator, was, beyond all question, the +ablest of Mr. Davis' Cabinet. He was a man of marvelous intellectual +resources, an orator, a lawyer, and gifted, to an unexampled degree, in +the varied attributes, entering into the _savior faire_ of politics and +diplomacy. Mr. Benjamin continued the trusted counselor of President Davis +during the whole period of his authority. Mr. Mallory, of Florida, was the +Secretary of the Navy--a gentleman of excellent sense, unpretending +manners, who probably conducted his department as successfully as was +possible, with the limited naval resources of the South. The Post-office +Department was given to Mr. Reagan, of Texas, noted for his fidelity, +industry, and good sense. + +The Cabinet of President Davis was destined to many changes in the +progress of subsequent events. Of those originally appointed, Messrs. +Benjamin, Mallory, and Reagan continued their connection with the +Confederate Government during the entire period of its existence. The +brief experiment of Confederate independence was fruitful in illustrations +of the important truth that political distinction achieved in the ordinary +struggles of parties, in times of profound peace, is not the sure +guarantee of the possession of those especial and peculiar qualifications +which befit the circumstances of revolution. That President Davis, in the +selection of some of his advisers, was at fault, is to be ascribed rather +to the novelty and necessities of the public situation than to errors of +his judgment. Not only must public sentiment respecting men be to some +extent consulted, but the test of experience must, necessarily, after all, +determine the question of fitness, where all were untried. + +Jefferson Davis now occupied a position in the highest sense historical. +It was plain that his name was destined to be indelibly associated with a +series of incidents forming a most thrilling and instructive episode in +political history. As the exponent of a theory of constitutional +principles never asserted, and unknown save through the inspiration of the +genius of American Liberty, and as the head of a Government whose birth +and destiny must enter conspicuously into all future questions of popular +government, he stood, in a double sense, the central figure in a most +striking phase of the drama of human progress. Splendid as had been +American history until that day, it was now to contribute, still more +generously, to the illumination of the great truths of political science. + +The issue was again to be joined between constitutional freedom and the +odious despotism of an enthroned mob. On the one side were asserted the +principles of regulated liberty, without which free government can never +be stable--order, allegiance, and reverence for law and authority. On the +other, the wild passions of an infuriated populace, hurling down the +restraints of law, shattering constitutions; and when its frenzied lust +had been satiated by the destruction of every accessible image of virtue +and order, transferring supreme power from its polluted grasp to the hands +of demagogues--capable agents of the depraved will which invests them with +authority. + +Such was really a faithful contrast of the two powers which were now +inaugurated in what had been the United States. It was still the old Greek +question of the "few or the many," the "King Numbers" of the North against +the conservatism of the South. The old contest was to be revived, of Cleon +and Nicias, in the Athenian Agora, and struggling on through the political +battle-fields of free governments in all ages. + +It is not an abuse of language to characterize the North as realizing the +_ultra_ theory of popular government. Its political fabric rests +exclusively upon the Utopian conception of an intelligence and integrity +in the masses which they have never been known to possess. Carrying out +its pernicious construction of the doctrine of the Declaration of +Independence, that "all men are born free and equal," it professes to hold +in light esteem the obvious distinctions of race, property, and color. +Earnestly devoted to the successful illustration of the experiment of +Democracy, it has sedulously directed its social and political development +to the overthrow of caste, the obliteration of necessary social +distinctions, and the practical assertion of the principle of absolute +social, political, and personal equality among all men. The election of +Lincoln was the grand, decisive triumph of these tendencies. He went into +power as the avowed champion of the interests of the poor and laboring +classes, which he declared to be in conflict with those of the +slave-holding aristocrats of the South. Entirely undistinguished, with no +political record, his popularity was based upon his vulgar antecedents--no +slight recommendation to the populace, gratified at the prospective +promotion of one of its own class. + +A free society, politically, in which wealth and distinction were debarred +to none, the aristocratic influences of slavery were the propitious +inducements in the South, to the cultivation of that personal dignity +which marks the refinement of rank, in contradistinction to the vulgar +pretensions and affectation of a mere aristocracy of money. The patrician +society of the South sought the noblest type of republicanism--regulated +liberty--beyond the influence of ignorant and fanatical mobs, that perfect +order which reposes securely upon virtue, intelligence, and interested +attachment, which all human experience teaches are the only reliable +safeguards of freedom. + +The noblest achievement of constitutional liberty would have been the +realization of the Southern ideal of republicanism. The success and +beneficence of such a government would have been in perfect accord with +the philosophy of history. Every nation to which has been guaranteed a +free constitution is indebted for its liberal features to its educated, +patrician classes, while all the decayed republics of history owed their +downfall to the corruption and excesses of an "unbridled Democracy." + +Of such a government, Jefferson Davis was the appropriately chosen head. +An ardent republican, in the truest and noblest sense of that abused term, +a foe to absolutism and radicalism in every shape, he was the noblest +product of a conservatism in which the elements of distinction were +ability, intelligence, refinement, and social position. When, added to +this representative quality, are considered his splendid career of public +service, and his varied talents, exemplified on almost every field of +exertion, it must be conceded that no ruler was ever more worthily invited +to the head of a nation, and assuredly none ever was invited with such +unanimity of popular acclaim. + +We have said that Jefferson Davis must ever appear to the eye of mankind +the historic representative of the Confederate cause. The North can not, +assuredly, reject this decision, since it made him the vicarious sufferer +for what it affected to consider the sins of a nation. Through him, it +actually accomplished that from which the great abilities of Edmund Burke +recoiled in confession of impotent endeavor, the indictment of an entire +people. Those Southern men who have rashly and ungenerously assailed him +as responsible for the failure of the South to win its independence, can +not complain if the verdict of history shall be that the genius of its +leader was worthy of a noble cause, whose fate the laws of nature, not the +resources or the impotence of one man, determined. The star of Napoleon +went down upon the disastrous field of Waterloo, and the millions that he +had liberated passed again under the domination of tyrants whom they +despised. But would the most stupid Bourbon partisan, therefore, call in +question the mighty genius of Napoleon? It is a glorious memory to +France, that her illustrious sovereign, aided by the valor of her +children, defied for twenty years, the arms of combined Europe, but she +has no blush that those energies were not equal to an indefinite +resistance. That the South, struggling against mortal odds, with her +comparatively feeble resources constantly diminishing with each prodigious +effort, finally succumbed to an enemy inexhaustible in strength and +reinforced by the world, is no testimony against either the valor or the +skill with which her struggle was directed. Like Washington, Davis was +embarrassed, in a hazardous cause, with defection, distrust, and +discontent. But, unlike Washington, Davis did not receive the assistance +of a powerful ally at the moment when aid could be most serviceably +employed. + +Recurring to the early history of the Confederacy, during the brief season +when Montgomery was its seat of government, and especially to its +unwritten details, there seems wanting no auspicious omen to presage for +it future security and renown. The cause and its leader equally challenged +the enthused sympathies of a patriotic people, and all that patriotism was +ready to sacrifice for the one was cheerfully confided to the other. +Hopefully, almost joyously, the young Confederacy began its short-lived +career. Those were the halcyon days of that cheap patriotism and ferocious +valor which delights to vaunt itself beyond the sound of "war's rude +alarms." Every aspect of the situation appears tinged with the _couleur de +rose_. In fancied security of certain independence, achieved without the +harsh resort of arms, demagogues boasted that they courted a trial of +strength with the North, as an opportunity for the display of Southern +prowess. Men who subsequently were noted for unscrupulous assaults upon +the Confederate administration, and, since the war, for their ready +prostration before the Northern juggernaut, were then loud in "never +surrender" proclamations of eternal separation from the North. + +Such was not an appropriate season for expressing grave and painful doubts +of the President's fitness for his high trust. No whisper was then heard +of his want of appreciation of his situation. There was no intimation then +that he failed to discern the future, or refused to provide against the +perils that menaced the Confederacy, and were so obvious to more sagacious +minds. Sensational newspaper correspondents, professing to base their +accounts upon reliable hints from the executive quarter, were profuse in +their panegyrics upon his indefatigable industry, his vigilance, +penetration, and marvelous intuition of Yankee designs. They vied with +each other in telling the world, especially the North, of the stupendous +preparations which the Government was making in anticipation of a possible +attempt at coercion by the Lincoln government. It was evident, from the +outgivings of every source of opinion, that the Confederates trusting much +to the merits of their cause and their own valor, yet largely depended for +the successful issue of their assertion of independence upon the +soldier-statesman, who, charged with many public duties, had never proven +either unwilling or incapable in any trust. The time for censure was not +yet at hand. Incompetent generals and recreant politicians were not yet in +want of a scape-goat upon which to throw their own delinquencies. Harsh +and censorious criticism was reserved for a more opportune period, when +the Confederacy, like a wearied gladiator, whose spirit was invincible, +reeled under the exhaustion of a dozen successive combats, with as many +fresh adversaries. + +The high administrative capacity of Mr. Davis had received a most +fortunate discipline in his brilliant conduct of the Federal War +Department. That service was a valuable auxiliary to his efficiency as the +executive head of a new government, whose safety was, from its incipiency, +to depend upon the resources of that rarest phase of genius, the combined +capacity for civil and military administration. The complex machinery of +government, even when moving smoothly in the accustomed grooves, imposes +not only severe labor, but is frequently a painful tax upon the faculties +of those most familiar with its workings. When to the labor of +comprehension is added the task of construction and organization from +comparative chaos, such as prevailed at Montgomery, and as prevails +every-where, as the result of political change, the difficulties are +increased tenfold. Creation must then precede order. Organization is to be +perfected before administration can be successfully attempted. It is this +task of organization which has invoked some of the most splendid displays +of genius, and interposed the obstacles which have occasioned its severest +disappointments. Universal testimony awards to Napoleon, for his wonderful +ingenuity in penetrating social necessities and meeting civil emergencies, +a merit not inferior to his unrivaled genius for war. Frederick the Great, +in times of peace, exhibited a vicious pragmatism which rendered his civil +rule contemptible when contrasted with his military success. + +The underlying secret of all successful administration is the union of the +advantages flowing from unity of purpose, and those resulting from +division of labor--so necessary to exact and intelligent execution. +President Davis, throughout his administration, sought the attainment of +this aim. Confiding the various departments to men of at least reputed +talents and integrity, he yet exercised that constant supervision which +was inseparable from his responsibilities, and exacted by public +expectation, and this without arrogance or dictation. Disingenuous +criticism has alleged that, by an assumption of autocracy, he united in +himself all the powers and prerogatives of government, and thus professes +to hold him alone responsible for the loss of his country's liberties. A +score of years, or even a decade hence, and he will be exalted as the +all-informing mind which directed, vitalized, and inspired the noblest +struggle of republicanism known to ancient or modern story. + +At the organization of the Confederate Government, his individual taste, +capacity and experience, were fortunately coincident with the necessities +of the situation in urging upon President Davis a thorough and efficient +military establishment upon a war footing. The necessity of thorough +preparation for war with the United States was never lost sight of by him. +Whatever his efforts to avert that calamity, its probabilities were too +menacing not to challenge unremitting precautions. In the War Department +and military legislation of the Confederacy was felt the infusion of his +energy and system, and were realized the fruits of his labors. There can +be no more splendid monument of his genius than that superb specimen of +scientific mechanism, the army of the Confederate States. Its nucleus was +prepared in those few weeks' respite from actual war, passed by the +Confederate Government, at Montgomery; and the framework then established +was subsequently enlarged upon, until it was developed into a model of +military anatomy--of complex, yet harmonious organism--seldom rivaled and +never surpassed in the history of war. Whatever may be said of defective +features exhibited in the Confederate military organization, in the +numerous and varied campaigns of the war, those defects are not to be +attributed to the original system. Whatever may be alleged against its +lax discipline--that morbid influence which so fearfully enervated its +efficiency, neutralized valor and strategy, and made the war a series of +magnificent but valueless successes, the shadow without the substance of +victory--the fault was in the execution, not in the original conception. +However admirably tempered the blade, that must be a skillful hand which +would efficiently wield it. + +A graduate of West Point and a practical as well as theoretical soldier, +President Davis naturally and, as the war demonstrated, wisely inclined in +his military administration to those theories which regard war as a +science difficult and laborious of mastery. His marked and judicious +partiality for _educated soldiers_ was often the ground of censorious +comment during the war, but this will hardly be adjudged a fault now. +"West Point" was amply vindicated by the experience of both armies, +against the sneers of those who affected such extreme admiration for the +"native genius" of citizen-soldiers. With a few notable exceptions in the +Confederate army (and here is to be considered the peculiar genius for war +of the South), and scarcely one worth mention in the armies of the North, +the achievements of educated officers, and those of officers from civil +life, are so utterly disproportionate as to forbid comparison. + +The paramount object of all Confederate diplomacy was to secure a +recognition of the new Government by the Government of the United States. +If war with the United States could be averted, the Confederacy was, for +all time, a fixed fact. At an early period President Davis instituted +efforts to secure by negotiation possession of certain fortifications and +other property of the Federal Government located within the limits of the +seceded States. Arsenals, located in the interior, had, in many instances, +been seized by the State troops previous to the formation of the +Confederate Government. Happily, those in authority at these places, +appreciating the folly of resistance in a situation utterly helpless, had +avoided a needless shedding of blood, by a prompt compliance with the +demands of the State authorities. + +When the Confederate Government went into operation, there were but two +fortifications within the limits of its jurisdiction in the possession of +Federal garrisons: Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, and Fort Pickens, +off Pensacola, Florida. These two positions were of the utmost value to +the Confederacy, viewed as to location, and their peaceable acquisition +was of increased importance in consideration of the obstinate defense of +which they were capable. The continued occupation of these positions by +Federal forces was, in the highest degree, inconsistent with the dignity +of the Confederacy after it had proclaimed a distinct and independent +nationality. Moreover, in the present temper of the dominant party in the +United States, a large majority of which favored coercion of the South +back into the Union, Federal occupancy of these forts was a menace to the +safety of the Confederacy. + +It is easy to appreciate the delicate character of the diplomacy now +required by the situation of the Confederacy. Without at all acquiescing +in the Federal possession of Sumter and Pickens--on the contrary, +asserting the right of the Confederacy to those places, and avowing its +willingness to give adequate compensation whenever they should be +surrendered--it was yet necessary to avoid affront to a respectable +minority at the North, influenced, apparently, by pacific intentions. In +short, it became the settled policy of the Confederate Government to +postpone collision with the Federal Government until the latest possible +moment--until obvious considerations of public safety should impel a +resort to hostile measures. + +President Buchanan, whose term of office expired March 4, 1861, after +numerous badly disguised attempts at duplicity with the Confederate +authorities, or more properly, with the authorities of some of the States +constituting the Confederacy, and after a contemptibly weak and driveling +policy of evasion, had left the negotiations between the two Governments +in a most unsatisfactory and confused condition. A brief summary of Mr. +Buchanan's conduct affords a most singular exhibition of mingled +imbecility, timidity, and disingenuousness. His course, until the meeting +of Congress, in December, 1860, was understood to be in thorough accord +with that of the States' Rights party of the South. In that party were his +most trusted advisers, both in and out of the Cabinet, and it had given to +his administration a consistent and cordial support. Like them, he was +pledged to the preservation of a _constitutional Union_, and also to a +full recognition of the perils which menaced the South, resulting from the +late sectional triumph. In his opening message he condemned the exercise +of secession as unauthorized and illegal, but denied emphatically the +right of coercion. Yet, in the sequel, he proved, equally with the +Republican party, an enemy to peaceable secession. + +When South Carolina was preparing for secession, Mr. Buchanan entered into +a solemn understanding with a delegation of several of her most prominent +citizens, that, upon condition that the people and authorities of that +State should refrain from hostile demonstrations, no reinforcements +should be sent to the forts in Charleston harbor, and that "_their +relative military status should remain as at present_." Yet, when Major +Anderson, in positive violation of this agreement, removed his forces from +the weaker forts to Fort Sumter, Mr. Buchanan refused to order him back. +Having broken one stipulation, he now determined to disregard the other, +and, under the pretense of "provisioning a starving garrison," Mr. +Buchanan attempted to send troops to Sumter.[22] + +But the conduct of Mr. Buchanan, weak, offensive, and disgusting, as it +was to both North and South, becomes simply pitiable, when contrasted with +the greater magnitude of the perfidy of the Lincoln government. + +The two Presidents, Davis and Lincoln, were inaugurated within a fortnight +of each other--the first on the 18th of February, the latter on the 4th of +March. Between them the question of peace or war must, after all, +depend--for, however pacific might have been Mr. Buchanan's policy, it +would fail, should Lincoln adopt a belligerent course. Considerable hope +was, at times, indulged, that the negotiations with Mr. Lincoln and his +Cabinet would at least be marked with a better display of candor than had +commemorated the policy of his predecessor. These negotiations, as +fruitless as those attempted in Congress during the preceding winter, for +the prevention of secession, were to involve a question of even more +moment. The direct issue of peace or war was now pending. It is +confidently and successfully maintained by the South, that in the grave +question of responsibility for actual bloodshed, her vindication is as +clear and incontestable as must ever be her acquittal of the +responsibility of disunion. War with the United States was deprecated by +official declaration of the Confederate States as "a policy detrimental to +the civilized world." Most impressive is the declaration of President +Davis' inaugural: "Sustained by the consciousness that the transition from +the former Union to the present Confederacy has not proceeded from a +disregard, on our part, of just obligations, or any failure to perform any +constitutional duty--moved by no interest or passion to invade the rights +of others--anxious to cultivate peace and commerce with all nations, _if +we may not hope to avoid war, we may at least expect that posterity will +acquit us of having needlessly engaged in it_." + +President Davis was at all times most solicitous for peace, and adopted +every expedient of negotiation that could promote that end. Heartily +responding to the wishes of the Congress and people of the Confederacy, he +appointed, in February, an embassy to the Government at Washington. The +resolution of Congress, asking that the embassy should be sent, explains +its object to be the "negotiating friendly relations between that +Government and the Confederate States of America, and for the settlement +of all questions of disagreement between the two governments upon +principles of right, justice, equity, and good faith." + +Two of these commissioners, Messrs. Crawford and Forsyth, arrived in +Washington on the 5th of March, the day succeeding Mr. Lincoln's +inauguration. Wishing to allow the President abundant opportunity for the +discharge of the urgent official duties necessarily crowding upon him at +such a season, the Confederate commissioners did not immediately press +their mission upon his attention. At first giving merely an informal +announcement of their arrival, they waited until the 12th of March before +making an official presentation of their mission. On that day they +addressed a formal communication to the Secretary of State, Mr. Seward, +announcing their authority to settle with the Federal Government all +claims of public property arising from the separation of the States from +the Union, and to negotiate for the withdrawal of the Federal forces from +Forts Sumter and Pickens. + +Here begins a record of perfidy, the parallel of which is not to be found +in the history of the world. Mr. Seward, while declining to recognize the +Confederate commissioners officially, yet frequently held confidential +communication with them, by which the faith of the two Governments was +fully pledged to a line of policy, by what should certainly be the +strongest form of assurance--the personal honor of their representatives. +In verbal interviews, the commissioners were frequently assured of a +pacific policy by the Federal Government, that Fort Sumter would be +evacuated, that the _status_ at Fort Pickens should not be changed, and +that no departure from these pacific intentions would be made without due +notice to the Confederate Government. + +The commissioners, conformably to the spirit of their Government, to +avoid, if possible, collision with the United States, made an important +concession in these interviews in consenting to waive all questions of +form. It was alleged that formal negotiations with them, in an official +capacity, would seriously jeopardize the success of Mr. Lincoln's +manipulation of public sentiment at the North, which, it was further +confidentially alleged, he was sedulously educating to concurrence with +his own friendly purposes toward the Confederates. By this cunning device +and the unscrupulous employment of deception and falsehood in his +interviews with the commissioners, Mr. Seward accomplished the double +purpose of successful imposition upon the credulity of the commissioners +and evasion of official recognition of the Confederate embassy. + +In the meantime, while these negotiations were pending, and in the midst +of these friendly assurances, the Lincoln administration was secretly +preparing hostile measures, and, as was clearly demonstrated by subsequent +revelations, had never seriously entertained any of the propositions +submitted by the Confederate Government. Resolved not to evacuate Fort +Sumter, the Federal Government, while amusing the Confederate +commissioners with cunning dalliance, had for weeks been meditating the +feasibility of reënforcing it. To pass the numerous batteries erected by +the Confederates in Charleston harbor was clearly a task of the utmost +difficulty, if, indeed, possible. So complete was the cordon of +Confederate batteries which had been in course of preparation for many +weeks, that the beleaguered fortress was evidently doomed whenever the +Confederates were provoked to fire upon it. The evacuation of Fort Sumter +was clearly a military necessity, so pronounced by the highest military +authority in the United States, and so regarded by the intelligent public +of the North. Never had a Government so auspicious an opportunity to save +the needless effusion of blood, and to avert indefinitely, if not finally, +the calamity of war. + +Such a result was, however, farthest from the wishes of Mr. Lincoln and +the majority of his Cabinet. Reinforcement of Fort Sumter being out of the +question, it became the study of the Federal authorities to devise a +convenient and effective pretext by which the North could be united in a +war of subjugation against the South, and for the extermination of +slavery. To this end an expedition was ordered to Charleston, for the +purpose of supplying the garrison of Sumter with provisions, _peaceably or +forcibly_, as events might decide. As it was well known that the +Confederate authorities would not permit the execution of the object of +this expedition, it was clearly a measure of hostility, prepared and +conducted, too, under the most dishonorable circumstances of secrecy and +falsehood as to its destination. + +In the meantime the Federal authorities continued to practice the base +policy of deception with the Confederate commissioners. Upon one occasion +Mr. Seward declared that Fort Sumter would be evacuated before a letter, +then ready to be mailed, could reach President Davis at Montgomery. Five +days afterward, General Beauregard, commanding the Confederate forces in +Charleston harbor, telegraphed the commissioners at Washington the ominous +intelligence that the Federal commandant was actively strengthening Fort +Sumter. The commissioners were again soothed with Mr. Seward's renewed +assurances of the positive intention of his government to evacuate the +fort. As late as the 7th of April Mr. Seward gave the emphatic assurance: +"Faith as to Sumter fully kept: wait and see." _This was the date of the +sailing of the Federal fleet with a strong military force on board._[23] +The just characterization, by President Davis, of these deceptions, was, +that "the crooked paths of diplomacy can scarcely furnish an example so +wanting in courtesy, in candor, and directness, as was the course of the +United States Government toward our commissioners in Washington."[24] + +The expedition was some hours on its way,[25] when its purpose to +provision the fort was announced to the Governor of South Carolina by an +agent of the United States. This announcement was telegraphed to +Montgomery by General Beauregard, who also asked for instructions. His +government replied, that if the message was authentic, a demand should be +made for the surrender of the fort to the Confederate forces; and in the +event of refusal, its reduction should be undertaken. On the 11th of April +the demand was made and refused.[26] In obedience to the orders of his +government General Beauregard opened fire upon Fort Sumter early on the +morning of the 12th April. On the 13th the fort surrendered. + +The calculations of Mr. Lincoln and his cabinet, as to the result to be +produced by the attack on Fort Sumter, provoked by their deliberate and +dishonest design, were not disappointed. A furious and instantaneous rush +to arms by the North followed the intelligence of the surrender of the +fort, and revealed the ferocious lust with which it had awaited the signal +to begin the crusade against the liberties and property of the South. As +no possible trait of guilt had been wanting in the means employed to +precipitate hostilities, so no conceivable feature of atrocity was to be +wanting in the conduct of a war by the North, produced by its own avarice, +perfidy, and lust of dominion. + +The brief recapitulation which we have given sufficiently exposes the +pretexts upon which the North began the war of coercion. Assuming that the +national dignity had been insulted, and the national honor violated, by an +attack upon the flag of the Union, under the impious profession of +vindicating the law, the North drew its sword against the sovereignty of +the States. It had procured the assault upon Sumter--that essential step +to the desired frenzy of the masses. By a shallow device, the South had +been provoked to initiate resistance--that long-sought pretext which +should justify the most barbaric invasion of modern times. Yet, under this +flimsy imposition, the North cloaks its crime, and exults in its +anticipated immunity from those execrations which have been the reward of +similar examples of turpitude. The spirit of inquiry is not to be thus +deftly eluded, nor the avenging sentence of history so easily perverted. +The question shall not be, who fired the first shot? but, _who offered the +first aggression? who first indicated the purpose of hostility?_ We are +not required to await the bursting forth of the flames over our heads, +when the fell intent of the incendiary is revealed to our sight. The +menace of the murderer justifies his intended victim in eluding the blow +while the steel is uplifted. + +Jefferson Davis signed the order for the reduction of Fort Sumter, but he +did not thereby invoke the calamities of war. That act was simply the +patriot's defiance to the menace of tyranny. It was the choice of the +freeman between resistance and shame. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + EVENTS CONSEQUENT UPON THE BOMBARDMENT OF FORT SUMTER--MR. LINCOLN + BEGINS THE WAR BY USURPATION--THE BORDER STATES--CONTINUED DUPLICITY + OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT--VIRGINIA JOINS THE COTTON STATES--AFFAIRS + IN MARYLAND, MISSOURI, AND KENTUCKY--UNPROMISING PHASES OF THE + SITUATION, AFFECTING THE PROSPECTS OF THE SOUTH--DIVISIONS IN SOUTHERN + SENTIMENT--THE NORTHERN DEMOCRACY--PRESIDENT DAVIS' ANTICIPATIONS + REALIZED--HIS RESPONSE TO MR. LINCOLN'S PROCLAMATION OF WAR--PUBLIC + ENTHUSIASM IN THE SOUTH--PRESIDENT DAVIS' MESSAGE--VIRGINIA THE + FLANDERS OF THE WAR--REMOVAL OF THE CONFEDERATE CAPITAL TO + RICHMOND--POLICY OF THAT STEP CONSIDERED--POPULAR REGARD FOR MR. DAVIS + IN VIRGINIA--ACTION OF THE VIRGINIAN AUTHORITIES--NORTH CAROLINA; HER + NOBLE CONDUCT, AND EFFICIENT AID TO THE CONFEDERACY--MILITARY + PREPARATIONS IN VIRGINIA--GENERAL LEE--HIS SERVICES IN THE EARLY + MONTHS OF THE WAR--MINOR ENGAGEMENTS--PREPARATIONS FOR THE GREAT + STRUGGLE IN VIRGINIA--AN IMPORTANT HISTORICAL QUESTION--CHARGES + AGAINST MR. DAVIS CONSIDERED--HIS STATESMAN-LIKE PREVISION--DID HE + ANTICIPATE AND PROVIDE FOR WAR?--WHEN MR. DAVIS' RESPONSIBILITY + BEGAN--HIS ENERGETIC PREPARATION--THE PREVAILING SENTIMENT AT + MONTGOMERY AS TO THE WAR--QUOTATIONS FROM GENERAL EARLY AND GENERAL + VON MOLKTE. + + +Events quickly followed the surrender of Fort Sumter, foreshadowing the +violence and magnitude of the strife about to be joined between the +sundered sections of America. If the North showed itself prompt and +enthusiastic to recognize the signal of conquest and spoliation, the South +was tenfold more resolute and confident in its triple armor of right. If +the adroit appeals of Mr. Lincoln's adherents, in behalf of an "insulted +flag," and an "outraged national dignity," broke down the barriers of +party, and united the Northern masses in an imagined crusade of patriotism +for the rescue of the Union, the occasion brought to the Confederacy +accessions of strength, which, if they did not ensure a successful +defense, established the fact of protracted resistance. + +Mr. Lincoln and his advisers promptly seized upon the favorable +opportunity presented by the fanatical excitement prevalent throughout the +North. Within forty-eight hours after the intelligence of the bloodless +encounter of Sumter was flashed over the land, his proclamation of war +against the seceded States was read by thousands of excited people.[27] A +flimsy and indefensible perversion of an act, passed by Congress, in 1795, +which simply provided the raising of armed _posses_ "in aid of the civil +authorities," was the shallow pretext, under which was masked the real +design of a war which was to terminate in the destruction of the +sovereignty of the States. Beginning with this clear usurpation of the +power of Congress, which is alone authorized to declare war, and +proclaiming a purpose to "maintain the honor, the integrity, and +existence" of the Union, "and the perpetuity of popular government," the +work of conquest was begun. + +The _role_ undertaken by the Federal government was embarrassed by many +difficulties. It had not yet relinquished the hope of retaining the Border +States firm in their adhesion to the Union. As yet the action of those +States had indicated no purpose of separation from the North, unless in +the event of direct interference by the Federal authorities with their +domestic concerns, or in the event of a war of subjugation against the +seceded States. Popular feeling in all the Border States was unmistakably +resolved against the policy of coercion, and in several instances State +Legislatures had declared a purpose to make common cause with the seceded +States, whenever the Federal authorities should appeal to force against +them. It was difficult indeed for the latter to reconcile their hostile +purposes against the Confederate States with the professions of peaceful +intentions which they so freely tendered to the Border States. Well +pleased, however, with the uniform success of its policy of duplicity, the +Federal administration adhered to its "treacherous amusement of double and +triple negotiations," hoping to amuse the Border States, by pacifying +assurances, until its schemes of coercion could be thoroughly +prepared.[28] But the sham was too transparent to deceive. Friendly +assurances and protestations of a desire to avoid the effusion of blood +were not to be accepted in the face of gigantic martial preparations. + +An immediate consequence of Mr. Lincoln's proclamation of war, and +invocation of an army of seventy-five thousand men, for the subjugation of +the Cotton States, was to throw the mighty energies and heroic spirit of +Virginia, hitherto neutral and hesitating, into hearty sympathy with the +Confederacy. The sublime courage and devotion of this noble State, +manifested by the circumstances of her accession to the cause of her +sister States, have been the theme of repeated, but not extravagant +eulogy. With a full conviction of her own peculiar perils in a war which +she had zealously striven to prevent; from which, whatever its +eventualities, she had little to hope, and with a perfect prevision of +the ruin which was to ravage her bosom, Virginia proudly assumed the post +of leadership and of peril in the struggle for those immortal principles, +of which her soil was the nursery and her illustrious sons the foremost +champions. The historic _prestige_ of Virginia was heightened by this act +of supreme devotion, and the value of her influence was speedily +demonstrated by the enthusiastic accession of other States to the cause +which she had espoused. The ordinance of secession, adopted by the +Virginia Convention, was followed immediately by a temporary alliance[29] +with the Confederate States, and in a few weeks afterward the Confederacy +embraced, in addition to its original members, Virginia, North Carolina, +Tennessee, and Arkansas, each of which, by formal State action, ratified +the Confederate constitution. + +The arbitrary acts of the Federal government, in Maryland and Missouri, +not only vindicated the course of those States which had interpreted its +policy as one of subjugation, but greatly strengthened the already +preponderant Southern sympathies of those two commonwealths. Increasing by +consecutive proclamations his demands for troops, Mr. Lincoln soon had +nearly two hundred thousand men under arms. These troops assembled under +false pretenses at different points, were used for purposes of glaring +despotism; overawing the pronounced Southern feeling of the people by +military arrests, by licentious and violent demonstrations of the +soldiery. Missouri was soon in open revolt against the Federal +authorities, and in Maryland a general uprising was prevented by the +thorough precautions which had been adopted, rendering clearly hopeless +such an undertaking. The Legislature of Missouri, unquestionably +representing a large majority of her citizens, eventually adopted an +ordinance of secession and ratified the constitution of the Confederate +States. Kentucky, vainly attempting a policy of neutrality, was divided in +sentiment and in strength between the contestants. A portion of her +citizens, residing within the Confederate lines, several months after the +beginning of the war, declared the State out of the Union, and associated +Kentucky with the Confederacy. + +Such were the immediate consequences resulting from the capture of Fort +Sumter. All hopes of peace vanished in the rush of events which daily +contributed new elements to the incipient strife, and with constant +reinforcements of strength and feeling to each of the contending parties, +there was wanting no omen of a struggle bloody and exhaustive beyond all +previous example. + +There were phases of the situation not to be lightly appreciated by so +thoughtful a statesman as President Davis, which did not encourage that +sanguine conviction, so extravagantly indulged in by many popular leaders, +of an overwhelming and immediate triumph of the Southern cause. The +immense disparity of physical resources, as was abundantly shown by the +lessons of history, could be neutralized by a wise public administration, +by superior valor, and by that high sense of public virtue, in its +original Roman sense of fortitude, endurance, and willing sacrifice in the +cause of country, which is the last and sure defense of a nation's +liberties. Nor were those important advantages of the South, to the value +of which historical precedents have so conclusively testified--a conscious +rectitude of purpose--a supreme conviction that theirs was the better +cause, and that, besides, it was a war for home and family, to be fought +mainly upon their own soil--to be overlooked in an intelligent estimate of +the relative strength of the belligerents. + +It was not a failure to recognize these great advantages which forbade +wise and reflective Southern statesmen to indulge in those grotesque +exhibitions of braggadocio, with which demagogues amused excited crowds at +railway stations and upon street-corners. There was an element of weakness +in the South, which, looking to the contingencies of the future, and +remembering the incertitude of war, might prove the source of serious +danger. This was the absence of that unity in the South, to which all her +statesmen had looked forward, whenever actual battle should be joined +between the defenders and assailants of Southern liberties. To see a +"UNITED SOUTH," had been for years the dream of Calhoun's noble intellect. +Davis, with equal energy and ability, had striven for such united action +by the South as would command peace and security in the Union, or +independence beyond its limits. But now the battle was joined, and the +dream was not to be realized. + +Kentucky was hopelessly divided, and though, from the overwhelming +majority of her people in sympathy with the South, were to come thousands +of gallant soldiers, the Confederacy was to be denied the powerful aid +which the brave heart and mighty resources of united Kentucky should have +thrown into the scale. Missouri, in consequence of her geographical +position, peculiarly assailable by the North-western States, and by +divisions among her population, was similarly situated; while Maryland, a +gallant and patriotic State, not less than South Carolina devoted to the +independence of the South, was securely shackled at the first +demonstration, by her people, of sympathy with their invaded countrymen. + +But not only was there a failure to realize united action by those States, +which, by geographical contiguity, no less than by identity of political +institutions, constituted what was designated as THE SOUTH. There was by +no means a thoroughly harmonious sentiment among the people of those +States which had joined the Southern alliance. This was conspicuously the +case in Western Virginia and Eastern Tennessee.[30] Though apparently +insignificant in the midst of the general enthusiasm which prevailed in +the early months of the war, these and other instances of local +disaffection were to prove, at more than one critical period, fruitful of +embarrassment. Intelligence of Confederate disasters was always the signal +for exhibitions of that covert disloyalty which Confederate success +compelled to concealment. Always ready to assist the invaders of their +country, the so-called "Union men" of the South were valuable auxiliaries +to the Federal armies as spies, and as secret enemies to the cause of the +patriots; but they were not more hurtful and insidious in these capacities +than as the nucleus around which crystallized, under the direction of +disappointed demagogues, the various elements of discontent which were +subsequently developed. + +Yet in both sections was the outward seeming at least of an undivided war +sentiment. The Union party of the South, as it had previously existed--a +powerful political organization, embracing a majority of the people of the +Border States--did not more immediately disappear, as the certainty of war +was developed, than did the party of peace at the North. The Northern +Democracy did not, for a moment, strive to breast the popular current, but +its leaders, the life-long allies of the South, committed, by a thousand +declarations to the cause of States' Rights, eagerly vied with the +Republican leaders in threats of vengeance against the South. The +Dickinsons, Everetts, Cochranes, Logans, and Butlers--hitherto the +professed friends and advocates of the South--with that pliant +accommodation to circumstances, so befitting the instincts of the +demagogue, in their harangues to howling mobs, proclaimed themselves the +advocates of a ruthless and indiscriminate warfare upon a people who had +been driven, by intolerable wrongs, into patriotic resistance. + +We have already described the attitude and condition of the Confederate +Government at Montgomery previous to the attack upon Fort Sumter. The +honorable exertions of President Davis, cordially approved by Congress and +the people, to avoid a collision of arms, were disappointed, and events +had now verified his life-long conviction, that the exercise of their +sovereignty, by the States, would be attended by a war involving their +existence. Sustained by an unlimited popular confidence, with a +comparatively perfected organization, and with every possible preparation +that the difficulties of its situation would permit, the Government met, +with commendable composure, the shock of arms which its chief had foreseen +to be inevitable. + +The proclamation of President Lincoln, declaring war upon the Confederate +States, was promptly responded to by President Davis, in official +announcements, appropriately recognizing the condition of public affairs, +and inviting energetic preparations for immediate hostilities. He at once +called upon the various States for quotas of volunteers for the public +defense. By public proclamation, he invited applications for privateering +service, in which armed vessels might assist in the public defense on the +high seas; under letters of marque and reprisal granted by Congress.[31] + +In every instance, and by all classes of citizens, an enthusiastic +response was given to the demands of the Government. Individuals and +corporations entered into a generous and patriotic rivalry in the tender +of aid to the cause. Wealthy citizens donated large sums of money or +supplies, while railroad and transportation companies tendered valuable +assistance in the conveyance of troops and stores. An enthusiastic desire +to enter the public service was manifested in every community. Men +decrepit from age, or infirm from disease, were importunate in demanding +any service suitable to their condition. Volunteering progressed so +actively that a few weeks only sufficed to show that the Confederacy--for +the present at least--would not want soldiers. In all the States the +responses to the call for volunteers exceeded the quotas. + +Congress assembled in special session, in obedience to a proclamation of +the President, on the 29th of April. The message was an eminently +characteristic document, and made a profound impression both in Europe and +the United States. Its calm and clear statements were in marked contrast +with the wild elements of war convulsing the country. Europe was not less +amazed and delighted with its dignity and force, than was the North +impressed with the earnest terms in which the purpose of resistance was +announced. He reviewed and established the doctrine of secession, detailed +the facts showing the bad faith of the Northern government about Fort +Sumter, and the necessity for its capture; spoke in terms of keen, yet +dignified satire of Lincoln's proclamation, which attempted to treat seven +sovereign States united in a confederacy, and holding five millions of +people and a half million of square miles of territory, as "combinations," +which he proposed to suppress by a _posse comitatus_ of seventy-five +thousand men; congratulated the Congress on the probable accession of +other slave States; informed them that the State Department had sent three +commissioners to England, France, Russia and Belgium, to seek the +recognition of the Confederate States; advised legislation for the +employment of privateers for measures of defense, and for perfecting the +government organization; and concluded with these impressive words: "We +feel that our cause is just and holy; we protest solemnly in the face of +mankind that we desire peace at any sacrifice save that of honor and +independence; we seek no conquest, no aggrandizement, no concession of any +kind from the States with whom we were lately confederated. All we seek is +to be let alone; that those who never held power over us shall not now +attempt our subjugation by arms. This we will, this we must resist to the +direst extremity. The moment that this pretension is abandoned, the sword +will drop from our grasp, and we shall be ready to enter into treaties of +amity and commerce that can not but be materially beneficial. So long as +this pretension is maintained, with firm reliance on that divine power +which covers with its protection the just cause, we will continue the +struggle for our inherent right to freedom, independence, and +self-government." + +The geographical position of Virginia clearly indicated that State as the +Flanders of the war. Within her boundaries was necessarily to be located +the first line of Confederate defense, and also to be found more than one +favorable _point d'appui_ for the invading forces. To the aid of important +geographical and physical considerations, moral and political necessities +were superadded, to urge a prompt and vigorous assistance to Virginia, in +the heroic effort which she was preparing for her deliverance. With the +eye of the soldier and the appreciation of the statesman, President Davis +urged the immediate removal of the seat of government to the neighborhood +of the seat of war. On the 20th of May the seat of the Confederate +Government was transferred from Montgomery to Richmond, the capital of +Virginia, and within a few days afterward Mr. Davis reached the latter +city.[32] + +The transfer of the Confederate capital to Richmond was an event affecting +the direction, character, and destinies of the war to such an extent as +entitles it to be considered one of its salient incidents. As a measure of +policy, it has been variously viewed, and has involved some interesting +discussion of military and strategic considerations. In the progress of +events during the war, its wisdom was generally recognized, and in the +calmer judgment of the present there is scarcely a dissenting voice to the +prevailing opinion that it was a master-stroke of political sagacity and +military forecast. + +High military authority has been quoted in support of the opinion opposed +to locating the Confederate capital at Richmond. Ingeniously enough it was +alleged that such a step involved fighting on the exterior of the circle +instead of the centre, and that thus the great advantage to the party +conducting operations upon an interior line would be surrendered. It was +also tolerably certain that the North would aim, in its invasion, at the +Confederate capital as the vital objective point of its campaigns; and to +transfer the capital to a point so far north as Richmond, greatly +diminished the enemy's difficulties--first, as to space; and secondly, by +shortening his line of transportation and supply. + +But these views were the conclusions of a purely strategic judgment, +overlooking entirely moral and political considerations involved, nor are +they by any means exhaustive of the argument as to the military aspects of +the situation. The courageous and unselfish action of Virginia deserved a +response of similar spirit from the Confederacy. Virginia had voluntarily +become the outpost of the South, and her people needed the presence among +them of that authority which was to wield her great resources, organize +her energies, and give counsel to her courage. Her people invited the +Government to join them and make the battle for the common deliverance of +the South around their homesteads. To accept this invitation was a step no +less characteristic of President Davis than was his prompt, decisive +action in the crisis at Buena Vista. It had the combined advantage of bold +defiance and prudent calculation. This bold courting of the issue by the +infant power, at the very outset of hostilities, was the foundation of +that brilliant _prestige_ which marked its earlier history. To an +adversary intoxicated with an overweening sense of numerical superiority, +and a brutal reliance upon his superior strength, this defiant planting of +the standard in front of his first line was a significant warning of the +difficulties of the task which he had undertaken. + +President Davis has never seen reason to regret the transfer of the +Government to Richmond. It bound Virginia, by indissoluble ties to the +fortunes of the Confederacy, and was the beginning of an affection for +himself, among her citizens, which it was their pride to exhibit in the +face of calamities common to him and to themselves. Not even in his own +gallant State of Mississippi are the genius, virtues, and fame of +Jefferson Davis cherished with a more tender association than in Virginia. + +A brief résumé of events will now assist to a clear understanding of the +situation of affairs when President Davis reached Richmond in the latter +part of May. Virginia, a week previously, had, by formal vote of her +people, ratified the ordinance of secession adopted by her convention. +When the convention passed the ordinance of secession on the 17th of +April, the State authorities, with commendable discretion, prepared to +make important seizures of arms, stores, etc., the property of the Federal +Government within the limits of the State. Governor Letcher--well known +for his steadfast devotion to the Union, and for his honorable zeal to +preserve it--in this trying crisis of the State, was nobly faithful to his +Virginian instincts, and mindful of the honorable part which devolved upon +Virginia's Governor. + +The capture of two places of special importance was sought by expeditions +arranged with secrecy and ingenuity, but resulting, in both instances, in +only partial success. These places were Gosport Navy-yard--famous for its +dry-dock, shops, ammunition, arms, timber, rope-walks, and other +appurtenances of an extensive naval establishment--and Harper's Ferry, on +the Potomac, with its extensive armory and arsenal, large collection of +arms, and valuable machinery. At the latter place, the Federal commander, +by an unworthy subterfuge, obtained a delay in the attack which the +Virginians were about to make, and took advantage of a parley, to attempt +the destruction, by fire, of the buildings and machinery. Much valuable +property was destroyed, but the State secured machinery, which was +afterward turned to most important account, and many excellent arms for +her rapidly gathering volunteers. The attempted destruction, by the +Federals, at Gosport, was imperfectly executed. Among the prizes captured +here was the steam frigate Merrimac, nearly finished, but greatly damaged +by fire. Within a very few months this vessel was destined to a +performance, conspicuous for all time in the annals of naval warfare. + +The authorities of North Carolina--a State which had clung with +unsurpassed fidelity to the Federal Union--acted with a vigor which well +befitted a community conspicuous, in the first American revolution, for +the fidelity of its patriotism. Slow to reach her conclusions, North +Carolina was fully up to the demands of the occasion, in her preparation +for a struggle, during which her revolutionary fame was to be excelled by +a second dedication of her blood and energies to the cause of liberty. On +the 21st of May, North Carolina, by unanimous vote of her convention, +adopted an ordinance of secession. Her brave Governor (Ellis) whose +services were too soon lost to his State and country, had previously +caused the seizure of Forts Macon and Caswell, and the arsenal at +Fayetteville, with nearly sixty thousand arms, of which half were of the +most approved construction. + +On the 19th of April occurred a collision between citizens of Baltimore +and Massachusetts soldiers, _en route_ to the Federal capital, followed by +such a stringent policy as made clearly hopeless the open coöperation of +Maryland, unless by successful invasion of the Confederate forces. + +Missouri, under the guidance of Jackson, Price, and other able and +resolute leaders, was preparing a heroic resistance, but under +difficulties greater than were experienced in any other Southern State, +against the domination established upon her soil. + +When President Davis reached Richmond he found Virginia in an advanced +state of preparation. Thirty thousand troops were in camps of instruction, +or upon duty at Norfolk, upon the peninsula of James and York Rivers, and +at different points upon the northern boundary of the State. In supreme +command was General Robert E. Lee, the friend and former classmate of the +President at West Point; and, under him, Colonel John B. Magruder, also +his associate at West Point, and other officers of promise and ability, +seeking service in defense of their native State and the South. As the +several States acceded to the Confederacy, their troops, arms, stores, +etc., were turned over to the Confederate authorities, and officers were +assigned rank in the Confederate service by a rule, regulated by the rank +which they had held in the Federal army. + +In accordance with this rule, General Lee was third on the list of full +generals appointed by President Davis--General Cooper being first, and +General Albert Sydney Johnston being second. General Lee had been first +commissioned, after the tender of his resignation in the Federal service, +a Major-General of Virginia forces. Until he was commissioned full +general, by President Davis, in June, 1861, he continued to act as the +general commanding the Virginia forces, and was invested also with the +direction of the Confederate troops which were arriving daily from the +States south. His authority was as follows: + + "MONTGOMERY, May 10, 1861. + + "_To Major-General R. E. Lee_: To prevent confusion, you will assume + control of the forces of the Confederate States in Virginia, and + assign them to such duties as you may indicate, until further orders; + for which this will be your authority. + + "L. P. WALKER, _Secretary of War_." + +It would be impossible to overestimate the services of General Lee in the +preparation of the Virginia troops for the field, and in preparing the +general defense of the State by the location and disposition of the +Confederate forces as they arrived in Virginia. His distinguished services +afterwards are hardly better evidence of his genius as a soldier, than the +results of his arduous labor at this trying period, and in a position of +comparative obscurity. President Davis fully indicated his confidence in +the counsels of Lee by his constant retention of him at his side. The +South has probably not yet appreciated the extent to which the genius of +Lee, in coöperation with that of Davis, aided in those earlier +achievements of the war, which secured the immediate preservation of the +Confederacy, and earned so flattering a reputation for others. + +With the establishment of the Confederate authority in Virginia, +reinforcements from other States were constantly added to her own levies, +and by the middle of June, more than fifty thousand men were in arms for +her defense. As yet, collisions between the opposing forces had been rare, +and totally indecisive. A force of raw volunteers, unorganized and +imperfectly armed, was surprised in Western Virginia, by a movement of +considerable vigor on the part of the Federal commander, and the patriots, +under Colonel Porterfield, compelled to retreat. At Great Bethel, near +Fortress Monroe, a few hundred Virginians and North Carolinians, under +Colonel Magruder, handsomely repulsed a large column of Federal troops, +attempting to advance up the peninsula. In the then uneducated popular +idea of military operations, the fight at Bethel was magnified to an +extent greatly beyond its real importance. It had, nevertheless, a timely +significance, in its evidence of the spirit of the Confederate soldiery. +President Davis was pleased to recognize this fact in a congratulatory +letter to Governor Ellis, commending the conduct of the North Carolinians +who were engaged in the fight. + +These minor affairs were preliminary incidents to the thrilling events, +upon a more extended scale of operations, and upon a more important +theatre, which were to make memorable the approaching midsummer. Pending +the preparations, active and extensive on both sides, for the coming grand +encounter, there was a marked pause in military operations, attended by an +agreeable subsidence of the feverish excitement of which war is so +productive. The struggle for the mastery in Virginia, which it was plain +would decide the present fate of the Southern movement, was destined also +to decide, in a large measure, the extent and duration of the war. Viewed +in its historical significance, it becomes chiefly important as a stage of +the revolution indicating a new departure, and an altered direction of +events. Preparation was now to be displaced by action. Skirmishes were to +be followed by heavy engagements, and the high prestige of the South was +now to be subjected to its first test, in that long series of cruel +encounters, between valor and endurance on one side, and mere weight of +numbers on the other. + +Preliminary to the narrative of these important events, appropriately +arises one phase of that historical question which involves the +statesmanship, the forecast, and the general fitness of Jefferson Davis +in the position which he now occupied, and under the circumstances by +which he was surrounded. + +It would be a superfluous and unprofitable task to consider in detail the +numerous allegations, trivial and serious, made against President Davis by +his assailants, in support of their professed belief in his responsibility +for the failure of the Confederate cause. When facts are perverted, +history distorted, and prejudice, rather than truth, is the governing +influence, such allegations will be sufficiently numerous, even though +they be not well sustained. Nor yet is it maintained that President Davis +committed no errors in the long and trying term of his administration. It +is very certain that no such defense, asserting his infallibility, would +be approved by him. But the real historical significance of the question +of Mr. Davis' capacity for his office may be reduced to very simple +dimensions. Conceding him to be mortal, we concede that he is fallible. +Then the question arises, Were his errors sufficiently numerous and +serious, unaided by other and greater causes, to have occasioned the +failure of the South in the late war? Again, conceding still more +liberally to his assailants, were those errors the chief causes of a +failure, which might have been avoided, despite all other adverse +influences, disadvantages, and obstacles, if a different administrative +policy had prevailed? + +The subject now has no value, save in its historical sense, and in that +sense its value must be determined from the stand-point just indicated. At +least it is in that aspect that we propose to consider it, whenever its +discussion shall be appropriate in these pages. The consideration will be +modified by many collateral questions which must incidentally arise. It +may be necessary to ask if no other Southern leader, entrusted with great +responsibilities, and enjoying uninterrupted popular favor, during and +since the war, committed mistakes quite as serious and frequent as did the +President, in proportion to the multiplicity of his cares? It may be +appropriate, too, to consider the influence that these mistakes of others +exerted upon those final disasters for which he alone is held responsible. +These questions we propose to consider, each in its appropriate place, and +with becoming candor. If we shall not meet the arguments and allegations +employed against Mr. Davis with a spirit more ingenuous than has seemed to +actuate his assailants, our success must be poor, indeed. + +Those who profess to consider President Davis wanting in the necessary +qualifications for his position, dwell with especial emphasis upon what +they are pleased to characterize his failure in the early months of the +war, to foresee its character, duration and magnitude, and the consequent +imperfect preparation of the Confederate Government. It is asserted that +he was utterly blind to all the indications of a long and obstinate +struggle, urged upon his attention by a more sagacious statesmanship than +his own; that he was persistent and arrogant in his prophecies of a +struggle, short, brilliant, and overwhelming in favor of the South, even +after the war had commenced; and that before the bombardment of Sumter he +was no less positive in his convictions that there would be no war; that +he was, in short, stupidly unreasoning and inactive, deaf alike to +entreaties, arguments, and facts. + +If, indeed, it could be established that during the era of secession (the +interval between November, 1860, and April, 1861), Mr. Davis had cherished +expectations of peaceable separation, and that during that portion of his +presidential term embraced before the assault upon Sumter, relying upon +this prospect of peace, he had failed to prepare for war, then, indeed, +would his responsibility be great; but it would be shared by every +contemporary statesman of the South, almost, if not quite, without an +exception. History may palliate the amazing infatuation of the Southern +masses at this period, but surely its verdict must be a contemptuous +condemnation of that vaunted statesmanship which scouted war as the result +of secession, as an impossibility, and its anticipation as the product of +timidity. But President Davis is not driven to the extremity of seeking so +poor a refuge as the common and universal blindness and weakness of that +critical period. Recognizing the justice of that test which demands of the +true statesman a prescience beyond the average vision, it is believed that +his defense may be made easy and triumphant. + +Candid investigation will demonstrate the fact that Davis, among Southern +statesmen, was an almost solitary exception in his rejection of the +dominant sentiment of the times. The remarkable consistency of his public +life is in no respect better sustained than in his oft-repeated +apprehensions of eventual war between the sections. His dread of disunion +arose from his dread of civil war, and the latter he always urged to be +the necessary consequence of the former. Striving to save the Union upon a +just and constitutional basis, he yet habitually admonished the South of +the inevitable result of disunion, and coupled his admonitions with +earnest exhortations of thorough preparation for the most serious +emergency in its history. His speeches, addresses, and letters, furnish +irrefutable testimony of his apprehension of civil war as an inevitable +concomitant of disunion. _Not one line, or one sentence, written or +uttered by him in the entire period of his public career, can be so +construed as to indicate a different conviction._ Believing that he +foresaw the impending conflict, he strove with indefatigable energy and +incomparable ability, in company with Calhoun, in 1850, to place the South +in a position which would then have rescued her liberties. If the warning +voice of the South, proclaiming the inexorable decree of disunion, unless +her constitutional rights were fully and forever secured, had then been +disregarded, at least her _resistance_ must have been more effectual than +it could become by postponement. In innumerable passages of rare +eloquence, he has left an imperishable record of patriotic devotion to a +constitutional union, and touching proofs of the emotion with which he +contemplated the evils which were to follow its destruction. The words of +his farewell address to the Senate, ("putting our trust in God, and in our +firm hearts and strong arms, we will vindicate the right as best we may") +do not more clearly indicate the calm determination with which he would +meet the peril, than his appreciation of its serious nature. + +When it is alleged that the inadequate preparation of the South, during +the period which we have characterized as the era of secession, enters as +a most important feature in the explanation of her failure, a proposition +is boldly asserted, which is, at least, debatable; but its discussion does +not devolve upon us.[33] Mr. Davis is assuredly not to be held justly +accountable for what the various States failed to do while he was at his +post of duty in the Senate, and in no manner controlling their action. No +responsibility can attach to him beyond the action of the Confederate +Government, save in the case of his own State, and whatever preparation +Mississippi made was at his instance. By what law of justice or logic can +Mr. Davis be made accountable for the inadequate preparation of Georgia, +(assuming that Georgia _was_ unprepared, or had omitted any preparation +that was possible under the circumstances), which then had the full +benefit of the counsels of reputed statesmen like Messrs. Toombs, +Stephens, and Brown? or of South Carolina, under the counsels of Messrs. +Rhett and Orr, and the _Charleston Mercury_? Of Alabama, led by the +brilliant genius of Mr. Yancey? Yet, upon the aggregate resources and +means of defense of these and the other States must depend the safety of +the Confederacy. While Mr. Davis was yet in Washington, striving against +hope to avert the dreaded issue, many of the States, under the guidance of +their leading men, were passing ordinances of secession. Assuredly, then, +he is not to be censured for any lack of preparation at this period. Yet +no very close examination of the record is necessary to establish the +fact, that those who have since been most forward in denying the prevision +of statesmanship to Davis, were then, by their own showing, precipitating +their several States into secession, totally unprepared for a war, the +very possibility of which they derided. + +The responsibility of Mr. Davis can date only from his inauguration as +President of the Confederate States, on February 18, 1861. Between that +date and the actual breaking out of war was an interval of _less than two +months_. Within this period the results accomplished were certainly all +that could have been anticipated, and all that ever were accomplished by +any government yet in its infancy, within the same space of time. The +organization of the Government had been perfected, efforts made to secure +intercourse with foreign nations, and the civil administration completed +in all important features. With the aid of that master genius for +organization, General Samuel Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector-General of the +Confederate army, the basis of a military organization, upon which the +most splendid armies of modern history were speedily created, was +prepared; troops were called into the field; and the Confederacy, in +proportion to its means, was actually placed, _in two months_, upon a war +footing, not inferior to that of the enemy at the outbreak of hostilities. + +The unprejudiced Northern or European reader, whose admiration has been +freely expressed for the valor and endurance of the South, and for the +skillful use of its comparatively limited resources, may well be amazed at +the censures of Mr. Davis, from Southern sources. + +But what was his error after assumption of the Presidency? More important +still, what is the evidence? So far as we have been able to gather the +evidence, it consists in the fact that President Davis did not urge the +indiscriminate purchase of arms in Europe, or wherever else they might +have been obtained. The intelligent foreign reader can only be amazed +that, upon this single fact--for it is the only _fact_ alleged--rests the +charge that President Davis did not make adequate preparation for war. The +answer is very simple, and indisputable. First, the Confederate +Government, from the date of its organization, endeavored constantly to +purchase _serviceable_ arms wherever they could be obtained. Second, the +Confederate Government had given extensive orders to Northern +manufactories (because they were nearest) at Chickopee and elsewhere, some +of which were filled and the arms received, while, in other cases, they +were seized by the Federal authorities after the commencement of +hostilities while _en route_ South. Third, there were very few serviceable +arms to be purchased in Europe; and in support of this assertion we have +only to recall the enormous swindles practised on the Federal Government +in its purchase of arms in Europe at this period. Arms were offered, in +some instances, to the Government, and rejected, because President Davis, +while Secretary of War, had become acquainted with their worthlessness; +and thus, while certain speculations were disappointed, the means of the +Government were not squandered. An examination of the records will +demonstrate the fact that the Confederate Ordnance Bureau, under Colonel +Gorgas, was conducted with signal judgment and ability. From the beginning +to the end, it was managed with a success which entitles it to be +considered probably the most ably conducted bureau of the Government. + +But not only do the recorded events of the period vindicate Mr. Davis from +the accusations of a tardy and delinquent policy in providing for the +threatened emergency of war; they are fully conclusive as to the energetic +provision made when hostilities were opened. Nothing can be more emphatic +in its enunciation of a bold, vigorous policy than President Davis' +message to the Confederate Congress, assembled by special convocation, on +the 29th of April:[34] "There are now in the field at Charleston, +Pensacola, Forts Morgan, Jackson, St. Philip, and Pulaski, nineteen +thousand men, and sixteen thousand are now _en route_ for Virginia. _It is +proposed to organize and hold in readiness for instant action, in view of +the present exigencies of the country, an army of one hundred thousand +men._" Surely we must look elsewhere than to such an announcement as this, +for evidence in support of this pretended absence of foresight, and +inappreciation of the extent and character of the approaching struggle. +This, be it remembered, was in Davis' first response to the Federal +declaration of war, only two weeks after the fall of Sumter, and when +President Lincoln had, as yet, called for but seventy-five thousand men. +This was the spirit in which President Davis began the contest, and the +results which immediately followed, in months of brilliant and consecutive +triumphs, demonstrated the ample provision made for the emergency.[35] + +In marked contrast with this vigorous policy were the silly vaporings of +demagogues, prating of Southern invincibility against a world in arms, +protesting that the North, under no circumstances, could be induced to +fight, and scouting a longer duration of a war with "Yankees," than six +months at the farthest. That such was the dominant conviction at +Montgomery, no contemporary authority will deny. An eminent Virginian, a +commissioner from his own State to the Confederate Congress, was amazed to +hear laughed at as an excellent joke, his congratulations to that body, +upon the wise determination to locate the seat of government at Richmond, +in close proximity to the seat of war. The grave legislators at +Montgomery, at least, had not yet comprehended that there was to be war. + +But perhaps we are in fault, in thus offering the evidence of +uncontradicted facts and obvious conclusions, where only vague inferences +and unsupported allegations are urged to the contrary. There are graver +questions yet to be encountered, far better justifying difference of +opinion, and affording better ground for discussion of the philosophy of +the Southern failure. Censure of those who have had the conduct of a +ruined cause is as inevitable as the criticism which ever waits upon +history; but it is not, therefore, always just. A great soldier,[36] who +has but recently contributed a chapter to history, thrilling in interest +and inestimable in importance, when congratulated since upon his brilliant +triumphs, touchingly replied: "How would it have been if success--this +unexampled success--had not crowned our undertaking? Would not this +undeserved exaltation have been so much unreasonable criticism and +undeserved blame?" + +To a certain class of Southern critics, we commend the magnanimous +sentiment of an illustrious fellow-countryman,[37] now mourning, in +exile, the afflictions of his country: "As for myself, I have not +undertaken to speculate as to the causes of our failure, as I have seen +abundant reason for it in the tremendous odds brought against us. Having +had some means of judging, I will, however, say that, in my opinion, both +President Davis and General Lee, in their respective spheres, did all for +the success of our cause which it was possible for mortal men to do; and +it is a great privilege and comfort for me so to believe, and to have been +able to bring with me, into exile, a profound love and veneration for +those great men." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WAR IN 1861--THE TWO GOVERNMENTS MORE DIRECTLY + CONNECTED WITH RESULTS IN THE FIELD THAN AT SUBSEQUENT PERIODS--MR. + DAVIS' CONNECTION WITH THE MILITARY POLICY OF THE CONFEDERACY--THE + CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT ADOPTS, IN THE MAIN, THE DEFENSIVE POLICY OF + THE VIRGINIAN AUTHORITIES--FEDERAL PREPARATIONS--GENERAL SCOTT-- + DEFENSIVE PLANS OF THE CONFEDERATES--DISTRIBUTION OF THEIR FORCES--THE + CONFEDERATE CAMPAIGN OF 1861 JUSTIFIED--DISTRIBUTION OF THE FEDERAL + FORCES--PROGRESS OF THE CAMPAIGN--GENERALS PATTERSON AND JOHNSTON-- + JUNCTION OF BEAUREGARD AND JOHNSTON--MANASSAS--PRESIDENT DAVIS ON THE + BATTLE-FIELD--HIS DISPATCH--HIS RETURN TO RICHMOND--A SPEECH NEVER + PUBLISHED BEFORE--REFLECTIONS UPON THE RESULTS OF MANASSAS--MR. DAVIS + NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ABSENCE OF PURSUIT--STONEWALL JACKSON'S + VIEWS--DAVIS IN FAVOR OF PURSUIT OF THE FEDERALS--MISREPRESENTATIONS-- + MILITARY MOVEMENTS IN VARIOUS QUARTERS--THE "TRENT AFFAIR"--RESULTS OF + THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. + + +Whatever crudities may appear in the general plans of warfare, adopted by +the American belligerents in 1861, when tested by the maxims which have +obtained in other wars, waged upon different theatres of action, and for +different purposes, at least there was not wanting a palpable and +definitive shape. With remarkable rapidity and precision, the military +situation was adjusted to the attainment of certain general objects, which +continued, during the successive stages of the war, to be pursued, with +varying fortune, by the respective contestants. + +The incipient campaign of the war was peculiarly regulated and determined +by the paramount aims which had impelled the respective parties to arms. +Of necessity, the campaign, on the part of the North, must be offensive, +while the South, in a defensive attitude, must prepare to parry the blows +of her assailant. The pretext of the North was to assert the "national +authority" over what it was pleased to term "rebellious" territory. The +_animus_ of the South was to repel an invasion which menaced her liberties +and firesides. Whatever advantages may have belonged to the position of +the South were not overlooked by those who were charged with her defense; +and it may safely be claimed, in view of the immediate and overwhelming +result in her favor, that whatever compensation, for obvious +disadvantages, she had anticipated from the resources of skillful +leadership, was fairly rendered. + +The two Governments, at Washington and at Richmond, were then more +directly chargeable with the actual results in the field than at +subsequent periods. The army had then become less independent of the +Government. Its organic structure was undeveloped, and it had not yet +become identified with those commanders whose history was hereafter to be +so interwoven with its own. In a general sense, it may be remarked, that +the connection of President Davis with all the campaigns of the +Confederate army, was that which the country designed it should be, when, +in consequence of his military aptitude and experience, it placed him in +charge of the public administration. Moreover, it was consistent with that +inevitable responsibility which attached to the office of chief executive. +Ignorant and intemperate partisans have labored to prove his +responsibility for those casualties of war, which are utterly beyond human +calculations, and to trace to his influence disasters of the battle-field, +with which he could by no possibility have been connected. As is usual in +such cases, these criticisms are made with a total forgetfulness of the +unintentional tribute, which is accorded to Mr. Davis, in ascribing to him +the chief responsibility for a military administration, which the world +declares to have had few parallels in its history. + +When President Davis reached Richmond, from Montgomery, the military +situation had already assumed a well-defined shape. The plans of defense, +adopted by the Virginian authorities, mainly under the direction of +General Lee, and carried into partial execution before the alliance with +the Confederacy had been formally consummated, were adhered to by the +Confederate Government. President Davis, as we have seen, fully impressed +with the demands of the exigency, immediately upon his arrival, addressed +himself, with characteristic vigor and promptitude, to such measures as +would secure a successful campaign. In the meantime, the preparations of +the Federal Government were equally vigorous, and by no means indefinite +in their aims. + +Whatever may be the comparative merits, when placed in antithetical +juxtaposition, of the plans of campaign adopted by the two Governments in +1861, or whatever may be alleged of the blunders and mishaps of the +Federal scheme of warfare, there could be no question of the full +comprehension of the necessities of the situation by the veteran commander +of the Federal armies. We are not called upon here to give an opinion of +General Scott in his personal or political relations, but that combination +of sagacious military minds, upon which devolved the defense of Southern +liberties, was not likely to commit the error of a disparaging estimate of +his abilities. + +General Scott, far in advance of the prevailing opinion at the North, +dreamed of no holiday enterprise. He well knew that Southern valor, +directed by leaders whose names were identified with the proudest +_prestige_ of America, and enlisted in the defense of principles which +were the dearest convictions and traditions of the Southern heart, was not +to be crushed in a "three-months'" wrestle of arms. Accordingly, his +preparations were for _war_ in its broadest and most terrible sense; a war +between powerful nationalities; a war in which, though sustained by +inexhaustible resources and popular enthusiasm, he had yet to contend with +a race essentially military in its instincts, earnest in conviction, led +by men whose capacities he had amply tested, and aided by defensive +position, vast extent of territory, and by those numerous obstacles in the +way of conquest, which must have been apparent to the eye of an +experienced soldier. + +The attitude of the Confederate Government was necessarily defensive. +History would be searched in vain for examples justifying an invasion by a +people entirely agricultural in habits and resources, weak in numbers, and +with a government not yet organized three months, of a powerful +manufacturing and commercial nation, of dense population, and great wealth +and resources. Without supplies, equipment and transportation, and without +the time or opportunity to obtain them, successful invasion of the North, +however attractive to the popular imagination, was clearly impossible. +Viewed from the more educated stand-point, furnished by the later +developments of the war, the crude ideas, from which arose the popular +aspiration of at once "carrying the war into Africa," are ludicrous in the +extreme. Indeed, there can be little doubt that the defensive, subjected +to such modifications as the casualties of war render proper and necessary +in all plans, whether offensive or defensive, was at all times the true +policy of the South. Certain it is, that, upon two occasions, essaying +the offensive under the most favorable circumstances, and under their +greatest commander, the Confederates were overtaken by disaster. There can +be no just criterion, furnished by European wars, by which to test the +Confederate military policy in the main. Parallels between the American +civil war and those waged by Frederick the Great and Napoleon are +inadmissable. Not only were circumstances entirely dissimilar, but able +military critics have indicated physical peculiarities, forbidding the +unexceptional application to American warfare, of maxims which, elsewhere, +are undisputed. + +Nevertheless, war as a science must be worse than useless, unless its +underlying principles have universal application. Nor is it maintained +that there were no circumstances which would have justified a departure +from the usually defensive policy of the Confederates. Upon two occasions +the main army of the South, having successfully encountered upon its own +soil the most prodigious efforts of the enemy's strength, sought to follow +him in the moment of his recoil. The Confederate invasion of 1862, +culminating at Antietam, and that of 1863, culminating at Gettysburg, were +undertaken with the purpose of destroying, upon his own soil, an enemy +already defeated. Each of these endeavors was based upon sound principles; +and there is no little palliation for the disaster, in either case, in +reflecting how great would have been the results of success. Much of the +philosophy of the war in Virginia is to be explained by the fact of the +thoroughly aggressive character, as soldiers, of President Davis and +General Lee. These two directing minds, by whose combined genius and will, +the fortunes of the Confederacy were so long upheld, in full and cordial +coöperation during the entire war, were in nothing more harmonious, than +in the desire for an aggressive campaign, whenever it could be undertaken +with a reasonable promise of success. Hence, the history of the army of +Northern Virginia develops, throughout, that military policy which is +known as the "defensive with offensive returns." + +After the conclusion of the alliance between Virginia and the Confederate +States, which placed all "military operations, offensive and defensive, in +Virginia," under the control of the Confederate President, troops from the +other Southern States had been thrown northward with astonishing rapidity. +As rapidly as they arrived, regiments were sent to the various localities +where it had been thought expedient to establish a defensive force. These +posts were distributed with a view to their strategic bearing upon +particular sections of territory, which it was deemed necessary to defend, +and also with reference to their strategic connection with each other, and +with the chain of combinations making the general plan of defense. + +In the early summer, the distribution of the Southern forces in Virginia +was as follows: At Manassas Junction, thirty-five miles south-west from +Washington, and the point of intersection of the lines of railroad running +southward to Richmond, and to the Shenandoah Valley, was a force, to the +command of which General Beauregard was transferred from the charge of the +defenses of Charleston. Manassas Junction was obviously a strategic point +of the first importance, as the centre of the railroad system of Northern +Virginia, and as a base of operations threatening Washington, and +immediately across the path of any overland expedition against Richmond. +The favorable estimate of General Beauregard's abilities entertained by +the President, added to the popularity which followed his services at +Charleston, occasioned his assignment to what was obviously to be the most +important theatre of operations. + +Auxiliary to the command of Beauregard, but operating independently of +that officer, was a force at Harper's Ferry, on the Potomac, commanded by +General Joseph E. Johnston, an officer of reputed skill, who had earned +honorable distinction in Mexico, and enjoyed high rank and reputation in +the Federal service. This force had a mission second in value only to that +of the army at Manassas. It was charged with the defense of the rich and +populous Shenandoah Valley, teeming with supplies, and inhabited by a +hardy and patriotic population. Its position was intermediate between the +forces operating in Western Virginia, and those in front of Washington, +and threatening to the enemy's line of communication westward _via_ the +Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. + +In Western Virginia were the commands of Generals Wise and Garnett, +respectively, in the Kanawha Valley, and upon the main line of +communication between the sections east and west of the Alleghany +mountains. The forces of Wise and Garnett were designed for the double +purpose of defending the sections of territory in which they were +respectively located, and for the aid and encouragement of the patriotic +portion of the population, then under the joint domination of the Union +men and Federal soldiers. + +Under Magruder, promoted for his victory at Bethel, was a comparatively +small force, holding the peninsula of James and York Rivers, the direct +route to Richmond from the coast; and at Norfolk were several thousand +men, under command of General Huger. + +No very acute analysis is required to penetrate the motives of this +distribution of forces in the face of the plain necessities of the +situation. Yet a vast amount of conceit has been expended in glittering +verbiage, aiming to exhibit the early partiality of President Davis for +the weak policy of dispersion, and that aversion to the "concentration" of +troops, for overwhelming victories, to be followed by decisive results, +which, it is alleged, adhered to his military policy to the last. To this +cant about "concentration," a sufficient answer relative to this +disposition of troops is, that it has the sanction of Lee's great name, to +say nothing of the complete success that followed it. There was no phase +of the situation, either then or for months afterward, which could have +justified for any result, then attainable by "concentration," the +surrendering to the enemy of vast sections of country, which, then and +subsequently, fed the army and supplied thousands of soldiers. Popular +confidence, so indispensable to a government under such circumstances, was +not to be won by such a policy, at the very incipiency of the contest. +Were the patriots of Western Virginia, thousands of whom made heroic +sacrifices, to be abandoned without an effort for their rescue? Magruder +and Huger, too, had duties of no insignificant character to perform. +Fortress Monroe, commanding the tributaries of the Chesapeake--the avenues +leading to the very heart of Virginia, to the doors of Richmond, and the +rear of the armies upon the northern borders--presented, during the entire +war, an insuperable difficulty in the defense of Virginia. More than once +it was the impregnable asylum for discomfited Federal hosts; and as a base +of operations for the enemy, there was no period of the war when it did +not challenge a vigilant observation from Richmond. To the efficient, +bold, and skillful defense of the peninsula, by Magruder, the Confederate +capital owed its safety for twelve months, not less than to the +successful defense made upon the Potomac border. Dependent upon the +command of Huger was the defense, not only of Norfolk and Portsmouth, but +of an extensive back country, besides the naval defenses then in +preparation at Gosport. + +But in addition to these important objects, is to be remembered the +inexperience of both officers and men, totally disqualifying them for +those prompt and vigorous movements for which they were subsequently +distinguished. Discipline and organization were yet to be supplied. The +army at Manassas in July, 1861, at Centreville, in the ensuing autumn, or +even in front of Richmond, in the summer of 1862, was altogether a +different instrument from that compact force, which the genius of Lee had +welded, when he threw it, with crushing impetus, upon the columns of +Hooker at Chancellorsville. But, after all, as will be abundantly +exhibited hereafter, concentration was preëminently the characteristic of +the Confederate military policy. Especially did the present campaign, in +all its parts, hinge upon the successful execution of this principle. + +Confronting the command of Beauregard, at Manassas, was a considerable +Federal army, under General McDowell, covering Washington, and threatening +an advance along the line of the Orange and Alexandria and Virginia +Central Railroads. Under General Patterson another large Federal force +confronted General Johnston, and threatened the Shenandoah Valley. General +McClellan, with a force greatly outnumbering the small commands opposed to +him, operated in Western Virginia--the common name of the section of +country embraced between the Ohio and Cheat Rivers, and the Baltimore and +Ohio Railroad and the Great Kanawha and Gauley Rivers. A heavy force at +Fortress Monroe, threatening, with incursions, the entire tide-water +section of the State, sufficiently occupied the commands of Magruder and +Huger. + +The Confederate plan of campaign, approved in the early summer, in its +leading features was adhered to with pertinacity and success. This plan, +jointly approved by the Government and the two commanders upon whom its +execution devolved, contemplated defensive operations, and the union, at +the critical moment, of the forces of Beauregard and Johnston, for the +destruction of McDowell's command, whenever it should begin its march +southward. President Davis and General Lee, at Richmond, were in regular +communication with the two commanders in the field, and all operations +were directed with a view to the destruction of the main body of the +enemy. + +General Scott, upon the Federal side, also looked to the coöperation of +Patterson with McDowell, and expected him either to defeat Johnston, or to +so employ him as to prevent his reinforcement of Beauregard, when the +latter should be assailed by the overwhelming force of McDowell. The +remoteness of Magruder and Huger, and the impossibility of sufficient +secrecy in the transfer of any portion of their commands to the theatre of +operations, placed them outside of the calculation. The same may be said +of the Confederate forces in Western Virginia. Apprehension of danger from +the command of McClellan was experienced by the Confederate authorities, +especially after the disastrous defeat of General Garnett. There can be +little doubt, however, that the Government and people of the North +considered their army, immediately upon the ground, ample for the +contemplated work, and did not feel the necessity of looking elsewhere for +reinforcements. + +The small force at Manassas, when General Beauregard assumed command, was +increased by subsequent accessions, until, by the middle of July, it +numbered about twenty thousand men. His duties were a vigilant observation +of the enemy and such defensive preparations as were necessary. The pivot +of the campaign was elsewhere. If Patterson could successfully occupy +Johnston until the crisis at Manassas was passed, the result was doubtful, +at least; but if Johnston, at the required moment, could elude his +adversary, and reinforce Beauregard, the probabilities were most promising +to the Confederates. In the sequel, this proved a result far more easily +attained than had been hoped for. The campaign thus became a series of +maneuvres, with the Confederates in possession of the decided advantage of +an interior line. + +General Patterson, apparently imbecile or bewildered, committed a series +of blunders, to be accounted for upon no possible hypothesis accrediting +to him even ordinary acquaintance with the palpable principles of the +science of war. What his repeated advances, retreats, and flank movements +could have been designed to accomplish, it is difficult to imagine, as his +situation plainly prevented his escape from Johnston and reinforcement of +McDowell, before Johnston could reach Beauregard. General Patterson's +failure to _attack_ Johnston preordained the disaster to McDowell on the +21st of July. Johnston, aided by the vigilance and daring of the +"indefatigable" Stuart, was fully apprised of every movement of his +adversary. With comparatively little difficulty he escaped from his front, +and, in accordance with the plan previously indicated, reinforced +Beauregard with the greater portion of his force. + +With the details of the overwhelming disaster to the Federal arms, at +Manassas, on the 21st of July, we are not here interested. Our aim has +been to glance briefly at the relations sustained by President Davis to +the preliminary campaign which culminated in success so brilliant and +valuable. In accordance with his preconceived purpose to be present, if +possible, at the consummation of plans in which he felt so profound an +interest, President Davis left Richmond on Sunday morning, July 21st, for +the scene of the expected battle. Reaching the battle-field while the +struggle was still in progress, it was his privilege to witness the +flight, in utter confusion and dismay, of the Federal hosts in their first +serious conflict with the patriot army. His presence upon the field was +the inspiration of unbounded enthusiasm among the troops, to whom his name +and bearing were the symbols of victory. His dispatch from the +battle-field, on Sunday night, will long be remembered by those who +gathered from it their first intelligence of the great victory: + + "MANASSAS JUNCTION, Sunday Night. + + "Night has closed upon a hard-fought field. Our forces were + victorious. The enemy were routed, and precipitately fled, abandoning + a large amount of arms, knapsacks, and baggage. The ground was strewn + for miles with those killed, and the farmhouses and ground around were + filled with the wounded. Pursuit was continued along several routes + towards Leesburg and Centreville, until darkness covered the + fugitives. We have captured many field batteries and stands of arms, + and one of the United States flags. Many prisoners have been taken. + Too high praise can not be bestowed, whether for the skill of the + principal officers, or the gallantry of all our troops. The battle was + mainly fought on our left. Our force was 15,000; that of the enemy + estimated at 35,000. + + "JEFF'N DAVIS." + +He remained at Manassas, in consultation with Generals Beauregard and +Johnston, until the morning of Tuesday, July 23d. The return of the +President to Richmond was the occasion of renewed patriotic rejoicings. An +immense crowd awaited at the railroad depot, in expectancy of his arrival, +and both there and at his hotel occurred most enthusiastic demonstrations +of popular delight at the success of the army, and of public regard for +himself.[38] At night Mr. Davis addressed, with thrilling effect, an +immense audience, from a window of the Spottswood Hotel, recounting some +of the incidents of the battle, which he declared to be a decisive +victory, if followed by energetic measures, and counseled moderation and +forbearance in victory, with unrelaxed preparations for future trials. It +was upon this occasion that he uttered the memorable injunction, "Never be +haughty to the humble, or humble to the haughty." + +The immediate and palpable consequence of the victory of Manassas was the +rescue of the Confederacy from the peril by which, for weeks, it had been +threatened. The South was now plainly a power, capable of fighting ably +and vigorously, and with greatly improved prospects of success, for the +independence which it had asserted. Time was to develop a far greater +value in this wonderful success than was then made available. A few days +only were required to exhibit, what at first appeared merely a thorough +repulse of the Federal army, as an overwhelming rout, capable of being +followed to such results as might have changed even the fate of a nation. +Not many weeks sufficed to convince the Southern people of the fact which +must ever dwell among their saddest associations, that an opportunity, +inestimable in value, and almost unparalleled in its flattering +inducements to a people situated as they were, had been utterly +unappreciated and irrevocably lost. + +In the numerous accounts which have been written, representing all shades +of opinion from different stand-points on both sides, and from the wide +discussion which has resulted, history can be at no loss for material upon +which to base an intelligent estimate of this battle, and of the extent to +which the victors reaped the advantages of success. Differences of opinion +have prevailed, and will, in all probability, continue to prevail, +respecting the purely military questions involved in the discussion of the +absence of such a vigorous, pertinacious, and unrelenting pursuit by the +Confederates as was necessary to secure the fruits of a decisive victory. +But the stubborn conviction, nevertheless, remains, and will never be +eradicated from the Southern mind--that, barring the immediate security to +the Confederate capital, Manassas was but a barren victory, where results +of a most decisive character were within easy reach. Nor is this popular +impression unsustained by such competent military authority, as will +command respect for its judgment, upon those aspects of the question, upon +which a military judgment is alone valuable. + +So emphatic became the public condemnation of the inactivity of the army, +and especially when, by subsequent information, was revealed the real +condition of the enemy after his overwhelming disaster, that inquiry was +naturally made as to the authorship of such an erroneous policy. The +presence of President Davis, both during a portion of the battle and +during the day following, was promptly seized upon as affording a clue to +the mystery. For months he rested under the suspicion of having, by +peremptory order, stopped the pursuit of the enemy, in the face of the +protestations of his generals, who would have pressed it to the extent of +attainable results. + +How such an impression--_so utterly in conflict with the facts_--could +have obtained, by whom, or for what purpose it was disseminated, it is now +needless to inquire. The slander was, at length, after having been +circulated to the injury of Mr. Davis throughout the country, so +conclusively answered as to receive not even the pretense of belief, save +from an unscrupulous partisanship, at all times deaf to facts which could +not be perverted injuriously to the President. It nevertheless had served +a purpose, in preparing the popular mind for those constantly iterated +charges of "executive interference," in the plans and dispositions of the +armies of the Confederacy, which followed at subsequent stages of the war. + +It may be asked, Why did Mr. Davis suffer this suspicion, when the proof +of its injustice might have been so easily adduced? This inquiry would +indicate an imperfect acquaintance with that devoted patriotism and +knightly magnanimity which belong to his character. Any explanation +acquitting himself, must have thrown the responsibility upon Generals +Johnston and Beauregard, and he preferred rather to suffer an undeserved +reproach, than to excite distrust of two officers, then enjoying the +largest degree of popular confidence. With him, selfish considerations +were never permitted to outweigh the interests of the country. Actuated by +this impulse, he, in more than one instance, where the names of men high +in public favor were used in his disparagement, refused, even in +self-defense, that retaliation, which must have hurt the cause in +proportion as it diminished confidence in its prominent representatives. +Mr. Davis, with that decorum which has equally illustrated his public and +private life, recognized the special propriety of a denial of these +injurious rumors _from other sources_, fully apprized of their falsity, +and from which such an acquittal of himself would have come with becoming +candor and grace. + +Justice, proverbially slow, has been tardy indeed in its awards to Mr. +Davis; but in this instance, as it must inevitably in others, it has come +time enough for his historical vindication. The reader, uninformed as to +the merits of this question, will be content with a limited statement from +the mass of testimony, which has ultimately acquitted Mr. Davis of having +prevented the pursuit of the Federal army after its overthrow upon the +field of Manasses. In a publication, presenting an elaborate indictment +against Mr. Davis, as the main instrument of the downfall of the +Confederacy, written since the war, is found the following admission: "As +is known, he (President Davis) was at Manasses the evening of the 21st +July, 1861. Until a late hour that night he was engaged with Generals +Johnston and Beauregard, at the quarters of the latter, in discussing the +momentous achievements of the day, the extent of which was not as yet +recognized at all by him or his generals. Much gratified with known +results, his bearing was eminently proper. He certainly expressed no +opposition to any forward movement; nor at the time displayed a +disposition to interpose his opinion or authority touching operations and +plans of campaign."[39] + +General Johnston, in a communication published since the war, assumes the +responsibility of the failure to pursue, and, with the advantage of +retrospect, defends that course with cogent reasoning and an interesting +statement of facts. Says General Johnston: "'The substantial fruit' of +this victory was the preservation of the Confederacy. No more could have +been hoped for. The pursuit of the enemy was not continued because our +cavalry (a very small force) _was driven back_ by the 'solid resistance' +of the United States infantry. Its rearguard was an entire division, which +had not been engaged, and was twelve or fifteen times more numerous than +our two little bodies of cavalry. The infantry was not required to +continue the pursuit, because it would have been harassing it to no +purpose. It is well known that infantry, unencumbered by baggage trains, +can easily escape pursuing cavalry." + +That no farther results were to be hoped for than the arrest of the +Federal advance toward Richmond, he endeavors to demonstrate as follows: +"A movement upon Washington was out of the question. We could not have +carried the intrenchments by assault, and had none of the means to besiege +them. Our assault would have been repulsed, and the enemy, then become the +victorious party, would have resumed their march to Richmond; but if we +had captured the intrenchments, a river, a mile wide, lay between them and +Washington, commanded by the guns of a Federal fleet. If we had taken +Alexandria, which stands on low and level ground, those guns would have +driven us out in a few hours, at the same time killing our friends, the +inhabitants. We could not cross the Potomac, and therefore it was +impracticable to conquer the hostile capital, or emancipate oppressed +Maryland." + +But these statements, ample, as far as they go, in the vindication of Mr. +Davis, only partially tell the story of Manassas. They do not fully +describe his real relation to the question, though we are far from +imputing to General Johnston an intentional omission. A statement of Mr. +Davis' views was not necessarily germane to General Johnston's explanation +of his own conduct. His purpose is to establish the reasons which induced +him to decline pursuit of the enemy, or rather, which, in his judgment, +made pursuit impracticable. Nor is it germane to our purpose to discuss +these reasons; to attempt either a demonstration of their fallacy or an +argument in their support. They have not been accepted as conclusive +either by the public, or by unanimous military judgment. + +The great name of Stonewall Jackson, himself an actor in the most +thrilling scenes of that wonderful triumph of Southern valor, and dating +from that day his record upon the "bead-roll of fame," is authoritatively +given in opposition to the policy which General Johnston approves. In +this connection, we can not forbear to quote the biographer of that +illustrious man, in passages showing that wondrous intuition of great +soldiership, more distinctive, perhaps, of Jackson, than of any commander +of the present century, excepting only Napoleon. Professor Dabney says: +"Jackson, describing the manifest rout of the enemy, remarked to the +physicians, that he believed 'with ten thousand fresh men he could go into +the city of Washington.'" Again, after a most graphic picture of the +condition of the Federal army, its demoralization, panic, and utter +incapacity to meet an attack by the victorious Confederates, and an able +statement of the inducements to a vigorous pursuit, the biographer of +General Jackson makes this impressive statement: "With these views of the +campaign, General Jackson earnestly concurred. His sense of official +propriety sealed his lips; and when the more impatient spirits inquired, +day after day, why they were not led after the enemy, his only answer was +to say: 'That is the affair of the commanding generals.' But to his +confidential friends he afterward declared, when no longer under the +orders of those officers, that their inaction was a deplorable blunder; +and this opinion he was subsequently accustomed to assert with a warmth +and emphasis unusual in his guarded manner."[40] + +Mr. Davis was far from approving the inaction which followed Manassas. He +confidently expected a different use of the victory. When called away by +the pressing nature of his official duties at Richmond, he left the army +with a heart elastic with hope, at what he considered the certainty of +even more glorious and valuable achievements. His speech at the depot in +Richmond, which we have given elsewhere, is evidence of his exultant +anticipations. The speech at the Spottswood, entering more into details, +still better authenticates his hopes of an immediate and successful +advance.[41] There could be no misinterpretation of the ardor with which, +in glowing sentences, he predicted the immediate and consecutive triumphs +of what he proudly termed the "gallant little army." + +Indeed, before leaving Manassas, President Davis favored the most vigorous +pursuit practicable. On the evening of the battle, while the victory was +assured, but by no means complete, he urged that the enemy, still on the +field, (Heintzelman's troops, as subsequently appeared,) be warmly +pressed, as was successfully done. During the night following the +engagement he made a disposition of a portion of the troops, with a view +to an advance in the morning. These troops were removed, but not by +himself, to meet an apprehended attack upon the head-quarters of the army. +An advance on Monday, the 22d July, was out of the question, in +consequence of the heavy rain. + +It is not to be understood that President Davis fully appreciated, on +Sunday night, the 21st, the overwhelming rout of the Federal army, nor +that he advocated, as practicable, an immediate movement in pursuit, by +the entire army. No one could have anticipated the utter disorganization +attending the flight of the Federals. He had, too, positive evidence of +the confusion prevailing among portions of the Southern troops. Summoned +by a message from a youthful connection, who was mortally wounded, Mr. +Davis rode over a large portion of the field, in a vain search for the +regiment to which the young man was attached. Upon his return, he +accidentally met an officer who directed him to the locality of the +regiment, where he found the corpse of his relative. The evidences of +disorganization, upon which General Johnston dwells with so much force and +emphasis, were indeed palpable, but Mr. Davis confidently believed that an +efficient pursuit might be made by such commands as were in comparatively +good condition. Such were his impressions then, and that he contemplated +immediate activity as the sequel of Manassas, is a matter of indisputable +record. + +That Mr. Davis did not insist upon the undeferred execution of his own +views, is proof less of his approval of the course pursued, than of an +absence of that pragmatic disposition with which he was afterwards so +persistently charged. His subsequent hearty tributes to Beauregard and +Johnston, and prompt recognition of their services, show how far he was +elevated above that mean intolerance, which would have made him incapable +of according merit to the opinions and actions of others, when averse to +his own conclusions. + +This determined spirit of misrepresentation of the motives and conduct of +the President, beginning thus early--respecting the origin of which we +shall have more to say hereafter--was to prove productive of the most +serious embarrassments to the Confederate cause. The first great success +in arms achieved by the South, was to originate questions tending to +excite distrust in the capacity of the Executive, and subsequently +distrust of his treatment of those who were under his authority. +Misrepresentation was not to cease with the attempt already mentioned to +impair public confidence in Mr. Davis. A pragmatic interference with the +plans of his generals was persistently charged upon him. The almost +uninterrupted inactivity of the main army in Virginia, following the +battle of Manassas, by which the enemy was permitted, without molestation, +to organize a new army--a subject of constant and exasperated censure by +the public--was falsely attributed to Mr. Davis' interference with +Generals Johnston and Beauregard. It is a sad evidence of the license +characteristic of a purely partisan criticism, that this falsely alleged +interference has even been ascribed to the instigations of a mean envy of +the popularity of those officers. + +The purely personal differences of public men are not the proper +subject-matter of historical discussion. In the prosecution of our +endeavor to give an intelligent and candid narrative of the events of the +war, in so far as President Davis was connected with them, we shall have +occasion to dwell upon those differences between himself and others +respecting important questions of policy which are known to have existed. +We do not see that the personal relations of President Davis with Generals +Johnston and Beauregard, are here a subject of appropriate inquiry. Nor +are those minor questions of detail as to the organization of the army, +which arose between them, of such significance as to justify elaborate +discussion here. That President Davis chose to exercise those plain +privileges with which the Constitution invested him; that he should have +consulted that military knowledge which his education and service had +taught him; that he should make available his valuable experience as +Minister of War; and that he should have failed to interpret the acts of +Congress agreeably to the tastes of generals in the field, rather than +according to his own judgment, is certainly singular evidence upon which +to base charges of "pragmatism," "persecution," and "envy" of those +generals.[42] + +While the main struggle in Virginia was yet undecided, the Confederate +force, under General Garnett, in Western Virginia, had been disastrously +defeated by the Federal army of General McClellan. The Confederate +commander, a brave and promising officer, was killed, in a gallant +endeavor to protect the retreat of his command. This achievement of +General McClellan, though attributable mainly to his vastly superior +force, was attended by evidences of skill, which indicated him as a +prominent figure in the events of the immediate future. In the midst of +the gloom and disappointment consequent upon the disaster at Manassas, +General McClellan appeared to the Northern Government and masses to be an +officer specially recommended, by his late success, for the important +charge of the army designed to protect the capital. He was immediately +summoned to Washington, and placed in charge of its defenses. With rare +capacity for general military administration, and with especial aptitude +for organization, General McClellan addressed himself with vigor and +success to the work assigned him. Under his direction, the defenses of +Washington were speedily put in admirable condition, and within a few +months, he had created an army which, in discipline, organization, and +equipment, would have compared favorably with the best armies of the +world. + +General McClellan was too sagacious and prudent a commander to repeat the +errors of his predecessor. He was evidently determined not to undertake an +aggressive campaign until his preparations were completed. During the +progress of those preparations, he endeavored also to provide against +those aggressive movements which he evidently anticipated from his +adversaries. But the autumn and winter were to pass away without any +serious demonstration by the Confederate commanders, and with but one +important movement of the enemy. + +In the early fall, Generals Johnston and Beauregard advanced to a position +in close proximity to the Federal capital. Unable, however, to provoke an +engagement with the Federal commander, whose present purposes were purely +defensive and preparatory, the Confederate army withdrew from the front of +Washington, and retired within its former lines about Manassas and +Centreville. + +In the latter part of October, an engagement of some importance occurred +near Leesburg, occasioned by an attempt of General McClellan to throw a +force across the Potomac, doubtless with the view of an advance on the +Confederate left wing. The numbers engaged in this engagement were +comparatively small, which rendered more remarkable its sanguinary +character. Nearly the entire Federal force, though outnumbering more than +two to one the Confederate force, was captured or destroyed. There was +good reason to regard this movement as preliminary to a general advance of +the Federal army. The battle of Leesburg was very dispiriting in its +effects upon the North, and equally re-assuring to the Southern Government +and people. No other operations of note occurred during the autumn and +winter upon the lines of the Lower Potomac. + +General Jackson, who by a circumstance which is now well known to the +world, had acquired at Manassas the _sobriquet_ of "Stonewall," in +September, 1861, was made a Major-General. Late in December, in charge of +a considerable force, he executed, with indifferent success, a movement +against detachments of the enemy in the neighborhood of Romney, and other +points along the Upper Potomac. + +The disasters sustained by the Confederates in Western Virginia, in the +early summer, were not repaired by the transfer of General Lee to that +quarter. A large and valuable section of country remained as the enemy's +trophy, almost undisputed at the termination of the campaign. The +reputation of General Lee suffered severely from the absence of that +success which was anticipated from his presence in command. It is a +noteworthy circumstance that when, a few months afterward, the President +placed Lee in command of the main army of Virginia, his ill-success in +Western Virginia was alleged as conclusive evidence of his unfitness for +the position to which "executive partiality" had assigned him. + +In the meantime, upon the distant theatre of Missouri, the war had assumed +a most interesting phase. Many months before the legally-elected +legislature of that State adopted an ordinance of secession, Missouri was +contributing valuable aid to the struggling Confederacy. Driven by the +oppressive course of the Federal Government into resistance, in spite of +their efforts to save their State from the destructive presence of war, +the Southern men of Missouri organized under the leadership of General +Sterling Price and Governor Jackson. Accessions of men from all portions +of the State were constantly made to the patriot forces, and, within a few +weeks, a large force was upon the southern border, animated by an +enthusiastic desire to undertake the redemption of their homes. + +But the Missourians, though sufficiently numerous to constitute an +effective army, were confronted by difficulties which would have appalled +men of less heroic purpose, or enlisted in an inferior cause. Hostilities +had been precipitated upon them while they were entirely +unprepared--wanting arms, ammunition, and other indispensable material of +war. The remoteness of Missouri from the seat of government, and the +inadequate transportation, prevented that prompt and efficient aid by the +Confederate authorities which it was equally their interest and +inclination to afford. Nevertheless, with almost miraculous rapidity, the +army of General Price was organized, and supplied with such material as he +could obtain. + +The Federal commander, in his march southward from St. Louis, pursued, +with considerable vigor, the various detachments of the patriots who were +hastening to the standards of Price. After several minor engagements, in +which the Missourians displayed the most devoted heroism, a considerable +battle was fought, early in August, near Springfield, in the south-western +corner of the State, in which the Federal army was disastrously defeated, +and its commander killed. In this battle, the Missouri forces were aided +by a Confederate force, under General McCulloch, which had advanced +northward from Arkansas. Later in the year, General Price advanced through +the central portion of the State, receiving large additions to his army, +and captured the largest garrison of Federal troops in Northern Missouri. +Having accomplished these valuable aims, he, with great skill and daring, +effected a safe retreat to the south-western frontier. President Davis, in +a message to Congress, echoed the hearty appreciation of the Southern +people, in a special tribute to the valor and devotion of the southern +population of Missouri. + +Kentucky also had become the theatre of hostilities. The Federal +Government, recognizing the neutrality of Kentucky so long as was +necessary to mature their plans for her subjugation, finally insisted upon +making her a party to the war, and invaded her territory with a view to +operations against the Confederacy. President Davis thus stated the +motives of the policy adopted by the Confederate Government respecting +Kentucky: + + "Finding that the Confederate States were about to be invaded through + Kentucky, and that her people, after being deceived into a mistaken + security, were unarmed, and in danger of being subjugated by the + Federal forces, our armies were marched into that State to repel the + enemy, and prevent their occupation of certain strategic points, which + would have given them great advantages in the contest--a step which + was justified, not only by the necessities of self-defense on the part + of the Confederate States, but also by a desire to aid the people of + Kentucky. It was never intended by the Confederate Government to + conquer or coerce the people of that State; but, on the contrary, it + was declared by our Generals that they would withdraw their troops if + the Federal Government would do likewise. Proclamation was also made + of the desire to respect the neutrality of Kentucky, and the + intention, by the wishes of her people, as soon as they were free to + express their opinions. + + "These declarations were approved by me; and I should regard it as one + of the best effects of the march of our troops into Kentucky, if it + should end in giving to her people liberty of choice, and a free + opportunity to decide their own destiny, according to their own will." + +Not long after the occupation of various points in Kentucky, by the +respective armies, an engagement occurred at Belmont, on the Missouri +shore, near Columbus, resulting in the defeat of the Federal force +engaged. The Confederate forces engaged were a portion of the command of +General Polk, and the defeated Federal commander was General U. S. Grant. + +Before the first year of the war terminated, the Confederates experienced +reverses resulting from the naval superiority of the enemy. Expeditions +were undertaken against the Carolina coast, and were successful to the +extent of securing a permanent lodgment of the Federal forces. + +In the month of November the forcible seizure, by a Federal naval officer, +of the persons of Messrs. John Slidell and James M. Mason, commissioners, +respectively, from the Confederate States to France and England, and, at +the time, passengers on an English steamer, excited strong hope of those +complications between the United States and European powers which were +reasonably anticipated by the South. This act was a palpable outrage and +violation alike of international law and comity. It was, nevertheless, +indorsed by public sentiment at the North, in manifold forms of +expression. + +In England, the intelligence of an outrage upon the national flag was +received with outbursts of popular indignation, which compelled the +Government to make a resentful demand upon the United States. The course +of the English Government was characteristic of the nation which it +represented. There was neither discussion nor parley, but a simple +imperative demand for the surrender of the commissioners and their +attachès. + +Never was so deep a humiliation imposed upon a people as that imposed by +the course of the Federal authorities upon the North. The prisoners, over +whose capture the whole North had but recently exulted, as at the +realization of the fruits of a brilliant victory, were surrendered +immediately. Mr. Seward even declared that they were surrendered +"cheerfully," and in accordance with the "most cherished principles of +American statesmanship," and advanced an argument in favor of complying +with the demands of the British Government, far more to have been expected +from a British diplomatist, than from the leading statesman of a people +who had promptly indorsed the outrage. + +This concession of the Federal Government was the first of numerous +disappointments in store for the Southern people, in the hope, so +universally indulged, of foreign intervention. Expectation of immediate +complications between England and the United States, received great +encouragement from the earlier phase of the "Trent affair," as was called +the seizure of Messrs. Mason and Slidell. Consequent upon the +correspondence between the Governments of England and the United States, +growing out of the "Trent affair," were announcements in Parliament, which +should have discouraged the anticipation of interference by England, at +least with the cabinet then in power. Lord John Russell declared that the +blockade of the Southern ports was effective, in spite of abundant +evidence, and in spite, even, of the declarations of the British consul at +Charleston to the contrary. This concession was intended, doubtless, as a +salvo to the North for its deep humiliation, and was, indeed, rightly +construed as an evidence of the real sympathies of the British cabinet in +the American struggle. In this aspect, it was an assurance of no little +significance. + +At the election, in November, Mr. Davis, without opposition, was chosen +the first President of the Confederacy, under the permanent government, +which was soon to succeed the provisional organization. Mr. Stephens was +reëlected Vice-President. + +In his message to the provisional Congress, at the beginning of its last +session, the President thus sketched the situation at the close of the +first year of the war: + + "_To the Congress of the Confederate States_: + + "The few weeks which have elapsed since your adjournment have brought + us so near the close of the year, that we are now able to sum up its + general results. The retrospect is such as should fill the hearts of + our people with gratitude to Providence for his kind interposition in + their behalf. Abundant yields have rewarded the labor of the + agriculturist, whilst the manufacturing interest of the Confederate + States was never so prosperous as now. The necessities of the times + have called into existence new branches of manufactures, and given a + fresh impulse to the activity of those heretofore in operation. The + means of the Confederate States for manufacturing the necessaries and + comforts of life, within themselves, increase as the conflict + continues, and we are rapidly becoming independent of the rest of the + world, for the supply of such military stores and munitions as are + indispensable for war. + + "The operations of the army, soon to be partially interrupted by the + approaching winter, have afforded a protection to the country, and + shed a lustre upon its arms, through the trying vicissitudes of more + than one arduous campaign, which entitle our brave volunteers to our + praise and our gratitude. + + "From its commencement up to the present period, the war has been + enlarging its proportions and extending its boundaries, so as to + include new fields. The conflict now extends from the shores of the + Chesapeake to the confines of Missouri and Arizona; yet sudden calls + from the remotest points for military aid have been met with + promptness enough, not only to avert disaster in the face of superior + numbers, but also to roll back the tide of invasion from the border. + + "When the war commenced, the enemy were possessed of certain strategic + points and strong places within the Confederate States. They greatly + exceeded us in numbers, in available resources, and in the supplies + necessary for war. Military establishments had been long organized, + and were complete; the navy, and, for the most part, the army, once + common to both, were in their possession. To meet all this, we had to + create, not only an army in the face of war itself, but also military + establishments necessary to equip and place it in the field. It ought, + indeed, to be a subject of gratulation that the spirit of the + volunteers and the patriotism of the people have enabled us, under + Providence, to grapple successfully with these difficulties. + + "A succession of glorious victories at Bethel, Bull Run, Manassas, + Springfield, Lexington, Leesburg, and Belmont, has checked the wicked + invasion which greed of gain, and the unhallowed lust of power, + brought upon our soil, and has proved that numbers cease to avail, + when directed against a people fighting for the sacred right of + self-government and the privileges of freemen. After seven months of + war, the enemy have not only failed to extend their occupancy of our + soil, but new States and Territories have been added to our + Confederacy; while, instead of their threatened march of unchecked + conquest, they have been driven, at more than one point, to assume the + defensive; and, upon a fair comparison between the two belligerents, + as to men, military means, and financial condition, the Confederate + States are relatively much stronger now than when the struggle + commenced." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + PROSPECTS AT THE BEGINNING OF 1862--EXTREME CONFIDENCE OF THE SOUTH-- + EXTRAVAGANT EXPECTATIONS--THE RICHMOND EXAMINER ON CONFEDERATE + PROSPECTS--WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND AND THE UNITED STATES PREDICTED--THE + BLOCKADE TO BE RAISED--THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY DECREED BY HEAVEN-- + RESULT OF THE BOASTFUL TONE OF THE SOUTHERN PRESS--THE CONFEDERATE + GOVERNMENT NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DISASTERS OF 1862--PRESIDENT DAVIS + URGES PREPARATION FOR A LONG WAR--HIS WISE OPPOSITION TO SHORT + ENLISTMENTS OF TROOPS--PREMONITIONS OF MISFORTUNES IN THE WEST--THE + CONFEDERATE FORCES IN KENTUCKY--GENERAL ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON--HIS + CAREER BEFORE THE WAR--CHARACTER--APPEARANCE--THE FRIEND OF JEFFERSON + DAVIS--MUTUAL ESTEEM--SIDNEY JOHNSTON IN KENTUCKY--HIS PLANS--HIS + DIFFICULTIES--THE FORCES OF GRANT AND BUELL--CRUEL DILEMMA OF GENERAL + SIDNEY JOHNSTON--A REVERSE--GRANT CAPTURES FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON-- + LOSS OF KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE--FEDERAL DESIGNS IN THE EAST--BURNSIDE + CAPTURES ROANOKE ISLAND--SERIOUS NATURE OF THESE REVERSES--POPULAR + DISAPPOINTMENT--ORGANIZED OPPOSITION TO THE CONFEDERATE + ADMINISTRATION--CHARACTER AND MOTIVES OF THIS OPPOSITION--AN EFFORT TO + REVOLUTIONIZE PRESIDENT DAVIS' CABINET--ASSAULTS UPON SECRETARIES + BENJAMIN AND MALLORY--CORRECT EXPLANATION OF THE CONFEDERATE + REVERSES--CONGRESSIONAL CENSURE OF MR. BENJAMIN--SECRETARY MALLORY-- + CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SOUTHERN MIND--THE PERMANENT GOVERNMENT--SECOND + INAUGURATION OF MR. DAVIS--SEVERITY OF THE SEASON--THE CEREMONIES-- + APPEARANCE OF PRESIDENT DAVIS--HIS INAUGURAL ADDRESS--ITS EFFECT-- + POPULAR RE-ASSURANCE--MESSAGE TO CONGRESS--COMMENTS OF RICHMOND PRESS. + + +When President Davis held his first New-Year's reception, as the chief +magistrate of the infant Confederacy, there were not wanting signs of the +approaching shadows, which were to throw in temporary eclipse the +brilliant foreground of the first year of the war. Richmond was then in +its exultant spirit, its gayety, festivity, and show, the type of that +fatal confidence in Southern invincibility, which, in a few weeks of +disaster, was brought to grief and humiliation. + +In that numerous and brilliant assemblage, representing the various +branches of the new government, civil, naval, and military, members of +Congress and of State Legislatures, and admiring citizens, eager to make +formal tender of their esteem to the first President of the South, there +were few who discerned the omens of the coming storm, which was to shake +its foundation, the power of which that occasion was an imposing symbol. +Perhaps there were as few who could penetrate his assuring exterior of +grace, gentleness, and dignity, and share the anxiety with which, even in +the midst of popular adulation, he contemplated the approach of that stern +trial for which the country was so deficient in preparation. + +With singular accord of opinion, writers, who had an _inside_ view of the +Southern conduct of the war, have commented upon the disasters consequent +upon the period of fancied security and relaxed exertions which followed +the battle of Manassas. We can not share, however, the shallow and +unphilosophical conclusion which pronounces the glorious triumph of +Manassas a calamity to the South. The temporary salvation of the +Confederacy, guaranteed by that victory, was not its only fruit. Manassas +gave a stamp of _prestige_ to Southern valor and soldiership, which not +even a deluge of subsequent disasters could efface. It gave an +imperishable record and an undying incentive to resolution. + +Yet it is not to be questioned that the public apathy, engendered by an +exaggerated estimate of the value of the numerous and consecutive +triumphs of the preceding summer and autumn, was measurably productive of +evil consequences. Encouraged by the press, in many instances, the +Southern people saw, in the comparatively easy triumphs of their superior +valor over undisciplined Northern mobs--for which Manassas, Belmont, +Leesburg, and similar engagements constituted the mere apprenticeship of +war--the auguries significant of a speedy attainment of their +independence. Inflated orators and boastful editorials proclaimed the +absolute certainty of early interference of foreign powers, in behalf of +the South, as the source of the indispensable staples of cotton and +tobacco. In the face of the enormous preparations of the enemy, his +monster armies, numbering, in December, 1861, more than six hundred +thousand men; his numerous fleets for sea-board operations, and iron-clad +floating batteries for the interior streams, comparatively insignificant +successes were pointed to as sufficient proofs of the inability of the +enemy to make any serious impression upon Southern territory. + +The Richmond _Examiner_, which had early evinced a disposition hostile to +President Davis and his administration, the ablest and most influential +journal of the South, destined to furnish both the brains and inspiration +in support of future opposition, was conspicuous in its contempt for the +fighting qualities of the North, and vehement in its prophesies of good +fortune for the Confederacy. Late in December, the _Examiner_, commenting +upon recent intelligence from the North, said: "All other topics become +trifles beside the tidings of England which occupies this journal, and all +commentary that diverts public attention from that single point is +impertinence. The effect of the outrage of the Trent on the public +sentiment of Great Britain more than fulfills the prophesy that we made +when the arrest of the Confederate ministers was a fresh event. All legal +quibbling and selfish calculation has been consumed like straw in the +burning sense of incredible insult. The Palmerston cabinet has been forced +to immediate and decisive measures; and a peremptory order to Lord Lyons +comes with the steamer that brings the news to the American shore. He is +directed to demand the unconditional surrender of Messrs. Mason and +Slidell, to place them in the position they were found beneath the British +flag, and a complete disavowal of their seizure as an authorized act. +_Now, the Northern Government has placed itself in such a position that it +can do none of these things. The Abolitionist element of the Northern +States would go straight to revolution at the least movement toward a +surrender of the captives_; the arrest was made by the deliberately +written orders of the Government, already avowed and published beyond the +hope of apology or possibility of retraction. + +"The United States can do absolutely nothing but refuse the demands of +Great Britain, and abide the consequences of that refusal. What they will +be can be clearly foretold: _first, there will be the diplomatic rupture; +Lord Lyons will demand his passports, and Mr. Adams will be sent away from +London; then will follow an immediate recognition of the Southern +Confederacy, with encouragement and aid in fitting out its vessels, and +supplying their wants in the British ports and islands. Lastly, a war will +be evolved from these two events._" + +Continuing its comments upon what it terms the "raving madness" of the +North, the _Examiner_ says: "Then came the proclamation of Lincoln. +Nothing but insanity could have dictated it; and without it the secession +of Virginia was impossible. _Then their crazy attempt to subdue a country +not less difficult to conquer than Russia itself, with an armed mob of +loafers._" + +In the contemplation of the pleasing sketch which its imagination had +executed, the _Examiner_ asks: "_Spectators of these events, who can doubt +that the Almighty fiat has gone forth against the American Union, or that +the Southern Confederacy is decreed by the Divine Wisdom?_" It declares +that the "dullest worldling, the coolest Atheist, the most hardened cynic, +might be struck with awe by the startling and continued interposition of a +power beyond the control or cognizance of men in these affairs;" and +triumphantly asks: "Who thought, when the Trent was announced to sail, +that on its deck, and in the trough of the weltering Atlantic, the key of +the blockade would be lost?" + +The natural and inevitable result of the assurances tendered to the +people, was to lull the patriotic ardor which marked the first great +uprising for defense, when two hundred thousand men sprung to arms. There +can be no justice in holding the Confederate Government responsible for +the popular apathy, which it had no agency in producing, or for the +weakness of the armies, which, next to the naval weakness of the South, +was the immediate cause of the disasters of the early months of 1862. + +Since the commencement of hostilities, the Government had been +indefatigable in its efforts to promote enlistments of _volunteers for the +war_, instead of the twelve-months' system, which could be adequate for +the demands of a temporary exigency only, and not for such a terrific +struggle as must result from the temper and resources of the two +contestants. Volunteering was as yet the only method of raising troops +sanctioned by law, or likely to meet popular approval. The country was not +yet prepared for an enforced levy of troops; and it is only necessary to +remember the opposition, in certain quarters, to the execution of the +subsequent conscription law, adopted under the pressure of disasters which +made its necessity plain and inevitable, to conjecture the temper in which +such a measure would have been met, in the over-confident and foolishly +exultant tone of the press and public in the winter of 1861. + +Mr. Davis especially sought to disabuse the public mind of its fallacious +hope of a short contest, by his efforts to place the military resources of +the South upon a footing capable of indefinite resistance to an attempt at +conquest, which was to end only with the success or exhaustion of the +North. Conscious of the perpetual disorganization and decimation of the +armies which must result from the system of short enlistments, he had, +early in the war, attracted unfriendly criticism by his refusal of any +more six or twelve-months' volunteers than were necessary to meet the +shock of the enemy's first advance. It was clear to his mind that, under +the wretched system of short enlistments, which he characterized as a +"frightful cause of disaster," the country must, at some period of the +war, be virtually without an army. Such was the case in January and +February, 1862, when the enemy eagerly pressed his immense advantage while +the process of furloughs and reënlistments was in progress, and the army +almost completely disorganized. + +Such a crisis was inevitable, and had it not occurred then, it would +merely have been deferred, to be encountered at a period when the capacity +of the Confederacy was even less adequate for its perils. The lesson was +not without its value, since it drove the country and the press to a +recognition of the fact that independence was not to be won by shifts and +dalliance, by temporary expedients, and by spasmodic popular uprisings for +temporary exigencies. + +The efforts of the Government were unceasing to prepare for the tremendous +onset of the enemy in almost every quarter of the Confederacy, which it +must have been blind, indeed, not to anticipate. The responses to the +calls of the Government were neither in numbers nor enthusiasm +encouraging. The people were blind in their confidence, and deaf to +appeals admonishing them of perils which, in their fancied security, they +believed impossible of realization. But this soothing sense of security +was soon to have a terrible awakening. The Confederate Government had +recognized the peculiar perils menacing the western section of its +territory. There for weeks rested the anxious gaze of President Davis, and +thence were to come the first notes of alarm--the immediate premonitions +of disaster. + +Immediately, upon the occupation of Kentucky by the Confederate forces, +had begun the development of a plan of defense by the Southern generals. +The command of General Polk, constituting the Confederate left, was at +Columbus. On the upper waters of the Cumberland River, in South-eastern +Kentucky, was a small force constituting the Confederate right, commanded +first by General Zollicoffer, and afterward by General Crittenden. At +Bowling Green, with Green River in front, and communicating by railway +with Nashville and the South, was the main Confederate force in Kentucky, +commanded by General Buckner until the arrival of General Albert Sidney +Johnston, whom President Davis had commissioned a full general in the +Confederate service, and assigned to the command of the Western +Department. + +Apart from the historical interest which belongs to the name of Albert +Sidney Johnston, and from the dramatic incident of his death at the very +climax of a splendid victory, which immediately paled into disaster upon +his fall, as the long and valued friend of Jefferson Davis, he is +entitled to special mention in the biography of the latter. + +Albert Sidney Johnston was born in Mason County, Kentucky, in 1803. He +graduated at West Point in 1826; was commissioned as Lieutenant of +infantry; served in the Black Hawk war with distinction; resigned and +settled in Texas in 1836. He volunteered as a private in her armies soon +after the battle of San Jacinto. His merit soon raised him from the ranks, +and he was appointed senior Brigadier-General, and succeeded General +Houston in the command of the Texan army. In 1838 he was appointed Texan +Secretary of War, and in 1839 organized an expedition against the hostile +Cherokees, in which he routed them completely in a battle on the river +Neches. He warmly advocated the annexation of Texas to the United States, +and after this union was effected, he took part in the Mexican war. His +services at the siege of Monterey drew upon him the public favor and the +thanks of General Butler. He continued in the army, and in 1857, was sent +by President Buchanan as Commander-in-Chief of the United States Army to +subdue the Mormons. His successful advance in the Great Salt Lake City, +and the skill and address with which he conducted a difficult enterprise, +largely increased his fame. When the war commenced between the North and +South, he was in California, but when he learned the progress of the +revolution, he resigned his commission and set out from San Francisco, to +penetrate by land to Richmond, a distance of two thousand three hundred +miles. + +The safe arrival of General Albert Sidney Johnston, within the lines of +the Confederacy, was greeted with a degree of public acclamation hardly +less enthusiastic than would have signalized the intelligence of a great +victory. It was known that the Federal authorities, anxious to prevent so +distinguished and valuable an accession to the generalship of the South, +were intent upon his capture. For weeks popular expectation had been +strained, in eager gaze, for tidings of the distinguished commander, who, +beset by innumerable perils and obstacles, was making his way across the +continent, not less eager to join his countrymen, than were they to feel +the weight of his noble blade in the unequal combat. + +Few of the eminent soldiers, who had sought service under the banners of +the Confederacy, had a more brilliant record of actual service; and to the +advantages of reputation, General Johnston added those graces and +distinctions of person with which the imagination invests the ideal +commander. He was considerably past middle age; his height exceeded six +feet, his frame was large and sinewy; his every movement and posture +indicated vigorous and athletic manhood. The general expression of his +striking face was grave and composed, but inviting rather than austere. + +The arrival of General Johnston in Richmond, early in September, was a +source of peculiar congratulation to President Davis. Between these +illustrious men had existed, for many years, an endearment, born of close +association, common trials and triumphs, and mutual confidence, which +rendered most auspicious their coöperation in the cause of Southern +independence. + +"Albert Sidney Johnston," says Professor Bledsoe, in a recent publication, +"who, take him all in all, was the simplest, bravest, grandest man we have +ever known, once said to the present writer: 'There is no measuring such a +man as Davis;' and this high tribute had a fitting counterpart in that +which Davis paid Johnston, when discussing, in the Federal Senate, the +Utah expedition. Said he ... 'I hold that the country is indebted to the +administration for having selected the man who is at the head of the +expedition; who, as a soldier, has not a superior in the army or out of +it; and whose judgment, whose art, whose knowledge is equal to this or any +other emergency; a man of such decision, such resolution that his +country's honor can never be tarnished in his hands; a man of such +calmness, such kindness, that a deluded people can never suffer by +harshness from him.'" + +President Davis immediately tendered to General Johnston the command of +one of the two grand military divisions of the Confederacy, and he as +promptly repaired to the scene of his duties. + +The general features of General Johnston's policy contemplated a line of +defense running from the Mississippi through the region immediately +covering Nashville to Cumberland Gap--the key to the defense of East +Tennessee and South-western Virginia, and thus to the most vital line of +communication in the South. It is easy to conceive the large force +requisite for so important and difficult a task, against the immense +armies of Grant and Buell, numbering, in the aggregate, more than one +hundred thousand men. Despite the earnest appeals of General Johnston, and +notwithstanding that upon the successful maintenance of his position +depended the successful defense of the entire southern and south-western +sections of the Confederacy, his force, at the last of January, 1862, did +not exceed twenty-six thousand men. Informed of his perilous situation, +the Confederate Government could do no more than second the appeals and +remonstrances of General Johnston. Slight accessions were made to his +force from the States which were menaced, but, as results speedily +demonstrated, he was unable to meet the enemy with an adequate force at +any one of the vital points of his defensive line. + +In the immediate front of General Johnston's position was the army of +Buell, estimated at forty thousand men, which, during the entire winter, +was in training for its meditated advance along the line of the railroad +in the direction of Nashville. Under Grant, at Cairo, was an army of more +than fifty thousand men, which, in coöperation with a formidable naval +force, was designed to operate against Nashville, and, by securing +possession of the line of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, to hold +Kentucky and West Tennessee. General Johnston's position was indeed a +cruel dilemma, and was sufficiently explained in a letter to President +Davis, representing the inadequacy of his force, for either front of +attack, upon a line whose every point demanded ample defense. Only a +self-denying patriotism could have induced General Johnston to occupy his +false position before the public, which accredited to him an army ample +even for aggressive warfare. With an almost certain prospect of disaster, +he nevertheless resolved to make the supreme effort which alone could +avert it. + +His plan was to meet Grant's attack upon Nashville with sixteen thousand +men, hoping, in the meanwhile, by boldly confronting Buell with the +residue of his forces, to hold in check the enemy in his immediate front. +During the winter, by a skillful disposition of his forces and adroit +maneuvers, he deceived the enemy as to his real strength, and thus +deferred the threatened advance until the month of February. + +The month of January, 1862, was to witness the first check to the arms of +the Confederacy, after seven months of uninterrupted victory. The scene of +the disaster was near Somerset, Kentucky. The forces engaged were +inconsiderable as compared with the conflicts of a few weeks later, but +the result was disheartening to the impatient temper of the South, not yet +chastened by the severe trials of adversity. General Crittenden was badly +defeated, though, as is probable, through no erroneous calculation or +defective generalship on his part. A melancholy feature of the disaster +was the death of General Zollicoffer. With the repulse and retreat of the +Confederate forces after the battle of Fishing Creek, as the action was +called, followed the virtual possession of South-eastern Kentucky by the +Federal army. The Confederate line of defense in Kentucky was thus broken, +and the value of other positions materially impaired. + +Early in February the infantry columns of Grant and the gunboats of +Commodore Foote commenced the ascent of the Tennessee River. The immediate +object of assault was Fort Henry, an imperfectly constructed +fortification, on the east bank of the river, near the dividing line of +Kentucky and Tennessee. After a signal display of gallantry by its +commander, General Tilghman, the fort was surrendered, the main body of +the forces defending it having been previously sent to Fort Donelson, the +principal defense of the Cumberland River. The capture of Fort Henry +opened the Tennessee River, penetrating the States of Tennessee and +Alabama, and navigable for steamers for more than two hundred miles, to +the unchecked advance of the enemy. + +General Grant promptly advanced to attack Fort Donelson. After a series of +bloody engagements and a siege of several days, Fort Donelson was +surrendered, with the garrison of more than nine thousand men. This result +was indeed a heavy blow to the Confederacy, and produced a most alarming +crisis in the military affairs of the Western Department. General +Johnston was near Nashville, with the force which had lately held Bowling +Green, the latter place having been evacuated during the progress of the +fight at Fort Donelson. Nashville was immediately evacuated, and the +remnant of General Johnston's army retreated southward, first to +Murfreesboro', Tennessee, and afterwards crossed the Tennessee, at +Decatur, Alabama. + +In January, General Beauregard had been transferred from Virginia to +Kentucky, and, at the time of the surrender of Nashville, was in command +of the forces in the neighborhood of Columbus, Kentucky, which protected +the passage of the Mississippi. The entire Confederate line of defense in +Kentucky and Tennessee having been lost with the surrender of Forts Henry +and Donelson, its various posts became untenable. In a subsequent portion +of this narrative, we shall trace the results of the Confederate endeavor +to establish a new line of defense in the West by a judicious and masterly +combination of forces. + +Meanwhile, the preparations of the enemy in the East were even more +formidable and threatening than in the West. It was in Virginia that the +"elastic spirit" of the North, as the Richmond _Examiner_ termed the +alacrity of the consecutive popular uprisings in favor of the war at the +North, was chiefly ambitious and hopeful of decisive results in favor of +the Union. Here was to be sought retrieval of the national honor lost at +Manassas; here was the capital of the Confederacy, which, once taken, the +"rebellion would collapse." The energy and administrative ability of +General McClellan had accomplished great results in the creation of a fine +army and the security of the capital. But, with the opening of the season +favorable to military operations, he was expected to accomplish far more +decisive results--nothing less than the capture of Richmond, the expulsion +of the Confederate authority from Virginia, and the destruction of the +Confederate army at Manassas. + +Until the opening of spring, military operations in Virginia were attended +by no events of importance. But the East was not to be without its +contribution to the unvarying tide of Confederate disaster. In the month +of February, Roanoke Island, upon the sea-line of North Carolina, defended +by General Wise, with a single brigade, was assaulted by a powerful +combined naval and military expedition, under General Burnside, and +surrendered, with its garrison. This success opened to the enemy the +sounds and inlets of that region, with their tributary streams, and gave +him easy access to a productive country and important communications. + +It was not difficult to estimate correctly the serious nature of these +successive reverses covering nearly every field of important operations. +They were of a character alarming, indeed, in immediate consequences, and, +necessarily, largely affecting the destiny of the war in its future +stages. Retreat, evacuation, and surrender seemed the irremediable +tendency of affairs every-where. Thousands of prisoners were in the hands +of the enemy, the capital of the most important State in the West +occupied, the Confederate centre was broken, the great water-avenues of +the south-west open to the enemy, the campaign transferred from the heart +of Kentucky to the northern borders of the Gulf States, and hardly an +available line was left for the recovery of the lost territory. + +Within a few weeks the extravagant hopes of the South were brought to the +verge of extreme apprehension. The public mind was not to be soothed by +the affected indifference of the press to calamities, the magnitude of +which was too palpable, in the presence of actual invasion of nearly one +half the Southern territory, and of imminent perils threatening the speedy +culmination of adverse fortune to the Confederacy. Richmond, which, during +the war, was at all times the reflex of the hopes and aspirations of the +South, was the scene of gloom and despondency, in painful contrast with +the ardent and gratulatory tone so lately prevalent. + +Popular disappointment rarely fails in its search for scapegoats upon +which to visit responsibility for misfortunes. A noticeable result of the +Confederate reverses in the beginning of 1862 was the speedy evolution of +an organized hostility to the administration of President Davis. The +season was eminently propitious for outward demonstrations of feeling, +heretofore suppressed, in consequence of the brilliant success, until +recently, attending the movement for Southern independence. The universal +and characteristic disposition of the masses to receive, with favor, +censure of their rulers, and to charge public calamities to official +failure and maladministration, was an inviting inducement, in this period +of public gloom, to the indulgence of partisan aspirations and personal +spleen. + +To one familiar with the political history of the South during the decade +previous to secession, there could be no difficulty in penetrating the +various motives, instigating to union, for a common purpose, the +heterogeneous elements of this opposition. Prominent among its leaders +were men, the life-long opponents of the President, notorious for their +want of adhesion to any principle or object for its own sake, and +especially lukewarm, at all times, upon issues vitally affecting the +safety of the South. These men could not forget, even when their +allegiance had been avowed to the sacred cause of country and liberty, the +rancor engendered in the old contests of party. Some, in addition to +disappointed political ambition, arising from the failure of the President +to tender them the foremost places in the Government, had personal +resentments to gratify. Much the larger portion of the opposition, which +continued, until the last moments of the Confederacy, to assail the +Government, had its origin in these influences, and they speedily +attracted all restless and impracticable characters--born Jacobins, +malcontents by the decree of nature, and others of the class who are +"never at home save in the attitude of contradiction." + +At first feeble in influence, this faction, by pertinacious and +unscrupulous efforts, eventually became a source of embarrassment, and +promoted the wide-spread division and distrust which, in the latter days +of the Confederacy, were so ominous of the approaching catastrophe. Its +earliest shafts were ostensibly not aimed at the President, since there +was no evidence that the popular affection for Mr. Davis would brook +assaults upon him, but assumed the shape of accusations against his +constitutional advisers. A deliberate movement, cloaked in the disguise of +respectful remonstrance and petition, sustained by demagogical +speeches--which, though artfully designed, in many instances revealed the +secret venom--was arranged, upon the assembling of the First Congress +under the permanent Government, to revolutionize the cabinet of President +Davis. + +Mr. Benjamin, the Secretary of War, and Mr. Mallory, Secretary of the +Navy, were the objects of especial and most envenomed assault. They were +assailed in Congress, and by a portion of the Richmond press, as directly +chargeable with the late reverses. Yet it should have been plain that the +most serious of these disasters were attributable chiefly to the +overwhelming naval preponderance of the enemy--an advantage not to have +been obviated entirely by any degree of foresight on the part of the +Confederate naval secretary--and by a deficiency of soldiers, for which +the country itself, and not Mr. Benjamin, was to be censured. + +The indisputable facts in the case were ample in the vindication of Mr. +Mallory, as to the insufficient defenses of the Western rivers, now in +Federal possession. The obvious dangers of the Cumberland and Tennessee +Rivers, as an avenue of access to the heart of the South, were not +overlooked by the Government. The channels of these rivers are navigable +during a large portion of the year, and the two streams gradually approach +each other, as they pass from Tennessee into Kentucky, on their course to +the Ohio, coming at one point within less than three miles of each other, +and emptying their waters only ten miles apart. The facilities afforded by +their proximity for combined military and naval operations, were +necessarily apparent. The Government contemplated the defense of these +streams by floating defenses the only means by which they could be +debarred to the enemy. The Provisional Congress, however, by a most +singular and fatal oversight of the recommendation of the Government, made +no appropriation for floating defenses on the Tennessee and Cumberland, +until the opportunity to prepare them had passed. + +It authorized the President to cause to be constructed thirteen steam +gunboats _for sea-coast defense_, and such floating defenses for the +Mississippi River as he might deem best adapted to the purpose; but no +provision was made for armed steamers on the large Western interior rivers +until the month of January, 1862, when an act was approved appropriating +one million of dollars, to be expended for this purpose, at the discretion +of the President, by the Secretary of War, or of the Navy, as he might +direct. This was less than _four weeks_ before the actual advance of the +Federal gunboats, and was, of course, too late for the needed armaments. +The appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars, for equipment and +repairs of vessels of the Confederate navy, hardly sufficed to enable the +Secretary of that department to maintain a few frail steamers on the +Tennessee, hastily prepared from commercial or passenger boats, and very +imperfectly armed. + +A congressional investigating committee censured Mr. Benjamin and General +Huger as responsible for the capture of Roanoke Island and its garrison. +The latter affair was indeed a disaster not to be lightly palliated, and +was one of those inexplicable mishaps, which, upon retrospection, we see +should have been avoided, though it is at least doubtful who is justly +censurable. It is, however, only just to state that no view of the Roanoke +Island disaster has ever been presented to the writer, which did not +acquit General Wise of all blame. His exculpation was complete before +every tribunal of opinion. + +Whatever may have been the real merit of these issues made against +Secretaries Mallory and Benjamin, it is very certain that those two +gentlemen continued to be the objects of marked disfavor from those +members of Congress, and that portion of the Richmond press known to be +hostile to the administration of Mr. Davis. Popular prejudice is +proverbially unreasoning, and it was indeed singular to note how promptly +the public echoed the assaults of the hostile press against these +officials, upon subsequent occasions, when they were held accountable for +disasters with which they had no possible connection.[43] + +This period of Confederate misfortunes gave the first verification of a +fact which afterward had frequent illustration, that the resolution of the +South, so indomitable in actual contest, staggered under the weight of +reverses. The history of the war was a record of the variations of the +Southern mind between extreme elation and immoderate depression. +Extravagant exultation over success, and immoderate despondency over +disaster, usually followed each other in prompt succession. +Overestimating, in many instances, the importance of its own victories, +the South quite as frequently exaggerated the value of those won by the +enemy. There was thus a constant departure from the middle ground of +dispassionate judgment, which would have accurately measured the real +situation; making available its opportunities, by a vigorous prosecution +of advantage, and overcoming difficulties by energetic preparation. + +But this despondency happily gave place to renewed determination, as the +success of the enemy brought him nearer the homes of the South, and made +more imminent the evils of subjugation. A grand and noble popular +reanimation was the response to the renewed vigor and resolution of the +Government. + +When the Confederate Government was organized at Montgomery, the operation +of the provisional constitution was limited to the period of one year, to +be superseded by the permanent government. No material alteration of the +political organism was found necessary, nor was there any change in the +_personnel_ of the administration--Mr. Davis having been unanimously +chosen President at the election in November, and retaining his +administration as it existed at the close of the functions of the +provisional constitution. Though the change was thus merely nominal, the +occasion was replete with historic interest to the people whose liberties +were involved in the fate of the government, now declared "permanent." It +was, indeed, an assumption of a new character--a declaration, with renewed +emphasis, of the high and peerless enterprise of independent national +existence; an introduction to a future, promising a speedy fulfillment of +inestimable blessings or "woes unnumbered." + +On the 18th of February, 1862, the first Congress, under the permanent +constitution of the Confederate States, assembled in the capitol at +Richmond. On the 22d occurred the ceremony of the inauguration of +President Davis. + +To the citizens of Richmond and others who were spectators, the scene in +Capitol Square, on that memorable morning, was marked by gloomy +surroundings, the recollection of which recalls, with sad interest, +suggestive omens, which then seemed to betoken the adverse fate of the +Confederacy. The season was one of unusual rigor, and the preceding month +of public calamity and distress had been fitly commemorated by a +protracted series of dark and cheerless days. Never, within the +recollection of the writer, had there been a day in Richmond so severe, +uncomfortable, and gloomy, as the day appointed for the ceremony of +inauguration. For days previous heavy clouds had foreshadowed the rain, +which fell continuously during the preceding night, and which seemed to +increase in volume on the morning of the ceremony. The occasion was in +singular contrast with that which, a year previous, had witnessed the +installment of the provisional government--upon a day whose genial +sunshine seemed prophetic of a bright future for the infant power then +launched upon its voyage. + +But however wanting in composure may have been the public mind, and +whatever the perils of the situation, the voice of their twice-chosen +chief quickly infused into the heart of the people, that unabated zeal and +unconquerable resolution, with which he proclaimed himself devoted anew to +the deliverance of his country. The inaugural address was a noble and +inspiring appeal to the patriotism of the land. Its eloquent, candid, and +patriotic tone won all hearts; and even the unfriendly press and +politicians accorded commendation to the dignity and candor with which the +President avowed his official responsibility; the manly frankness with +which he defended departments of the government unjustly assailed; and the +assuring, defiant courage, with which he invited all classes of his +countrymen to join him in the supreme sacrifice, should it become +necessary. + +The inaugural ceremonies were as simple and appropriate as those witnessed +at Montgomery a year previous. The members of the Confederate Senate and +House of Representatives, with the members of the Virginia Legislature, +awaited in the hall of the House of Delegates the arrival of the +President. In consequence of the limited capacity of the hall, +comparatively few spectators--a majority of them ladies--witnessed the +proceedings there. Immediately fronting the chair of the speaker were the +ladies of Mr. Davis' household, attended by relatives and friends. In +close proximity were members of the cabinet. + +A contemporary account thus mentions this scene: "It was a grave and great +assemblage. Time-honored men were there, who had witnessed ceremony after +ceremony of inauguration in the palmiest days of the old confederation; +those who had been at the inauguration of the iron-willed Jackson; men +who, in their fiery Southern ardor, had thrown down the gauntlet of +defiance in the halls of Federal legislation, and in the face of the enemy +avowed their determination to be free; and finally witnessed the +enthroning of a republican despot in their country's chair of state. All +were there; and silent tears were seen coursing down the cheeks of +gray-haired men, while the determined will stood out in every feature." + +The appearance of the President was singularly imposing, though there were +visible traces of his profound emotion, and a pallor, painful to look +upon, reminded the spectator of his recent severe indisposition. His dress +was a plain citizen's suit of black. Mr. Hunter, of Virginia, temporary +President of the Confederate Senate, occupied the right of the platform; +Mr. Bocock, Speaker of the House of Representatives, the left. When +President Davis, accompanied by Mr. Orr, of South Carolina, Chairman of +the Committee of Arrangements, on the part of the Senate, reached the hall +and passed to the chair of the Speaker, subdued applause, becoming the +place and the occasion, greeted him. A short time sufficed to carry into +effect the previously arranged programme, and the distinguished procession +moved to the Washington monument, where a stand was prepared for the +occasion. + +Hon. James Lyons, of Virginia, Chairman of the House Committee of +Arrangements, called the assemblage to order, and an eloquent and +appropriate prayer was offered by Bishop Johns, of the Diocese of +Virginia. The President, having received a most enthusiastic welcome from +the assemblage, with a clear and measured accent, delivered his inaugural +address: + + FELLOW-CITIZENS: On this, the birthday of the man most identified with + the establishment of American independence, and beneath the monument + erected to commemorate his heroic virtues and those of his + compatriots, we have assembled, to usher into existence the permanent + government of the Confederate States. Through this instrumentality, + under the favor of Divine Providence, we hope to perpetuate the + principles of our revolutionary fathers. The day, the memory, and the + purpose seem fitly associated. + + It is with mingled feelings of humility and pride that I appear to + take, in the presence of the people, and before high Heaven, the oath + prescribed as a qualification for the exalted station to which the + unanimous voice of the people has called me. Deeply sensible of all + that is implied by this manifestation of the people's confidence, I am + yet more profoundly impressed by the vast responsibility of the + office, and humbly feel my own unworthiness. + + In return for their kindness, I can only offer assurances of the + gratitude with which it is received, and can but pledge a zealous + devotion of every faculty to the service of those who have chosen me + as their Chief Magistrate. + + When a long course of class legislation, directed not to the general + welfare, but to the aggrandizement of the Northern section of the + Union, culminated in a warfare on the domestic institutions of the + Southern States; when the dogmas of a sectional party, substituted for + the provisions of the constitutional compact, threatened to destroy + the sovereign rights of the States, six of those States, withdrawing + from the Union, confederated together to exercise the right and + perform the duty of instituting a government which would better + secure the liberties for the preservation of which that Union was + established. + + Whatever of hope some may have entertained that a returning sense of + justice would remove the danger with which our rights were threatened, + and render it possible to preserve the Union of the Constitution, must + have been dispelled by the malignity and barbarity of the Northern + States in the prosecution of the existing war. The confidence of the + most hopeful among us must have been destroyed by the disregard they + have recently exhibited for all the time-honored bulwarks of civil and + religious liberty. Bastiles filled with prisoners, arrested without + civil process, or indictment duly found; the writ of _habeas corpus_ + suspended by executive mandate; a State Legislature controlled by the + imprisonment of members whose avowed principles suggested to the + Federal executive that there might be another added to the list of + seceded States; elections held under threats of a military power; + civil officers, peaceful citizens, and gentle women incarcerated for + opinion's sake, proclaimed the incapacity of our late associates to + administer a government as free, liberal, and humane as that + established for our common use. + + For proof of the sincerity of our purpose to maintain our ancient + institutions, we may point to the Constitution of the Confederacy and + the laws enacted under it, as well as to the fact that, through all + the necessities of an unequal struggle, there has been no act, on our + part, to impair personal liberty or the freedom of speech, of thought, + or of the press. The courts have been open, the judicial functions + fully executed, and every right of the peaceful citizen maintained as + securely as if a war of invasion had not disturbed the land. + + The people of the States now confederated became convinced that the + Government of the United States had fallen into the hands of a + sectional majority, who would pervert the most sacred of all trusts to + the destruction of the rights which it was pledged to protect. They + believed that to remain longer in the Union would subject them to a + continuance of a disparaging discrimination, submission to which would + be inconsistent to their welfare and intolerable to a proud people. + They, therefore, determined to sever its bonds, and establish a new + confederacy for themselves. + + The experiment, instituted by our revolutionary fathers, of a + voluntary union of sovereign States, for purposes specified in a + solemn compact, had been prevented by those who, feeling power and + forgetting right, were determined to respect no law but their own + will. The Government had ceased to answer the ends for which it had + been ordained and established. To save ourselves from a revolution + which, in its silent but rapid progress, was about to place us under + the despotism of numbers, and to preserve, in spirit as well as in + form, a system of government we believed to be peculiarly fitted to + our condition and full of promise for mankind, we determined to make a + new association, composed of States homogeneous in interest, in + policy, and in feeling. + + True to our traditions of peace and love of justice, we sent + commissioners to the United States to propose a fair and amicable + settlement of all questions of public debt or property which might be + in dispute. But the Government at Washington, denying our right to + self-government, refused even to listen to any proposals for a + peaceful separation. Nothing was then left to us but to prepare for + war. + + The first year in our history has been the most eventful in the annals + of this continent. A new government has been established, and its + machinery put in operation, over an area exceeding seven hundred + thousand square miles. The great principles upon which we have been + willing to hazard every thing that is dear to man have made conquests + for us which could never have been achieved by the sword. Our + Confederacy has grown from six to thirteen States; and Maryland, + already united to us by hallowed memories and material interests, + will, I believe, when able to speak with unstifled voice, connect her + destiny with the South. Our people have rallied, with unexampled + unanimity, to the support of the great principles of constitutional + government, with firm resolve to perpetuate by arms the rights which + they could not peacefully secure. A million of men, it is estimated, + are now standing in hostile array, and waging war along a frontier of + thousands of miles; battles have been fought, sieges have been + conducted, and, although the contest is not ended, and the tide for + the moment is against us, the final result in our favor is not + doubtful. + + The period is near at hand when our foes must sink under the immense + load of debt which they have incurred--a debt which, in their efforts + to subjugate us, has already attained such fearful dimensions as will + subject them to burdens which must continue to oppress them for + generations to come. + + We, too, have had our trials and difficulties. That we are to escape + them in the future is not to be hoped. It was to be expected, when we + entered upon this war, that it would expose our people to sacrifices, + and cost them much both of money and blood. But we knew the value of + the object for which we struggled, and understood the nature of the + war in which we were engaged. Nothing could be so bad as failure, and + any sacrifice would be cheap as the price of success in such a + contest. + + But the picture has its lights as well as its shadows. This great + strife has awakened in the people the highest emotions and qualities + of the human soul. It is cultivating feelings of patriotism, virtue, + and courage. Instances of self-sacrifice and of generous devotion to + the noble cause for which we are contending are rife throughout the + land. Never has a people evinced a more determined spirit than that + now animating men, women, and children in every part of our country. + Upon the first call, the men fly to arms; and wives and mothers send + their husbands and sons to battle without a murmur of regret. + + It was, perhaps, in the ordination of Providence that we were to be + taught the value of our liberties by the price which we pay for them. + + The recollections of this great contest, with all its common + traditions of glory, of sacrifices, and of blood, will be the bond of + harmony and enduring affection amongst the people, producing unity in + policy, fraternity in sentiment, and joint effort in war. + + Nor have the material sacrifices of the past year been made without + some corresponding benefits. If the acquiescence of foreign nations in + a pretended blockade has deprived us of our commerce with them, it is + fast making us a self-supporting and an independent people. The + blockade, if effectual and permanent, could only serve to divert our + industry from the production of articles for export, and employ it in + supplying commodities for domestic use. + + It is a satisfaction that we have maintained the war by our unaided + exertions. We have neither asked nor received assistance from any + quarter. Yet the interest involved is not wholly our own. The world at + large is concerned in opening our markets to its commerce. When the + independence of the Confederate States is recognized by the nations of + the earth, and we are free to follow our interests and inclinations by + cultivating foreign trade, the Southern States will offer to + manufacturing nations the most favorable markets which ever invited + their commerce. Cotton, sugar, rice, tobacco, provisions, timber, and + naval stores will furnish attractive exchanges. Nor would the + constancy of these supplies be likely to be disturbed by war. Our + confederate strength will be too great to attempt aggression; and + never was there a people whose interests and principles committed them + so fully to a peaceful policy as those of the Confederate States. By + the character of their productions, they are too deeply interested in + foreign commerce wantonly to disturb it. War of conquest they can not + wage, because the Constitution of their Confederacy admits of no + coerced association. Civil war there can not be between States held + together by their volition only. This rule of voluntary association, + which can not fail to be conservative, by securing just and impartial + government at home, does not diminish the security of the obligations + by which the Confederate States may be bound to foreign nations. In + proof of this, it is to be remembered that, at the first moment of + asserting their right of secession, these States proposed a settlement + on the basis of a common liability for the obligations of the General + Government. + + Fellow-citizens, after the struggles of ages had consecrated the right + of the Englishman to constitutional representative government, our + colonial ancestors were forced to vindicate that birthright by an + appeal to arms. Success crowned their efforts, and they provided for + their posterity a peaceful remedy against future aggression. + + The tyranny of an unbridled majority, the most odious and least + responsible form of despotism, has denied us both the right and the + remedy. Therefore we are in arms to renew such sacrifices as our + fathers made to the holy cause of constitutional liberty. At the + darkest hour of our struggle, the provisional gives place to the + permanent government. After a series of successes and victories, which + covered our arms with glory, we have recently met with serious + disasters. But, in the heart of a people resolved to be free, these + disasters tend but to stimulate to increased resistance. + + To show ourselves worthy of the inheritance bequeathed to us by the + patriots of the Revolution, we must emulate that heroic devotion which + made reverse to them but the crucible in which their patriotism was + refined. + + With confidence in the wisdom and virtue of those who will share with + me the responsibility, and aid me in the conduct of public affairs; + securely relying on the patriotism and courage of the people, of which + the present war has furnished so many examples, I deeply feel the + weight of the responsibilities I now, with unaffected diffidence, am + about to assume; and, fully realizing the inadequacy of human power to + guide and to sustain, my hope is reverently fixed on Him, whose favor + is ever vouchsafed to the cause which is just. With humble gratitude + and adoration, acknowledging the Providence which has so visibly + protected the Confederacy during its brief but eventful career, to + Thee, O God! I trustingly commit myself, and prayerfully invoke Thy + blessing on my country and its cause. + +The effect of this address upon the public was electrical. The anxious and +dispirited assemblage, which, for more than an hour previous to the +arrival of the President, had braved the inclement sky and traversed the +almost impassable avenues of Capitol Square, in eager longing for +re-assuring words from him upon whose courage and will so much depended, +was not disappointed. A consciousness of a burden removed, of doubts +dispelled, of the re-assured feeling, which comes with strengthened +conviction that confidence has not been misplaced, animated and thrilled +the crowd as it caught the impressive tones and gestures of the speaker. +In the memory of every beholder must forever dwell the imposing presence +of Mr. Davis, as, with uplifted hands, he pronounced the beautiful and +appropriate petition to Providence, which forms the peroration. + + * * * * * + +The message sent by President Davis to Congress, a few days after the +inauguration, is hardly inferior in importance, as a historical document, +to the inaugural address. In view of its explanations of the earlier +policy of the Confederate Government, of the causes of recent disasters, +and indications of important changes in the future conduct of the war, we +present entire this first message of Mr. Davis to the First Congress +assembled under the permanent Constitution: + + _To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate + States_-- + + In obedience to the constitutional provision, requiring the President, + from time to time, to give to the Congress information of the state of + the Confederacy, and recommend to their consideration such measures as + he shall judge necessary and expedient, I have to communicate that, + since my message at the last session of the Provisional Congress, + events have demonstrated that the Government had attempted more than + it had power successfully to achieve. Hence, in the effort to protect, + by our arms, the whole of the territory of the Confederate States, + sea-board and inland, we have been so exposed as recently to encounter + serious disasters. When the Confederacy was formed, the States + composing it were, by the peculiar character of their pursuits, and a + misplaced confidence in their former associates, to a great extent, + destitute of the means for the prosecution of the war on so gigantic a + scale as that which it has attained. The workshops and artisans were + mainly to be found in the Northern States, and one of the first duties + which devolved upon this Government was to establish the necessary + manufactories, and in the meantime to obtain, by purchase from abroad, + as far as practicable, whatever was required for the public defense. + No effort has been spared to effect both these ends, and though the + results have not equaled our hopes, it is believed that an impartial + judgment will, upon full investigation, award to the various + departments of the Government credit for having done all which human + power and foresight enabled them to accomplish. + + The valor and devotion of the people have not only sustained the + efforts of the Government, but have gone far to supply its + deficiencies. + + The active state of military preparations among the nations of Europe, + in April last, the date when our agents first went abroad, interposed + unavoidable delays in the procurement of arms, and the want of a navy + has greatly impeded our efforts to import military supplies of all + sorts. + + I have hoped for several days to receive official reports in relation + to our discomfiture at Roanoke Island, and the fall of Fort Donelson. + They have not yet reached me, and I am, therefore, unable to + communicate to you such information of those events, and the + consequences resulting from them, as would enable me to make + recommendations founded upon the changed condition which they have + produced. Enough is known of the surrender of Roanoke Island to make + us feel that it was deeply humiliating, however imperfect may have + been the preparations for defense. The hope is still entertained that + our reported losses at Fort Donelson have been greatly exaggerated, + inasmuch as I am not only unwilling, but unable to believe that a + large army of our people have surrendered without a desperate effort + to cut their way through investing forces, whatever may have been + their number, and to endeavor to make a junction with other divisions + of the army. But in the absence of that exact information which can + only be afforded by official reports, it would be premature to pass + judgment, and my own is reserved, as I trust yours will be, until that + information is received. In the meantime, strenuous efforts have been + made to throw forward reinforcements to the armies at the positions + threatened, and I can not doubt that the bitter disappointments we + have borne, by nerving the people to still greater exertions, will + speedily secure results more accordant with our just expectation, and + as favorable to our cause as those which marked the earlier periods of + the war. + + The reports of the Secretaries of War and the Navy will exhibit the + mass of resources for the conduct of the war which we have been + enabled to accumulate, notwithstanding the very serious difficulties + against which we have contended. + + They afford the cheering hope that our resources, limited as they were + at the beginning of the contest, will, during its progress, become + developed to such an extent as fully to meet our future wants. + + The policy of enlistment for short terms, against which I have + steadily contended from the commencement of the war, has, in my + judgment, contributed, in no immaterial degree, to the recent reverses + which we have suffered, and even now renders it difficult to furnish + you an accurate statement of the army. When the war first broke out, + many of our people could with difficulty be persuaded that it would be + long or serious. It was not deemed possible that any thing so insane + as a persistent attempt to subjugate these States could be made--still + less that the delusion would so far prevail as to give to the war the + vast proportions which it has assumed. The people, incredulous of a + long war, were naturally averse to long enlistment, and the early + legislation of Congress rendered it impracticable to obtain volunteers + for a greater period than twelve months. Now, that it has become + probable that the war will be continued through a series of years, our + high-spirited and gallant soldiers, while generally reënlisting, are, + from the fact of having entered the service for a short term, + compelled, in many instances, to go home to make the necessary + arrangements for their families during their prolonged absence. + + The quotas of new regiments for the war, called for from the different + States, are in rapid progress of organization. The whole body of our + new levies and reënlisted men will probably be ready in the ranks + within the next thirty days. But, in the meantime, it is exceedingly + difficult to give an accurate statement of the number of our forces in + the field. They may, in general terms, be stated at four hundred + regiments of infantry, with a proportionate force of cavalry and + artillery, the details of which will be shown by the report of the + Secretary of War. I deem it proper to advert to the fact that the + process of furloughs and reënlistment in progress for the last month + had so far disorganized and weakened our forces as to impair our + ability for successful defense; but I heartily congratulate you that + this evil, which I had foreseen and was powerless to prevent, may now + be said to be substantially at an end, and that we shall not again, + during the war, be exposed to seeing our strength diminished by this + fruitful cause of disaster--short enlistments. + + The people of the Confederate States, being principally engaged in + agricultural pursuits, were unprovided at the commencement of + hostilities with ships, ship-yards, materials for ship-building, or + skilled mechanics and seamen, in sufficient numbers to make the prompt + creation of the navy a practicable task, even if the required + appropriations had been made for the purpose. Notwithstanding our very + limited resources, however, the report of the Secretary will exhibit + to you a satisfactory progress in preparation, and a certainty of + early completion of vessels of a number and class on which we may + confidently rely for contesting the vaunted control of the enemy over + our waters. + + The financial system, devised by the wisdom of your predecessors, has + proved adequate to supplying all the wants of the Government, + notwithstanding the unexpected and very large increase of expenditures + resulting from the great augmentation in the necessary means of + defense. The report of the Secretary of the Treasury will exhibit the + gratifying fact that we have no floating debt; that the credit of the + Government is unimpaired, and that the total expenditure of the + Government for the year has been, in round numbers, one hundred and + seventy millions of dollars--less than one-third the sum wasted by the + enemy in his vain effort to conquer us--less than the value of a + single article of export--the cotton crop of the year. + + The report of the Postmaster-General will show the condition of that + department to be steadily improving--its revenue increasing, and + already affording the assurance that it will be self-sustaining at the + date required by the Constitution, while affording ample mail + facilities for the people. + + In the Department of Justice, which includes the Patent Office and + Public Printing, some legislative provision will be required, which + will be specifically stated in the report of the head of that + department. + + I invite the attention of Congress to the duty of organizing a Supreme + Court of the Confederate States, in accordance with the mandate of the + Constitution. + + I refer you to my message communicated to the Provisional Congress in + November last, for such further information touching the condition of + public affairs, as it might be useful to lay before you; the short + interval which has since elapsed not having produced any material + changes in that condition, other than those to which reference has + already been made. + + In conclusion, I cordially welcome representatives who, recently + chosen by the people, are fully imbued with their views and feelings, + and can so ably advise me as to the needful provisions for the public + service. I assure you of my hearty coöperation in all your efforts for + the common welfare of the country. + + JEFFERSON DAVIS. + +The message, not less than the inaugural address, was received with many +evidences of public reanimation. The following extracts indicate the state +of feeling in Richmond at this period: + + THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. + + (From the Richmond Whig, Feb. 20, 1862.) + + The President makes a candid and frank confession of our recent + reverses. Very justly, he does not regard them as vital to our cause; + but they will entail a long war upon us. That long war ensures our + independence, and the ultimate confusion and ruin of the Yankees.... + +The _Examiner_, of the same date, in the opening paragraph of its leader, +said: + + The President's Message is a manly and dignified document, but, like + the inaugural, it contains not a solitary word indicating the plan or + policy of the Government. Far from objecting to this characteristic, + we think it eminently proper that the executive should keep its + counsels from the public eye, and that the Congress should withdraw + its deliberations from the public ear. What is wanted from the one is + distinct and peremptory _orders_; and from the other, decisive and + adequate provisions for the public safety. The duty of the country is + unhesitating obedience; of the soldiers, the courage that prefers + death in glory, like Jennings Wise.... + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + POPULAR DELUSIONS IN THE EARLY STAGES OF THE WAR--A FEW CONFLICTS AND + SACRIFICES NOT SUFFICIENT--MORE POSITIVE RECOGNITION OF MR. DAVIS' + VIEWS--HIS CANDID AND PROPHETIC ANNOUNCEMENTS--MILITARY REFORMS-- + CONSCRIPTION LAW OF THE CONFEDERACY--THE PRESIDENT'S VIEWS AND COURSE + AS TO THIS LAW--HIS CONSISTENT REGARD FOR CIVIL LIBERTY AND OPPOSITION + TO CENTRALIZATION--RECOMMENDS CONSCRIPTION--BENEFICIAL RESULTS OF THE + LAW--GENERAL LEE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, "UNDER THE PRESIDENT"--NATURE OF + THE APPOINTMENT--FALSE IMPRESSIONS CORRECTED--MR. DAVIS' CONFIDENCE IN + LEE, DESPITE POPULAR CENSURE OF THE LATTER--CHANGES IN THE CABINET-- + MR. BENJAMIN'S MANAGEMENT OF THE WAR OFFICE--DIFFICULTIES OF THAT + POSITION--THE CHARGE OF FAVORITISM AGAINST MR. DAVIS IN THE SELECTION + OF HIS CABINET--HIS PERSONAL RELATIONS WITH THE VARIOUS MEMBERS OF HIS + CABINET--ACTIVITY IN MILITARY OPERATIONS--THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI-- + BATTLE OF ELK HORN--OPERATIONS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI--GENERALS + SIDNEY JOHNSTON AND BEAUREGARD--ISLAND NO. 10--CONCENTRATION OF TROOPS + BY THE CONFEDERATE AUTHORITIES--FAVORABLE SITUATION--SHILOH--A + DISAPPOINTMENT--DEATH OF SIDNEY JOHNSTON--TRIBUTE OF PRESIDENT + DAVIS--POPULAR VERDICT UPON THE BATTLE OF SHILOH--GENERALS BEAUREGARD, + BRAGG, AND POLK ON THE BATTLE--THE PRESIDENT AGAIN CHARGED WITH + "INJUSTICE" TO BEAUREGARD--THE CHARGE ANSWERED--FALL OF NEW + ORLEANS--NAVAL BATTLE IN HAMPTON ROADS--NAVAL SUCCESSES OF THE ENEMY. + + +We have briefly indicated the causes which now elevated the Southern +people to a more intelligent appreciation of the nature and necessities of +the struggle in which they were engaged. There was reason for the +congratulation which President Davis experienced at the unmistakable +evidences of the awakening of the public mind to the stern duties which, +from the beginning, he had sedulously inculcated. + +The progress of the war had already developed the existence of numerous +errors upon both sides, and had exploded many cherished theories having +possession of the popular mind of each section, with reference to the +power, resources, and spirit of its antagonist. Both parties had entered +into the contest with the firm conviction of certain triumph, and with the +purpose to make the struggle as short as possible. The war-cry of the +North was "Let it be short, sharp, and decisive;" and they appealed to +their numbers, wealth, and sectional hatred, as elements of superiority, +which would inevitably end the war in their favor in a few months. The +South was equally disposed to a speedy conclusion. With the masses of the +South and the majority of their advisers, the predominant idea and +aspiration was to teach the enemy, by prompt and heavy blows, the +impossibility of successful invasion, and thus shorten the period of +bloodshed. Thus both, from a necessity which neither was able to avoid, +began with gigantic preparations, hoping, by a few mighty conflicts of +arms, and one lavish sacrifice of life and treasure, to bring to prompt +arbitrament an issue which was the growth of a century. + +But the aroused spirit of sectional strife was not to be appeased by a +single holocaust. The American people, a youthful giant, totally +uneducated in the experience of war, having never yet tested their +strength and dimensions, would not consent that the game of empire should +be decided by a single dramatic _denouement_, a Waterloo, a Solferino, or +Sadowa. Manassas had been the bitter but beneficent chastisement of the +North, and the reproof was accepted with that wonderful elasticity, which +afterwards amazed the world with its manifestations after the most +disheartening failures. A rebuke no less signal waited upon the South, and +its correcting influence immediately exhibited a temper which was the +temporary salvation of the Confederacy, and the inspiration to a series of +campaigns among the most memorable in the annals of warfare. + +With the inauguration of the permanent government came not only renewed +resolution in the prosecution of the war, but a more positive recognition +and adoption of the views of President Davis. We have elsewhere described +the antagonism between those views and the theory of the leaders at +Montgomery, shared by the press and people of the South, which derided any +other hypothesis than a six-months' war, with the certainty of +independence. Whatever weight may be accredited to the statements which we +have made in demonstration of Mr. Davis' conviction, that the war would be +one of unexampled magnitude and long duration; whatever may be the +rational inference from his opposition to a military system contemplating +a war lasting six or twelve months; whatever the credence extended to his +own subsequent declarations of the difficulties preventing the complete +preparation for the emergency, which he contemplated,[44] at least there +was no room for misconception of his expectations as to the war in its +future stages. + +Congratulating the Confederate Congress upon the auspicious awakening of +the popular mind from dangerous delusions, even through the hard +experience of adversity, he admonishes Congress and the country to +prepare for a "_war lasting through a term of years_." But a few weeks +later and he invited the Legislature of Virginia to contemplate a possible +duration of the war for twenty years upon the soil of that State. In all +his declarations, public and private, was evidenced the adherence to that +original conviction of a struggle long, bloody, and exhaustive, and with +varying fortune, which had prompted the heroic assurance, at his first +inauguration at Montgomery, of an "inflexible" pursuit of the object of +independence. + +President Davis sufficiently exposed, in his first message to the new +Congress, the evil consequences of the pernicious military system under +which the war had thus far been conducted. Indeed, its evils were +apparent, and the country responded to the urgent appeals of the President +for a more efficient organization of the armies of the Confederacy--one +that should insure a force sufficient to meet the present exigency and to +provide for future defense. It was with considerable reluctance that he +finally recommended the adoption of the act of conscription. +Constitutional scruples were at least debatable, but there could be no +question as to the appearance of bad faith by the Government, with the +patriotic volunteers, who had responded at the first call to arms, and who +were now compelled to remain in the field, by a law adopted, just as their +term of service was expiring. Yet this was the class necessarily +constituting the majority of those who would be subject to the operation +of the law, as they were a majority, or an approximate majority, of the +arms-bearing population. + +To one so peculiarly jealous of encroachments by the central power upon +the privileges of the States, the proposition had additional objections. +Mr. Davis had hoped to avoid the necessity of a measure, so much after the +manner of military despotism, and sought to take advantage of the +patriotic ardor exhibited upon the first rush to arms, by inducing +enlistments for the war. Especially distasteful was a resort to compulsion +into the ranks, in a war the success of which necessarily depended upon +the voluntary and patriotic aid of the people, while the enemy, without +difficulty, raised a half million of men for their schemes of conquest. + +Second to the object of independence only, the controlling aspiration of +President Davis was, that the war might not terminate in the destruction +of civil liberty. With evident pride, he proclaimed the honorable fact +that, "through all the necessities of an unequal struggle, there has been +no act on our part to impair personal liberty or the freedom of speech, of +thought, or of the press."[45] His consistent regard for civil liberty was +preserved even in instances where additions to the executive authority +would result. The rôle of Louis Quatorze, of Frankenstein, or of Cæsar, +presented no attractions to the republican executive, whose position and +authority were, themselves, a protest against the exercise of arbitrary +and ungranted powers. + +It is a striking evidence of the contempt for consistency, manifested by +Mr. Davis' assailants, that these virtues, so commendable in the executive +of a free people, should then have actually constituted the ground of +accusation, by those who subsequently charged him with an ambition to +unite in himself all the departments of the Government. There arose, at +this time, a demagogical demand for a "Dictator"--that morbid aspiration +characteristic of men of weak nerve and deficient fortitude, which vainly +seeks to make Government more powerful for good purposes, by removing all +restraints upon its power to do evil. + +Emphatic in the assertion of the authority conferred by the Constitution +upon his position, President Davis was no less persistent in his refusal +to countenance the investiture of himself with dictatorial powers. + +But the stern and pressing exigencies of the times outweighed +considerations of even the gravest import, and induced a resort to that +measure which the President had hoped to avoid, but upon which now +depended the salvation of the country. In accordance with the +recommendation of the President, Congress, on the 16th of April, 1862, +adopted the conscription law, which was thenceforward, with many material +modifications rendered necessary by circumstances, the basis of the +military system of the Confederacy. This law placed at the disposal of the +President, during the war, every citizen not belonging to a class +exempted, between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five, thus annulling all +contracts made with volunteers for short terms. By this act, the States +surrendered their control over such of their citizens as came within the +terms of the act, and in each State were located camps of instruction, for +the reception and training of conscripts. There were other features of the +conscription law, having in view an increased solidity and harmony of the +army organization. + +It is impossible to overestimate the immediate benefits realized to the +Confederacy from this legislation. The incipient disorganization of the +army, consequent upon the numerous furloughs granted to such of the men as +would reënlist for the war, was instantly checked; large additions were +made to commands already in the field, and the discipline and general +frame-work of the army greatly improved. + +Second in importance to the adoption of the act of conscription only, +among the accessions of strength to the military system of the Confederacy +at this period, was the appointment of General Lee to the general command +of the armies, "under the direction of the President."[46] + +The nature of the position thus assigned to one whom the concurrent +criticism of his age pronounces the most eminent of American commanders, +has been much misunderstood, and with its discussion has been associated +much injurious misrepresentation of President Davis. + +General Lee, after the failure of his campaign in North-western Virginia, +in the autumn of 1861, became the object of a vast amount of disparaging +criticism. His case was, indeed, in marked coincidence with that of Sidney +Johnston. Both were distinguished in the Federal service; previous to the +war they were generally conceded to be the ablest officers of that +service; both were known to have been the classmates of Jefferson Davis +and his intimate friends. In their first campaigns, both were adjudged, by +the hot and impulsive temper of the time, to have committed gross and +signal failure. Neither had many apologists. Johnston was declared an +imbecile--a mere martinet, without any of the qualities of true +generalship; and Lee was pronounced incompetent for higher duties than the +clerical performances of the War Office. + +President Davis alone remained firm in behalf of these two men, whom a few +months sufficed to triumphantly vindicate. What nobler vindication should +he himself claim than that, through his firmness and discernment, was +given the needed opportunity to the three great soldiers--Lee, Sidney +Johnston, and Stonewall Jackson--who, above all others, have illustrated +American warfare.[47] + +It has been erroneously supposed and asserted, that General Lee was +assigned the position of commanding general at the special instance of +Congress, and in obedience to the proclaimed will of the people. Whatever +may have been the concurrence of the Confederate Congress in the selection +made by President Davis of Lee for that position, there is no ground for +the hypothesis that the Southern people welcomed this promotion of General +Lee as an assurance of good fortune in the future conduct of the war. + +Indeed, the act of Congress, creating the office of commanding general, +was adopted at the special suggestion of the President, who immediately +assigned Lee to the discharge of its duties. Congress designed General Lee +to be Minister of War, and, with a view to the promotion of that purpose, +repealed a provision which deprived of his rank in the army, a general +assigned to the control of the War Office. But President Davis clearly +understood the broad and palpable distinction, between the talents +requisite for successful administration of that department of the +Government, and the genius of a great soldier. He had too just an +appreciation of the high military qualities of Lee, to consent to their +virtual entombment in a civil position. In accordance with these +suggestions, the President obtained the adoption of the necessary +legislation, and conferred upon General Lee the control and supervision of +the purely military affairs and operations of the war administration. Thus +it was neither in compliance with the action of Congress, nor in deference +to the popular will, that President Davis selected an appropriate sphere +for the genius of Lee, where it "soon dawned upon the admiration of +mankind, and retained its effulgence undimmed to the last."[48] + +The terms of the order assigning General Lee to duty, "under the direction +of the President," have been construed to signify, that it was not +designed that he should exercise those appropriate functions which +obviously appertain to the position of commanding-general. It has been +argued that the President thus created Lee a sort of "chief of staff," or +ornamental attaché of his military household, with a purely complimentary +and meaningless title. The selections made by Mr. Davis, of Lee first, +and, subsequently, of Bragg, as incumbents of the position, sufficiently +repel this absurd conclusion. It is true that the President did not +delegate to these officers his constitutional functions as +commander-in-chief, but to assist and advise him, in the discharge of +those arduous and laborious functions, required no ordinary skill and +experience. The well-known confidence, reposed by the President in +General Lee, may accurately measure the influence of the latter, upon the +Confederate military administration. + +In the progress of those events, which have thus far engrossed our +attention, notable changes had occurred in the cabinet. Early in the +summer of 1861, Mr. Toombs had surrendered the portfolio of State, and Mr. +Hunter, a former United States Senator from Virginia, whose name was +prominently associated with the political history of the Union for more +than twenty years, was placed at the head of the Confederate +administration. During the ensuing winter, Mr. Hunter retired from the +cabinet, and was transferred to the Confederate Senate. + +Mr. Benjamin, originally Attorney-General, had been temporarily assigned +to the War Department, upon the resignation of Mr. Walker, who was the +first incumbent. The connection of Mr. Benjamin with the War Office +continued for several months, when he was transferred to the Department of +State, where he remained until the overthrow of the Confederacy. The +period of his administration of the War Department measures an important +space in the history of the Confederacy. It was a period marked by +numerous, consecutive, and appalling disasters, and, as has been already +seen, Mr. Benjamin did not escape the penalty of official position during +a season of public calamity. We have glanced briefly at the question of +his official responsibility, not with a view of his vindication, though we +have denied the justice of the unlimited reproach, which pursued both +himself and Secretary Mallory, long after even the pretext had +disappeared. + +The censure of Mr. Benjamin was based upon the assumption that he was +responsible for reverses, which a more skillful and attentive management +would have avoided. Yet the facts establish the declaration of Mr. Davis +that those reverses were unavoidable. They, indeed, simply foreshadowed +the fact, which the country soon after realized, of the immense +disadvantage of the Confederate forces in all cases where the naval +facilities of the enemy could be made available. Can it be successfully +maintained that another in the place of Mr. Benjamin would have prevented +the fall of Forts Henry and Donelson, of Roanoke Island, of Newbern, of +Memphis, of Island No. 10, and of New Orleans? General Randolph, the +successor of Mr. Benjamin, is universally conceded to have made a +competent secretary of war during his brief term; yet will it be +maintained that had General Randolph, instead of Mr. Benjamin, been the +successor of Mr. Walker, that all, or any of those disasters would have +been prevented? + +Mr. Benjamin can hardly be deemed less fortunate than his successors. +Messrs. Randolph and Breckinridge were, perhaps, fortunate in the brief +period of their responsibility, or they, too, might have shared the public +censure so freely lavished upon Messrs. Walker, Benjamin, and Seddon. + +Perhaps no more thankless position was ever assumed by an official than +the management of the War Department of the Confederate States. The +difficult problem propounded by Themistocles--"to make a small state a +great one"--was of easy solution, compared to that presented the luckless +incumbent of an office, in which the abundance of responsibilities and +embarrassments was commensurate only with the poverty of resources with +which to meet them. To create an army from a population of between five +and six millions, able to successfully cope with an adversary supported by +a home population of twenty-five millions, aided by the inexhaustible +reserves of Europe; with blockaded ports, a newly-organized Government, +and a country of limited manufacturing means; to match in the material of +war the wealthiest and most productive nation in the world; to maintain +the strength and efficiency of an army decimated by its own unnumbered +victories, and from a population depleted by successive conscriptions, was +the encouraging task devolving upon President Davis and his Secretary of +War. It is, at least, reasonable to doubt whether even the genius of +Napoleon, or of Carnot, was ever summoned to such an enterprise. + +No allegation was made more freely and persistently against Mr. Davis than +that of favoritism. At times he was represented as a merciless, +inexorable, capricious master, who would tolerate neither intelligence nor +independence in his subordinates, who were required to be the subservient +agents of his will. Again, he was declared an imbecile puppet in the hands +of Mr. Benjamin, who, with an amazing protean adaptability, assumed the +character of Richelieu, Mazarin, Wolsey, or Jeffreys, as might meet the +convenience of the censors. At all times, however, the public was urged to +believe Mr. Davis was engaged in devising rewards for unworthy favorites, +who, while obsequious to his whims, insolent in the enjoyment of his +bounty, and secure under the executive ægis, were surely carrying the +cause to perdition. + +This allegation of favoritism was assumed to have a conspicuous +illustration in the case of Mr. Benjamin, for whom the President retained +his partiality even after he had been censured by Congress, and when his +unpopularity was not to be concealed. The same motive was affirmed, +however, in the selection of his other advisers; and to obviate the +necessity of detail hereafter, we will dispose of this subject at once. + +Despite the persistent assertion to the contrary, the fact is +indisputable, that, in the selection of no single member of his cabinet, +did Jefferson Davis make use of the opportunity to reward either a friend +or a partisan. In no case did personal favor even remotely influence his +choice, save in the appointment of Mr. Seddon as Secretary of War--an +appointment made with the universal acclaim of the public and the +newspapers. James A. Seddon and Jefferson Davis were, indeed, friends of +twenty years' standing; but, besides, Mr. Seddon was recommended not more +by the confidence of the President, than by the unlimited confidence of +the country in his intellect, integrity, and patriotism. + +Personal details are frequently not to be denied an important historical +bearing, and the motives of Mr. Davis, in the choice of his cabinet, claim +no insignificant page in his official history. We have briefly adverted +elsewhere to some of these considerations. + +When the Confederate cabinet was organized at Montgomery, Robert Toombs +was placed at its head; yet between Davis and Toombs there had not been +close intimacy, hardly mutual confidence--certainly nothing like ardent +friendship. But Mr. Toombs represented an overwhelming majority of the +people of Georgia, the wealthiest and largest State of the Confederacy at +that period, as determined at their last election. He was peculiarly the +representative public man of Georgia; the most prominent citizen of his +State, repeatedly selected for its highest honors, and then a reputed +statesman. When Mr. Toombs resigned, his successor was Mr. Hunter, who had +served with Mr. Davis in the Senate, and in whose qualifications the +President had confidence. They had both been friends of Mr. Calhoun, and +disciples of his political school. Political accord by no means signifies +personal intimacy, and while Mr. Hunter has many admirers, and was greatly +respected in Virginia and in the Senate, he has not been generally +accredited with marked sympathetic tendencies. + +Mr. Benjamin was originally made Attorney-General, because of his high +legal reputation, and because Louisiana was entitled to a representative +in the cabinet, but not because of personal considerations, since his +relations with Mr. Davis were neither intimate nor cordial. The partiality +of the President for Mr. Benjamin was, indeed, an after-thought--the +result of observation of his wonderful mental resources, his unequal +capacity for labor and zealous devotion to the cause. + +Mr. Mallory was recommended for the Navy Department by his previous +experience. There had been mutual kind feeling between himself and Mr. +Davis as Senators, but nothing like close association. Mr. Davis had never +seen Mr. Walker until he was appointed Secretary of War, in accordance +with the emphatic choice of Alabama. General Randolph was appointed solely +in consequence of Mr. Davis' convictions of his fitness. Previous to the +war General Randolph was undistinguished, save in Virginia, where his fine +capacity and exalted worth were becomingly appreciated. General +Breckinridge, the last Confederate Secretary of War, was sufficiently +recommended by his talents and position. Mr. Memminger was made Secretary +of the Treasury, not as the friend of Mr. Davis, but as the choice of +South Carolina. With Mr. Trenholm, his successor, the President had no +personal acquaintance, until he became a member of the cabinet. Mr. Davis, +the last Attorney-General, was originally neither a personal friend nor a +party associate of the President; nor was Mr. Watts, his predecessor. + +With the favorable response of Congress and the people to the vigorous and +timely suggestions of the President, began a more spirited prosecution of +the war, though the season of peril was not yet tided over, nor the +current of adversity exhausted. Already there were numerous indications of +the increased scale, and enlarged theatre of operations, which the war now +demanded. + +At the conclusion of active operations in the Trans-Mississippi district, +in the autumn of 1861, the State forces of Missouri, still retaining their +separate organization, under General Price, and the Confederate forces of +McCulloch, were located south of Springfield, near the Arkansas line. An +unfortunate phase of the Southern conduct of the war in this quarter, and +one from which arose no little apprehension, was the apparently +irreconcilable difference between Generals Price and McCulloch. With a +view to secure the indispensable element of harmony, President Davis, +during the winter, appointed Major-General Earl Van Dorn, an able and +gallant officer, to the supreme command of military operations in the +Trans-Mississippi department. General Van Dorn was a favorite with the +President, and his services had already been of a character to justify the +high expectations, indulged not less by himself than by the public, of +fortunate results of the unanimity, at last secured in a quarter where its +absence had been severely felt. + +The result of the enemy's movements, begun early in January, 1862, was the +retreat of the weak column of Price to the Boston Mountains, in Arkansas, +where McCulloch was encamped. This junction of the two commands did not +result in coöperation until the arrival of General Van Dorn, early in +March. With a vigor characteristic of this officer's career, Van Dorn +advanced against the enemy, advantageously posted, and with numbers +superior to his own force. The result was the battle of Elk Horn, a +brilliant but fruitless engagement, in which the Southern commander, in +consequence of the want of discipline among his soldiers, and partially +through the effects of those earlier dissensions with which he had no +connection, failed to realize the ends at which he aimed.[49] + +Elk Horn was probably the most considerable engagement, in point of the +numbers engaged, fought during the war, west of the Mississippi. +Unimportant in its bearing upon the general character of the war, it was a +decided check upon the aspiration of the Confederate Government to recover +Missouri, and to give its authority a solid establishment in the +Trans-Mississippi region. This was afterward the least important theatre +of the war, though subsequent events there were by no means unworthy of +record. Even at this early stage, the war was rapidly tending to a +concentration of the energies of both parties, upon the more vital points +of conflict in Virginia, and the central zone of the Confederacy. A few +weeks later Generals Van Dorn and Price, with the major portion of the +Trans-Mississippi army, were transferred to the scene of operations east +of the great river. + +General Albert Sidney Johnston, after his retreat from Nashville, +consequent upon the fall of Fort Donelson, paused at Murfreesboro', +Tennessee, for a sufficient period to receive accessions to his force, +which increased it to the neighborhood of twenty thousand men. These +accessions were portions of the command lately operating in South-eastern +Kentucky, and remnants of the forces lately defending Fort Donelson. +General Beauregard, having evacuated Columbus, which, in common with the +other posts of the former Confederate line of defense in Kentucky and +Tennessee, became untenable with the loss of the Tennessee and Cumberland +Rivers, concentrated his forces at Corinth, in the northern part of +Mississippi. + +The evacuation of Columbus did not necessarily give the enemy control of +the Mississippi above Memphis. A strong position was taken by the +Confederate forces at Island No. 10, forty-five miles below Columbus. +Considerable anticipation was indulged by the Southern public, of a +successful stand at this point for the control of the Mississippi. It was, +however, captured by the enemy; and in the loss of two thousand men and +important material of war by its surrender, the Confederacy sustained +another severe blow, and the Federal Secretary of the Navy justly +congratulated the North, upon a "triumph not the less appreciated because +it was protracted and finally bloodless." + +The retirement of the forces of General Albert Sidney Johnston south of +the Tennessee River, and the location of General Beauregard's command at +Corinth, readily suggested the practicability of a coöperation, by those +two commanders, for the defense of the valley of the Mississippi, and the +extensive railroad system, of which Corinth is the centre. With the +approbation of President Davis, a concentration of troops, from various +quarters, ensued, and, about the first of April, an admirable army of +forty thousand men was assembled in the neighborhood of Corinth, and upon +the railroads leading to that point. There was no situation during the war +more assuring of good fortune to the Confederates, than that presented in +Northern Mississippi in the early days of April, 1862. President Davis +indulged the highest anticipations from this grand combination of forces +which he so cordially approved. He confidently expected a victory from the +Western army, led by that officer whose capacity he trusted above all +others, which should more than compensate for the heavy losses of the +previous campaign. General Johnston was no less hopeful of the situation. +The conjuncture was indeed rare in its opportunities. The exposed +situation of General Grant, whose command lay upon the west bank of the +Tennessee River, with a most remarkable want of appreciation of its +precarious position by its commander, and a total absence of provision for +its safety, invited an immediate attack by the Confederate commander, +before the Federal column could be reinforced by Buell, then making rapid +marches from Nashville. + +The incidents of the battle of Shiloh are familiar to the world. It +constitutes, perhaps, the most melancholy of that series of "lost +opportunities" in the Confederate conduct of the war, upon which history +will dwell with sad interest. The first day's victory promised fruits the +most brilliant and enduring. The action of the second day can only be +construed as a Confederate disaster. Such was the sentiment of the South, +and such must be the verdict of history. + +Shiloh was, perhaps, the sorest disappointment experienced by the South, +until the loss of Vicksburg, and the defeat of Gettysburg threatened the +approaching climacteric of the Confederacy. The public grief at the death +of General Johnston was tinged with remorse, for the unmerited censure +with which the popular voice, encouraged by the press, had previously +assailed him. Not until his death did the South appreciate the worth of +this great soldier. Never, perhaps, had there been a more sublime instance +of self-abnegation than was displayed by Sidney Johnston. + +All through the autumn and winter of 1861 he had maintained his perilous +position in Kentucky, confronted by forces quadruple his own, and yet +assailed by an impatient and ignorant public, for not essaying invasion, +with a force which subsequent events proved inadequate for defense. But +not even the hideous array of facts following the reverses of February +secured his vindication; still he was assailed by an unreasoning public, +instigated by a carping, partisan press. He was ridiculed as +incompetent--as one who had traversed the curriculum of West Point, only +to become educated in the frippery of military etiquette. For the first +time, President Davis was charged with a desire to reward favorites, even +at the risk of the public welfare, as illustrated by his retention in high +command, of one whom actual trial had proven incapable, and undeserving of +his previous reputation. + +But President Davis, happily for his own fame, not less than for the fame +of this illustrious victim of popular clamor, was unmoved by the censures +of the public, and the invectives of the newspapers. He did not permit the +confidence which, upon deliberate judgment, and upon a long and intimate +acquaintance, he had reposed in General Johnston, to be shaken, and +sternly repelled the clamor against him, as he afterwards did in the case +of Lee, and even of Stonewall Jackson. His habitual reply to importunate +petitions for the removal of Johnston was: "If Sidney Johnston is +incompetent to command an army, then the Confederacy has no general fit +for that position." + +Humanity rejoices in no attribute more noble than the capacity for warm +and enduring friendship; and there is nothing more exalted in the +character of Jefferson Davis than his devotion to his friends. At all +times as true as steel to those for whom he professes attachment, he +knows no cold medium, cherishes no feeling of indifference, but his nature +kindles responsively to the warmth in the bosom of others. A like +enthusiasm towards himself has usually been the reward of his heroic +constancy. In Sidney Johnston there was that touching union of chivalric +generosity and tender sympathy, which peculiarly qualified him for +fellowship with Jefferson Davis. Such friendship, as that which united +them, rises to the sublimity of the noblest virtue, and presents a +spectacle honorable to human nature. + +President Davis commemorated the death of General Johnston in a +communication to Congress, and in terms of touching and appropriate +feeling. Said he: + + "But an all-wise Creator has been pleased, while vouchsafing to us His + countenance in battle, to afflict us with a severe dispensation, to + which we must bow in humble submission. The last, long, lingering hope + has disappeared, and it is but too true that General Albert Sidney + Johnston is no more. My long and close friendship with this departed + chieftain and patriot forbid me to trust myself in giving vent to the + feelings, which this intelligence has evoked. Without doing injustice + to the living, it may safely be said that our loss is irreparable. + Among the shining hosts of the great and good who now cluster around + the banner of our country, there exists no purer spirit, no more + heroic soul, than that of the illustrious man whose death I join you + in lamenting. In his death he has illustrated the character for which, + through life, he was conspicuous--that of singleness of purpose and + devotion to duty with his whole energies. Bent on obtaining the + victory which he deemed essential to his country's cause, he rode on + to the accomplishment of his object, forgetful of self, while his very + life-blood was fast ebbing away. His last breath cheered his comrades + on to victory. The last sound he heard was their shout of victory. His + last thought was his country, and long and deeply will his country + mourn his loss." + +The battle of Shiloh was an incident of the war justifying more than a +passing notice. Never since Manassas, and never upon any subsequent +occasion, had the Confederacy an opportunity so abundant in promise. The +utmost exertions of the Government had been employed to make the Western +army competent for the great enterprise proposed by its commander. The +situation of Grant's army absolutely courted the tremendous blow with +which Johnston sought its destruction, a result which, in all human +calculation, he would have achieved had his life been spared. At the +moment of his death a peerless victory was already won; the heavy masses +of Grant were swept from their positions; before nightfall his last +reserve had been broken, and his army lay, a cowering, shrunken, defeated +rabble, upon the banks of the Tennessee. That, at such a moment, the army +should have been recalled from pursuit, especially when it was known that +a powerful reinforcement, ample to enable the enemy to restore his +fortunes, was hastening, by forced marches, to the scene, must ever remain +a source of profound amazement. + +It was the story of Manassas repeated, but with a far more mournful +significance. It was not the failure to gather the fruits of the most +complete victory of the war, nor the irreparable loss of Sidney Johnston, +which filled the cup of the public sorrow. Superadded to these was the +alarming discovery that the second great army of the Confederacy, in the +death of its commander, was deprived of the genius which alone had been +proven capable of its successful direction. Johnston had no worthy +successor, and the Western army discovered no leader capable of +conducting it to the goal which its splendid valor deserved. + +A very perceptible diminution of what had hitherto been unlimited +confidence, not only in the genius, but even in the good fortune of +Beauregard, was the result of his declared failure at Shiloh. Not even his +distinguished services, subsequently, were sufficient to entirely efface +that unfortunate record. Military blunders, perhaps the most excusable of +human errors, are those which popular criticism is the least disposed to +extenuate. The reputation of the soldier, so sacred to himself, and which +should be so jealously guarded by his country, is often mercilessly +mutilated by that public, upon whose gratitude and indulgence he should +have an unlimited demand. We shall not undertake to establish the justice +of the public verdict, which has been unanimous, that the course of +General Beauregard involved, at least, an "extraordinary abandonment of a +great victory." It only remains to state the material from which a candid +and intelligent estimate is to be reached. + +General Beauregard has explained his course, in terms which, it is to be +presumed, were at least satisfactory to himself. His official report says: +"Darkness was close at hand; officers and men were exhausted by a combat +of over twelve hours without food, and jaded by the march of the preceding +day through mud and water." + +General Bragg, who conspicuously shared the laurels of the first day's +action, has recorded a memorable protest against the course adopted at its +close. Says General Bragg ... "It was now probably past four o'clock, the +descending sun warning us to press our advantage and finish the work +before night should compel us to desist. Fairly in motion, these commands +again, with a common head and a common purpose, swept all before them. +Neither battery nor battalion could withstand their onslaught. Passing +through camp after camp, rich in military spoils of every kind, the enemy +was driven headlong from every position, and thrown in confused masses +upon the river bank, behind his heavy artillery, and under cover of his +gunboats at the landing. He had left nearly the whole of his light +artillery in our hands."... _The enemy had fallen back in much confusion, +and was crowded, in unorganized masses, upon the river bank, vainly +striving to cross._ They were covered by a battery of heavy guns, well +served, and their two gunboats, now poured a heavy fire upon our supposed +position, for we were entirely hid by the forest. _Their fire, though +terrific in sound, and producing some consternation at first, did us no +damage, as the shells all passed over, and exploded far beyond our +position...._ The sun was about disappearing, so that little time was left +us to finish the glorious work of the day.... Our troops, greatly +exhausted by twelve hours' incessant fighting, without food, _mostly +responded to the order with alacrity, and the movement commenced with +every prospect of success.... Just at this time, an order was received +from, the commanding general to withdraw the forces beyond the enemy's +fire._ + +The testimony of General Polk, also a distinguished participant in the +battle, was concurrent with that of General Bragg, and no less emphatic in +its suggestions. In his report is to be found the following passage: + + "The troops under my command were joined by those of Generals Bragg + and Breckinridge, and my fourth brigade, under General Cheatham, from + the right. The field was clear. The rest of the forces of the enemy + were driven to the river and under its bank. We had one hour or more + of daylight still left; were within from one hundred and fifty to four + hundred yards of the enemy's position, and nothing seemed wanting to + complete the most brilliant victory of the war, but to press forward + and make a vigorous assault on the demoralized remnant of his forces. + + "At this juncture his gunboats dropped down the river, near the + landing, where his troops were collected, and opened a tremendous + cannonade of shot and shell over the bank, in the direction from which + our forces were approaching. The height of the plain on which we were, + above the level of the water, was about one hundred feet, so that it + was necessary to give great elevation to his guns, to enable him to + fire over the bank. The consequence was that shot could take effect + only at points remote from the river's edge. They were comparatively + harmless to our troops nearest the bank, and became increasingly so to + us as we drew near the enemy and placed him between us and his boats. + + "Here the impression arose that our forces were waging an unequal + contest--that they were exhausted, and suffering from a murderous + fire, and by an order from the commanding general they were withdrawn + from the field." + +President Davis could only share the universal dissatisfaction with the +unfortunate termination of the battle of Shiloh. A conclusive evidence of +his forbearance and justice is seen in the fact, that he did not avail +himself of the opportunity to displace an officer, toward whom he was +charged with entertaining such bitter and implacable animosity, when +public sentiment would, in all probability, have approved the expediency +of that step. But General Beauregard was in no danger of mean resentment +from President Davis, who so frequently braved the anger of the public +against its distinguished servants. General Beauregard retained the +control of the Western army, without interference from the executive, and +within a few weeks, by the successful execution of his admirable retreat +from Corinth, which he justly declared "equivalent to a brilliant +victory," did much to repair his damaged reputation.[50] So eminent, in +its perfection and success, was the retreat of Beauregard with his little +army from the front of Halleck, who had more than one hundred thousand +men, that a portion of the Northern press admitted that while Shiloh made +Grant ridiculous, Corinth made a corpse of Halleck's military reputation. + +As yet there had been no compensating advantage gained by the Confederacy +to repair the disasters sustained in the early part of the year. Indeed, +the train of reverses had hardly been more than temporarily interrupted, +when a calamity hardly less serious than the loss of Tennessee happened in +the loss of New Orleans, the largest, most populous, and most wealthy city +of the Confederacy. This event was speedily followed by the calamitous +results which were to be expected. It was the virtual destruction of +Confederate rule in Louisiana. It cut off the available routes to Texas, +so inestimable in its importance as a source of grain and cattle; gave +the enemy a base of operations against the entire gulf region, and was +altogether disheartening to the South.[51] + +Some time previous to the fall of New Orleans, which occurred in the +latter days of April, the Confederacy had made its most serious effort to +dispute the hitherto absolute naval supremacy of the North. On the 8th of +March, 1862, occurred the famous naval engagement in Hampton Roads, +between the Confederate iron-clad Virginia, and the Federal Monitor. Ever +since the summer of 1861, the Navy Department had been preparing, at +Gosport Navy-yard, a formidable naval contrivance--a shot-proof, +iron-plated steam battery. The result of the experiment was a success, +which did much to relieve the Navy Department of undeserved reproach, and +to produce a revolution in theories relating to naval science and +architecture all over the world. + +About this period the activity of the naval forces of the enemy was +rewarded by additional successes. The towns of Newborn, Washington, and +other places of less note in North Carolina, were captured by naval +expeditions in conjunction with detachments from the army of General +Burnside. The successes of the Burnside expedition, which had been +prepared by the North with such large expectations, were by no means +inconsiderable; but they were soon lost sight of in the presence of the +more absorbing operations in the interior. The naval resistance of the +South had thus far necessarily been feeble. In the subsequent progress of +the war, except in rare instances, it disappeared altogether as an element +in the calculation of means of defense. + +The vulnerability of the South upon the sea-coast, and along the lines of +her navigable rivers, measured the extent of the good fortune of the +enemy. The North was shortly to yield a reluctant recognition of the +comparatively insignificant influence of its long train of triumphs in the +promotion of subjugation. Upon the soil of Virginia--classic in its +memories of contests for freedom, the chosen battle-ground of the +Confederacy--was soon to be shed the effulgence of the proudest +achievements of Southern genius and valor--a radiance as splendid as ever +shone upon the blazing crest of war. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + THE "ANACONDA SYSTEM"--HOW FAR IT WAS SUCCESSFUL--TERRITORIAL + CONFIGURATION OF THE SOUTH FAVORABLE TO THE ENEMY--ONE THEATRE OF WAR + FAVORABLE TO THE CONFEDERATES--THE FEDERAL FORCES IN VIRGINIA--THE + CONFEDERATE FORCES--THE POTOMAC LINES--CRITICAL SITUATION IN + VIRGINIA--EVACUATION OF MANASSAS--TRANSFER OF OPERATIONS TO THE + PENINSULA--MAGRUDER'S LINES--EVACUATION OF YORKTOWN--STRENGTH OF THE + OPPOSING FORCES BEFORE RICHMOND--DESTRUCTION OF THE "VIRGINIA"--PANIC + IN RICHMOND--MR. DAVIS' CALMNESS AND CONFIDENCE--HE AVOWS HIMSELF + "READY TO LEAVE HIS BONES IN THE CAPITAL OF THE CONFEDERACY"--REPULSE + OF THE GUNBOATS--"MEMENTOES OF HEROISM"--JACKSON'S VALLEY CAMPAIGN--A + SERIES OF VICTORIES, WITH IMPORTANT RESULTS--BATTLE OF "SEVEN + PINES"--A FAILURE--GENERAL JOHNSTON WOUNDED--PRESIDENT DAVIS ON THE + FIELD--PRESIDENT DAVIS AND GENERAL JOHNSTON--AN ATTEMPT TO FORESTALL + THE DECISION OF HISTORY--RESULTS OF LEE'S ACCESSION TO COMMAND-- + JOHNSTON'S GENERALSHIP--MR. DAVIS' ESTIMATE OF LEE--LEE'S PLANS--THE + ADVISORY RELATION BETWEEN DAVIS AND LEE--THEIR MUTUAL CONFIDENCE NEVER + INTERRUPTED--CONFEDERATE STRATEGY AFTER M'CLELLAN'S DEFEAT BEFORE + RICHMOND--MAGICAL CHANGE IN THE FORTUNES OF THE CONFEDERACY--THE + INVASION OF MARYLAND--ANTIETAM--TANGIBLE PROOFS OF CONFEDERATE + SUCCESS--GENERAL BRAGG--HIS KENTUCKY CAMPAIGN--CONFEDERATE HOPES-- + BATTLE OF PERRYVILLE--BRAGG RETREATS--ESTIMATE OF THE KENTUCKY + CAMPAIGN OF 1862--OTHER INCIDENTS OF THE WESTERN CAMPAIGN--REMOVAL OF + M'CLELLAN--A SOUTHERN OPINION OF M'CLELLAN--BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG-- + BATTLE OF MURFREESBORO'--BATTLE OF PRAIRIE GROVE--THE SITUATION AT THE + CLOSE OF 1862--PRESIDENT DAVIS' RECOMMENDATIONS TO CONGRESS--HIS VISIT + TO THE SOUTH-WEST--ADDRESS BEFORE THE MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE. + + +The Federal Government frankly accepted the true teachings of the war in +its earlier stages, and no feature of the lesson was more palpable than +the inferiority of the North in the art of war and military +administration. No longer trusting, to any extent whatever, to a contest +of prowess with an enemy whose incomparable superiority was already +established, Mr. Lincoln, his cabinet, and his military advisers, were +concurrent in their convictions of the necessity of a policy which should +make available the numerical superiority of the North. The "anaconda +system" of General Scott, adhered to by General McClellan, and sanctioned +by the Government and the people, though by no means new in the theory and +practice of war, was based upon a just and sagacious view of the +situation. + +To overwhelm the South by mere material weight, to crush the smaller body +by the momentum of a larger force, comprehends the Federal design of the +war, undertaken at the inception of operations in 1862. The success +attending the execution of this design we have described in preceding +pages. We have accredited to the enemy the full extent of his successes, +and endeavored to demonstrate that they resulted not from Confederate +maladministration, but from a vigorous and timely use of his advantages +and opportunity by the enemy. But while according to the North unexampled +energy in preparation, and an unstinted donation of its means to the +purpose, which it pursued with indomitable resolution, no concession of an +improved military capacity is demanded, from the fact that use was made of +obvious advantages not to be overlooked even by the stupidity of an Aulic +council. + +We have shown that the preponderating influence in the achievement of the +enemy's victories in the winter and spring of 1862, was his naval +supremacy. Even at that period it was palpable that, without his navy, his +scheme of invasion would be the veriest abortion ever exposed to the +ridicule of mankind. The maritime facilities of the enemy were, in the +end, decisive of the contest in his favor. + +Upon those fields of military operations which have thus far occupied our +attention, we have seen how propitious to the enemy's plans, in every +instance, was the geographical configuration. Wherever a navigable river +emptied into the sea, which was the undisputed domain of the North, or +intersected its territory, a short and, in many instances, almost +bloodless struggle had ended in the expulsion or capture of the +Confederates defending its passage. Yet, in many instances, these results +had a most serious bearing upon the decision of the war. It was impossible +for Sidney Johnston to hold Kentucky and Tennessee unless the Mississippi, +running parallel with his communications, and the Cumberland and +Tennessee, running in their rear, should remain sealed to the enemy. It +was equally impracticable to hold the region bordering upon the North +Carolina sounds after the fall of Roanoke Island. After the fall of New +Orleans, the entire avenue of the Mississippi, except the limited section +between Vicksburg and Port Hudson, was open to the enemy, giving him bases +of operations upon both its banks, and opening to his ravages vast +sections of the Confederacy. + +Thus had the naval supremacy of the enemy brought him, in a few days, to +the very heart of extensive sections of territory, which never could have +been reduced to his sway, had he been compelled to fight his way overland +from his frontiers. Thus was the great element of _space_, usually so +potent in the defense of an invaded people, annihilated, almost before the +struggle had been fairly begun. + +The upper regions of Eastern Virginia, remote from the navigable +tributaries of the Atlantic and the larger rivers, was the only theatre of +war, where the superior valor and skill of the Confederates could claim +success from the Federal hosts, deprived of their gunboats and water +communications. Here, though not entirely neutralized, his water +facilities did not at all times avail the enemy; here the struggle was +more equal, and here was demonstrated that superior manhood and +soldiership of the South, which, not even an enemy, if candid, will deny. + +Of the seven hundred thousand men, which were claimed as under arms for +the preservation of the Union, in the beginning of 1862, it is reasonably +certain that more than a half million were actually in the field, and of +these at least one-half, were operating in Virginia, with Richmond as the +common goal of their eager and expectant gaze. The army of McClellan, +numbering little less than two hundred thousand men, in the vicinity of +Washington, was entitled to the lavish praise, which he bestowed upon it, +in his declaration, that it was "magnificent in material, admirable in +discipline and instruction, excellently equipped and armed." In the valley +of the Shenandoah was the army of Banks, more than fifteen thousand +strong. General Fremont, with about the same force, commanded the +"Mountain Department," embracing the highland region of Western Virginia. +By the first of March these various commands, with other detachments, had +reached an aggregate of quite two hundred and fifty thousand men. + +We have sufficiently described those causes, by which the already +disproportionate strength of the Confederates, previous to the adoption of +the conscription act, and the inception of the more vigorous and stringent +military policy of the Confederate Government, was reduced to a condition +in most alarming contrast with the enormous preparations of the enemy. + +General Joseph E. Johnston still held his position, with a force which, on +the first of March, barely exceeded forty thousand men. The command of +General Stonewall Jackson, in the Shenandoah Valley, did not exceed +thirty-five hundred, embracing all arms. General Magruder held the +Peninsula of York and James Rivers, covering the approaches to Richmond in +that direction, with eleven thousand men, and General Huger had at Norfolk +and in the vicinity not more than ten thousand. The Confederate force in +Western Virginia was altogether too feeble for successful defense, and +indeed, the Government had some months previous abandoned the hope of a +permanent occupation of that region. + +The Confederate authorities had long since ceased to cherish hope of +offensive movements upon the line of the Potomac. Circumstances imposed a +defensive attitude, attended with many causes of peculiar apprehension for +the fate of the issue in Virginia. Weeks of critical suspense, and +vigilant observation of the threatening movements of the Federal forces, +were followed by the transfer of the principal scene of operations to the +Peninsula. + +The evacuation of the position so long held by General Johnston at +Manassas, executed with many evidences of skill, but attended with much +destruction of valuable material, was followed immediately by an advance +of General McClellan to that place. The necessity of a retirement by +General Johnston to an interior line had been duly appreciated by the +Confederate Government, though there were circumstances attending the +immediate execution of the movement, which detracted from its otherwise +complete success. The destruction of valuable material, including an +extensive meat-curing establishment, containing large supplies of meat, +and established by the Government, which ensued upon the evacuation of +Manassas, elicited much exasperated censure. Similar occurrences at the +evacuation of Yorktown, a few weeks later, revived a most unpleasant +recollection of scenes incident to the retreat from Manassas. The +extravagant destruction of property, in many instances apparently reckless +and wanton, marking the movements of the Confederate armies at this +period, was a bitter sarcasm upon the practice, by many of its prominent +officers, of that economy of resources which the necessities of the +Confederacy so imperatively demanded. + +Not only the weakness of his forces indicated to General Johnston the +perils of his position, but the territorial configuration again came to +the aid of the enemy, and gave to General McClellan the option of several +avenues to the rear of the Confederate army. It is not improbable that +McClellan appreciated the extremity of Johnston's situation, and has, +indeed, assigned other reasons for his advance upon Manassas than the +expectation of an engagement, where the chances would have been +overwhelmingly in his favor. At all events, the retirement of General +Johnston to the line of the Rapidan, imposed upon the Federal general an +immediate choice of a base from which to assail the Confederate capital. +Originally opposed to an overland movement _via_ Manassas, McClellan was +now compelled to abandon his favorite plan of a movement from Urbanna, on +the Rappahanock, by which he hoped to cut off the Confederate retreat to +Richmond, in consequence of Johnston's retirement behind the Rappahanock. +General McClellan promptly adopted the movement to the peninsula, a plan +which he had previously considered, but which he regarded "as less +brilliant and less promising decisive results."[52] + +When General Johnston left Manassas, it is probable that he was not fully +decided as to the position which he should select. Receiving a +dispatch[53] from President Davis, he halted the army, and immediately the +President left Richmond for Johnston's head-quarters, for the purpose of +consultation. General Johnston's position now was simply observatory of +the enemy. It was yet possible that McClellan might undertake an overland +movement; and, indeed, a portion of his force had followed the retreating +Confederates. In that event Johnston would occupy the line upon which Lee +subsequently foiled so many formidable Federal demonstrations. From his +central position he could also promptly meet a serious demonstration +against Richmond from the Chesapeake waters or the Shenandoah Valley. When +the numerous transports at Fortress Monroe, debarking troops for the +peninsula, revealed the enemy's real purpose, the army of General Johnston +was carried to the lines of Magruder, at Yorktown. Johnston was, however, +decidedly opposed to the movement to the Peninsula, declaring it +untenable, and urging views as to the requirements of the situation, which +competent criticism has repeatedly commended. + +While the transfer of Johnston's army to the Peninsula was in process of +execution, the situation in Virginia was, in the highest degree, critical. +The strength of Magruder was necessarily so divided, that the actual +force, defending the line threatened by McClellan with eighty thousand +men, was less than six thousand Confederates. Meanwhile the various +Federal detachments in other quarters were coöperating with the main +movement of McClellan. Banks and Shields were expected, by their +overwhelming numbers, to crush Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley, and then, +forming a junction with the large force of Fremont, who was required to +capture Staunton, it was designed that these combined forces should unite +with the army of McDowell, advancing from the direction of Fredericksburg, +at some point east of the Blue Ridge. Thus a force, aggregating more than +seventy thousand men, threatening Richmond from the north, was to unite +with McClellan advancing from the east. Such was, in brief, the Federal +plan of campaign, which the North expected to accomplish the reduction of +Richmond and the total destruction of the Confederate power in Virginia. +It does not devolve upon us to discuss, in detail, the defects of this +faulty combination, but the sequel will show how promptly and triumphantly +the Confederate leaders availed themselves of the opportunity presented by +this crude arrangement of their adversaries. + +Happily the bold attitude and skillful dispositions of Magruder were aided +by the over-tentative action of his antagonist. The latter, greatly +exaggerating the force in his front, and convinced of the hopelessness of +an assault upon the Confederate works, permitted the escape of the golden +moment, and prepared for a regular siege of Yorktown. In the meantime +General Magruder describes his situation to have been as follows: +"Through the energetic action of the Government, reënforcements began to +pour in, and each hour the Army of the Peninsula grew stronger and +stronger, until anxiety passed from my mind as to the result of an attack +upon us." + +The untenability of the Peninsula was very soon made apparent, and the +important advantage of _time_ having been gained, and the escape of +General Huger's command from its precarious position at Norfolk secured, +General Johnston abandoned the works at Yorktown, retreating to the line +of the Chickahominy, near Richmond. This movement was made in obedience to +the necessities of the situation, and was in accordance with his original +desire for a decisive engagement with McClellan, at an interior point, +where a concentration of the Confederate forces would be more practicable. +General McClellan did not pursue the retreating column with much energy +after the decisive blow given his advance at Williamsburg, by Longstreet. + +With the arrival of Johnston upon the Richmond lines, the Confederate +Government began, with energy and rapidity, the concentration of its +forces. The superb command of Huger was promptly transferred to Johnston, +and troops from the Carolinas were thrown forward to Richmond as rapidly +as transportation facilities would permit. By the last of May the +Confederate forces in front of Richmond reached an aggregate of +seventy-five thousand men. McClellan had sustained losses on the Peninsula +which reduced his strength to the neighborhood of one hundred and twenty +thousand. + +A cruel necessity of the evacuation of Norfolk and Portsmouth was the +destruction of the Confederate iron-clad "Virginia," which had so long +prevented the ascent of James River by the Federal gunboats. So invaluable +was this vessel in the defense of Richmond, that McClellan had named, as +an essential condition of a successful campaign on the Peninsula, that she +should be "neutralized." It was found impossible to convey the Virginia to +a point unoccupied on either shore of the river by the enemy's forces, +and, by order of her commander, the vessel was destroyed. Immediately a +fleet ascended the river for the purpose of opening the water highway to +the Confederate capital. + +The intelligence of the destruction of the "Virginia," and the advance of +the Federal fleet, was received, in Richmond, with profound consternation. +No one, unless at that time in Richmond, can realize the sense of extreme +peril experienced by the public. There were few who dared indulge the hope +of a successful defense of the city against the dreaded "gunboats" and +"monitors" of the enemy, which, the people then believed, were alike +invulnerable and irresistible. + +The wise precautionary measures of the Government, in preparing its +archives for removal, in case of emergency, to a point of safety, greatly +increased the panic of the public. Rumors of a precipitate evacuation of +the city, by the Confederate authorities, were circulated, and there was +wanting no possible element which could aggravate the public alarm, save +the calm demeanor of President Davis, and the deliberate efforts of the +authorities--Confederate, State, and municipal--to assure the safety of +the city. The courage and confidence of the President, in the midst of +this almost universal alarm, in which many officers of the Government +participated, quickly aroused an enthusiastic and determined spirit in the +hearts of a brave people. Knowing the critical nature of the emergency, he +was nevertheless resolved to exhaust every expedient in the defense of +Richmond, and then to abide the issue. His noble and defiant declaration +was: "I am ready and willing to leave my bones in the capital of the +Confederacy." In response to resolutions from the Virginia Legislature, +urging the defense of the city to the last extremity, he avowed his +predetermined resolution to hold Richmond until driven out by the enemy, +and animated his hearers by an assurance of his conviction, that, even in +that contingency, "the war could be successfully maintained, upon Virginia +soil, for twenty years."[54] + +The accounts of the enemy were required to demonstrate to the citizens of +Richmond, that, by the obstructions in the channel of the river, and the +erection of the impregnable batteries at Drewry's Bluff, their homes were +again secured from the presence of the invaders. The significance of that +brief engagement, during which the guns were distinctly audible in +Richmond, was very soon made evident in the loss of their terrors by the +Federal gunboats. President Davis was a spectator of the engagement, by +which the Confederate capital was rescued from imminent peril of capture. + +But the repulse of the gunboats in James River, with its assuring and +significant incidents, was the precursor of far more brilliant successes, +which, it was evident, would largely affect the decision of the general +issue in Virginia. In the months of May and June, 1862, was enacted the +memorable "Valley campaign" of Stonewall Jackson--a campaign which, never +excelled, has no parallel in brilliant and accurate conception, celerity, +and perfection of execution, save the Italian campaign of Napoleon in +1796. General Jackson's exploits in the Valley of the Shenandoah present +an aggregate of military achievements unrivaled by any record in American +history. + +On the 23d of March, Jackson fought the battle of Kernstown, near +Winchester, with three thousand Virginians against eighteen full Federal +regiments, sustaining, throughout an entire day, an audacious assault upon +Shields' force, and at dark leisurely retiring with his command, after +having inflicted upon the enemy a loss nearly equal to his own strength. +Elsewhere has been mentioned the effort made to induce President Davis to +remove Jackson, in compliance with the popular dissatisfaction at his +failure to achieve, against such overwhelming odds, more palpable fruits +of victory. The immediate consequence of Kernstown was the check of Banks' +advance in the Valley, and the recall of a large force, then on the way +from Banks to aid McClellan's designs against Johnston. + +Leaving General Ewell, whose division had been detached from Johnston, to +intercept any demonstration by Banks in the Valley, or across the Blue +Ridge, Jackson united his command with that of General Edward Johnson, a +full brigade, and defeating the advance of Fremont, under Milroy, at +McDowell, compelled a disorderly retreat by Fremont through the mountains +of Western Virginia. Returning to the Valley, he assaulted, with his +united force, the column of Banks, annihilated an entire division of the +enemy, pursued its fugitive remnants to the Potomac, and threatened the +safety of the Federal capital. Alarmed for Washington, Mr. Lincoln halted +McDowell in his plans of coöperation with McClellan, and for weeks the +efforts of the Federal Government were addressed to the paramount purpose +of "catching Jackson." Eluding the enemy's combinations, Jackson turned +upon his pursuers, again defeated Fremont at Cross Keys, and immediately +crossing the Shenandoah, secured his rear, and destroyed the advance of +Shields within sight of its powerless confederate. Resuming the retreat, +Jackson paused at Weyer's Cave, and awaited the summons of his superiors +to enact his thrilling rôle in the absorbing drama at Richmond. Within the +short period of seventy days, Jackson achieved at Kernstown, McDowell's, +Front Royal, Winchester, Strasburg, Harrisonburg, Cross Keys, and Port +Republic, eight tactical victories, besides innumerable successful +combats. But he had done more. He had wrought the incomparable strategic +achievement of neutralizing sixty thousand men with fifteen thousand; he +had recalled McDowell, when, with outstretched arm, McClellan had already +planted his right wing, under Porter, at Hanover Court-house, to receive +the advance of the coöperating column from Fredericksburg. + +Meanwhile the lines of Richmond had been the scene of no incident of +special interest until the battle of "Seven Pines," on the 31st of May. +After his arrival upon the Chickahominy, McClellan had been steadily +fortifying his lines, and wherever an advance was practicable, preparing +approaches to Richmond. His line, extending over a space of several miles, +was accurately described by the course of the Chickahominy, from the +village of Mechanicsville, five miles north of Richmond, to a point about +four miles from the city, in an easterly direction. Having partially +executed his design of bridging the Chickahominy, McClellan had crossed +that stream, and in the last days of May, his left wing was fortified near +the locality designated the "Seven Pines." This initiative demonstration +by McClellan, which placed his army astride a variable stream, was +sufficiently provocative of the enterprise of his antagonist. To increase +the peril of the isolated wing of the Federal army, a thunder-storm, +occurring on the night of the 29th of May, had so swollen the Chickahominy +as to render difficult the accession of reënforcements from the main body. + +Such was the situation which invited the Confederate commander to +undertake the destruction of the exposed column of his adversary--a +movement which, if successful, might have resulted in the rout of the +entire left wing of the enemy, opening a way to his rear, and securing his +utter overthrow. Seven Pines was an action, in which the color of victory +was entirely with the Confederates, but it was the least fruitful +engagement fought by the two armies in Virginia. There was no engagement +of the war in which the valor of the Confederate soldier was more +splendidly illustrated, though happily that quality then did not require +so conspicuous a test. However able in design, it was in execution a +signal failure--a series of loose, indefinite and disjointed movements, +wanting in coöperation, and apparently in able executive management. + +President Davis, in company with General Lee, was present during most of +the engagement. Frequently under fire, and in consultation with his +generals in exposed positions, he was conspicuous chiefly by his efforts +to animate the troops, and his presence was greeted with evidences of the +enthusiasm and confidence which it inspired. + +The battle of "Seven Pines," in itself barren of influence upon the +decision of the campaign, was nevertheless attended by an incident--the +painful and disabling wound received by General Johnston, in all +probability decisive of the future history of the Army of Northern +Virginia. Leading to an immediate and positive change of policy, it is +hardly a bold declaration that this incident determined the future of the +war in Virginia. + +A disposition has been freely indulged to influence the sentence of +history, by placing President Davis and General Johnston in a sort of +antithetical juxtaposition, as exponents of different theories as to the +proper conduct of the war by the South. In view of the failure of the +Confederacy, it has been ingeniously contended that the result vindicated +the wisdom of General Johnston's views. But besides its evident unfairness +to Mr. Davis, no criticism could be founded less upon the intrinsic merits +of the case. Overzealous and intemperate partisans generally evince +aptitude in the exaggeration of minor differences between the leaders, +whose interests they profess to have at heart. Such results are not +unfrequent in the lives of eminent public men. In the case of General +Beauregard, the unhappy effects of officious intermeddling and +misrepresentation, from such sources, between the President and that +distinguished officer, are especially notable. + +But the assumption that events have indicated the wisdom of General +Johnston's views, in their declared antagonism to those of Mr. Davis, is +altogether unsustained. The immediate results of a change of commanders, +and a consequent inauguration of a different policy[55]--a policy in +accordance with Mr. Davis' own views, may, with far more reason, be +alleged in support of a contrary theory. The vigorous and aggressive +policy adopted and executed by Lee not only accorded with the wishes of +the President, but fulfilled the long-deferred popular expectation, and +agreeably disappointed the public in Lee's capacity. For despite the +general disappointment at the absence of decisive achievements by the Army +of Northern Virginia, General Johnston commanded far more of public +confidence, than did General Lee at the period of the latter's accession +to command. + +Nothing could have been more disadvantageous to Lee, than the contrast so +freely indicated between himself and other officers. Johnston was +criticised merely because of the absence of brilliant and decisive +achievements. Lee was assumed to have proven his incompetency by egregious +failure. He was ridiculed as a closet general. His campaigns were said to +exist only on paper--to consist of slow methodical tactics, and incessant +industry with the spade, and he was pronounced totally deficient in +aggressive qualities. A prominent Richmond editor, criticising his +North-western Virginia campaign, asserted that the unvarying intelligence +from Lee was that he was "hopelessly stuck in the mud," and an officer was +heard to compare him to a terrapin, needing the application of a hot coal +to his back to compel him to action. But with the lapse of a fortnight +that army, which received the intelligence of Lee's appointment to command +with misgiving and distrust, began to experience renewed life and hope. It +was not the few additional brigades given to that army which so soon +started it upon its irresistible career of victory. A mighty hand +projected its impetus, and directed its magnificent valor against those +miles of intrenchments which it had seen grow more and more formidable, +itself meanwhile an inactive spectator. + +Lee found the army within sight of Richmond; he lifted it from the mud of +the Chickahominy, defeated an enemy intrenched and in superior force; +pursued the panting and disheartened fugitives to the shelter of their +shipping; defeated a second army--then both together--within hearing of +the Federal capital; fought an indecisive battle upon the enemy's soil, +and reëstablished the Confederate line upon the frontier. Is it a matter +of wonder that the President, the army, and the people recognized the +significance of these results, and applauded the substitution of the new +system and the new status for the old? A better explanation of so +pronounced a contrast is needed than that the "prejudice" or "injustice" +of Davis withheld from Johnston, five or even ten thousand men, which he +gave to Lee. + +Yet there could be no hypothesis more presumptuous, in view of the +abundant testimony of competent military judgment, and none more palpably +untenable, than that which would deny greatness as a soldier to Johnston. +As a consummate master of strategy, in that sense which contemplates the +movements of heavy masses, and looks to grand ultimate results, Johnston +has probably few equals. His sagacity in the divination of an enemy's +designs is remarkable; and if he be considered as having marked +deficiencies, they must be counted as a lack of Jackson's audacity, of +Lee's confident calculation and executive perfection. The South regards +Lee as beyond criticism. Jefferson Davis is accustomed to say "the world +has rarely produced a man to be compared with Lee." Yet in mere +intellectuality, it is at least questionable whether Johnston had his +superior among the Southern leaders. + +But it often happens that qualities, however great, are not those which +the occasion demands. That marvelous union of qualities in Lee, which has +placed him almost above parallel, probably made him alone adequate to the +hazardous posture of affairs at Richmond in the summer of 1862. The +result, at least, made evident to the world, the wisdom of the President, +in that choice, which was at first declared the undeserved reward of an +incompetent favorite. + +Whatever may be alleged to the contrary, President Davis at all times, to +the full extent of his power, aided General Johnston in the consummation +of his designs. To assert that, upon any occasion, he either interposed +obstacles to Johnston's success, or denied him any means in his power to +confer, is to question that personal fidelity of Jefferson Davis, which +his bitterest enemy should be ashamed to deny. Few Southern men, at least, +have yet attained that measure of malignity, or that hardihood of +mendacity. + +General Lee was not dilatory in his preparations to gratify that longing +aspiration which the President, on his own behalf, and in the name of the +country, briefly expressed, that "something should be done." Lee had a +_carte blanche_, but frequent and anxious were the consultations between +the President and himself. The world now knows what followed those days +and nights of anxious conference, in which were weighed the chances of +success, the cost of victory, and the possibilities of defeat. The plan +executed by General Lee was one of the most hazardous ever attempted in +war, but it was not less brilliant than bold, and at least one precedent +had been furnished by the great master of the art of war at Austerlitz. +Its perils were obvious, but the sublime confidence of Lee in the success +of his combinations went far to secure its own justification. + +During the week of engagements which followed, the President was +constantly with the army and fully advised of its movements.[56] The +cordial recognition of this advisory relation between himself and Lee, is +indicated by the natural pride, and becoming sense of justice, with which +the latter, in the report of his operations against McClellan, mentions +the approving presence of the President, during the execution of his +plans. This noble harmony between Davis and Lee, equally creditable to +each, was never interrupted by one single moment of discord. It was never +marred by dictation on one side, or complaint on the other. Unlike other +commanders, Lee never complained of want of means, or of opportunity for +the execution of his plans. Satisfied that the Government was extending +all the aid in its power, he used, to the best advantage, the means at +hand and created his opportunities. Lee never charged the President with +improper interference with the army, but freely counseled with his +constitutional commander-in-chief, whom he knew to be worthy of the trust +conferred by the country in the control of its armies. President Davis +fully comprehended and respected the jealous functions of military +command, and in the exercise of that trust no one would have more quickly +resented unauthorized official interference. A soldier himself, he +recognized freedom of action as the privilege of the commander; as a +statesman, he rendered that cordial coöperation, which is the duty of +government. + +When Lee had driven McClellan from his position along the Chickahominy, he +had raised the siege of Richmond. The retreat of McClellan to the James +River, conducted with such admirable skill, and aided by good fortune, +placed the Federal army in a position where, secure itself, another +offensive movement against the Confederate capital might, in time, be +undertaken. Confederate strategy, however, soon relieved Richmond from the +apprehension of attack, and in less than two months from the termination +of the pursuit of McClellan, Lee, by a series of masterly strokes, +demolished the armies under Pope, united for the defense of Washington, +and was preparing an invasion of Maryland. + +An almost magical change in the fortunes of the Confederacy was wrought by +these active and brilliant operations, embracing so short a period, and +marked by results of such magnitude. + +Not only were the two main armies of the enemy defeated, but the entire +Federal campaign in the East had been entirely disconcerted. Richmond was +saved, Washington menaced, and McClellan forced back to the initial point +of his campaign. Western Virginia, the Carolina coast, and other +localities, for months past in Federal occupation, were almost divested of +troops to swell the hosts gathering for the rescue of Washington, and to +meet the dreaded advance, northward, of Lee's invincible columns. From the +heart of Virginia the cloud of war was again lifted to the Potomac +frontier; the munificent harvests of the valley counties, of Fauquier, +Loudon, and the fertile contiguous territory, were again in Confederate +possession, and a numerous and victorious army was now anxious to be led +across the Rubicon of the warring sections. + +From harrowing apprehension, from vague dread of indefinable but imminent +peril, the South was transported to the highest round of confident +expectation. The North, which, in the last days of June, eagerly awaited +intelligence of McClellan's capture of Richmond, now regarded its own +capital as doomed, and did not permit itself to breathe freely until +McClellan announced the _safety of Pennsylvania_, when Lee had retired to +Virginia. + +The inducements which invited a movement of the Confederate forces across +the Potomac were manifold. Whatever judgment the result may now suggest, +the invasion of Maryland was alike dictated by sound military policy and +justified by those moral considerations which are ever weighty in war. The +overwhelming defeat of Pope more than realized the hope of President Davis +and General Lee, when the strategic design of a movement northward was put +in execution, by which was sought the double purpose of withdrawing +McClellan from James River and effectually checking the advance of Pope. +The successive and decisive defeats of Pope offered the prospect of an +offensive by which the splendid successes of the campaign might be crowned +with even more valuable achievements. Demoralized, disheartened, in every +way disqualified for effectual resistance, the remnants of the armies +which Lee had beaten, each in succession, and then combined, would be an +easy prey to his victorious legions, could they be brought to a decisive +field engagement. There yet remained time, before the end of the season of +active operations, for crushing blows at the enemy, which would finish the +work thus far triumphantly successful. + +To inflict still greater damage upon the enemy--to so occupy him upon the +frontier as to prevent another demonstration against Richmond during the +present year--to indicate friendship and sympathy for the oppressed people +of Maryland--to derive such aid from them as their condition would enable +them to extend, were the potent inducements inviting the approbation of +the Confederate authorities to a movement across the Potomac. President +Davis was pledged to an invasion of the enemy's country whenever it should +prove practicable. Now, if ever, that policy was to be initiated. Hitherto +the enemy's power, not the will of the Confederate Government, had +prevented. Now that power was shattered. The mighty fabric trembled to its +base, and who would now venture to estimate the consequences of a +brilliant victory by Lee, on Maryland soil, in September, 1862? What +supporter of the Union can now dwell, without a shudder, upon the +imagination, even, of a repetition, at Antietam, of the story of the +Chickahominy, or Second Manassas? + +The climax of the Maryland campaign was the battle of Antietam--a drawn +battle, but followed by the early withdrawal of the Confederate army into +Virginia. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the causes conspiring to give +this portion of the campaign many of the features of failure. With a force +greatly reduced by the straggling of his weary and exhausted troops, Lee +was unable to administer the crushing blow which he had hoped to +deliver.[57] As a consequence, the people of Maryland, of whom a large +majority were thoroughly patriotic and warm in their Southern sympathies, +were not encouraged to make that effective demonstration which would +inevitably have followed a defeat of McClellan. + +Nevertheless, there was some compensation in the terrible punishment +inflicted upon the enemy at Antietam; and there was the heightened +prestige, so greatly valued by the South at this period, in the eyes of +Europe, arising from the temper and capacity of the weaker combatant to +undertake so bold an enterprise. In the tangible evidences of success +afforded by the capture of Harper's Ferry, with its numerous garrison +supplies of arms and military stores, was seen additional compensation for +the abandonment of the scheme of invasion. + +An interval of repose was permitted the Army of Northern Virginia, after +its return from Maryland, in its encampments near Winchester, during which +it was actively strengthened and recruited to the point of adequate +preparation for expected demonstrations of the enemy. + +The operations of the Western army, in many respects, were a brilliant +counterpart to the campaign in Virginia, though lacking its brilliant +fruits. We have mentioned the circumstance which placed General Braxton +Bragg in command of the Western army, after its successful evacuation of +Corinth. General Bragg was equally high in the confidence of the President +and the Southern people. Greatly distinguished by his services in Mexico, +his skillful handling, at Shiloh, of the magnificent corps of troops, +which his discipline had made a model of efficiency, more than confirmed +his Mexican fame. + +Space does not permit us to follow, in detail, the execution of the able +and comprehensive strategy, by which General Bragg relieved large sections +of Tennessee and Alabama from the presence of the enemy, penetrated the +heart of Kentucky, maintained an active offensive during the summer, and +transferred the seat of war to the Federal frontier. A part of these +operations was the hurried retreat of Buell's immense army, from its posts +in Alabama and Tennessee, for the defense of Louisville and Cincinnati; +large captures of prisoners, horses, arms and military stores; and the +brilliant progress and successive victories of Kirby Smith and Morgan. For +weeks the situation in Kentucky seemed to promise the unqualified success +of the entire Western campaign. There was, indeed, reasonable hope of a +permanent occupation of the larger portion of Kentucky and Tennessee by +the Confederate forces. + +But the battle of Perryville--an engagement not unlike Antietam in its +doubtful claim as a Federal victory--was followed by the retreat of +General Bragg, which was executed with skill, and with results going far +to relieve the disappointment of the popular hope of a permanent +occupation of Kentucky. Buell, on his arrival at Louisville, whither he +had retreated, received heavy reënforcements, which greatly increased his +already superior numbers; and Perryville, a battle which General Bragg +fought, rather to secure his retreat than with the expectation of a +decisive victory, would have been an overwhelming Confederate success, had +Bragg been sufficiently strong to follow up his advantage. + +No Confederate commander, save Lee and Jackson, was ever able to present a +claim of a successful campaign so well grounded as the Kentucky campaign +of Bragg. With a force of forty thousand men, he killed, wounded, and +captured more than twenty thousand of the enemy; took thirty pieces of +artillery, thousands of small arms; a large supply of wagons, harness, and +horses; and an immense amount of subsistence, ample not only for the +support of his own army, but of other forces of the Confederacy. During +the succeeding autumn and winter, Bragg's army was conspicuous for its +superior organization, admirable condition and tone; was abundantly +supplied with food and clothing, and in larger numbers than when it +started upon its campaign in August. Moreover, General Bragg redeemed +North Alabama and Middle Tennessee, and recovered possession of Cumberland +Gap, the doorway, through the mountains, to Knoxville and the Virginia and +Tennessee Railroad--the main avenue from Richmond to the heart of the +Confederacy. Evincing his determination to hold the recovered territory, +General Bragg, within a month from his return from Kentucky, was +confronting the principal army of the enemy, in the West, before +Nashville. + +Incidental to the movement of Bragg into Kentucky, and constituting a part +of the programme, attempted upon the large theatre of the Western +campaign, were the repulse of the first attack of the enemy upon +Vicksburg, the partial failure of General Breckinridge's expedition to +Baton Rouge, and the serious reverse sustained by Van Dorn at Corinth. In +connection with the more important demonstration into Kentucky, these +incidents of the Western campaign may be briefly aggregated as the +recovery of the country between Nashville and Chattanooga, and the +important advantage of a secure occupation of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, +thus closing the Mississippi to the enemy for two hundred miles. + +Subsequent operations in Virginia, at the close of 1862, were entirely +favorable to the Confederacy. While the two armies were confronting each +other, with the imminent prospect of active and important operations, +General McClellan was relieved, and one of his corps commanders, General +Burnside, assigned to the command of the Federal army of the Potomac. As +is now universally acknowledged, General McClellan was sacrificed to the +clamor of a political faction. By this act Mr. Lincoln became responsible +for much of the ill-fortune which awaited the Federal arms in Virginia. + +Perhaps among his countrymen, a Southern tribute to General McClellan may +constitute but feeble praise. He was unquestionably the ablest and most +accomplished soldier exhibited by the war on the Northern side. "Had there +been no McClellan," General Meade is reported to have said, "there would +have been no Grant." In retirement, if not exile, General McClellan saw +the armies which his genius created, achieve undeserved distinction for +men, his inferiors in all that constitutes true generalship. He saw the +feeble and wasted remnant of an army, with which he had grappled in the +day of its glory and strength, surrender to a multitudinous host, doubly +as large as the army with which he had given Lee his first check at +Antietam. A true soldier, McClellan was also a true gentleman, an enemy +whose talents the South respects none the less, because he did not +wantonly ravage its homes, nor make war upon the helpless, the aged, and +infirm. President Davis, who, while Federal Secretary of War, conferred +upon McClellan a special distinction, held his genius and attainments in +high estimation. He received the intelligence of his removal with profound +satisfaction. + +The North was not required to wait long for a competent test of the new +commander's capacity. Foiled and deceived by Lee, in a series of +maneuvres, the results of which made him only less ridiculous than the +gasconading Pope among Federal commanders, Burnside finally assailed Lee, +on the 13th December, at Fredericksburg. The result was a bloody +slaughter, unequaled in previous annals of the war, an overwhelming +repulse, and a demoralized retreat across the Rappahannock. + +The Western campaign terminated with the battle of Murfreesboro'. The +Federal commander, Rosecrans, the successor of Buell, advanced from +Nashville to drive Bragg from his position. A brilliant and vigorous +attack by Bragg, on the 31st December, routed an entire wing of the +Federal army; on the second day the action was more favorable to +Rosecrans, who had retreated, after his reverse on the first day, to +stronger positions. Receiving information that the enemy was strongly +reënforcing, General Bragg fell back to Tullahoma, a position more +favorable for strategic and defensive purposes. + +The transfer, after the battle of Shiloh, of the troops of Price and Van +Dorn to the army east of the Mississippi, had almost divested the +Trans-Mississippi Department of interest in the public mind. After Elk +Horn, there was but one considerable engagement, in 1862, west of the +Mississippi. This was the battle of Prairie Grove, a fruitless victory, +won by General Hindman, about the middle of December. The country north of +the Arkansas River continued to be nominally held by the Federal forces. + +Thus, in nearly every quarter, the second year of the war terminated with +events favorable to the prospects of Southern independence. Though the +territorial jurisdiction of the Confederacy was contracted, the world was +not far from regarding the task of subjugation as already a demonstrated +and hopeless failure. All the invasive campaigns of the enemy, save the +first shock of his overwhelming onsets against weak and untenable posts, +in the winter and early spring, had been brought to grief, and nowhere had +he maintained himself away from his water facilities. An unexampled +prestige among nations now belonged to the infant power, which had carried +its arms from the Tennessee to the Ohio, had achieved a week of victories +before its own capital, and carried the war back to its threshold. After +such achievements the Southern Confederacy rightly claimed from those +powers which have assumed to be the arbiters of international right an +instant recognition upon the list of declared and established +nationalities. + +In our brief and cursory glance at military operations, we have omitted to +mention the action of the Government designed to promote the successful +prosecution of the war. This action is mainly comprehended by the various +suggestions of the President's messages to Congress. These recommendations +related chiefly to measures having in view the increased efficiency of the +service. He invited the attention of Congress, especially, to the +necessity of measures securing the proper execution of the conscription +law, and the consolidation of companies, battalions and regiments, when so +reduced in strength as to impair that uniformity of organization, which +was necessary in the army. Legislation was urged, having in view a better +control of military transportation on the railroads, and the improvement +of their defective condition. The President also recommended various +propositions relating to organization of the army, and an extension of the +provisions of the conscription law, embracing persons between the ages of +thirty-five and forty-five years. + +About the middle of December President Davis visited the camps of the +Western Department, spending several weeks in obtaining information as to +the condition and wants of that section of the Confederacy, and devising +expedients for a more successful defense in a quarter where the +Confederate cause was always seriously menaced. His presence was highly +beneficial in allaying popular distrust, founded upon the supposition that +Virginia and the Atlantic region engrossed the attention of the Government +to the exclusion of concern for the West and the Mississippi Valley. When +the President returned to Richmond, there were signs of popular animation +in the South-west, which justified a more confident hope of the cause, +than the South was permitted to indulge at any other period of the +struggle. + +An incident of this visit was the address of the President before the +Mississippi Legislature. The warm affection of Mr. Davis for Mississippi +is more than reciprocated by the noble and chivalrous people of that +State. He was always proud of the confidence reposed in him by such a +community, and Mississippi can never abate her affection for one who so +illustrated her name in the council chamber and upon the field of battle. +In this address he alluded, with much tenderness, to this reciprocal +attachment, declaring, that though "as President of the Confederate +States, he had determined to make no distinction between the various parts +of the country--to know no separate State--yet his heart always beat more +warmly for Mississippi, and he had looked on Mississippi soldiers with a +pride and emotion, such as no others inspired." + +Declaring that his course had been dictated by the sincere purpose of +promoting the cause of independence, he admonished the country to prepare +for a desperate contest, with a power armed for the purposes of conquest +and subjugation. He characterized severely the conduct of the war by the +North. Reviewing its progress, and recounting the immense disadvantages, +with which the South contended, he maintained that the South should +congratulate itself on its achievements, and not complain that more had +not been accomplished. The conscription law was explained and defended as +to many of its features not clearly understood by the people. We give an +extract from Mr. Davis' remarks as to the Confederate conscription, a +subject of vast misrepresentation during the war, and of much ignorant +censure since: + + "I am told that this act has excited some discontentment, and that it + has provoked censure far more severe, I believe, than it deserves. It + has been said that it exempts the rich from military service, and + forces the poor to fight the battles of the country. The poor do, + indeed, fight the battles of the country. It is the poor who save + nations and make revolutions. But is it true that, in this war, the + men of property have shrunk from the ordeal of the battle-field? Look + through the army; cast your eyes upon the maimed heroes of the war + whom you meet in your streets and in the hospitals; remember the + martyrs of the conflict; and I am sure you will find among them more + than a fair proportion drawn from the ranks of men of property. The + object of that portion of the act which exempts those having charge of + twenty or more negroes, was not to draw any distinction of classes, + but simply to provide a force, in the nature of a police force, + sufficient to keep our negroes in control. This was the sole object of + the clause. Had it been otherwise, it would never have received my + signature. As I have already said, we have no cause to complain of the + rich. All our people have done well; and, while the poor have nobly + discharged their duties, most of the wealthiest and most distinguished + families of the South have representatives in the ranks. I take, as an + example, the case of one of your own representatives in Congress, who + was nominated for Congress and elected, but still did a sentinel's + duty until Congress met. Nor is this a solitary instance, for men of + largest fortune in Mississippi are now serving in the ranks." + +The President strongly and eloquently recommended the provision by the +Legislature for the families of the absent soldiers of Mississippi. Said +he: "Let this provision be made for the objects of his affection and his +solicitude, and the soldier, engaged in fighting the battles of his +country, will no longer be disturbed in his slumbers by dreams of an +unprotected and neglected family at home. Let him know that his mother +Mississippi has spread her protecting mantle over those he loves, and he +will be ready to fight your battles, to protect your honor, and in your +cause to die." + +The address concluded with an earnest appeal for unrelaxed exertion, and +the declaration that, "in all respects, moral as well as physical, the +Confederacy was better prepared than it was a year previous"--a +declaration verified not less by the favorable situation than by the +evident apprehension of the North and the expectations of Europe. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + RESPECT OF MANKIND FOR THE SOUTH--THE MOST PROSPEROUS PERIOD OF THE + WAR--HOW MR. DAVIS CONTRIBUTED TO THE DISTINCTION OF THE SOUTH-- + FACTION SILENCED--THE EUROPEAN ESTIMATE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS--HOW HE + DIGNIFIED THE CAUSE OF THE SOUTH--HIS STATE PAPERS--HIS ADMINISTRATION + OF CIVIL MATTERS--THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE TWO PRESIDENTS--MR. DAVIS' + OBSERVANCE OF CONSTITUTIONAL RESTRAINTS--ARBITRARY ADMINISTRATION OF + MR. LINCOLN--MR. DAVIS' MODERATION--HE SEEKS TO CONDUCT THE WAR UPON + CIVILIZED IDEAS--AN ENGLISH CHARACTERIZATION OF DAVIS--COLONEL + FREEMANTLE'S INTERVIEW WITH HIM--MR. GLADSTONE'S OPINION--THE PURELY + PERSONAL AND SENTIMENTAL ADMIRATION OF EUROPE FOR THE SOUTH-- + INCONSISTENT CONDUCT OF THE EUROPEAN GREAT POWERS--THE LONDON "TIMES" + BEFORE M'CLELLAN'S DEFEAT--THE CONFEDERACY ENTITLED TO RECOGNITION BY + EUROPE--ENGLAND'S SYMPATHY WITH THE NORTH--DIGNIFIED ATTITUDE OF + PRESIDENT DAVIS UPON THE SUBJECT OF RECOGNITION--HIS EARLY PREDICTION + UPON THE SUBJECT--FRANCE AND ENGLAND EXPOSED TO INJURIOUS SUSPICIONS-- + TERGIVERSATIONS OF THE PALMERSTON CABINET--THE BROAD FARCE OF "BRITISH + NEUTRALITY"--ENGLAND DECLINES TO UNITE WITH FRANCE IN AN OFFER OF + MEDIATION BETWEEN THE AMERICAN BELLIGERENTS--ENGLAND'S "POLICY"--SHE + SOUGHT THE RUIN OF BOTH SECTIONS OF AMERICA--CULMINATION OF THE + ANTISLAVERY POLICY OF THE NORTH--MR. LINCOLN'S CONVERSATION WITH A + KENTUCKY MEMBER OF CONGRESS--THE WAR A "CRIME" BY MR. LINCOLN'S OWN + SHOWING--VIOLATION OF PLEDGES AND ARBITRARY ACTS OF THE FEDERAL + GOVERNMENT--THE MASK REMOVED AFTER THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM--THE REAL + PURPOSE OF EMANCIPATION--MR. DAVIS' ALLUSION TO THE SUBJECT-- + INDIGNATION OF THE SOUTH AT THE MEASURE--MILITARY OPERATIONS IN TEXAS + AND MISSISSIPPI--VICKSBURG--PORT HUDSON--LOSS OF ARKANSAS POST-- + FEDERAL FLEET REPULSED AT CHARLESTON--PREPARATIONS FOR THE CAMPAIGN-- + UNITY AND CONFIDENCE OF THE SOUTH--MR. DAVIS' ADDRESS TO THE + COUNTRY--IMPORTANT EXTRACTS--GENERAL LEE PREPARES FOR BATTLE--HIS + CONFIDENCE--CONDITION OF HIS ARMY--BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE-- + JEFFERSON DAVIS' TRIBUTE TO STONEWALL JACKSON. + + +There is much justice in the sentiment that declares that there can be +magnificence even in failure. Men often turn to the contemplation of +rôles enacted in history, ending in disaster and utter disappointment of +the originating and vitalizing aspiration, with far more of interest than +has been felt in following records marked by the palpable tokens of +complete success. + +It may well be doubted, whether the Confederate States of America, even +had victory crowned their prolonged struggle of superhuman valor and +unstinted sacrifice, could have commanded more of the esteem of mankind, +than will be awarded them in the years to come. Retrospect of the most +prosperous period of the fortunes of the Confederacy--the interval between +the battle of Fredericksburg, December, 1862, and the ensuing +midsummer--reveals a period in which there was wanting no element of +glory, of pride, or of hope. Many a people, now proudly boasting an +honored recognition at the council-board of nations, might envy the fame +of the meteor power which flashed across the firmament, with a glorious +radiance that made more mournful its final extinguishment. + +A notable feature of the distinction which the South, at that time +especially, commanded in the eyes of the world, was the enthusiastic and +universal tribute of mankind to the leader, whose genius, purity, dignity, +and eloquence so adorned the cause of his country. The North sought to +console its wounded national pride by accounting for the crushing and +humiliating defeats of the recent campaign, by contrasts between the able +leadership of its antagonist, and its own imbecile administration. At the +South faction was silenced, in the presence of the wondrous results +achieved in spite of its own outcries and prophecies of failure. +Demagogues, in such a season of good fortune, ceased their charges of +narrowness, of rash zealotry, of favoritism, of incompetency, seemingly +conscious, for once, of the praise which they bestowed upon the +Executive, whom they accused of usurping all the authority of the +Government, in ascribing such results to his unaided capacity. + +From Europe, in the beginning, so prejudiced against the South and its +cause, so misinformed of Southern motives, and unacquainted with Southern +history, came the tribute of disinterested eulogy, the more to be valued, +because reluctantly accorded, to the Confederacy and its ruler. To Europe +the South was now known not only through a series of unparalleled +victories; as a people who had successfully asserted their independence +for nearly two years, against such odds as had never been seen before; as +a land of valiant soldiers, of great generals, and of large material +resources. If possible, above these, the statesmen and politicians of +Europe admired the administrative capacity, which, they declared, had +given a superior model and a new dignity to the science of statesmanship. +To the educated circles of Europe the new power was introduced by State +papers, which were declared to be models, not less of skilled political +narration and exposition, than of literary purity and excellence. +Accustomed to hear the South twitted as a people dwarfed and debased by +the demoralization of African slavery, the educated classes of England +acknowledged the surprise and delight they experienced from the powerful +and splendid vindications of the cause of the Confederacy, in the messages +of Mr. Davis. It has been truthfully remarked that there could be no +better history of the war than that contained in his numerous state +papers. They are the exhaustive summary, and unanswerable statement of the +imperishable truths which justify the South, and overwhelm her enemies +with the proof of their own acts of wrong and violence. + +Under the new light given to mankind, as to the origin, nature, and +purposes of the American Union, which Mr. Davis so lucidly explained, +Europe soon recognized his position as something else than that of a ruler +of an insurgent district. But not only as the chosen Executive of eleven +separate communities, several of which European governments had previously +recognized as sovereign; as one who had organized great armies, maintained +them in the field, and selected leaders for their command already +illustrious in the annals of war; not for these and other features of +enduring fame, alone, was Jefferson Davis admired in Europe. The contrast +between the civil administrations of the hostile sections was viewed as, +perhaps, the chiefly remarkable phase of the struggle. + +President Lincoln, beginning the war with usurpation, had committed, in +its progress, every possible trespass upon the Federal Constitution, and +was now under the influence of a faction whose every aim contemplated the +overthrow of that instrument. President Davis, supported by a confiding +people, and an overwhelming majority of every Southern community, ruled in +strict conformity with the laws of the land and its Constitution. In the +midst of a revolution, unexampled in magnitude, in fierceness, and +vindictiveness on the part of the enemy, and of difficulties in his own +administration, he furnished an example of courage, humanity, and +magnanimity, together with the observance of order, civil freedom, and +legal and constitutional restraints unexampled in history. In the +Confederacy, the Roman maxim, _Inter arma silent leges_, universally +recognized and practiced among nations, had an emphatic repudiation, so +far as concerned the exercise of power by the executive department. +Whatever may have been the exceptional cases of unauthorized oppression or +violence, there was always redress in the judiciary department of the +Government, which continued in pure and dignified existence until the end. + +The President, obeying the dictates of exalted patriotism--acting always +for the public good, if not always with unimpeachable wisdom, at least +with incorruptible integrity--made no attempt at improper interference +with Congress, nor sought to exercise undue influence over its +deliberations. The press, usually the first bulwark of the public +liberties to attract the exercise of despotism, so trammeled at the North, +was free in the South every-where; in some instances, to the extent of +licentiousness, and to the positive injury of the cause. + +In marked contrast with these exhibitions were the evidences of coming +despotism at the North. The Federal judiciary was rapidly declining from +its exalted purity, before the exactions of military power; the Federal +Congress was charged by the press with open and notorious corruption, and +was aiding Mr. Lincoln in usurpations which startled the despotisms of +Europe, and have since led to the annihilation of the republican character +of the Government. + +Conspicuous, too, was the desire of Mr. Davis to conduct the war upon a +civilized and Christian basis. His forbearance, his moderation, and stern +refusal to resort to retaliation, under circumstances such as would have +justified its exercise in response to the cruelties and outrages of the +enemy, amazed the European spectator, and at times dissatisfied his own +countrymen. "Retaliation is not justice," was his habitual reply to urgent +demands, and again and again did he decline to "shed one drop of blood +except on the field of battle." Never forgetting the dignity of the +contest, he, up to the last moment of his authority, redeemed the pledge +which he had made in the first weeks of the war: "to smite the smiter +with manly arms, as did our fathers before us." + +There have been few spectacles presented to the admiring gaze of mankind, +more worthily depicted than that union of capacities and virtues in +Jefferson Davis, which so eminently qualified him, in the opinion of +foreigners, for the position he held. An English writer has eloquently +sketched him as "one of the world's foremost men, admired as a statesman, +respected as an earnest Christian, the Washington of another generation of +the same race. A resolute statesman, calm, dignified, swaying with +commanding intellect the able men that surrounded him; eloquent as a +speaker, and as a writer giving state papers to the world which are among +the finest compositions in our time; of warm domestic affections in his +inner life, and strong religious convictions; held up by vigor of the +spirit that nerved an exhausted and feeble frame--such was the chosen +constitutional ruler of one-fourth of the American people." + +Colonel Freemantle, a distinguished English officer, whose faithful and +impartial narrative of his extended observations of the American war, +commended him to the esteem of both parties, thus concludes an account of +an interview with President Davis, in the spring of 1863: + + "During my travels many people have remarked to me that Jefferson + Davis seems, in a peculiar manner, adapted to his office. His military + education at West Point rendered him intimately acquainted with the + higher officers of the army; and his post of Secretary of War, under + the old Government, brought officers of all ranks under his immediate + personal knowledge and supervision. No man could have formed a more + accurate estimate of their respective merits. This is one of the + reasons which gave the Confederates such an immense start in the way + of generals; for, having formed his opinion with regard to appointing + an officer, Mr. Davis is always most determined to carry out his + intention in spite of every obstacle. His services in the Mexican war + gave him the prestige of a brave man and a good soldier. His services + as a statesman pointed him out as the only man who, by his unflinching + determination and administrative talent, was able to control the + popular will. People speak of any misfortune happening to him as an + irreparable evil too dreadful to contemplate." + +Mr. Gladstone, a member of the British cabinet, the eminent leader of a +party in English politics, and a sympathizer with the objects of the war +as waged by the North, avowed his enthusiastic appreciation of the lustre +reflected upon the new Government, by its able administration, in the +assertion that "Mr. Jefferson Davis had created a nation." + +But the admiration of Europe was to prove a mere sentiment, unaccompanied +by any practical demonstration of sympathy. In view of the course so +persistently adhered to by the great powers of Europe, it is curious to +note the purely sentimental and personal character of their professed +sympathy for the South. The earliest expression of foreign opinion +indicated a reluctant recognition of the valor and devotion of a people, +from whom they had not expected the exhibition of such qualities. When, by +the protraction of the struggle, the brilliant feats of arms executed by +the Southern armies, the indomitable resolution of the South, and its +evident purpose to encounter every possible sacrifice for sake of +independence, there was no longer ground for misapprehension, they still +disregarded all the precedents and principles which had governed their +course respecting new nationalities. + +Applauding the valor of the Southern soldiery, the heroism, endurance, and +self-denial of a people whom they repeatedly declared to have already +established their invincibility; rapturous in their panegyrics upon the +genius, zeal, and Christian virtues of the Confederate leaders; they never +interposed their boasted potentiality in behalf of justice, right, and +humanity. English writers were eloquent in acknowledgment of the +additional distinction conferred upon Anglo-Saxon statesmanship and +literature by Davis; diligent in tracing the honorable English lineage of +Lee, and establishing the consanguinity of Jackson; but English statesmen +persistently disregarded those elevated considerations of humanity and +philanthropy, which they have so much vaunted as prompting their +intercourse with nations. Confessing a new enlightenment from the +expositions of Mr. Davis, and from diligent inquiry into the nature of the +Federal Government, Europe soon avowed its convictions in favor of the +legal and constitutional right of secession asserted by the South. It +declared that it but awaited the exhibition of that earnestness of +purpose, and that capacity for resistance, which should establish the +"force and consistency" which are the requisite conditions of recognized +nationality. + +The London _Times_, while the army of McClellan was still investing +Richmond, used language which the North and the South accepted as +significant and prophetic. Said the _Times_: + + "It can not be doubted that we are approaching a time when a more + important question even than that of an offer of mediation may have to + be considered by England and France. _The Southern Confederacy has + constituted itself a nation for nearly a year and a half._ During that + time the attachment of the people to the now Government has been + indubitably shown; immense armies have been raised; the greatest + sacrifices have been endured; the persistence of the South in the war, + through a long series of battles--some victories, some defeats--has + shown the 'force and consistency' which are looked upon as tests of + nationality. Wherever the Government is unmolested, the laws are + administered regularly as in time of peace; and wherever the Federals + have penetrated, they are received with an animosity which they + resent, as at New Orleans, by a military rule of intolerable + brutality. The vision of a Union party in the South has been + dispelled, as the Northerners themselves are compelled, with + bitterness and mortification, to admit. + + "All these circumstances point but to one conclusion: Either this war + must be brought to an end, or the time will at last come when the + South may claim its own recognition by foreign nations as an + independent power. The precedents of the American colonies, of the + Spanish colonies, of Belgium, and of Tuscany, and of Naples the other + day, forbid us to question this right when asserted by the Confederate + States. It is our duty _to anticipate_ this possible event, and it may + be wise, as well as generous, for statesmen on this side of the ocean + to approach the American Government in a friendly spirit, with the + offer of their good offices, at this great crisis of its fortunes." + +If such a statement of the question was just and truthful, when a numerous +and confident army, under a leader of proven skill, was engaged in close +siege of the capital of the Confederacy, how much more unanswerable were +its conclusions when McClellan was defeated? What were the evidences of +"force and consistency" demanded after the combined armies of McClellan +and Pope were hurled back upon the Potomac; after Bragg had forced Buell +to the Ohio; and when Fredericksburg had crowned six months of success +with a victory that inevitably imposed a defensive attitude upon the North +during the entire winter? + +When Chancellorsville inflicted a defeat, the most decisive and +humiliating of the war, upon the North, there was indeed no longer even a +pretext, by which could be disguised the evident purpose of England not to +interfere in behalf of a cause with which she had no sympathy, whatever +her constrained respect for its champions and defenders. The loss of +Vicksburg and Gettysburg in the ensuing summer, so productive of distrust +in Europe of the Confederate cause, was quickly followed by developments +which dispelled nearly all remaining hope of that recognition which it was +equally the right of the Confederacy to hope, and the duty of Europe to +render. + +The attitude of the Confederate Government, in its relations with European +governments, was ever one of imposing dignity. President Davis contented +himself with calm and statesman-like presentation of the claims of the +cause which he represented. His unanswerable exposition of the position of +the Confederacy, and lucid discussions of international jurisprudence, +never took the semblance of supplication, and were accompanied by +dignified remonstrance, even, only when it became evident that the +Confederacy was excluded from the benefits of that policy which the laws +of nations and every precedent demanded. Hope of foreign assistance +unquestionably constituted a large share of that confidence of success +which, until the later stages of the war, continued to animate the South. +Her people hoped for foreign aid in some shape, because they were +confident of their ability to demonstrate their _right_ to it; and they +_expected_ it only when they _had_ demonstrated that right. But never was +there any abatement or relaxation of effort by the Confederate Government +because of this just right and expectation. In the midst of the most +cheering events, and when recognition appeared certain, President Davis +declared his conviction of the necessity of such effort as should secure +independence without aid from any quarter. In his address to the +Mississippi Legislature, December, 1862, from which we have already +quoted, he said: + + "In the course of this war our eyes have been often turned abroad. We + have expected sometimes recognition and sometimes intervention at the + hands of foreign nations, and we had a right to expect it. Never + before, in the history of the world, had a people so long a time + maintained their ground, and showed themselves capable of maintaining + their national existence, without securing the recognition of + commercial nations. I know not why this has been so, but this I say, + 'Put not your trust in princes,' and rest not your hopes on foreign + nations. This war is ours; we must fight it out ourselves; and I feel + some pride in knowing that, so far, we have done it without the + good-will of any body." + +It seems, indeed, difficult to explain the course of Europe, especially of +England and France, in the American war, upon any hypothesis consistent +with either courage, humanity, or the usages of nations. Delay, caution, +and attendance upon results were becoming in the beginning; but, after the +defeat of McClellan upon the Chickahominy, and, still more, at the close +of operations in 1862, they were no longer exacted by moral obligation or +international comity. Having all the attributes of an independent power--a +power at war with a neighbor, assailed by its armies, blockaded by its +fleets, as had been numerous other independent powers--there was nothing +whatever anomalous in the situation of the Confederate States forbidding +the practice of plain justice towards them. Recognition was not only +warranted by the facts of the case, but by immemorial usage in Europe, +especially by the apposite precedent of the separation of Belgium from +Holland. The existence of slavery in the South, even though sanctioned by +law and the religious convictions of her people, is an altogether +insufficient explanation of a policy which has exposed the European great +powers to the suspicion of having been actuated by the most unworthy +motives. + +Especially does the course of England seem indefensible towards a people, +with whom the war developed so much of common instinct, so many appeals of +sympathy and evidences of identity with herself--a people whose ancestors +were the uncompromising enemies of regicides, and had maintained their +loyalty to the crown of England in spite of the power and threats of +Cromwell, whose Puritan dominion New England acknowledged. + +The injustice of England did not end with her refusal of recognition. In +the beginning she promptly proclaimed "strict neutrality," and her Premier +declared the Confederates "belligerents." This phrase, apparently a just +concession of the declared independence of the South, was gratefully +acknowledged by a struggling people, and evoked the fierce indignation of +the North. It was, however, designedly ambiguous, and to be interpreted, +philologically and practically, as the prospects of the controversy or the +wishes of the Palmerston cabinet might dictate. The English cabinet did +not necessarily mean a recognition of a divided sovereignty, justifying +suspension of relations with both sections, until the question of +sovereignty should be settled. The phrase "belligerents" was subsequently +declared to mean, merely, that the "two sections were at war"--a fact +which the participants felt to have already had ocular demonstration. +Meanwhile, relations between London and Washington were not interrupted, +and commercial intercourse continued as before. But England not only +ignored the South, and denied the Confederate commissioners a formal and +official audience--her vessels respected the Federal blockade, while +Confederate vessels were warned from her coasts. Such is only a limited +statement of features which made "English neutrality" the broadest farce +and severest irony of the age.[58] + +Early in 1863, or late in 1862, the Emperor Napoleon proposed to England +to join France and other powers in a joint mediation, to suggest an +armistice and a conference. This humane proposition England refused, +declining to take any step which might aid pacification, and thus did both +North and South finally comprehend what was meant by the "duty and policy" +of that power, which had so industriously propagated American dissensions +for her own aggrandizement. An editorial in the Richmond _Enquirer_, +written, probably, by John Mitchel, pithily described the motives of +England in the remark: "In short, the North is not yet bankrupt enough, +the South not yet desolated enough, to suit the 'policy' of England." +France saved her reputation, upon the score of humanity and justice, by +evincing at least a right disposition, though it is difficult to reconcile +her continued dalliance upon England, respecting the American question, +with that bold policy, which usually characterizes the great master of +European diplomacy. France had, however, less of interest and of +expectation than England, from the dissolution of the Union; less motive +for desiring its downfall, and the exhaustion of both combatants. + +Such, however, was the policy, adhered to by England and France, in +defiance of legal and moral obligation, and to the mortal injury of the +South, in her brave and defiant struggle with that power, which history +may yet declare, the "great powers" of Europe dared not defy. + +An interesting phase of the war, in the beginning of 1863, was the +culmination of the policy of the Federal Government respecting the subject +of slavery. A brief space will suffice to exhibit a record of violated +pledges, of constitutional infractions, and abuse of power by the Federal +Government, altogether unexampled in a war to be hereafter noted for its +arbitrary measures. + +In the early stages of the war the North assumed, as the justification of +coercive measures, not only the purpose of preserving the Union, but the +relief of a "loyal party" in the South, who were oppressed by a violent +minority having "command of the situation." Of this theory of the war, as +waged by the North, the conversation of President Lincoln with a Kentucky +member of Congress, in the presence of Senator Crittenden, was +sufficiently declaratory: + + "'Mr. Mallory, this war, so far as I have any thing to do with it, is + carried on on the idea that there is a Union sentiment in those + States, which, set free from the control now held over it by the + presence of the Confederate or rebel power, will be sufficient to + replace those States in the Union. If I am mistaken in this, if there + is no such sentiment there, if the people of those States are + determined with unanimity, or with a feeling approaching unanimity, + that their States shall not be members of this Confederacy, it is + beyond the power of the people of the other States to force them to + remain in the Union; and,' said he, 'in that contingency--in the + contingency that there is not that sentiment there--THIS WAR IS NOT + ONLY AN ERROR, IT IS A CRIME.'" + +Mr. Lincoln was probably not a very close student of the philosophy of +history, or he would hardly have thus emphatically committed himself to a +pledge, which, if observed, would have inevitably ended the war in a few +weeks. The teachings of history were valueless, without their unvarying +testimony to the potency of the sword of the common enemy in healing the +divisions of an invaded country. It would be difficult, too, to imagine +what he would have deemed that approximation to unity in the South, which +would render a further prosecution of the war a crime. A faction of "Union +men," truculent, treacherous, and insidious, in their hostility to the +Confederate Government, unquestionably existed in the South during the +entire progress of the war, but they were few in numbers, and their +recognized leaders were, with hardly a single exception, men of abandoned +character, notoriously without influence, save with their ignorant and +unpatriotic followers. But this pretense of a Union party in the South, +which the North, at first, declared a majority, was conveniently +abandoned, when other pretexts were sought. In the face of evidence not to +be denied, of the profound and sincere purpose of separation, entertained +by more than seven-eighths of the citizens of the seceded States, the +Northern conscience easily overcame its scruples as to a war which the +Northern President had, by anticipation, pronounced a "Crime." + +Palpable violations of vows were, indeed, marked characteristics of the +conduct of the war as justified by the facile and pliant conscience of the +North. The paramount purpose of coercion was to maintain the authority and +dignity of the Constitution, assailed by "rebels in arms." No theory was +avowed contemplating any other termination of the war, than a simple +restoration of the "Union under the Constitution." The assertions of the +Northern press, and the resolutions of mass meetings were re-affirmed by +the most solemn enactments of the Federal Congress, and public +declarations of Mr. Lincoln, that the North sought merely to save the +Union, with the form and spirit of the Constitution unimpaired. In view of +subsequent events, it is almost incredible that in Mr. Lincoln's first +inaugural address should be found this passage: + + "I declare that I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to + interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it + exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no + inclination to do so.... The right of each State to order and control + its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment + exclusively, is essential to the balance of power on which the + perfection and endurance of our political fabric depended." + +Then, after the defeat at Bull Run, Congress passed the following +resolution, which was signed by Mr. Lincoln as President: + + "_Resolved_, That this war is not waged upon our part with any purpose + of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established + institutions of these States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy + of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union, with all the dignity, + equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired; that, as soon + as these objects are accomplished, the war ought to cease." + +As if to give every possible form of assurance of the legitimate and +constitutional objects of the war, and leaving no room for doubt in the +mind of posterity, of complete and unredeemed perfidy, the Federal +authorities were at especial pains to declare their policy to foreign +governments. + +Mr. Seward, as Mr. Lincoln's Secretary of State, in his instructions to +Mr. Dayton, Minister to France, says: + + "The condition of slavery in the several States will remain just the + same, whether it (the rebellion) succeed or fail. There is not even a + pretext for the complaint that the disaffected States are to be + conquered by the United States, if the revolution fail; for the rights + of the States, and the condition of every human being in them, will + remain subject to exactly the same laws and form of administration, + whether the revolution shall succeed or whether it shall fail." + +There was little room to doubt the purpose of the North to emancipate the +slaves of the South, if at any period of the war such action could be +advantageously taken. Mr. Lincoln always manifested great timidity and +reluctance in approaching the subject, and it was observable that, at +critical moments of the war, he courted the sympathy of the Democratic +party, which was opposed to the policy of emancipation, so importunately +urged upon him by the radical wing of the Republican party. + +General McClellan had, with noble firmness, refused to countenance the +revolutionary designs of the radical faction, and his removal from command +after his repulse at Richmond was the palpable and decisive triumph of the +emancipation policy in the sympathies of Mr. Lincoln. Restored to command, +in order that he might save Washington from capture, no other officer +being deemed to have the requisite ability and confidence of the army, he +retained his position but a few weeks after that object was accomplished. +By successive steps, Mr. Lincoln was finally brought to issue a +preliminary proclamation of emancipation, in September, 1862, which went +into effect January 1, 1863. After the battle of Antietam, no farther +necessity for concealment was deemed necessary, and to the design of +subjugation was now added the proclaimed purpose to destroy the organic +existence of the States and two thousand millions of Southern capital. + +Emancipation was justified by the Federal administration as a "military +necessity"--a wretched explanation from those who had boasted their +ability to "exterminate the South" in a few months. Since the war, a claim +of philanthropy, as the motive of emancipation, has been falsely asserted. +Reckless of the fate of the slave, the North sought only vengeance against +his master. In the sequel, each step of despotism becoming easier than its +predecessor, malice against the master has been still the motive which +instigated the enfranchisement of his former slave. + +The New-Year's proclamation of Mr. Lincoln, reaching the Confederacy at +the most auspicious period of its fortunes, was received with evidences of +just indignation, and of a more stern purpose in the conduct of the war. +President Davis thus referred to the subject in his message to Congress: + + "The public journals of the North have been received, containing a + proclamation, dated on the first day of the present month, signed by + the President of the United States, in which he orders and declares + all slaves within ten of the States of the Confederacy to be free, + except such as are found within certain districts now occupied in part + by the armed forces of the enemy. We may well leave it to the + instincts of that common humanity which a beneficent Creator has + implanted in the breasts of our fellow-men of all countries to pass + judgment on a measure by which several millions of human beings of an + inferior race--peaceful and contented laborers in their sphere--are + doomed to extermination, while, at the same time, they are encouraged + to a general assassination of their masters by the insidious + recommendation 'to abstain from violence unless in necessary + self-defense.' Our own detestation of those who have attempted the + most execrable measure recorded in the history of guilty man, is + tempered by profound contempt for the impotent rage which it + discloses. So far as regards the action of this Government on such + criminals as may attempt its execution, I confine myself to informing + you that I shall--unless in your wisdom you deem some other course + more expedient--deliver to the several State authorities all + commissioned officers of the United States that may hereafter be + captured by our forces, in any of the States embraced in the + proclamation, that they may be dealt with in accordance with the laws + of those States providing for the punishment of criminals engaged in + exciting servile insurrection. The enlisted soldiers I shall continue + to treat as unwilling instruments in the commission of these crimes, + and shall direct their discharge and return to their homes on the + proper and usual parole." + +Mr. Davis urged upon the people the evidence, given by this measure, of +the utterly ruthless and unscrupulous character of the war waged upon the +South, and counseled the resolution of "absolute and total separation of +these States from the United States." The eloquent appeals of Mr. Davis +were sustained by the united press of the Confederacy, and by unmistakable +indications of a thoroughly aroused popular indignation. + +The results of military operations, in the winter months of 1863, were of +a character altogether favorable and re-assuring to the Confederates. +Movements on a large scale were prevented by the heavy rains and extreme +rigor of the season, though there were many incidents evincing activity +and enterprise on both sides. Early in January occurred the recapture of +Galveston, Texas, by General Magruder. This exploit, marked by a display +of energy, daring, and skill, was a handsome vindication of a most +meritorious officer, who, for some months previous, had suffered unmerited +censure. General Magruder had commanded a portion of the Army of Northern +Virginia, in the assault upon McClellan, at Malvern Hill. The partial +failure of the attack secured the Federal retreat, and the public, +impatient at the check sustained at a moment of so much promise, visited +an unwarranted censure upon Magruder. President Davis acknowledged, in a +most flattering letter to his former classmate, the brilliant achievement +of his command at Galveston. + +After the battle of Murfreesboro', the more important operations, in the +West, were enacted in the State of Mississippi. The successful defense of +Vicksburg, in the summer of 1862, effectually closed the Mississippi to +the Federal fleets. To reduce this stronghold became an object of prime +importance to the Federal Government, the North-western States being +especially interested in securing the unobstructed navigation of the great +river. The Confederate Government, equally apprized of the value of +Vicksburg, concentrated forces for its defense, and made the maintenance +of that position one of the leading features of its designs in the West. + +A second attempt, under the auspices of General Sherman, was made against +Vicksburg, in December, 1862. The signal failure attending this expedition +brought upon Sherman a degree of reproach, at the North, in singular +contrast with the applause which he received twelve months later. A few +weeks later, the third attempt against Vicksburg was undertaken by +General Grant, who sought to turn the Confederate defenses, through the +smaller rivers connecting the Yazoo and Mississippi. This attempt was +doomed to a failure no less decided and humiliating than that of its +predecessor. On the 14th of March the Confederate batteries at Port +Hudson, the lower defense of the Mississippi, repulsed the fleet of +Farragut, who sought, by passing the batteries, to coöperate with Porter's +fleet above. + +These repeated failures of the Federal demonstrations against the +Confederate strongholds on the Mississippi, were accepted as auspicious +indications of continued successful defense in a vital quarter of the +Confederacy. The loss of Arkansas Post, with a garrison of three thousand +men, somewhat diminished the ardor of the congratulations experienced by +the South from the successes on the Mississippi, and General Beauregard's +signal defeat of the Federal fleet at Charleston. + +At the opening of spring, there was wanting no indication of the gigantic +struggle which was to make memorable the third year of the war. By common +consent it was declared that this, if not the last, would, at least, be +the decisive year of the struggle. An imperative necessity impelled the +Federal administration to the most powerful efforts. Without brilliant and +decided military results, the party in opposition to the war would +inevitably gain possession of a sufficient number of States, to enable +them to enter the next Presidential contest with fair prospects of +success. The approaching expiration of the terms of service of large +numbers of his veteran troops, also impelled the enemy to early activity. + +On the part of the Confederates, there was apparently nothing left undone +which could increase the chances of success. This period is remarkable in +the history of the war, not less for its auspicious signs for the +Confederacy, than for the union and coöperation every-where observable. It +was equally a period encouraging hope and inviting effort to wring from +the reluctant North confession of final defeat, and to inflict a just +punishment upon an enemy, who had but lately proclaimed his purpose to use +even the slaves of the South for the subjugation of her citizens. +Extraordinary activity was displayed, during the winter and spring, in +strengthening the army and adding to its efficiency, by the execution of +the recent legislation of Congress recommended by President Davis. The +utmost exertions of the Government were, of course, insufficient to +strengthen the armies to the point of equality with the enormous array +presented by the enemy on every theatre of operations. Yet the Government, +the people, and the army, with calmness and confidence, awaited the issue, +in the conviction that every preparation had been made which the resources +of the country admitted. + +Early in April, President Davis, in compliance with a request of Congress, +addressed an eloquent invocation to the country, in behalf of the duties +of patriotism at so critical a moment of the struggle. Stating his +concurrence in the views of Congress, he declared his confidence in the +patriotic disposition of the people to carry into effect the measures +devised for the deliverance of the country. + +"Alone, unaided," said he, "we have met and overthrown the most formidable +combinations of naval and military armaments that the lust of conquest +ever gathered together for the conquest of a free people. We began this +struggle without a single gun afloat, while the resources of our enemy +enabled them to gather fleets which, according to their official list, +published in August last, consisted of four hundred and thirty-seven +vessels, measuring eight hundred and forty thousand and eighty-six tons, +and carrying three thousand and twenty-six guns.... To oppose invading +forces composed of levies which have already exceeded thirteen hundred +thousand men, we had no resources but the unconquerable valor of a people +determined to be free." + +Mr. Davis alluded encouragingly to the immediate prospects of the war: + + "Your devotion and patriotism have triumphed over all these obstacles, + and calling into existence the munitions of war, the clothing and the + subsistence, which have enabled our soldiers to illustrate their valor + on numerous battle-fields, and to inflict crushing defeats on + successive armies, each of which our arrogant foe fondly imagined to + be invincible. + + "The contrast between our past and present condition is well + calculated to inspire full confidence in the triumph of our arms. At + no previous period of the war have our forces been so numerous, so + well organized, and so thoroughly disciplined, armed, and equipped, as + at present. The season of high water, on which our enemies relied to + enable their fleet of gunboats to penetrate into our country and + devastate our homes, is fast passing away; yet our strongholds on the + Mississippi still bid defiance to the foe, and months of costly + preparation for their reduction have been spent in vain. Disaster has + been the result of their every effort to turn or storm Vicksburg and + Port Hudson, as well as every attack on our batteries on the Red + River, the Tallahatchie, and other navigable streams." + +In this address President Davis did not fail to rebuke that tendency to +excessive confidence from which relaxed exertion is ever apt to follow. +Albeit he has been so freely charged with entertaining excessive +confidence himself, and encouraging others to share his over-sanguine and +exaggerated hopes, he yet never lost an opportunity of rebuking it as a +dangerous error. + +The most important feature of the address is the earnest and admonitory +appeal, for immediate exertion, to obviate the difficulty of obtaining +supplies for the army, already becoming a question of alarming concern. +Mr. Davis even then avowed his conviction that, in such a contest as the +war had then become, the question of food was the "one danger which the +Government of your choice regards with apprehension." Earnestly appealing +to the "never-failing patriotism" of the land, he said: "Your country, +therefore, appeals to you to lay aside all thought of gain, and to devote +yourselves to securing your liberties, without which these gains would be +valueless." + +Reminding the country of embarrassments, already encountered, he indicated +the only method of avoiding similar difficulties in future: + + "Let your fields be devoted exclusively to the production of corn, + oats, beans, peas, potatoes, and other food for man and beast. Let + corn be sowed broadcast, for fodder, in immediate proximity to + railroads, rivers and canals; and let all your efforts be directed to + the prompt supply of these articles in the districts where our armies + are operating. You will then add greatly to their efficiency, and + furnish the means without which it is impossible to make those prompt + and active movements which have hitherto stricken terror into our + enemies and secured our most brilliant triumphs." + +Those who witnessed the operation of causes which eventually brought the +country to the verge of starvation, and made Lee's army--whose proud array +of "tattered uniforms and bright muskets" had never yet yielded to the +onset of the enemy--the _victim of famine_, can attest the fidelity of +this graphic and prophetic sketch: + + "It is known that the supply of meat throughout the country is + sufficient for the support of all; but the distances are so great, the + condition of the roads has been so bad during the five months of + winter weather, through which we have just passed, and the attempt of + groveling speculators to forestall the market, and make money out of + the life-blood of our defenders, have so much influenced the + withdrawal from sale of the surplus in hands of the producers, that + the Government has been unable to gather full supplies. + + "The Secretary of War has prepared a plan, which is appended to this + address, by the aid of which, or some similar means to be adopted by + yourselves, you can assist the officers of the Government in the + purchase of the corn, the bacon, the pork, and the beef known to exist + in large quantities in different parts of the country. Even if the + surplus be less than believed, is it not a bitter and humiliating + reflection that those who remain at home, secure from hardship, and + protected from danger, should be in the enjoyment of abundance, and + that their slaves also should have a full supply of food, while their + sons, brothers, husbands, and fathers are stinted in the rations upon + which their health and efficiency depend?" + +The concluding paragraph of this address, so remarkable for its eloquence, +and for its frank and powerful statement of the condition and necessities +of the Confederacy, in one of the most thrilling moments of its fate, is +as follows: + + "Entertaining no fear that you will either misconstrue the motives of + this address, or fail to respond to the call of patriotism, I have + placed the facts fully and frankly before you. Let us all unite in the + performance of our duty, each in his sphere; and with concerted, + persistent, and well directed effort, there seems little reason to + doubt that, under the blessings of Him to whom we look for guidance, + and who has been to us our shield and strength, we shall maintain the + sovereignty and independence of the Confederate States, and transmit + to our posterity the heritage bequeathed to us by our fathers." + +Late in March, General Lee intimated his convictions, to the Government, +of an early resumption of active movements by the enemy. The disparity +between the main armies in Virginia was even greater than in previous +campaigns. General Hooker, the Federal commander, had, under his immediate +direction, more than one hundred thousand men, while General Lee--in +consequence of the necessary withdrawal of Longstreet, with two divisions, +to meet a threatened movement by the enemy from the south of James River, +and to secure the supplies of an abundant section, open to Federal +incursions--had less than fifty thousand.[59] But Lee manifested his +characteristic confidence and self-possession in the presence of the +perilous crisis. Having adequately represented the situation to his +Government, he was aware of the cordial coöperation, to the extent of its +ability, which had been extended. During the suspension of active +hostilities, his every wish for the increased efficiency of his command +was promptly fulfilled, and at the opening of the campaign he lacked no +element of readiness, save _numbers_, that which the country could not +supply, and of the absence of which, Lee, therefore, _never complained_. +In every other element of efficiency, the army of Northern Virginia was +never in better condition, than when it eagerly awaited the advance of +Hooker across the Rappahannock. + +The battle of Chancellorsville is memorable as the most decisive triumph +of the Army of Northern Virginia, and from the mournful incident of the +extinction of that noble life which was identified with its highest glory. +The culmination of Lee's superb strategy, the most splendid illustration +of his master-genius, was sadly emphasized by the irreparable loss of +Stonewall Jackson. + +Commemorating, by a letter of special thanks to the army, a victory which +baffled the most perilous and boastful attempt yet made upon the +Confederate capital, President Davis shared the grief of a stricken +country for the loss of one of its most illustrious champions. In that +procession of mourners which followed, through the streets of Richmond, +the bier of the fallen hero, there was not one who felt anguish more acute +than that of the chief who had so honored and sustained Jackson when +living.[60] + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + CONFEDERATE PROSPECTS AFTER THE BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE--THE + MILITARY SITUATION--PRIMARY OBJECTS OF THE CONFEDERATES--AFFAIRS IN + THE WEST--A BRIEF CONSIDERATION OF SEVERAL PLANS OF CAMPAIGN SUGGESTED + TO THE CONFEDERATE AUTHORITIES--VISIONARY STRATEGY--AN OFFENSIVE + CAMPAIGN ADOPTED--THE INVASION OF PENNSYLVANIA JUSTIFIED--CONDITION OF + THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA AT THIS PERIOD--THE MOVEMENT FROM THE + RAPPAHANNOCK--LEADING FEATURES OF THE CONFEDERATE PLAN--LEE'S STRATEGY + AGAIN ILLUSTRATED--GETTYSBURG--A FATAL BLOW TO THE SOUTH--LEE RETURNS + TO VIRGINIA--THE SURRENDER OF VICKSBURG--OTHER REVERSES--EXULTATION OF + THE NORTH--THE CONFEDERATE ADMINISTRATION AGAIN ARRAIGNED BY ITS + OPPONENTS--THE CASE OF GENERAL PEMBERTON--POPULAR INJUSTICE TO A + GALLANT OFFICER--A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE SUBJECT--PEMBERTON'S + APPOINTMENT RECOMMENDED BY DISTINGUISHED OFFICERS--HIS ABLE + ADMINISTRATION IN MISSISSIPPI--HIS RESOLUTION TO HOLD VICKSBURG, AS + THE GREAT END OF THE CAMPAIGN--HIS GALLANTRY AND RESOURCES--NOBLE + CONDUCT OF THIS PERSECUTED OFFICER--A FURTHER STATEMENT--THE MISSION + OF VICE-PRESIDENT STEPHENS--ITS OBJECTS--PRESIDENT DAVIS SEEKS TO + ALLEVIATE THE SUFFERINGS OF WAR--MAGNANIMITY AND HUMANITY OF THE + OFFER--PROUD POSITION IN THIS MATTER OF THE SOUTH AND HER RULER--THE + FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DECLINES INTERCOURSE WITH MR. STEPHENS--EXPLANATION + OF ITS MOTIVES--CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN MESSRS. DAVIS AND STEPHENS. + + +The situation of affairs, so eminently favorable to the Confederacy, after +the victory of Chancellorsville, admitted no doubt that the opportune +occasion would be promptly seized, for the delivery of a telling blow, +which should hasten an acknowledgment of Southern independence. A brief +summary of the military situation, at the opening of summer, 1863, will +show the simple and judicious policy, by which the Confederate +administration proposed to make efficient use of its advantages. + +The battle of Chancellorsville, followed by the disorganized retreat of +the largest force yet consolidated for the capture of Richmond, and the +signal failure of an attempt, which, at its outset, the North declared to +be conclusive of the fate of the Confederacy, secured the safety of the +Confederate capital, at least, until another campaign could be organized. +Moreover, it tendered to the Confederate authorities the choice of a +vigorous offensive, holding out tempting inducements; or a detachment of a +portion of Lee's army for the relief of other sections of the Confederacy. +With two-thirds of his own force, Lee had repulsed and crippled the +enormous army of Hooker, and it appeared reasonably certain, that the same +force could maintain a successful defensive, while the segment, or its +equivalent, which was absent at Chancellorsville, might be sent, for a +temporary purpose, to Bragg, in Tennessee, or to the relief of Pemberton +in Vicksburg. + +At the opening of spring the primary objects of the Confederacy were the +safety of Richmond, the safety of Vicksburg--the key to its tenure of the +Mississippi Valley--and the holding of its defensive line in Middle and +East Tennessee, the barrier between the enemy and the vitals of the +Confederacy. The first of these objects was amply secured by the victory +of Chancellorsville, leaving to the main Confederate army, its own choice +of the field of future operations. + +In the Western Department, commanded since December, 1862, by General +Joseph E. Johnston, the situation was less promising, though by no means +forbidding hope of a favorable solution. General Bragg maintained a +somewhat precarious defensive against Rosecrans, who confronted the +Confederate commander, with an army much larger than that with which he +had fought the battle of Murfreesboro'. General Pemberton, after a series +of actions, had retired within the lines of Vicksburg, where he was +closely besieged by General Grant with a numerous army--the Federal fleet +in the river, meanwhile, continuing its bombardment. The characteristic +stubbornness of Grant, aided by his ample force, made evident the ultimate +fate of Vicksburg and Pemberton's army, either by famine, or the assaults +of the enemy, unless succor should come in the shape of a demonstration +against the besieging army, with which the garrison might be expected to +coöperate. Not long after Pemberton's retirement into Vicksburg, General +Johnston reached Mississippi and began the collection of a force, by which +it was expected that the besieged stronghold and its garrison would be +relieved. + +But while the situation in the West thus seemed to invite the presence of +a portion of the army of Northern Virginia, relieved of any immediate +danger from its antagonist, there were cogent considerations in behalf of +another policy which was adopted. Two weeks, at least, would have been +required, in the indifferent condition of the Southern railroads, for the +transportation of a force from Virginia, competent to enable Bragg to +assume the aggressive. A much longer period would have been required to +transfer to Jackson, such a force as General Johnston would have deemed +sufficient to justify an attack upon Grant. Besides, the government was +fully satisfied, that the reënforcements sent to Johnston would soon +enable him to make an effective demonstration against the besieging army, +which, sustained by a simultaneous attack by Pemberton in front, would +have a reasonable prospect of success. + +The project of a direct reënforcement to Johnston, from Lee's army, was +speedily abandoned, and the more practicable plan of reënforcing Bragg was +also dismissed. Nothing whatever was to be expected from a victory by +Bragg over Rosecrans, unless it could be made a _decisive_ victory, +ensuring either the destruction of the Federal army, or the complete +abandonment of its advanced line in Tennessee, for which it had paid such +heavy toll. Such a result, necessitating the reënforcement of Rosecrans +from Grant, meanwhile, after the victory had been won, troops being sent +to Johnston from Bragg, was indeed brilliant to contemplate. Or there was +another prospect equally agreeable. When Rosecrans had been defeated +troops might be sent to capture Fort Pillow, on the Mississippi, which, +cutting off Grant's supplies from the North, as did Port Hudson from the +South, would compel the Federal army at Vicksburg to fight for its +subsistence, and under most discouraging circumstances. In addition to +these prospects, there was also the choice of a movement for the complete +redemption of Kentucky and Tennessee. + +These brilliant designs of a visionary and vaporing strategy, abundant in +the Confederacy during the war, and now ostentatiously paraded by the +cheap wisdom of retrospection, lacked, however, the essential feature of +practicability. To have reënforced Bragg sufficiently from Lee's army, to +have enabled him to undertake the offensive, with any prospect of the +complete success necessary, would have weakened the army in Virginia to +such an extent, as to seriously endanger Richmond. Even though Bragg were +thus sufficiently reënforced to defeat a numerous army, led by an able +commander, and occupying a position of great strength, a full month would +have been required to accomplish the results indicated. Waiving all +consideration of the incertitude of battle, and assuming that success +would attend every movement of the Confederate army, what reasonable +calculation would enable Bragg to have gotten his forces in readiness, and +marched them either into Kentucky to Fort Pillow, or to Jackson, in time +to have saved Vicksburg? But, apart from the folly of so weakening Lee, as +to endanger Richmond (which would have been immediately assailed by +Hooker, with his command of ninety thousand men, in coöperation with the +forces at Suffolk, Fortress Monroe, and Winchester--an aggregate of more +than forty thousand more), to undertake operations so doubtful and +hazardous, was the consideration of the promising inducements for an +offensive campaign in the East. + +President Davis and General Lee were concurrent in their convictions of +the wisdom of a campaign which should drive the enemy from Virginia, +locate the army in an abundant and hostile country, and compensate for any +disasters which might be sustained in the West, by an overwhelming defeat +in the enemy's country of his main army, which at once covered his capital +and the approaches to his large cities. + +This bold and brilliant conception was equally justified by the situation, +and consistent with that able military policy which was throughout +characteristic of the Confederate authorities, and based upon the only +theory on which a weak power can be successfully defended against +invasion. + +The strategic theory which dictated the invasion of Pennsylvania was that +of the "defensive, with offensive returns," made forever famous by its +triumphant practice by Frederick the Great--the favorite theory of +Napoleon--not less signally illustrated by Jackson's Valley campaign, and +grandly executed by Lee in his irresistible onset upon Pope. + +Twitted by the newspapers for their infatuation with the defensive +attitude, and condemned by the voice of the public, for the maintenance of +a policy which continually subjected the soil of the South to the +devastations of the enemy, the Confederate authorities, neither in the +invasion of Maryland, in 1862, nor in the invasion of Pennsylvania, +yielded merely to public clamor. In both instances President Davis and +General Lee were governed by the sound military considerations, which in +each case justified the assumption of the offensive. Nothing is more +universally conceded than the ultimate subjection of a people who permit +themselves to be forced always on the defensive. On the other hand, no +blows have been so telling in warfare, as those delivered by an antagonist +who, lately on the defensive, at the opportune moment, when the foe is +stunned by defeat, assumes a skillful and vigorous offensive. + +It was now the third year of the war, and for more than twelve months no +considerable success had rewarded the enormous sacrifices and expenditures +of the North. The fluctuating sentiment, characteristic of that section, +had settled down into a feeling of indifference and distrust, beyond which +there was but one step to the abandonment of the war as a hopeless +experiment. The evident apprehension, by the Federal Government, of an +invasion of Pennsylvania, attended by a ruinous defeat of Hooker's army, a +result which both sides considered probable, plainly demonstrated, that +the virtual termination of the war would be the reward of a successful +assumption of the offensive by the Confederates. + +A more favorable conjuncture, for a final trial with its old antagonist, +could not have been desired by the Army of Northern Virginia. The +invincible veterans of Longstreet, oftener victors than the Tenth Legion +of Cæsar, had rejoined their companions, who boasted the additional +honors of Chancellorsville. Reënforcements from other quarters were +added,[61] and the Army of Northern Virginia, a compact and puissant +force, seventy thousand strong, which had never yet known defeat, +instinctively expected the order for advance into the enemy's country. +Never was the _morale_ of the army so high, never had it such confidence +in its own prowess, and in the resources of its great commander, and never +was intrusted to its valor a mission so grateful to its desires, as that +tendered by President Davis, "to force the enemy to fight for their own +capital and homes." + +Under Lee were trusted lieutenants, whose fame, like that of their +followers, was world-wide, and whose laurels were a part of the unnumbered +triumphs of the matchless valor of that noble army. Longstreet, the Lannes +of the South, was again at the head of his trained corps--the assembled +chivalry of the South, in whose exploits every State of the Confederacy +claimed a glory peculiarly its own. The bronzed veterans of Jackson, who +had shared the glory of their immortal leader from Manassas to +Chancellorsville, now followed Ewell, the maimed hero, whom Jackson had +named as his successor. Under Hill, the youngest of the corps commanders, +were men worthy of a leader who, in twelve months, had filled the +successive grades from Colonel to Lieutenant General. The cavalry was +still intrusted to Stuart, that bold, able chief, and "rarely gallant and +noble gentleman, well supporting by his character the tradition that royal +blood flowed in his veins." With such leaders, and with thoroughly tried +and efficient subordinate officers, improved transportation, equipment and +clothing, and with numbers approaching nearer an equality with the +Federal army, than at any other period, the Army of Northern Virginia no +more doubted, than did its commander and the Government, that it was at +the outset of a campaign brilliant and decisive beyond parallel in its +history. + +About the middle of May, General Lee visited Richmond, when the general +features of the campaign were determined. The movement from the camps near +Fredericksburg and the Rapidan, commenced early in June. The incipient +feature of General Lee's plan was a flank movement, while still confronted +by the army of the enemy--perhaps the most delicate and difficult problem +in war--by which, leaving the south bank of the Rappahannock, he sought to +draw the Federal army away from its position. To meet the contingency of a +movement by the enemy in the direction of Richmond, A. P. Hill, with his +_corps d'armée_, was left near Fredericksburg. That skillful officer ably +executed his instructions, checking the Federal demonstrations near his +lines, and concealing the absence of the main body of the army until the +advance was well under way. General Stuart fully performed his important +part of covering the movements of the infantry, by seizing the mountain +passes, and detaining the advance of the enemy, in the execution of which +he fought several fierce cavalry engagements, winning them all with +inferior forces. The army was marched through an abundant country, not +desolated by war, and affording good roads. Important incidents of the +advance were the capture of Winchester, Berryville, and Martinsburg, by +the forces of Ewell, with their garrisons, aggregating seven thousand men, +and considerable material of war. + +These brilliant results of Lee's strategy were accomplished with wonderful +regularity and promptitude, and were attended with inconsiderable loss. + +Crossing the Potomac, the second stage of the campaign was the occupation +of Western Maryland--the least friendly section of the State--where the +army could be abundantly supplied, and the important objects of destroying +the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the Cumberland Canal, so valuable to +the enemy, could be accomplished. The next step was to advance into +Pennsylvania, capturing large supplies much needed by the army, occupying +several large towns of that State, and destroying communications--meanwhile +the army living on the enemy, and kept well in hand for a general +engagement, _whenever battle could be advantageously offered_. In the +execution of this portion of the plan, an extensive and fertile section of +Pennsylvania was occupied, strong detachments were pushed far into the +interior, and a movement against Harrisburg was in preparation, when the +advance of the Federal army induced General Lee to concentrate his forces +for battle. + +The consummate strategy of Lee had now made him apparently master of the +situation, and gave him the option of tendering or declining a grand and +decisive engagement. It is impossible to overestimate the generalship, +which, within twenty-five days, had transferred an army, in the presence +of the enemy, from the Rappahannock to the interior of Pennsylvania, +making large captures _en route_, and inflicting heavy damage upon the +Federal communications, without being even momentarily arrested. Never +once had been relaxed the grasp of that master-hand which controlled the +army in all its movements. Its various parts, within easy supporting +distance, were clearly so disposed, as to be readily assembled, to meet +the exigency that was inevitable. When Lee drew in his several columns +around Gettysburg, the South confident in the invincibility of the army, +and in the genius of its leader, never doubted the issue of the grand +trial of arms which was at hand. With more than apprehension the North +awaited the fate of the army, upon which its last hope of security rested. +A defeat of the Army of the Potomac now would signify, not a check in a +boastful advance upon Richmond, but the capture of Washington, the +presence of the avenging columns of Lee upon the banks of the +Delaware--perhaps of the dreaded Stuart upon the Hudson. + +It was contemplated that the invasion of Pennsylvania would result in a +decisive battle. Indeed, that result was inevitable, unless the Federal +authorities should unresistingly submit to the invasion--an event not for +a moment to be anticipated. But a vital feature in the theory of the +invasion was that the position of Lee would necessitate an advance against +him by the Federal commander, leaving to Lee the choice of time and place +for giving battle. The calculation was that Lee would be master of the +situation at all times, as indeed he undoubtedly was until the engagement +of Gettysburg was joined. We are not here at liberty to discuss the +details of that battle, or to consider how far it was a departure from, or +in pursuance of the original design of the Confederate campaign.[62] If +competent criticism shall condemn the tactics of Lee at Gettysburg, he +has yet disarmed censure by the surpassing magnanimity with which he +assumed the responsibility. + +The great joy of the North did not exaggerate the terrible blow sustained +by the Confederacy in the failure of the Pennsylvania campaign. It was the +last serious demonstration upon Federal soil undertaken by the South--all +movements of an offensive character subsequently undertaken being merely +raids or diversions, designed to give relief to the sorely-pressed +Confederate capital. It imposed upon the South the cruel necessity of a +continuation of the war upon its own soil--a precarious defensive, with a +capacity of resistance greatly diminished. + +Gettysburg marked the most serious step in that decline of Confederate +fortunes which the fall of Jackson, in the moment of his greatest triumph, +so ominously presaged.[63] + +Yet the condition of Lee's army was far from desperate on the morning of +the 4th of July, when it still confronted its antagonist, neither +evincing a disposition to attack. Retiring in perfect order, and bringing +off his extensive trains and seven thousand prisoners, he tendered the +enemy battle at Hagerstown, while making preparations to recross the +Potomac. General Meade, an able and prudent soldier, made as vigorous a +pursuit as the crippled condition of his army would permit. In a short +time General Lee was once more upon the lines of the Rapidan, and General +Meade soon took position upon the Rappahannock. Here the campaign +terminated, and the two armies, like giants exhausted by a mighty wrestle, +gladly availed themselves of a season of repose. + +But Gettysburg did not complete the agony of the South. The disastrous +failure of the most prodigious and promising enterprise, undertaken by its +largest, and heretofore invincible army, was simultaneous with an event +hardly less fearful in its consequences. On the fourth of July, the +garrison of Vicksburg, reduced to the point of starvation, surrendered to +the persevering and indomitable Grant. This event signified the loss of an +army of twenty-five thousand men, the possession by the enemy of the +Confederate Gibraltar of the Mississippi Valley, the loss of all tenure +upon the great river by the South, and the severance of the Confederacy. +Port Hudson, with its garrison of five thousand men, being no longer +tenable, after the fall of Vicksburg, was immediately surrendered to the +besieging army of General Banks. The sum of Confederate disasters in the +summer of 1863, was completed by the failure of the attempt to capture +Helena, Arkansas, followed by the capture of Little Rock, and Federal +control of the important valley in which it is situated. + +Within ninety days the South was brought from the hope of almost instant +independence to the certainty of a long, bitter, and doubtful struggle. +Its armies terribly shattered, its resources in men and means apparently +almost exhausted, it seemed for a time doubtful whether the Confederacy +was capable of longer endurance of the terrible ordeal. The exultation of +the North was proportionate to the extent of its victories. A new lease +was given to the war. Confidence was fully restored, and the Federal +Government could now make no demand, that would be thought extravagant, +upon the energies of the North, for the promotion of the object it had so +much at heart. But a few months sufficed to show that the constancy and +fortitude of the South was still capable of a desperate struggle with the +power and determination of the North. + +This period of misfortune and apprehension was signalized by a most +determined arraignment of the Confederate administration. It is worthy of +remark, however, that in all the embittered censure visited upon President +Davis, for his alleged responsibility for the crushing reverses of the +summer campaign, there was avowed but little censure of the most fatal of +those disasters--the failure of the movement into Pennsylvania. The +privilege of assailing Mr. Davis with or without reason, did not include +the privilege to condemn Lee and his army. + +In the case of Vicksburg circumstances were assumed to be different. +Without even waiting for the facts, or for any explanation of that +terrible calamity, General Pemberton was accused of having betrayed his +command. He was of Northern birth, and he had surrendered on the fourth of +July--such was the evidence of Pemberton's treason. Despite the fact that +Johnston was known to be in the neighborhood with a force collected for +the relief of Vicksburg, and though it had been plain to the country for +weeks, that Vicksburg could not be saved, except by a successful +demonstration by that force, it was not admitted among the possibilities +of the case, that Johnston[64] shared the responsibility for the disaster. + +When, however, the Federal accounts revealed the gallant defense made by +Pemberton, and thus put to shame the unworthy insinuation of treachery, +the censure of that unfortunate commander and the President assumed +another direction. Pemberton, it was asserted, was notoriously +incompetent, so proven, and so represented to the President before his +assignment to command in Mississippi; and the indignation of the country +was invoked upon the most signal instance of favoritism yet exhibited. The +extent to which this censure of Mr. Davis was successful, may be +estimated, when it is stated that no act of his administration so +imperiled his popularity as did the appointment of General Pemberton. Yet +it is undeniable that this was the result of the unfortunate sequel at +Vicksburg, and dictated by popular passion in a moment of terrible +disappointment, rather than by any sufficient reason ever urged to show +that the appointment was unwise and undeserved. + +Sustained by the recommendations of several of the first officers in the +Confederate army, President Davis made Pemberton a Lieutenant-General, and +assigned him to the command of the Department of Mississippi. The command +was one of vital importance to the country, and within its limits were +the home and all the possessions of Mr. Davis. In October, 1862, General +Pemberton took charge of his department, finding it in a most disordered +and embarrassing condition. His administration was of a character to give +great satisfaction to the Government, and its fruits were speedily +realized in the thorough and efficient reorganization of an army, but +lately defeated, the improved efficiency of its various departments, and +the successful defense of an extensive district, with forty thousand men, +against the armies of Grant and Banks, the smallest of which nearly +equaled the entire force of Pemberton. Indeed, it can hardly be alleged +that the administration of General Pemberton, previous to the siege of +Vicksburg, was faulty or unsatisfactory. With what justice, then, can it +be charged that Mr. Davis retained in command an officer proven to be +incompetent? + +In the reports of Generals Johnston and Pemberton, written from different +stand-points, and each with the object of vindicating its author, the +operations which led to the retirement of the latter within the lines of +Vicksburg were elaborately discussed. It is at least safe to state that +General Pemberton's reasons are as forcibly stated in explanation of his +own conduct, as are General Johnston's in demonstration of the errors of +his subordinate. Pemberton was controlled in all his movements by the +paramount purpose of holding Vicksburg, the last obstruction to the +enemy's free navigation of the Mississippi, and the connecting link +between the two great divisions of the Confederacy. If he had abandoned +Vicksburg, with a view to save his army, and refused to stand a siege, can +it be reasonably supposed that his assailants would have been more +merciful? His mission was to save Vicksburg and the Valley of the +Mississippi, and, when forced back by the overwhelming numbers of Grant, +he preferred even to risk his army, rather than to surrender the objects +of the whole campaign without an effort. + +During the siege, the engineering skill of General Pemberton, and his +fertility of expedients were conspicuously displayed. Works, which, under +the unceasing and concentrated fire of hundreds of guns, were demolished, +re-appeared, in improved forms, which only consummate ingenuity could have +devised. Works built to withstand guns used in ordinary warfare were found +wholly inadequate to resist the heavy metal of the enemy; and, subjected +to the incessant and galling fire of musketry, the artillery could with +difficulty be worked. But the energy and resources of General Pemberton +met even these difficulties. The position of the pieces was constantly +changing; embankments disappeared under the enemy's fire; but the +Confederate artillery would still be found in position, and stronger than +before. + +But the skill of the commander and the heroic endurance of the garrison +were unavailing. From the first, relief from without was expected. For +forty-eight days this hope stimulated the commander and the garrison, and +General Pemberton subsequently declared that he "would have lived upon an +ounce a day, and have continued to meet the assaults of all Grant's army, +rather than have surrendered the city, until General Johnston had realized +or relinquished that hope." When the hope of aid was finally abandoned, +the surrender of Vicksburg was simply a question of time and honor. The +alternative was either to capitulate or attempt to cut through the enemy's +lines. In a council of his officers, Pemberton favored the latter plan, +but yielded to the views of the majority. + +The case of General Pemberton was a striking instance of public +ingratitude. Vindicating his devotion to the cause of the South, by +surrendering his commission in the Federal service, turning his back upon +his kindred, and leaving a large property in the country of the enemy, he +was stigmatized by the very people in whose cause he had made these +sacrifices. His loyalty, capacity, and fidelity were questioned, even +while he was in the front of death. His noble reply to these accusations +can never be forgotten. Said he to his troops: "You have been told that I +was disloyal and incompetent, and that I would sell Vicksburg. _Follow +me_, and you shall see _at what price_ I shall sell it." The story of the +devotion shown at Vicksburg is no mean one in the history of the +Confederacy. But the great qualities of this abused man have even a nobler +testimony than the gallantry of that defense. Convinced that the cloud of +prejudice and misrepresentation which followed him, rendered useless to +the cause his services in high position, he tendered his resignation as a +Lieutenant-General, and requested to be ordered to duty with his original +rank of Lieutenant-Colonel of Artillery.[65] + +When the facts belonging to the unfortunate campaign in Mississippi were +made known, the censure of Pemberton was rather for what he _failed to +do_, than _what he had done_. But suppose the same test should be applied +to General Johnston; would there not be found an equal wanting of +_results_? If Johnston was powerless to make even a diversion with more +than twenty thousand men, (his force at the time of Pemberton's +surrender,) how much more helpless was Pemberton to check Grant? + +A dispassionate and careful inquiry will demonstrate that the operations +of General Pemberton, antecedent to the siege of Vicksburg, are far less +censurable than was assumed by his assailants. There can be no manner of +doubt, that if worthy of blame, he should not be visited with the whole +responsibility. It is difficult to imagine how Pemberton could have +adopted a different course, consistently with the main purpose of the +campaign--which was to prevent the capture of Vicksburg. It is certain +that he would have been doubly condemned, if he had executed a safe +retreat, and abandoned the stronghold without an effort to save it. + +A sufficient reply to the statement that Pemberton was appointed without +the desirable evidence of fitness, is that the occasion was one precluding +the employment of any officer whose capacity for such a command had been +proven by ample trial. Every officer of established merit was then in a +position from which he could not be spared. The presence of Lee in +Virginia was deemed necessary by the whole country. The most popular of +his lieutenants (Longstreet) was then freely criticised for an assumed +failure in a recent independent command; and, besides, he was obviously +needed in the Pennsylvania campaign. Beauregard was also thought to be in +his appropriate place, in charge of the coast defenses; and, indeed, it +was next to impossible to avoid the employment of a comparatively untried +commander in some important position. The confidence of Mr. Davis in +Pemberton, too, was amply sustained by the testimony of officers, in whose +judgment the country confided. + +But Pemberton _failed_, and it was the misfortune of the President to +have conferred distinction upon an unsuccessful commander. Waiving all +discussion of the extent to which Pemberton may be justified, and even +conceding the appointment to have been a bad one, let us remember how few +really capable commanders are produced by even the greatest wars. Was +President Davis to call twenty into existence, fit to command armies, when +Napoleon declared his armies did not afford half a dozen? Let it be +remembered, too, that it was his penetration that sustained Lee, Sidney +Johnston and Jackson, in the face of popular clamor; that _he_ rewarded, +with suitable acknowledgment, the skill and gallantry of Ewell, Early, +Stuart, Gordon, Longstreet, and Hood; of Breckinridge, Cleburne, Magruder, +Morgan, and others whose names make up the brilliant galaxy of Confederate +heroes.[66] + +That President Davis was tenacious of his opinions is unquestionably true, +and his firm grasp of his purposes was the explanation of his ascendancy +over other minds, and a leading attribute of his fitness for his position. +But this strenuous adhesion to a settled aim, characteristic of all men +born for influence, is a very different quality from that unreasoning +zealotry which belongs to weak minds. If, indeed, the favoritism of Mr. +Davis _lost_ Vicksburg, with equal justice, it may be claimed that it +_won_ the Seven Days' victories, Manassas, Fredericksburg, and +Chancellorsville. + +An interesting event in the history of this period of the war, was the +unsuccessful mission of Vice-President Stephens, to the Federal +authorities, designed, as explained by President Davis, "to place the war +upon the footing of such as are waged by civilized people in modern +times." The annexed correspondence requires hardly a word of explanation. +Consistent with the forbearance and humanity, with which Mr. Davis had +endeavored to prevent war, by negotiation, was this effort to soften its +rigors and to abate the bitterness which it had then assumed. + +Recent atrocities of the Federal authorities[67] had compelled the +Confederate Government to seriously entertain the purpose of retaliation. +Reluctant to adopt a course which would remove the last restraint upon the +spirit of cruelty and revenge, making the war a system of unmitigated +barbarism upon both sides, President Davis determined to make an earnest +appeal to the humanity of the Federal authorities. In addition to this +object the mission of Mr. Stephens sought the arrangement of all disputes +between the governments, respecting the cartel of exchange, upon a +permanent and humane basis, by which the soldiers of the two armies should +be sent to their homes, instead of being confined in military prisons. + +To make the mission more acceptable to the Federal Government, President +Davis removed every obstacle to intercourse upon terms of equality, and +selected a gentleman of high position, of known philanthropy and +moderation, and from several reasons likely to obtain an audience of the +Federal authorities. The choice of time was not less indicative of the +magnanimity of Mr. Davis. The Confederate army was then in Pennsylvania, +apparently upon the eve of a victory already assured, and which, if +gained, would have placed it in possession of the Federal capital and the +richest sections of the North. At such a moment, so promising in +opportunity of ample vengeance for the ravages and desolation, which +every-where marked the presence of the Federal armies, the Confederate +President tendered his noble plea in behalf of civilization and humanity. +With rare justice has it been said, that this position of Mr. Davis +"merited the applause of the Christian world." + +Mr. Stephens was contemptuously denied even a hearing. The sequel soon +revealed the explanation of the conduct of the Federal Government, by +which it became doubly chargeable for the sufferings of a protracted war, +in declining to aid in the abatement of its horrors, and by abruptly +closing the door against all attempts at negotiation. General Meade had +repulsed General Lee at Gettysburg, while Mr. Stephens was near Fortress +Monroe. Flushed with triumph and insolent in the belief that Lee's army +could not escape destruction, the Federal authorities declared such +intercourse with "rebels" to be "inadmissable." In other words, detention +of the Confederate prisoners, and outrages upon the Southern people, were +part of a political and military system at Washington, and _would be +persisted in_. At subsequent stages of the war were seen the objects of +this policy, which the Federal Government virtually proclaimed, and which +it persistently adhered to. + +The correspondence between President Davis and Vice-President Stephens +proudly vindicates the humanity and magnanimity of the South. It is alone +a sufficient reply to the cant of demagogues and the ravings of +conscience-stricken fanatics, over the falsely-called "Rebel barbarities." + + OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE. + + RICHMOND, July 2, 1863. + + _Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, Richmond, Va._-- + + SIR: Having accepted your patriotic offer to proceed, as a military + commissioner, under flag of truce, to Washington, you will receive + herewith your letter of authority to the Commander-in-chief of the + army and navy of the United States. + + This letter is signed by me as Commander-in-chief of the Confederate + land and naval forces. + + You will perceive, from the terms of the letter, that it is so worded + as to avoid any political difficulties in its reception. Intended + exclusively as one of those communications between belligerents, which + public law recognizes as necessary and proper between hostile forces, + care has been taken to give no pretext for refusing to receive it, on + the ground that it would involve a tacit recognition of the + independence of the Confederacy. + + Your mission is simply one of humanity, and has no political aspect. + + If objection is made to receiving your letter, on the ground that it + is not addressed to Abraham Lincoln, as President, instead of + Commander-in-chief, etc., then you will present the duplicate letter, + which is addressed to him as President, and signed by me, as + President. To this latter, objection may be made, on the ground that I + am not recognized to be President of the Confederacy. In this event, + you will decline any further attempt to confer on the subject of your + mission, as such conference is admissable only on the footing of + perfect equality. My recent interviews with you have put you so fully + in possession of my views, that it is scarcely necessary to give you + any detailed instructions, even were I, at this moment, well enough to + attempt it. + + My whole purpose is, in one word, to place this war on the footing of + such as are waged by civilized people in modern times; and to divest + it of the savage character which has been impressed on it by our + enemies, in spite of all our efforts and protests. + + War is full enough of unavoidable horrors, under all its aspects, to + justify, and even to demand, of any Christian rulers who may be + unhappily engaged in carrying it on, to seek to restrict its + calamities, and to divest it of all unnecessary severities. + + You will endeavor to establish the cartel for the exchange of + prisoners on such a basis as to avoid the constant difficulties and + complaints which arise, and to prevent, for the future, what we deem + the unfair conduct of our enemies, in evading the delivery of the + prisoners who fall into their hands; in retarding it by sending them + on circuitous routes, and by detaining them, sometimes for months, in + camps and prisons; and in persisting in taking captives + non-combatants. + + Your attention is also called to the unheard-of conduct of Federal + officers, in driving from their homes entire communities of women and + children, as well as of men, whom they find in districts occupied by + their troops, for no other reason than because these unfortunates are + faithful to the allegiance due to their States, and refuse to take an + oath of fidelity to their enemies. + + The putting to death of unarmed prisoners has been a ground of just + complaint in more than one instance, and the recent execution of + officers of our army in Kentucky, for the sole cause that they were + engaged in recruiting service in a State which is claimed as still one + of the United States, but is also claimed by us as one of the + Confederate States, must be repressed by retaliation, if not + unconditionally abandoned, because it would justify the like execution + in every other State of the Confederacy; and the practice is + barbarous, uselessly cruel, and can only lead to the slaughter of + prisoners on both sides--a result too horrible to contemplate, without + making every effort to avoid it. + + On these and all kindred subjects, you will consider your authority + full and ample to make such arrangements as will temper the present + cruel character of the contest; and full confidence is placed in your + judgment, patriotism, and discretion, that while carrying out the + objects of your mission, you will take care that the equal rights of + the Confederacy be always preserved. + + Very respectfully, + [Signed] JEFFERSON DAVIS. + + + RICHMOND, 8th July, 1863. + + _His Excellency Jefferson Davis_-- + + SIR: Under the authority and instructions of your letter to me of the + 2d instant, I proceeded on the mission therein assigned, without + delay. The steamer Torpedo, commanded by Lieutenant Hunter Davidson, + of the navy, was put in readiness, as soon as possible, by order of + the Secretary of the Navy, and tendered for the service. At noon, on + the 3d, she started down James River, hoisting and bearing a flag of + truce after passing City Point. The nest day, the 4th, at about one + o'clock P. M., when within a few miles of Newport News, we were met by + a small boat of the enemy, carrying two guns, which also raised a + white flag before approaching us. The officer in command informed + Lieutenant Davidson that he had orders from Admiral Lee, on board the + United States flag-ship Minnesota, lying below, and then in view, not + to allow any boat or vessel to pass the point near which he was + stationed, without his permission. By this officer, I sent to Admiral + Lee a note, stating my objects and wishes, a copy of which is hereto + annexed, marked A. I also sent to the admiral, to be forwarded, + another note, in the same language, addressed to the officer in + command of the United States forces at Fort Monroe. The gunboat + proceeded immediately to the Minnesota with these dispatches, while + the Torpedo remained at anchor. Between three and four o'clock P. M., + another boat came up to us, bearing the admiral's answer, which is + hereunto annexed, marked B. We remained at or about this point in the + river until the 6th instant, when, having heard nothing further from + the admiral, at 12 o'clock M., on that day, I directed Lieutenant + Davidson again to speak the gunboat on guard, and to hand the officer + in command another note to the admiral. This was done. A copy of this + note is appended, marked C. At half past two o'clock P. M., two boats + approached us from below, one bearing an answer from the admiral to my + note to him of the 4th. This answer is annexed, marked D. The other + boat bore the answer of Lieutenant-Colonel William H. Ludlow, to my + note of the 4th, addressed to the officer in command at Fort Monroe. A + copy of this is annexed, marked E. Lieutenant-Colonel Ludlow also came + up in person in the boat that brought his answer to me, and conferred + with Colonel Ould, on board the Torpedo, upon some matters he desired + to see him about in connection with the exchange of prisoners. + + From the papers appended, embracing the correspondence referred to, it + will be seen that the mission failed from the refusal of the enemy to + receive or entertain it, holding the proposition for such a conference + "inadmissable." + + The influences and views that led to this determination, after so long + a consideration of the subject, must be left to conjecture. The reason + assigned for the refusal by the United States Secretary of War, to + wit: "that the customary agents and channels are considered adequate + for needful military communications and conferences," to one + acquainted with the facts, seems not only unsatisfactory, but very + singular and unaccountable, for it is certainly known to him that + these very agents, to whom he evidently alludes, heretofore agreed + upon in a former conference, in reference to the exchange of + prisoners, (one of the subjects embraced in your letter to me,) are + now, and have been for some time, distinctly at issue on several + important points. The existing cartel, owing to these disagreements, + is virtually suspended, so far as the exchange of officers on either + side is concerned. Notices of retaliation have been given on both + sides. + + The efforts, therefore, for the very many and cogent reasons set forth + in your letter of instructions to me, to see if these differences + could not be removed, and if a clearer understanding between the + parties, as to the general conduct of the war, could not be arrived + at, before this extreme measure should be resorted to by either party, + was no less in accordance with the dictates of humanity than in strict + conformity with the usages of belligerents in modern times. Deeply + impressed as I was with these views and feelings, in undertaking the + mission, and asking the conference, I can but express my profound + regret at the result of the effort made to obtain it; and I can but + entertain the belief, that if the conference sought had been granted, + mutual good could have been effected by it; and if this war, so + unnatural, so unjust, so unchristian, and so inconsistent with every + fundamental principle of American constitutional liberty, "must needs" + continue to be waged against us, that at least some of its severer + horrors, which now so eminently, threaten, might have been avoided. + + Very respectfully, + ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + OPERATION'S OF GENERAL TAYLOR IN LOUISIANA--THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY + IRRECOVERABLY LOST TO THE CONFEDERACY--FEDERALS FOILED AT + CHARLESTON--THE DIMINISHED CONFIDENCE OF THE SOUTH--FINANCIAL + DERANGEMENT--DEFECTIVE FINANCIAL SYSTEM OF THE SOUTH--MR. DAVIS' + LIMITED CONNECTION WITH IT--THE REASONS FOR THE FINANCIAL FAILURE OF + THE CONFEDERACY--INFLUENCE OF SPECULATION--ANOMALOUS SITUATION OF THE + SOUTH--MR. DAVIS' VIEWS OF THE FINANCIAL POLICY OF THE SOUTH AT THE + BEGINNING OF THE WAR--MILITARY OPERATIONS IN TENNESSEE--BRAGG RETREATS + TO CHATTANOOGA--MORGAN'S EXPEDITION--SURRENDER OF CUMBERLAND + GAP--FEDERAL OCCUPATION OF CHATTANOOGA--BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA--BRAGG'S + EXPECTATIONS--GRANTS OPERATIONS--BRAGG BADLY DEFEATED--PRESIDENT + DAVIS' VIEW OF THE DISASTER--GENERAL BRAGG RELIEVED FROM COMMAND OF + THE WESTERN ARMY--CENSURE OF THIS OFFICER--HIS MERITS AND SERVICES-- + THE UNJUST CENSURE OF MR. DAVIS AND GENERAL BRAGG FOR THE REVERSES IN + THE WEST--OPERATIONS IN VIRGINIA IN THE LATTER PART OF 1863--CONDITION + OF THE SOUTH AT THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR--SIGNS OF EXHAUSTION--PRESIDENT + DAVIS' RECOMMENDATIONS--PUBLIC DESPONDENCY--THE WORK OF FACTION--ABUSE + OF MR. DAVIS IN CONGRESS--THE CONTRAST BETWEEN HIMSELF AND HIS + ASSAILANTS--DEFICIENCY OF FOOD--HOW CAUSED--THE CONFEDERACY EVENTUALLY + CONQUERED BY STARVATION. + + +Though indicating that stage of the war, when began the steady decline of +the Confederacy, the summer of 1863 was not wholly unredeemed by +successes, which, however transient in significance, threw no mean lustre +upon Southern arms. + +A series of brilliant operations marked the career of General Richard +Taylor in Lower Louisiana. Preceded by a successful campaign in the +Lafourche region, an expedition was undertaken by General Taylor against +Brashear City, in the latter days of June. A strong and important position +was carried, and eighteen hundred prisoners, with over five millions of +dollars worth of stores, were captured. For some time the hope was +indulged, that this success of General Taylor would compel the abandonment +of the Federal siege of Port Hudson, and that Taylor could also make a +successful diversion in favor of Vicksburg. This hope was disappointed, +and Taylor, not having the strength to cope with the large force of the +enemy sent against him, after the fall of the Mississippi strongholds, was +forced to abandon the country which he had so gallantly won. The valley of +the Mississippi was irrecoverably in Federal possession, and the +Confederacy was able at no subsequent stage of the war, to undertake any +serious enterprise for its redemption. + +At Charleston the Federal fleet and land forces continued, during the +summer, their fruitless and expensive attacks. The skill of General +Beauregard, and the firmness of his small command, made memorable the +siege of that devoted city, so hated and coveted by the North, yet among +the last prizes to fall into its hands. + +But momentary gleams of hope were insufficient to dispel the shadow of +disaster, which, by midsummer, seemed to have settled upon the fate of the +Confederacy. The violent blow dealt the material capacity of the South by +the surrender of Vicksburg; the diminished prestige, from the serious +check at Gettysburg, in its wondrous career of victory, and the frightful +losses of the Army of Northern Virginia, were immediately followed by a +marked abatement of that unwavering confidence in the ultimate result, +which had previously so stimulated the energy of the South. + +The material disability and embarrassment resulting from the possession, +by the enemy, of large sections of the Confederacy, and consequent +contraction of its territorial area; the destruction of property; the +serious disturbance of the whole commercial system of the South, by the +loss of Vicksburg; and the diminished confidence of the public, were +attended by a fatal derangement of the already failing Confederate system +of finance. + +In the American war, as in all wars, the question of finance entered +largely into the decision of the result. At an early period many sagacious +minds declared that the contest would finally be resolved into a question +as to which of the belligerents "had the longer purse." In acceptance of +this view, the belief was largely entertained that the financial distress +in the South, consequent upon the heavy reverses of this period, clearly +portended the failure of the Confederacy. + +President Davis, since the war, has avowed his appreciation of the +financial difficulties of the South, as a controlling influence in the +failure of the cause. By unanimous consent, the management of the +Confederate finances has been declared to have been defective. The +universal distress attendant upon a depreciated currency, which rarely +improved in seasons of military success, and grew rapidly worse with each +disaster, rendered the financial feature of Mr. Davis' administration, +peculiarly vulnerable to the industry of a class ever on the alert for a +pretext available to excite popular distrust of the President. With entire +justice, we might dismiss this subject, claiming for Mr. Davis the benefit +of the plea which always allows a ruler some exemption from responsibility +for the errors of a subordinate. We have rarely sought to fasten +culpability upon those who differed with him, in some instances, perhaps +where it would have more clearly established his own exculpation. No act +or utterance of Mr. Davis could be urged to show that _he_ ever claimed +for himself the benefit of such a plea. Fidelity to his friends is a trait +in his character, not less worthy of admiration than magnanimity and +forbearance to his foes. His ardent and sympathetic nature doubtless often +condoned the errors of those whose motives he knew to be good; but his +friends can testify that he far more frequently overlooked the asperities +of his enemies.[68] + +We have elsewhere explained the appointment of Mr. Memminger, as having +been dictated by other considerations than that of a reliance upon his +special fitness. But while doubting his capacity for his difficult and +anomalous situation, we are not so sure that he exhibited such marked +unfitness as should have forbidden his retention in office, and called for +the appointment of another, with the expectation of a more satisfactory +administration. In the end, yielding to the vast pressure against him, Mr. +Memminger left the cabinet, and Mr. Davis appointed, as his successor, a +gentleman unknown to himself, but recommended as the possessor of +financial talents of a high order. When Mr. Trenholm became Secretary of +the Treasury, the opportunity for reform had long since passed, if, +indeed, such an opportunity existed after the repulse at Gettysburg and +the surrender of Vicksburg. It is hardly within the range of probability, +that, after those reverses, any conceivable ingenuity could have arrested +the downward tendency of Confederate finances. In the history of +Confederate finance, before those disasters, is to be found much +extenuation, if not ample apology, for a system which was imposed by the +force of circumstances and the novelty of the situation, rather than by +the errors of one man, or a number of men. + +In his message of December, 1863, Mr. Davis reviewed the subject in all +its phases, as it had been presented up to that period, and sketched the +plan, afterwards adopted by Congress, but without the result hoped for of +increasing the value of the currency, by compulsory funding and large +taxation. His discussion of this subject was always characterized by +perspicuity and force, but finance was that branch of administration with +which he affected the least familiarity, and which he least assumed to +direct. Knowing the profound and unremitting attention which the subject +required, he sought the aid of others competent for the inquiry, which he +had little leisure to pursue. + +This subject, during the entire war, was a fruitful theme for the +disquisitions of charlatans. Finance is a subject confessedly intricate, +and but few men in any country are capable of able administration of this +branch of government. Yet the Confederacy swarmed with pretenders, +advocating opposing theories, which their authors, in every case, declared +to be infallible. The Confederate administration neither wanted for +advisers, nor did it fail to seek the advice of those who were reputed to +have financial abilities. Its errors were, to a large degree, shared by +the ablest statesmen of the South. + +Criticism is proverbially easy and cheap, after the result is ascertained, +and we now readily see the leading causes of the depreciation of +Confederate money. In the last twelve months of the war, the rapid and +uninterrupted depreciation was occasioned by the want of confidence in the +success of the cause, on the part of those who controlled the value of the +money. Such was the alarm and distrust consequent upon the disasters of +July, 1863, that the Confederate currency is stated to have declined a +thousand per cent., within a few weeks. Previous to that period the +decline was gradual, but far less alarming in its indications. The plan +adopted by the Government, partly in deference to popular prejudice +against direct taxation by the general Government, and partly as a +necessity of the situation--that of credit in the form of paper issues, +followed by the enormous issues necessary to meet the expenses of a war, +increasing daily in magnitude--pampered the spirit of speculation, which, +by the close of the second year, had become almost universal. This latter +influence may safely be declared to have greatly accelerated the +unfortunate result, and the extent of its prevalence reflects an +unpleasant shadow upon the otherwise unmarred fame of the South for +self-denying patriotism. + +It is customary to speak of the financial management of the Confederacy in +especial disparagement, when contrasted with that of the North. The +injustice of this contrast, however, is palpable. We are not required to +disparage the Federal financial system--which was, indeed, conducted with +consummate tact and ingenuity--to extenuate the errors, in this respect, +of the Confederacy. The circumstances of the antagonists were altogether +different; the position of the South financially, as in other respects, +was peculiar and anomalous. Completely isolated, with a large territory, +with virtually no specie circulation,[69] hastily summoned to meet the +exigencies of the most gigantic war of modern times, the South had no +alternative but to resort to an entirely artificial, and, to some extent, +untried system of finance. From the outset, the basis of the Confederate +system was the patriotism and the confidence of the people. The first was +nobly steadfast, but the second was necessarily dependent upon military +success. When at last the virtual collapse of the credit indicated the +increasing public despondency, it was plain that a catastrophe was near at +hand. + +It has been generally agreed that the only scheme by which the South could +have assured her credit, was to have sent large amounts of cotton to +Europe, during the first year of the war, while the blockade was not +effective. This plan, if successfully carried out, would have given the +Confederacy a cash basis in Europe of several hundred millions in gold, in +consequence of the high prices commanded by cotton afterwards. With even +tolerable management, the Confederacy would thus have been assured means +to meet the necessities of the war. The merit of this plan depended +largely upon its practicability. Mr. Davis approved it, but it is easy to +imagine how--engrossed with his multifarious cares, and occupied in +meeting the pressing exigencies of each day--he lacked opportunity to +mature and execute a measure of so much responsibility. + +While the campaign in Mississippi, which terminated so disastrously, was +still pending, General Bragg continued to occupy his position in Southern +Tennessee. Too weak to attack Rosecrans, because of the reduction of his +army, by the reinforcements sent to the Mississippi, Bragg was able merely +to maintain a vigilant observation of his adversary. After the fall of +Vicksburg General Rosecrans received reënforcements sufficient to justify +an advance against the Confederates. After an obstinate resistance the +Confederate commander was flanked by a force, which the superior strength +of his antagonist enabled him to detach, and abandoned a line of great +natural strength, and strongly fortified. This was an important success +to the enemy, who were hereafter able, with much better prospects, to +undertake expeditions against the heart of the Confederacy. General Bragg +extricated his army from a perilous position, and made a successful +retreat to Chattanooga. Auxiliary to the retreat of Bragg was the +diversion made by General John Morgan, which occasioned the detachment of +a portion of Burnside's forces from East Tennessee, which threatened +Bragg's rear. The expedition of Morgan was pushed by that daring officer +through Kentucky and across the Ohio, to the great alarm of the States +upon the border of that river, but ended in the capture of Morgan and +nearly all his command. + +A most painful surprise to the South was the surrender of Cumberland Gap, +early in September. This was a serious blow at the whole system of defense +in Tennessee and the adjacent States. A Richmond newspaper declared that +the possession of Cumberland Gap gave the enemy the "key to the back-door +of Virginia and the Confederacy." The officer in command of the position +was severely censured by the country, and though he has since explained +his conduct in terms, which appear to be satisfactory, the impression +prevailed until the end of the war, that the loss of this most important +position was caused by gross misconduct. The comment of President Davis +explains the serious nature of this affair: "The entire garrison, +including the commander, being still held prisoners by the enemy, I am +unable to suggest any explanation of this disaster, which laid open +Eastern Tennessee and South-western Virginia to hostile operations, and +broke the line of communication between the seat of government and Middle +Tennessee. This easy success of the enemy was followed by the advance of +General Rosecrans into Georgia, and our army evacuated Chattanooga." + +Thus the coöperating movements of Rosecrans in Middle Tennessee, and of +Burnside in East Tennessee, had the ample reward of expelling the +Confederates from their strong lines of defense in the mountains. +Cumberland Gap controlled the most important line of communication in the +Confederacy. Chattanooga was the portal from which the enemy could debouch +upon the level country of the Gulf and Atlantic States. The capture of +Vicksburg and seizure of the Mississippi Valley, by which the Confederacy +was sundered, was the first stage of conquest. Chattanooga was now the +base from which was to be attempted the next great step of Federal +ambition--the second _bisection_ of the Confederacy. + +When Rosecrans advanced into Georgia, after his occupation of Chattanooga, +the aspect of affairs was exceedingly threatening, and it became necessary +to strengthen Bragg sufficiently to enable him to give battle, and thus +check the advance of the enterprising Federal commander. With this view +the corps of Longstreet was temporarily detached from Lee, and sent to +Bragg. This accession to his forces gave General Bragg the opportunity of +winning one of the most brilliant victories of the war. The signal defeat +of Rosecrans was followed by his precipitate retreat into Chattanooga, +closely pressed by Bragg. + +For weeks the Federal army was besieged with a good prospect for its +ultimate surrender. The imperiled position of Rosecrans had the effect of +relieving the pressure of invasion at other points, forcing the +concentration, for his relief, of large bodies of troops withdrawn from +the armies in the Mississippi Valley and in Northern Virginia. General +Bragg made an able disposition of his forces in the neighborhood of +Chattanooga, and awaited with confidence the surrender of Rosecrans. He +subsequently said: "These dispositions, faithfully sustained, ensured the +enemy's speedy evacuation of Chattanooga for want of food and forage. +_Possessed of the shortest road to his depot, and the one by which +reënforcements must reach him, we held him at our mercy, and his +destruction was only a question of time._" + +The situation fully justified this statement. So crippled was Rosecrans by +his defeat at Chickamauga, that an attack upon Bragg was out of the +question. The alternative of starvation, or retreat, seemed forced upon +the Federal army. The roads in its rear were in a terrible condition, and +the distance over which its supplies had to be drawn, was sixty miles. At +this critical moment, General Grant, whose command had been enlarged, +after his success at Vicksburg, and now embraced the three main Federal +armies in the West, reached the field of operations. Grant immediately +executed a plan of characteristic boldness, by which he effected a +lodgment on the south side of the Tennessee River, and secured new lines +of communication, thus relieving the beleaguered army. General Longstreet, +to whom the holding of this all-important route was confided, made an +unsuccessful night attack designed to defeat Grant's movement. + +Having relieved the Federal army of the apprehension of starvation or a +disastrous retreat, Grant now meditated operations, which, however +hazardous, or however in violation of probability may have been their +success, were fully vindicated by the result. Waiting until he thought his +accumulation of forces sufficient to justify an assault upon the strong +positions of the Confederates, Grant finally made a vigorous and +well-planned attack with nearly his entire force. The result was a +disastrous defeat and retreat of Bragg's army. General Grant claimed, as +the fruits of his victory, seven thousand prisoners and nearly fifty +pieces of artillery. + +There were circumstances attending this battle peculiarly discouraging to +the South. These circumstances were thus commented upon by President +Davis: + + "After a long and severe battle, in which great carnage was inflicted + on him, some of our troops inexplicably abandoned positions of great + strength, and, by a disorderly retreat, compelled the commander to + withdraw the forces elsewhere successful, and finally to retire with + his whole army to a position some twenty or thirty miles to the rear. + It is believed that if the troops who yielded to the assault had + fought with the valor which they had displayed on previous occasions, + and which was manifested in this battle on the other parts of the + line, the enemy would have been repulsed with very great slaughter, + and our country would have escaped the misfortune, and the army the + mortification of the first defeat that has resulted from misconduct by + the troops." + +With this disastrous battle terminated the connection of General Bragg +with the army, which he commanded during a large portion of its varied +career. Fully acknowledging his defeat, General Bragg candidly avowed to +the Government the extent of a reverse, which he declared disabled him +from any serious resistance, should the Federal commander press his +success. At his own request he was relieved, and, seeking recuperation for +his shattered health, was not assigned to duty until February, 1864, when +President Davis ordered him to the discharge of the duties of "Commanding +General," at Richmond, the position held by General Lee before his +transfer to the command of the Army of Northern Virginia. + +No commander was more harshly criticised than Bragg, and the unfortunate +career of the Western army, under his command, was an inexhaustible theme +for diatribe and invective from the opponents of the Confederate +administration. Bragg was often declared to be, at once the most +incompetent and unlucky of the "President's favorites." Yet nothing is +more certain than that an impartial review of his military career will +demonstrate General Bragg to have been a soldier of rare and superior +merit. It certainly can not be claimed that his campaigns exhibited the +brilliant and solid achievements of several of those conducted by Lee, or +of the Valley campaigns of Jackson. The great disparity of numbers and +means of the two sections, enabled few Confederate commanders to achieve +the distinction of unmarred success, even before that period of decline +when disaster was the rule, and victory the exception with the Confederate +forces. + +But Bragg can not justly be denied the merit of having, with most +inadequate means, long deferred the execution of the Federal conquest of +the West. At the time of his assumption of command, in June, 1862, the +armies of Grant and Buell, nearly double his own aggregate of forces, were +overrunning the northern borders of the Gulf States, and threatening the +very heart of the Confederacy. His masterly combinations, attended by loss +altogether disproportioned to the results accomplished, recovered large +sections of territory, which had been for months the easy prey of the +enemy, and transferred the seat of war to Middle Tennessee. Here he +maintained his position for nearly a year, vigorously assailing the enemy +at every opportunity, constantly menacing his communications, and firmly +holding his important line, in the face of overwhelming odds, while the +Confederate armies in every other quarter were losing ground. Finally, +when forced back by the concentration of Federal forces, released by their +successes elsewhere, Bragg skillfully eluded the combinations for his +destruction, and, at an opportune moment, delivered Rosecrans one of the +most timely and stunning blows inflicted during the war. No fact of the +war is more clearly established than Bragg's exculpation from any +responsibility for the escape of the Federal army from the field of +Chickamauga. His positive commands were disobeyed, his plan of battle +threatened with entire derangement by the errors of subordinates, and the +escape of Rosecrans secured by the same causes. But still more cruel was +the disappointment of Bragg's well-grounded expectation of a successful +siege of Chattanooga. So clear is his exculpation in this case, that no +investigation of facts, severely reflecting upon others, is required. + +While the controversy between Bragg and Longstreet was pending, some +disposition was manifested to censure the former for his rejection of a +plan of campaign proposed by Longstreet after the victory of Chickamauga. +The latter officer suggested crossing the Tennessee above Chattanooga, and +then moving upon the enemy's rear, with a view to force him back upon +Nashville. The pregnant criticism of General Bragg quickly disposes of the +suggestion. Said he: "The suggestion of a movement by our right, +immediately after the battle, to the north of the Tennessee, and thence +upon Nashville, requires notice only because it will find a place on the +files of the department. Such a movement was utterly impossible for want +of transportation. Nearly half our army consisted of reënforcements just +before the battle, without a wagon or an artillery horse, and nearly, if +not quite, a third of the artillery horses on the field had been lost. The +railroad bridges, too, had been destroyed to a point south of Ringgold, +and on all the road from Cleveland to Knoxville. To these insurmountable +difficulties were added the entire absence of means to cross the river, +except by fording at a few precarious points too deep for artillery, and +the well-known danger of sudden rises, by which all communication would be +cut off, a contingency which did actually happen a few days after the +visionary scheme was abandoned." General Bragg continues a recitation of +cogent considerations in support of his objections to a plan which he +declares utterly wanting in "military propriety." + +The culmination of Bragg's unpopularity was his defeat at Missionary +Ridge. No officer, save Lee, could, by any possibility, have hoped for a +dispassionate judgment by the public, at this desperate stage of the war, +of an affair so calamitous. The real explanation of that battle was +unquestionably contained in the extract from President Davis' message +previously given. Although Bragg could oppose but little more than thirty +thousand troops to the eighty thousand which Grant threw against him, the +strength of his position would have compensated for this disparity, had +his troops fought with the usual spirit of Confederate soldiers. + +It was not to be anticipated that the enemies of the President in Congress +and the hostile press would fail to find a pretext upon which to throw the +responsibility upon Mr. Davis. The disaster was declared to have resulted +from the detachment of Longstreet for an expedition into East Tennessee. +It is only necessary to state the facts of the case to show the falsity +and injustice of this criticism. In the first place, as we have already +stated, Bragg's force was sufficient to hold his tremendously strong +position without Longstreet, should his army fight with its usual spirit. +Secondly, Longstreet's corps was a part of Lee's army, detached for a +purely temporary purpose with Bragg, and its absence was a source of +constant anxiety to General Lee. This temporary purpose was well served at +the battle of Chickamauga, which Bragg designed to be a destructive blow, +and which failed in a part of its purpose, through no fault of that +commander. + +It was never intended to leave Longstreet in the West any longer than was +necessary to relieve Bragg in his great exigency after the evacuation of +Chattanooga. That result being accomplished, Longstreet was detained for a +few weeks, in the expectation that Rosecrans, driven to desperation by his +necessities, would attempt to retreat, in which event, Longstreet could +perform valuable service in aiding to destroy the Federal army. When +Grant, however, opened the Federal communications, and Longstreet was +foiled in his effort to prevent it, there was no longer a sufficient +reason for his detention so far from Lee. Accordingly, he was sent through +East Tennessee, with the double design of opening communication with +Virginia, where, at any moment, he might be needed, and of clearing East +Tennessee of the forces of Burnside. + +Had Longstreet's expedition been successful, it can not be doubted that +the pressure against Bragg would have been immediately relieved, and a +vital section restored to the Confederacy. We can not pause, however, to +review the incidents of General Longstreet's movement, nor to revive the +controversy between himself and a subordinate, evoked by an expedition +whose results exhibited few features of success. + +President Davis, better acquainted with the facts of the war than the +critics who so often mislead the public, held General Bragg in that high +estimation to which his unquestioned patriotism and his military qualities +entitled him. Of General Bragg it may be fairly said that he made the most +of his opportunities and his means. If he made retreats, they were always +preceded by bloody fights, and marked by obstinate resistance. If his +constrained and sullen retreats lost territory, they were not comparable +in that respect with that mysterious "strategy" of other commanders in +high favor with the opponents of Mr. Davis, which eventually threatened to +"toll" the enemy to the Atlantic coast, or the Gulf of Mexico, without +once bringing him to a general engagement. + +Bragg never feared to stake his fame on the gage of battle, and, if he +sustained reverses, he won many more victories. An educated soldier, he +was also a rigid disciplinarian, and had little toleration for the +demagogism so conspicuous in volunteer armies. This was the occasion of +much of the personal enmity by which he was embarrassed both in and out of +the army. But, whatever the justice of the public condemnation of Bragg, +his period of usefulness in the Western army was at an end. Very soon +afterwards General Joseph E. Johnston took command of the army in Northern +Georgia. + +The two armies in Virginia, weakened by the detachments from each sent to +the West, continued inactive until autumn. In October, General Lee +prepared a brilliant campaign, the object of which was to place his army +between General Meade and Washington. Meade, though forced back to the +neighborhood of Manassas and Centreville, had become apprized of Lee's +movement in time to prevent the consummation of the strategy of the +Confederate commander. An incident of the expedition was the severe +repulse of a part of General Hill's command, attended with considerable +loss. Meanwhile, General Imboden, coöperating with the movements of the +main army, captured several hundred prisoners and valuable stores in the +Shenandoah Valley. Early in November, nearly two thousand Confederates +were captured at Rappahannock Station by a movement marked by skill and +gallantry on the part of General Sedgwick. The campaign in Northern +Virginia terminated with a handsome success by the division of General +Edward Johnson over a large detachment from Meade's army at Mine Run. In +December, General Averill, with a force of Federal cavalry, made a +destructive raid into South-western Virginia, and destroyed portions of +the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. + +At the close of 1863, there were many signs of the approaching exhaustion +of the South, yet there was good reason to hope that, by a vigorous use of +means yet remaining, the war might be brought to a favorable conclusion. +The peace party of the North, despite the increased strength and +popularity of Mr. Lincoln's administration, resulting from the Federal +successes of the summer, was evidently becoming more bold and defiant. The +whole North, too, was disappointed at the prospect of an indefinite +resistance by the South. Gettysburg and Vicksburg were not followed, as +had been anticipated, by the immediate collapse of the Confederacy. Under +such circumstances, the South had much to anticipate from a bold and +defiant front at the opening of the next campaign. Unquestionably its +resources were less adequate than before, but there was evidently capacity +to prolong the war for an almost indefinite period. Thus, while the +Confederacy could not cherish the hope of daring exploits at the opening +of the campaign, which should again make the enemy apprehensive for his +own homes, there was a well-grounded anticipation of a successful +defensive, which should wear out the enemy's ardor, and again present +opportunities for bold enterprise. + +The message of President Davis to Congress, which met early in December, +was one of his ablest productions. Reviewing the entire field of the war, +in its more important phases, it was equally remarkable for its frank +statement of the situation, and for the energetic policy recommended. + +There could be no difficulty in comprehending the needs of the Confederacy +at this distressing period. The three great elements of war--men, money, +and subsistence--were now demanded to a greatly increased extent. In +nothing was the campaign of 1863 more fatal, than in the terrible losses +inflicted on the armies of the Confederacy. At the close of the year, the +Army of Northern Virginia, including the absent corps of Longstreet, was +weaker, by more than a third of the force carried into Pennsylvania. The +losses of the Western army had fearfully diminished its strength, and its +frequent disasters had greatly impaired its _morale_. Measures were now +required which should repair the losses, and, if possible, increase the +army beyond its strength at the opening of the previous campaign, in order +to meet the enormous conscription preparing at the North. + +President Davis indicated the following methods of adding to the army: +"Restoring to the army all who are improperly absent, putting an end to +substitution, modifying the exemption law, restricting details, and +placing in the ranks such of the able-bodied men now employed as wagoners, +nurses, cooks, and other employés as are doing service, for which the +negroes may be found competent." + +These were evidently the last expedients by which the Confederate armies +could be recruited from the white population. By successive enactments +Congress had empowered the President to call into the field all persons +between the ages of eighteen and forty-five. The exigency consequent upon +the reverses of the summer had necessitated the requisition of the last +reserves provided by Congress--the class between forty and forty-five. +Conscription had failed to give the effective strength calculated upon. +Each extension of the law exhibited, in the result, an accession of +numbers greatly below the estimate upon which it was based. This was +largely due to the inefficient execution of the law, and to the opposition +which it encountered in many localities. But the results also indicated a +most exaggerated estimate of the available arms-bearing population of the +South. In the latter part of 1863, the rolls of the Adjutant-General's +office in Richmond showed a little more than four hundred thousand men +under arms; and Secretary Seddon stated that, from desertions and other +causes, "not more than a half--never two-thirds--of the soldiers were in +the ranks." + +The message of Mr. Davis indicated defective features in the system of +conscription, and suggested improvements as follows: + + "On the subject of exemptions, it is believed that abuses can not be + checked unless the system is placed on a basis entirely different from + that now provided by law. The object of your legislation has been, not + to confer privileges on classes, but to exonerate from military duty + such number of persons skilled in the various trades, professions, and + mechanical pursuits, as could render more valuable service to their + country by laboring in their present occupation than by going into the + ranks of the army. The policy is unquestionable, but the result would, + it is thought, be better obtained by enrolling all such persons, and + allowing details to be made of the number necessary to meet the wants + of the country. Considerable numbers are believed to be now exempted + from the military service who are not needful to the public in their + civil vocation. + + "Certain duties are now performed throughout the country by details + from the army, which could be as well executed by persons above the + present conscript age. An extension of the limit, so as to embrace + persons over forty-five years, and physically fit for service in + guarding posts, railroads, and bridges, in apprehending deserters, + and, where practicable, assuming the place of younger men detailed for + duty with the nitre, ordnance, commissary, and quartermaster's bureaus + of the War Department, would, it is hoped, add largely to the + effective force in the field, without an undue burden on the + population." + +The message further recommended legislation replacing "not only enlisted +cooks, but wagoners, and other employés in the army, by negroes." From +these measures the President expected that the army would be "so +strengthened, for the ensuing campaign, as to put at defiance the utmost +efforts of the enemy." + +But the meagre results of conscription revealed not only an excessive +calculation of the numerical strength of the Confederacy; they indicated +the reluctance with which the harsh necessities of the war, in its later +stages, were met. As the war was protracted, popular ardor naturally +waned, and in the presence of losses and reverses, the spirit of voluntary +sacrifice gradually disappeared. Draft and impressment were now required +to obtain the services and the means, which, in the beginning, were +lavishly proffered. + +Partially the result of a natural popular weariness of the increasing +exactions of a long and exhaustive struggle, these were also the +legitimate fruits of the distrust so assiduously inculcated by the +fault-finders. When reverses to their armies came with appalling rapidity, +and, in many instances, in spite of the exertions of their ablest and most +popular leaders, the people saw confidence and industry only in their +Government, and that Government they were constantly taught to believe +grossly incompetent and unworthy. Under such circumstances, how could +there be that unity and coöperation, without which the cause was +preordained to failure? In that industry which sought every possible +occasion for censure, that ingenuity which exaggerated every error, that +intemperance which filled the halls of Congress with denunciation, and the +land with clamor and discontent, the North at last found allies which ably +assisted its armies. + +More violent, intemperate, and unscrupulous than ever, were the assaults +upon the administration, in that long period of agony which followed the +disasters in Mississippi and Pennsylvania. Such was an appropriate +occasion, when a grief-stricken country implored the unanimity which alone +could bring relief, for agitation, revenge, and invective. In Congress Mr. +Davis was assailed with furious vituperation, because he had refused, at +the instance of a member, to remove Bragg, and place Johnston in command +of the Western army. Yet General Johnston, after a visit to Tennessee, +earnestly advised the President _not_ to remove Bragg, as the _public +interests would suffer by that step_. Almost daily Mr. Davis was assailed +for not having properly estimated the war, in the diatribes of an able +editor, who himself, but a few weeks before hostilities opened, declared +_there would be no war_. Of such a character were the accusers and the +accusations. + +If Jefferson Davis courted revenge, he could find ample satisfaction in +the contrast between himself and some of his foremost accusers, which the +sequel has drawn. _He_ fell at last, but only when that cause was lost, +which he unselfishly loved, and which his heart followed to its glorious +grave. His name is already immortal--the embodiment of the heroism, the +virtues, the sufferings, the glory of a people who revere him and scorn +his persecutors. Nor can the South forget that many, who, during her +arduous struggle, constantly assailed her chosen ruler, have since taken +refuge in the camp of those who first conquered, and now seek to degrade +her people. + +A source of universal alarm in the South, at this period, was the +deficiency of food. We have elsewhere quoted freely the admonitions of +President Davis respecting the question of supplies, and indicating the +cause which led to so much suffering in the armies of the Confederacy. +Ever since the loss of large sections of Tennessee, in the spring of 1862, +this subject had occasioned anxiety. Without entering into details, it may +be briefly stated, that, with the loss of Kentucky and the larger portion +of Tennessee, the Confederacy lost the main source of its supplies of +meat. As other sections were occupied by the enemy, and communications +were destroyed, the area of the Confederacy became more and more +contracted, and its sources of supply still more limited. Even when +supplies were abundant in many quarters, the armies in the field suffered +actual want, in consequence of the want of transportation, and of the +remoteness of the supplies from the lines of the railroads. + +But while the meat in the Confederacy was rapidly diminishing in quantity, +as the Federal armies advanced, and seized or destroyed every thing in the +shape of subsistence, the army was still deprived of supplies which should +have been made available. The unpatriotic practice of hoarding +supplies--a temptation suggested by the rife spirit of speculation, +arising from a redundant and depreciated currency--necessitated the +passage of impressment laws. These laws were practically rendered nugatory +by the inadequate provisions for their execution. In no respect was the +timid and demagogical legislation of the Confederate Congress, so +illustrated as by its adoption of a system of impressment, which +aggravated the very evil it was designed to remedy. + +Various expedients were attempted, with partial success, for obtaining +subsistence beyond the limits of the Confederacy. It will be readily seen, +however, how precarious was this dependence. It was impossible for the +Confederacy to maintain its armies, while its resources in every other +respect were rapidly reaching the point of exhaustion. In the end the want +of food proved the most efficient adversary of the South. The final +military catastrophe made the Federal army master of a country already +half conquered by starvation.[70] + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + AN EFFORT TO BLACKEN THE CHARACTER OF THE SOUTH--THE PERSECUTION OF + MR. DAVIS AS THE SUBSTITUTE FOR THE ASSUMED OFFENSES OF THE SOUTH-- + REPUTATION OF THE SOUTH FOR HUMANITY--TREATMENT OF PRISONERS OF WAR-- + EARLY ACTION OF THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT UPON THE SUBJECT--MR. + DAVIS' LETTER TO MR. LINCOLN--THE COBB-WOOL NEGOTIATIONS--PERFIDIOUS + CONDUCT OF THE FEDERAL AUTHORITIES--A CARTEL ARRANGED BY GENERALS DIX + AND HILL--COMMISSIONER OULD--HIS CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE FEDERAL AGENT + OF EXCHANGE--REPEATED PERFIDY OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT--SUSPENSION OF + THE CARTEL CAUSED BY THE BAD FAITH OF THE FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION, AND + THE SUFFERING WHICH IT CAUSED--EFFORTS OF THE CONFEDERATE AUTHORITIES + TO RENEW THE OPERATION OF THE CARTEL--HUMANE OFFER OF COMMISSIONER + OULD--JUSTIFICATION OF THE CONFEDERATE AUTHORITIES--GUILT OF THE + FEDERAL GOVERNMENT--MR. DAVIS' STATEMENT OF THE MATTER--COLONEL OULD'S + LETTER TO MR. ELDRIDGE--NORTHERN STATEMENTS: GENERAL BUTLER, NEW YORK + TRIBUNE, ETC.--THE CHARGE OF CRUELTY AGAINST THE SOUTH--A CONTRAST + BETWEEN ANDERSONVILLE AND ELMIRA--IMPOVERISHMENT OF THE SOUTH-- + DISREPUTABLE MEANS EMPLOYED TO AROUSE RESENTMENT OF THE NORTH--THE + VINDICATION OF THE SOUTH AND OF MR. DAVIS--HIS STAINLESS CHARACTER, + HIS HUMANITY AND FORBEARANCE--AN INQUIRY OF HISTORY. + + +It is in vain to invoke the admiration of mankind for qualities of +greatness, displayed either in the history of a nation or the life of an +individual, unless those qualities shall have been adorned by the practice +of humanity and the observance of high moral obligation. Since the +political fabric of the South has been overthrown, a brave and virtuous +people cherish with a more tenacious affection than ever, that honorable +reputation which was their birthright, and which they worthily +illustrated during the late war. The violent commotion with which the +American Union was but lately convulsed has renewed the historical analogy +of revolutions, not less in the sequel than in its progress. When the +strife of arms was ended, and the two great armies ceased their death +struggles, and parted with that mutual respect which is characteristic of +brave antagonists, events were far from encouraging the cessation of +sectional bitterness which was to be hoped for. + +The dominant party at the North, apparently not satisfied with the +political overthrow of the South, and the complete extinction of its +social system, has followed up the triumphs of the Federal armies with a +persistent and implacable war upon the character and reputation of the +South. To affix a stigma upon a conquered foe, to brand with infamy a +class of their own countrymen--the descendants of the compatriots of +Franklin, Hancock, and Adams--and to consign to perpetual obloquy a cause +which enlisted the sympathies of five millions of people, are the aims of +a malignant and remorseless faction. These are the motives which have +instigated the effort to frame an indictment against the Christianity, the +morality, and the humanity of the South, and to visit every form of +degradation, to practice every refinement of cruelty upon its most +distinguished representative. + +It is impossible to explain, upon any other theory, the exceptional rigor +with which, since the termination of the war, Mr. Davis has been pursued. +As the most honored by the South, he has been selected as the proper +substitute upon whom to visit the offenses of his people. To convict +Jefferson Davis of heinous offenses against humanity is to blacken the +cause which he represented--to degrade the people of whom he was the +chosen ruler. The North should have been admonished, by previous +examples, of the futility of its attempts to prejudge historical questions +of such moment. Of what avail were the malignity, the misrepresentation, +and the unrelenting vindictiveness of England against Napoleon? + +As yet, the North has been unable, even by _ex parte_ evidence, to obtain +a pretext for the arraignment of Jefferson Davis for those atrocious +crimes of which it was pretended he was guilty. Even perjury has proven +inadequate to the invention of material with which to sustain a complicity +in guilt, from which his previous character alone should have vindicated +him. Who can doubt the inevitable recoil when the investigations of +history, unobstructed by prejudice and passion, shall lay bare the _facts_ +upon which posterity will render its verdict? History, in such a question, +will know neither North nor South, nor will it accept all testimony as +_truth_ which comes under the guise of "_loyalty_," nor reject as +_falsehood_ all upon which has been placed the odium of "_disloyalty_." + +In this volume, we could not, even if so disposed, avoid reference to that +question which so involves the honor and humanity of the South--_the +extent of her regard, in the conduct of the late war, for those moral +obligations which are recognized by all Christian and civilized +communities_. The course of her enemies has left the South no alternative, +and she can not be apprehensive of the result when the record is fairly +consulted. + +We have now reached, with a due regard for chronological order, a point +where naturally arises the subject of the treatment of prisoners, which, +in the later months of 1863, assumed its most interesting phase. We +approach the subject not with any expectation of enlightenment of the +Northern mind. Upon this subject a large portion of the Northern people +have resolutely turned their backs upon all statements which do not favor +their sectional prejudices. Calumnies are often believed by mere force of +iteration; and so persistent has been the effort to poison the Northern +mind with falsehood that at least a generation must pass away before the +South can expect an impartial hearing. Nevertheless, by grouping together, +in these pages, important testimony from various sources, and _confined to +neither section_, we hope to promote, however feebly, the great end of +historic truth. + +At an early period of the contest, the Confederate Government recognized +its obligation to treat prisoners of war with humanity and consideration. +Before any action was taken by Congress upon the subject, the executive +authorities provided prisoners with proper quarters and barracks, and with +rations--the same in quantity and quality as those furnished to the +Confederate soldiers who guarded them. The first action of Congress with +reference to prisoners was taken on the 21st of May, 1861. Congress then +provided that "all prisoners of war taken, whether on land or at sea, +during the pending hostilities with the United States, shall be +transferred by the captors from time to time, and as often as convenient, +to the Department of War; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of +War, with the approval of the President, to issue such instructions to the +Quartermaster-General and his subordinates as shall provide for the safe +custody and sustenance of prisoners of war; _and the rations furnished +prisoners of war shall be the same in quantity and quality as those +furnished to enlisted men in the army of the Confederacy_." This declared +policy of the Confederate authorities was adhered to, not only in the +earlier months of the war, when provisions were abundant, but was +afterwards pursued as far as possible under the _peculiar style of warfare +waged by the North_. Even amid the losses and privations to which the +enemy subjected them, they sought to carry out the humane purpose of this +solemn declaration. + +The first public announcement by President Davis, with respect to +prisoners, was made in a letter to President Lincoln, dated July 6th, +1861. This letter was called forth by the alleged harsh treatment of the +crew of the Confederate vessel _Savannah_, then prisoners in the hands of +the enemy. We extract a paragraph of this letter: + + "It is the desire of this Government so to conduct the war now + existing, as to mitigate its horrors as far as may be possible; and, + with this intent, its treatment of the prisoners captured by its + forces has been marked by the greatest humanity and leniency + consistent with public obligation; some have been permitted to return + home on parole, others to remain at large under similar condition + within this Confederacy, and all have been furnished with rations for + their subsistence, such as are allowed to our own troops. It is only + since the news has been received of the treatment of the prisoners + taken on the _Savannah_, that I have been compelled to withdraw these + indulgences, and to hold the prisoners taken by us in strict + confinement." + +In his message, dated July 20th, 1861, he mentioned this letter, and thus +alluded to the expected reply from President Lincoln: + + "I earnestly hope this promised reply (which has not yet been + received) will convey the assurance that prisoners of war will be + treated, in this unhappy contest, with that regard for humanity, which + has made such conspicuous progress in the conduct of modern warfare." + +Several months elapsed, after the beginning of hostilities, before the +captures on either side were sufficiently numerous to demand much +consideration. A proposition was even made in the Confederate Congress, to +return the Federal prisoners, taken at the first battle of Manassas, +without any formality whatever. + +In February, 1862, negotiations occurred between the two governments, with +a view to the arrangement of a system of exchange. In these negotiations +Generals Howell Cobb and Wool represented their respective Governments. +The result was a cartel, by which prisoners of either side should be +paroled within ten days after their capture, and delivered on the frontier +of their own country. A point of difference was, however, raised, as to a +provision requiring each party to pay the expense of transporting their +prisoners to the frontier. This difference General Wool reported to the +Federal Government, which refused to pay these expenses. At a second +interview, March 1st, 1862, this action of the Federal authorities being +made known to General Cobb, the latter immediately conceded the point, and +proposed to make the cartel conform in all its features to the wishes of +General Wool. The latter declined any arrangement, declaring "that his +Government had changed his instructions," and abruptly terminated the +negotiations. + +The explanation of this conduct was apparent. While the negotiations +between Generals Wool and Cobb were pending, Fort Donelson had fallen, +reversing the previous state of things, and giving the North an excess of +prisoners. These prisoners, instead of being sent South on parole, were +carried into the interior of the North, and treated with severity and +indignity. Repudiating this agreement, just as soon as it was ascertained +that their captures at Donelson placed the South at disadvantage, the +Federal authorities foreshadowed that "consistently perfidious conduct," +which President Davis declared to be characteristic of their entire course +upon the subject. + +It was impossible to bring the Federal Government to any arrangement, +until the fortune of war again placed the Confederates in possession of +the larger number of prisoners. An immediate consequence of the +Confederate successes in the summer of 1862, was the indication of a more +accommodating spirit by the enemy. Negotiations between General D. H. +Hill, on behalf of the Confederate authorities, and General John A. Dix, +on behalf of his Government, resulted in the adoption of a new cartel of a +completely satisfactory and humane character. Under this cartel, which +continued in operation for twelve months, the Confederate authorities +restored to the enemy many thousands of prisoners in excess of those whom +they held for exchange, and encampments of the surplus paroled prisoners +were established in the United States, where the men were able to receive +the comforts and solace of constant communication with their homes and +families. In July, 1863, the fortune of war again favored the enemy, and +they were enabled to exchange for duty the men previously delivered to +them, against those captured and paroled at Vicksburg and Port Hudson. The +prisoners taken at Gettysburg, however, remained in their hands, and +should have been at once returned to the Confederate lines on parole, to +await exchange. Instead of executing a duty imposed by the plainest +dictates of justice and good faith, pretexts were instantly sought for +holding them in permanent captivity. General orders rapidly succeeded each +other from the bureau at Washington, placing new constructions on an +agreement which had given rise to no dispute while the Confederates +retained the advantage in the number of prisoners. With a disregard of +honorable obligations, almost unexampled, the Federal authorities did not +hesitate, in addition to retaining the prisoners captured by them, to +declare null the paroles given by the prisoners captured by the +Confederates in the same series of engagements, and liberated on condition +of not again serving until exchanged. They then openly insisted on +treating the paroles given by their own soldiers as invalid, and those of +Confederate soldiers, given under precisely similar circumstances, as +binding. A succession of similar unjust pretensions was maintained in a +correspondence tediously prolonged, and every device employed, to cover +the disregard of an obligation, which, between belligerent nations, is +only to be enforced by a sense of honor. + +We have not space sufficient for even a sketch of the protracted +correspondence, which ensued between the commissioners of exchange, +respecting the suspension of the cartel. In its progress Commissioner Ould +triumphantly vindicated the action of the Confederate Government, in every +instance meeting in an unanswerable manner, the counter-charges of the +Federal authorities. The South can require no better record of its +honorable and humane conduct, than is furnished by this correspondence. +The Confederate Government was singularly fortunate in the selection of +Mr. Ould, who unites to a most honorable and amiable character, an +intellect of unusual vigor and astuteness, as was abundantly shown in his +conclusive demonstrations of the perfidious conduct of the authorities at +Washington. + +For twelve months after the date of the cartel (that is, until after the +battle of Gettysburg), the Confederates held a considerable excess of +prisoners. It has never been alleged, amid all the calumny which has +assailed the South, that during this period, the Federal prisoners (unless +held on serious charges), were not promptly delivered. Commissioner Ould +several times urged the Federal authorities to send increased +transportation for their prisoners. On the other hand, numbers of +Confederate officers and soldiers were kept in irons and dungeons, in many +instances without even having charges preferred against them. + +On the 26th July, 1863, Commissioner Ould said in a letter to the Federal +Agent of Exchange: "Now that our official connection is being terminated, +I say to you in the fear of God--and I appeal to him for the truth of the +declaration--that there has been no single moment, from the time we were +first brought together in connection with the matter of exchange, to the +present hour, during which there has not been an open and notorious +violation of the cartel, by your authorities. Officers and men, numbering +over hundreds, have been, during your whole connection with the cartel, +kept in cruel confinement, sometimes in irons, or doomed to cells, without +charges or trial.... The last phase of the enormity, however, exceeds all +others. Although you have many thousands of our soldiers now in +confinement in your prisons, and especially in that horrible hold of +death, Fort Delaware, you have not, for several weeks, sent us any +prisoners.... For the first two or three times some sort of an excuse was +attempted. None is given at this present arrival. I do not mean to be +offensive when I say that effrontery could not give one." + +In reply to these and similar charges by Commissioner Ould, which he, in +repeated instances, substantiated by naming the Confederate officers and +soldiers thus shamefully treated, the enemy retorted with a charge of +similar treatment of Federal prisoners. Yet the prison records of the +Confederacy, in no instance, show the detention of prisoners while the +cartel was in operation, unless held under grave charges. Commissioner +Ould, in his letter of August 1, 1863, effectually silenced this +replication. Said he: "You have claimed and exercised the right to retain +officers and men indefinitely, not only upon charges actually preferred, +but upon mere suspicion. You have now in custody officers who were in +confinement when the cartel was framed, and who have since been declared +exchanged. Some of them have been tried, but most of them have languished +in prison all the weary time without trial or charges. _I stand prepared +to prove these assertions._ This course was pursued, too, in the face not +only of notice, but of protest. Do you deny to us the right to detain +officers and men for trial upon grave charges, while you claim the right +to keep in confinement any who may be the object of your suspicion or +special enmity?" + +The paroles issued after capture were respected by both parties, until, +about the middle of 1863, the Federal authorities declared void the +paroles of thousands of their soldiers, who had been sent North by the +Confederate Government. At that time, it is noteworthy, the Federal +Government had no lists of paroled prisoners to be charged against the +Confederacy. The latter had previously discharged all its obligations from +its large excess of prisoners, leaving still a large balance in their +favor unsatisfied. In this condition of affairs, Commissioner Ould was +notified that "exchanges will be confined to such equivalents as are held +in confinement on either side." After such a display of perfidy, no +surprise should be occasioned by the subsequent action of the Federal +authorities. This announcement, in unmistakable phraseology, meant simply +that, as the Confederates had returned equivalents for all paroles held +against them, and the Federals held no paroles to be charged against the +Confederacy, hereafter no exchange would be made except for men actually +in captivity. In other words, having received all the benefits which they +could from the observance of the cartel, the Federal Government openly +repudiated it, the moment that its operation would favor their +antagonists. Commissioner Ould promptly declined the perfidious +proposition of the enemy, which would have continued thousands of +Confederate soldiers in prison, after their Government had returned all +prisoners in their possession, and yet held the paroles of Federal +soldiers, largely exceeding in number the Confederate soldiers held +captive by the enemy. Subsequently the Federal officers and soldiers, in +violation of their paroles, and without being declared exchanged, were +ordered back to their commands. Commissioner Ould then very properly +declared exchanged an equal number of Confederate officers and men, who +had been paroled by the enemy at Vicksburg. + +With these transactions ended all exchanges under that provision of the +cartel which provided the delivery of prisoners within ten days. All +subsequent deliveries of prisoners were made by special agreement. The +facts which we have stated, showing the suspension of the cartel to have +been occasioned by the _bad faith of the Federal Government, are upon +record_, and can not be disputed. They are accessible to every Northern +reader, who may feel disposed to satisfy his judgment, _by facts_, rather +than to foster prejudices based upon the most monstrous falsehoods, ever +invented in the interest of fanaticism and hate. The suspension of the +cartel was the direct cause of those terrible sufferings which were +afterwards endured by the true men of both sides. It led directly to the +hardships, the exposure, and hunger of Andersonville, the cruelties of +Camp Douglas, the freezing of Confederate soldiers upon the bleak shores +of the Northern lakes, and those countless woes which are endured by the +occupants of military prisons, even when conducted upon the most humane +system. Having been guilty of a shameful violation of faith, the Federal +Government persisted in a policy, which was not only cruel to the South, +but brought upon the brave men who were fighting its battles, the +sufferings which the North has falsely pictured with every conceivable +feature of horror and atrocity. + +Until the end of the war, the Confederate Government continued its efforts +to secure the renewed operations of the cartel--a policy which humanity to +its own defenders demanded. Why it was not renewed, the motives which +dictated a policy which occasioned an almost unexampled degree of human +suffering, is a question abundantly answered in the testimony here +adduced, the most conclusive portions of which comes from Northern +sources. + +In January, 1864, it was plain from the disposition of the enemy that the +majority of the prisoners of both sides were doomed to confinement for +many weary months, if not until the end of the war. Under this impression, +Commissioner Ould wrote the following letter, which was promptly delivered +to the Federal Agent of Exchange: + + "CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, WAR DEPARTMENT, + "RICHMOND, VA., January 24, 1864. + + "_Major-General E. A. Hitchcock, Agent of Exchange_-- + + "SIR: In view of the present difficulties attending the exchange and + release of prisoners, I propose that all such on either side shall be + attended by a proper number of their own surgeons, who, under rules to + be established, shall be permitted to take charge of their health and + comfort. I also propose that these surgeons shall act as commissaries, + with power to receive and distribute such contributions of money, + food, clothing, and medicines as may be forwarded for the relief of + the prisoners. I further propose that these surgeons shall be selected + by their own Government, and that they shall have full liberty, at any + and all times, through the Agents of Exchange, _to make reports not + only of their own acts, but of any matters relating to the welfare of + the prisoners_. + + "Respectfully, your obedient servant, + "ROBERT OULD, + "_Agent of Exchange_." + +To this humane proposition _no answer was ever made_. It is needless to +depict the alleviation of misery which its adoption would have secured. +Can there be but one interpretation of the motives of those who rejected +this noble offer? These propositions are indeed extraordinary, in view of +the obloquy heaped upon the Confederate authorities for their alleged +indifference to the health and comfort of their prisoners. Most +noticeable, however, is the invitation extended to the Federal authorities +to investigate, and report to the world, the treatment and condition of +Federal soldiers in Southern prisons. + +But this is far from completing the evidence which convicts the Federal +Government of a purpose to trade upon the sufferings of their prisoners, +and thus inflame the resentment of the North during the war, and shows the +malignant purpose of a faction to establish a foul libel upon the South in +the mind of posterity. On the 10th of August, 1864, Commissioner Ould +wrote as follows: + + "_Major John E. Mulford, Assistant Agent of Exchange_-- + + "SIR: You have several times proposed to me to exchange the prisoners + respectively held by the two belligerents, officer for officer, and + man for man. The same offer has also been made by other officials + having charge of matters connected with the exchange of prisoners. + This proposal has heretofore been declined by the Confederate + authorities, they insisting upon the terms of the cartel, which + required the delivery of the excess on either side upon parole. In + view, however, of the very large number of prisoners now held by each + party, and the suffering consequent upon their continued confinement, + I now consent to the above proposal, and agree to deliver to you the + prisoners held in captivity by the Confederate authorities, provided + you agree to deliver an equal number of Confederate officers and men. + As equal numbers are delivered from time to time, they will be + declared exchanged. This proposal is made with the understanding that + the officers and men, on both sides, who have been longest in + captivity, will be first delivered, where it is practicable. I shall + be happy to hear from you as speedily as possible, whether this + arrangement can be carried out. + + "Respectfully, your obedient servant, + "ROBERT OULD, + "_Agent of Exchange_." + +It will be seen that the Confederate authorities, by this proposition, +consented to waive all previous questions, to concede every point to the +enemy, that could facilitate the release from captivity of its own +soldiers and those of the North. As an inducement to action by the Federal +authorities, this letter was accompanied by a _statement exhibiting the +mortality among the prisoners at Andersonville_. Receiving no reply, +Commissioner Ould made the same proposition to General Hitchcock, in +Washington. The latter making no response, application was made again to +Major Mulford, who replied as follows: + + "_Hon. R. Ould, Agent of Exchange_-- + + "SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of + to-day, requesting answer, etc., to your communication of the 10th + inst., on the question of the exchange of prisoners, to which, in + reply, I would say, I have no communication on the subject from our + authorities, nor am I yet authorized to make any. + + "I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, + + "JOHN E. MULFORD, + "_Assistant Agent of Exchange_." + +Nothing could exceed the generosity of this offer. When it was made, the +North had a large excess of prisoners. By this arrangement every Federal +soldier would have been released from captivity, while a large surplus of +Confederates would have remained in the enemy's hands. The brutal +calculation of the Federal authorities was that an exchange would add so +many thousands of muskets to the depleted ranks of the Confederacy, and +would, besides, deprive them of every pretext for the manufacture of +chapters of "rebel barbarities." + +It was known to the world that the means of subsistence in the South was +so reduced--chiefly through the cruel warfare waged by the North--that +Confederate soldiers were then subsisting upon a third of a pound of meat, +and a pound of indifferent meal or flour each day. Upon such rations, half +naked, thousands of them barefooted, Confederate soldiers were exposed to +sufferings unexampled in history. How could it be possible, under such +circumstances, to prevent suffering among the prisoners? Military prisons, +under the most favorable circumstances, are miserable enough, but the +Federal prisoners in the South were compelled to endure multiplied and +aggravated miseries, imposed by the condition of the South--shared by +their captors, and by the women and children of the country which they +invaded. But what possible palliation can there be for the guilt of a +Government which willfully subjected its defenders to horrors which it so +blazoned to the world? Declaring that "rebel pens" were worse than +Neapolitan prisons and Austrian dungeons, the Federal authorities yet +persistently rejected offers of exchange. + +There could be no more forcible presentation of the question than that +made by President Davis: + + "In the meantime a systematic and concerted effort has been made to + quiet the complaints in the United States of those relatives and + friends of the prisoners in our hands, who are unable to understand + why the cartel is not executed in their favor, by the groundless + assertion that we are the parties who refuse compliance. Attempts are + also made to shield themselves from the execration excited by their + own odious treatment of our officers and soldiers now captive in their + hands, by misstatements, such as that the prisoners held by us are + deprived of food. To this last accusation the conclusive answer has + been made, that, in accordance with our laws and the general orders of + the department, the rations of the prisoners are precisely the same, + in quantity and quality, as those served out to our own gallant + soldiers in the field, and which have been found sufficient to support + them in their arduous campaign, while it is not pretended by the enemy + that they treat prisoners by the same generous rule. By an indulgence, + perhaps unprecedented, we have even allowed the prisoners in our hands + to be supplied by their friends at home with comforts not enjoyed by + the men who captured them in battle, In contrast to this treatment, + the most revolting inhumanity has characterized the conduct of the + United States towards prisoners held by them. One prominent fact, + which admits no denial nor palliation, must suffice as a test: The + officers of our army--natives of southern and semi-tropical climates, + and unprepared for the cold of a northern winter--have been conveyed + for imprisonment, during the rigors of the present season, to the most + northern and exposed situation that could be selected by the enemy. + There, beyond the reach of comforts, and often even of news from home + and family, exposed to the piercing cold of the northern lakes, they + are held by men who can not be ignorant of--even if they do not + design--the probable result. How many of our unfortunate friends and + comrades, who have passed unscathed through numerous battles, will + perish on Johnston's Island, under the cruel trial to which they are + subjected, none but the Omniscient can foretell. That they will endure + this barbarous treatment with the same stern fortitude that they have + ever evinced in their country's service, we can not doubt. But who can + be found to believe the assertion that it is our refusal to execute + the cartel, and not the malignity of the foe, which has caused the + infliction of such intolerable cruelty on our own loved and honored + defenders?" + +Since the war, Commissioner Ould has given testimony of the most +conclusive character. While the subject of the treatment of prisoners was +pending in Congress, during the past summer, he wrote the following +letter. It will be observed that he offers to _prove his statements by the +testimony of Federal officers_. + + "WASHINGTON, July 23, 1867. + + "_To the Editors of the National Intelligencer_-- + + "I respectfully request the publication of the following letter, + received by me from Colonel Robert Ould, of Richmond. It will be + perceived that it fully sustains my statement in the House, with the + unimportant exception of the number of prisoners offered to be + exchanged, without equivalent, by the Confederate authorities. + + "Very respectfully, + "CHARLES A. ELDRIDGE." + + + "RICHMOND, July 19, 1867. + + "_Hon. Charles A. Eldridge_-- + + "MY DEAR SIR: I have seen your remarks as published. They are + substantially correct. Every word that I said to you in Richmond is + not only true, but can be proved by Federal officers. I did offer, in + August, to deliver the Federal sick and wounded, without requiring + equivalents, and urged the necessity of haste in sending for them, as + the mortality was terrible. I did offer to deliver from ten to fifteen + thousand at Savannah without delay. Although this offer was made in + August, transportation was not sent for them until December, and + during the interval, the mortality was perhaps at its greatest height. + If I had not made the offer, why did the Federal authorities send + transportation to Savannah for ten or fifteen thousand men? If I made + the offer, based only on equivalents, why did the same transportation + carry down for delivery only three thousand men? + + "Butler says the offer was made in the fall (according to the + newspaper report), and that seven thousand were delivered. The offer + was made in August, and they were sent for in December. I then + delivered more than thirteen thousand, and would have gone to the + fifteen thousand if the Federal transportation had been sufficient. My + instructions to my agents were to deliver fifteen thousand sick and + wounded, and if that number of that class were not on hand, to make up + the number by well men. The offer was made by me in pursuance of + instructions from the Confederate Secretary of War. I was ready to + keep up the arrangement until every sick and wounded man had been + returned. + + "The three thousand men sent to Savannah by the Federals were in as + wretched a condition as any detachment of prisoners ever sent from a + Confederate prison. + + "All these things are susceptible of proof, and I am much mistaken if + I can not prove them by Federal authority. I am quite sure that + General Mulford will sustain every allegation here made. + + "Yours truly, + "R. OULD. + + "P. S.--General Butler's correspondence is all on one side, as I was + instructed, at the date of his letters, to hold no correspondence with + him. I corresponded with Mulford or General Hitchcock. + + "R. OULD." + +In another letter, written about the same time, Colonel Ould thus invites +investigation: + + "General Mulford will sustain every thing I have herein written. He is + a man of honor and courage, and I do not think will hesitate to tell + the truth. I think it would be well for you to make the appeal to him, + as it has become a question of veracity." + +But though President Davis and Colonel Ould are known by thousands of +people, North and South, to be men of unimpeachable truthfulness, and +though no _honorable_ enemy would question their statements, we can not +hope that their testimony will make headway against the intolerant +prejudices and passions of faction. General B. F. Butler is doubtless +sufficiently orthodox, and, besides, his testimony is voluntary. Says this +exponent of latter-day "loyalty:" + + "The great importance of the question; the fearful responsibility for + the many thousands of lives which, by the refusal to exchange, were + sacrificed by the most cruel forms of death; from cold, starvation, + and pestilence of the prison-pens of Raleigh and Andersonville, being + more than all the British soldiers killed in the wars of Napoleon; + the anxiety of fathers, brothers, sisters, mothers, wives, to know the + exigency which caused this terrible--and perhaps as it may have seemed + to them useless and unnecessary--destruction of those dear to them, by + horrible deaths, each and all have compelled me to this exposition, so + that it may be seen that these lives were spent as a part of the + system of attack upon the rebellion, devised by the wisdom of the + General-in-Chief of the armies, to destroy it by depletion, depending + upon our superior numbers to win the victory at last. + + "The loyal mourners will doubtless derive solace from this fact, and + appreciate all the more highly the genius which conceived the plan and + the success won at so great a cost." + +The New York _Tribune_ will also be accepted as competent authority. +Referring to the occurrences of 1864, the _Tribune_ editorially says: + + "In August the rebels offered to renew the exchange, man for man. + General Grant then telegraphed the following important order: 'It is + hard on our men, held in Southern prisons, not to exchange them, but + it is humanity to those left in the ranks to fight our battles. Every + man released on parole or otherwise becomes an active soldier against + us at once, either directly or indirectly. _If we commence a system of + exchange_ which liberates _all prisoners_ taken, we will have to fight + on till the whole South is exterminated. If we hold those caught, they + amount to no more than dead men. At this particular time, to release + all rebel prisoners North would insure Sherman's defeat, and would + compromise our safety here.'" + +Here is even a stronger statement from a Northern source: + + "NEW YORK, August 8, 1865. + + "_Moreover, General Butler, in his speech at Lowell, Massachusetts, + stated positively that he had been ordered by Mr. Stanton to put + forward the negro question to complicate and prevent the + exchange...._ Every one is aware that, when the exchange did take + place, not the slightest alteration had _occurred_ in the question, + _and that our prisoners might as well have been released twelve or + eighteen_ months before as at the resumption of the _cartel, which + would have saved to the Republic at least twelve or fifteen thousand_ + heroic lives. That they were not saved is due _alone to Mr. Edwin M. + Stanton's peculiar policy and dogged obstinacy_; AND, AS I HAVE + REMARKED BEFORE, HE IS UNQUESTIONABLY THE DIGGER OF THE UNNAMED GRAVES + THAT CROWD THE VICINITY OF EVERY SOUTHERN PRISON WITH HISTORIC AND + NEVER-TO-BE-FORGOTTEN HORRORS. + + "I regret the revival of this painful subject, but the gratuitous + effort of Mr. Dana to relieve the Secretary of War from a + responsibility he seems willing to bear, and which merely as a + question of policy, independent of all considerations of humanity, + must be regarded as of great weight, has compelled me to vindicate + myself from the charge of making grave statements without due + consideration. + + "Once for all, let me declare that I have never found fault with any + one because I was detained in prison, for I am well aware that that + was a matter in which no one but myself, and possibly a few personal + friends, would feel any interest; that my sole motive for impeaching + the Secretary of War was that the people of _the loyal North might + know to whom they were indebted for the cold-blooded and needless + sacrifice of their fathers and brothers, their husbands and their + sons_. + + "JUNIUS HENRI BROWNE." + +Now, what is the "inexorable logic" of this train of evidence? Either the +calumnies against the South stand self-convicted, or those who have +uttered them show themselves to have been worse fiends than they pretend +to believe the Confederate authorities to have been. + +But can a candid world credit the charge of cruelty against the South? +Honorable enemies, even, will scorn the allegation of torture, of +designedly inflicting suffering upon helpless men, against a people who, +within the past six years, have so honorably illustrated the American +name. Brave men are never cruel--cowards only delight in torture of the +helpless. Cruelty to prisoners would be inconsistent not only with the +known generosity of the Southern character, but with that splendid courage +which the North will not dishonor itself by calling in question. + +Until the suspension of the cartel, the Federal prisoners, even at the +risk of their recapture, were kept in Richmond convenient for exchange. +Confederate prisoners, on the other hand, were hurried to the Northern +frontier, where the rigor of the climate alone subjected them to the most +cruel sufferings. Driven by the course of the Federal Government, +respecting the subject of exchange, the Confederate authorities selected a +site for the quartering of prisoners, whom it was impossible to subsist in +Richmond or its neighborhood. Andersonville was selected, in accordance +with an official order contemplating the following objects: "A healthy +locality, plenty of pure, good water, a running stream, and, if possible, +shade trees, and in the immediate neighborhood of grist and saw-mills." +Such were the "horrors of Andersonville," which the world has been urged +to believe the Confederate Government selected with special view to the +torment and death of prisoners. + +The terrible mortality among the prisoners at Andersonville was not due +either to starvation or to the unhealthiness of the locality. Federal +soldiers were unaccustomed to the scanty and indifferent diet upon which +the Confederates were fed, and which caused the death of thousands of +delicate youths in the Southern armies. By this single fact may be +explained much of the mortality at Andersonville. When to scurvy and other +fatal forms of disease, produced by inadequate and unwholesome diet, are +added the mental sufferings, which are peculiarly the lot of a prisoner, +the despondency, and, in the case of the Andersonville prisoners, the +despair occasioned by the refusal of their own Government to relieve them, +we have abundant explanation of the most shocking mortality. + +But the statement that the mortality of Andersonville was in excess of +that of all other military prisons, is a willful falsehood. We present the +following extracts from a letter to the New York _World_, by a gentleman, +whose integrity will be vouched for by thousands of the best people in +Virginia: + + PRISON MORTALITY--ANDERSONVILLE AND ELMIRA. + + "RICHMOND, VA., August 14. + + "_To the Editor of the World_-- + + "SIR: I have just seen, in a city paper, a paragraph, credited to the + _World_, alleging that among the Confederate prisoners at Elmira, + during the last four or five months of the use of that prison, the + deaths only amounted to a few individuals out of many thousand + prisoners. I am not able to controvert that fact, as I left there on + the 11th of October, 1864; but if the impression desired to be + produced is that the general mortality at that pen was slight, I can + contradict it from _the record_. During a portion of the period of my + incarceration in the Elmira pen, it was my duty to receive, from the + surgeon's office, each morning, the reports of the deaths of the + preceding day, and embody them in an official report, to be signed by + the commandant of the prison, and forwarded to the commandant of the + post. I entered, each morning, in a diary, which now lies before me, + the number of reported deaths; and the facts demonstrate that, in as + healthy a location as there is in New York, with every remedial + appliance in abundance, with no epidemic, and with a great boast of + humanity, the deaths were relatively larger than among the Federal + prisoners at Andersonville among a famished people, whose + quartermaster could not furnish shelter to its soldiers, and whose + surgeons were without the commonest medicines for the sick. The record + shows that at Andersonville, between the 1st of February and 1st of + August, 1864, out of thirty-six thousand prisoners, six thousand, or + one-sixth, died--a fearful rate unquestionably. But the official + report of the Elmira pen shows, that during the month of September, + 1864, which was the first month after the quota of that prison was + made up, _out of less than nine thousand five hundred prisoners_, the + deaths were THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-SIX. In other words, the average + mortality at Andersonville, during that period, was one thirty-sixth + of the whole per month, while at Elmira it was _one twenty-fifth_ of + the whole. At Elmira it was _four per cent._; at Andersonville, less + than _three per cent._... + + "Another item, which I gather from my diary, will indicate the manner + in which the medical officer at Elmira discharged his functions. The + hospitals began to be filled, in the latter part of August, with + obstinate cases of scurvy. Men became covered with fearful sores, many + lost their teeth, and many others became cripples, and will die + cripples from that cause. The commandant of the post ordered a report + to be made of all the scorbutic cases in prison, grave and trifling; + and on the morning of Sunday, September 11, the lists were added up, + when it was found that of nine thousand three hundred prisoners + examined, _eighteen hundred and seventy_ were tainted with scurvy. + + "The Federal Government, as one of its measures of reconstruction, is + officially and expensively engaged in traducing the Southern people, + and the facility with which it procures all necessary evidence, + whether the object be to hang or to calumniate, warrants the belief + that we shall have a couple of volumes a year for the rest of the + century, demonstrating the barbarity of the rebels. Against so + admirable a system of manufacturing evidence, it is, of course, idle + to oppose the feeble efforts of individuals, but I regard the duty + none the less binding on such of us as know the truth to declare it; + and I hope that, throughout the Southern States, intelligent and + credible men are now putting into authentic form, the evidences of + Federal outrages, the exploits of the Shermans and Sheridans, and + Milroys and Butlers, one day to be published by general subscription + of our people, that the world may judge between us and the spoon + thieves, the furniture thieves, the barn-burners, the bummers, and the + brutes who too often wore the uniform of the Federal army. + + "A. M. K." + +Can the North expect impartial history to accept its miserable subterfuge +of "disloyalty," by which such testimony as this is now excluded? + +Any reference to this subject must be wholly inadequate which does not +describe the condition of the South at the period when she is alleged to +have been guilty of unexampled atrocities. The blockade of the South by +the North was stringent beyond any precedent in modern warfare. +_Medicines_ were held as contraband. Southern hospitals were not supplied, +for that reason, with all the medicaments that were needed by sick and +wounded soldiers; and those who were prisoners in our hands necessarily +shared, in this respect, the privations of the Confederate soldiers. But +if there was any thing "cruel and inhuman" in this deficiency, _whose +fault_ was it? Of _whom_ is the cruelty and inhumanity to be alleged? The +South searched her forests and meadows for restoratives. She ran in +medicines, as far as practicable, at great cost and hazard. We shared our +stores with our prisoners. If the supply was inadequate or ill-assorted, +we again ask, are _we_ to be charged with cruelty and inhumanity? + +The same observations are applicable as to supplies of food and clothing. +The war was waged, by the North, on the policy of unsparing devastation. +Mills were burnt, factories demolished, barns given to the flames, and the +means of comfort and of living destroyed on system. What the South was +able to save, she shared with her prisoners. We gave them such rations as +we gave our own soldiers. Does any one suspect the Confederate Government +of deliberately stinting its own soldiers? How, then, can it be pretended +that it was "cruel and inhuman" to prisoners whom it fed as well? If we +could not maintain them as well as we wished, it was through the success +of those who wasted our subsistence, for the purpose of reducing us to +that precise condition of inability. It is obviously _monstrous_ to charge +the fact, and to charge it as blame, upon _us_--to accuse the South of +"cruelty and inhumanity."[71] + +But there is still another revelation to be added to the overwhelming +evidence which demonstrates the murderous purpose of the Federal +authorities, equally toward their own men and toward Confederate soldiers, +by which they adroitly sought to cover the Confederate Government with +accusing blood. A marked feature in the policy of the Lincoln cabinet was, +at concerted intervals, to inflame the heart of the North by appeals to +passion and resentment. The supreme excellence of the Federal +administration, in this respect, was, indeed, its substitute for +statesmanship. To conceal its own iniquitous course, with reference to the +exchange of prisoners, the administration successfully sought to frenzy +the Northern masses by the most ingenious misrepresentations of the +condition of their men in the Southern prisons. + +To this end the foul brood of pictorial falsifiers--the Harpers, Leslies, +etc.--gave willing and effective aid. Men in the most horrible conditions +of human suffering--ghastly skeletons, creatures demented from sheer +misery--a set of wretched, raving, and dying creatures--were photographed, +the pictures reduplicated to an unlimited extent, and scattered broadcast +over the North, as evidence of the brutality practiced upon Federal +prisoners in the South. In view of the well-known and designed influence +of these appeals upon Northern sentiment, what must be the scorn of the +civilized world for the perfidy which used the means which we here relate, +to accomplish its iniquitous ends? + +Immediately preceding the return of these prisoners, the Federal Agent +applied for the delivery of the _worst_ cases of _sick_ Federal prisoners. +Said he: "Even in cases where your surgeons think the men too ill to be +moved, and not strong enough to survive the trip, if _they_ express a +desire to come, let them come." At this time, it should be remembered, +regular exchanges were intermitted. Commissioner Ould, consistently with +his known humanity and the humane disposition of his Government, consented +to send the _worst_ cases of their prisoners, provided that they would not +be accepted as representatives of the average condition of the Federal +prisoners in the South, and used as a means to inflame Northern sentiment. +This condition was sacredly pledged. + +With this understanding, Commissioner Ould prepared a barge adapted +specially to the purpose, and, with the aid of the Richmond Ambulance +Committee, carefully and tenderly delivered the prisoners. The Federal +vessel that received them sailed immediately to Annapolis, where, instead +of receiving the tender treatment that their pitiable condition required, +they were made a spectacle of for an obvious purpose. Photographic artists +made portraits of them; a committee of Congress was sent to report upon +their condition; in short, they had been obtained for a purpose; and, how +well that purpose was subserved, the South, at least, well knows. These +miserable wrecks of humanity, specially asked for, specially selected as +the _worst_ cases, were pointed to as representatives of the average +state of Federal prisoners in the South, although the most sacred +assurances had been given that they would be used for no such purpose. + +History will be searched in vain for such an example of mingled +wickedness, perfidy, and cruelty. Yet the faction that could practice such +treachery and barbarity has dared to impeach the honor and humanity of the +South. Through such means, it, of course, can easily be proven that the +South "starved and tortured" thousands of Union prisoners. Nor can +Stanton, Holt, and Conover have difficulty in proving that these cruelties +were by direct order of President Davis. + +Need we pursue this subject further? We have not adduced one-tenth of the +evidence which completes the record of Southern justice and humanity, yet +what candid mind will deny that this testimony is ample? The vindication +of the South, too, is the assured defense of Jefferson Davis. Nay, more: +the exceptional victim of Northern malice is known to his countrymen to +have a special record of humanity which should have claimed a special +consideration from the enemy. Upon no subject was President Davis more +censured in the South than for what was termed his "ill-timed tenderness" +for the enemy. Stung to madness by the devastations and cruelties +attending the invasion of their country, the people often responded to the +clamor of the newspapers for retaliation against the harsh measures of the +enemy. Before the writer is a Richmond newspaper, of date during the war, +in which the leading editorial begins with the assertion that "The +chivalry and humanity of Mr. Jefferson Davis will inevitably ruin this +Confederacy," and the editor continues to reproach Mr. Davis for culpable +leniency. + +To the same alleged cause the _Examiner_ was accustomed to attribute what +it described as the "humiliating attitude of the Confederacy." Said the +_Examiner_: "The enemy have gone from one unmanly cruelty to another, +encouraged by their impunity, till they are now, and have for some time, +been inflicting on the people of this country the worst horrors of +barbarous and uncivilized war." Yet, in spite of all this, the _Examiner_ +alleged, that Mr. Davis, in his dealings with the enemy, was "as gentle as +the sucking dove." The same paper published a "bill of fare" provided for +one of the prisons, and invoked the indignation of the country upon a +policy which fed the prisoners of the enemy better than the soldiers of +the Confederacy. + +Never, indeed, did the ruler of an invaded people exhibit such forbearance +in the face of so much provocation. When reminded of the relentless +warfare of the enemy, which spared neither age, sex, nor condition, of his +devastation, rapine and violence, Davis' invariable reply was: "The crimes +of our enemies can not justify us in a disregard of the duties of humanity +and Christianity." There can be little doubt that Mr. Davis occasionally +erred in his extreme generosity to the foe. Yet, how noble must be that +fame, which is marred only by such a fault. History has canonized +Lamartine for preventing the re-raising of the red flag in 1848. What will +be its award to the heroic firmness of Jefferson Davis, in preventing the +raising of the black flag, among a people, whose dearest rights were +assailed, whose homes were destroyed, and themselves subjected to the most +ruthless persecutions known in modern warfare? + +But apart from the perjured testimony, which has been utterly inadequate +to establish the charge of "cruelty to prisoners," has the time passed, +when the honorable character of a people and of an individual can be +properly considered? The whole history of the United States does not +exhibit a public career more stainless than that of Jefferson Davis, while +in the service of the Union. Occupying almost every position of honor and +trust, in both houses of Congress, member of the cabinet, and as a gallant +soldier, the breath of slander never once tarnished his name. To his +incorruptible official and private integrity, to the sincerity of his +convictions, and the rectitude and honesty of his intentions, no men could +better testify than those Republican Senators, who were, for years, his +associates. Indeed, Mr. Davis has been peculiar in his complete exemption +from that personal defamation, which is almost a necessity of political +life. + +But, impartial history will ask, whence come these calumnies against the +great, pure, and pious leader of a brave people, in a struggle for +liberty? Then must come that inevitable recoil, which shall bring to just +judgment, a government, which destroyed the houses and the food of +non-combatants; the fruits of the earth and the implements of tillage; +which condemned its own defenders to imprisonment and death; which +imprisoned without charges, gray-haired men, and doomed them to tortures, +which brought them to premature graves; exposed helpless women and +children to starvation, by depriving them of their natural protectors; +which declared medicines contraband of war, and finally sought, by +perjury, to justify cruelty to a helpless captive, because his people, in +the midst of starvation, could not adequately feed and nurture the captive +soldiers of the enemy. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + INDICATIONS OF POPULAR FEELING AT THE BEGINNING OF 1864--APATHY AND + DESPONDENCY OF THE NORTH--IMPROVED FEELING IN THE CONFEDERACY--THE + PROBLEM OF ENDURANCE--PREPARATIONS OF THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT-- + MILITARY SUCCESS THE GREAT DESIDERATUM--A SERIES OF SUCCESSES-- + FINNEGAN'S VICTORY IN FLORIDA--SHERMAN'S EXPEDITION--FORREST'S + VICTORY--THE RAID OF DAHLGREN--TAYLOR DEFEATS BANKS--FORREST'S + TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN--HOKE'S VICTORY--THE VALUE OF THESE MINOR + VICTORIES--CONCENTRATION FOR THE GREAT STRUGGLES IN VIRGINIA AND + GEORGIA--FEDERAL PREPARATIONS--GENERAL GRANT--HIS THEORY OF WAR--HIS + PLANS--THE FEDERAL FORCES IN VIRGINIA--SHERMAN--FEEBLE RESOURCES OF + THE CONFEDERACY--THE "ON TO RICHMOND" AND "ON TO ATLANTA"--GENERAL + GRANT BAFFLED--HE NARROWLY ESCAPES RUIN--HIS OVERLAND MOVEMENT A TOTAL + FAILURE--SHERIDAN THREATENS RICHMOND--DEATH OF STUART--BUTLER'S + ADVANCE UPON RICHMOND--THE CITY IN GREAT PERIL--BEAUREGARD'S PLAN OF + OPERATIONS--VIEWS OF MR. DAVIS--DEFEAT OF BUTLER, AND HIS CONFINEMENT + IN A "CUL DE SAC"--FAILURE OF GRANT'S COMBINATIONS--CONSTANTLY BAFFLED + BY LEE--TERRIBLE LOSSES OF THE FEDERAL ARMY--GRANT CROSSES THE + JAMES--HIS FAILURES REPEATED--HIS NEW COMBINATIONS--EARLY'S OPERATIONS + IN THE VALLEY AND ACROSS THE POTOMAC--THE FEDERAL COMBINATIONS AGAIN + BROKEN DOWN--FAVORABLE SITUATION IN VIRGINIA--THE MISSION OF MESSRS. + CLAY, THOMPSON, AND HOLCOMBE--CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. LINCOLN--THE + ARROGANT AND MOCKING REPLY OF THE FEDERAL PRESIDENT. + + +Despite the solid advantages obtained by the North in the campaign just +ended, the close of the winter developed the existence of great +apprehension at Washington, and a correspondingly improved feeling in the +South. It was indeed remarkable that the conviction entertained by both +sides, that the struggle was now about to assume its latest and decisive +phase, should have evoked such different manifestations of feeling at +Washington and Richmond. + +At the North was seen a singular apathy, which temporarily checked +overwrought displays of popular exultation, and a mutual distrust of the +Government and the public, not at all encouraging of success in designs +demanding zealous coöperation. The thoughtful observer of Northern +sentiment readily detected the presence of depression and suspicion--a +general apprehension that the restoration of the Union was an enterprise +developing new and unseen obstacles at each step, and a confusion of views +as to the management of the war. But, in the violent exhibitions of party +spirit, the North realized its chief cause of alarm. The peace party +increased in numbers and influence with the prolongation of the war, and +the preservation of power by the Government party was clearly dependent +upon such military results, as should foreshadow the speedy "collapse of +the rebellion." In short, the North saw that the culmination of the +momentous struggle was to be reached, while it was in the throes of an +embittered Presidential contest. + +There was another explanation of the altered feeling in the two sections +developed during the winter. Throughout the war, the Northern mind was +singularly accessible to the influence of sensation and "clap-trap;" hence +were always to be expected periodical galvanic excitements, followed by +revulsion of feeling. The conservative instincts of the South sought +repose rather than excitement; and the crippled condition of the enemy, +after his achievements of the summer and fall, gave the South a sufficient +respite for the recovery of much of its lost confidence. Nor was the +transition of the Southern mind, within a few weeks, from depression to +something like hopeful anticipation, based upon a mere presentiment of +prosperous fortune. The lessons of the war, not less than the teachings of +previous history, encouraged reanimation. It was contended that the +conquest of a territory so extensive, and the subjection of a people +numerically as strong and as courageous as those of the South, was +physically impossible. It was urged that the Federal successes of the +preceding summer had only placed the enemy upon the threshold of his +enterprise, and that, in surmounting the resolute resistance which had +almost defeated his earliest movements, he had vainly wasted the spirit +and the strength which were now needed for his further progress. + +From such a condition of feeling, the logical conclusion was that the war +had now become a question of endurance, and that the Confederacy must now +depend upon its capacity to resist until the North should abandon the war +in sheer disgust. The Richmond journals pithily stated the problem as one +of "Southern fortitude and endurance against Yankee perseverance." + +In the meantime, the enforced quiet of the enemy was diligently improved +by the Government. Probably at no period of the war did the Confederate +administration exhibit more energy and skill in the employment of its +limited resources, than in its preparations for the campaign of 1864. The +vigorous measures of the President were, in the main, seconded by +Congress, though this session was not wanting in those displays of +demagogism which, throughout the war, diminished the influence and +efficiency of that body. In the sequel, the expedients adopted did not +realize the large results anticipated. The financial legislation of +Congress did not improve the value of the currency, nor did the various +expedients resorted to for strengthening the army obtain the desired +numbers. It was calculated that the Confederate armies would aggregate, by +the opening of spring, something like four hundred thousand men, of which +the repeal of the substitute law alone was expected to furnish seventy +thousand. The real strength of all the Confederate armies, however, did +not exceed two hundred thousand men when the campaign was entered upon. +The execution of the conscription law was a subject of sore perplexity to +the administration, and, though President Davis made strenuous exertions +to remedy the difficulty, the system continued defective until the end. + +The army was, nevertheless, strengthened both in numbers and material, +while its spirit, as shown in the alacrity and unanimity of reënlistment, +was never surpassed. Military success was now the end to which the +Government devoted its whole energies, as the real and only solution of +its difficulties. In time of war military success is the sole nepenthe for +national afflictions. Without victories the Confederacy would seek in vain +a restoration of its finances through the expedients of legislation. +Equally necessary were victories for relief of the difficulty as to food. +Should the spring campaign be successful, the Confederacy would recover +the country upon which it had been mainly dependent for supplies, and such +additional territory as was required to put at rest the alarming +difficulty of scarcity. + +The expectation of the South was much encouraged by a series of successes +upon minor theatres of the war, during the suspension of operations by the +main armies. A signal victory was won late in February, by General +Finnegan, at Ocean Pond, Florida, the important event of which was the +decisive failure of a Federal design to possess that State. + +The most serious demonstration by the enemy, during the winter months, was +the expedition of Sherman across the State of Mississippi. This movement, +undertaken with all the vigor and daring of that commander, was designed +to capture Mobile and to secure the Federal occupation of nearly the whole +of Alabama and Mississippi. It was the second experiment, undertaken by +Federal commanders, during the war, of leaving a regular base of +operations, and seeking the conquest of a large section of territory, by +penetrating boldly into the interior. The first similar attempt was made +by Grant, from Memphis into the interior of Mississippi. It is notable +that both these expeditions were marked by shameful failure. They signally +illustrated the military principle of the impossibility of successful +penetration of hostile territory, even when held by a greatly inferior +force, and, moreover, clearly indicate the fate that would inevitably have +overtaken Sherman, in his "march to the sea," had there been an opposing +army to meet him. When Van Dorn captured Grant's supplies at Holly +Springs, in the autumn of 1862, the Federal commander had no alternative +but to make a rapid retreat to his base. A similar experience awaited +Sherman, who, leaving Vicksburg with thirty thousand men, marched without +opposition through Mississippi--General Polk, with his corps of ten +thousand men, falling back before him. Coöperating with Sherman was a +large cavalry force, which, leaving North Mississippi, was to unite with +him at Meridian, and upon this junction of forces depended the success of +the entire expedition. But General Forrest, a remarkably skillful and +energetic cavalry leader, attacked the Federal column, utterly routing and +dispersing it, though not having more than one-third the force of the +enemy. This necessitated the retreat of Sherman, with many circumstances +indicating demoralization among his troops. His expedition terminated with +no results sufficient to give it more dignity, than properly belonged to +at least a dozen other plundering and incendiary enterprises, undertaken +by Federal officers who are comparatively without reputation. The exploits +of Sherman in Mississippi gave him a "bad eminence," which he afterwards +well sustained by the burning of Rome and Atlanta, the sack of Columbia, +and his career of pillage and incendiarism in the Carolinas. + +A notable event of the winter was the raid of Dahlgren, an expedition +marked by every dastardly and atrocious feature imaginable. When this +expedition of "picked" Federal cavalry had been put to ignominious flight +by the departmental clerks at Richmond, its retreat was harassed by local +and temporary organizations of farmers, school-boys, and furloughed men +from Lee's army. Not until its leader was killed, however, was revealed +the fiendish errand which he had undertaken. Upon his person was found +ample documentary evidence of the objects of the expedition, viz.: _to +burn and sack the city of Richmond, and to assassinate President Davis and +his cabinet_.[72] Yet this man, killed in honorable combat, after his +cut-throat mission had failed, was apotheosized by the North as a "hero," +who had been "assassinated" while on an errand of patriotism and +philanthropy. The shocking details of this diabolical scheme, +substantiated by every necessary proof of authenticity, were published in +the Richmond journals, and instead of provoking the condemnation of the +hypocritical "humanity" of the North, with characteristic effrontery were +ridiculed as "rebel forgeries." + +The Trans-Mississippi region was, in the early spring, the scene of +brilliant and important Confederate successes. About the middle of March, +the famous "Red River Expedition" of General Banks, contemplating the +complete subjugation of Louisiana, and the occupation of Western Texas, +was undertaken. The result was, perhaps, the most ignominious failure of +the war. Defeated by General Taylor, in a decisive engagement at +Mansfield, General Banks, with great difficulty, effected his retreat down +Red River, and abandoned the enterprise, which he had undertaken with such +extravagant anticipations of fame and wealth. + +In the month of April, Forrest executed a brilliant campaign among the +Federal garrisons in Tennessee, capturing several thousand prisoners and +adding large numbers of recruits to his forces. With a force mainly +organized within three months, this dashing officer penetrated the +interior of Tennessee, which the enemy had already declared "conquered," +capturing garrisons and stores, and concluded his campaign by penetrating +to the Mississippi River, and successfully storming Fort Pillow.[73] The +most encouraging event of the spring was the capture of Plymouth, North +Carolina, by General Hoke. This enterprise, executed with great gallantry +and skill, had the tangible reward of a large number of prisoners, many +cannon, and an important position with reference to the question of +supplies.[74] + +The aggregate of these Confederate successes was not inconsiderable. +Expectation was strengthened by them at the South, and proportionately +disappointed at the North. It was chiefly in their influence upon public +feeling that these minor victories were valuable, as they in no way +affected the main current of the war, and were speedily overlooked at the +first sound of the mighty shock of arms along the Rapidan and in Northern +Georgia. Indeed, the actors in these preliminary events were, in most +instances, themselves shifted to these two main theatres, upon which the +concentrated power of each contestant was preparing its most desperate +exertions. Troops on both sides were recalled from South Carolina, and +even Florida, to participate in the great wrestle for the Confederate +capital, and the impending struggle in Georgia absorbed nearly all the +forces hitherto operating west of the Alleghanies and east of the +Mississippi. + +However discouraged may have been the public mind of the North at the +beginning of the year, the preparations of the Federal Government, for the +spring campaign, indicated no abatement of energy or determination. Well +aware of the diminished resources of the South, and of the political +necessities which imperatively demanded speedy and decisive successes, the +Federal administration prepared a more vigorous use of its great means +than had yet been attempted. The draft was energetically enforced, and +volunteering was stimulated by high bounties. At no period of the war were +the Federal armies so numerous, so well equipped and provided with every +means that tends to make war successful. Their _morale_ was better than at +the outset of any previous campaign. The Federal armies were now inured to +war, composed mainly of seasoned veterans, and commanded by officers whose +capacity had been amply tested in battle. + +The agents selected by the Federal Government, to carry out its designs, +were men whose previous career justified their selection. The sagacity of +the North had, at length, realized the one essential object, to the +accomplishment of which all its efforts must contribute. This object was +the destruction of Lee's army. Virginia was justly declared the "backbone" +of Confederate power; Lee's army was the pedestal of the edifice. It was +in the clearer appreciation of this object, and in the determination to +subordinate every concern of the war to its accomplishment, that Northern +sentiment made a step forward, that was, of itself, no insignificant +auxiliary to ultimate success. The blows which Sherman prepared to deliver +upon the distant fields of Georgia, were aimed at Lee's army, not less +than were those of Grant. While the latter "hammered away continuously" in +Virginia, to pulverize, as it were, the column from which so many Federal +endeavors had been forced to recoil, Sherman was expected to pierce the +very centre of the Confederacy, and seize or destroy every remaining +source of sustenance. + +The presence in Virginia of the General commanding all the Federal forces, +was sufficiently indicative of his recognition of the supreme object of +the campaign. The successful career of this officer was the recommendation +which secured for him the high position of Commander-in-Chief of the +armies of the Union. He was the most fortunate officer produced by the +war--fortunate not less in having won nearly every victory which could +promote the successful conclusion of the war, but fortunate in having won +victories where defeat was the result to be logically expected. + +It is not at all necessary to weigh, in detail, the merits of General +Grant as a soldier. With the overwhelming argument of _results_ in his +favor, there would be little encouragement, even if there could be strict +justice, in denying superior ability to Grant. His campaigns have +contributed nothing to military science, in its correct sense, and the +military student will find in his operations few incidents that illustrate +the art or economy of war. In discarding the formulas of the schools, and +condemning the theories upon which the best of his predecessors had +conducted the war, Grant, by no means, proved that he was not a good +soldier. But his independence in this respect did not establish his claim +to genius, since his contempt for military rules and theories was not +followed by the display of any original features of true generalship. His +name was coupled with a great disaster at Shiloh, where he was rescued +from absolute destruction by the energy of Buell, and the delay of his +adversary. At Donelson, at Vicksburg, and at Missionary Ridge, he had +succeeded by mere weight of numbers; and, indeed, in no instance had he +exhibited any other quality of worth, than boldness and perseverance. But +his success was a sufficient recommendation to the material mind of the +North, which did not once pause to consider how far Grant's victories were +due to his military merit. + +But whatever the defects of Grant in the higher qualities of generalship, +he was preëminently the man for the present emergency. If the Federal +Government saw the necessity of vigorous warfare, looking to speedy and +final results, General Grant knew how to conduct the campaign upon that +idea, provided the Government would give him unlimited means, and the +Northern people would consent to the unstinted sacrifice. Grant knew no +other than an aggressive system of warfare, and contemplated no other +method of destroying the Confederacy, than by the momentum of superior +weight--by heavy, simultaneous and continuous blows. The plans of Grant +were remarkable for their simplicity, and contemplated merely the +employment of the maximum of force against the two main armies of the +Confederacy, keeping the entire force of the South in constant and +unrelieved strain. By "continuous hammering" he thus hoped eventually to +destroy or exhaust it. + +General Grant was again fortunate in having the unlimited confidence of +his Government, which placed at his disposal a million of soldiers, and +was prepared to accede to his every demand. To the most trusted of his +lieutenants--Sherman--Grant intrusted the conduct of operations against +the centre of the Confederacy, reserving for himself the control of the +campaign against Richmond, and Lee's army. His plan of operation was to +_destroy_, not to _defeat_, an army which he knew could not be conquered, +so long as its vitality remained. The military talent of the North had +been already exhausted against Lee, and its largest army too often baffled +by the Army of Northern Virginia, to admit the hope of defeating it in +battle. To _outgeneral_ Lee, Grant well knew required a greater master of +the art of war than himself. To _conquer_ the Army of Northern Virginia, +he, not less than his army, knew to be impossible. His calculation was to +wear it out by the "attrition" of successive and remorseless blows. This +theory was based upon the plain calculation that the North could furnish a +greater mass of humanity for the shambles, (as was afterward calculated it +could spare a greater mass for the prisons,) than the South, and that thus +when the latter should be exhausted, the former would still have left +abundant material for an army. Such was Grant's theory of the war. +Whatever may be thought of it as a military conception, the theory was one +that must succeed in the end, provided the perseverance of the North +should hold out. + +General Grant determined upon a direct advance with the Army of the +Potomac against Richmond, by the overland route from the Rapidan. The +frame-work of his plan, however, embraced coöperating movements in other +quarters, which should, at the same time, occupy every man that might be +available for the reënforcement of Lee. Grant was embarrassed by no lack +of the men who were needed to make each one of these movements formidable. +The most important of these was that designed to occupy the southern +communications of Richmond, thus at once making the Confederate capital +untenable, and cutting off the retreat of Lee. This operation was +intrusted to General Butler, who, with thirty thousand men, was to ascend +James River, establish himself in a fortified position near City Point, +and invest Richmond on its south side. The other auxiliary movements were +designed against the westward communications of Richmond, and were to be +undertaken by Generals Sigel and Crook--the former, with seven thousand +men, moving up the Shenandoah Valley, and the latter, with ten thousand, +moving against the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. The force immediately +under General Grant was one hundred and forty thousand men of all arms. +Thus the grand aggregate of the Federal armies now threatening Richmond +reached the neighborhood of one hundred and ninety thousand men. In +addition to these was a force at Washington, equal in strength to the +whole of Lee's army. + +The Federal Government was hardly less lavish in the distribution of its +enormous resources to Sherman than to Grant. Sherman had proven himself an +officer of much enterprise. Intellectually he was the superior of Grant, +but not less than other Federal commanders he relied upon superior numbers +to overcome the skill and valor of the Confederate armies. Physical +momentum was needed to overwhelm Johnston, and was amply supplied. Sherman +demanded one hundred thousand men to capture Atlanta, and, by the +consolidation of the various armies which had hitherto operated +independently in the West, his force attained within a few hundreds of +that number. + +In painful contrast with this enormous outlay of forces, were the feeble +means of the Confederacy. When the season favorable for military +operations opened, General Lee confronted Grant upon the Rapidan, and +General Johnston faced Sherman near Dalton, in Northern Georgia. Neither +of these armies reached fifty thousand men. The undaunted aspect and mien +of firm resistance, with which both awaited the perilous onset of the +enemy, were, however, assuring of the steady determination which still +defended the Confederacy. Critical as was the emergency, the Government +and the country yet believed the strength of these two armies equal to the +great test of endurance, at least beyond the perils of the present +campaign. _To hold its own_ was the primary hope of the Confederacy. If +autumn could be reached without decisive victories by the North, and the +great Federal sacrifices of spring and summer should then have proven in +vain, there was ample ground for hope of those dissensions among the +enemy, which, throughout the struggle, constituted so large a share of +Confederate expectation. + +On the 3d of May, 1864, General Grant initiated the campaign in Virginia, +by crossing the Rapidan with his advanced forces; on the 5th, the +correspondent movement of Sherman, a thousand miles away, was begun. By +the morning of the 5th, one hundred thousand Federal soldiers were across +the Rapidan, and on the same day, the first round of the great wrestle +occurred. Entertaining no doubt of his capacity to destroy Lee, Grant +imagined that his adversary would seek to escape. Having, in advance, +proclaimed his contempt for "maneuvres," he was solicitous only for an +opportunity to strike the Confederate army before it should elude his +grasp. But Hooker had made the same calculation a year before, and was +disappointed, and a like disappointment was now in store for Grant. + +Lee had no power either to prevent the Federal crossing of the Rapidan, +nor to prevent the turning of his right. Instead of retreating, he +immediately assumed the aggressive, and dealt the assailant one of the +most effective blows ever aimed by that powerful arm. Three days sufficed +to reveal to the Federal commander his miscalculations of his adversary's +designs, and, baffled in all his operations, he already indicated distrust +of his system of warfare, and was compelled to attempt by "maneuvre," what +he had failed to effect by brute force. The events of the 5th and 6th of +May clearly demonstrated that strategy could not yet be dispensed with in +warfare. Indeed, nothing but Lee's extreme weakness and the untoward +wounding of Longstreet, in just such a crisis, and in exactly the same +manner as marked the fall of Jackson, prevented the defeat of the Federal +campaign in its incipiency. But for these circumstances the Federal +Agamemnon would have been completely unhorsed on the 6th of May, and would +have added another name to the list of decapitated commanders whom Lee had +successively brought to grief. But the luck of Grant did not forsake him, +and he still had numbers sufficient to attempt the "hammering" process +again. Grant's first attempt at "maneuvre" was a movement upon +Spottsylvania Court-house, a point south-east of the late battle-fields, +by which he sought to throw his army between Lee and Richmond. Again he +was to be disappointed, and again did the Confederate commander prove +himself the master of his antagonist, in every thing that constitutes +generalship. The Confederate forces were already at Spottsylvania, when +the Federal column reached the neighborhood, and Lee, so cautious in his +words, announced to his Government that the enemy had been "repulsed with +heavy slaughter." + +But Lee had done far more than foil Grant. He had secured an impregnable +position upon the Spottsylvania heights, against which Grant +remorselessly, but vainly, dashed his huge columns for twelve days. At the +end of that period Lee's lines were still intact, his mien of resistance +still preserved, and the "hammering" generalship of Grant had cost the +North nearly fifty thousand veteran soldiers. Men already began to ask the +question, to which history will find a ready answer: "_What would be the +result if the resources of the two commanders were reversed?_" Not even +the North could fail to see how entirely barren of advantage was all this +horrible slaughter. The "shambles of the Wilderness" became the popular +phrase descriptive of Grant's operations, and the Northern public was +rapidly reaching the conclusion that the "hammer would itself break on the +anvil." + +While the dead-lock at Spottsylvania continued, and Lee held Grant at bay, +Richmond was seriously threatened by coöperating movements of the enemy. +General Grant had organized a powerful cavalry force under Sheridan, for +operations against the Confederate communications. Sheridan struck out +boldly in the direction of Richmond, followed closely by the Confederate +cavalry. For several days he hovered in the neighborhood of the city, +unable to penetrate the line of fortifications, and eventually retired in +the direction of James River. + +A melancholy incident of this raid of Sheridan was the death, in an +engagement near Richmond, of General J. E. B. Stuart, the renowned cavalry +leader of the Army of Northern Virginia. This was a severe bereavement to +the South, and a serious loss to the army. Stuart's exploits fill a +brilliant chapter of the war in Virginia, and he was probably the ablest +cavalry chieftain in the Confederate army. President Davis, who was +constantly on the field during the presence of Sheridan near Richmond, +deeply deplored the loss of Stuart. The President, not less than General +Lee, reposed great confidence in Stuart's capacity for cavalry command, +and the noble character and gallant bearing of Stuart enlisted the warm +personal regard of Mr. Davis--a feeling which was heartily reciprocated. +Upon the day of his death, Mr. Davis visited the bedside of the dying +chief, and remained with him some time. In reply to the question of Mr. +Davis, "General, how do you feel?" Stuart replied: "Easy, but willing to +die, if God and my country think I have fulfilled my destiny and done my +duty." + +The important correspondent movement of Butler upon the south side of +James River, began early in May. Ascending the river with numerous +transports, Butler landed at Bermuda Hundreds, and advanced against the +southern communications of Richmond. The force near the city was +altogether inadequate to check the army of Butler, and almost without +opposition he laid hold of the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, and +advanced within a few miles of Drewry's Bluff, the fortifications of which +commanded the passage of the river to the Confederate capital. Troops were +rapidly thrown forward from the South, and by the 14th May, General +Beauregard had reached the neighborhood of Richmond, from Charleston. + +Probably at no previous moment of the war was Richmond so seriously +threatened, as pending the arrival of Beauregard's forces. Mr. Davis was, +however, resolved to hold the city to the last extremity. Though much +indisposed at the time, he was every morning to be seen, accompanied by +his staff, riding in the direction of the military lines. Superintending, +to a large extent, the disposition of the small force defending the city, +he was fully aware of the extreme peril of the situation, but nevertheless +determined to share the dangers of the hour. When Beauregard reached the +scene the crisis had by no means passed. Unless Butler should be +dislodged, not only was Richmond untenable, but it was impossible to +maintain Lee's army north of James River. Yet the force available seemed +very inadequate to any thing like a decisive defeat of the enemy. The +aggregate of commands from the Carolinas, added to the force previously at +Richmond, did not exceed fifteen thousand men, while Butler, with thirty +thousand, held a strongly intrenched position. + +Immediately upon his arrival, General Beauregard suggested a plan of +operations, by which he hoped to destroy Butler, and, without pausing, to +inflict a decisive defeat upon Grant. The plan he proposed was that Lee +should fall back to the defensive lines of the Chickahominy, even to the +intermediate lines of Richmond, temporarily sending fifteen thousand men +to the south side of the James, and with this accession of force he +proposed to take the offensive against Butler. Pointing out the isolated +situation of Butler, he urged the opportunity for his destruction by the +concentration of a superior force. Under the circumstances General +Beauregard thought the capture of Butler's force inevitable, and the +occupation of his depot of supplies at Bermuda Hundreds a necessary +consequence. When these results should be accomplished, he proposed, at a +concerted moment, to throw his whole force upon Grant's flank, while Lee +attacked in front. General Beauregard was confident of his ability to make +the attack upon Butler, in two days after receiving the desired +reënforcements, and was equally confident of the result both against +Butler and Grant. His proposition concluded with the declaration that +Grant's fate could not be doubtful if the proposed concentration should be +made, and indicated the following gratifying results: "The destruction of +Grant's forces would open the way for the recovery of most of our lost +territory." + +Whatever his views as to its feasibility, the President could not refuse a +careful consideration of a plan, whose author, in advance, claimed such +momentous results. Upon reflection President Davis declined the plan as +involving too great a risk, not only of the safety of Richmond, but of the +very existence of Lee's army. The proposition of Beauregard was submitted +on the 14th May. At that time the grapple between Grant and Lee was still +unrelaxed. Twelve days of battle had cost Lee fifteen thousand men. +Meanwhile he had not received _a single additional musket_, while Grant +had nearly supplied his losses by reënforcements from Washington. Thus, +while Lee's force did not reach forty thousand, Grant's still approximated +one hundred and thirty thousand. The President also knew that Grant was at +that moment closely pressing Lee, moving toward his left, and seeking +either to overlap or break in upon the right flank of Lee. + +The proposed detachment of fifteen thousand men from Lee, leaving him not +more than twenty-five thousand, in such a crisis, would have been simply +madness. Butler, it is possible, might have been destroyed, but the end of +the Confederacy would have been hastened twelve months. It is questionable +whether, at any moment after Grant crossed the Rapidan, the overmatched +army of Lee could have been diminished without fatal disaster. The timely +arrival of Longstreet had prevented a serious reverse on the 6th May. Is +it reasonable to suppose that Lee could have detached one-third of his +army, without Grant's knowledge, or that the energy of the Federal +commander would have permitted an hour's respite to his sorely-pressed +adversary after the discovery? The case would have been altogether +different, had Lee been already safe within his works at Richmond. Under +the circumstances proposed, he had before him a perilous retrograde, +followed by a force four times his own strength, and commanded by the most +unrelenting and persistent of officers. + +But there was another view of the proposition not to be overlooked by the +President in his perilous responsibility. It is true Beauregard promised +grand results--nothing less than the total destruction of nearly all the +Federal forces in Virginia. In brief, his plan proposed to destroy two +hundred thousand men with less than sixty thousand. Again it was true the +enemy was to be destroyed in detail--Butler first, and Grant afterwards. +There were precedents in history for such achievements. But it should be +remembered that _if_ Butler should be immediately destroyed, and _if_ Lee +should be guaranteed a safe retrograde, Beauregard would still be able to +aid Lee to the extent of but little more than twenty thousand men. This +would give Lee less than fifty thousand with which to take the offensive +against more than twice that number. Against just such odds Lee had +already tried the offensive, and failed because of his weakness. He had +assailed Grant under the most favorable circumstances, effecting a +complete surprise when the Federal commander believed him already +retreating, but was unable to follow up his advantage. Was there reason to +believe that any better result would follow from a repetition of the +offensive? + +Believing himself not justified in hazarding the safety of the +Confederacy upon such a train of doubtful conditions, and agreeing with +General Beauregard, that Butler could be dislodged from his advanced +positions, so menacing to Richmond, Mr. Davis rejected a plan which, under +different circumstances, he would have heartily and confidently adopted. + +With remarkable promptitude, Beauregard conceived a brilliant plan of +battle, and within twenty-four hours had already put it in virtual +execution. With fifteen thousand men, he drove Butler from all his +advanced works, and confined him securely in the _cul de sac_ of Bermuda +Hundreds, where, in a few months, ended the inglorious military career of +a man who, in every possible manner, dishonored the sword which he wore, +and disgraced the Government which he served. The brilliant conception of +Beauregard merited even better results, which were prevented not less by +untoward circumstances than by the weakness of his command. + +While Beauregard thus effectually neutralized Butler, Grant's +combinations, elsewhere, were brought to signal discomfiture. The +expedition from the Kanawha Valley had been, in a measure, successful in +its designs against the communications of South-western Virginia, but did +not obtain the coöperation designed, by the column moving up the +Shenandoah Valley. Sigel, in his advance up the Valley, was encountered at +Newmarket by General Breckinridge, who signally defeated him, capturing +artillery and stores, and inflicting a heavy loss upon the enemy. Sigel +retreated hastily down the Valley. + +General Grant, on the 11th of May, proclaimed to his Government his +purpose "to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer," yet, within +a week afterwards, he was already meditating another plan of operations. +Forty thousand of the bravest soldiers of the Federal army had been vainly +sacrificed, and yet the Confederate line remained intact upon the +impregnable hills of Spottsylvania. A week was consumed in fruitless +search for a weak point in the breastplate of Lee. Grant was again driven +to "maneuvre." Foiled again and again by the great exemplar of strategy, +with whom he contended, Grant at no point turned his face towards Richmond +without finding Lee across his path. Moving constantly to the left, the 3d +of June--exactly one month from the crossing of the Rapidan--found Grant +near the Chickahominy, and Lee still facing him. The fortune of war again +brought the belligerents upon the old battle-ground of the Peninsula. Just +before Lee reached the defenses of Richmond, for the first time during the +campaign, he received reënforcements.[75] Grant also was strengthened, +drawing sixteen thousand men from Butler at Bermuda Hundreds. + +On the 3d of June occurred the second battle of Cold Harbor. It was the +last experiment of the strictly "hammering" system, unaided by the +resources of strategy. It cost Grant thirteen thousand men, and Lee a few +hundred. Such was a fitting _finale_ of a campaign avowedly undertaken +upon the brutal principle of the mere consumption of life, and in contempt +of every sound military precept. Cold Harbor terminated the overland +movement of Grant, and he speedily abandoned the line upon which he had +proposed "to fight all summer." Not that he willingly abandoned his +"hammering" principle after this additional sacrifice of lives, for he +would still have dashed his army against the impregnable wall in his +front, but his men recoiled, in the consciousness of an impotent endeavor. +They had done all that troops could accomplish, and shrank from that which +their own experience told them was _impossible_. And there should be no +wonder that the Federal army was reluctant to be vainly led to slaughter +again. For forty days its proven mettle had been subjected to a cruel +test, such as even Napoleon, reckless of his men's lives as he was, had +never imposed upon an army. It is safe to say that no troops but Americans +could have been held so long to such an enterprise as that attempted by +Grant in May, 1864, and none but Americans could have withstood such +desperate assaults as were sustained by Lee's army. + +In one month, from the Rapidan to the Chickahominy, more than sixty +thousand of the flower of the Federal army had been put _hors du combat_, +and many of the best of its officers, men identified with its whole +history, were lost forever. In one month Lee had inflicted a loss greater +than the whole of the force which he commanded during the last year of the +war! Yet this was the "generalship" of Grant, for which a meeting of +twenty-five thousand men in New York returned the "thanks of the nation." +The world was invited, by the sensational press of the North, to admire +the "strategy" which had carried the Federal army from the Rapidan to the +James, a position which it might have reached by transports without the +loss of a man. + +For a brief season, hope, positive and well-defined, dawned upon the +South. Thus far the problem of _endurance_ was in favor of the +Confederacy. Grant's stupendous combinations against Richmond had broken +down. The spirit of the North seemed to be yielding, and again the Federal +Government encountered the danger of a collapse of the war. + +The battle of Cold Harbor convinced General Grant of the futility of +operations against Richmond from the north side of James River. He +therefore determined to transfer his army to the south side of the river, +and seek to possess himself of the communications southward, and to employ +coöperative forces to destroy or occupy the communications of Richmond +with Lynchburg and the Shenandoah Valley. This involved new combinations, +and Grant still had abundant means to execute them. If successful, this +plan would completely isolate Richmond, leaving no avenue of supplies +except by the James River Canal, which also would be easily accessible. + +Lee could not prevent the transfer of Grant's army to the south side. +Petersburg and Richmond were both to be defended, and his strength was too +limited to be divided. Grant made a vigorous dash against Petersburg. He +had anticipated an easy capture of that city by a _coup de main_, but in +this he was disappointed. Petersburg was found to be well fortified, and +the desperate assaults made by the Federal advanced forces were repulsed. +In a few days Lee's army again confronted Grant, and Richmond and +Petersburg were safe. + +Thus the system of rushing men upon fortifications failed on the south +side not less signally than in the overland campaign. The Federal +commander had no alternative but a formal siege of Petersburg. Driven by +circumstances beyond his control, General Grant thus assumed a position +which, in the end, proved fatal to the Confederacy, and the results of +which have exalted him, in the view of millions, to rank among the +illustrious generals of history. The south side of James River was always +the real key to the possession of Richmond. Sooner or later the +Confederate capital must fall, if assailed from that direction with +pertinacity, and with such ample means as were given to Grant. + +The new Federal combination was in process of execution by the middle of +June. After the defeat of Sigel, a large force was organized in the lower +valley, and intrusted to the direction of General Hunter, an officer +distinguished by fanatical zeal against the section of which he was a +native, and by the peculiar cruelty of a renegade. Breckinridge had been +withdrawn from the Valley, to Lee's lines, immediately after his defeat of +Sigel, and Hunter without difficulty overwhelmed the small force left +under General Jones. Forming a junction with Crook and Averill from +North-western Virginia, at Staunton, Hunter advanced upon Lynchburg, +meanwhile destroying public and private property indiscriminately, and +practicing a system of incendiarism and petty oppression against which +even Federal officers protested. + +It was necessary to detach a portion of the army from the lines of +Richmond to check the demonstration of Hunter. Accordingly, General Early, +who had acquired great reputation in the battles upon the Rapidan, was +sent with eight thousand men to the Valley. Uniting his forces to those +already on the ground, General Early made a vigorous pursuit of Hunter, +whose flight was as dastardly as his conduct had been despicable. +Retreating with great precipitation through the mountains of Western +Virginia, Hunter's force, for several weeks, bore no relation to +operations in Virginia. With the Shenandoah Valley thus denuded of +invaders, Early rapidly executed a movement of his forces down the Valley, +with a view to a demonstration beyond the Potomac frontier, which was +entirely uncovered by Hunter's retreat. The movement of Early into +Maryland caused, as was anticipated, a detachment from Grant's forces, +for the defense of the Federal capital. Advancing with extraordinary +vigor, General Early pursued the retreating enemy, defeating them in an +engagement near Frederick City, and arrived near Washington on the 10th of +July. Warned of the approach of heavy reënforcements from Grant, which +must arrive before the works could be carried, Early abandoned his design +of an attack upon Washington, and retired across the Potomac, with his +extensive and valuable captures. + +Signal failure attended the cavalry expeditions sent by Grant against the +railroads. Sheridan, while moving northward against Gordonsville and +Charlottesville, from which points, after inflicting all possible damage +upon the railroads to Richmond, he was to join Hunter at Lynchburg, was +intercepted by Wade Hampton, the worthy successor of Stuart, and compelled +to abandon his part of the campaign. An extended raid, under Wilson and +Kautz, on the south side, also terminated in disaster. The expedition of +Burbridge against South-western Virginia was baffled by a counter-movement +of Morgan with his cavalry, into Kentucky, the Federal forces following +him into that State. + +Thus again were all of General Grant's plans disappointed, and by +midsummer the situation in Virginia was altogether favorable to the +Confederacy. There was indeed good reason for the evident apprehension of +the North, that, after all, Grant's mighty campaign was a failure. His +mere proximity to the Confederate capital signified nothing. All his +attempts against both Petersburg and Richmond, whether by strategy or +_coups de main_, had ended in disaster; the Confederate lines were +pronounced impregnable by the ablest Federal engineers, and after the +ridiculous _fiasco_ of "Burnside's mine," the capture of Richmond seemed +as remote as ever. To increase public alarm at the North, was added the +activity of Lee, his evident confidence in his ability to hold his own, +with a diminished force, and even to threaten the enemy with invasion. + +The Confederate Government, fully apprized of the momentous results, with +which the present year was pregnant, and of the increased peril which +assailed the Confederacy, in consequence of its diminished resources, +depended upon other influences, than an exhibition of military strength, +to promote its designs. The cause of the South could no longer be +submitted, unaided, to the arbitrament of battle. At other periods, while +freely avowing his desire for peace, and offering to the Federal +authorities, opportunity for negotiation, President Davis had relied +almost solely upon the sword, as the agency of Southern independence. The +opening of the spring campaign of 1864 was deemed a favorable conjuncture +for the employment of the resources of diplomacy. To approach the Federal +Government directly would be in vain. Repeated efforts had already +demonstrated its inflexible purpose not to negotiate with the Confederate +authorities. Political developments at the North, however, favored the +adoption of some action that might influence popular sentiment in the +hostile section. The aspect of the peace party was especially encouraging, +and it was evident that the real issue to be decided in the Presidential +election, was the continuance or cessation of the war. + +A commission of three gentlemen, eminent in position and intelligence, was +accordingly appointed by Mr. Davis to visit Canada, with a view to +negotiation with such persons in the North, as might be relied upon, to +facilitate the attainment of peace. This commission was designed to +facilitate such preliminary conditions, as might lead to formal +negotiation between the two governments, and their intelligence was fully +relied upon to make judicious use of any political opportunities that +might be presented in the progress of military operations. + +The Confederate commissioners, Messrs. Clay, of Alabama, Holcombe, of +Virginia, and Thompson, of Mississippi, sailed from Wilmington at the +incipiency of the campaign on the Rapidan. Within a few weeks thereafter +they were upon the Canada frontier, in the execution of their mission. A +correspondence with Horace Greeley commenced on the 12th of July. Through +Mr. Greeley the commissioners sought a safe conduct to the Federal +capital. For a few days Mr. Lincoln appeared to favor an interview with +the commissioners, but finally rejected their application, on the ground +that they were not authorized to treat for peace. In his final +communication, addressed "To whom it may concern," Mr. Lincoln offered +safe conduct to any person or persons having authority to control the +armies then at war with the United States, and authorized to treat upon +the following basis of negotiation: "the restoration of peace, the +_integrity of the whole Union, and the abandonment of slavery_." + +Upon this basis, negotiation was, of course, precluded, and peace +impossible. Mr. Lincoln was perfectly aware that the commissioners had no +control of the Confederate armies, and that the Confederate Government +alone was empowered to negotiate. He therefore did not expect the +acceptance of his passport, and added to the mockery an arrogant +statement, in advance, of the conditions upon which he would consent to +treat. Even if the commissioners had been empowered to treat, Mr. +Lincoln's terms dictated the surrender of every thing for which the South +was fighting, and more than the North professed to demand at the outset. +Abolition was now added to the conditions of re-admission to the Union. +Mr. Lincoln's proposition was a cruel mockery, an unworthy insult to the +manhood of a people, whom his armies, at least, had learned to respect. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + DISAPPOINTMENT AT RESULTS OF THE GEORGIA CAMPAIGN--HOW FAR IT WAS + PARALLEL WITH THE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGN--DIFFERENT TACTICS ON BOTH + SIDES--REMOVAL OF GENERAL JOHNSTON--THE EXPLANATION OF THAT STEP--A + QUESTION FOR MILITARY JUDGMENT--THE NEGATIVE VINDICATION OF GENERAL + JOHNSTON--DIFFERENT THEORIES OF WAR--THE REAL PHILOSOPHY OF THE + SOUTHERN FAILURE--THE ODDS IN NUMBERS AND RESOURCES AGAINST THE + SOUTH--WATER FACILITIES OF THE ENEMY--STRATEGIC DIFFICULTIES OF THE + SOUTH--THE BLOCKADE--INSIGNIFICANCE OF MINOR QUESTIONS--JEFFERSON + DAVIS THE WASHINGTON OF THE SOUTH--GENERAL JOHN B. HOOD--HIS + DISTINGUISHED CAREER--HOPE OF THE SOUTH RENEWED--HOOD'S OPERATIONS-- + LOSS OF ATLANTA--IMPORTANT QUESTIONS--PRESIDENT DAVIS IN GEORGIA-- + PERVERSE CONDUCT OF GOVERNOR BROWN--MR. DAVIS IN MACON--AT HOOD'S + HEAD-QUARTERS--HOW HOOD'S TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN VARIED FROM MR. DAVIS' + INTENTIONS--SHERMAN'S PROMPT AND BOLD CONDUCT--HOOD'S MAGNANIMOUS + ACKNOWLEDGMENT--DESTRUCTION OF THE CONFEDERATE POWER IN THE + SOUTH-WEST. + + +General Johnston had failed to realize either the expectations of the +public, or the hope of the Government, in his direction of the campaign in +Georgia. His tactics were those uniformly illustrated by this officer in +all his operations, of falling back before the enemy, and seeking to +obviate the disadvantage of inferior numbers by partial engagements in +positions favorable to himself. There was, indeed, some parallel between +his campaign and that of Lee, between the Rapidan and James, but the +results in Virginia and Georgia were altogether disproportionate. The +advance of Sherman was slow and cautious, but nevertheless steady; and +when the campaign had lasted seventy days, he was before Atlanta, the +objective point of his designs, and in secure occupation of an extensive +and important section of country, heretofore inaccessible to the Federal +armies. Not only were Sherman's losses small, as compared with those of +Grant, but his force was relatively much weaker. + +There can be no just comparison of these two campaigns, either as +illustrating the same system of tactics, or as yielding the same results. +The aggregate of Federal forces in Georgia did not exceed, at the +beginning of the campaign, one hundred thousand men, if indeed it reached +that figure. To oppose this, Johnston had forty-five thousand. We have +already stated the aggregate of Federal forces in Virginia to have been at +least four times the force that, under any circumstances, Lee could have +made available. The public did not interpret as _retreats_, the parallel +movements by which Lee successively threw himself in the front of Grant, +wherever the latter made a demonstration. Not once had Lee turned his back +upon the enemy, nor abandoned a position, save when the baffled foe, after +enormous losses, sought a new field of operations. At its conclusion, +Grant had sustained losses in excess of the whole of Lee's army, abandoned +altogether his original design, and sought a base of operations, which he +might have reached in the beginning, not only without loss, but without +even opposition. + +Some explanation of the widely disproportionate results achieved in +Virginia and Georgia, is to be found in the different tactics of the +Federal commanders. Sherman, whose nature is thoroughly aggressive, yet +developed great skill and caution. Instead of fruitlessly dashing his army +against fortifications, upon ground of the enemy's choosing, he treated +the positions of Johnston as fortresses, from which his antagonist was to +be flanked. + +But while this explanation was appreciated, the public was much disposed +to accept the two campaigns as illustrations of the different systems of +tactics accredited to the two Confederate commanders. It was seen that in +Virginia the enemy occupied no new territory, and, at the end of three +months, was upon ground which he might easily have occupied at the +beginning of the campaign, but to reach which, by the means selected, had +cost him nearly eighty thousand men.[76] In Georgia, on the other hand, +Sherman had advanced one hundred miles upon soil heretofore firmly held by +the Confederacy, and without a general engagement of the opposing forces. +In Virginia, the enemy had no difficulty as to his transportation, and the +farther Grant advanced towards James River, the more secure and abundant +became his means of supply. In Georgia, Sherman drew his supplies over +miles of hostile territory, and was nowhere aided by the proximity of +navigable streams. + +When in a censorious mood, the popular mind is not over-careful of the +aptness of the parallels and analogies, wherewith to justify its carping +judgments. Without denying his skill, or questioning his possession of the +higher qualities of generalship, people complained that "Johnston was a +retreating general." Whatever judgment may have arisen from subsequent +events, it can not be fairly denied that when Johnston reached Atlanta, +there was a very perceptible loss of popular confidence, not less in the +issue of the campaign than in General Johnston himself. It was in +deference to popular sentiment, as much as in accordance with his views of +the necessity of the military situation, that President Davis, about the +middle of July, relieved General Johnston from command. Sympathizing +largely with the popular aspiration for a more bold, ample, and +comprehensive policy, and appreciating the value of unlimited public +confidence, Mr. Davis had lost much of his hope of those decisive results, +which he believed the Western army competent to achieve. + +The dispatch relieving General Johnston was as follows: + + "RICHMOND, VA., July 17, 1864. + + "_To General J. E. Johnston_: + + "Lieutenant-General J. B. Hood has been commissioned to the temporary + rank of General, under the law of Congress. I am directed by the + Secretary of War to inform you, that as you have failed to arrest the + advance of the enemy to the vicinity of Atlanta, and _express no + confidence that you can defeat or repel him_, you are hereby relieved + from the command of the Army and Department of Tennessee, which you + will immediately turn over to General Hood. + + "S. COOPER, + "_Adjutant and Inspector-General_." + +This order sufficiently explains the immediate motive of Johnston's +removal, but there was a train of circumstances which, at length, brought +the President reluctantly to this conclusion. The progress of events in +Georgia, from the beginning of spring, had developed a marked difference +in the views of General Johnston and the President. Early in the year Mr. +Davis had warmly approved an offensive campaign against the Federal army, +while its various wings were not yet united. The Federal force, then in +the neighborhood of Dalton, did not greatly exceed the Confederate +strength, and Mr. Davis, foreseeing the concentration of forces for the +capture of Atlanta, believed the opportunity for a decisive stroke to +exist before this concentration should ensue. General Hood likewise +favored this view of the situation. He urged that the enemy would +certainly concentrate forces to such an extent, if permitted, as would +gradually force the Southern army back into the interior, where a defeat +would be irreparable, with no new defensive line, and without the hope of +rallying either the army or the people. General Johnston opposed these +views, on the ground that the enemy, if defeated, had strong positions +where they could take refuge, while a defeat of the Confederate force +would be fatal. This difference of opinion is to be appropriately decided +only by military criticism, but it can not be fairly adjudged that an +offensive in the spring would not have succeeded, because it failed in the +following autumn. Circumstances were altogether different. + +General Johnston's operations between Dalton and Atlanta were +unsatisfactory to Mr. Davis. Here again arises a military question, which +we shall not seek to decide, in the evident difference as to the capacity +of the Army of Tennessee, for any other than purely defensive operations. +It was, indeed, not so much an opposition on the part of the President, to +Johnston's operations, as the apprehension of a want of ultimate aim in +his movements. Whatever the plans of General Johnston may have been, they +were not communicated to Mr. Davis, at least in such a shape as to +indicate the hope of early and decisive execution. Alarmed for the results +of a policy having seemingly the characteristics of drifting, of waiting +upon events, and of hoping for, instead of _creating opportunity_, Mr. +Davis yet felt the necessity of giving General Johnston an ample trial. +During all this period strong influences were brought to bear against +Johnston, and upon the other hand, he was warmly sustained by influences +friendly both to himself and the President. + +For weeks the President was importuned by these conflicting counsels, the +natural effect of which was to aggravate his grave doubts as to the +existence of any matured ultimate object in General Johnston's movements. +Upon one occasion, while still anxiously deliberating the subject, an +eminent politician, a thorough patriot, a supporter of Mr. Davis, and +having to an unlimited extent his confidence, called at the office of the +President, with a view to explain the situation in Georgia, whence he had +just arrived. This gentleman had been with the army, knew its condition, +its enthusiasm and confidence. He was confident that General Johnston +would destroy Sherman, and did not believe that the Federal army would +ever be permitted to reach even the neighborhood of Atlanta. Mr. Davis, +having quietly heard this explanation, replied by handing to his visitor a +dispatch just received from Johnston, and _dated at Atlanta_. The army had +already reached Atlanta, before the gentleman could reach Richmond, and he +acknowledged himself equally amazed and disappointed. + +Despite his doubts and apprehensions, however, Mr. Davis resisted the +applications of members of Congress and leading politicians from the +section in which General Johnston was operating, for a change of +commanders, until he felt himself no longer justified in hazarding the +loss of Atlanta without a struggle. There appeared little ground for the +belief that Johnston would hold Atlanta, nor did there appear any reason +why his arrival there should occasion a departure from his previous +retrograde policy. Of the purpose of General Johnston to evacuate Atlanta +the President felt that he had abundant evidence. Not until he felt fully +satisfied upon this point, was the removal of that officer determined +upon. Indeed, the order removing Johnston sets forth as its justification, +that he had expressed no confidence in his ability to "repel the enemy." +If Atlanta should be surrendered, where would General Johnston expect to +give battle?[77] + +Subsequently to his removal, General Johnston avowed that his purpose was +to hold Atlanta; and, therefore, we are not at liberty to question his +purpose. But this does not alter the legitimate inference drawn by Mr. +Davis at the time of his removal. Can it be believed that the President +would have taken that step, if satisfied of Johnston's purpose to deliver +battle for Atlanta? + +This entire subject belongs appropriately only to military discussion, and +no decision from other sources can possibly affect the ultimate sentence +of that tribunal. Yet the most serious disparagement of Mr. Davis, by +civilian writers, has been based upon the removal of Johnston from the +command of the Western army. Granting that General Johnston would have +sought to hold Atlanta, can it be believed that the ultimate result would +have been different? When Sherman invested Atlanta, the North found some +compensation for Grant's failures in Virginia; and even though his force +should have been inadequate for a siege, can it now be doubted that he +would have been reënforced to any needed extent? The mere presence of +Sherman at Atlanta was justly viewed by the North as an important success. +He had followed his antagonist to the very heart of the Confederacy, and +was master of innumerable strong positions held by the Confederates at the +outset of the campaign. To suppose that he would, at such a moment, be +permitted to fail from a lack of means, is a hypothesis at variance with +the conduct of the North throughout the war. + +General Johnston has that sort of negative vindication which arises from +the disasters of his successor, though, as we shall presently show, Mr. +Davis was nowise responsible for the misfortunes of General Hood.[78] The +question is one which must some day arise as between the general military +policy of the Confederacy, and the antagonistic views which have been so +freely ascribed to General Johnston by his admirers. We have no desire to +pursue that antagonism, which, if it really existed, can hardly yet be a +theme for impartial discussion. Towards the close of the war, it was usual +to accredit Johnston with the theory that the Confederacy could better +afford to _lose territory than men_, and that hence the true policy of the +South was to avoid general engagements, unless under such circumstances as +should totally neutralize the enemy's advantage in numbers. We are not +prepared to say to what extent these announcements of his views were +authorized by General Johnston, or to what extent they were based upon +retrospection. Some confirmation of their authenticity would seem to be +deducible from General Johnston's declaration since the war, that the +"Confederacy was too weak for offensive war." Certainly there could be no +theory more utterly antagonistic to the genius of the Southern people, and +that is a consideration, to which the great commanders of history have not +usually been indifferent. Nor was it the theory which inspired those +achievements of Southern valor, which will ring through the centuries. It +was not the theory which Lee and Jackson adopted, nor, we need hardly +add, that which Jefferson Davis approved. + +Indeed, the philosophy of the Southern failure is not to be sought in the +discussion of opposing theories among Confederate leaders. The conclusion +of history will be, not that the South accomplished less than was to be +anticipated, but far more than have any other people under similar +circumstances. Southern men hardly yet comprehend the real odds in numbers +and resources which for four years they successfully resisted. Other +questions than those merely of aggregate populations and material wealth, +enter into the solution of the problem. + +By the census of 1860, the aggregate free population of the thirteen +States, which the Confederacy claimed, was 7,500,000, leaving in the +remaining States of the Union a free population of over twenty millions. +This statement includes Kentucky and Missouri as members of the +Confederacy; yet, by the compulsion of Federal bayonets, these States, not +less than Maryland and Delaware, were virtually on the side of the North. +Kentucky proclaimed neutrality, but during the whole war was overrun by +the Federal armies, and, with her State government and large numbers of +her people favoring the North, despite the Southern sympathies of the +majority, her moral influence, as well as her physical strength, sustained +the Union. The legitimate government of Missouri, and a majority of her +people, sided with the South; but early occupied and held by the Federal +army, her legitimate government was subverted, and her moral and physical +resources were thrown into the scale against the Confederacy. + +To say nothing of the large numbers of recruits obtained by the Federal +armies from Kentucky, Maryland and Missouri, (chiefly from their large +foreign populations,) their contributions to the Confederate army were +nearly, if not quite, compensated by the accessions to Federal strength +from East Tennessee, Western Virginia, and other portions of the seceded +States. It would be fair, therefore, to deduct the population of these two +States from that of the South, and this would leave the Confederacy five +and one-half millions. Dividing their free populations between the two +sections, and the odds were six and a half millions against twenty and a +half millions. This is a liberal statement for the North, and embraces +only the original populations of the two sections at the beginning of +hostilities. There can hardly be a reasonable doubt, that had the struggle +been confined to these numerical forces, the South would have triumphed. +But hordes of foreign mercenaries, incited by high bounty and the promise +of booty, flocked to the Federal army, and thus was the North enabled to +recruit its armies to any needed standard, while the South depended solely +upon its original population. As the South was overrun, too, negroes were +forced or enticed into the Federal service, and thus, by these +inexhaustible reserves of foreign mercenaries and negro recruits, the +Confederate army was finally exhausted. + +The following exhibition of the strength of the Federal armies is from the +report of the Secretary of War, at the beginning of the session of +Congress in December, 1865: + + Official reports show that on the 1st of May, 1864, the aggregate + national military force of all arms, officers and men, was nine + hundred and seventy thousand seven hundred and ten, to-wit: + + Available force present for duty 662,345 + On detached service in the different military departments 109,348 + In field hospitals or unfit for duty 41,266 + In general hospitals or on sick leave at home 75,978 + Absent on furlough or as prisoners of war 66,290 + Absent without leave 15,483 + ------- + Grand aggregate 970,710 + + The aggregate available force present for duty May 1st, 1864, was + distributed in the different commands as follows: + + Department of Washington 42,124 + Army of the Potomac 120,386 + Department of Virginia and North Carolina 59,139 + Department of the South 18,165 + Department of the Gulf 61,866 + Department of Arkansas 23,666 + Department of the Tennessee 74,174 + Department of the Missouri 15,770 + Department of the North-west 5,295 + Department of Kansas 4,798 + Head-quarters Military Division of the Mississippi 476 + Department of the Cumberland 119,948 + Department of the Ohio 35,416 + Northern Department 9,540 + Department of West Virginia 30,782 + Department of the East 2,828 + Department of the Susquehanna 2,970 + Middle Department 5,627 + Ninth Army Corps 20,780 + Department of New Mexico 3,454 + Department of the Pacific 5,141 + ------- + Total 662,345 + +And again: + + Official reports show that on the 1st of March, 1865, the aggregate + military force of all arms, officers and men, was nine hundred and + sixty-five thousand five hundred and ninety-one, to-wit: + + Available forces present for duty 602,598 + On detached service in the different military departments 132,538 + In field hospitals and unfit for duty 35,628 + In general hospitals or on sick leave 143,419 + Absent on furlough or as prisoners of war 31,695 + Absent without leave 19,683 + ------- + Grand aggregate 965,591 + + This force was augmented on the 1st of May, 1865, by enlistments, to + the number of one million five hundred and sixteen, of all arms, + officers and men (1,000,516). + +And again he says: + + The aggregate quotas charged against the several States + under all calls made by the President of the United + States, from the 15th day of April, 1861, to the 14th + day of April, 1865, at which time drafting and + recruiting ceased, was 2,759,049 + The aggregate number of men credited on the several + calls, and put into service of the United States, in + the army, navy, and marine corps, during the above + period, was 2,656,553 + Leaving a deficiency on all calls, when the war closed, + of 102,596 + +This statement does not include the regular army, nor the negro troops +raised in the Southern States, which were not raised by calls on the +States. It may be safely asserted that the "available force present for +duty," of the Federal armies at the beginning or close of the last year of +the war, exceeded the entire force called into the service of the +Confederacy during the four years. The aggregate of Federal forces raised +during the war numbered more than one-third of the free population of the +Confederate States, including men, women, and children.[79] + +But this disparity of numbers, apparently sufficient of itself to decide +the issue against the South, was by no means the greatest advantage of the +North. When it is asserted that the naval superiority of the North decided +the contest in its favor, we are not limited to the consideration merely +of that absolute command of the water, which prevented the South from +importing munitions of war, except at enormous expense and hazard, which +made the defense of the sea-coast and contiguous territory impossible, and +which so disorganized the Confederate finances. The Confederacy +encountered strategic difficulties, by reason of the naval superiority of +the North, which, at an early period of the war, counter-balanced the +advantages of its defensive position. + +In the beginning the enemy had easy, speedy, and secure access to the +Southern coast, and wherever there was a harbor or inlet, was to be found +a base of operations for a Federal army. Thus, at the outset, the +Confederacy presented on every side an exposed frontier. In every quarter, +the Federal armies had bases of operations at right angles, each to the +other, and thus, wherever the Confederate army established a defensive +line, it was assailable by a second Federal army advancing from a second +base. The advantage of rapid concentration of forces, usually belonging to +an interior line, was obviated by the easy and rapid conveyance of large +masses by water. + +Probably the most serious strategic disadvantage of the South was its +territorial configuration, through the intersection of its soil in nearly +every quarter by navigable rivers, either emptying into the ocean, of +which the North, at all times, had undisputed control, or opening upon the +Federal frontier. In all the Atlantic States of the Confederacy navigable +streams penetrate far into the interior, and empty into the sea. The +Mississippi, aptly termed an "inland sea," flowing through the +Confederacy, was, both in its upper waters and at its mouth, held by the +North. The Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, with their mouths upon the +Federal frontiers, navigable in winter for transports and gunboats, in the +first twelve months of the war, brought the Federal armies to the centre +of the South-west. In the Trans-Mississippi region, the Arkansas and Red +Rivers gave the enemy convenient and secure bases of operations along +their margins. Each one of these streams having inevitably, sooner or +later, become subject to the control of the Federal navy, afforded bases +of operations against the interior of the South, while it was likewise +threatened from the Northern frontier. + +The difficulty of _space_, which defeated Napoleon in his invasion of +Russia, and which has baffled the largest armies led by the ablest +commanders, had an easy solution for the North. Remarkable illustrations +of the extent to which these water facilities aided the North, were +afforded by the signal failure attending every overland advance of the +Federal armies so long as the Confederates could raise even the semblance +of an opposing force. Besides the innumerable Federal failures in the +Appalachian region of Virginia, Sherman and Grant, the most successful of +Northern commanders, illustrated this military principle in instances +already noted. When Sherman finally marched from the Confederate frontier +to the ocean, General Grant's policy of "attrition" had virtually +destroyed the military strength of the South, and Sherman simply +accomplished an unopposed march through an undefended country. There can +be no better illustration of these strategic difficulties of the +Confederacy, than that afforded by the train of disasters in the beginning +of 1862, each of which was directly and mainly attributable to the naval +advantages of the enemy and the geographical configuration. + +A candid review of the events of the first two years of the war will +demonstrate the inevitable failure of subjugation of the South, but for +these advantages of her invaders. Not only are the facilities of +transportation possessed by the North to be considered, but the further +advantage extended by its fleet in the event of military reverse. The +shipping constituted an invulnerable defense and convenient shelter for +the fugitive Federals. Upon at least two occasions, the two main Federal +armies were rescued from destruction by the gunboats--in the case of Grant +at Shiloh, and of McClellan on James River. + +Nor was it possible for the South to make adequate provision to meet the +naval advantages of the North. The Federal Government retained the whole +of the navy. The North was manufacturing and commercial, while the South +was purely agricultural in its means; hence the incomparable rapidity with +which the Federal Government accumulated shipping of every character. The +initial superiority of the North in naval resources prevented the South +from obtaining from foreign sources the men and the material for the +equipment of vessels of war. Then, again, the disputed question of the +capacity of shore batteries to resist vessels of war, had a most +inopportune solution for the South, and in cases where great interests +were involved. We have already noted one instance where this question had +a fatal solution--that of New Orleans. And in this instance, too, the want +of time for preparation was a fatal difficulty. But for the unfinished +condition of the iron-clads at New Orleans, the possession of the +Mississippi by the enemy would have been greatly deferred, though, with +the headwaters and mouth of the great river in Federal control, it was +hardly more than a question of time, should the North skillfully employ +its superior manufacturing resources and preponderant population. + +The special weapon of the North, from which no amount of victories ever +brought the Confederacy one moment's relief, was the blockade--a weapon +which the injustice of foreign powers placed in the grasp of our +adversaries. The blockade ruined the Confederate finances and, by +preventing the importation of military material, weakened the Confederate +armies to the extent of thousands of men who were detailed for +manufacturing and other purposes. It was the blockade, too, which caused +the derangement of the internal economy of the South, creating the painful +contrast in the effects of the war upon the two sections. The North, with +its ports open, the abundant gold of California, and petroleum stimulating +speculation, found in the war a mine of wealth. Patriotism and profit went +hand in hand. The vast expenditures of Government created a lucrative +market; the enormous transportation demanded made the railroads prosperous +beyond parallel; and the sources of popular prosperity and exhilaration +were inexhaustible. The condition of the South was the exact reverse. With +its commerce almost totally suspended; frequently in peril of famine; +whole States, one after another, occupied or devastated by the enemy, so +that when the Confederate armies expelled the enemy they could not +maintain themselves, and were compelled to retreat; deprived of every +comfort, and nearly of all the necessaries of life, the history of the war +in the South is a record of universal and unrelieved suffering. + +It must be apparent that we have here given but a superficial review and +imperfect statement of the obstacles with which the South contended. But, +assuredly, before even this array of odds, such minor questions as the +removal of one officer and the retention of another sink into utter +insignificance. As we have before intimated, many of the most important +incidents in the conduct of the war must be reserved for the decision of +impartial military judgment. What if it should be granted that the +appointment of Pemberton and the removal of Johnston were fatal blunders, +were they compensated by no acts of judicious selection of other officers +for promotion and reward? Is the firm and constant support of Lee, of +Sidney Johnston, of Jackson, and of Early to be accounted as nothing? Are +we to accept the imputation of error to Mr. Davis alone? We need not +pursue the career of General Johnston much farther than its beginning to +discover what his countrymen unanimously deplored as an error, what +Stonewall Jackson declared a fatal blunder. General Lee confessed his +error at Gettysburg. Beauregard, too, has been generally adjudged to have +seriously erred at Shiloh. Yet how easy would it be to construct a +plausible theory, demonstrating the seriously adverse influence upon the +fortunes of the Confederacy, from each one of those errors. And we could +extend the parallel much farther. Napoleon estimated the merits of +different generals by the comparative number of their faults and virtues. +Perhaps that is even a better philosophy which urges us to measure the +reputations of men, "not by their exemption from fault, but by the size of +the virtues of which they are possessed." Assuredly, the South can never +demur to the application of this test either to herself or her late +leader. Judged by such a standard of merit, neither can be apprehensive +for the award of posterity. Two generations hence, if not sooner, +Jefferson Davis, not less for his wisdom than for his virtues, will be +commemorated as the Washington of the South. + +With a view to dramatic unity, we shall disregard somewhat of +chronological order, and follow, with a rapid summary, the movements of +the ill-starred Western army of the Confederacy, to the point where its +existence virtually terminated. The successor of General Johnston, General +John B. Hood, embodied a rare union of the characteristics of the popular +ideal of a soldier. He was the noblest contribution of Kentucky chivalry +to the armies of the South, and his record throughout the war, even though +ending in terrible disaster, was that of a gallant, dashing, and skillful +leader. Identified with the Army of Northern Virginia from an early period +of its history, he shared its dangers, its trials, and its most thrilling +triumphs. "Hood and his Texans" were household words in the Confederacy, +and the bulletins from every battle-field in Virginia were emblazoned with +their exploits. Few commanders have possessed to a greater extent than +Hood that magnetic mastery over troops, which imbues them with the +consciousness of irresistible resolution. Of conspicuous personal +gallantry and commanding _physique_, he united to fiery energy, +consummate self-possession and excellent tactical ability. A favorite +with General Lee and President Davis, he had also received the warm +commendation of Stonewall Jackson for his distinguished services at Cold +Harbor, in 1862. + +Painfully wounded and disabled at Gettysburg, he accompanied his old +division to Georgia, and, while his previous wound was yet unhealed, he +lost a leg at Chickamauga. After months of painful confinement, he was +again in Richmond, soliciting the privilege of additional service to his +country. His conspicuous devotion challenged equally the admiration of the +people and the Government, and President Davis was universally declared +never to have conferred a more deserved promotion than that by which he +made Hood a Lieutenant-General. General Hood was assigned to the command +of a _corps_ under Johnston, and accompanied the army in its movements +from Dalton to Atlanta. + +The appointment of Hood as the successor of Johnston was the occasion of +renewed anticipation to the South. His aggressive qualities, it was +thought, would supply that bold and energetic policy which the country +believed to be the great need of the situation in Georgia. Nor was there +any thing in the record of Hood, to cause apprehension that his possession +of these qualities excluded such an equipoise of mental faculties, as +should ensure a sound and discreet system of operations. + +We shall not discuss in detail the operations which General Hood so +speedily inaugurated. They were necessitated, to a large extent, by a +situation of affairs for which he was not responsible. The one object of +Hood, and the one hope and necessity of the Confederacy, was the expulsion +of Sherman from a vital section. Sherman had not delayed an hour in his +purpose of securing possession of the Macon road, and severing the +communications of Atlanta. Already he was preparing operations similar to +those by which Grant sought the isolation of Petersburg; and if his +strength was not then adequate, there could be no question of his capacity +to obtain ample means from his Government to secure the great results of +his skillfully conducted and successful campaign. The situation required +precisely that immediate execution of a vigorous policy by which Lee had +relieved Richmond of the presence of McClellan. + +While thus foreseeing the fatal result of permitting himself to be +besieged in Atlanta, General Hood did not rashly assail the enemy. A +favorable opportunity was presented, by a gap between two of Sherman's +columns, for a concentrated assault upon that which was most exposed. +Though the Confederate forces were admirably massed and skillfully led, +they were eventually repulsed by the murderous fire of the Federal +artillery, which was concentrated with signal promptitude and served with +rare ability. This demonstration was a failure, though it had promised +favorably, and, for a time, exposed the entire Federal army to serious +danger. A series of subsequent engagements, fought by Hood to prevent the +consummation of Sherman's design to isolate Atlanta, left the enemy in +possession of the Confederate line of supply, and Atlanta was evacuated on +the 1st of September. + +Such was the melancholy conclusion, for the Confederacy, of the first +stage of the Georgia campaign. Military judgment must decide, how far an +able offensive policy, at the outset of the campaign would have delayed, +if not entirely checked the march of Sherman to Atlanta; how far an +offensive was then practicable; to what extent Hood's course was imposed +upon him by a situation which he did not create, and whether his accession +to command, either altered or hastened the ultimate fate of Atlanta. + +The emergency consequent upon the fall of Atlanta, summoned President +Davis to Georgia. His visit was dictated by the double purpose, of healing +dissensions in that State, and of devising measures for the restoration of +the campaign. The perverse course of Governor Brown had proven successful +in the dissemination of disaffection, and his teachings were beginning to +mature those fruits of demoralization in Georgia, which the subsequent +march of Sherman abundantly developed. It would be impossible to +characterize the conduct of this official in terms of extravagant +severity. Capricious and perverse in his hostility to the Confederate +Government, while yet professing fealty to the cause, he contrived, in the +most distressing exigencies, to paralyze the energies of Georgia, and +finally to create a feeling bordering closely upon open disaffection. + +The conduct of Governor Brown, acceptable only to the clique of +malcontents who followed him, was the subject of criticism throughout the +Confederacy, and of suspicion by a large portion of the public. It is a +matter of record that after the fall of Atlanta he refused to coöperate +with the Confederate authorities for the defense of Georgia, and +_demanded_ the return of the Georgia troops in Virginia, unless the +President would send reënforcements. Yet he was perfectly aware that the +Confederate Government then, had not one man to spare in any quarter, and +was in a crisis, produced solely by the want of numbers. His +communications to the Confederate Government were usually splenetic +assaults upon the President, whose military administration he offensively +criticised, and whom he charged with an ambition to destroy every +protection to the reserved rights of the States. There is no point of view +in which the course of Governor Brown is not equally incomprehensible and +indefensible. It was freighted with disaster and defeat to the cause which +he professed to serve. Considered in the aspect of partisan +administration, or the indulgence of personal spleen, its inconsistency +was paralleled only by its folly. It demoralized public sentiment, and +tended largely to that corruption of the public and the army which, in the +last stage of the war, was so palpable. Not the least injurious feature of +Governor Brown's official policy was the unpropitious seasons which he +selected for the indulgence of his capricious and splenetic moods. Upon +the heels of crushing military disasters, and when the Confederate +authorities were most helpless, Governor Brown was most exacting. + +The purposes of his persistent and vindictive impeachments of the +Confederate Government, at such periods, must remain a subject of +speculation. Certainly he did not exalt his dignity as a statesman, nor +approve his earnestness as a patriot, by giving precedence to his personal +animosities over his official duties, and by substituting for coöperation +in support of a cause to which he protested his devotion, a system of +malignant controversy with the national authorities. + +The interviews of President Davis, with Governor Brown, during his visit +to Georgia, in September, failed, as had all previous efforts to that end, +to effect an accommodation of differences. Governor Brown was determined +not to be satisfied, and though Mr. Davis, having made nearly every +concession demanded, left him under the impression that Brown was at last +prepared to coöperate with him heartily and zealously, he was speedily +convinced of the error of such a calculation. + +While on his way to Hood's army Mr. Davis addressed the citizens of Macon, +and spoke with great candor, concerning the perils of the situation, +which, though serious, he believed, might be repaired. Alluding to the +demand made upon him for reënforcements from Virginia, he said that the +disparity in Virginia was greater than in Georgia; the army under Early +had been sent to the Valley, because the enemy had penetrated to +Lynchburg; and now should Early be withdrawn, there would be nothing to +prevent the Federal army from forming a complete cordon of men around +Richmond. He had counseled with General Lee upon all these points; his +mind had sought to embrace the entire field, and the necessities of every +quarter, and his conclusion was, that "if one-half of the men now absent +from the field, would return to duty, we can defeat the enemy. With that +hope, I am now going to the front. I may not realize this hope, but I know +that there are men there, who have looked death too often in the face to +despond now." + +On the 18th September, the President reached Hood's head-quarters, and on +the following day reviewed the whole army. He addressed the troops in +terms of encouragement, and his promise to them of an advance northward, +was received with unbounded enthusiasm. The situation in Georgia admitted +a very limited consideration of expedients, by which to obtain +compensation for the loss of Atlanta. Sherman's presence, unmolested, in +the interior of Georgia, during the autumn and winter, would be fatal. He +would then be in a position to assail, at leisure, the only remaining +source of supplies for the Confederate armies. His cavalry could safely +penetrate in every direction, destroying communications and supplies, and +producing universal demoralization. + +Hood was confident that his army was capable of better fighting than it +had performed against Sherman, provided it could meet the enemy under such +circumstances as should promise the recovery of the ground lost, in the +event of victory. To attack Sherman in Atlanta was not to be considered, +and to await the development of the enemy's plan would be dangerous. +Sherman had already announced his purpose to rest his army at Atlanta, +with a view to its preparation for the arduous enterprises yet before it. +Hence, it became necessary to adopt a plan, which should draw him away +from his defenses, and compel him to fight upon equal ground. + +It may be briefly stated that the subsequent operations of General Hood, +when they ceased to menace the enemy's flank, and assumed the character of +a mere detachment upon the Federal rear, was not the plan of campaign +which Mr. Davis expected to be carried into execution. He approved a +concentration upon the Federal flank, which it was not likely Sherman +would permit to be endangered. Seeing, however, the exposed situation of +the country south of Atlanta, in consequence of the movement into Alabama, +Mr. Davis opposed any operations which should place Hood's army _beyond +striking distance of Sherman, should the latter move southward from +Atlanta_. + +It is remarkable to what extent the movements of Sherman demonstrated the +judicious character of the Confederate movement, so long as it was in +conformity with these views of Mr. Davis. Puzzled, at first, as to Hood's +purposes, Sherman was no longer perplexed as to what his own course should +be, when it was evident that Hood was making a serious demonstration for +the recovery of Tennessee, meanwhile giving up Georgia entirely to Federal +possession. When these larger and more doubtful enterprises were added to +the original scope of the Confederate movement, Mr. Davis was too remote +from the scene to assume the responsibility of recalling the army from an +enterprise which he felt assured would not be attempted without justifying +information by the commander.[80] + +But, after all, the disastrous consequences, following the uncovering of +Georgia, are to be attributed less to the intrinsically erroneous strategy +of Hood, than to the consummate vigor and promptitude of Sherman. Odious +to the South as Sherman is, by reason of his cruelties and barbarities, he +can not be denied the merit of an immediate grasp of the critical +situation, and a no less prompt execution. A commander of less +self-possession, and less audacity, would have been bewildered by the +transfer of an army from his immediate front to his rear, and placed +astride his communications. The "march to the sea" was no military +exploit, and only a brazen charlatanism could exalt it as an illustration +of genius. The proof of Sherman's merit is to be seen in the quick +determination and execution of his purpose, when the real significance of +Hood's operations was revealed. His telegram to Washington fully described +the situation and prophesied the sequel: "Hood has crossed the Tennessee. +Thomas will take care of him and Nashville, while Schofield will not let +him into Chattanooga or Knoxville. _Georgia and South Carolina are at my +mercy, and I shall strike._ Do not be anxious about me. I am all right." + +We are not permitted to trace the unfortunate Tennessee campaign of +General Hood, culminating in his disastrous defeat at Nashville, in +December, and in the virtual destruction of the gallant but ill-starred +army, upon whose bayonets the Confederate power, west of the Alleghanies, +was so long upheld. It was the final campaign of the Confederacy in that +quarter, and, with its failure, perished forever the hope of defending the +western and central sections of the South.[81] Meanwhile, Sherman, +unopposed, had marched like Fate through Georgia, to Savannah, realizing +Grant's assertion that the Confederacy was a mere shell, and revealing a +fact, until then not clearly appreciated, of the exhaustion and +demoralization of its people. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + INCIDENTS ON THE LINES OF RICHMOND AND PETERSBURG DURING THE SUMMER + AND AUTUMN--CAPTURE OF FORT HARRISON--OTHER DEMONSTRATIONS BY + GRANT--THE SITUATION NEAR THE CONFEDERATE CAPITAL--EARLY'S VALLEY + CAMPAIGN--POPULAR CENSURE OF EARLY--INFLUENCE OF THE VALLEY CAMPAIGN + UPON THE SITUATION NEAR RICHMOND--WHAT THE AGGREGATE OF CONFEDERATE + DISASTERS SIGNIFIED--DESPONDENCY OF THE SOUTH--THE INJURIOUS EXAMPLES + OF PROMINENT MEN--THE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL LEE--MR. DAVIS' + POPULARITY--WHY HE DID NOT FULLY COMPREHEND THE DEMORALIZATION OF THE + PEOPLE--HE HOPES FOR POPULAR REANIMATION--WAS THE CASE OF THE + CONFEDERACY HOPELESS?--VACILLATING CONDUCT OF CONGRESS--THE + CONFEDERATE CONGRESS A WEAK BODY--MR. DAVIS' RELATIONS WITH + CONGRESS--PROPOSED CONSCRIPTION OF SLAVES--FAVORED BY DAVIS AND + LEE--DEFEATED BY CONGRESS--LEGISLATION DIRECTED AGAINST THE + PRESIDENT--DAVIS' OPINION OF LEE--RUMORS OF PEACE--HAMPTON ROADS + CONFERENCE--THE FEDERAL ULTIMATUM--THE ABSURD CHARGE AGAINST MR. DAVIS + OF OBSTRUCTING NEGOTIATIONS--HIS RECORD ON THE SUBJECT OF PEACE--A + RICHMOND NEWSPAPER ON THE FEDERAL ULTIMATUM--DELUSIVE SIGNS OF PUBLIC + SPIRIT--NO ALTERNATIVE BUT CONTINUED RESISTANCE--REPORT OF THE HAMPTON + ROADS CONFERENCE. + + +Meanwhile the siege of Petersburg had progressed drearily through the +months of summer and autumn. The "hammering" principle was abandoned by +General Grant, for a series of maneuvres having in view the possession of +the railroads extending southward and eastward. + +About the middle of August a portion of Grant's army was established upon +the Weldon road. This was by no means a line of communication vital to +General Lee, though several heavy engagements ensued from its disputed +possession. The Federal losses in these engagements were very heavy, and +were hardly compensated by any immediate advantage following the permanent +acquisition, by General Grant, of the Weldon Railroad. The location of the +Federal army gave ample opportunity for the transfer of forces to either +side of the river, and General Grant did not fail to avail himself of his +facilities, for aiding the more important operations before Petersburg, by +numerous diversions in the direction of Richmond. One of these movements +upon the north side of James River, in the last days of September, +resulted disastrously to the Confederates, in the loss of Fort Harrison, a +position of great importance in the defense of that portion of the +Confederate line. Efforts to recapture it were unavailing, and attended +with heavy loss. The enemy was left in secure possession of a position +from which Richmond could be seriously menaced. The last serious +demonstration by General Grant, before winter, was the movement of a heavy +force, with the view of turning the Confederate position, and obtaining +the possession of Lee's communications with Lynchburg and Danville. Though +sustained by a strong diversion on other portions of the line, this +demonstration was barren of results. + +Thus, the beginning of winter found the Confederate forces still safely +holding the lines of Richmond and Petersburg. The situation near the +Confederate capital was encouraging, and indicated an almost indefinite +resistance. But nearly every other quarter of the Confederacy was darkened +by the shadow of disaster. + +The campaign of Hood in Tennessee had its counterpart in the Valley +campaign of General Early. This campaign, the original design of which was +the expulsion of Hunter, was doubly important afterwards in the design to +secure the harvests of the Shenandoah Valley, and to continue the +diversion of a large Federal force from the front of Richmond. The earlier +movements of General Early were attended with success, and the Confederacy +had the promise of a campaign, which should renew the glories of Stonewall +Jackson, in a district which his exploits had made forever famous. In its +conclusion was revealed, perhaps more strikingly than upon any other +theatre of the war, the overwhelming odds and obstacles, with which the +Confederacy contended in this desperate stage of its history. The activity +of General Early in the summer months, and his well-earned reputation as +an officer of skill and daring, induced the enemy to concentrate a heavy +force to protect the Potomac frontier, and, if possible, to overwhelm the +Confederate army in the Valley. In the months of September and October, +several engagements occurred, in which General Early was badly defeated, +and his army at the close of autumn exhibited so many evidences of +demoralization, as to occasion apprehension for its future efficiency. + +The censure of General Early by the public and the newspapers was +unsparing. Most unworthy allegations, totally unsupported, were circulated +in explanation of his disasters. That such a man as Early, whose every +promotion had been won by a heroism and efficiency inferior to those of +none of Lee's subordinates, should have been recklessly condemned for +reverses, which were clearly the results of no errors or misconduct of his +own, is now a striking commentary upon that sullen despondency into which +the Southern mind was fast settling. A victory, in any quarter, was now +almost the last expectation of the public, and still Early was recklessly +abused for not winning victories, with a demoralized army, against forces +having four times his own strength. Neither President Davis nor General +Lee ever doubted General Early's efficiency; and the letter of the +commanding general to Early, written in the last hours of the Confederacy, +constitutes a tribute to patriotic and distinguished services, which the +old hero may well cherish in his exile, as a worthy title to the esteem of +posterity. + +The defeat of Early at Cedar Creek, late in October, was the decisive +event of the last campaign in the Shenandoah Valley. In December nearly +all Early's forces were transferred to General Lee's lines, and the bulk +of the Federal army in the Valley returned to General Grant. General Early +remained in the Valley with a fragmentary command, which Sheridan easily +overran on his march from Winchester to the front of Petersburg. + +Events in the Valley had a marked influence upon the situation near +Richmond. The Confederate authorities had hoped for such a successful +issue in the Valley as should relieve Richmond of much of Grant's +pressure. The disappointment of this hope left the Federal frontier +secure, and gave Grant a large accession of strength, for which Lee had no +compensation, except the _débris_ of a defeated and dispirited army. + +The aggregate of military disasters with which the year 1864 terminated, +established the inevitable failure of the Confederacy, unless more +vigorous measures than the Government had ever yet attempted should be +adopted, and unless the people were prepared for sacrifices which had not +yet been exacted. The reserves of men, which the various acts of +conscription were designed to place in the field, were exhausted, or +beyond the reach of the Government, and the supplies of the army became +more and more precarious each day. There was, indeed, nothing fatal as +affecting the ultimate decision of the contest, in the military events of +the past year, if unattended by a decay of public spirit. It was not +until the winter of 1864-1865 that any considerable body of the Southern +people were brought to the conviction that their struggle was a hopeless +one. The waste of war is in nothing more continuous than in its test of +the moral energy of communities. In the last winter of the war the +distrust of the popular mind was painfully apparent. The South began to +read its fate when it saw that the North had converted warfare into +universal destruction and desolation, and when it exchanged the code of +civilized war for the grim butchery of Grant, and the savage measures of +Sherman and Sheridan. It was plain that while the losses of the Federal +army were shocking, and were sufficient to have unnerved the army and the +people of the North, the "attrition" of General Grant had caused a fearful +diminution of the Confederate armies. + +The facility of the Federal Government in repairing its losses of men, +baffled all previous calculation in the Confederacy, and it had long since +become evident that the resources of the North, in all other respects, +were equal to an indefinite endurance. Indeed, it has been justly said +that the material resources of the North were not seriously tested, but +merely developed by the war. Peculiarly disheartening to the South was the +triumph of the Republican party in the reëlection of Mr. Lincoln--an event +plainly portending a protraction of the war upon a scale, which should +adequately employ the inexhaustible means at the command of the Federal +Government. + +It would be needless to speculate now as to the material capacity of the +South to have met the demands of another campaign. The military capacity +of the Confederacy in the last months of the war, is not to be measured by +the number of men that still might have been brought to the field, or by +the material means which yet survived the consumption and waste of war. +These considerations are admissible only in connection with that moral +condition of the public, which fitted or disqualified it for longer +endurance of the privations and sacrifices of the war. Long before the +close of winter, popular feeling assumed a phase of sullen indifference +which, while yet averse to unconditional submission to the North, +manifestly despaired of ultimate success, viewed additional sacrifices as +hopeless, and anticipated the _worst_. + +Only a hasty and ill-informed judgment could condemn the Southern people +for the decay of its spirit in this last stage of the war. No people ever +endured with more heroism the trials and privations incidental to their +situation. Yet these sacrifices appeared to have been to no purpose; a +cruel and inexorable fate seemed to pursue them, and to taunt them with +the futility of exertion to escape its decree. Victories, which had amazed +the world, and again and again stunned a powerful adversary, and which the +South felt that, under ordinary circumstances, should have secured the +reward of independence, were recurred to only as making more bitter the +chagrin of the present. Previous defeats, at the time seeming fatal, had +been patiently encountered, and bravely surmounted, so long as victory +appeared to offer a reward which should compensate for the sacrifice +necessary to obtain it. But, now, even the hope of victory had almost +ceased to be a source of encouragement, since any probable success would +only tend to a postponement of the inevitable catastrophe, which, perhaps, +it would be better to invite than to defer. + +It must be confessed, too, that the people and the army of the +Confederacy, in this crisis, found but little source of reanimation in +the example of a majority of its public men. Long before the taint of +demoralization reached the heart of the masses, the Confederate cause had +been despaired of by men whose influence and position determined the +convictions of whole communities. In President Davis and General Lee the +South saw conspicuous examples of resolution, fortitude, and +self-abnegation. It is not to be denied that the impatient and almost +despairing temper of the public was visibly influenced by the persistent +crimination of Mr. Davis, by the faction which sought to thwart him even +at the hazard of the public welfare. But when it was discovered that the +unity of counsel and purpose which had animated the President and General +Lee at every stage of the struggle, was still maintained, popular sympathy +still clung to the leader, whose unselfish devotion and unshaken fortitude +should have been a sufficient rebuke to his accusers. + +A vast deal of misrepresentation has been indulged to show that Mr. Davis +had become unpopular in the last stage of the war, and that he was the +object of popular reproach as chiefly responsible for the condition of the +country. To the contrary, there were many evidences of the sympathy which +embraced Mr. Davis as probably the chief sufferer from apprehended +calamities. His appearance in public in Richmond, was always the occasion +of unrestrained popular enthusiasm. Even but a few weeks before the final +catastrophe, there were signal instances of the popular affection for him, +and it was painfully evident to those who knew his character, that these +demonstrations were accepted by him as an exhibition of popular confidence +in the success of the cause. Indeed, the very confidence which these +exhibitions of popular sympathy produced in the mind of Mr. Davis, has +been urged as an evidence of a want of sagacity, which disqualified him +for a clear appreciation of the situation of affairs. + +Perhaps with more color of truth than usual, this view of Mr. Davis' +character has been presented. That he did not fully comprehend the +wide-spread demoralization of the South in the last months of the war, is +hardly to be questioned. Judging men by his own exalted nature, he +conceived it impossible that the South could ever abandon its hope of +independence. He did not realize how men could cherish an aspiration for +the future, which did not embrace the liberty of their country. No +sacrifice of personal interests or hopes were, in his view, too great to +be demanded of the country in behalf of a cause, for which he was at all +times ready to surrender his life. Of such devotion and self-abnegation, a +sanguine and resolute spirit was the natural product, and it is a paltry +view of such qualities to characterize them as the proof of defective +intellect. Just such qualities have won the battles of liberty in all +ages. Washington, at Valley Forge, with a wretched remnant of an army, +which was yet the last hope of the country, and with even a more gloomy +future immediately before him, declared that in the last emergency he +would retreat to the mountains of Virginia, and there continue the +struggle in the hope that he would "yet lift the flag of his bleeding +country from the dust." In the same spirit Jefferson Davis would never +have abandoned the Confederate cause so long as it had even a semblance of +popular support. + +Almost to the last moment of the Confederacy, he continued to cherish the +hope of a reaction in the public mind, which he believed would be +immediately kindled to its old enthusiasm by a decided success. It was in +recognition of this quality of inflexible purpose, as much as of any other +trait of his character, that the South originally intrusted Davis with +leadership. Fit leaders of revolutions are not usually found in men of +half-hearted purpose, wanting in resolution themselves, and doubting the +fidelity of those whom they govern. Desperate trial is the occasion which +calls forth the courage of those truly great men, who, while ordinary men +despair, confront agony itself with sublime resolution. + +If ingenuity and malignity have combined to exaggerate the faults of Mr. +Davis, the love of his countrymen, the candor of honorable enemies, and +the intelligence of mankind have recognized his intellectual and moral +greatness. The world to-day does not afford such an example of those +blended qualities which constitute the title to universal excellence. For +one in his position, the leader of a bold, warlike, intelligent, and +discerning people, there was demanded that union of ardor and deliberation +which he so peculiarly illustrated. Revolutionary periods imperatively +demand this union of capacities for thought and action. The peculiar charm +of Mr. Davis is the perfect poise of his faculties; an almost exact +adjustment of qualities; of indomitable energy and winning grace; heroic +courage and tender affection; strength of character, and almost excessive +compassion; of calculating judgment and knightly sentiment; acute +penetration and analysis; comprehensive perception; laborious habits, and +almost universal knowledge. Of him it may be said as of Hamilton: "He wore +the blended wreath of arms, of law, of statesmanship, of oratory, of +letters, of scholarship, of practical affairs;" and in most of these +fields of distinction, Mr. Davis has few rivals among the public men of +America. + +But it is altogether a fallacious supposition that the military situation +of the Confederacy, in the last winter of the war, was beyond +reclamation. The most hasty glance at the situation revealed the +feasibility of destroying Sherman, when he turned northward from Savannah, +with a proper concentration of the forces yet available. President Davis +anxiously sought to secure this concentration, but was disappointed by +causes which need not here be related. With Sherman defeated, the +Confederacy must have obtained a new lease of life, as all the territory +which he had overrun, would immediately be recovered, and the worthless +title of his conquests would be apparent, even to the North. There were +indeed many aspects of the situation encouraging to enterprise, could an +adequate army be obtained, and the heart of the country reanimated. +President Davis was not alone in the indulgence of hope of better fortune. +Again he had the sanction of Lee's name in confirmation of his hopes, and +in support of the measures which he recommended. + +But the resolution of the President was not sustained by the coöperation +of Congress. The last session of that body was commemorated by a signal +display of timidity and vacillation. Congress assembled in November, and +at the beginning of its session its nerve was visibly shaken. Before its +adjournment in March, there was no longer even a pretense of organized +opinion and systematic legislation. Its occupation during the winter was +mainly crimination of the President, and a contemptible frivolity, which +at last provoked the hearty disgust of the public. The calibre of the last +Confederate Congress may be correctly estimated, when it is stated that as +late as the 22d of February, 1865, less than sixty days before the fall of +Richmond, that body was earnestly engaged in devising a _new flag for the +Confederacy_. + +Not a single measure of importance was adopted without some emasculating +clause, or without such postponement as made it practically inoperative. +Of all the vigorous suggestions of Mr. Davis for recruiting the army, +mobilizing the subsistence, and renovating the material condition of the +country, hardly one was adopted in a practicable shape. Congress had +clearly despaired of the cause. It had not the courage to counsel the +submission, of which it secretly felt the necessity, and left the capital +with a declaration that the "conquest of the Confederacy was +geographically impossible," yet clearly attesting by its flight a very +different view of the situation. + +The history of the Congress of the Confederate States is a record of +singular imbecility and irresolution. It was a body without leaders, +without popular sympathy, without a single one of those heroic attributes +which are usually evoked in periods of revolution. It may safely be +asserted that in the history of no other great revolution does the +statesmanship of its legislators appear so contemptible, when compared +with the military administration which guided its armies. Whatever may be +the estimate of the executive ability of the Confederate administration, +it can not be denied that its courage was abundant; nor can it be +questioned that the courage of Congress often required the spur of popular +sentiment. In the wholesale condemnation of Mr. Davis by a class of +writers, it is remarkable that the defective legislation of the +Confederacy should be accredited with so little influence in producing its +failure. If he was so grossly incompetent, what must be the verdict of +history upon a body which, for four years, submitted to a ruinous +administration when the corrective means were in its own hands? + +Of Mr. Davis' relations with Congress, Ex-Secretary Mallory writes as +follows: + + "I have said that his relations with members of Congress were not what + they should have been, nor were they what they might have been. + Towards them, as towards the world generally, he wore his personal + opinions very openly. Position and opportunity presented him every + means of cultivating the personal good-will of members by little acts + of attention, courtesy, or deference, which no man, however high in + his position, who has to work by means of his fellows, can dispense + with. Great minds can, in spite of the absence of these demonstrations + towards them in a leader--nay, in the face of neglect or apparent + disrespect--go on steadily and bravely, with a single eye to the + public welfare; but the number of these in comparison to those who are + more or less governed by personal considerations in the discharge of + their public duties is small. While he was ever frank and cordial to + his friends, and to all whom he believed to be embarked heart and soul + in the cause of Southern independence, he would not, and, we think, + could not, sacrifice a smile, an inflection of the voice, or a + demonstration of attention to flatter the self-love of any man, in or + out of Congress, who did not stand in this relation. Acting himself + for the public welfare, regardless of self or the opinions of others, + he placed too light a value upon the thousand nameless influences by + which he might have brought others up, apparently, to his own high + moral standard. By members of Congress, who had to see him on + business, his reception of them was frequently complained of as + ungracious. They frequently, in their anxiety amidst public disaster, + called upon him to urge plans, suggestions, or views on the conduct of + the war, or for the attainment of peace, and often pressed matters + upon him which he had very carefully considered, and for which he + alone was responsible. + + "Often, in such cases, though he listened to all they had to say--why, + for example, some man should be made a brigadier, major or + lieutenant-general, or placed at the head of an army, etc.--and in + return calmly and precisely stated his reasons against the measure, + he at times failed to satisfy or convince them, simply because, in his + manner and language combined, there was just an indescribable + something which offended their self-esteem. Some of his best friends + left him at times with feelings bordering closely upon anger from this + cause, and with a determination, hastily formed, of calling no more + upon him; and some of the most sensible and patriotic men of both + Houses were alienated from him more or less from this cause. The + counsel of judicious friends upon this subject, and as to more + unrestrained intercourse between him and the members of the Senate and + the House, was vainly exerted. His manly, fearless, true, and noble + nature turned from what to him wore the faintest approach to seeking + popularity, and he scorned to believe it necessary to coax men to do + their duty to their country in her darkest hour of need." + +When Congress assembled in November it was plain that the army must have +other means of recruiting than from the remnant yet left by the +conscription. There was but one measure by which the requisite numbers +could be supplied, and that was the extension of the conscription to the +slave population. Public sentiment was at first much divided upon this +subject, but gradually the propriety of the measure was made evident, and +something like a renewal of hope was manifested at the prospect of making +use of an element which the enemy so efficiently employed. President Davis +had, for months previous, contemplated the enlistment of the slaves for +service in various capacities in the field. In the last winter of the war +he strongly urged a negro enrollment, as did General Lee, whose letter to +a member of Congress eventually convinced the country of its necessity. + +Whatever may have been the merits of the proposition to arm the slaves, as +a means of renovating the military condition of the Confederacy, the +dilatory action of Congress left no hope of its practical execution. The +discussion upon this subject continued during the entire session, and was +at last terminated by the adoption of a bill providing for the reception +of such slaves into the service as might be tendered by their masters. Mr. +Davis and General Lee both advocated the extension of freedom to such of +the slaves as would volunteer, and this was clearly the only system of +enrollment upon which they could be efficiently employed. But even though +the slave-holding interest had not thus emasculated the measure, by +refusing emancipation, it was too late to hope for any results of +importance. The bill was not passed until three weeks before the fall of +Richmond. + +But Congress found congenial employment in giving vent to its partisan +malignity, by the adoption of measures plainly designed to humiliate the +Executive, and with no expectation of improving the condition of the +Confederacy, which most of its members believed to be already beyond +reclamation. In this spirit was dictated the measure making General Lee +virtually a military dictator, and that expressing want of confidence in +the cabinet. All of this action of Congress was extra-official, and +subversive of the constitutional authority of the Executive, but it +utterly failed in its obvious design. + +President Davis never made a more noble display of feeling, than in his +response to the resolution of the Virginia Legislature recommending the +appointment of General Lee to the command of the armies of the +Confederacy. Said he: "The opinion expressed by the General Assembly in +regard to General R. E. Lee has my full concurrence. Virginia can not have +a higher regard for him, or greater confidence in his character and +ability, than is entertained by me. When General Lee took command of the +Army of Northern Virginia, he was in command of all the armies of the +Confederate States by my order of assignment. He continued in this general +command, as well as in the immediate command of the Army of Northern +Virginia, as long as I could resist his opinion that it was necessary for +him to be relieved from one of these two duties. Ready as he has ever +shown himself to be to perform any service that I desired him to render to +his country, he left it for me to choose between his withdrawal from the +command of the army in the field, and relieving him of the general command +of all the armies of the Confederate States. It was only when satisfied of +this necessity that I came to the conclusion to relieve him from the +general command, believing that the safety of the capital and the success +of our cause depended, in a great measure, on then retaining him in the +command in the field of the Army of Northern Virginia. On several +subsequent occasions, the desire on my part to enlarge the sphere of +General Lee's usefulness, has led to renewed consideration of the subject, +and he has always expressed his inability to assume command of other +armies than those now confided to him, unless relieved of the immediate +command in the field of that now opposed to General Grant." + +A striking indication of the feverish condition of the public mind of both +sections, during the last winter of the war, was the ready credence given +to the most extravagant and improbable rumors. Washington correspondents +of Northern newspapers declared that the air of the Federal capital was +"thick with rumors of negotiation." At Richmond this credulous disposition +was even more marked. Men were found as late as the middle of March, who +believed that President Davis had actually formed an alliance, offensive +and defensive, with the French Emperor. In the month of January the +rumors as to peace negotiations assumed a more definite shape, in the +arrival of Mr. Francis P. Blair at the Confederate capital. + +It is remarkable that the "Blair mission" and its sequel, the Hampton +Roads conference, though palpably contemplating only the discussion of +such mere generalities as belong to other efforts at peace at different +stages of the war, and, indeed, introducing nothing in the shape of formal +negotiation, should have been dignified as a most important episode. +Equally remarkable, in view of the published proceedings of the Hampton +Roads conference, is the disposition to censure President Davis for having +designedly interposed obstacles to the consummation of peace. Mr. Blair +visited Richmond by the permission of President Lincoln, but without any +official authority, and without having the objects of his mission +committed to paper. In short, Mr. Blair's mission had no official +character, and he came to Richmond to prevail upon Mr. Davis to encourage, +in some manner, preliminary steps to negotiation. In his interviews with +the Confederate President, Mr. Blair disclaimed the official countenance +of the Federal authorities for the objects of his visit. It was known to +the world, that Mr. Davis, upon repeated occasions, had avowed his desire +for peace upon any terms consistent with the honor of his country, and +that he would not present difficulties as to forms in the attainment of +that object, at this critical period. Hence, despite the unauthorized +nature of Mr. Blair's conciliatory efforts, Mr. Davis gave him a letter, +addressed to himself, avowing the willingness of the Confederate +authorities to begin negotiations, to send or receive commissioners +authorized to treat, and to "renew the effort to enter into a conference, +with a view to secure peace between the two countries." + +Mr. Lincoln, in a letter to Mr. Blair, acknowledged having read Mr. Davis' +note, and avowed his readiness to receive an agent from Mr. Davis, or from +the authority resisting the Federal Government, to confer with him +informally, with the view of restoring peace to the people of "our common +country." + +The commissioners appointed by Mr. Davis, after this notification, were +Vice-President Stephens, Senator Hunter, and Judge Campbell. The +conference was held on a steamer lying in Hampton Roads, between the three +Confederate commissioners and Messrs. Lincoln and Seward. By both sides +the interview was treated as informal; there were neither notes nor +secretaries, nor did the interview assume any other shape than an +irregular conversation. During the four hours of desultory discussion, +there was developed no basis of negotiation, no ground of possible +agreement. Mr. Lincoln declared that he would consent to no truce or +suspension of hostilities, except upon the single condition of the +disbandment of the Confederate forces, and the submission of the revolted +States to the authority of the Union. The result was simply the assertion, +in a more arrogant form, of the Federal _ultimatum_--the unconditional +submission of the South, its acquiescence in all the unconstitutional +legislation of the Federal Congress respecting slavery, including +emancipation, and the right to legislate upon the subject of the relations +between the white and black populations of each State. Mr. Lincoln, +moreover, refused to treat with the authorities of the Confederate States, +or with the States separately; declared that the consequences of the +establishment of the Federal authority would have to be accepted, and +declined giving any guarantee whatever, except an indefinite assurance of +a liberal use of the pardoning power, towards those who were assumed to +have made themselves liable to the pains and penalties of the laws of the +United States. + +The statement of the Confederate commissioners, and all the known facts of +the transaction, demonstrate, without argument, the injustice of holding +Mr. Davis responsible, to any extent, for the results of the Hampton Roads +conference. With one voice the South accepted the result as establishing +the purpose of the Federal Government to exact "unconditional submission," +as the only condition of peace, and scorned the insolent demand of the +enemy. If the South had shown itself willing to accept the terms of the +Federal Government, or if Mr. Lincoln had suggested other propositions +than that of unconditional submission, then only could Mr. Davis be +charged with having presented obstacles to the termination of the war. + +Nor is it to be assumed that the terms of his letter to Mr. Blair, +referring to his desire for peace between the "two countries," precluded +negotiation upon the basis of reunion. His language was that of a proper +diplomacy, which should not commit the error of yielding in advance to the +demands of an enemy, then insolent in what he regarded as the assurance of +certain victory. The period was opportune for magnanimity on the part of +the North, but not propitious for the display of over-anxious concession +by the South. Mr. Davis was at this time anxious for propositions from the +Federal Government, for, while he had not despaired of the Confederacy, he +was deeply impressed with the increasing obstacles to its success. His +frequent declaration, at this time, was: "I am solicitous only for the +good of the people, and am indifferent as to the forms by which the +public interests are to be subserved." Indeed, the Federal authorities had +ample assurance that Mr. Davis would present any basis of settlement, +which might be offered, to the several States of the Confederacy for their +individual action. Nor did he doubt the acceptance of reconstruction, +without slavery even, by several of the States--an event which would have +left the Confederacy too weak for further resistance. + +In view of the consistent record of Mr. Davis, during the entire period of +the war, to promote the attainment of peace, it is remarkable that there +should ever have been an allegation of a contrary disposition. In a +letter, written in 1864, to Governor Vance, of North Carolina, he +conclusively stated his course upon the subject of peace. Said Mr. Davis, +in this letter: + + "We have made three distinct efforts to communicate with the + authorities at Washington, and have been invariably unsuccessful. + Commissioners were sent before hostilities were begun, and the + Washington Government refused to receive them or hear what they had to + say. A second time, I sent a military officer with a communication + addressed by myself to President Lincoln. The letter was received by + General Scott, who did not permit the officer to see Mr. Lincoln, but + promised that an answer would be sent. No answer has ever been + received. The third time, a few months ago, a gentleman was sent, + whose position, character, and reputation were such as to ensure his + reception, if the enemy were not determined to receive no proposals + whatever from the Government. Vice-President Stephens made a patriotic + tender of his services in the hope of being able to promote the cause + of humanity, and, although little belief was entertained of his + success, I cheerfully yielded to his suggestions, that the experiment + should be tried. The enemy refused to let him pass through their + lines or hold any conference with them. He was stopped before he ever + reached Fortress Monroe, on his way to Washington.... + + "If we will break up our Government, dissolve the Confederacy, disband + our armies, emancipate our slaves, take an oath of allegiance, binding + ourselves to obedience to him and of disloyalty to our own States, he + proposes to pardon us, and not to plunder us of any thing more than + the property already stolen from us, and such slaves as still remain. + In order to render his proposals so insulting as to secure their + rejection, he joins to them a promise to support with his army + one-tenth of the people of any State who will attempt to set up a + government over the other nine-tenths, thus seeking to sow discord and + suspicion among the people of the several States, and to excite them + to civil war in furtherance of his ends. I know well it would be + impossible to get your people, if they possessed full knowledge of + these facts, to consent that proposals should now be made by us to + those who control the Government at Washington. Your own well-known + devotion to the great cause of liberty and independence, to which we + have all committed whatever we have of earthly possessions, would + induce you to take the lead in repelling the bare thought of abject + submission to the enemy. Yet peace on other terms is now impossible." + +The spirit in which the South received the results of the Hampton Roads +conference is to be correctly estimated by the following extract from a +Richmond newspaper, of date February 15, 1865: + + "The world can again, for the hundredth time, see conclusive evidence + in the history and sequel of the 'Blair mission,' the blood-guiltiness + of the enemy, and their responsibility for the ruin, desolation, and + suffering which have followed, and will yet follow, their heartless + attempts to subjugate and destroy an innocent people. The South again + wins honor from the good, the magnanimous, the truly brave every-where + by her efforts to stop the effusion of blood, save the lives and the + property of her own citizens, and to stop, too, the slaughter of the + victims of the enemy's cruelty, which has forced or deceived them into + the ranks of his armies. We have lost nothing by our efforts in behalf + of peace; for, waiving all consideration of the reanimation and + reunion of our people, occasioned by Lincoln's haughty rejection of + our commissioners, we have added new claims upon the sympathy and + respect of the world and posterity, which will not fail to be + remembered to our honor, in the history of this struggle, even though + we should finally perish in it. The position of the South at this + moment is indeed one which should stamp her as the champion, not only + of popular rights and self-government, which Americans have so much + cherished, but as the champion of the spirit of humanity in both + sections; for it can not be supposed that we have all the sorrows as + well as sufferings of this war to endure, and that there are no + desolate homes, no widows and orphans, no weeds nor cypress in the + enemy's country.... + + "One fact is certain, that whatever Seward's design may have been, and + whatever its success may be, the Confederacy has derived an immediate + advantage from the visit of our commissioners to Fortress Monroe. + Nothing could have so served to reanimate the courage and patriotism + of our people, as his attempted imposition of humiliation upon us. + Lincoln will hear no more talk of 'peace' and 'negotiation' from the + Southern side, for now we are united as one man in the purpose of + self-preservation and vengeance, and it may not be long before his + people, now rioting in excessive exultation over successes really + valueless, and easily counter-balanced by one week of prosperous + fortune for the South, will tremble at the manifestation of the spirit + which they have aroused." + +But the evidences of popular reanimation in the South were delusive. For a +brief moment there was a spirit of fierce and almost desperate resolution. +At a meeting held in the African church, in Richmond, President Davis +delivered one of his most eloquent popular orations, and the enthusiasm +was perhaps greater than upon any similar occasion during the war. But +popular feeling soon lapsed into the sullen despondency, from which it had +been temporarily aroused by the unparalleled insult of the enemy. Yet the +_ultimatum_ of Mr. Lincoln, and the declared will of the South, left +President Davis no other policy than a continuation of the struggle, with +a view to the best attainable results. Upon this course he was now fully +resolved, looking to the future with serious apprehension, not altogether +unrelieved by hope. + +The report of the Hampton Roads conference and its results, was made by +President Davis, to Congress, on the 5th February: + + "_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States + of America_: + + "Having recently received a written notification, which satisfied me + that the President of the United States was disposed to confer, + informally, with unofficial agents that might be sent by me, with a + view to the restoration of peace, I requested Hon. Alexander H. + Stephens, Hon. R. M. T. Hunter, and Hon. John A. Campbell, to proceed + through our lines, to hold a conference with Mr. Lincoln, or such + persons as he might depute to represent him. + + "I herewith submit, for the information of Congress, the report of the + eminent citizens above named, showing that the enemy refuse to enter + into negotiations with the Confederate States, or any one of them + separately, or to give our people any other terms or guarantees than + those which a conqueror may grant, or permit us to have peace on any + other basis than our unconditional submission to their rule, coupled + with the acceptance of their recent legislation, including an + amendment to the Constitution for the emancipation of negro slaves, + and with the right, on the part of the Federal Congress, to legislate + on the subject of the relations between the white and black population + of each State. + + "Such is, as I understand, the effect of the amendment to the + Constitution, which has been adopted by the Congress of the United + States. + + "JEFFERSON DAVIS. + + "EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Feb. 5, 1865." + + + "_Richmond, Va._, February 5, 1865. + + "_To the President of the Confederate States_-- + + "SIR: Under your letter of appointment of 28th ult., we proceeded to + seek an informal conference with Abraham Lincoln, President of the + United States, upon the subject mentioned in your letter. + + "The conference was granted, and took place on the 3d inst., on board + a steamer anchored in Hampton Roads, where we met President Lincoln + and Hon. Mr. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States. It + continued for several hours, and was both full and explicit. + + "We learned from them that the Message of President Lincoln to the + Congress of the United States, in December last, explains clearly and + distinctly, his sentiments as to terms, conditions, and method of + proceeding by which peace can be secured to the people, and we were + not informed that they would be modified or altered to obtain that + end. We understood from him that no terms or proposals of any treaty + or agreement looking to an ultimate settlement would be entertained or + made by him with the authorities of the Confederate States, because + that would be a recognition of their existence as a separate power, + which, under no circumstances, would be done; and, for like reasons, + that no such terms would be entertained by him from States separately; + that no extended truce or armistice, as at present advised, would be + granted or allowed without satisfactory assurance, in advance, of + complete restoration of the authority of the Constitution and laws of + the United States over all places within the States of the + Confederacy; that whatever consequences may follow from the + reëstablishment of that authority must be accepted, but the + individuals subject to pains and penalties, under the laws of the + United States, might rely upon a very liberal use of the power + confided to him to remit those pains and penalties if peace be + restored. + + "During the conference the proposed amendments to the Constitution of + the United States, adopted by Congress on the 31st ult., were brought + to our notice. These amendments provide that neither slavery nor + involuntary servitude, except for crime, should exist within the + United States or any place within their jurisdiction, and that + Congress should have the power to enforce this amendment by + appropriate legislation. + + "Of all the correspondence that preceded the conference herein + mentioned, and leading to the same, you have heretofore been informed. + + "Very respectfully, your obedient servants, + "ALEX. H. STEPHENS, + "R. M. T. HUNTER, + "J. A. CAMPBELL." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + MILITARY OPERATIONS IN THE EARLY PART OF 1865--LAST PHASE OF THE + MILITARY POLICY OF THE CONFEDERACY--THE PLAN TO CRUSH SHERMAN--CALM + DEMEANOR OF PRESIDENT DAVIS--CHEERFULNESS OF GENERAL LEE--THE QUESTION + AS TO THE SAFETY OF RICHMOND--WEAKNESS OF GENERAL LEE'S ARMY-- + PREPARATIONS TO EVACUATE RICHMOND BEFORE THE CAMPAIGN OPENED--A NEW + BASIS OF HOPE--WHAT WAS TO BE REASONABLY ANTICIPATED--THE CONTRACTED + THEATRE OF WAR--THE FATAL DISASTERS AT PETERSBURG--MR. DAVIS RECEIVES + THE INTELLIGENCE WHILE IN CHURCH--RICHMOND EVACUATED--PRESIDENT DAVIS + AT DANVILLE--HIS PROCLAMATION--SURRENDER OF LEE--DANVILLE EVACUATED-- + THE LAST OFFICIAL INTERVIEW OF MR. DAVIS WITH GENERALS JOHNSTON AND + BEAUREGARD--HIS ARRIVAL AT CHARLOTTE--INCIDENTS AT CHARLOTTE-- + REJECTION OF THE SHERMAN-JOHNSTON SETTLEMENT--MR. DAVIS' INTENTIONS + AFTER THAT EVENT--HIS MOVEMENTS SOUTHWARD--INTERESTING DETAILS-- + CAPTURE OF MR. DAVIS AND HIS IMPRISONMENT AT FORTRESS MONROE. + + +Military operations in the first three months of 1865 tended to the +concentration of forces upon the greatly-reduced theatre of war, which was +now confined mainly to Virginia and North Carolina. The developments of +each day indicated the near approach of critical and decisive events. With +Sherman sweeping through the Carolinas, and the Confederate forces +retiring before him; with Wilmington, the last port of the Confederacy, +captured, and a new base thus secured for a column auxiliary to Sherman, +it was evident that but a short time would develop a grand struggle, which +should not only decide the fate of Richmond, but which should involve +nearly the entire force at the command of the Confederacy. + +The last definite phase of the military policy of the Confederate +authorities, previous to the fall of the capital, was the design of +concentration for the destruction of Sherman, who was rapidly approaching +the Virginia border. This would, of course, necessitate the abandonment of +Richmond, with a view to the junction of the armies of Lee and Johnston. +The latter officer, with the remnant of Hood's army, and other fragmentary +commands, confronted Sherman's army--forty thousand strong--with a force +of about twenty-five thousand men. When Lee's army should unite with +Johnston's, the Confederate strength would approximate sixty thousand--a +force ample to overwhelm Sherman. + +The success of this design was mainly dependent upon the question of the +_time_ of its execution. If the concentration against Sherman should be +attempted prematurely, that Federal commander would be warned of his +danger in time to escape to the coast, or to retire until reënforcements +from Grant should reach him. It was thus highly important that Sherman +should advance sufficiently far to preclude his safe retreat, while, at +the same time, the distance between Lee and Johnston should be shortened. +On the other hand, if the concentration should be delayed too long, +General Grant might, by a vigorous assault upon Lee, either hold the +latter in his works at Petersburg, or cut off his retreat, either of which +events would defeat the proposed concentration. In the sequel, the +activity of Grant, his overwhelming numbers, and the timely arrival of +Sheridan's cavalry, after the latter had failed in his original design +against Lynchburg and the Confederate communications, precipitated a +catastrophe, which not only prevented the consummation of this design, but +speedily proved fatal to the Confederacy. + +There was nothing in the calm exterior of President Davis, during the days +of early spring, to indicate that he was then meditating an abandonment of +that capital, for the safety of which he had striven during four years of +solicitude, and in the defense of which the flower of Southern chivalry +had been sacrificed. There was no abatement of that self-possession, which +had so often proven invulnerable to the most trying exigencies; no +alteration of that commanding mien, so typical of resolution and +self-reliance. To the despondent citizens of Richmond, there was something +of re-assurance in the firm and elastic step of their President, as he +walked, usually unattended, through the Capitol Square to his office. His +responses to the respectful salutations of the children, who never failed +to testify their affection for him, were as genial and playful as ever, +and the slaves still boasted of the cordiality with which he acknowledged +their civility. + +A similar cheerfulness was observed in General Lee. In the last months of +the war, it was a frequent observation that General Lee appeared more +cheerful in manner than upon many occasions, when his army was engaged in +its most successful campaigns. Hon. William C. Rives was quoted in the +Confederate Congress, as having said that General Lee "had but a single +thing to fear, and that was the spreading of a causeless despondency among +the people. Prevent this, and all will be well. We have strength enough +left to win our independence, and we are certain to win it, if people do +not give way to foolish despair." + +From the beginning of winter, the possibility of holding Richmond was a +matter of grave doubt to President Davis. He had announced to the +Confederate Congress that the capital was now menaced by greater perils +than ever. Yet a proper consideration of the moral consequences of a loss +of the capital, not less than of the material injury which must result +from the loss of the manufacturing facilities of Richmond, dictated the +contemplation of its evacuation only as a measure of necessity. When, +however, the dilatory and vacillating action of Congress baffled the +President in all his vigorous and timely measures, there was hardly room +to doubt that the alternative was forced upon General Lee of an early +retreat or an eventual surrender. When spring opened, the Army of Northern +Virginia was reduced to less than thirty-five thousand men. With this +inadequate force, General Lee was holding a line of forty miles, against +an army nearly one hundred and seventy-five thousand strong. A prompt +conscription of the slaves, upon the basis of emancipation, the President +and General Lee believed would have put at rest all anxiety for the safety +of Richmond. But when the threadbare discussions and timid spirit of +Congress foretold the failure of this measure, preparations were quietly +begun for a retirement to an interior line of defense. + +These preparations were commenced early in February, and were conducted +with great caution. Mr. Davis did not believe that the capture of Richmond +entailed the loss of the Confederate cause should Lee's and Johnston's +armies remain intact. That it diminished the probability of ultimate +success was obvious, but there was the anticipation of a new basis of +hope, in events not improbable, could Lee's army be successfully carried +from Petersburg. A thorough defeat of Sherman would obviously recover at +once the Carolinas and Georgia, and give to the Confederacy a more +enlarged jurisdiction and more easy subsistence, than it had controlled +for more than a year. A reasonable anticipation was the re-awakening of +the patriotic spirit of the people, and the return of thousands of +absentees to the army, as the immediate results of a decisive defeat of +Sherman. Then, even if it should prove that the Confederacy could not cope +with the remaining armies of the enemy, it was confidently believed that +the North, rather than endure the sacrifices and doubts of another +campaign, would offer some terms not inconsistent with the honor of the +South to accept. At all events, resistance must continue until the enemy +abated his haughty demand of unconditional submission. + +The movements of Sherman and Johnston reduced the theatre upon which the +crisis was enacting to very contracted limits. The fate of the Confederacy +was to be decided in the district between the Roanoke and James Rivers, +and the Atlantic Ocean and the Alleghanies. General Grant, fully apprised +of the extremities to which Lee was reduced, for weeks kept his army in +readiness to intercept the Confederate retreat. It was greatly to the +interest of the Federal commander that Lee should be held at Petersburg, +since his superior numbers must eventually give him possession of the +Southside Railroad, which was vital to Lee not only as a means of +subsistence, but as an avenue of escape. But General Grant, sooner than he +anticipated, found an opportunity for a successful detachment of a +competent force against the Southside Railroad by the arrival of +Sheridan's cavalry, ten thousand strong--as splendid a body of cavalry as +ever took the field. The swollen condition of James River had prevented +the consummation of Sheridan's original mission, which was, after he had +effectually destroyed all Lee's communications northward and westward, to +capture Lynchburg, and thence to pass rapidly southward to Sherman. +Finding the river impassable, Sheridan retired in the direction of +Richmond, passed Lee's left wing, crossed the Pamunkey River, and, by the +25th of March, had joined Grant before Petersburg. General Grant was not +slow in the employment of this timely accession. + +The fatal disaster of Lee's defeat at Petersburg was the battle of Five +Forks, on the 1st of April, by which the enemy secured the direct line of +retreat to Danville. For, without that event, the fate of Petersburg and +Richmond was determined by the result of Grant's attack upon the +Confederate centre on the 2d of April. With all the roads on the southern +bank of the Appomattox in the possession of the enemy, there remained only +the line of retreat upon the northern side, which was the longer route, +while the pursuing enemy had all the advantage of the interior line. But +for that disadvantage, Lee's escape would have been assured, and the +Confederate line of defense reëstablished near the Roanoke River. + +President Davis received the intelligence of the disasters while seated in +his pew in St. Paul's Church, where he had been a communicant for nearly +three years. The momentous intelligence was conveyed to him by a brief +note from the War Department. General Lee's dispatch stated that his lines +had been broken, and that all efforts to restore them had proven +unsuccessful. He advised preparations for the evacuation of the city +during the night, unless, in the meantime, he should advise to the +contrary. Mr. Davis immediately left the church with his usual calm manner +and measured tread.[82] The tranquil demeanor of the President conveyed +no indication of the nature of the communication. But the incident was an +unusual one, and, by the congregation, most of whom had for days been +burdened with the anticipations of disaster, the unspoken intelligence +was, to some extent, correctly interpreted. + +The family of Mr. Davis had been sent southward some days before, and he +was, therefore, under the necessity of little preparation for departure. +Though his concern was obvious, his calmness was remarkable. In this +trying exigency in his personal fortunes, he showed anxiety only for the +fate of the country, and sympathy for that devoted community from which he +was now compelled to separate. + +On the night of Sunday, April 2d, 1865, Mr. Davis, attended by his +personal staff, members of his cabinet, and attaches of the several +departments, left Richmond, which then ceased forever to be the capital of +the Southern Confederacy. In a few hours after, that city, whose defense +will be more famous than that of Saragossa, whose capture was for four +years the aspiration of armies aggregating more than a million of men, +became the spoil of a conqueror, and the scene of a conflagration, in +which "all the hopes of the Southern Confederacy were consumed in one day, +as a scroll in the fire." + +In accordance with his original design of making a new defensive line near +the Roanoke River, Mr. Davis proceeded directly to Danville. His +determination was to maintain the Confederate authority upon the soil of +Virginia, until driven from it by force of arms. Reaching Danville on the +3d of April, he issued, two days afterwards, the following proclamation: + + "DANVILLE, VA., April 5, 1865. + + "The General-in-Chief found it necessary to make such movements of his + troops as to uncover the capital. It would be unwise to conceal the + moral and material injury to our cause resulting from the occupation + of our capital by the enemy. It is equally unwise and unworthy of us + to allow our own energies to falter, and our efforts to become relaxed + under reverses, however calamitous they may be. For many months the + largest and finest army of the Confederacy, under a leader whose + presence inspires equal confidence in the troops and the people, has + been greatly trammeled by the necessity of keeping constant watch over + the approaches to the capital, and has thus been forced to forego more + than one opportunity for promising enterprise. It is for us, my + countrymen, to show by our bearing under reverses, how wretched has + been the self-deception of those who have believed us less able to + endure misfortune with fortitude than to encounter danger with + courage. + + "We have now entered upon a new phase of the struggle. Relieved from + the necessity of guarding particular points, our army will be free to + move from point to point, to strike the enemy in detail far from his + base. Let us but will it, and we are free. + + "Animated by that confidence in your spirit and fortitude which never + yet failed me, I announce to you, fellow-countrymen, that it is my + purpose to maintain your cause with my whole heart and soul; that I + will never consent to abandon to the enemy one foot of the soil of any + of the States of the Confederacy; that Virginia--noble State--whose + ancient renown has been eclipsed by her still more glorious recent + history; whose bosom has been bared to receive the main shock of this + war; whose sons and daughters have exhibited heroism so sublime as to + render her illustrious in all time to come--that Virginia, with the + help of the people, and by the blessing of Providence, shall be held + and defended, and no peace ever be made with the infamous invaders of + her territory. + + "If, by the stress of numbers, we should be compelled to a temporary + withdrawal from her limits, or those of any other border State, we + will return until the baffled and exhausted enemy shall abandon in + despair his endless and impossible task of making slaves of a people + resolved to be free. + + "Let us, then, not despond, my countrymen, but, relying on God, meet + the foe with fresh defiance, and with unconquered and unconquerable + hearts. + + "JEFFERSON DAVIS." + +Meanwhile, some semblance of order in several of the departments of +government was established, though, of course, the continued occupation of +Danville was dependent upon the safety of Lee's army. Days of anxious +suspense, during which there was no intelligence from Lee, were passed, +until on Monday, the 10th of April, it was announced that the Army of +Northern Virginia had surrendered. + +Leaving Danville, Mr. Davis and his party went by railroad to Greensboro', +North Carolina. Here Mr. Davis met Generals Johnston and Beauregard. +Consultation with these two officers soon revealed to Mr. Davis their +convictions of the hopelessness of a farther protraction of the struggle. + +Ex-Secretary Mallory gives the following narrative of the last official +interview of President Davis with Generals Johnston and Beauregard: + + "At 8 o'clock that evening the cabinet, with the exception of Mr. + Trenholm, whose illness prevented his attendance, joined the President + at his room. It was a small apartment, some twelve by sixteen feet, + containing a bed, a few chairs, and a table, with writing materials, + on the second floor of the small dwelling of Mrs. John Taylor Wood; + and a few minutes after eight the two generals entered. + + "The uniform habit of President Davis, in cabinet meetings, was to + consume some little time in general conversation before entering upon + the business of the occasion, not unfrequently introducing some + anecdote or interesting episode, generally some reminiscence of the + early life of himself or others in the army, the Mexican war, or his + Washington experiences; and his manner of relating and his application + of them were at all times very happy and pleasing. + + "Few men seized more readily upon the sprightly aspects of any + transaction, or turned them to better account; and his powers of + mimicry, whenever he condescended to exercise them, were irresistible. + Upon this occasion, at a time when the cause of the Confederacy was + hopeless, when its soldiers were throwing away their arms and flying + to their homes, when its Government, stripped of nearly all power, + could not hope to exist beyond a few days more, and when the enemy, + more powerful and exultant than ever, was advancing upon all sides, + true to his habit, he introduced several subjects of conversation, not + connected with the condition of the country, and discussed them as if + at some pleasant ordinary meeting. After a brief time thus spent, + turning to General Johnston, he said, in his usual quiet, grave way, + when entering upon matters of business: 'I have requested you and + General Beauregard, General Johnston, to join us this evening, that we + might have the benefit of your views upon the situation of the + country. Of course, we all feel the magnitude of the moment. Our late + disasters are terrible, but I do not think we should regard them as + fatal. I think we can whip the enemy yet, if our people will turn out. + We must look at matters calmly, however, and see what is left for us + to do. Whatever can be done must be done at once. We have not a day to + lose.' A pause ensued, General Johnston not seeming to deem himself + expected to speak, when the President said: 'We should like to hear + your views, General Johnston.' Upon this the General, without preface + or introduction--his words translating the expression which his face + had worn since he entered the room--said, in his terse, concise, + demonstrative way, as if seeking to condense thoughts that were + crowding for utterance: 'My views are, sir, that our people are tired + of the war, feel themselves whipped, and will not fight. Our country + is overrun, its military resources greatly diminished, while the + enemy's military power and resources were never greater, and may be + increased to any desired extent. We can not place another large army + in the field; and, cut off as we are from foreign intercourse, I do + not see how we could maintain it in fighting condition if we had it. + My men are daily deserting in large numbers, and are taking my + artillery teams to aid their escape to their homes. Since Lee's defeat + they regard the war as at an end. If I march out of North Carolina, + her people will all leave my ranks. It will be the same as I proceed + south through South Carolina and Georgia, and I shall expect to retain + no man beyond the by-road or cow-path that leads to his house. My + small force is melting away like snow before the sun, and I am + hopeless of recruiting it. We may, perhaps, obtain terms which we + ought to accept.' + + "The tone and manner, almost spiteful, in which the General jerked out + these brief, decisive sentences, pausing at every paragraph, left no + doubt as to his own convictions. When he ceased speaking, whatever was + thought of his statements--and their importance was fully + understood--they elicited neither comment nor inquiry. The President, + who, during their delivery, had sat with his eyes fixed upon a scrap + of paper which he was folding and refolding abstractedly, and who had + listened without a change of position or expression, broke the silence + by saying, in a low, even tone: 'What do you say, General Beauregard?' + + "'I concur in all General Johnston has said,' he replied. + + "Another silence, more eloquent of the full appreciation of the + condition of the country than words could have been, succeeded, during + which the President's manner was unchanged. + + "After a brief pause he said, without a variation of tone or + expression, and without raising his eyes from the slip of paper + between his fingers: 'Well, General Johnston, what do you propose? You + speak of obtaining terms. You know, of course, that the enemy refuses + to treat with us. How do you propose to obtain terms?' + + "'I think the opposing Generals in the field may arrange them.' + + "'Do you think Sherman will treat with you?' + + "'I have no reason to think otherwise. Such a course would be in + accordance with military usage, and legitimate.' + + "'We can easily try it, sir. If we can accomplish any good for the + country, Heaven knows I am not particular as to forms. How will you + reach Sherman?' + + "'I would address him a brief note, proposing an interview to arrange + terms of surrender and peace, embracing, of course, a cessation of + hostilities during the negotiations.' + + "'Well, sir, you can adopt this course, though I confess I am not + sanguine as to ultimate results.' + + "The member of the cabinet before referred to as conversing with + General Johnston, and who was anxious that his views should be + promptly carried out, immediately seated himself at the writing-table, + and, taking up a pen, offered to act as the General's amanuensis. At + the request of the latter, however, the President dictated the letter + to General Sherman, which was written at once upon a half sheet of + letter folded as note paper, and signed by General Johnston, who took + it, and said he would send it to General Sherman early in the morning, + and in a few minutes the conference broke up. This note, which was a + brief proposition for a suspension of hostilities, and a conference + with a view to agreeing upon terms of peace, has been published with + other letters which passed between the two Generals. + + "On or about the 16th of April, the President, his staff, and cabinet + left Greensboro' to proceed still further south, with plans unformed, + clinging to the hope that Johnston and Sherman would secure peace and + the quiet of the country, but still all doubtful of the result, and + still more doubtful as to consequences of failure." + +Pending the negotiations between Generals Johnston and Sherman, Mr. Davis +was earnestly appealed to by his attendants to provide for his own safety, +in the event of the failure to obtain terms from Sherman. There would have +been no difficulty in his escaping either across the Mississippi into +Mexico, or from the Florida coast to the West Indies. Apparently +regardless of his personal safety, he was reluctant to contemplate leaving +the country under any circumstances. It is certain that he would not have +entertained the idea of an abandonment of any organized body of men yet +willing to continue in arms for the cause. + +Accompanied by the members of his cabinet, General Cooper, and other +officers, some of whom were in ambulances, and others on horseback, Mr. +Davis went from Greensboro' to Lexington. Here he spent the night at the +residence of an eminent citizen of North Carolina. Continuing their +journey, the party reached Charlotte during the morning of the 18th of +April. At this place were extensive establishments of the Confederate +Government, and arrangements had already been made for the accommodation +of Mr. Davis and his cabinet. During the day of his arrival at Charlotte, +Mr. Davis received a dispatch from General Breckinridge--who, in company +with Mr. Reagan, had returned to Greensboro' to aid the negotiations +between Johnston and Sherman--announcing the assassination of President +Lincoln. + +In connection with this event, Mr. Mallory writes as follows: + + "To a friend who met him a few minutes after he had received it, and + who expressed his incredulity as to its truthfulness, Mr. Davis + replied that, true, it sounded like a canard, but, in such a condition + of public affairs as the country then presented, a crime of this kind + might be perpetrated. His friend remarked that the news was very + disastrous fur the South, for such an event would substitute for the + known humanity and benevolence of Mr. Lincoln a feeling of + vindictiveness in his successor and in Congress, and that an attempt + would doubtless be made to connect the Government or the people of the + South with the assassination. To this Mr. Davis replied, sadly: 'I + certainly have no special regard for Mr. Lincoln, but there are a + great many men of whose end I would much rather hear than his. I fear + it will be disastrous to our people, and I regret it deeply.'" + +Mr. Davis remained at Charlotte nearly a week. Meanwhile the terms of +agreement between Johnston and Sherman were received, and by Mr. Davis +submitted to the cabinet. At a meeting of the cabinet, held on the morning +after the propositions were received, the written opinions of the various +members were concurrent in favor of the acceptance of the Sherman-Johnston +settlement. Three days afterwards, Mr. Davis was informed by General +Johnston of the rejection, by the Federal Government, of the proposed +settlement, and that he could obtain no other terms than those accorded by +General Grant to General Lee. The surrender of General Johnston was, of +course, conclusive of the Confederate cause east of the Mississippi. +Whatever Mr. Davis' hopes might have been previous to that event, and +whatever his determination had been in case of disapproval by the Federal +Government of Sherman's course (a contingency which he anticipated), it +was plain that Johnston's surrender made resistance to the Federal +Government east of the Mississippi impracticable. + +Fully recognizing this fact, Mr. Davis was yet far from contemplating +surrender at discretion. His hope now was to cross the Mississippi, +carrying with him such bodies of troops as were willing to accompany him; +these, added to the force of Kirby Smith, would make an army respectable +in numbers, and occupying a country of abundant supplies. In the +Trans-Mississippi region Mr. Davis would have continued the struggle, in +the hope of obtaining more acceptable terms than had yet been offered. In +this expectation he was greatly strengthened by the spirit of resistance +indicated by bodies of men who had refused to lay down their arms with the +surrendered armies of Lee and Johnston. + +We again quote from the account of Mr. Mallory: + + "No other course now seemed open to Mr. Davis but to leave the + country, and his immediate advisers urged him to do so with the utmost + promptitude. Troops began to come into Charlotte, however, escaping + from Johnston's surrender, and there was much talk amongst them of + crossing the Mississippi, and continuing the war. Portions of + Hampton's, Debrell's, Duke's, and Ferguson's commands of cavalry were + hourly coming in. They seemed determined to get across the river, and + fight it out; and, wherever they encountered Mr. Davis, they cheered, + and sought to encourage him. It was evident that he was greatly + affected by the constancy and spirit of these men, and that, + regardless of his own safety, his thoughts dwelt upon the possibility + of gathering together a body of troops to make head against the foe + and to arouse the people to arms. + + "His friends, however, saw the urgent expediency of getting further + south as rapidly as possible, and, after a week's stay at Charlotte, + they left, with an escort of some two or three hundred cavalry, and, + two days afterwards, reached Yorkville, South Carolina, traveling + slowly, and not at all like men escaping from the country. + + "In pursuing this route, the party met, near the Catawba River, a + gentleman, whose plantation and homestead lay about half a mile from + its banks, and who had come out to meet Mr. Davis, and to offer him + the hospitality of his house. + + "His dwelling, beautifully situated, and surrounded by ornate and + cultivated grounds, was reached about 4 o'clock P. M., and the + charming lady of the mansion, with that earnest sympathy and generous + kindness which Mr. Davis, in misfortune, never failed to receive from + Southern women, soon made every man of the party forget his cares, and + feel, for a time at least, 'o'er all the ills of life victorious.' + + * * * * * + + "At Yorkville, Colonel Preston and other gentlemen had arranged for + the accommodation of Mr. Davis and his party at private houses, and + here they remained one night and part of the next day. + + "A small cavalry escort scouted extensively, and kept Mr. Davis + advised of the positions of the enemy's forces--to avoid which was a + matter of some difficulty. With this view, the party from Yorkville + rode over to a point below Clinton, on the Lawrenceville and Columbus + Railroad, and thence struck off to Cokesboro', on the Greenville + Railroad. + + "Here the party received the kindest attention at private houses. On + the evening of his arrival, Mr. Davis received news by a scout that + the enemy's cavalry, in considerable force, was but ten miles off, and + that he was pressing stock upon all sides; and it was deemed advisable + to make but a brief stay. + + "At 2 o'clock in the morning Mr. Davis was aroused by another scout, + who declared that he had left the enemy only ten miles off, and that + they would be in the town in two or three hours. This intelligence + infused energy throughout the little party. It was composed of men, + however, familiar with real, no less than with rumored perils; men who + had faced danger in too many forms to be readily started from their + propriety; and preparations were very deliberately made with such + force as could be mustered to pay due honor to his enterprise. + + "Several hours elapsed without further intelligence of the enemy's + movements, and at half-past six in the morning the party rode out of + Cokesboro' toward Abbeville, expecting an encounter at any moment, but + Abbeville was reached without seeing an enemy. + + "At Abbeville the fragments of disorganized cavalry commands, which + had thus far performed, in some respects, an escort's duty, were found + to be reduced to a handful of men anxious only to reach their homes as + early as practicable, and whose services could not further be relied + on. They had not surrendered nor given a parole, but they regarded the + struggle as terminated, and themselves relieved from further duty to + their officers or the Confederate States, and, with a few exceptions, + determined to fight no more. They rode in couples or in small squads + through the country, occasionally 'impressing' mules and horses, or + exchanging their wretched beasts for others in better condition; and, + outside of a deep and universal regret for the failure of their cause, + usually expressed by the remark that 'The old Confederacy has gone + up,' they were as gleeful and careless as boys released from school. + Almost every cross-road witnessed the separation of comrades in arms, + who had long shared the perils and privations of a terrific struggle, + now seeking their several homes to resume their duties as peaceful + citizens. Endeared to each other by their ardent love for a common + cause--a cause which they deemed unquestionably right and just, and + which, surrendered not to convictions of error, but to the logic of + arms, was still as true and just as ever--their words of parting, few + and brief, were words of warm, fraternal affection; pledges of endless + regard, and mutual promises to meet again. + + "From information gained here, it was evident that his cavalry was + making a demonstration; but whether to capture Mr. Davis, or simply to + expedite his departure from the country, could not be determined. The + country, or at least those familiar with military movements at this + period, have doubtless long since satisfied themselves upon this + point. + + "To suppose that Mr. Davis and his staff, embracing some eight or ten + gentlemen, all superbly mounted, and with led horses, could ride from + Charlotte, N. C., to Washington, Ga., by daylight, over the highroads + of the country, their coming heralded miles in advance by returning + Confederate soldiers, without the cognizance and consent of the + Federal commanders, whose cavalry covered the country, would be to + detract from all that was known of their activity and vigilance. + + "Political considerations, adequate to account for this unmolested + progress, may readily be imagined. Whether they influenced it is only + known to those who had the direction of public affairs at the time. + But be this as it may, Mr. Davis' progress could not well have been + more public and conspicuous. + + "Mr. Davis, who was more generally known by the soldiers than any + other man in the Confederacy, was never passed by them without a + cheer, or some warm or kindly recognition or mark of respect. The + fallen chief of a cause for which they had risked their lives and + fortunes, and lost every thing but honor, his presence never failed to + command their respect, and to add a tone of sympathy and sadness to + the expression of their good wishes for his future. They knew not his + plans for the future, nor could they conjecture what fate might have + in store for him; but their hearts were with him, go where he might. + + "Bronzed and weather-beaten veterans, who, when other hearts were sore + afraid, still hoped on and fought 'while gleamed the sword of noble + Robert Lee,' grasped his hand, without the power of giving voice to + thoughts which their tear-glistening eyes revealed. Of such men were + the great masses of the Confederate armies composed. Firm and + inflexible in their convictions of right, and yielding not their + convictions, but their armed maintenance of them only, to the stern + arbitrament of war, they may be relied upon to observe with inviolable + faith every pledge and duty to the United States, assumed or implied, + by their submission or parole. + + "At Abbeville Mr. Davis was again urged by his friends to leave the + country, either from the southern shores of Florida or by crossing the + Mississippi and going to Mexico through Texas; but though he listened + quietly to all they had to say upon the subject, and seemed to + acquiesce in their views, he never expressed a decided willingness or + readiness to do so. + + "To some of his friends it was apparent that his capture was not + specially sought by the military authorities, and that he had but to + change his dress and his horse, and to travel with a single friend, to + pass unrecognized and in safety to the sea-shore, and there embark. + Hitherto, as has been already said, his coming along his selected + route was known to the people miles in advance. Schools were dismissed + that the children might, upon the road-side, greet him. Ladies, with + fruits and flowers, presented with tears of sympathy, were seen at the + gates of every homestead, far in advance, awaiting his approach; and + it was hardly supposable that the general in command, whose spies, and + scouts, and cavalry covered the country, and were heard of upon all + sides, was the only person uninformed of Mr. Davis' movements. + + "The assertion that General Sherman, aware of this journey, permitted + it to facilitate the departure of Mr. Davis and his friends from the + country, is not made or designed; for it is possible that his capture + was desired and attempted; but the facts are matters of history, and + are given regardless of the speculations which they may justify. + + "The party left Abbeville at 11 o'clock the same night for Washington, + Georgia, a distance of some forty-five miles, and by riding briskly + they reached the Savannah River at daylight, crossing it upon a + pontoon bridge, and rode into Washington at about 10 o'clock A. M. + Just before leaving Abbeville they learned that a body of Federal + cavalry was _en route_ to destroy this bridge, and might reach it + before them, and hence they pushed on vigorously, meeting no enemy, + but delayed about an hour by mistaking the right road. + + "The night was intensely dark, the weather stormy. In approaching the + bridge through the river swamp the guide and Colonel Preston Johnston, + and another of the party, rode a half mile in advance, and the latter + encountered a mounted Federal officer. The rays of blazing lightwood + within a wood-cutter's small cabin fell upon him as he stood + motionless beneath a tree, and revealed his water-proof riding-coat + and the gold band upon his cap. He hurriedly inquired, as he listened + to the tramp of the coming horsemen: + + "'What troops are these?' + + "'What force is this?' + + "'Is this Jeff. Davis' party?' + + "'Yes,' replied the party addressed, while revolving in his mind the + best course to pursue, 'this is Jeff. Davis' escort of five thousand + men.' + + "The officer vanished in the darkness, and no others were encountered. + + "At Washington it was found that squads of Federal cavalry scouts were + there. A few were in the town at the time, and Mr. Davis was again + urged to consult his safety. His family and servants, with a small + train of ambulances, accompanied by his private Secretary, Mr. Burton + Harrison, had passed through Washington twenty-four hours before, and + the enemy then only some twenty miles distant, and Mr. Davis + ascertained that he might readily overtake them; and before adopting + any plan to leave the country, he desired to see and confer with them. + + "On the following morning, with his party somewhat reduced in numbers, + he left Washington and joined his family. + + "The circumstance of the capture of Mr. Davis, as given officially by + General Wilson, were in harmony with that system of misrepresentation + by which the popular mind was perverted as to all he said, and did, + and designed. His alleged attempt to escape, disguised in female + apparel--a naked fiction--served well enough for the moment to gratify + and amuse the popular mind. Barnum, the showman, true to his + proclivity for practical falsehood, presented to the eyes of Broadway + a graphic life-size representation of Mr. Davis, thus habited, + resisting arrest by Federal soldiers; and many thousands of children, + whose wondering eyes beheld it will grow to maturity and pass into the + grave, retaining the ideas thus created as the truth of history. + Fortunately, however, history rarely leaves her verification wholly to + the testimony of envy, hatred, malice, or falsehood, but contrives, in + her own time and method, ways and means to bring truth to her + exposition. + + "It has been seen that before the President's proclamation connecting + him with the assassination, with every desired opportunity, and with + every means of escape from the country at his command, Mr. Davis + refrained from leaving it; and it is very doubtful whether, in face of + the charge of complicity with this great crime, any power on earth + could have induced him to leave. + + "The sentiment to which the noble Clement Clay, of Alabama, gave + utterance, upon learning that he was charged as _particeps criminis_ + in the assassination doubtless actuated Mr. Davis. Clay was able to + escape from the country, and was prepared to do so; but when his + heroic and loveable wife made known to him this charge, with + indignation and scorn at its base falsehood breathing in every tone, + he rose quietly, and said: 'Well, my dear wife, that puts an end to + all my plans of leaving the country. I must meet this calumny at once, + and will go to Atlanta and surrender myself and demand its + investigation.' + + "Had Mr. Davis left the country, falsehood and malignity would have + multiplied asserted proofs of this black charge against him; and the + shortcomings, errors, and crimes, perhaps, of others, would have been + conveniently attributed to the faults of his head or heart. But his + long captivity, his cruel treatment, the patient, passive heroism with + which, when powerless otherwise, and strong only in honor and + integrity, he met his fate, have combined, not only to seal the lips + of those of his Confederate associates who had wrongs, real or + fancied, to resent, but to concentrate upon him the heartfelt sympathy + of the Southern people, and no little interest and sympathy wherever + heroic endurance of misfortune gains consideration among men. + + "His escape from the country and a secure refuge in a foreign land, + sustained by the respect and affection of the Southern people, were + within his own control; and he might have reasonably looked forward to + a return to his native State, as a result of a change in her political + status, at no distant day. But he refrained from embracing the + opportunities of escape which were his by fortune or by Federal + permission. + + "The suggestions of friends as to his personal safety were heard with + all due consideration, and he manifested none of the airs of a + would-be political martyr; and yet it was evident that captivity and + death had lost with him their terrors in comparison with the crushing + calamity of a defeat of a cause for whose triumph he had been ever + ready to lay down his life. + + "The general language and bearing of the people of the country through + which he passed, their ardent loyalty to the South, their profound + sorrow at the failure of her cause, and their warm expressions of + regard for himself--all confirmatory of the conviction that, + notwithstanding the odds against her, a thorough and hearty union of + the people and leaders would have secured her triumph, affected him + deeply. + + "Throughout his journey he greatly enjoyed the exercise of riding and + the open air, and decidedly preferred the bivouac to the bed-room; and + at such times, reclining against a tree, or stretched upon a blanket, + with his head, pillowed upon his saddle, and under the inspiration of + a good cigar, he talked very pleasantly of stirring scenes of other + days, and forgot, for a time, the engrossing anxieties of the + situation." + +The solicitude of Mr. Davis for the safety of his family led to his +capture. Several weeks had elapsed since he had parted with them, and +almost the first positive information that he received, made him +apprehensive for their safety. In the then disorganized condition of the +country through which he was passing, the inducements to violence and +robbery by desperate characters were numerous. Hearing that the route +which Mrs. Davis was pursuing was infested by marauders, he determined to +see that his family was out of danger, before putting into execution his +design of crossing the Mississippi. While with his family, Mr. Davis was +surprised by a body of Federal cavalry, and at the time being unarmed and +unattended by any force competent for resistance, he was made a prisoner. +On the 19th May, 1865, he was placed in solitary confinement at Fortress +Monroe. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + MOTIVE OF MR. DAVIS' ARREST--AN AFTER-THOUGHT OF STANTON AND THE + BUREAU OF MILITARY JUSTICE--THE EMBARRASSMENT PRODUCED BY HIS + CAPTURE--THE INFAMOUS CHARGES AGAINST HIM--WHY MR. DAVIS WAS TREATED + WITH EXCEPTIONAL CRUELTY--THE OUTRAGES AND INDIGNITIES OFFERED HIM-- + HIS PATIENT AND HEROIC ENDURANCE OF PERSECUTION--HIS RELEASE FROM + FORTRESS MONROE--BAILED BY THE FEDERAL COURT AT RICHMOND--JOY OF THE + COMMUNITY--IN CANADA--RE-APPEARANCE BEFORE THE FEDERAL COURT--HIS + TRIAL AGAIN POSTPONED--CONCLUSION. + + +All doubt has long since been dispelled as to the motive of the pursuit +and arrest of Mr. Davis. His arrest and imprisonment were the +after-thought of the saturnine Secretary of War, and his associate +inquisitors of the Bureau of Military Justice, at Washington. The details +given by Mr. Mallory, of the circumstances of Mr. Davis' progress through +North Carolina, South Carolina, and a part of Georgia, added to facts +which are yet fresh in the public memory, fully justify the conclusion +that the Federal authorities connived at his supposed purpose to escape +the country. The reputation of Mr. Lincoln among his countrymen, for +humanity as well as good sense, renders it extremely probable that such +would have been his method of avoiding the perplexity which must arise +from the capture of Mr. Davis. + +Well understanding that the inflamed public sentiment of the North, +regarding Mr. Davis as a political offender of the worst possible +character, would not tolerate his immediate release, the Federal +Government would have served the ends of humanity and sound policy by +encouraging his escape. On the other hand the laws of the United States +tolerate prolonged imprisonment only after trial and sentence. Hence the +arrest of Mr. Davis must open an endless perspective of embarrassments. He +could not be tried simply as an individual, nor could his punishment for +any alleged crime of his own, be the sole object to be sought. His +arraignment before a judicial tribunal, would be the arraignment of the +principle of State Sovereignty, of the States which had sought to put that +principle in practice, of the five millions of American citizens who had +supported it, and who had cheerfully risked their lives and earthly +possessions for its maintenance. + +Nay, more, the trial of Jefferson Davis, upon a charge of treason, meant +the trial of the North also. Should all efforts to convict the South in +the person of Mr. Davis, of treason, fail, the recoil might well be +dreaded by those who instigated the war upon the rights and existence of +the States. It was not to be safely assumed that the legal decision of a +constitutional question, which divided the framers of the Federal +Constitution, would necessarily affirm the party and sectional dogmas upon +which the North waged the war. Should secession be legally justified, what +justification could the North claim, that is rightfully denied to Russia +in her conduct towards Poland? What plea should England need for her +outrages upon Ireland? With Jefferson Davis acquitted of treason, what +could the conduct of the North for four years have been, but a revelry in +blood--the wanton perpetration of a monstrous crime? + +In this dilemma the industry of the Bureau of Military Justice, which +afterwards achieved an immortality of infamy, by its record of judicial +murders, aided by the ingenuity of Stanton, devised a scheme for the +arrest of Mr. Davis, upon charges designed to cover him and the cause +which he represented, with everlasting obloquy. Not content with having +triumphed by superior numbers, in a war of political opinions, which in +the beginning was declared not to be waged for social or political +subversion; not content with having settled a grave constitutional +question, by brute force, in a government founded upon the idea of popular +consent, the Federal authorities were now made a party to infamous +falsehoods, the circumstances and results of which have fixed a stigma +upon the American name. + +Contemporary with the announcement of events, which proclaimed the +irretrievable downfall of the Confederacy, were the calumnies of the +Northern press, under the alleged inspiration of Stanton, representing +that Mr. Davis was escaping with wagons filled with plunder, and with the +gold of the Richmond banks; and that he had endeavored to escape in the +concealment of female apparel. No one knew better than those who +promulgated this paltry defamation, its utter falsity, and we would not +insult Mr. Davis and the Southern people by bestowing consideration upon +such palpable calumnies. It was not calculated that such a portraiture of +one, whose personal honor, courage, and manhood had triumphantly endured +every test, would be accepted by the intelligence even of the North. But +it nevertheless had an obvious purpose, which was well answered. It +imposed upon the weak and credulous. The besotted and cowardly mobs of the +Northern cities, who filled the air with clamor for the "blood of +traitors," while the men who had conquered the South, were touched with +sympathy for the misfortunes of foes whom they respected, of course +eagerly accepted any caricature of Mr. Davis agreeable to their own vulgar +imaginations. In this manner was consummated the first step in the object +of delaying the feeling of personal respect, and of sympathy for +misfortunes, which eventually assert themselves in the masses, for a +fallen foe, whom it was already resolved to persecute with oppression and +cruelty previously unknown under the American political system. + +Next came the atrocious proclamation charging Mr. Davis with complicity in +the assassination of President Lincoln. It is safe to say that incidents +hitherto prominent by their infamy, will be forgotten by history, in +comparison with the dastardly criminal intent which instigated that +document. Circumstances warrant the belief that not one of the +conspirators against the life and honor of Mr. Davis, believed either then +or now, that the charge had one atom of truth. Had the charge been +honestly made, it would have been disavowed, when its falsity became +apparent. But this would not have subserved the end of the conspirators, +and the poison was permitted to circulate and rankle, long after the +calumny had been exploded during the investigations of the military +commission, in the cases of Mrs. Surratt and Captain Wirz. At length +justice was vindicated by the publication of the confidential +correspondence between Holt and Conover, which disclosed the unparalleled +subornation and perjury upon which the conspirators relied. Well has it +been said that the world will yet wonder "how it was that a people, +passing for civilized and Christian, should have consigned Jefferson Davis +to a cell, while they tolerated Edwin M. Stanton as a Cabinet Minister." + +We have no desire to dwell upon the details of Mr. Davis' long and cruel +imprisonment. The story is one over which the South has wept tears of +agony, at whose recital the civilized world revolted, and which, in years +to come, will mantle with shame the cheek of every American citizen who +values the good name of his country. In a time of profound peace, when the +last vestige of resistance to Federal authority had disappeared in the +South, Mr. Davis, wrecked in fortune and in health, in violation of every +fundamental principle of American liberty, of justice and humanity, was +detained for two years, without trial, in close confinement, and, during a +large portion of this period, treated with all the rigor of a sentenced +convict. + +But if indeed Mr. Davis was thus to be prejudged as the "traitor" and +"conspirator" which the Stantons, and Holts, and Forneys declared him to +be, why should he be selected from the millions of his advisers and +followers, voluntary participants in his assumed "treason," as the single +victim of cruelty, outrage, and indignity? What is there in his +antecedents inconsistent with the character of a patriotic statesman +devoted to the promotion of union, fraternity, harmony, and faithful +allegiance to the Constitution and laws of his country? We have endeavored +faithfully to trace his distinguished career as a statesman and soldier, +and at no stage of his life is there to be found, either in his conduct or +declared opinions, the evidence of infidelity to the Union as its +character and objects were revealed to his understanding. Nor is there to +be found in his personal character any support of that moral turpitude +which a thousand oracles of falsehood have declared to have peculiarly +characterized his commission of "treason." + +No tongue and pen were more eloquent than his in describing the grandeur, +glory, and blessings of the Union, and in invoking for its perpetuation +the aspirations and prayers of his fellow-citizens. In the midst of +passion and tumult, in 1861, he was conspicuous by his zeal for +compromise, and for a pacific solution of difficulties. No Southern +Senator abandoned his seat with so pathetic and regretful an announcement +of the necessity which compelled the step. The sorrowful tone of his +valedictory moistened the eye of every listener, and convinced even +political adversaries of the sincerity and purity of his motives. His +elevation to the Presidency of the Confederacy was not dictated by the +recognition of any supposed title to leadership in the secession movement. +His election was indeed a triumph over the extreme sentiment of the South, +and was declared by those who opposed it to involve a compromise of the +exclusive sectionalism which was the basis of the new government. His +administration of the Confederate Government exhibited the same unswerving +loyalty to duty, to justice and humanity, which his previous life so nobly +exemplified. The people of the South alone know how steadfastly he opposed +the indulgence of vengeance; how he strove, until the last moments of the +struggle, to restrain the rancor and bitterness so naturally engendered +under the circumstances. Yet, when Jefferson Davis lay a helpless prisoner +in the strongest fortress of the Union, with "broad patches of skin +abraded" by the irons upon his limbs, men were practically pardoned who +had devoted years of labor to the purpose of disunion, and had reproached +him for not unfurling the "black flag." Is not the inference, then, +justified that all of these tortures and indignities were aimed at the +people and the cause which his dignity, purity, and genius had so exalted +in the eyes of mankind? + +But how impotent are falsehood and malignity to obstruct the illumination +of truth! As subornation and perjury proved unavailing to convict him of +atrocious guilt, so equally has persecution failed to accomplish its +purpose. To all that shameful picture of barbarous violence and gratuitous +insult; of insolent _espionage_ and vulgar curiosity; of the illustrious +leader of a brave people, whose whole life does not exhibit one act of +meanness or shame, or one word of untruth, crushed by disaster, and +prostrate with disease, fettered as if he were a desperate felon; +restricted in his diet, and not even permitted a change of linen, except +by the authority of a military jailer; an object of unrelaxed scrutiny, +often driven to his cell by the peering curiosity of vulgar men and +unsexed women--to all this there was but one relief--the patient and +constant heroism of the sufferer, giving heart to his despairing +countrymen, and ennobling his own captivity. History furnishes no similar +instance of patient and dignified endurance of adversity and persecution. + +The incidents of Mr. Davis' history since his release from Fortress +Monroe, do not require detailed narration. For the most part they are +confined to that domain of privacy which decency holds to be inviolable. +When two years--wanting a few days--from the date of his incarceration had +elapsed, Mr. Davis was transferred by the military authorities to the +custody of the Federal civil authorities at Richmond. Here, amid the +congratulations of friends, and the rejoicings of the community, which +loves him as it loves but one other--his constant friend and compeer in +fame--he was released from custody under circumstances which are well +known. The interval between his release in May, 1867, and his +re-appearance before the Federal court, at Richmond, in the ensuing +November, was passed by Mr. Davis in Canada. There he was the recipient of +the respect and sympathy which his character and his sufferings might have +been expected to elicit from a humane people. At the November term of the +Federal court, Mr. Davis was again present, with his eminent counsel, +awaiting trial, and was again released upon recognizance to appear on the +25th March, 1868. + +In the face of the close proximity of the event, it would be unprofitable +to speculate as to the sequel of this third appearance of Jefferson Davis +before a judicial tribunal, to answer the charge of treason. Nor do we +propose to add to the brief consideration, which has already been given in +this volume, of the legal and historical question involved in the case of +Mr. Davis. The subject has been exhausted. The masterly expositions by Mr. +Davis of the theory of the Federal Government (some of which we have +given), are at once the complete vindications of himself and his +countrymen, and the sufficient monuments of his fame. + +But are the issues of the war to be subjected to candid and impartial +legal adjudication? Will the North approve this raising of a doubt as to +its own justification, merely in the hope of vengeance upon one who is +powerless for injury? But if there is to be admitted another jurisdiction +than that of War; if the arbitrament of battle is to be carried to the +higher tribunal of Law and Public Opinion; if there is to be a trial and +not a judicial farce, with a foregone conclusion and a prejudged sentence, +the South and its late leader will not shrink from the verdict. Of this, +the world requires no more emphatic iteration than that furnished by past +events. + +But the decision of this question, whatever it may be, can not recover the +wager which the South gallantly staked and irretrievably lost. Time will +show, however, the amount of truth in the prophecy of Jefferson Davis, +made in reply to the remark that the cause of the Confederacy was lost: +"_It appears so. But the principle for which we contended is bound to +re-assert itself, though it may be at another time and in another form._" + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] A pertinent remark of Macaulay is, "It is the nature of parties to +retain their original enmities far more firmly than their original +principles. During many years, a generation of Whigs, whom Sydney would +have spurned as slaves, continued to wage war with a generation of Tories +whom Jeffries would have hanged." + +[2] Mr. Gladstone. + +[3] Mr. Davis has, since his withdrawal from the army until the breaking +out of the war, resided on his plantation in Warren County, a few miles +from Vicksburg. + +[4] Dr. Craven relates the following incident, which is an impressive +illustration of the depth and intensity of Mr. Davis' veneration for the +character of Mr. Calhoun: + +"General Miles observed, interrogatively, that it was reported that John +C. Calhoun had made much money by speculations, or favoring the +speculations of his friends, connected with this work (the Rip-Raps, near +Fortress Monroe). + +"In a moment Mr. Davis started to his feet, betraying much indignation by +his excited manner and flushed cheek. It was a transfiguration of friendly +emotion. The feeble and wasted invalid and prisoner, suddenly forgetting +his bonds--forgetting his debility, and ablaze with eloquent anger against +this injustice to the memory of one he loved and reverenced. Mr. Calhoun, +he said, lived a whole atmosphere above any sordid or dishonest +thought--was of a nature to which even a mean act was impossible. It was +said in every Northern paper that he (Mr. Davis) had carried with him five +millions in gold when quitting Richmond--money pilfered from the treasury +of the Confederate States; and that there was just as much truth in that +as in these imputations against Calhoun.... Calhoun was a statesman, a +philosopher, in the true sense of that grossly-abused term--an enthusiast +of perfect liberty in representative and governmental action."--_Prison +Life of Jefferson Davis. Library edition, pages 206, 207._ + +[5] Massachusetts even refused military honors to the remains of a gallant +son of her own soil, (Captain Lincoln,) and a descendant of one of her +most eminent families, who was killed at Buena Vista. Her fanatical +intolerance would not forget that he had fallen in a war which she did not +approve. + +[6] "Our Living Representative Men," by Mr. John Savage. + +[7] Lieutenant-Colonel A. K. McClung. + +[8] For this spirited account of the operations of the Mississippi +regiment at Monterey, the author is indebted to a sketch of Mr. Davis in +Mr. John Savage's "Living Representative Men," which was published a year +or two prior to the war. Though having several other accounts, possibly +more complete, I have selected this as the most graphic. The author +readily acknowledges the assistance which he has derived from the work of +Mr. Savage. + +[9] This Constitutional question was again raised by Mr. Davis, while +President of the Confederacy, and his action with reference to similar +legislation by the Confederate Congress, was in entire accordance with the +reason assigned for declining Mr. Polk's appointment. + +[10] Henry Clay, Jr., a graduate of West Point, and at the time of his +death, Lieutenant-Colonel of volunteers. He fell at Buena Vista. + +[11] The repeal of the Missouri Compromise has been commonly alluded to as +the special and leading measure of the Pierce administration. It was, in +reality, not an administration measure. The well-known cordiality of Mr. +Davis' relations with President Pierce induced a number of Senators to +call upon Mr. Davis, on the Sunday morning previous to the introduction of +the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and ask his aid in securing them the pledge of +the President's approval. They represented the measure as contemplating +merely the assertion of the rights of property, slavery included, in the +Territories. Mr. Davis objected, at first, to an interruption of the +President, on the Sabbath, for such a purpose, but finally yielded. The +President promptly signified his approbation of a measure contemplating +such a purpose. It is not necessary to say that the legislation of +Congress embraced a far greater scope than that indicated. The +administration indorsed the Kansas-Nebraska Bill in full, because the +principle was correct, though its assertion then was wholly unnecessary, +unprofitable, and likely to lead to mischievous results. This was the real +connection of the Pierce administration with a measure for whose +consequences the ambition of Judge Douglas was almost solely responsible. + +[12] Governor Wise, of Virginia, characterized "squatter sovereignty" as a +"short cut to all the ends of Black Republicanism." + +[13] To be found at the conclusion of this chapter. + +[14] William Rawle, of Philadelphia, an able lawyer and constitutional +expounder. Mr. Buchanan, in his history of his own administration, thus +mentions him: "The right of secession found advocates afterwards in men of +distinguished abilities and unquestioned patriotism. In 1825, it was +maintained by Mr. William Rawle, of Philadelphia, an eminent and +universally-respected lawyer.... His biographer says that, 'in 1791, he +was appointed District Attorney of the United States,' and 'the situation +of Attorney General was more than once tendered to him by Washington, but +as often declined,' for domestic reasons." + +[15] Hon. C. C. Clay, of Alabama. + +[16] It is not to be understood that Mr. Davis approved Mr. Buchanan's +policy in the winter of 1861. The message of the President disappointed +the South, and was offensive to many of his most attached supporters, in +consequence of its denial of the right of secession. Denying the right of +secession, Mr. Buchanan yet denied, also, the power of coercing the +States, but subsequently lent himself to the latter policy. Mr. Davis +freely testified his disappointment at certain positions taken in the +Message, and criticised them with emphasis, but great courtesy. Mr. +Buchanan indicates the special message of January, 1861, as the occasion +of the termination of all friendly relations between himself and those +whom he terms the "secession Senators." + +[17] It is a notable fact that, years ago, the strong and avowed +attachment of Mr. Davis for the Union, was habitually sneered at by some +Southern men, who are now seeking to gratify their lust for place by +"crooking the pregnant hinges of the knee," to those who persecute him and +his countrymen. + +[18] Mr. Crittenden, whose supreme devotion to the Union, can not be +called in question, since he continued to cling to the shadow long after +the substance had departed, and in the midst of actual war continued to +hope for a final pacific settlement, was greatly incensed at the +unpatriotic course of the Republican Senators. His gray hairs, his +eloquence, his unquestioned Unionism, were all unavailing. He was +frequently hotly denunciatory, of what, equally with Mr. Davis, he +regarded a purpose to prevent any adjustment which could have a pacifying +effect upon the country. + +[19] Statement of Hon. S. S. Cox. + +[20] Acts of secession were adopted by the various States as follows: + + South Carolina, December 20, 1860. + + Florida, January 7, 1861. + + Mississippi, January 9, 1861. + + Alabama, January 11, 1861. + + Georgia, January 20, 1861. + + Louisiana, January 26, 1861. + + Texas, February 1, 1861. + +[21] Extract from President Davis' address before the Mississippi +Legislature, December, 1862. + +[22] By the steamer "Star of the West," which was driven back by the South +Carolina batteries. + +[23] It was not until the 8th of April that the commissioners obtained a +reply to their official communication of March 12th. From this reply, it +appeared that "during the whole interval while the commissioners were +receiving assurances calculated to inspire hope of the success of their +mission, the Secretary of State and the President of the United States had +already determined to hold no intercourse with them whatever; to refuse +even to listen to any proposals they had to make, and had profited by the +delay created by their own assurances, in order to prepare secretly the +means for effective hostile operations."--_President Davis' Message, April +29th, 1861._ + +[24] Message to Confederate Congress. + +[25] This expedition, ostensibly "for the relief of a starving garrison," +consisted of eleven vessels, with two hundred and eighty-five guns and +twenty-four hundred men. + +[26] Before instructing General Beauregard to fire upon the fort, +President Davis made another effort to prevent hostilities, which he thus +explains: "Even then" (after Beauregard had applied for instructions), +"under all the provocation incident to the contemptuous refusal to listen +to our commissioners, and the treacherous course of the Government of the +United States, I was sincerely anxious to avoid the effusion of blood, and +directed a proposal to be made to the commander of Fort Sumter, who had +avowed himself to be nearly out of provisions, that we would abstain from +directing our fire at Fort Sumter, if he would promise not to open fire on +our forces unless first attacked. This proposal was refused. The +conclusion was, that the design of the United States was to place the +besieging force at Charleston between the simultaneous fire of the fleet +and fort. The fort should, of course, be at once reduced. This order was +executed by General Beauregard with skill and success."--_Message, 29th +April, 1861._ + +[27] Mr. Lincoln's proclamation was dated April 15, 1861. + +[28] On the day of the surrender of Fort Sumter, Mr. Lincoln protested to +the Virginia commissioners the pacific purposes of his government. When +giving these assurances to Virginia he had heard of the surrender of the +fort, and knew that for two days Beauregard had been firing upon the +"sacred flag." + +[29] April 24, 1861. Virginia joined the Confederacy as a member May 6, +1861. + +[30] "East Tennessee" was a perpetual "fire in the rear" to the +Confederacy. + +[31] President Davis appreciated the immense value to the South of +privateering. The Federal Government employed all the naval force at their +command to blockade the South, recalled the squadrons stationed in foreign +waters, and made extensive purchases of vessels for purposes of war. The +South, of course, had no navy, since there had been no time to prepare or +purchase one within the brief space between the organization of the +Confederate Government and the beginning of hostilities. Under these +circumstances there remained only the resort to private armed ships, under +letters of marque, to assault the floating commerce of the enemy, and, to +some extent, neutralize the blockade. Doubting the constitutional power of +the executive in the premises, he, with characteristic regard for law, +determined not to commission privateers until duly authorized by the +legislation of Congress. The authority to issue commissions, and letters +of marque and general reprisal, to privateers, was given by act of +Congress, passed 6th of May. + +[32] A recent work (_Richmond During the War_) thus mentions the arrival +of Mr. Davis in Richmond: + +"He was received with an outburst of enthusiasm. A suite of handsome +apartments had been provided for him at the Spotswood Hotel, until +arrangements could be made for supplying him with more elegant and +suitable accommodations. Over the hotel, and from the various windows of +the guests, waved numerous Confederate flags, and the rooms destined for +his use were gorgeously draped in the Confederate colors. In honor of his +arrival, almost every house in the city was decorated with the 'Stars and +Bars.' + +"An elegant residence for the use of Mr. Davis was soon procured. It was +situated in the western part of the city, on a hill, overlooking a +landscape of romantic beauty. This establishment was luxuriantly +furnished, and there Mr. and Mrs. Davis dispensed the elegant +hospitalities for which they were ever distinguished. Mrs. Davis is a +tall, commanding figure, with dark hair, eyes and complexion, and +strongly-marked expression, which lies chiefly in the mouth. With +firmly-set yet flexible lips, there is indicated much energy of purpose +and will, but beautifully softened by the usually sad expression of her +dark, earnest eyes. Her manners are kind, graceful, easy, and affable, and +her receptions were characterized by the dignity and suavity which should +very properly distinguish the drawing room entertainments of the Chief +Magistrate of a Republic." + +[33] We intentionally waive the discussion of this question as to the +extent of the preparation made by the States, severally, for actual war. +It is not incumbent upon us here to examine the action of the individual +States. We do not desire to be understood, however, as assenting to the +proposition that all the States were inadequately prepared. It is a +singular commentary upon the wisdom and sagacity of the leaders of +secession in its earlier stages (by the various States), that Virginia and +North Carolina were each better able to arm their troops than were some of +the Cotton States. The latter may have made as much preparation as was +possible under the circumstances. When Mr. Davis reached Mississippi, +after his withdrawal from the Senate, the Legislature had appropriated +$150,000 for military purposes. As Major-General commanding the forces of +the State, he was consulted as to additional appropriations. He +immediately recommended an appropriation of _three millions of dollars_. +It is needless to say that such a recommendation, at that period, was +deemed little less than extravagant folly. + +[34] It should be observed that Mr. Lincoln did not call upon the Federal +Congress to assemble until July 4th, two months after the meeting of the +Confederate Congress. + +[35] In this connection, we quote from a remarkably faithful and careful +chronicle of events during a portion of the war: "On the morning of the +29th of May, President Davis arrived in Richmond.... He found the military +preparations in a state requiring instant energy, and, within a few hours +after his arrival, he telegraphed and wrote messages to every State in the +South, urging that troops should be sent forward with increased +speed."--_Howison's History of the War._ + +[36] General Von Molkte, who planned the Prussian campaign in Bohemia. + +[37] General Jubal A. Early. + +[38] The speech made by Mr. Davis at the depot of the Virginia Central +Railroad was not reported in the newspapers. The writer, in company with +two friends, was in the crowd which greeted the return of Mr. Davis to the +capital, and such was the effect of the scene and the glowing words of the +speaker, that neither can ever be forgotten. A few hours subsequently to +the scene at the depot, the words, as given below, were repeated, in the +presence of several persons who heard Mr. Davis, and were pronounced by +them the identical language used by him. They were preserved in writing, +and are now published for the first time. Apart from its historical +interest, the speech is a remarkable specimen of spontaneous, sententious +eloquence, eminently appropriate to the occasion: + + "_Fellow-citizens of the Confederate States_: + + "I rejoice with you, this evening, in those better and happier + feelings which we all experience, as compared with the anxiety of + three days ago. Your little army--derided for its want of + numbers--derided for its want of arms--derided for its lack of all the + essential material of war--has met the grand army of the enemy, routed + it at every point, and it now flies, in inglorious retreat, before our + victorious columns. We have taught them a lesson in their invasion of + the sacred soil of Virginia; we have taught them that the grand old + mother of Washington still nurtures a band of heroes; and a yet + bloodier and far more fatal lesson awaits them, unless they speedily + acknowledge that freedom to which you were born." + +[39] The _Harper's Magazine_ article of General Jordan. + +[40] The Federal official reports are overwhelmingly in confirmation of +these views of General Jackson. General McClellan stated that "in no +quarter were the dispositions for defense such as to offer resistance to a +respectable body of the enemy." + +[41] The writer heard this speech of Mr. Davis, and his recollection is +positive of the encouragement extended by the President to the hope of an +immediate forward movement. The recollection of the author of "The Diary +of a Rebel War Clerk" seems to be substantially the same. + +[42] One evidence of this "persecution" would appear to consist in the +fact that the President, having reluctantly commissioned Generals Lovell +and G. W. Smith, upon the recommendations of Generals Beauregard and +Johnston, chose also to commission, at the same time, with a similar rank, +General Van Dorn, giving the latter a senior commission. Smith and Lovell +had but recently come to the South, both being residents of New York, +before the war, while Van Dorn had promptly sought service in the +Confederate army before hostilities commenced, had done excellent service, +and been constantly in front of the enemy. Another proof of "persecution" +is that the President refused to permit such an organization of the army +as he believed to be in conflict with the laws of Congress. + +The commonly assigned origin of the difference between President Davis and +General Beauregard, which gave rise to so much scandal and falsehood +during the war, was the suppression of the preliminary portion of General +B.'s report of the battle of Manassas. The correct version of that matter +is now well known. President Davis did not suppress any portion of +Beauregard's report. He did object to certain preliminary statements of +the report, and requested that they should be altered or omitted. When +this was declined, the President sent the report to Congress, accompanied +by an indorsement of his own, correcting what he conceived to be errors. +General Beauregard's friends in Congress, unwilling that these comments of +the President should be published, suppressed both the objectionable +passages and the executive indorsement. So that they, and not the +President, occasioned that "suppression," from which arose much gossip and +mystery. A sufficient answer to these charges of personal antagonism by +the President to these two officers, should be the fact that he retained +them in command of the two largest armies of the Confederacy, until +relinquished by them, in the one case, because of sickness, and in the +other, in consequence of a wound which caused disability. + +[43] The friends of Mr. Mallory, in illustration of this unreasoning +prejudice, were accustomed to declare that, "were a Confederate vessel to +sink in a storm, in the middle of the ocean, the Richmond _Examiner_ and +Mr. Foote would advocate the censure of the Secretary of the Navy, as +responsible for her loss." + +[44] The careful reader will hardly have overlooked the passage, in the +Message to Congress, in the preceding chapter, in which Mr. Davis thus +alludes to this subject: "The active state of military preparation among +the nations of Europe, in April last, the date when our agents first went +abroad, interposed unavoidable delays in the procurement of arms, and the +want of a navy has greatly impeded our efforts to obtain military supplies +of all sorts." + +A few months later, he said, speaking with characteristic candor: "I was +among those who, from the beginning, predicted war as the consequences of +secession, although I must admit that the contest has assumed proportions +more gigantic than I had anticipated. I predicted war, not because our +right to secede and to form a government of our own was not indisputable +and clearly defined in the spirit of that declaration, which rests the +right to govern on the consent of the governed, but saw that the +wickedness of the North would precipitate a war upon us."--_Address before +Mississippi Legislature, December, 1862._ + +Mr. Davis here candidly admits that the "gigantic proportions" of the war +exceeded his expectations, as they did also the expectations of the whole +country and of the world. He did foresee a _great war_, and prepared for +it; but he was not guilty of the foolish pretension that the war simply +realized his expectations, when every statesman of Europe and America was +deceived, both as to its duration and magnitude. Who believes that +Napoleon the First, equally the unrivaled master of war and diplomacy, +would pretend that he foresaw the extent and duration, or the results, of +the wars of the empire? that he realized the inextinguishable nature of +English hostility, or anticipated the numerous perfidies of Austria? Mr. +Seward, who is likely to be remembered, with some distinction, in +connection with the diplomacy and statesmanship of the late war, +constantly predicted its termination in "ninety days." _No opinion can be +truthfully ascribed to Mr. Davis indicating a light estimate of the +struggle either before or during the war._ Yet there is a retrospective +statesmanship in the South which now claims that he should have been +lifted to its own preternatural powers, and from the first have seen every +phase and incident. How absurd must this pretension appear to the sober +judgment of fifty years hence. + +Mr. Davis was even accredited in Richmond, by an extravagant and unfounded +popular report, with the prophecy that "children then (1862) unborn would +be soldiers in the war between the North and South." People in those days +saw nothing in the action of the Government indicating its faith in a +short war. Their only consolation was found in the editorials of Richmond +newspapers predicting foreign intervention should McClellan be defeated. + +[45] Inaugural Address, February 22, 1862. + +[46] The order was in these terms: + + "WAR DEPARTMENT, + "ADJUTANT AND HIS INSPECTOR-GENERAL'S OFFICE, + "March 13. 1862. + + "General Orders, No. 14. + + "General Robert E. Lee is assigned to duty at the seat of Government; + and, under the direction of the President, is charged with the conduct + of military operations in the armies of the Confederacy. + + "By command of the Secretary of War. + + "S. COOPER, + "_Adjutant and Inspector-General_." + +[47] The fact is not generally known that the President was, upon two +occasions, assailed with urgent petitions for the removal of Stonewall +Jackson, which he peremptorily rejected on both occasions; first, after +the campaign about Romney, in December, 1861, and again, after the battle +of Kernstown. March, 1862. + +[48] I am mainly indebted for these facts to a recent publication by +Professor Bledsoe, late Assistant Secretary of War of the Confederate +States. + +[49] In this engagement General Benjamin McCulloch, of Texan fame, a brave +and efficient soldier, was killed. + +[50] When General Beauregard had eluded Halleck at Corinth, and brought +his army to Tupelo, he turned over the command to General Bragg, and +sought repose and recuperation at Bladon Springs, Alabama. Those who +assume to be the friends and admirers of General Beauregard, but who are +far more anxious to establish a mean malignity in the character of Mr. +Davis, than to exalt their favorite, have laid great stress upon the fact, +that the President then placed Bragg in command of the army for the +ensuing campaign, thus placing Beauregard in retirement. There can be +little difficulty in comprehending the commendable motives which prompted +Mr. Davis to this course. The period of General Beauregard's absence from +his command (three weeks, it is understood) would protract the period of +inactivity until midsummer. Time was precious. The Western army had done +nothing but lose ground all the current year, and, meanwhile, Lee was +preparing his part of the operations, by which the Government hoped to +throw the enemy back upon the frontier. Was, then, the Western army to lie +idle, awaiting the disposition and convenience of one man? With the +approval of the army and the country, the President appointed to the +vacated command, an able and devoted soldier, whose reputation and service +justified the trust. The writer has seen nothing from General Beauregard +approving the assaults of his pretended admirers upon Mr. Davis, and it is +not unreasonable to suppose that he does not indorse them. + +It is also urged that Mr. Davis, when pressed to remove Bragg and replace +Beauregard, declared that he would not, though the whole world should +unite in the petition. Very likely, and altogether proper that he should +not remove an officer while in the actual execution of his plans of +campaign. But there can be no better explanation than that given by Mr. +Davis: "The President remarked, that so far as giving Beauregard command +of Bragg's army is concerned, that was out of the question. _Bragg had +arranged all his plans_, and had co-intelligence with the Department, with +Kirby Smith, and Humphrey Marshall; and _to put a new commander at the +head of the army would be so prejudicial to the public interests, he would +not do it if the whole world united in the petition_." + +But President Davis never designed that General Beauregard should be +without a command. With that just appreciation of the real merits of his +generals, apart from the cheap applause or unmerited censure of the crowd, +which distinguished most of his selections, he placed General Beauregard +in charge of the coast defenses, where his reputation was certainly much +enhanced. In this oft-repeated and unfounded charge of "injustice" and +"persecution," in the case of General Joseph E. Johnston, as in that of +General Beauregard, there is no specification, more awkwardly sustained, +than that which denies the abundant opportunity enjoyed by each of those +officers, for the display of the superior genius asserted for them by +their admirers. The slightest acquaintance with the history of the war +will verify this statement. + +[51] Much crimination and recrimination followed the fall of New Orleans. +It is, at least, safe to say, that public opinion in the South was much +divided, as to where the burden of censure for this dire and unexpected +calamity should properly rest. The intelligence of the capture of the city +was an appalling surprise, not only to the public in Richmond, but to the +Government. President Davis declared that the event was totally unexpected +by him. The fall of New Orleans was one of those instances, in which the +Confederates had decided for them, in a most unsatisfactory manner, the +long disputed question as to the efficiency of shore batteries against +vessels of war. Precedents established, when sailing vessels were used in +warfare, were overthrown by the experience of steam vessels, especially +when iron-plated. Commodore Farragut, with perfect success and comparative +ease, passed the forts below New Orleans, after the chief of the naval +force had despaired of their reduction. + +[52] These revelations of the designs of McClellan are derived from the +admirable work of Mr. Swinton--the "History of the Army of the +Potomac"--perhaps the ablest and most impartial contribution yet made to +the history of the late war. + +It is noteworthy that General Grant attempted nearly the same approach to +Richmond and was signally foiled--a fact which he promptly recognized, by +his change of plan, after his bloody repulse at Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864. + +[53] This dispatch was in substance: "Halt the army where it is." + +[54] The incidents of this trying period, when Richmond was doubly +threatened by the hosts of McClellan, and the gunboats in the river, are +"mementoes of heroism," proudly illustrating the unconquerable spirit of +that devoted city and its rulers. We give the resolution passed by the +Legislature on the occasion referred to--May 14, 1862: + +"_Resolved by the General Assembly_, That this General Assembly expresses +its desire that the capital of the State be defended to the last +extremity, if such defense is in accordance with the views of the +President of the Confederate States; and that the President be assured, +that whatever destruction or loss of property, of the State, or +individuals shall hereby result, will be cheerfully submitted to." + +Two days after, at a public meeting of the citizens of Richmond, Governor +Letcher said, that under no circumstances would he approve the surrender +of the city, and avowed his readiness to endure bombardment, if necessary. +In the same stout spirit spoke Mayor Mayo: + +"I say now--and I will abide by it--when the citizens of Richmond demand +of me to surrender the capital of Virginia, and of the Confederacy, to the +enemy, they must find some other man to fill my place. I will resign the +mayoralty. And when that other man elected in my stead shall deliver up +the city, I hope I may have physical courage and strength enough left to +shoulder a musket and go into the ranks." + +[55] It is only fair to state that General Johnston proposed operations, +similar in their main features to those of Lee, though it does not +therefore follow that they would have been equally successful. Johnston's +ability as a strategist can not be questioned, and to those who closely +and intelligently studied his campaigns, there can be little doubt as to +his aggressive qualities, though in this respect, _results_ were not in +his favor. + +[56] Mr. Davis was every day upon the battle-field, and from this +circumstance the impression prevailed in Richmond that he was directing +the army in person. A common report, which I have never seen contradicted, +was that the President narrowly escaped death during the progress of the +battles. As related to the writer, the circumstance was as follows: The +President, in company with General Magruder and other officers, was at a +farm-house, upon which one of the Federal batteries was preparing to open. +General Lee, apprised of the President's whereabouts, sent a courier to +warn him of his danger, and he and his companions escaped without injury, +just as the Federal battery opened fire. + +[57] A serious disadvantage suffered by General Lee was the capture of his +plan of battle by General McClellan. Completely informed as to his +adversary's movements, and with ninety thousand men against thirty-three +thousand, the wonder is, that McClellan did not overwhelm the Confederate +army. The means by which the enemy obtained this important paper was a +subject of much gossip in the Confederacy. + +[58] A sufficient proof of the injury done the South by the pretended +neutrality of England was the confession of the British Foreign Secretary. +Said he: "The impartial observance of neutral obligation by Her Majesty's +Government has thus been exceedingly advantageous to the cause of the more +powerful of the two contending parties." + +[59] General Lee stated the proportion of the Federal strength to his own +as _ten to three_. Mr. Swinton states Hooker's force at one hundred and +twenty thousand infantry, twelve thousand cavalry, and four hundred guns. +Lee's effective force was considerably less than fifty thousand. + +The absence of Longstreet was severely felt by General Lee in his +operations against Hooker. The presence of a force was absolutely +indispensable upon the south side of James River, in the early spring, to +meet the formidable Federal force in the neighborhood of Suffolk. An +impression, altogether erroneous, however, prevailed, that Longstreet's +detention from Lee was caused by President Davis. The President eventually +ordered Longstreet to Lee, after his delay at Richmond. + +[60] "Of Stonewall Jackson, Mr. Davis spoke with the utmost tenderness, +and some touch of reverential feeling, bearing witness to his earnest and +pathetic piety, his singleness of aim, his immense energy as an executive +officer, and the loyalty of his nature, making obedience the first of all +duties.... He had the faculty, or, rather, gift of exciting and holding +the love and confidence of his men to an unbounded degree, even though the +character of his campaigning imposed on them more hardships than on any +other troops in the service. Good soldiers care not for their individual +sacrifices, when adequate results can be shown, and these General Jackson +never lacked.... 'For glory he lived long enough,' continued Mr. Davis, +with much emotion; 'and if this result had to come, it was the Divine +mercy that removed him. He fell like the eagle, his own feather on the +shaft that was dripping with his life-blood. In his death, the Confederacy +lost an eye and arm; our only consolation being that the final summons +could have reached no soldier more prepared to accept it +joyfully.'"--_Craven's Prison Life of Jefferson Davis_, pp. 180, 181. + +[61] Chiefly conscripts. + +[62] It has been generally assumed that General Lee committed grave errors +at Gettysburg. The following explanation by Lee shows the extreme caution +with which such a judgment should be pronounced: "_It had not been +intended to fight a general battle at such distance from our base unless +attacked by the enemy_; but, finding ourselves unexpectedly confronted by +the Federal army, it became a matter of difficulty to withdraw through the +mountains with our large trains. At the same time, the country was +unfavorable for collecting supplies, while in the presence of the enemy's +main body, as he was enabled to restrain our foraging parties by occupying +the passes of the mountains with regular and local troops. A battle thus +became, in a measure, unavoidable. Encouraged by the successful issue of +the first day, and in view of the valuable results which would ensue from +the defeat of the army of General Meade, it was thought advisable to renew +the attack." + +Mr. Swinton, who derived his information from General Longstreet, makes a +statement which throws much light upon the theory with which this campaign +was undertaken: "Indeed, in entering upon the campaign, General Lee +expressly promised his corps commanders that _he would not assume a +tactical offensive, but force his antagonist to attack him_."--_Campaigns +of the Army of the Potomac._ + +[63] Major John Esten Cooke justly says: "Gettysburg was the +Waterloo--Cemetery Hill the Mount St. Jean of the war.... Not without good +reason is the anniversary of this great battle celebrated at the North +with addresses and rejoicings--with crowds, and brass bands, and +congratulations. The American Waterloo is worth making that noise over; +and the monument proposed there is a natural conception." + +[64] General Johnston, whether willingly or unwillingly, it is not +necessary for us to inquire, was the favorite of the anti-administration +faction. His name and opinions were, upon all occasions, quoted to aid in +the disparagement of the administration. This faction was as blind in its +zealotry in favor of Johnston, as in its prejudice against Davis. The +motive of this zealous championship of Johnston was, however, to offset +the well-known confidence of General Lee in the President. + +[65] The President ordered a Court of Inquiry for investigation of the +facts of the campaign in Mississippi. General Pemberton requested that the +most searching inquiry should be made, and that the court be allowed to +_invite all attainable testimony against him_. + +[66] It is noteworthy that when trial vindicated the confidence of Mr. +Davis in an officer, of whose capacity the critics were doubtful (as was +the case in numberless instances), they made no acknowledgment of error. +For example, the President was accused of the most unworthy nepotism in +his appointment of General "Dick" Taylor, who was a brother of Mr. Davis' +first wife. Yet that appointment was insisted upon by Stonewall Jackson, +in whose army Taylor commanded a brigade. The President made Taylor a +Brigadier, because he thought him competent; and afterward a +Major-General, because Jackson _knew_ him to be worthy of it. Did Taylor's +subsequent career vindicate the President or the critics? + +The case of the brave and efficient Early was another instance in which +Mr. Davis was at variance with the newspaper and congressional censors, +and in which, as usual, the President was sustained by Lee. It is needless +to multiply examples. + +[67] One of the worst of these proceedings of the enemy, was the execution +of Captains Corbin and McGraw. On hearing of their fate, the Confederate +Government inquired of the Federal authorities the reason of their +actions. The response was, that they were executed as spies. The record of +their trial was then demanded. In answer to this request, the Federal +Government furnished a copy of the charges and specifications against +them, and of the sentence of the court which condemned them, _but none of +the evidence_. + +From the papers thus furnished, it appears that it was not true that they +had been accused or tried as spies--that the sole charge against these +unfortunate gentlemen was, that they had recruited soldiers for the +Confederacy in Kentucky, a State embraced in our political system and +represented regularly in the Confederate Congress by Senators and +Representatives. Nor was the evidence of this charge supplied. Not a +scintilla of proof appeared that these men were spies. The sole pretext +for their execution was the technical one that these officers were +recruiting in one of the States claimed by the enemy, as one of the United +States, a principle which applies equally to Virginia or South Carolina, +and which would, if carried out, sentence to the gallows every officer and +private we had in our service. + +[68] General D. H. Hill has given a most manly exhibition of feeling +toward Mr. Davis, in an article published, some months since, in his +magazine. We quote from General Hill, who alludes, at length, to the +alleged rancor of Mr. Davis toward his opponents. General Hill prefaces +his remarks with the declaration, that he "has never been among the +personal friends of Mr. Davis;" that he was "at no time an admirer of his +executive abilities;" and further declares himself to have been the +recipient of an "unexplained, and perhaps unexplainable wrong," at the +hands of Mr. Davis. Says this gallant soldier: + +"It was said of Mr. Davis that he could see no good in his enemies and no +evil in his friends. I know of one instance, at least, of incorrectness of +the former statement. I was present when a discussion took place in regard +to the suppression of a newspaper because of the disloyal character of its +articles, which were producing desertion in the army, and disaffection +among the people at home. The editor had been converted to Unionism by the +battle of Gettysburg and fall of Vicksburg, and, like all newborn +proselytes, was fiery in his zeal. A cabinet officer present said: 'This +man is not more disloyal than ----' (naming a well-known editor, whose +assaults upon Mr. Davis at this time were very virulent.) 'I don't see how +one paper can be suppressed without suppressing the other.' To this a +gentleman replied: 'You are unjust. Mr. ----, though an enemy of the +President, yet shows by his abuse of the Yankees that he has no love for +them. The other editor betrays hatred of the President and of his own +people.' Mr. Davis immediately assented to this, saying: 'You have exactly +described the difference between the two men.'... But it _is not_ true +that he could see no good in his enemies, and that he pursued them with +rancorous hate. I do not doubt that in the comparison with his supposed +friends, they were in his estimation both intellectually weak and morally +perverse. But, apart from this, he could be just and appreciative of their +merits. I saw him several times during the session of a Confederate +Congress in which he had been harshly assailed. Once he alluded +incidentally to his troubles, but without the least resentment in language +or manner. I think that there was no instance of the suppression of a +newspaper, though several editors were notoriously disloyal to the +Confederate cause, and still more of them intensely hostile to the +Confederate President. Like Washington, Mr. Davis held 'error to be the +portion of humanity, and to censure it, whether committed by this or that +public character, to be the prerogative of a freeman.'" + +[69] At the beginning of the war, the South had only fifty millions of +coin, and had a paper circulation of about the same amount. + +[70] My limited space has prevented the extended account of the +Confederate Commissary Department, which was originally designed. The +history of its commissariat is an important chapter in the history of the +Confederacy. President Davis was much abused for his retention of Colonel +Northrop, who has been charged, both during and since the war, with +incompetency, corruption, and every conceivable abuse of his office. The +amount of truth, in the charge of corruption against Colonel Northrop, may +be estimated, when we state a fact known almost universally in Richmond, +that few persons suffered the privations of the war more severely than he. +Hundreds of the most respectable gentlemen in the South willingly testify +to the unimpeachable patriotism and purity of Colonel Northrop. Equally +false was the statement that Mr. Davis gratified merely his personal +partiality in appointing Commissary-General a man who had given no +previous evidence of fitness. Colonel Northrop, when in the regular +Federal army, had seen extensive service in that department, where he was +detailed, after having been disabled. His services were amply testified to +by his superiors, who regarded him as having peculiar qualifications for +the duties of the commissariat. Of these facts Mr. Davis had _personal +knowledge_, though, when he placed Colonel Northrop at the head of the +Confederate commissariat, they had not met for more than twenty years. + +Again, when commissioned by Mr. Davis, Colonel Northrop was the +Commissary-General of South Carolina--a position to which he would hardly +have been invited, without at least some conviction, by the authorities of +that State, of his fitness. It is well known, too, that a committee of the +Confederate Congress investigated the affairs of the Commissary +Department, and made a report which amply and honorably vindicated Colonel +Northrop. Indeed, a member of that committee, one of the ablest men in +Virginia, and not friendly to Mr. Davis, declared it to be the best +managed department of the Confederate Government. + +Editors perpetually clamored against Colonel Northrop for issuing _half +rations_ to the army, who daily issued _half sheets_ to their +subscribers--refusing to understand that in each case the cause was the +same, viz., an exhaustion of supply, resulting from the depletion of the +resources of the country. + +[71] We present two resolutions of a series adopted by Federal prisoners +of war: + + "_Resolved_, That whilst allowing the Confederate authorities all due + praise for the attention paid to our prisoners, numbers of our men are + daily consigned to early graves in the prime of manhood, far from home + and kindred, and this is not caused intentionally by the Confederate + Government, but by the force of circumstances; the prisoner is obliged + to go without shelter, and, in a great portion of cases, without + medicine. + + * * * * * + + "_Resolved_, That whereas, in the fortune of war, it was our lot to + become prisoners, we have suffered patiently, and are still willing to + suffer, if by so doing we can benefit the country, _but we would most + respectfully beg to say that we are not willing to suffer to further + the ends of any party or clique_, to the detriment of our own honor, + our families, and our country; and we would beg this affair be + explained to us, that we may continue to hold the Government in the + respect which is necessary to make a good citizen and a soldier. + + "BRADLEY, + "_Chairman of Committee, on behalf of Prisoners_." + +These resolutions were adopted at a meeting of prisoners in Savannah, +September 28, 1864, and sent to President Lincoln. + +[72] Upon the person of Dahlgren was found the address, from which +extracts relative to the purpose of the expedition are given. The portions +which we omit are mainly exhortations to the courage of the men in a +desperate enterprise: + + "_Officers and men_-- + + "You have been selected from brigades and regiments, as a picked + command, to attempt a desperate undertaking--an undertaking, which, if + successful, will write your names on the hearts of your countrymen in + letters that can never be erased, and which will cause the prayers of + your fellow-soldiers, now confined in loathsome prisons, to follow you + wherever you may go. + + "We hope to release the prisoners from Belle Island first, and, having + seen them fairly started, we will cross the James River into Richmond, + destroying the bridges after us, and exhorting the released prisoners + to destroy and burn the hateful city; and do not allow the rebel + leader, Davis, and his traitorous crew to escape," etc. The conclusion + of this remarkable order is, "Ask the blessing of the Almighty, and do + not fear the enemy." + +We have not space for the indisputable testimony which has established the +authenticity of the "Dahlgren Papers"--a subject upon which there is no +longer room for doubt. The writer, at the time of this raid, had full +descriptions of them from persons who saw the originals. They were found +upon Dahlgren's body by a school-boy thirteen years old, who could not +write, and were immediately placed in the hands of his teacher. The soiled +folds of the paper were plainly visible. The words referring to the murder +of President Davis were a part of the regular text of the manuscript. +Additional proof of the authenticity of the papers was furnished by the +note-book, also found upon the person of Dahlgren, containing a rough +draft of the address to the troops, and various memoranda. The address was +written in pencil in the note-book, and differs very slightly from the +copy, containing, however, the injunction that the Confederate authorities +be "_killed on the spot_." The statement of Mr. Halbach, who is still +living, supported by the testimony of a number of persons, must be deemed +conclusive of the genuineness of the documents published in the Richmond +journals. + +Hon. Stephen R. Mallory, late Confederate Secretary of the Navy, has +recently made the following statement of Mr. Davis' course concerning this +matter: + + "An expedition directed avowedly against the lives of the heads of the + Government, and aiming at firing an entire city, was deemed so + violative of the rules of war as to demand a retribution of death upon + all concerned in it. + + "The subject was one of universal discussion in Richmond; excitement + increased with what it fed upon; Congress participated in it; and a + pressure was brought to bear upon Mr. Davis to order the execution of + some of the captured. + + "He entertained no doubt that justice, humanity, and policy equally + forbade this cruel measure, and refused to sanction it; and at the + same time referred the subject to General Lee, then near Petersburg, + for immediate attention. The General's answer promptly came, + asserting, without having been apprized of them, the views already + presented by Mr. Davis; and the chief of which was, that the men, + having surrendered with arms in their hands, and been accepted and + treated as prisoners of war, could not, in retaliation for the + unexecuted designs of their leader, be treated otherwise. This + disposed of the case, and satisfied the people, who were ever ready to + recognize the wisdom and policy of General Lee's judgment." + +[73] The "Fort Pillow massacre" was a fruitful theme for new chapters of +"rebel barbarities." Forrest was charged with indiscriminate slaughter of +a captive garrison, when, in fact, he only continued to fight a garrison +which had not surrendered. After the Confederates had forced their way +into the fort, the flag was not taken down, nor did the garrison offer to +surrender. The explanation obviously was that the enemy relied upon their +gunboats in the river to destroy Forrest's forces after they had entered +the fort. + +[74] In the last two years of the war, there were few more promising +officers than General Hoke. Mr. Davis thought very highly of his capacity, +and, upon one occasion, alluded to him as "that gallant North Carolinian, +who always did his duty, and did it thoroughly." + +[75] At Hanover Junction, on the 23d of May, General Lee was joined by +Breckinridge's division, numbering less than three thousand muskets, and +by Pickett's division of perhaps three thousand five hundred muskets. +General Lee was compelled, very shortly afterwards, to send Breckinridge's +division back to the Valley. + +[76] This estimate includes Grant's losses in his assaults upon the +fortifications of Petersburg, immediately after his passage of the James +River. I have seen his total losses from the Rapidan, until the siege of +Petersburg was regularly begun, estimated by Northern writers, at over +ninety thousand. + +[77] President Davis regarded the security of Atlanta as an object of the +utmost consequence, for which, if necessary, even great hazards must be +run. His frequent declaration was that the Confederacy "_had no vital +points_." This theory was correct, as there was certainly no one point, +the loss of which necessarily involved the loss of the cause. Yet it was +obvious in the beginning that certain sections, either for strategic +reasons, or as sources of supply, were of vast importance for the +prosecution of the war to a speedy and successful conclusion. The value of +Richmond and Virginia was obvious. Equally important was a secure foothold +in the Mississippi Valley, and the possession of the great mountainous +range from Chattanooga to Lynchburg, the "backbone region" of the South. +Mr. Davis regarded each one of these three objects as justifying almost +any hazard or sacrifice. Under no circumstances could he approve a +military policy which contemplated the surrender of either of these +objects, without a desperate struggle. He had wanted Vicksburg defended to +the last extremity, and now desired equal tenacity as to Atlanta. This +city was a great manufacturing centre; the centre of the system of +railroads diverging in all directions through the Gulf States, and it was +the last remaining outpost in the defense of the central section of the +Confederacy. + +[78] Yet the argument that General Hood's errors establish the wisdom of +General Johnston's policy, can hardly be deemed fair by an intelligent and +impartial judgment. A more competent commander than Hood might have more +ably executed an offensive campaign, even after the fall of Atlanta; or, +again, other tactics than those of Johnston, from Dalton to Atlanta, might +have had better results. + +After Johnston's removal, the President received numerous letters from +prominent individuals in the Cotton States, heartily applauding that step. +The condemnation of the President, for the removal of Johnston, came only +after Hood's disasters; and it must be remembered that Hood's later +operations were not in accordance with Mr. Davis' views. + +The writer remembers a pithy summary of the Georgia campaign, made by a +Confederate officer, shortly before the end of the war. Said he: "While +Johnston was in command there were _no results at all_; when Hood took +command, _results came very rapidly_." + +[79] It has been contended that the odds against the South in numbers and +resources were compensated by the advantages of her defensive position, +and by the strong incentives of a war for her homes and liberties. An +ingenious argument in demonstration of the assumed defective +administration of the Confederacy has been deduced from various historical +examples of successful resistance against overwhelming odds. The most +plausible citation has been the success of Frederick the Great, in his +defense of Prussia against the coalition of Russia, Austria, and France. +This illustration has no value, as it does not at all meet the case. + +Waiving all consideration of the peculiar strategic difficulties of the +South, Frederick first had the advantage of his English alliance. +Frederick never fought odds greater than two to one, while the South +fought three, four, sometimes five to one--but never equal numbers. Again, +Prussia was inaccessible except by overland marches--not penetrated, like +the South, in every direction by navigable rivers, and nearly surrounded +by the sea. Frederick, too, was absolute in Prussia, and had the lives and +property of all his subjects at his control. Mr. Davis, on the other hand, +never could consolidate the resources of the South as he desired, being +constantly hampered by demagogism in Congress, which could at all times be +coerced by the press hostile to the administration, or influenced by the +slightest display of popular displeasure. Pretending to place the whole +means of the country at the disposal of the President, Congress yet +invariably rendered its measures inoperative by emasculating clauses +providing exemptions and immunities of every description. President Davis +was too sincere a republican, and had too much regard for the restraints +of the Constitution to violently usurp ungranted powers. + +It is to be remembered, too, that the South received no foreign aid, while +Frederick was at last saved by the accession of Peter to the Russian +throne, which event dissolved the coalition against Prussia. + +[80] General Hood's magnanimous acknowledgment is sufficient for the +acquittal of Mr. Davis from any responsibility for this ill-starred +movement. On taking leave of his army, in January, 1865, Hood said, +speaking of the late campaign: "_I am alone responsible for its +conception, and strove hard to do my duty in its execution_." + +But in addition to this, there was a correspondence, between Mr. Davis and +a Confederate officer of high rank, which _completely exculpated Mr. +Davis_. In accordance with Mr. Davis' accustomed magnanimity and regard +for the public welfare, this correspondence was never published. The facts +in this matter conspicuously illustrate the persistent and reckless +misrepresentation, which has not ceased with the termination of the war. +With a class of writers, the _facts_ regarding Mr. Davis are things least +to be desired. In many instances, their attacks upon his fame are puerile, +but in others, where facts are either distorted or wantonly disregarded, +the object seems to be merely to gratify a wicked spirit of detraction. + +[81] In the autumn of 1864, General Price advanced into Missouri, +proclaiming his purpose to be a permanent occupation. The expedition ended +in disaster. Defeated in an engagement on the Big Blue, Price retreated +into Kansas, and finally into Southern Arkansas. The campaign did not +affect the current of the war elsewhere, and was a failure. + +[82] The author has seen an absurd statement, made without any inquiry +into the facts, that Mr. Davis was seen to turn "ghastly white" at the +moment of receiving the intelligence of the disaster at Petersburg. It is +simply one of a thousand other reckless calumnies, with as little +foundation as the rest. + +We do not feel called upon here to relate the details of the evacuation of +Richmond and the occupation of the city by the Federal army. They are, +doubtless, known to every intelligent reader, and we are here specially +concerned only in the movements of Mr. Davis. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Life of Jefferson Davis, by Frank H. Alfriend + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43329 *** |