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diff --git a/43979-0.txt b/43979-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c754604 --- /dev/null +++ b/43979-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2797 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43979 *** + +THE REAL JEFFERSON DAVIS + + + + +[Illustration: Jefferson Davis + +(From a photograph taken in 1865)] + + + + + The Real Jefferson Davis + + + _By_ LANDON KNIGHT + + + "Where once raged the storm of battle now + bloom the gentle flowers of peace, and + there where the mockingbird sings her night + song to the southern moon, sweetly sleeps + the illustrious chieftain whom a nation + mourns. Wise in council, valiant in war, he + was still greater in peace, and to his + noble, unselfish example more than to any + other one cause do we owe the indellible + inscription over the arch of our union, + '_Esto perpetua_.'" + + + PUBLISHED BY + THE PILGRIM MAGAZINE COMPANY + BATTLE CREEK, MICH. + 1904 + + + + + Copyright, 1904, + THE PILGRIM MAGAZINE CO. + Battle Creek, Mich. + + + + +DEDICATION + + +_To My Wife_ + +Is dedicated this little volume in appreciation of that innate sense of +justice which has ever loved and followed the right for its own sake. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I Birth and Education 11 + + II Service in the Army 21 + + III His Life at Briarfield 29 + + IV First Appearance in Politics 35 + + V Enters Mexican War 41 + + VI The Hero of Buena Vista 45 + + VII Enters the Senate 49 + + VIII Becomes Secretary of War 53 + + IX He Re-enters the Senate 59 + + X Still Hoped to Save the Union 67 + + XI President of the Confederacy 75 + + XII His First Inaugural 79 + + XIII Delays and Blunders 85 + + XIV The Bombardment of Sumter 91 + + XV Conditions in the South 97 + + XVI The First Battle 101 + + XVII A Lost Opportunity 105 + + XVIII The Quarrel with Johnston 111 + + XIX The Battle of Shiloh 115 + + XX The Seven Days of Battle 121 + + XXI Butler's Infamous Order 28 125 + + XXII Mental Imperfections 131 + + XXIII Blunders of the Western Army 135 + + XXIV Davis and Gettysburg 139 + + XXV The Chief of a Heroic People 145 + + XXVI Sherman and Johnston 151 + + XXVII Mr. Davis' Humanity 155 + + XXVIII General Lee's Surrender 161 + + XXIX The Capture of Davis 167 + + XXX A Nation's Shame 173 + + XXXI Efforts to Execute Mr. Davis 177 + + XXXII Indictment of Mr. Davis 183 + + XXXIII Why Davis Was Not Tried for Treason 187 + + XXXIV Freedom--Reverses--Beauvoir 193 + + XXXV Death of Mr. Davis 199 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + FACING PAGE + + Jefferson Davis Frontispiece + + Jefferson Davis' Birthplace, at Fairview, Ky. 15 + + Where Jefferson Davis Boarded While in Lexington 17 + + Transylvania College at Lexington 19 + + Jefferson Davis at Thirty-five 31 + + Briarfield, Jefferson Davis' Home 33 + + The Room in the Briars in Which Jefferson Davis Was Married 37 + + General Taylor and Colonel Davis at Monterey 43 + + The Charge of Colonel Davis' Regiment at Buena Vista 47 + + Jefferson Davis as United States Senator in 1847 51 + + Jefferson Davis as Secretary of War 57 + + The Capitol at Richmond 77 + + Interior of Fort Sumter after the Surrender 93 + + Henry Clay Addressing the Senate on the Missouri Compromise 99 + + Edward Ruffin 103 + + Robert Toombs 107 + + General Joseph E. Johnston 111 + + Generals Lee, Jackson and Johnston 113 + + C. G. Memminger 119 + + The Site of the Prison Camp on the James River Below Richmond 133 + + On the Field of Cold Harbor Today 137 + + The Battle of the Crater 143 + + Mr. and Mrs. Davis in 1863 147 + + The Davis Children in 1863 153 + + The Famous Libby Prison as It Appeared at the Close of the War 157 + + The Surrender of Lee 163 + + Richmond as Gen. Weitzel Entered It 169 + + The Davis Mansion 195 + + The Davis Monument at Richmond 201 + + + + +PREFACE + + +For four years Jefferson Davis was the central and most conspicuous figure +in the greatest revolution of history. Prior to that time no statesman of +his day left a deeper or more permanent impress upon legislation. His +achievements alone as Secretary of War entitle him to rank as a benefactor +of his country. But notwithstanding all of this he is less understood than +any other man in history. This fact induced me a year ago to compile a +series of magazine articles which had the single purpose in view of +painting the real Jefferson Davis as he was. Of course, the task was a +difficult one under any circumstances, and almost an impossible one in the +restricted scope of six papers, as it appeared in _The Pilgrim_. However, +the public according to these papers an interest far beyond my +expectation, I have decided to revise and publish them in book form. + +This work does not attempt an exhaustive treatment of the subject but, as +the author has tried faithfully and without prejudice or predilection to +paint the soldier, the statesman, the private citizen as he was, he trusts +that this little volume may not be unacceptable to those who love the +truth for its own sake. + +L. K. + +_Akron, Ohio, Aug. 16, 1904._ + + + + +The Real Jefferson Davis + + + + +I. Birth and Education + + +Almost four decades have passed since the surrender at Greensboro of +Johnston to Sherman finally terminated the most stupendous and sanguinary +civil war of history. Few of the great actors in that mighty drama still +linger on the world's stage. But of the living and of the dead, +irrespective of whether they wore the blue or the gray, history has, with +one exception, delivered her award, which, while it is not free from the +blemish of imperfection, is nevertheless, in the main, the verdict by +which posterity will abide. The one exception is Jefferson Davis. Why this +is so may be explained in a few words. + +Occupying, as he did, the most exalted station in the government of the +seceding states, he became from the day of his accession to the +presidency, the embodiment of two diametrically opposite ideas. The loyal +people of the North, disregarding the fact that the Confederacy was a +representative government of limited powers, that a regularly elected +congress made the laws, often against the judgment of the chief executive, +that many of the policies most bitterly condemned by them were inaugurated +against his advice, transformed the agent into the principal and visited +upon him all of the odium attaching to the government that he represented. +Nay, more than this. The bitter passions engendered in the popular mind by +the conflict clothed him with responsibility, not only for every obnoxious +act of his government, but, forgetful of the history of the fifty years +preceding the Civil War, saddled upon him the chief sins of the very +genesis of the doctrine of secession itself. Thus confounded with the +principles of his government and the policies by which it sought to +establish them, the acts for which he may be held justly responsible have +been magnified and distorted while the valuable services previously +rendered to his country, were forgotten or minimized, and Jefferson Davis +as he was disappeared, absorbed, amalgamated, into the selfish arch +traitor intent upon the destruction of the Union to gratify his +unrighteous ambition. + +The masses of the Southern people, on the other hand, holding in proud +remembrance the gallant soldier of the Mexican War and deeply appreciative +of his able advocacy of principles which they firmly believed to be +sacredly just, regarded their chief magistrate as the sublimation of all +the virtues inherent in the cause for which they fought. When the +Confederacy collapsed, the indignities heaped upon its chief, his long +imprisonment and the fact that he alone was selected for perpetual +disfranchisement added the martyr's crown to the halo of the hero, thus +creating in the South an almost universal mental attitude of affection and +sympathy, which was as fatal to the ascertainment of the exact and +unbiased truth of history as were the rancor and bitterness that prevailed +at the North. That this prejudice and predilection still exist cannot be +doubted. But time has plucked the sting of malice from the one and has +dulled the romantic glamor of the other sufficiently to enable us to +examine the events that gave birth to both with that calm and +dispassionate criticism which subrogates every other consideration to the +discovery of truth. I do not underestimate the difficulties that beset the +self-imposed task, but to the best of my humble ability and free from +every motive except that of portraying the impartial truth, I shall +endeavor to delineate the life of the real Jefferson Davis. + +[Illustration: Jefferson Davis' Birthplace, at Fairview, Ky.] + +Contrary to the belief still somewhat prevalent, Jefferson Davis was not +descended from a line of aristocratic progenitors, but sprang from the +ranks of that middle class which has produced most of the great men of the +world. About the year 1715 three brothers came to this country from Wales, +and located in Philadelphia. The younger, Evan Davis, eventually went to +the colony of Georgia and there married a widow by the name of Williams. +The only child of that union, Samuel Davis, enlisted at the age of +seventeen as a private soldier in the War of the Revolution. Later he +organized a company of mounted men and at its head participated in most of +the battles of the campaign that forced Lord Cornwallis out of the +Carolinas. At the close of the war he married Jane Cook, a girl of +Scotch-Irish descent, of humble station, but noted for strength of +character and great personal beauty, and they settled on a farm near +Augusta, Ga. In 1804 Samuel Davis removed with his family to southwestern +Kentucky to engage in stock raising and tobacco planting, and there, in a +modest farmhouse, which was then in Christian County and not many miles +from the cabin where a few months later Abraham Lincoln opened his eyes +upon the light of the world, Jefferson Davis was born, June 3, 1808. The +spot is now in Todd County, and upon it stands the Baptist church of +Fairview. While he was still an infant, the hope of there better providing +for a numerous family caused his father to seek a new home on Bayou Teche +in Louisiana. The country, however, proved unhealthful, and he remained +but a few months. He finally bought a farm near Woodville in Wilkinson +County, Miss., where he spent the remainder of his long life, poor, but +respected and esteemed as a man of fine sense and sterling character. + +[Illustration: Where Jefferson Davis Boarded While in Lexington] + +Jefferson Davis' first tuition was at a log schoolhouse, near his home, +but the educational advantages of that time and place were so meager that +when seven years old he was sent to a Catholic institution known as St. +Thomas' College, and there, under the guidance of that truly good man and +priest, Father Wallace, afterward Bishop of Nashville, his education +really began. After some years in this school, he entered Transylvania +University, at Lexington, Ky., then the principal collegiate institution +west of the Alleghanies and famous many years thereafter as the alma mater +of a distinguished array of soldiers and statesmen. In November, 1823, +when in his senior year at Transylvania, through the efforts of his +brother, Joseph Davis, he was appointed by President Monroe a cadet at +West Point. The following year he entered that institution and after +pursuing the customary course of four years, was graduated in July, 1828, +with a very low class standing. + +[Illustration: Transylvania College at Lexington] + +He was then in his twenty-first year. The period in which the principal +foundations of character are laid had passed. What this important period +of life had developed is, therefore, both interesting and instructive. +Fortunately, this information is obtainable through evidence which is +conclusive. More than a half score of his classmates at Transylvania and +at West Point, who subsequently played important parts in the history of +the country, have left us their impressions of Jefferson Davis during that +period of his life. This information is supplemented by his instructors at +both institutions. All of this testimony was recorded previous to the +occurrence of any of the later events in his life which might have biased +the judgment, and all of the witnesses corroborate each other. Without +entering into any extended discussion of this evidence, we may safely +conclude from it that in his youth he was one of those peculiarly normal +characters whose well-ordered existence leaves but little material for the +biographer. Few inequalities and no excesses are discoverable. He seems to +have possessed one of those refined natures that abhor vice and immorality +of every kind. While he made no pretensions to piety, and, apparently +selected no associations with this view of avoiding contamination, his +moral character was without a blemish. Nor was he, as has been +represented, haughty, impulsive and domineering, but, on the contrary, his +nature seems to have been remarkably gentle and his bearing free from +pretensions of every kind. He had opinions, and his convictions were +strong, but he neither reached them hastily nor maintained them with +arrogance. He was serious, somewhat reserved, always cheerful, sometimes +gay. In his manner he was thoroughly democratic, but free from any +suggestion of demagoguery. He was slow to anger, easily mollified, without +malice and possessed in a remarkable degree that ingenuous and credulous +nature which a long and eventful life never impaired and which was +responsible, in no small degree, for many of the fatal mistakes of later +years. If at this time he possessed any of those mental powers which later +in life won the admiration even of his enemies, he gave no indication of +the fact. He was an indifferent student, always somewhat deficient in +mathematics, and never particularly proficient in any other branch, +impressing those who knew him best as an ordinary youth of fair capacity +and of about the attainments requisite to pass the examinations. + + + + +II. Service in the Army + + +Thus equipped by nature and education, Jefferson Davis was commissioned, +upon leaving West Point, a second lieutenant, and was assigned to duty +with the First Regiment of Infantry at Fort Crawford. The life of a second +lieutenant on a frontier post in time of peace, unless under exceptional +circumstances, is not likely to provide many incidents of a nature to +illuminate his character, test his higher capacity or to greatly interest +posterity. The circumstances in this case were not exceptional, and during +the next seven years there was nothing in the career of Lieutenant Davis +worthy of preservation that cannot be recorded in few words. It was the +most barren period of his life. At Fort Crawford, at the Galena lead mines +and at Winnebago he was employed in the police duty that our army at that +time performed on the frontier which consisted chiefly of building forts +and trying to preserve the peace between the Indians and encroaching +settlers. In the performance of all of the duties to which he was +assigned, he acquitted himself creditably and earned the reputation of +being a conscientious, intelligent and efficient officer. At one time +during this service an opportunity to win distinction seemed imminent. +Black Hawk, driven to desperation by the continuous encroachment of the +pioneers upon the hunting grounds of his people, formed what was then +believed to be a powerful coalition of all of the Indian tribes of the +Northwest. But the coalition soon fell to pieces, and the war, with its +few slight skirmishes, turned out to be nothing more serious than an +Indian raid, which was speedily terminated. An incident happened at the +beginning of these troubles which, in the light of subsequent events, is +perhaps, worthy of preservation. The governor of Illinois called out the +state forces and mobilized them at Dixon. General Scott sent there from +Fort Snelling two lieutenants of the regular army to muster them into +service. One of them was Lieutenant Davis and the other was the future +major who so gallantly sustained the fire of Beauregard's heavy guns +against the old walls of Fort Sumter. Among the captains of the companies +to be mustered in was one who was hardly the ideal of a soldierly figure. +He was tall, awkward and homely, and was arrayed in a badly fitting suit +of blue jeans, garnished with large and resplendent brass buttons. He +presented himself and was sworn in and thus probably the first time in his +life that Abraham Lincoln ever took the oath of allegiance to the United +States it was administered to him by Jefferson Davis. + +Soon after the engagement at Stillman Run, Black Hawk and several of his +more troublesome warriors surrendered to the United States forces and were +sent as prisoners in charge of Lieutenant Davis to Jefferson Barracks. In +his autobiography the old chief describes this journey in a way that +leaves nothing to be guessed of the bitterness he felt, but he does not +fail to express his appreciation of "the young white chief who alone +treated me with the courtesy and consideration due to an honorable, +vanquished enemy." About a year after Lieutenant Davis' return from this +mission to Fort Crawford, an incident occurred, which, while unimportant +in itself, was destined to produce far-reaching consequences. Col. Zachary +Taylor was assigned to the command of the First Regiment, and with him +came his family to Fort Crawford. His daughter, Miss Sarah Taylor, and +Lieutenant Davis soon conceived an ardent affection for each other, and +their marriage would have followed within the year had it not been +prevented by Colonel Taylor. The cause of his opposition to the marriage +has been the source of much speculation and of many absurd stories. The +bare fact of the case is that Taylor's opposition to Davis as a son-in-law +was based solely upon the privations that confronted the wife of a +soldier,--a not altogether unreasonable objection when we consider army +life on the frontier at that time. Convinced of the fact, however, that +his own family considered the reasons of his opposition unsound, he +determined to find what, at least to him, would prove weightier ones, and +proceeded to seek a quarrel with his daughter's suitor. He found a pretext +in a court martial, where, upon some trivial point, Davis voted against +Taylor with a certain Major Smith. Taylor and Smith were not upon friendly +terms, and thereupon the former flew into a violent rage, and in language +which needed no additional strength to convince one that he fully deserved +his sobriquet of Old Rough and Ready, he swore that Davis should never +marry his daughter, and forbade him to enter his house as a visitor. In +striking contrast to his intended father-in-law, Davis comported himself +throughout this affair as a gentleman, and during the next two years +sought in a manly way to reverse the irate old warrior's decision. +However, all of his efforts were unavailing, and finally convinced that +the task was a hopeless one, but resolved to remove the only substantial +objection, he in the summer of 1835, resigned his commission in the army. +A few weeks later he and Miss Taylor were married at the home of one of +her aunts in Kentucky. But his new-found happiness was destined to a sad +and untimely end, for in September of the same year, while visiting his +sister near Bayou Sara, in Louisiana, both he and his bride were +simultaneously stricken down with malarial fever and in a few days she +succumbed to the disease. He was passionately devoted to his wife, and her +death inflicted a blow from which he did not finally recover for many +years. The winter following the death of his wife was spent in Havana and +at Washington, and in the spring of 1836 he returned to Mississippi to +take up with his brother, Joseph, the threads of a new life, the influence +of which upon his future destiny has never been properly estimated. + + + + +III. His Life at Briarfield + + +Joseph Davis was in many respects a remarkable man. Educated for the bar, +he abandoned the practice of law, after a successful career, when he was +still a young man, and embarked in the business of cotton planting. He +succeeded, acquired two large plantations known as "The Hurricane" and +"Briarfield," and soon became a wealthy man. But he was something more +than a rich cotton planter. He was a man of great strength and force of +character, a student possessed of a vast fund of information, and a clear +and logical reasoner. He read much and thought deeply, if not always +correctly, along the lines of political government and economic science. +Always refusing to take an active part in politics, it was, nevertheless, +a subject in which he was deeply interested. He was partially in sympathy +with the principles of the democratic party, but in that academic, strict +and literal construction of the Constitution and upon the question of +state rights he occupied a position far in advance of that political +organization--a position even beyond that assumed by Mr. Calhoun in his +advocacy of the doctrine of nullification. + +[Illustration: Jefferson Davis at Thirty-five] + +From this brother Jefferson Davis purchased "Briarfield," and arrangements +were made by which they lived together and jointly managed the +plantations. Owning a large number of slaves, they inaugurated a policy +for their management which is no less interesting in itself than for the +results attained. It was based upon the political maxim of the elder +brother that the less people are governed, the better and stronger and +more law-abiding they become. All rules that involved unnecessary +supervision and espionage of any kind were abolished. The slaves were +placed upon honor and were left free to go and come as they pleased. +Corporal punishment was only inflicted in cases involving moral turpitude, +and only then after the trial and conviction of the accused by a jury of +his peers, during the process of which all of the rules governing the +production and admission of evidence observed in a court of justice, were +scrupulously adhered to. The pardoning power alone was retained by the +masters, and that they frequently exercised. Whenever a slave felt his +services were more valuable to himself than they were to his master, he +was allowed by the payment of a very reasonable price for his time to +embark in any enterprise he wished, the brothers counseling and advising +him, frequently loaning him money and always patronizing him in preference +to other tradesmen. A copy of a page from one of the books of a slave, +bearing the date of Sept. 24, 1842, is before me, and upon it J. E. and J. +Davis are credited with $1,893.50. Another slave usually purchased the +entire fruit crop of the two plantations, and there were still others who +conducted independent and successful business operations. Some of those +slaves in after years became respected and substantial citizens, one of +them purchasing the plantations for something less than $300,000, which +had been offered by a white competitor. + +In their intercourse with their slaves, the brothers observed the utmost +courtesy. With the idea that it involved disrespect, they forbade the +abbreviation of Christian or the application of nicknames to any of their +servants. Jefferson Davis' manager, James Pemberton, was always received +on his business calls in the drawing-room, and the dignified master met +the equally dignified slave upon exactly the same plane that he would have +met his broker or his lawyer. From the practice of this system two +results followed: A large fortune was accumulated and the slaves became +thoroughly loyal and devoted to their masters. + +[Illustration: Briarfield, Jefferson Davis' Home] + +But, as great as must have been the influences of this life in forming the +character of Jefferson Davis, still greater and of more importance, +perhaps, must be regarded the rigorous mental training which he derived +from it. During the period of their residence together, the time not +required by business the brothers devoted to reading and discussions. +Political economy and law, the science of government in general and that +of the United States in particular, were the favorite themes. Locke and +Justinian, Mill, Adam Smith and Vattel divided honors with the Federalist, +the Resolutions of Ninety-Eight and the Debates of the Constitutional +Convention. It was said they knew every word of the three latter by +memory, and it is certain that year after year, almost without +interruption, they sat far into the night debating almost every +conceivable question that could arise under the Constitution of the United +States. + + + + +IV. First Appearance in Politics + + +The first appearance of Jefferson Davis in politics would be hardly worthy +of mention, if it were not for the fact that the event was used in after +years to lend color to a baseless calumny. The Democratic party of Warren +County nominated Mr. Davis for the Legislature in 1843, and although the +normal Whig majority was a large one, he was defeated only by a few votes. +Some years previous to that time the state had repudiated certain bank +bonds which it had guaranteed, and in that canvass this question was an +issue. Mr. Davis assumed the position that as the Constitution provided +that the state might be sued in such cases, the question as to whether the +bonds constituted a valid debt was one primarily for the courts rather +than for the Legislature to decide. Referring to this controversy, +General Scott in his autobiography says, "These bonds were repudiated +mainly by Mr. Jefferson Davis;" and during the Civil War the same +propaganda was urged in England by Robert J. Walker. The well-known +imperfection of General Scott's knowledge on most matters political +serves, in some measure, to palliate his error; but as General Walker was, +at that time, a senator in Congress from Mississippi, it is difficult to +believe that he erred through lack of information or that he was ignorant +of the fact that when the Legislature finally refused to heed the mandate +of the courts and provide for the payment of those obligations, Mr. Davis, +as a private citizen, advocated a subscription to satisfy the debt, and +that this very act was later used by the repudiators as their chief +argument against his election to Congress. + +Mr. Davis took a conspicuous part in the presidential campaign of 1844, +and was chosen one of the Polk electors. Before this campaign he was but +slightly known beyond his own county; but at its conclusion his popularity +had become so great that there was a general demand in the ranks of his +party that he should become a candidate for Congress in the following +year. + +[Illustration: The Room in the Briars in Which Jefferson Davis Was +Married] + +On February 26, 1845, he was united in marriage to Miss Anna Varina +Howell, of Natchez, and in the following month entered upon the canvass +which resulted in his election by a large majority. He took his seat in +the Twenty-Ninth Congress, December 8, 1845. + +In that body were many men whose lives were destined to exert an influence +upon his own fate in no small degree. Among them was that ungainly captain +of volunteers to whom we have seen him administering the oath of +allegiance at Fort Snelling, and a strong rugged, wilful man, who, in his +youth, had been the town tailor of the little village of Greenville, in +Tennessee. + +Practically the only question involved in the campaign of 1844 was the +admission of the Republic of Texas as a state of the Union. Mexico had +declared that she would regard that act as tantamount to a declaration of +war, and all parties in the Twenty-Ninth Congress now recognized the +conflict as inevitable. Nor was it long delayed. One of President Polk's +first official acts was to order General Taylor to proceed to the Rio +Grande and defend it as the western boundary of the United States. +Proceeding to a point opposite Matamoras, he was there attacked by the +Mexicans, whom he defeated, drove back across the river and shelled them +out of their works on the opposite side. + +In the war legislation that was now brought forward in Congress, Mr. +Davis' military education enabled him to take a conspicuous part. His +first speech seems to have left no doubt in the minds of the best judges +that henceforward he was a power to be reckoned with. John Quincy Adams, +it is said, paid the closest attention to this maiden effort, and at its +conclusion shouted into the ear trumpet of old Joshua Giddings: "Mark my +words, sir; we shall hear more of _that_ young man!" But this speech, +which was a reply to an attack made by Mr. Sawyer, of Ohio, on West Point, +did something more than win the admiration of Mr. Adams. Contending for +the necessity of a military education for those who conduct the operations +of war, and ignorant that any member of either avocation was present, he +asked Mr. Sawyer if he thought the results at Matamoras could have been +achieved by a tailor or a blacksmith. Mr. Sawyer good-naturedly replied +that, while he would not admit that some members of his craft might not +have rivaled the exploits of General Taylor, that when it came to +reducing things he himself preferred a horse shoe to a fort any day. +Andrew Johnson, however, took the matter as a personal insult, and as long +as he lived cherished the bitterest hatred for Mr. Davis. + + + + +V. Enters Mexican War + + +But as promising as Mr. Davis' congressional career began, it did not long +continue. Soon after war was declared, he received notice of his election +as colonel of the First Mississippi Regiment, and early in June resigned +his seat in Congress and accepted that office. President Polk, learning of +his resignation, sent for Mr. Davis and offered him an appointment as +brigadier-general. There is no doubt that he greatly coveted that office, +but such, even at that time, was his attachment to the doctrine of state +rights, that, frankly informing the President of his conviction that such +appointments were the prerogatives of the states, he declined the offer. +Hastening to New Orleans, Colonel Davis joined his regiment, and at once +inaugurated that course of training and discipline which, in a few +months, made of it a model of efficiency. + +In August he joined General Taylor's army just as it moved forward into +Mexico. On Sept. 19, 1846, General Taylor with six thousand men reached +the strongly-fortified city of Monterey, garrisoned by ten thousand +Mexican regulars under command of the able and experienced General +Ampudia. Two days later the attack began, and at the close of a sharp +artillery duel, General Taylor gave the order to carry the city by storm. +The Fourth Artillery, leading the advance, was caught in a terrific cross +fire, and was speedily repulsed with heavy losses, producing the utmost +confusion along the front of the assaulting brigade. The strong fort, +Taneira, which had contributed most to the repulse, now ran up a new flag, +and amidst the wild cheering of its defenders redoubled its fire of grape, +canister and musketry, under which the American lines wavered and were +about to break. + +[Illustration: General Taylor and Colonel Davis at Monterey] + +Colonel Davis, seeing the crisis, without waiting for orders, placed +himself at the head of his Mississippians, and gave the order to charge. +With prolonged cheers his regiment swept forward through a storm of +bullets and bursting shells. Colonel Davis, sword in hand, cleared the +ditch at one bound, and cheering his soldiers on, they mounted the works +with the impetuosity of a whirlwind, capturing artillery and driving the +Mexicans pell mell back into the stone fort in the rear. + +In vain the defeated Mexicans sought to barricade the gate; Davis and +McClung burst it open, and leading their men into the fort, compelled its +surrender at discretion. Taneira was the key of the situation, and its +capture insured victory. On the morning of the twenty-third, Henderson's +Texas Rangers, Campbell's Tennesseeans and Davis' Mississippians the +latter again leading the assault, stormed and captured El Diabolo, and the +next day General Ampudia surrendered the city. + + + + +VI. The Hero of Buena Vista + + +Two months later, General Taylor again moved forward toward the City of +Mexico, and on February 20 was before Saltilo. Santa Anna, the ablest of +the Mexican generals, with the best army in the republic, numbering twenty +thousand men, there appeared in front. Taylor could barely muster a fourth +of that number, and for strategic purposes fell back to the narrow defile +in front of the hacienda of Buena Vista, where, on the twenty-third, was +fought the greatest battle of the war. + +The conflict began early in the morning, and raged with varying fortunes +over a line two miles long, until the middle of the afternoon when the +furious roar of musketry from that quarter apprised General Wool that +Santa Anna was making a desperate effort to break the American center. +Colonel Davis was immediately ordered to support that point, and the +Mississippians went forward at a double quick. As they came upon the +field, the wildest disorder prevailed, and only Colonel Bowles' Indiana +regiment held its ground. After trying in vain to rally the fugitives of a +routed regiment, Colonel Davis speedily formed his own into line of battle +and rapidly pushed forward across a deep ravine to the right of the +Indianians just in time to meet the shock of a whole brigade, which the +two commanders succeeded in repulsing with great gallantry. + +But the battle was not over. Under cover of the smoke, Santa Anna's full +brigade of lancers flanked the Americans, and now at the sound of their +trumpets, the Mexican infantry advanced once more to the charge. Thus +assailed on two sides by overwhelming numbers, the situation was truly +critical, but Colonel Davis, forming the two regiments into the shape +of a re-entering angle, awaited the assault. + +[Illustration: The Charge of Colonel Davis' Regiment at Buena Vista] + +With flying banners and sounding trumpets the gailey caparisoned lancers +came down at a thundering gallop until a sheet of flame from the angle +wrapped their front ranks and bore it down to destruction. Quickly +recovering, the survivors, with the fury of madmen, threw themselves again +and again upon those stubborn ranks, which, now assailed on two sides, +refused to give an inch, and met every onslaught with a withering fire, +which soon so cumbered the ground with the dead that it was with +difficulty the living could move over it. + +At last utterly demoralized by the awful carnage, the Mexican lines broke +and fled from the field. The day was over. Buena Vista was won, and +Colonel Davis had accomplished a feat which, when Sir Colin Campbell +imitated it at Inkerman two years later, he was sent by England to +retrieve her fallen fortunes in India. + +Notwithstanding the fact that Colonel Davis' right foot had been shattered +early in the morning, he had refused to leave the field for aid, but now +at the close of the action he fell fainting from his horse. The wound was +a dangerous one, and as the surgeons were of the opinion that more than a +year must elapse before he could hope to walk, as soon as he was able to +travel, General Taylor insisted on his going home, and thus closed his +career in the Mexican War. + + + + +VII. Enters the Senate + + +This exploit at Buena Vista created the profoundest enthusiasm throughout +the country, and the Legislatures of several states passed resolutions +thanking him for his services. Governor Brown of his own state, in +obedience to an overwhelming popular sentiment, a few weeks after his +return, appointed Colonel Davis to fill a vacancy that had occurred in the +Senate--an appointment which was speedily ratified by the Legislature. + +When, in 1847, Mr. Davis took his seat in the Senate, that irrepressible +conflict, inevitable from the hour that the Constitutional Convention of +1787 sanctioned slavery as an institution within the United States, had +reached a crisis which was threatening the very existence of the Union. +The Missouri Compromise prohibiting slavery north of 36° 30' had failed +to sanction it in express terms south of that parallel, and while in 1820 +probably no one would have denied that this was the logical and obvious +meaning of that measure, such was not the case thirty years later. The +Abolitionists had opposed the annexation of Texas, believing, as Mr. Adams +declared, that such an event would justify the dissolution of the Union. + +In finally accepting Texas with bad grace, they served notice that it was +their last concession. Therefore when the application of the Missouri +Compromise to the vast territory acquired from Mexico would have given +over a large portion of it to slavery, they brought forward the Wilmot +Proviso, a measure, the effect of which was to abrogate the Missouri +Compromise in so far as it affected slavery south of that line, while +leaving its prohibition as to the north side in full force. + +[Illustration: Jefferson Davis as United States Senator in 1847] + +Mr. Davis participated in the discussion of these questions and at once +became the ablest and most consistent of those statesmen who, contending +for the strict construction of the Constitution and the broadest +principles of state sovereignty, sought to prevent Congress from violating +the one by infringing on the prerogatives of the other. Holding that the +Constitution sanctioned slavery, that Congress had specified its limits, +that the territories belonged in common to the states, he contended that +the South could not accept with honor anything less than that the Missouri +Compromise extended to the Pacific Ocean. + +Reasoning from these premises, his speeches were masterpieces of logic, +and whatever one may think of their philosophy, all must agree that they +were among the greatest ever delivered in any deliberative body. Had the +leaders of his party stood with him in that great battle, they would have +been able to force some definite legislation which would have postponed +the Civil War for many years--possibly beyond a period when the operation +of economic laws might have effected the abolition of slavery as the only +salvation of the South--but Henry Clay's dread of a situation that +endangered the Union prompted him to bring forward his last compromise +measures, which he himself declared to be only a temporary expedient. +Calhoun, equally strong in his love for the Union, anxious to preserve it +at all costs, abandoned his former position, and against the warnings of +Jefferson Davis, soon to become prophetic, his party accepted the measure +which, as he declared, guaranteed no right that did not already exist, +while abrogating to the South the benefits of the Compromise of 1820. + + + + +VIII. Becomes Secretary of War + + +With temporary tranquillity restored, Mr. Davis soon afterward resigned +his seat in the Senate to become a candidate for governor of his state--a +contest in which he was defeated by a small plurality. He retired once +more to Briarfield, and there is little doubt that he at that time +intended to abandon public life. However, in 1853, he yielded to the +insistence of President Pierce, and reluctantly accepted the portfolio of +war in his cabinet. + +Only a brief summary is possible, but if we may judge by the reforms +inaugurated, the work accomplished during the four following years, +Jefferson Davis must be considered one of our greatest secretaries of war. +The antiquated army regulations were revised and placed upon a modern +basis, the medical corps was reorganized and made more efficient, tactics +were modernized, the rifled musket and the minie ball were adopted, the +army was increased and at every session he persistently urged upon +Congress the wisdom of a pension system and a law for the retirement of +officers, substantially as they exist at present. + +But more enduring and farther reaching in beneficent results were those +great public works originated or completed under his administration, +prominently among which may be mentioned the magnificent aqueduct which +still supplies Washington with an abundance of pure water; the completion +of the work on the Capitol, which had dragged for years; and the founding +of the Smithsonian Institute, of which he was, perhaps, the most zealous +advocate and efficient regent. + +Transcontinental railways appealed to him as a public necessity. He +therefore had two surveys made and collected the facts concerning +climate, topography and the natural resources of the country, which +demonstrated the feasibility of the vast undertaking, which was +subsequently completed along the lines and according to the plans that he +recommended. + +From his induction into office he set at naught the spoils system of +Jackson, and may very justly be regarded as a pioneer of civil service +reform, for he altogether disregarded politics in his appointments, and +when remonstrated with by the leaders of his party, informed them that he +was not appointing Whigs or Democrats, but servants of the government who, +in his opinion, were best qualified for the duties to be performed. The +same principle he adhered to in matters of the greatest moment, as he +demonstrated in the Kansas troubles. A state of civil war prevailed +between the advocates and opponents of slavery, and it could not be +doubted where his own sympathies were in the controversy. From the nature +of the case, the commander of federal troops in Kansas must be armed with +practically dictatory powers. The selection remained altogether with +himself, and he sent thither Colonel Sumner, an avowed abolitionist, but +an officer whose honor, ability and judgment recommended him as the best +man for the difficult duty. + +How the absurd story ever originated that Mr. Davis used the power of his +great office to weaken the North and prepare the South for warlike +operations, is inconceivable to the honest investigator of even ordinary +diligence. No arms or munitions of war could have been removed from one +arsenal to another or from factory to fort without an order from the +Secretary of War. Those orders are still on record, and not one of them +lends color to a theory which seems to have been adopted as a fact by Dr. +Draper, upon no better proof than that afforded by heresay evidence of the +most biased kind. In fact, arsenals in the South were continuously +drawn upon to supply the Western forts during his term of office, and at +its close, while all defenses and stores were in better condition than +ever before, those south of the Potomac were relatively weaker than in +1853. + +[Illustration: Jefferson Davis as Secretary of War] + +Other less serious charges are equally baseless, and the historian who +would try Mr. Davis upon the common rules of evidence must conclude that +his administration was not only free from dishonor but was characterized +by high ability and unquestioned patriotism--a verdict strengthened by the +fact that contemporaneous partisan criticism furnished nothing to question +such a conclusion. + + + + +IX. He Re-enters the Senate + + +When, in 1857, Mr. Davis was again elected to the Senate, the Compromise +of 1850 had already become a dead letter, as he had predicted that it +would. The anti-slavery sentiment had, like Aaron's rod, swallowed all +rivals, and party leaders once noted for conservatism, had resolved to +suppress the curse, despite the decision of the Supreme Court statute, of +law, of even the Constitution itself. Those who have criticised Mr. Davis +most bitterly for his attitude at that time have failed to appreciate the +fact that he then occupied the exact ground where he had always stood. + +Others had changed. He had remained consistent. He had never countenanced +the doctrine of nullification; he had always affirmed the right of +secession. Profoundly versed, as he was, in the constitutional law of the +United States, familiar with every phase of the question debated by the +Convention of 1787, his logical mind was unable to reach a conclusion +adverse to the right of a sovereign state to withdraw from a voluntary +compact, the violation of which endangered its interests. He believed that +the compact was violated by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise; he felt +that it was being violated now, but as in 1850 he had declared that +nothing short of the necessity of self-protection would justify the +dissolution of the Union, he now pleaded with the majority not to force +that necessity upon the South. Secession he frankly declared to be a great +evil, so great that the South would only adopt it as the last resort; but +at the same time he warned the abolitionists that if the guarantees of the +Constitution were not respected, that if the Northern states were to defy +the decrees of the Supreme Court favorable to the South, as they had done +in the Dred Scott decision, that if his section was to be ruled by a +hostile majority without regard to the right, the protection thrown around +the minority by the fundamental law of the land, that the Southern states +could not in honor remain members of the Union, and would therefore +certainly withdraw from it. + +He undoubtedly saw the chasm daily growing wider, and had he possessed +that sagacious foresight, that profound knowledge of human nature, in +which alone he was lacking as a statesman of the first order, he would +have realized then, as Abraham Lincoln had before, that the die was cast +and that the Union could not longer endure upon the compromises of the +Constitution which had implanted slavery among a free, self-governing +people, a majority of whom were opposed to it. But there is no recorded +utterance of Jefferson Davis, no act of his, that would lead one to +believe that he had despaired of some adjustment of matters, or that +secession was wise or desirable, until after the nomination of Mr. +Lincoln. Then, for the first time, he declared before a state convention +at Jackson, Miss., that the Chicago platform would justify the South in +dissolving the Union if the Republican party should triumph at the coming +election. But he did not expect that triumph. Shortly previous to that +speech, he had introduced resolutions in the Senate embodying the +principles of the constitutional pro-slavery party. + +They affirmed the sovereignty of the separate states, asserted that +slavery formed an essential part of the political institutions of various +members of the Union, that the union of the states rested upon equality of +rights, that it was the duty of Congress to protect slave property in the +territories, and that a territory when forming a constitution, and not +before, must either sanction or abolish slavery. The resolution passed the +Senate, and Mr. Davis hoped to see it become the platform of a reunited +party, which would have meant the defeat of the Republican ticket and a +consequent postponement of the war. + +The foregoing facts alone make ridiculous the assertions of Mr. Pollard +that during this Congress Jefferson Davis, with thirteen other senators, +met one night in a room at the Capitol, and perfected a plan whereby the +Southern states were forced into secession against the will of the people +thereof. + +What the plan was, how it was put into operation so as to circumvent the +will of the people of eleven states who more than a year later decided the +question of secession by popular vote, why Mr. Davis later introduced the +above resolution and why he worked so zealously thereafter to prevent the +threatened disruption and why he sought to induce the Charleston +Convention to adopt his resolution as the principles of the party, Mr. +Pollard does not attempt to explain. In fact, any rational explanation +would be impossible, for at every point the evidence refutes the +allegation. + +Then, again, those who, like Mr. Pollard, have sought to saddle the chief +responsibility of secession upon Jefferson Davis have overlooked the fact +that while not an avowed candidate, he nevertheless hoped to be the +nominee of his party in 1860 for the presidency, and that much of his +strength lay in Northern states, as Massachusetts demonstrated by sending +him a solid delegation to the Charleston Convention. His conduct during +his last year in the Senate is consistent with this ambition, but the +ambition is wholly inconsistent with the theory that he had long planned +the destruction of the Union. The truth is that the impartial historian +must conclude from all of his utterances, from his acts, from the +circumstances of the case, that in so far from being the genius and +advocate of disunion, he deprecated it and sought to prevent it, until +political events rendered certain the election of Mr. Lincoln. Then, +sincerely believing the peculiar institutions of the South to be +imperiled, and never doubting the right of secession, he advocated it as +the only remedy left for a situation which had become intolerable to the +people of his section. + +His advocacy, however, was in striking contrast to that of many of his +colleagues. Always free from any suggestion of demagoguery, always +conservative, his utterances on this subject were marked with candor and +moderation. Nor did the ominous shadows that descended upon the next +Congress disturb his equanimity or unsettle his resolution to perform his +duty as he saw it. For days the impassioned storm of invective and +denunciation raged around him, but he remained silent. At last the news +came that his state had seceded. He announced the event to the Senate in a +speech, which in nobility of conception has probably never been surpassed. +He defined his own position and that of his state, and as he bade farewell +to his colleagues, even among his bitterest opponents there was scarcely +an eye undimmed with tears, and whatever others thought in after years, +there was no one in that august assemblage who did not accord to Jefferson +Davis the meed of perfect sincerity and unblemished faith in the cause +which he had espoused. + + + + +X. Still Hoped to Save the Union + + +On the evening of the day Mr. Davis retired from the Senate, he was +visited by Robert Toombs of Georgia, who informed him that it was reported +from a trustworthy source that certain representatives, including +themselves, were to be arrested. He had intended to leave the capital the +following day, but changed his plans to await any action the government +might take against him. + +To his friends he declared the hope that the rumor might be well founded, +for should arrests be made, he saw therein the opportunity to bring the +question of the right of a state to secede from the Union before the +Supreme Court for final adjudication. Nothing of the kind happened, and +after waiting for about ten days, Mr. Davis left Washington. + +During his stay he freely discussed the situation with the leading +Southern statesmen who called upon him. The general opinion was the first +result of secession, which most of them assumed to be final, must be the +formation of a new federal government, and the consensus of opinion +designated Mr. Davis as the fittest person for the presidency. On the +first proposition he did not agree with his colleagues. He expressed the +belief that the action of the states in exercising the right of secession +would serve to so sober Northern sentiment that an adjustment might be +reached, which, while guaranteeing to the South all of the rights +vouchsafed by the Constitution, would still preserve the Union. He +therefore sought to impress upon them--especially the South Carolina +delegation--the necessity of moderation, the unwisdom of any act at that +time which might render an adjustment impossible. + +The second proposition he refused to consider at all, and begged those who +might be instrumental in the formation of a new government, if one must be +created, not to use his name in connection with its presidency. That he at +this time entertained a sincere desire for the preservation of the Union +can be doubted by no one familiar with his private correspondence. In a +letter dated two days after his resignation from the Senate he defends the +action of his state, it is true, but at the same time deplores disunion as +one of the greatest calamities that could befall the South. + +In another letter written three days later, he uses this significant +language: "All is not lost. If only moderation prevails, if they will only +give me time, I am not without hope of a peaceable settlement that will +assure our rights within the Union." That he did not abandon that hope +until long afterward, that he clung to it long after it became a delusion, +is very probable, as we shall see. + +Nothing could be farther from the truth than the theory so often advanced +that presidential ambition was responsible for Mr. Davis' attitude on the +question of secession. This I have indicated in the last chapter. The +truth of this position is established if he were sincere in his +declarations that he did not covet the honor of the presidency of the new +government. Those declarations were made to the men who, of all others, +could further his ambition; they knew his stubbornness of opinion, +understood how likely it was that he would never abandon that or any other +position; there were other aspirants whom he knew to be personally more +acceptable to a majority of these statesmen, and his attitude, of course, +released them from any responsibility imposed by popular sentiment in his +favor in the South. If one is still inclined to accept all this, however, +as another instance of Cæsar putting the crown aside, the question +arises, Why did he assume the same attitude with those who possessed no +power to influence his fortunes? Why in his letters to his wife, to his +brother, to his friends, in private life, did he express the strongest +repugnance to accepting that office should it be created and offered? But +even stronger evidence that he did not seek or want it is afforded by +another circumstance. Mississippi, in seceding from the Union, had +provided for an army. The governor had appointed him to command it, with +the rank of major-general. In the event of war, that position opened up +unlimited possibilities in the field, which was exactly what he desired; +for, unfortunately, he then and always cherished the delusion that he was +greater as a soldier than he was as a statesman. All of this is consistent +with his sincerity--inconsistent with any other reasonable theory. + +Mr. Davis must also be acquitted of the charge made by no inconsiderable +number of the Southern people that he first failed to anticipate war and +later underestimated the extent and duration of the approaching conflict. +On his way from Washington to Mississippi, he made several speeches. All +of them were marked by moderation, but to the prominent citizens who on +that journey came to confer with him, he declared in emphatic terms that +the United States would never allow the seceded states to peacefully +withdraw from the Union, and warned them that unless some adjustment were +effected, they must expect a civil war, the extent, duration and +termination of which no one could foresee. + +At Jackson he reiterated those views, along with a hope for +reconciliation, in a speech delivered before the governor and Legislature +of his state. Peaceful adjustment he declared not beyond hope, yet if war +should come, he warned them that it must be a long one, and that instead +of buying 75,000 stands of small arms, as proposed, that the state should +only limit the quantity by its capacity to pay. Those views, it may be +here remarked, were not coincided with by his own state or the people of +the South generally. They were far in advance of their representatives on +the question of secession, but the belief was generally prevalent at even +a much later date that no attempt would be made to coerce a seceding +state. + + + + +XI. President of the Confederacy + + +The convention of the seceding states met at Montgomery, Feb. 4, 1861, and +proceeded to adopt a constitution as the basis for a provisional +government. The work was the most rapid in the history of legislative +proceedings, being completed in three days. With the exceptions of making +the preamble read that each state accepting it did so in "its sovereign +and independent capacity," fixing the president's and vice-president's +term of office at six years and making them ineligible for re-election, +prohibiting a protective tariff, inhibiting the general government from +making appropriations for internal improvements, requiring a two-thirds +vote to pass appropriation bills and giving cabinet officers a seat, but +no vote, in Congress, the Confederate constitution was, practically, a +reaffirmation of that of the United States. + +It was adopted on the eighth, and the provisional government to continue +in force one year, unless sooner superseded by a permanent organization, +was formally launched upon the troubled waters of its brief and stormy +existence. The following day, an election was held for president and +vice-president, the convention voting by states, which resulted on the +first ballot in the selection by a bare majority of Jefferson Davis and +Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia. Mr. Davis, as we have seen, was not a +candidate. He was not in, nor near, Montgomery at the time, and took no +part, by advice or otherwise, in the formation of the new constitution. + +His selection over Mr. Toombs was the result of a single set of +circumstances. Mr. Davis' military education, his experience in the field, +his services as secretary of war, a widespread popular belief in his +ability as a military organizer, and his known capacity as a statesman +in times of peace, all marked him as the fittest man for a place which +evidently required a combination of high qualities. Had Mr. Toombs +possessed either military education or experience, there is scarcely a +doubt that he would have been chosen. + +[Illustration: The Capitol at Richmond] + +The news of his election reached Mr. Davis while working in his garden, +and is said to have caused him genuine disappointment and grief. That the +convention was uncertain of his acceptance is indicated by the fact that +with the notification was sent an earnest appeal to consider the public +welfare, rather than his own preferences, in considering the offer of the +presidency. Upon this ground he based his action in accepting the office +and hastening to Jackson, he resigned his position in the state army, +expressing the hope and belief that the service would be but temporary. + +All along the route to Montgomery, bands and bonfires, booming cannon and +the peals of bells heralded his approach, and vast concourses greeted him +at every station. + +What purported to be an account of this journey was printed in the leading +papers of the North, which pictured Mr. Davis as invoking war, breathing +defiance and threatening extermination of the Union. Nothing of the kind, +however, occurred. The speeches actually delivered were moderate, +conservative and conciliatory. So much so, in fact, that they were +disappointing to his enthusiastic audiences, and there are yet living many +witnesses to the frequent and repeated declaration of the fear that "Jeff. +Davis has remained too long amongst the Yankees to make him exactly the +kind of president the South needs." + + + + +XII. His First Inaugural + + +Monday, Feb. 18, 1861, there assembled around the state capitol at +Montgomery such an audience as no state had ever witnessed--as perhaps +none ever will witness. Statesmen, actual and prospective; jurists and +senators; soldiers and sailors; officers and office-seekers, the latter, +no doubt, predominating; clerks, farmers and artisans; fashionably attired +women in fine equipages decorated with streamers and the tri-colored +cockades; foreign correspondents--in fact, representatives from every +sphere and condition of life, each eager to witness a ceremonial which +could never occur again. + +At exactly one o'clock Mr. Davis and Mr. Stephens appeared upon the +platform in front of the capitol, and when the mighty wave of applause +had subsided, Howell Cobb, President of the Constitutional Convention, +administered to them the oath of office. Then in that peculiarly musical +voice which had never failed to charm the Senate in other days, a voice +audible in its minutest inflections to every one of the vast throng, Mr. +Davis delivered his inaugural address. + +Strangely enough, both sections of the divided country then and thereafter +attached a widely varying value to the address. It was so simple, clear +and direct that it is amazing two interpretations should have been placed +upon it. As an exposition of the causes leading to secession, it was a +masterpiece. It is impossible to read it today without feeling that in +every sentence it breathed a prayer for peace. + +Viewed in connection with the events that produced it, as the first +official advice of the chief executive of a new nation beset with the most +stupendous problems, confronted by the gravest perils, it certainly added +nothing to Mr. Davis' reputation as a statesman. Beyond the declaration +that the Confederacy would be maintained, a desire for peace and freest of +trade relations with the United States, he outlined no policies and +offered neither suggestions nor advice. + +Mr. Davis, now more than perhaps any other Southern statesman, should have +realized that "the erring sisters" would not be permitted to depart in +peace, and yet beyond the barest general statement that an army and a navy +must be created, he dismissed the matter, to plunge into an academic +discussion of the prosperity of the South and the _moral sin_ that would +be committed by the United States should it perversely and wickedly +disturb this condition and curtail the world's supply of cotton! + +The question of revenue was, of course, of paramount importance, but no +idea, no plan, no suggestion was offered along that line. The more one +studies that remarkable production, the more puzzling it becomes, if we +assume that Mr. Davis was altogether sincere in his declaration that the +severance was final and irremediable. + +If he were not, if he still hoped for some adjustment that would reunite +the severed union, one may readily understand why he refrained from +assuming the vigorous attitude that the occasion demanded, but which might +have placed compromise beyond the pale of possibility. The significant +omissions were not compatible with Mr. Davis' well-known views of official +duty. Nor is the matter in any way explained by assuming that as Congress +was charged with the performance of all of these important matters, that +it was not Mr. Davis' duty to suggest plans and methods. His office +invested him with those powers and he was elected to it for the express +reason that he was supposed to be eminently qualified in all practical +administrative and legislative details, especially those of a military +nature. + +While Mr. Davis must be absolved from the charge that his cabinet +appointments were the result of favoritism, they were, nevertheless, for +the most part, unfortunate. The portfolio of the treasury, undoubtedly the +most important place in the cabinet, was intrusted to Mr. Memminger, of +South Carolina, an incorruptible gentleman of high principles and mediocre +ability, a theorist, devoid of either the talents or experience that would +have fitted him for the difficult place. Toombs, Benjamin and Reagan were +better selections. The others were men honest, sincere of purpose, but +little in their antecedents to recommend them for the particular positions +which they were called upon to fill. With at least two of them, Mr. Davis +was not previously personally acquainted, and political considerations +probably secured their appointment. + + + + +XIII. Delays and Blunders + + +One of the president's first official acts was to appoint Crawford, +Forsyth and Roman as commissioners "to negotiate friendly relations" with +the United States. They were men of different political affiliations, one +being a Douglas Democrat, one a Whig and the other a lukewarm +secessionist. All were conservative and shared fully in the president's +desire for peace on any honorable terms. + +But while trying to secure peace, Mr. Davis was not insensible to the +necessity of an army, and on this point the first difference arose between +him and Congress. Beyond the small and inefficient militia maintained by +the different states, there was neither army nor guns, and ammunition with +which to equip one. He therefore urged Congress to provide for the +purchase of large quantities of warlike material, but that body, +infatuated with the idea that there would be no war, proceeded to debate +whether it were advisable to add anything to the stock owned by the +states, which at that time was insufficient to arm one-thirtieth of the +population subject to military duty. + +Mr. Toombs once assured the writer that after the loss of valuable time it +was decided to send an agent abroad, it was proposed to purchase but eight +thousand Enfield rifles and that it was with the utmost difficulty that he +prevailed upon the government to increase the order to ten thousand. + +From this circumstance the extent of the infatuation may be inferred. The +peace delusions of Congress seem to have been fully shared by the +secretary of the treasury. + +At the time of the inauguration of the Confederate government and for +months thereafter, merchants and banks of the South held quantities of +gold, silver and foreign exchange which they were anxious to sell at very +nearly par for government securities, and yet this opportunity was +neglected. But as grave as that blunder was, it was, nevertheless, +insignificant when compared to another. There were then in the South about +three million bales of cotton which the owners would have sold for ten +cents a pound in Confederate money. + +The president accordingly suggested to Mr. Memminger that the government +buy this cotton, immediately ship it to Europe and there store it to await +developments. His theory was that if war should come, it must be a long +one and that in less than two years this cotton would be worth from +seventy to eighty cents a pound, which would then give the government +assets, convertible at any time into gold, of at least a billion dollars. +The plan was sound and feasible, for a blockade did not become seriously +effective until more than a year after the beginning of war, and we know +the price of cotton went even beyond Mr. Davis' figures. The secretary, +however, engrossed in the puerile plans of fiat money, which the history +of almost any revolution, from the days of Adam, should have proved a +warning, turned a deaf ear to this suggestion which at once combined +profound statesmanship and admirable financial sagacity, and the matter +came to naught. + +But this was only one of the many serious blunders and lapses which +retarded the adequate preparation which all at a later day recognized +should have been made by the Confederacy. + +When the stern logic of events portrayed this neglect as the parent of +failure, the spirit of criticism emerged even in the South and failed not +to spare Mr. Davis. But these critics have, for the most part, overlooked +the very important fact that it was impossible for the president to +accomplish a great deal without the co-operation of his Congress. + +The states' rights ideas, we must remember, were the predominant ones +entertained by the people and their representatives, and that they, more +than anything else, paralyzed action, promoted delays and fostered +confusion, can admit of no doubt. The forts, arsenals, docks and shipyards +belonged to the states, and although Mr. Davis early in his administration +urged that they be ceded to the general government, it was not until war +became a certainty that a reluctant consent was yielded and this most +necessary step consummated. Another weakness lay in the fact that the +provisional army, in so far as one existed, was formed on the states' +rights plan. + +That is to say, it was composed of volunteers, armed and officered by the +states, who alone possessed power over them. Any governor might at any +time without any reason withdraw the troops of his state from the most +important point at the most critical moment, without being answerable to +any power for his action. These are but two examples of many that might be +adduced, but they will serve to demonstrate how impossible it was for any +man, whatever his influence or position, to make the preparations demanded +by the situation while hedged about by such fatal limitations. And, +whatever Mr. Davis' failures may have been in this regard, they are +chargeable to the system adopted by the people themselves, rather than to +any serious derelictions on his part. + + + + +XIV. The Bombardment of Sumter + + +The bulk of the Confederate army was mobilized at Charleston, where, if +hostilities were to occur, they were likely to begin, owing to the fact +that a Federal garrison still held Fort Sumter. Mr. Davis, realizing the +critical nature of this situation, impressed upon the peace commissioners +that, failing to secure a treaty of friendship, they were to exhaust every +effort to procure the peaceful evacuation of Sumter. + +The history of those negotiations is too well known to need repetition +here. Mr. Seward's disingenious methods served their purpose of inspiring +a false hope of peace, and it is very probable that Mr. Davis suspected no +duplicity until fully advised of the details and destination of the +formidable fleet that was being fitted out at New York. When it sailed, +and not before, ended his long dream of peace. + +The attempt to reinforce a stronghold in the very heart of the Confederacy +was express and unmistakable notice to the world that the United States +did not propose to relinquish its sovereignty over the seceded states. To +allow the peaceful consummation of the attempt was to acquiesce in a claim +fatal to the existence of the new government. Therefore, if the +Confederacy was to be anything more than a futile attempt to frighten the +Federal government into granting concessions, the time had now come to +act. The president did not hesitate. General Beauregard was instructed to +demand the surrender of Sumter, and, failing to receive it, to proceed +with its reduction. + +The story of that demand and its refusal, of how at thirty minutes past +four o'clock on the morning of April 12, 1861, the quiet old city of +Charleston was aroused from its slumbers by that first gun from Fort +Johnston "heard around the world," and how the gallant Major Anderson, Mr. +Davis' old comrade in arms of other days, maintained his position until +the walls of the fortifications were battered down and fierce fires raged +within, are all history, and need no further comment or elaboration at +this time. + +[Illustration: Interior of Fort Sumter After the Surrender] + +There as at Matanzas in the beginning of the war with Spain, the first and +only life sacrificed was that of a mule. When Mr. Davis learned this, he +exclaimed: "Thank heaven, nothing more precious than the blood of a mule +has been shed. Reconciliation is not yet impossible." But he was hardly +serious in that declaration. The die was now cast, and for the first time +the North realized that the South was in earnest--the South, that war was +inevitable. + +Mr. Lincoln's call for volunteers to coerce the seceding states aroused a +perfect frenzy of patriotism throughout the South, and the full military +strength of the Confederacy could have been enlisted in thirty days, but +it is hardly necessary to say that a government which had reluctantly +ordered ten thousand rifles was in no position to take advantage of that +opportunity. + +The president immediately called an extra session of Congress. It convened +on April 29, and received his special message, which was in marked +contrast to his inaugural. There were no dissertations on agriculture and +morality now, but with that forceful perspicacity which usually +characterized his utterances, he marked out sensibly and well what should +be done, and suggested definite methods. This message was the first +utterance, public or private, which clearly demonstrated that his dream of +compromise was over. + +His recommendations embraced the creation of a regular army upon a sane +plan, the immediate purchase of arms, ammunition and ships, the +establishment of gun factories and powder mills, and a number of other +subjects, which leave no doubt that he saw the situation in its true +proportions, and was resolved to use the resources of the Confederacy to +meet it. That these resources were meager when compared with those of his +powerful adversary, is beyond question. But neither in point of wealth nor +population were the odds so great against the South as those over which +Napoleon twice triumphed, or those opposed to Frederick the Great in a +contest from which he emerged triumphant; and the conclusion so freely +indulged in of late years that the Confederacy was foredoomed from the +beginning would seem to rest rather upon an accomplished fact than upon +sound reasoning, if in the beginning the resources of the South had been +used to the best advantage. That they were not, was known by every +statesman and general of the Confederacy whose achievements entitle his +opinion to consideration. But it is eminently unfair to seek to saddle all +or the greater part of this failure upon Mr. Davis, as has been attempted, +in some cases, by the delinquents who themselves, contributed largely to +that result. Some of the causes of that failure we have seen. Another, and +perhaps the most potent cause, the writer believes, may be traced to +conditions which have been very generally overlooked. + + + + +XV. Conditions in the South + + +Previous to the Civil War, the large slaveholders constituted as distinct +an aristocracy as ever existed under any monarchy. Educated in Northern +colleges and the universities of Europe, it produced a race of men who in +many respects has never been surpassed by those of any country in the +world. It was small, but it was the governing class of the South, in which +the people, except those in the more northerly section, placed implicit +confidence. + +A majority of the latter were not slaveholders nor were they in sympathy +with slavery, and at heart they were unfriendly to the governing class, +its policies and politics--a fact which was responsible for giving to the +Union from the seceded states almost as many soldiers as enlisted for the +Confederacy. + +The educated class, of course, understood all sections of the country, but +at this time it is almost impossible to understand how little the rank and +file of the Southern people knew of the North, its resources and, above +all, of the motives that actuated its citizens. In a word, two sections of +a country separated by no natural barrier, speaking the same language and +in the main living under the same laws, were to all intents and purposes +as much foreigners as though a vast ocean had divided them. + +Nursed upon the theories of state sovereignty, the Southern people could +not at first understand how a seceding state could be coerced, and when +that delusion was dispelled, their attitude was one of angry contempt. +From colonial days, conditions in the South had been such as to develop +courage, resourcefulness and self-reliance in the individual. The idea of +coercion was to them ridiculous. Numerically inferior as they were, +they felt self-sufficient. So much so, in fact, that they took no trouble +to conciliate that class before referred to which, while out of sympathy +with them on slavery, were held by other ties which at first inclined them +rather to the South than to the North. What mattered it? Let them join the +Yankees, and they would whip both. This same confidence saw in the +approaching conflict a short affair, and among this people, naturally as +warlike as the Romans under the republic, there grew up the widespread +fear that the war would not last long enough for all to take a hand. +Valorous the attitude undoubtedly was, but at the same time the spirit +that gave it birth was fatal to that careful preparation which alone would +have insured a chance for success. + +[Illustration: Henry Clay Addressing the Senate on the Missouri +Compromise] + +This spirit invaded even the Congress, where strong opposition developed +to long enlistments. In fact, this body seems to have seriously believed +that the volunteers would be sufficient to maintain the struggle, and +while Mr. Davis saw the error and danger involved in both theories, the +most that could be secured was legislation which provided for a twelve +months' enlistment. This, in all truth, was bad enough, but it is doubtful +if it was so pernicious as the methods provided for fixing the rank of +officers by the relative position formerly held by them in the United +States army--a measure which from its inception proved a perfect Pandora's +box of discord and dissension. + + + + +XVI. The First Battle + + +The next step of Congress was unquestionably a fatal blunder. This was the +removal of the capitol from Montgomery to Richmond. From the very nature +of the situation, it was evident that the chief goal of the enemy would be +the capture of the capital and the moral effect of such a result must +prove extremely disastrous, by elating the North, discouraging the South +and impairing confidence abroad. + +Left at Montgomery, it would have compelled the enemy to operate from a +distant base of supplies, necessitating his keeping open lines of +communication eight hundred miles long, while it would have liberated to +be used as occasion demanded, a magnificent army which was constantly +required for the defense of Richmond. Located as that place is, within +little more than one hundred miles of the enemy's base, upon a river +which permitted the ascent of formidable war crafts and within a short +distance of a strong fortress on a fine harbor, it was a constant +invitation for aggressions which required all of the energies and most of +the resources of the South to meet and defend. + +When in May the president reached Richmond, its defense was already +demanding attention. The states had sent forward troops to the aid of +Virginia and these were divided into three armies. One of these was posted +at Norfolk. Another, under General Joseph E. Johnston, guarded the +approach to the Shenandoah Valley, and the third, under General +Beauregard, covered the direct approach to the capital from near Manassas. +The day the Federal army moved forward to the invasion of the South, Mr. +Davis was advised of the fact by one of his secret agents in Washington, +and he wired Johnston to abandon Harper's Ferry and effect a junction with +Beauregard--an order executed with the celerity and effectiveness which +could not have been surpassed by the seasoned troops of a veteran army. +But a difficulty now arose. Johnston and Beauregard were commanding +separate armies, and in the face of impending battle it was certainly +necessary to know who exercised supreme command. + +[Illustration: Edward Ruffin, who Fired the First Gun at Sumter] + +Under the law of Congress, it was doubtful if either exercised those +functions, Johnston therefore wired an inquiry and received from Mr. Davis +only the reply that he was general in the Confederate army. However, the +anomalous situation and perhaps another motive, which will be hereafter +noticed, induced the president to hasten forward, so as to be himself +present upon the field of battle. When he reached Johnston's headquarters, +the hard-fought day was closing, the storm of battle was dying away to the +westward and General McDowell's army, routed at every point, was +retreating in wild disorder toward Washington. + + + + +XVII. A Lost Opportunity + + +No man influential in the making of history ever knew less of the art of +divining character than Jefferson Davis. Entirely ingenous himself, he +persisted in attributing that virtue to every one else, utterly failing to +understand the mixed motives that influence all men in most of the affairs +of life. If he perceived one trait of character, real or imaginary, which +appealed to his admiration, it was quite sufficient, and forthwith he +proceeded to attribute to its possessor all of the other qualities which +he wished him to possess. That conclusion once reached, no amount of +evidence could overthrow it or even shake his confidence in its +correctness. + +That peculiarity, in some ways admirable in itself, was responsible for +many of his mistakes and misfortunes. The first vital one attributable to +that cause was Mr. Davis' selection of the head of the commissary +department of the Confederate army. Early in his military career, while +stationed at Fort Crawford, a warm friendship had sprung up between +himself and Lieutenant Northrop. About the time he resigned his commission +an accident befell Northrop which compelled him to retire from the army +also. Thereupon he studied medicine and afterward locating in Charleston +became a zealous convert to the Catholic faith and beyond the spheres of +church quarrels and religious polemics, remained an unimportant factor in +his community. Indeed he seems to have been unable to manage his own small +affairs with any degree of success, and many of his neighbors and friends +believed him to be of unsound mind. Mr. Davis had not seen him, and +probably knew little of his life since he left the army, a quarter of a +century before. A superficial inquiry must have demonstrated that Dr. +Northrop was wholly unfitted by education, temperament and experience for +a position which required business training and executive ability of the +first order. However, Mr. Davis, remembering the man as he had supposed +him to be years before, proceeded to appoint him to the most important and +difficult position under the government. + +[Illustration: Robert Toombs] + +Colonel Northrop, of course, had ideas of his own and he proceeded to +execute them without the slightest regard for the wishes or opinions of +the able and experienced generals who commanded the Confederate armies in +Northern Virginia. + +Near Manassas, where Johnston and Beauregard had been ordered to form a +junction, a railroad branched off from the main line and traversed the +famous Shenandoah Valley, then and afterward known as the granary of the +South. To have supplied the armies with provisions by the use of that line +whose rolling stock was then comparatively idle would have been one of the +easiest of military problems; but instead of following that course, +breadstuffs were transported first from the Valley to Richmond and thence +over the sadly overtaxed main line to the army at Manassas. But one result +was possible which, of course, was the almost complete failure of the +commissary department. Most of the Southern troops went hungry into the +battle of Bull Run, and not until ten o'clock at night could meager +rations be procured for the exhausted army. This fact was the real reason +why General Johnston did not pursue the routed army of McDowell. Johnston, +Beauregard and President Davis all concurred in the necessity of following +up the victory, and the latter actually dictated the order to Colonel +Jordan, but as the commissary department had completely gone to pieces, +no forward movement was possible then, or, indeed, for months afterward. + + + + + + +XVIII. The Quarrel with Johnston + + +A greater calamity than this, which practically nullified the fruits of +the victory, soon occurred in the beginning of that unnecessary and +calamitous quarrel between the President and General Johnston. Much that +is untrue has been written about its origin, but the facts as learned from +the principals themselves, and all the records in the case, refer it to a +single cause which may be stated in few words. + +[Illustration: General Joseph E. Johnston] + +In March, 1861, the Confederate Congress enacted that the relative rank of +officers should be determined in the new army by that which they held in +that of the United States. General Johnston alone of those who resigned +from the old army held the rank of Brigadier-General and therefore, it +would seem, should have become the senior general in the Confederate +armies. In fact, he was recognized as such by the government until after +the battle of Bull Run. + +However, on the Fourth of July the President nominated five generals, +three of whom took precedence over Johnston, thus reducing him from the +first general to that of fourth, and in August Congress confirmed the +nominations as made. Upon learning what had been done, General Johnston +wrote the President, protesting against what he conceived to be a great +injustice. His language was moderate and respectful, and it is impossible +to read his argument without acknowledging its faultless logic. The +President, however, indorsed upon the document the single word +"Insubordinate," and sent to the writer a curt, caustic note, which +without attempting any answer or explanation summarily closed the matter. +That Johnston was deeply wounded admits of no doubt, but he was too +great a soldier and man to allow this snub to influence his devotion and +service, and his attitude toward the President remained throughout the +struggle eminently correct. Mr. Davis however, was never able to +understand those who differed from his views. General Johnston often did +so; wisely as the sequel always proved, but the President invariably +attributed this difference to the wrong cause. The breach was thereby kept +open and with what results we shall see. + +[Illustration: Generals Lee, Jackson and Johnston] + +The most important result of the victory of Bull Run was the tremendous +enthusiasm that it stirred throughout the South. Volunteers came forward +so rapidly that they could not be armed and the belief became general that +it was to be "a ninety days' war." President Davis, however, nursed no +such delusions. He knew the temper of the great and populous states of the +North, and he fully realized that defeat would teach caution while +arousing stronger determination. He, therefore, sought to impress upon +Congress the necessity of stopping short enlistments and the advisability +of passing general laws which would place the country in position to +sustain a long war. But the times were not propitious for that kind of +advice, and it was lost upon a body whose enthusiasm had temporarily +exceeded its judgment and discretion. + + + + +XIX. The Battle of Shiloh + + +In the fall of 1861 Mr. Davis was elected President of the Confederate +States for a term of six years, and on the 21st of February in the +following year he was inaugurated. This message may hardly be called a +state paper, as it was devoted rather to a recapitulation of the events of +the war than to discussion of measures or the recommendation of policies. + +The tone of the message was hopeful, for notwithstanding the fall of Forts +Donelson and Henry, and the evacuation of Bowling Green, the fortunes of +war were decidedly with the South. + +However, in those catastrophes, which Mr. Davis passed lightly over, the +ablest generals in the Southern army saw the first results of the fatal +policy of attempting with limited resources to defend every threatened +point of a vast irregular frontier reaching from the Rio Grande to the +Potomac. The three hundred thousand men in the Confederate army at that +time could have captured Washington or localized the whole Federal army in +its defense, but scattered over an area of more than fifteen hundred +miles, strength was dissipated and at every point they were too weak to +attempt more than a defensive policy. Upon this point, however, Mr. Davis +was inflexible, and absolutely refused to abandon any place however +insignificant from a strategic point of view, even when the soldiers +holding it might have been used most effectively elsewhere. + +The Federal government soon perceived that this was to be the fixed policy +of the Confederate President and proceeded to make the most of it. +McClellan's preparation for a blow at Richmond diverted attention from +the West where General Albert Sidney Johnston was left without hope of +succor to deal with the armies of Grant and Buell. That great soldier, +however, was equal to any emergency and prepared to strike before Grant +and Buell could effect a junction. Fatally hampered as he was by the +Commissary General's lack of foresight or preparation and with a staff too +small and inexperienced to render the required services, he forced General +Grant into the battle of Shiloh. More brilliant generalship was never +shown upon any field than was that day displayed by the great Texan, who +drove the Federal army back upon the river in the wildest confusion and +disorder. At two o'clock the battle was won. A half hour later Johnston +was dead--a victim of the foolish practice of the Southern generals of +remaining on the firing line. The command devolved upon Beauregard who, +instead of completing the victory, stopped the battle while more than two +hours of daylight remained. He thereby lost all that had been gained and +insured his own defeat, for during the night, Buell's corps crossed the +river and easily routed his army on the following day. + +What motives actuated Beauregard in this matter can only be conjectured. +His amazing conduct was never even plausibly explained by himself. It was +certainly not treachery, for his patriotism was unbounded. It was not +incompetency, for tried by the usual standards, he was not lacking as a +general. + +He at that time was not on good terms with the President, and then and +ever he was vain and covetous of honors and fame. Had he completed the +victory, the administration, the world, history would have credited it to +Johnston. Had he succeeded in winning it on the following day, it would +have been his own. From all that can be learned some such reason must have +influenced him in halting a victorious army in the moment of its +triumph. + +[Illustration: C. G. Memminger] + +When the news of the fatal affair at Shiloh reached Davis, his rage knew +no bounds, but instead of relieving Beauregard of his command and bringing +him promptly before a court martial, as Frederick or Napoleon would have +done, he allowed him to remain at the head of the Western army without +even administering a reprimand. In fact, not until Beauregard had left the +army on sick leave about a month later did the President express any +disapprobation. Then he declared that nothing would ever induce him to +restore the offender to any command. But in most cases Mr. Davis' anger +was short lived, and while we must admire that gentleness which +undoubtedly was responsible for his never punishing any offender, it was +nevertheless a weakness in the South's Chief Executive from which it was +destined to suffer greater ills than flowed from the oblivion which soon +shrouded the offenses of this particular general. + + + + +XX. The Seven Days of Battle + + +The gloom cast over the South by the reverses of the West by no means +discouraged President Davis, and taking the field in person he aided and +directed his generals in preparing for the defense of Richmond against the +impending attack of McClellan. + +The seven days' battle before Richmond are particularly interesting to the +military critic by reason no less of the valor displayed upon both sides +than for the masterly strategy used by the two great antagonists. + +General Johnston, who had been severely criticised by the President, +remained long enough on the field of Seven Pines to demonstrate the +soundness of his plans by winning a great victory before he was stricken +down and borne unconscious to the rear. General Lee succeeded Johnston, +and being reinforced by the indomitable Stonewall Jackson, whose soldiers +were inspired by a series of recent magnificent victories in the Valley of +Virginia, drove McClellan back so rapidly through a strange and difficult +country that the wonder is he did not lose his entire army. + +For this feat, which must be regarded as one of the most brilliant pieces +of maneuvering in history, General McClellan was held up to execration and +even his patriotism was questioned. In fact, the belief is still general +that he lost the opportunity to capture Richmond, when as a matter of fact +he could not have done so with an army of twice the size he commanded, as +must be evident to any one who will remember that it took Grant, with an +army of 200,000 men, more than a year to accomplish that result when +confronted not by 100,000 of the best troops the world ever saw led by a +dozen generals, either one of whom Napoleon would have delighted to have +made a marshal, but by less than 40,000 worn, starved and ragged veterans +whose great commanders with one or two exceptions, had fallen in battle. +President Davis was not an ungenerous enemy and at the time, as well as +frequently in later life, expressed warm admiration for the soldierly +qualities that enabled McClellan to extricate himself from a situation +which must have proved fatal to a less able commander. + + + + +XXI. Butler's Infamous Order 28 + + +This series of victories in some measure offset the blow the South +sustained in the fall of New Orleans, and immediately thereafter the +President attempted to deal with the situation in that quarter in a way +which will serve to throw a strong side light upon another phase of his +character. General Butler had hanged a semi-idiotic boy by the name of +Munford for hauling down the flag from the mint. The act was one of +impolicy, if not of wanton barbarity, and it aroused a storm of +indignation throughout the South. This was, in a few days, followed by the +infamous "Order No. 28," which in retaliation for snubs received at the +hands of the women of New Orleans, licensed the soldiers, upon repetition +of the offense, "to greet them as women of the town plying their +avocation." + +President Davis at once issued a proclamation declaring Butler an outlaw, +and placing a price upon his head and commanding that no commissioned +officer of the United States should be exchanged until the culprit should +meet with due punishment. The officers in Butler's army were also declared +to be felons, their exchange was prohibited and they were ordered to be +treated as common criminals. + +As to the justice of the proclamation so far as it related to Butler +himself few North or South at this day who have read "Order No. 28" will +be inclined to question. But to attempt to attain to the officers of a +numerous army with the guilt of a personal act of its commander must, upon +due reflection, have appeared as absurd to the President as it did to the +rest of the country. As a matter of fact the proclamation was never +attempted to be executed although abundant chances were presented, and it +is very probable that had Butler himself fallen into the hands of the +Confederates he would have had nothing worse than imprisonment to fear had +his fate been left to the President. + +Mr. Davis, as we all know, issued some very sanguinary proclamations in +his time, but they were altogether sound and fury, "signifying nothing," +and not one of them was ever enforced. He no doubt hoped that their +terrible aspect would operate as a deterrent and no doubt they did at +first. But gradually their seriousness came to be questioned and then they +became a subject of amusement to both friend and foe. During his most +eventful administration, although hundreds of death warrants of criminals, +who richly deserved the extreme punishment, came before him he never +signed one of them or permitted an execution when he had the slightest +opportunity to interfere. + +This, of course, was charged by Pollard and other enemies to his desire +to save himself, in the event the Confederacy should fail, but no motive +could have been further from the correct one than this view of the case. +The truth is that Jefferson Davis was as kindly, tender, gentle and +considerate as a woman, and it was quite impossible for him to assume the +responsibility of inflicting serious punishment or suffering of any kind +upon any of God's creatures, human or otherwise. Had he hanged a few +prisoners upon one or two occasions, it would have been of inestimable +benefit to the South; had he executed one or two deserters in 1864, he +would at once have checked an evil which was threatening the very +existence of the Confederacy, but he did neither, although fully realizing +the impolicy of his course. And whatever we may think of his strength of +character we can but love the man whose humanity triumphed over passions, +prejudice, policy and wisdom and brought him through those awful times +that frightfully developed the savage instinct in the best of men without +the taint of bloodshed upon his conscience. + + + + +XXII. Mental Imperfections + + +History must finally charge all of Mr. Davis' blunders to no moral +defective sense but rather to imperfect mental conceptions augmented and +intensified by a strong infusion of self-confidence and stubbornness which +frequently destroyed the perspective and blinded him to the truth apparent +to other men of far less capacity. Criticism, however well meant, never +enlightened him to his own mistakes. + +If he made a bad appointment, he saw in the objection to his protege +ignorance of his merit, jealousy, a disposition to persecute, in fact +anything rather than the possibility that he himself might have made a +mistake. + +This unfortunate mental attitude, combined with the fixed idea that his +genius was that of the soldier was responsible for the most unfortunate +acts of his life. What his real merits as a soldier were we can only +conjecture. In the Mexican War he demonstrated first-rate ability, but his +highest command was that of a regiment. Although he constantly interfered +with some of his generals with suggestions, sometimes tantamount to +commands, he never exercised the military prerogative in directing troops +in the field. We know that those suggestions were often wrong, but before +concluding that his capacity as an active commander must be determined by +them, we must remember that they were given usually at a great distance, +and that they might have been otherwise had he understood the situation as +thoroughly as he supposed he did. There is probably no doubt that he would +have proved a splendid brigade commander, but it is more than doubtful if +he could ever have understood the science of war as Lee or Johnston or +Jackson knew it. + +[Illustration: The Site of the Prison Camp on the James Below Richmond] + +In Virginia, where President Davis did not attempt to interfere with his +generals, the most brilliant triumphs of the South were won, and while +this is not assigned as the only reason, the fact is nevertheless +significant. From second Manassas, where the vain, boastful General Pope, +who had won notoriety at Shiloh by reporting the capture of 10,000 +Confederates whom he must also have eaten as they never figured in parol, +prison or exchange lists--was annihilated by Jackson, to the brilliant +victory of Chancellorsville where the great soldier sealed his faith with +his life-blood, the army of Northern Virginia was handled with that +consummate generalship and displayed a degree of heroism which must ever +challenge the admiration of mankind as the most perfect fighting machine +in the world's history. + + + + +XXIII. Blunders of the Western Army + + +During this time the Western army suffered one disaster after another in +such rapid succession that the warmest friends of the Confederacy began to +despair of its future. Thoroughly alarmed. President Davis overcame his +animosity sufficiently to send General Johnston to the rescue, but instead +of giving him full authority over one or both of the armies he designated +him as the commander of a geographical department with little more than +the power usually invested in an inspector general. + +Bragg, the most unfortunate of all the Southern generals, commanded in +Tennessee, where he was out-generaled and defeated at Murfreesboro when he +held all of the winning cards in his own hands. His blunders upon that +field so enraged his officers that they were almost in revolt against him. +However, in his fidelity to his old friend and comrade, Mr. Davis failed +to discover what was evident to every intelligent lieutenant in the army, +and Bragg was continued in command to perpetrate other blunders still more +costly and unpardonable. + +The Southern corps of the Western army was still worse handled. The +Mississippi River, after the fall of New Orleans and Memphis, was of +little or no use to the Confederacy, but Mr. Davis conceived the idea that +it must be defended although that course, necessarily would weaken Bragg +and render success impossible to either corps. + +To the command of the Southern corps, Mr. Davis appointed General +Pemberton, a theoretical soldier who it was alleged had never witnessed +any considerable engagement. However this may be, his conduct fully +sustained the allegation, for, from start to finish, he seems to have +been mystified by the tactics of Grant and Sherman, and after a series of +marches and countermarches in which he lost much and gained nothing he +fell back on Vicksburg, perhaps the most indefensible city in America, and +prepared to sustain a siege, the outcome of which could not be doubtful +for a moment. + +[Illustration: On the Field of Cold Harbor Today] + +Being safely driven into a position from which there was but one line of +retreat, Pemberton appealed to the President for aid, and General Johnston +was instructed to furnish it. His soldierly mind saw at a glance that the +proper thing to do was to abandon Vicksburg, and he accordingly ordered +Pemberton to do so. That officer protested and appealed to Mr. Davis, who +sustained him and notified Johnston that under no circumstances must +Vicksburg be abandoned. That decision sealed the fate of Pemberton's army, +and on the day General Grant invested it he telegraphed to Washington +that its fall was only a question of time. How that prediction was +verified by the surrender of Pemberton's army of 30,000 men, thus leaving +Grant and Sherman free to double back on Bragg, are too well known to need +any discussion at this time. All thinking men realized that it sealed the +doom of the Confederacy unless the Northern campaign of General Lee should +prove successful. + + + + +XXIV. Davis and Gettysburg + + +The conception of the Gettysburg campaign has been properly attributed to +Mr. Davis, but much of the criticism that it has evoked is unfair being +based upon a misconception of the object sought to be attained. If one +will consider the moral effect that the victory of Chancellorsville +produced throughout the North, that many influential leaders and a large +part of the press openly declared that another such calamity must be +followed by the recognition of the Confederacy, the idea of this Northern +campaign, it must be conceded, was founded upon sound military principles. +Military critics are very generally agreed that Gettysburg would have been +a Confederate instead of a Union victory had the Southern troops occupied +Little Round Top on the evening of the first day. That they did not is a +fortuitous circumstance, which can militate nothing against the soundness +of the idea involved in the campaign, while the fact that a victory so +great as to have been decisive lay within easy grasp of the Confederates +would seem to amply justify the hazard on the part of President Davis. + +The last reasonable hope of success was over when Lee retreated from +Pennsylvania, but if Mr. Davis recognized that fact he gave no indication +of it. On the other hand, adversity had begun to develop that real +strength of character which a little later was destined to win the respect +of his enemies and the admiration of the rest of the world. + +Confederate finances had now sunk to so low an ebb that a collapse seemed +inevitable. Congress passed one futile piece of legislation after another, +each worse than its predecessor, and matters went from bad to worse with +startling rapidity. Mr. Davis was not a financier, but he brought forward +a plan which, while it laid perhaps the heaviest burden of taxation ever +placed upon a people, nevertheless served for a time to stem the fast +rising tide of national bankruptcy. + +About the same time, deeply impressed with the suffering of Federal +prisoners caused by the cruel policy of refusing exchanges, he attempted +to send Vice-President Stephens to Washington to negotiate a general +cartel with President Lincoln, but Stephens was allowed to proceed no +farther than Fortress Monroe, and nothing came of the mission which was +conceived by Mr. Davis purely in the interest of humanity. + +As the fall drew on, Bragg was being pressed steadily back by an +overwhelming force under Rosecrans, and it became apparent that another +disaster was impending over the Confederacy. To avert it President Davis +hurried Longstreet's corps forward as reinforcements, a policy the +soundness of which was demonstrated a little later by the great victory of +Chickamauga. + +But again Bragg failed to measure up to the situation, and instead of +capturing or destroying his antagonist, which a prompt pursuit must have +insured, he actually refused to understand that he had won a victory until +its fruits were beyond his reach. Not even that costly piece of stupidity +could quite shake the confidence of the President in his old friend, and +it was not until Bragg had insured and received his own disastrous defeat +at Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, by sending Longstreet's whole +corps away on a wild-goose chase against Knoxville, that his resignation +was accepted; and even then he was taken to Richmond and duly installed as +the military adviser of the Chief Executive. + +[Illustration: The Battle of the Crater] + +The fortunes of the Confederacy were now at a low ebb. The Western army +was demoralized and so hopeless seemed the task of reorganization that one +general after another refused to undertake it, until in his dilemma the +President turned once more to General Johnston. That splendid soldier, +forgetting past injuries, accepted the command and soon succeeded in +creating an army whose very existence infused new courage throughout the +Confederacy. In the meantime, Mr. Davis' resolution rose superior over the +reverses that were everywhere overwhelming his government, and our +admiration for the man vastly increases as we see him steering, wisely +now, his foundering nation into that dark year 1864, destined to reveal to +us a great man growing greater, better and more lovable under the heavy +accumulation of terrible misfortune. + + + + +XXV. The Chief of a Heroic People + + +The world has never witnessed a more sublime spectacle than that presented +by the Southern people at the beginning of 1864. The finances of the +government had gone from bad to worse until it required a bursting purse +to purchase a dinner. Or, rather it would have done so had the dinner been +procurable at all, which in most cases it was not. Gaunt famine stalked +through a desolate land scarred by the remains of destroyed homes and +drenched in the blood of its best manhood. Scarcely a home had escaped the +besom of death and destruction, and, on the lordly domains where once a +prodigal and princely hospitality had been daily dispensed, children cried +in vain for the bread that the broken-hearted mother could no longer give. +That such terrific desolation should have failed to force submission is +almost beyond understanding, but it produced exactly the opposite result. + +Delicately nurtured women, reared in ease and luxury, cheerfully chose to +starve in thread-bare garments while they sent their silver and jewels to +the government to enable it to continue the struggle. They bade their +husbands and sons and brothers to remain at the front and never sheathe +their swords unless in an honorable peace; and forthwith the stripling of +tender years and the gray-bearded grandsire, bowed with the infirmities of +time, went forth to perform prodigies of valor upon the last sanguinary +fields of the dying Confederacy. + +The President of the Confederacy was too wise a man not to realize the +significance of the situation at that time. He fully realized the awful +suffering of his people. He saw his armies driven from the West, the +lines of the Confederacy daily contracting. He saw the last hope of +foreign intervention die and he witnessed the birth, even in the +government, of a strong spirit of hostility to himself. What this must +have meant to a man of his sensitive, kindly nature we may readily guess, +but to the world his attitude was most admirable. Calm, resolute, majestic +he stood at the helm, steering the foundering craft of state through the +last storm as steadily, as resolutely as though he knew a haven of safety +instead of destruction to lie just beyond. + +[Illustration: Mr. and Mrs. Davis in 1863] + +Early in 1864 it became apparent that such an effort as had never been +made before to crush the Confederacy was impending. General Grant was +transferred to the East, and early in the spring with a magnificent army +of 162,000 began his advance upon Richmond. The great Confederate +chieftain, Lee, with a force one-third as great confronted him, and then +began that mighty duel which must always remain the wonder and admiration +of the world. In the Wilderness Lee struck a staggering blow, which halted +the advance and doubled up the Federal army. Grant announced that he +proposed to fight it out on that line if it took all summer, straightened +his lines and began the campaign, which one may more readily understand if +he will imagine some Titan armed with a ponderous hammer, confronting a +wily, agile antagonist, who must rely upon a rapier sharp, indeed, but +slender to a dangerous degree. Incessantly through those spring days the +forests rang with the clamor of blows. At Culpepper and Spottsylvania and +North Anna the hammer fell and was parried by the rapier, Grant always +moving by the flank and seeking to out-maneuver his antagonist and always +failing to do so. By June, the two armies in their side-stepping tactics +had reached Cold Harbor, where Grant in a great frontal attack lost 13,000 +men in a few moments, which must have convinced him that it would take +longer than all summer to fight it out on that line, as he then and there +abandoned it and adopted a new one. In three months he had lost 150,000 +men and was not so near Richmond as McClellan had been in 1862. + + + + +XXVI. Sherman and Johnston + + +In the meantime that campaign which was destined to place Sherman and +Johnston in the very front rank of the world's great commanders, was in +progress. Both were masters of military strategy and each fully +appreciated the ability of the other. Sherman ever seeking to draw +Johnston into a pitched battle was constantly thwarted. At Dalton, Resaca +and Marietta Johnston delivered hard blows, falling back before his +antagonist could use his superior numbers to any advantage. + +By this means he reached Atlanta with a larger army than he had in the +beginning of the campaign, while that of Sherman had decreased from one +hundred to little more than fifty thousand. Johnston's tactics of wearing +out the enemy by drawing him through a hostile country away from his base +of supplies is now admitted by military critics to have been a piece of +masterly strategy. It is also generally conceded that Sherman could not +have captured Atlanta by siege with three times his force. But although +Johnston had repulsed every assault upon his works and was daily growing +stronger, President Davis was greatly displeased with this defensive +policy and constantly importuned him to give battle. This Johnston refused +to do and was relieved of the command by the President, who appointed +General Hood, whom he declared "would at least deliver one manly blow for +the South." + +In so far as the delivery of the blow was concerned he was destined not to +be disappointed, but very greatly so in the result. + +[Illustration: The Davis Children in 1863] + +The very day that he took command, Hood, a brave, impetuous man of slight +ability and poor judgment, left his works, furiously assaulted Sherman, +and was promptly cut to pieces. The Confederate army was practically +annihilated, and the fall of Atlanta made certain the success of that +famous march to the sea which alone would have doomed the Confederacy. + +General Johnston, too great to cherish resentment, once more yielded to +the appeals of the President and took command of the shattered army. But +the time had passed when he might have accomplished any substantial +results and henceforth even his genius could not serve to postpone the +end. + + + + +XXVII. Mr. Davis' Humanity + + +In the meantime, amidst these disasters and the gloomy forebodings that +were settling over the South, Mr. Davis did not forget the sufferings of +the army of captives that languished in Southern prisons. Time and again +he had sought to establish a cartel for the exchange of all prisoners but +it had never been faithfully observed by the Federal government, and at +last General Grant had refused to exchange upon any terms, declaring that +to do so would ensue the defeat of Sherman's army. The result was that the +Southern prisons were rapidly filled, and as supplies and medicines +failed, the sufferings in some places, notably Andersonville, became +intense. The prisoners were placed upon the same rations as the +Confederate soldiers, but they had never been used to such fare and it +meant starvation to them. The ravages of malaria among them was appalling, +and yet as the Federal government had made quinine contraband of war not +an ounce of it could be procured for their use. + +Mr. Davis, whose strongest trait of character was gentleness and humanity, +felt keenly this state of affairs, and sought by every power at his +command to ameliorate it. When the proposition to exchange was rejected, +he asked that medicines and supplies be sent for the exclusive use of +Northern prisoners. When that was refused, he asked that doctors and +nurses be furnished from the Federal army. That also failing, and the +condition of the sufferers at Andersonville growing worse he finally +offered to liberate them provided the government would take them out of +the South--a proposition which was not accepted until after many months of +useless delay which cost thousands of lives. + +[Illustration: The Famous Libby Prison as It Appeared at the Close of the +War] + +Thus it will be seen how baseless was that calumny which yet survives in +some quarters that Jefferson Davis was responsible for the sufferings of +those poor unfortunates who in reality were sacrificed by an indifferent +government, which feared to recruit the ranks of the Confederate army by +the exchange of prisoners although such a course was dictated by the laws +of civilized warfare no less than by motives of humanity. In reality Mr. +Davis did far more than required by the laws of nations, and the verdict +of history not only acquits him of any share in that great iniquity, but +places him in marked contrast to his antagonists who chose to sacrifice +their soldiers rather than jeopardize the prospects of an early final +victory. + +The brilliant victory of Colquitt at Ocean Pond, of Forest at Fort Pillow, +and other minor successes gained by the Confederate leaders added scarcely +a transient ray of hope. Clouds of smoke by day, a pillar of fire by +night, marked the advance of Sherman through Georgia. The most fruitful +region of the South was left a charred and desolate ruin. Tilly, the Duke +of Alva, nor Wallenstein ever left destruction so complete and +irremediable as that which marked the path of that great soldier who +declared war was hell and fully lived up to that harsh conviction. + +After the fall of Savannah, the blue legions now irresistible, turned +northward, and it became apparent that the vitals of the Confederacy lay +between the two huge iron jaws of Grant's and Sherman's armies which were +closing with a steady force that nothing could resist. + +Day and night Grant rained his mighty sledge-hammer blows upon the +defenses of the devoted capital, which Lee met and parried with the skill +of consummate military genius. But the blade of the rapier was growing +thinner and the time must come when it would break. Holding works forty +miles in length with less than a thousand soldiers to the mile, he +inflicted repulse after repulse until the Southern people came to regard +him as invincible. + +Even Mr. Davis, who was now almost constantly with his great Captain, +seems to have shared the delusion, and despite his warnings that the end +must soon come delayed his departure from Richmond. + +At last on Sunday, April 2, 1865, a courier entered old St. John's in the +midst of services and handed the President a telegram. It was General +Lee's notice that he could no longer hold his lines. Mr. Davis quietly +left the church, but all understood and soon a panic reigned in the quiet +old city. This was increased by the terrific explosions that came from the +river and arsenals where warships and military supplies were being +destroyed. That night the fires from burning warehouses lighted the train +that bore out of the doomed city the President and his cabinet and the +archives of the fugitive government. Whether from the sparks of the +burning arsenals or from the torches of incendiaries will never be known, +but that night a fierce conflagration swept over the city, and when in the +gray dawn of the next morning General Godfrey Weitzel's cavalry rode +through the smoldering streets and raised the stars and stripes over +Virginia's ancient and the Confederates' recent capital, it floated over a +scene of desolation only a little less complete than Napoleon beheld when +he looked for the last time from the ancient Krimlin upon destroyed +Moscow. + + + + +XXVIII. General Lee's Surrender + + +History has fully recorded the last scenes of the heroic effort of the +peerless Lee to fall back upon Danville and effect a junction with General +Johnston and it is unnecessary here to relate how surrounded by +overwhelming numbers and reduced to starvation he finally at Appomattox +surrendered the remaining 7,500 of that superb army which, without doubt, +had been the most magnificent fighting machine in the world's history. + +In the meantime the fugitive government reached Danville in a pouring +rain. There were no accommodations for the officials, no place to install +the executive machinery. General Breckenridge, sitting upon a camp stool +in front of the damp dingy little station, studied a map and drew the +lines along which Johnston and Lee should advance. The Secretary of +State, reclining upon a knapsack, talked hopefully of the recognition that +was certain to arrive from England and France in a few days. Mr. Reagan +chewed a straw and said nothing. It was a dull day in the department of +justice, and the Attorney-General paced the platform and looked +thoughtfully toward Canada. At last it was decided to begin work and the +clerks seated themselves around tables in the cars, and the government was +soon once more issuing all kinds of orders. Mr. Davis, calm and tranquil +as usual, had made up his mind never to surrender as long as resistance +was possible unless he could secure favorable terms for his people. For +himself he asked nothing, but he believed it his duty to continue the +struggle until the fundamental principles of a free people should be +secured for the South. This he did not doubt could be accomplished by the +junction of Lee and Johnston. It was, of course, a great blow to his +hopes when the news of Lee's surrender reached him, but he belonged to +that rare type of man whose courage and resolution grow stronger in the +face of adversity. His only hope now lay in Johnston's army, but with it +he declared the South could conquer an honorable peace against the world +in arms. + +[Illustration: The Surrender of Lee] + +With this idea in view the wandering government moved on to Greensboro. +There, the President was informed by General Johnston of the utter +hopelessness of longer continuing the struggle. That the old veteran was +right now admits of no doubt, but Mr. Davis combated the idea most +vigorously. Johnston assured him that while a surrender was a matter of +days in any event that Sherman would sign an agreement guaranteeing the +political rights of the people in the subjugated states. This Mr. Davis +rightfully believed the Federal government would repudiate, but left his +general full discretion in the matter, moving on southward, intending to +cross the Mississippi, join the army of Kirby Smith and continue the war +in Texas. + +Just as he was leaving Greensboro he received the news of President +Lincoln's assassination. None who ever really knew Mr. Davis can doubt +what his feelings were upon that occasion. General Reagan, who was with +him, says his face expressed surprise and horror in the most unmistakable +manner. "It is too bad, it is shocking, it is horrible!" he declared, and +then after a moment's reflection added, "This is bad for the South. Mr. +Lincoln understood us and at least was not an ungenerous foe." + +That very morning the little daughter of his host came running in and in +wide-eyed terror said that some one had told her that "Old Lincoln was +coming to kill everybody." Mr. Davis, taking her upon his knees, said +soothingly: "You are wrong, my dear, Mr. Lincoln is not a bad man. He +would not willingly harm any one, and he dearly loves little girls like +you." These incidents, trivial enough in themselves, are nevertheless +interesting as indices of Jefferson Davis' opinion of Mr. Lincoln. + + + + +XXIX. The Capture of Davis + + +Proceeding to Charlotte, Mr. Davis there learned of the surrender of +General Johnston. Determining to make his way to Texas he decided to take +a southerly route which he hoped to find free from Federal troops. A +cavalry force of about two thousand accompanied him as far as the Savannah +River, but there discovering General Wilson's brigade to be in the country +in front it was deemed advisable for the force to disband and Mr. Davis, +with Burton Harrison, his secretary, and a few others to go forward in the +hope of escaping discovery. + +At Irwinsville, Ga., he learned that his family, which was also proceeding +westward, was but a few miles away and he was advised that the country was +filled with marauders who were rifling and robbing all strangers whose +appearance indicated the possession of valuables. This information, +coupled with the story that Mrs. Davis' party was believed to possess a +valuable treasure, so alarmed Mr. Davis for the safety of his family that +he resolved to join it at all hazards. This resolution cost him his +liberty. + +Perhaps no event of history has ever been so grossly and malignantly +misrepresented as the capture of Jefferson Davis. At the time an absurd +story was published along with a cartoon in even so respectable a paper as +_Harper's Weekly_, which represented Mr. Davis at the time of his capture +arrayed in shawl, bonnet and hoop-skirts, and, strange as it may seem, +this ridiculous screed is still accepted by thousands of intelligent +people as correct history. The true facts of the case, as learned from Mr. +Davis and corroborated by both General Wilson and Mr. Burton Harrison, are +as follows: + +[Illustration: Richmond as Gen. Weitzel Entered It] + +The Confederate President reached the spot where his wife's party had +pitched its tent after nightfall. During the evening it was decided that, +to avoid discovery, he would leave the party on the following day and +thenceforward would proceed westward alone. About daylight the travelers +were awakened by firing across a nearby stream, and Mr. Davis thinking it +an attack from marauders remarked to his wife that he hoped he still had +enough influence with the Southern people to prevent her robbery and +stepped out of the tent. Almost immediately he returned saying it was not +marauders but Federal soldiers. Mrs. Davis, frantic with fright, begged +him to fly. In the darkness of the tent he picked up a light rain coat, +which he supposed to be his own but which belonged to his wife, and she +threw a shawl around his shoulders. His horse stood saddled by the +roadside and he ran toward it, but before he could reach it a trooper +interposed and with leveled carbine bade him surrender. Intending to place +his hand under the foot of the soldier and topple him out of the saddle he +gave a defiant answer and rushed forward. Mrs. Davis, however, now +interposed and Mr. Davis seeing the opportunity lost walked back to the +tent, where a few moments later he surrendered to Colonel Pritchard of the +Fifth Michigan Cavalry. + +No soldier who took part in the capture of Mr. Davis ever supposed that he +attempted to disguise himself, and the story of the bonnet and the +hoop-skirts is, of course, pure fiction. The picture of the illustrious +captive, presented in this edition, represents him exactly as he appeared +at the time of his capture, when divested of the shawl and raglan, which +in no way served to conceal his identity, much less his sex. + +Despite the efforts of Colonel Pritchard to spare Mr. Davis all +indignities, many insults were heaped upon him enroute to Macon. Once +arrived at that point he was furnished with a comfortable suite of rooms +and after a time General Wilson sought an interview, during the course of +which Mr. Davis first learned that he was accused of complicity in the +assassination of President Lincoln, and of Andrew Johnson's proclamation +offering $100,000 reward for his apprehension. + +Those who knew Mr. Davis will remember him best by his habitual expression +of calm dignity and benign gentleness. One would imagine that scorn or +contempt could never disturb that face, but General Wilson says that when +he imparted the above information that his lips curved in contempt, that +his brows were knitted and that there was a deep gleam of anger in his +eyes which, however, soon softened away as he remarked, with a half rueful +smile, that there was at least one man in the United States who knew that +charge to be false. General Wilson, of course, asked who it was, and Mr. +Davis replied, "The author of the proclamation himself, for he, at least, +knows that of the two I would have preferred Lincoln as president." + +From Macon Mr. Davis was sent under guard to Augusta, and from thence on a +river tug in company with Clement C. Clay and Alexander H. Stephens, to +Port Royal, where they were transferred to a steamer which conveyed them +to Fortress Monroe. During the time they were anchored off shore crafts of +all descriptions swarmed around, and the insults and gibes of the morbid +sight seekers keenly annoyed the illustrious prisoner, and it was a relief +when a file of soldiers came to escort him ashore. He requested permission +from General Miles for his family to proceed to Washington or Richmond, +but this was curtly refused and they were sent back to Savannah. + + + + +XXX. A Nation's Shame + + +In fortress Monroe, Mr. Davis was confined in a gun room of a casement +which was heavily barricaded with iron bars. Two sentries with loaded +muskets and fixed bayonets were posted in the room, while two others paced +up and down in front of his cell. + +Escape would have been impossible for any one, however strong and +vigorous, and he, now an old man, was weak, feeble and emaciated. + +Yet on the third day after his incarceration, while the victorious troops +of the republic were passing in solemn review before the President and +generals of a great nation, there was enacted in that little cell at +Fortress Monroe a scene which must forever cause the blush of shame to +mantle the brow of every American at its mere mention. A file of soldiers +entered the cell and Captain Jerome Titlow, with evident pain and +reluctance informed Mr. Davis that he had a most unpleasant duty to +perform, which was to place manacles upon him. Mr. Davis demanded who had +given such an order, and upon being informed that it was General Miles, +asked to see him. This was refused by Captain Titlow, who sought to induce +him to submit peaceably to the inevitable. "It is an order which no +soldier would give and which none should obey. Shoot me now and end at +once this miserable persecution!" At the same time the fallen chieftain +drew himself up to his full height and faced the soldiers, his hands +clenching in convulsive grasps and his eyes gleaming like those of a +hunted tiger driven to bay. A word from Captain Titlow and a soldier with +the shackles in hand advanced, but before he could touch the captive he +dealt him a blow which felled him upon the floor. Necessarily the struggle +was a short one and in a few moments heavy irons were riveted upon his +ankles and one of the foremost of living statesmen lay upon a miserable +straw mattress chained as though he had been the vilest of desperate +criminals. + +Had Garibaldi or Napoleon after Sedan been subjected to the crowning +indignity inflicted upon Jefferson Davis all Europe would have rung with +the infamy of the brutal act, and yet the whirlwind of sectional strife +had so fanned the fires of prejudice and hatred that the act was generally +applauded at the North, and the officer responsible for this crime against +civilization for many years exhibited the shackles as though they had been +a trophy of honorable victory. + +Let us as Americans be thankful that such perverted sentiment was short +lived, and that a day came when the infamous act was repudiated as +wantonly cruel and brutal, and its perpetrators were more anxious to avoid +the responsibility for it than formerly they had been to assume it. There +is now no longer any doubt as to the person who is responsible for placing +Jefferson Davis in irons, but it is only fair to General Miles to say that +he was very young at the time. The grave charges against Mr. Davis, no +doubt, served to mislead his immature judgment, and from the fact that +Louis Napoleon had recently escaped from a fortification in France he, no +doubt, believed that the extreme and cruel measure was necessary. + +In justice it should be further stated that as soon as General Miles +believed the danger of escape no longer great he gave orders for the +removal of the shackles, and thereafter treated Mr. Davis with much +kindness. The story of Mr. Davis' two years' imprisonment at Fortress +Monroe is too well known from Dr. Craven's impartial, if somewhat +fragmentary, account to need further repetition here. + + + + +XXXI. Efforts to Execute Mr. Davis + + +It is a difficult matter at this distance of time to realize the attitude +of public sentiment against Jefferson Davis the state prisoner of Fortress +Monroe. As the chief executive of the late Confederacy, he was, in popular +estimation, the incarnation, if not the proximate cause, of all the sins +and suffering of Rebellion, but worse than all the administration which in +feverish, puerile haste had declared him an accessory to the assassination +of Mr. Lincoln and upon that score had paid out of the public treasury +$100,000 for his capture, could not, or rather dared not reverse its +attitude and speak the truth. The result was, of course, that the vast +majority of the people at the North believed Mr. Davis to be as guilty of +murder as he was of treason, and consequently there was a mighty clamor +for his summary execution. + +Had there been a scintilla of evidence, nay, had there been any fact which +human ingenuity could have tortured into a plausible resemblance to guilty +knowledge of Mr. Lincoln's death, no one will now doubt that Jefferson +Davis would have been murdered as was Mrs. Serrat. + +Andrew Johnston within ninety days after he had issued his ridiculously +false proclamation admitted it to be without foundation--a fact which all +along was fully realized by every member of the government who had +personally known the accused. And yet a coterie of radicals, headed by a +conspicuous member of the Cabinet, continued to search by such +questionable means for incriminating evidence that it disgusted the just, +conservative men of all parties, and they demanded that the senseless +accusation be dropped for all time. + +However, a chance yet remained to dispose of the fallen chieftain without +incurring any of the trouble and risk that must arise from a trial +according to the laws of the land. + +Thousands of Federal prisoners had starved and died at Andersonville and +throughout the North this tale of suffering had inspired such horror and +indignation that there was a general demand for the punishment of those +who were supposed to be responsible for it. Captain Wirz, the commandant +of Andersonville, was accordingly haled before a drum-head court martial +and, despite the fact that he conclusively demonstrated that conditions +responsible for the horrors of that pest hole were beyond his own control, +or that of any man or number of men in the Confederacy, he was promptly +convicted and was sentenced to death. + +Then a serviceable, if not honorable, idea seized the hysterical radicals, +which was nothing less than the feasibility of holding Jefferson Davis +responsible for the horrors of Andersonville. But there again the +ingenuity of malice failed to discover any evidence except that which was +highly creditable to the intended victim. + +All that followed in the nefarious plot is not and never will be fully +known, but from the declaration of the priest, who was Captain Wirz's +spiritual adviser, as well as from other authentic information, there is +no room whatever to doubt that the condemned man was offered his life and +liberty if he would swear that in the management of the prison he had +acted under the direction of Jefferson Davis. Captain Wirz, however, was a +brave and honorable man and scorning to purchase his life with such a lie, +he met his fate like a soldier. This left but one other course open. If +Mr. Davis were to be punished at all, it must be for treason. The idea +appealed to the radicals with something of the same zest that a child +experiences from its first gaudy toy, and for a time they fairly reveled +in visions of a court martial which, unincumbered of the troublesome rules +of evidence observed in courts of law, would speedily give the desired +result. + +But fortunately for the American people, there were men in the Cabinet and +in Congress, who knowing the law, clearly saw that such a course of +procedure must shock the whole civilized world and reduce the guarantees +of the Constitution to a parity with the so-called organic law of the +revolutionary despotisms of Central American and South America. Against +this sentiment the ravings of the vindictive cabal availed nothing, and, +as the months went by, it became evident that if a trial ever came, it +must be according to the laws of the land. + + + + +XXXII. Indictment of Mr. Davis + + +In the meantime Mr. Davis was constantly demanding that he be given the +speedy and impartial trial provided in such cases by the Constitution. + +Charles O'Connor, then the greatest of living lawyers, Henry Ould and many +other leading members of the bar from the Northern states volunteered to +defend Mr. Davis, while Thaddeus Stevens proffered his services to Clement +C. Clay. Horace Greeley, through the columns of the _Tribune_, constantly +demanded that Mr. Davis be either liberated or brought to trial, and by +the spring of the year 1866 he had created such a sentiment throughout the +country in favor of his contentions that the government could no longer +delay some action. + +Accordingly in May an indictment was procured, charging Jefferson Davis +with high treason against the United States, and in June of the same year +Mr. Boutwell offered a resolution in Congress that the accused should be +tried according to the laws of the land, which passed that body by a vote +of 105 to 19. + +But despite that resolution, there were those who clearly foresaw the +danger involved in it, and hoping that time might dispose of the necessity +for any trial at all, urged delay as the wisest measure. Consequently, +despite the efforts of Greeley and Gerritt Smith, and other great men of +the North, the trial was postponed until May, 1867. + +Mr. Davis, weak pale and emaciated, appeared before Chief Justice Chase +sitting with Justice Underwood in the Circuit Court at Richmond. The +court-room was crowded to its utmost capacity and despite the stern +discipline sought to be enforced it was with the greatest difficulty that +the applause could be suppressed that from time to time greeted the +profound logic and masterly eloquence of Charles O'Connor's great speech +on a motion to quash the indictment. The arguments lasted two days and at +their conclusion Chief Justice Chase voted to quash the indictment, while +Justice Underwood voted to sustain it, thus necessitating a reference of +the matter to the Supreme Court of the United States for final decision. +In accordance with a previous arrangement Mr. Davis was soon afterward +admitted to bail, Horace Greeley, Gerritt Smith, Augustus Schell and a +number of other former political enemies becoming his bondsmen. + + + + +XXXIII. Why Davis Was Not Tried for Treason + + +From that moment the administration knew that Jefferson Davis would never +be tried for treason and drew a long breath of relief. Yes, the +administration knew, but the general public, beyond the gilded vagaries +about humanity and the magnanimity of a great nation to a vanquished foe, +sedulously promulgated to obscure the real reason, has never understood +why Jefferson Davis was never tried for the high crime which it was +alleged that he had committed against the United States. + +Unfortunately the restricted space at this time at the disposal of the +author precludes anything more than setting forth the conclusions based +upon the evidence now in his possession, of why this charge was so +joyously abandoned by an administration which less than two years before +had moved heaven and earth to discover any pretext which might lend the +color of justice to the summary execution of the illustrious chieftain of +the Confederacy. + +To one in any way acquainted with popular sentiment, with the temper of +the administration even in 1867, all declarations of magnanimity, +generosity and abhorrence of extreme measures must seem the merest cant. +It is, of course, not beyond the pale of possibility that those who in +1865 were willing to descend to any depths of infamy to secure a pretext +for the execution of Mr. Davis _might_ have experienced a change of heart +in two years sufficiently marked to create conscientious scruples against +putting him upon a fair trial in a court of justice on the charge of +treason. But that theory of the case would be altogether unlikely even if +we did not know that the desire of the administration to hang Jefferson +Davis was just as intense in 1867 as it was two years before. That it did +not attempt to accomplish that result through the regular channels of +justice, is due entirely to the fact that such a trial would have opened +up the whole question of secession for final adjudication by our highest +court of last resort. It would have been a trial not so much of Mr. Davis +as of the question of state rights, and the able lawyers of the +administration, partisans as they were, had no desire to see the highest +judicial body of the land reverse an issue which had been satisfactorily +decided by the sword. + +Charles O'Connor's bold declaration that Jefferson Davis could never _be_ +convicted of treason under the Constitution as it then stood first aroused +the administration to the dangers of the task that it had assumed. Mr. +Johnson sent for his attorney-general and had him prepare an opinion on +the case. In due time it was submitted. It was a veritable bombshell which +fairly demolished every theory upon which Jefferson Davis might have been +convicted of treason or any other crime. + +Mr. Johnston then called to his aid two of the greatest constitutional +lawyers of the age, and they agreed with the conclusions of Mr. Stanberry. +Not satisfied with this, he invited the chief justice to a conference for +a full discussion of the matter. + +If there was ever a partisan, it was Salmon P. Chase, but at the same time +he was a great lawyer and an honest and fearless man. "Lincoln," he said, +"wanted Jeff. Davis to escape. He was right. His capture was a mistake, +his trial will be a greater one. We cannot convict him of treason. +Secession is settled. Let it stay settled!" Significant words truly from +that source, and they explain the vote of the great judge who would have +quashed the indictment against Mr. Davis no less than the question so +often asked, "Why was Jefferson Davis never tried for treason?" + +Immediately after Mr. Davis' release on bond, he went with his family to +New York, and a few weeks later to Montreal, where he continued to reside +until May of the following year when he again appeared before the Circuit +Court in Richmond for trial. But despite the efforts of his counsel to +force a trial of the case, it was dismissed by the government and thus +ended ingloriously the boast of the government that it intended "in the +arch traitor Davis to make treason odious." + + + + +XXXIV. Freedom, Reverses, Beauvoir + + +Impaired in health and longing for rest far away from the tragic scenes of +the past few years, Mr. Davis accepted the invitation of English friends +to visit them. But it was soon discovered that his visit was to be a +continuous ovation. Everywhere he was greeted as though he had been the +conqueror instead of the vanquished. The spirit that prompted those +manifestations he appreciated, but it revived sad memories of the cause +for which he had staked all and lost, and to avoid this lionizing he took +up his residence in Paris. + +The cordiality of the Frenchmen, however, surpassed that of their English +brethren, and Mr. Davis soon found himself so much in the public eye that +he decided to return to England. Before quitting Paris, the emperor +conveyed his desire for an audience, which Mr. Davis courteously refused. +Napoleon, he conceived, had acted in bad faith with the South and such was +the moral rectitude of the man that he could never disguise his contempt +for any one, of however exalted station, whom he believed to be guilty of +double dealing of any kind. + +As the guest of Lord Leigh and the Duke of Shrewsbury in Wales, Mr. Davis' +health gradually improved until he felt himself once more able to enter an +active business of life. The war had left him a poor man, and when a life +insurance company of Memphis offered him its presidency with a fair salary +he accepted, and with his family returned to America. The people of +Memphis soon after his arrival presented him a fine residence, but this he +refused. + +Mr. Davis was probably a very poor business man and his associates of the +insurance company were in no way superior, for its affairs soon became +anything but prosperous. All of his available capital was invested in it, +but this he gladly sacrificed in order to sell his own company to a +stronger one which could protect the policies of the former. + +[Illustration: The Davis Mansion] + +The people of Texas, learning of Mr. Davis' losses offered to give him an +extensive stock farm in that state, but this he also refused. + +Upon the Gulf of Mexico, near the little station of Beauvoir, Mr. Davis +owned a tract of land which he conceived would support his family, and +there, far from the strife of the busy world, he resolved to spend the +declining years of his life. However, retirement at best could only be +partial, for a man loved and venerated as Mr. Davis was throughout the +South, and Beauvoir accordingly became the shrine of the public men who +sought the counsel of its sage. But with the modesty characteristic of the +man he refused to advise any one upon measures of national import, since +by the action of Congress he was forever disfranchised. + +He would not ask pardon, sincerely believing that he had done no wrong, +and when the people of Mississippi would have elected him to the United +States Senate he declined the honor in words which should be perused by +all who know the man as he was, during this period of his life: "The +franchise is yours here, and Congress can but refuse you admission and +your exclusion will be a test question," ran the invitation to which Mr. +Davis replied: "I remained in prison two years and hoped in vain for a +trial, and now scenes of insult and violence, producing alienation between +the sections, would be the only result of another test. I am too old to +serve you as I once did and too enfeebled by suffering to maintain your +cause." + +Any word that might serve to still further increase that alienation never +passed the lips of the gentle, kindly old man, who still the idol of his +people, preferred to all honors the quiet life there among the pines, +where amidst his flowers he played with his children and their little +friends, and far into the night, surrounded by his books, he worked +assiduously upon his only defense, "The Rise and Fall of the Confederate +States of America." The concluding paragraph of that book, written in the +gray dawn of a summer morning after a night of continuous labor, should be +read by every one who would understand the motives that actuated Jefferson +Davis in the great part that he played in the world's history. + +"In asserting the right of secession it has not been my wish to incite to +its exercise. I recognize the fact that the war showed it to be +impracticable, but this did not prove it to be wrong; and now that it may +not be again attempted, and the Union may promote the general welfare, it +is needful that the truth, the whole truth, should be known so that +crimination and recrimination may forever cease, and then on the basis of +fraternity and faithful regard for the rights of the states there may be +written on the arch of the Union 'Esto perpetua.'" + +It is the voice of the soul in defeat, yet strong and conscious of its own +integrity, recognizing the inevitable and praying for peace and the +perpetuation of that Union which Jefferson Davis still loved. + + + + +XXXV. Death of Mr. Davis + + +His life's work was done with the completion of his book, and trusting to +impartial posterity for that vindication of his motives which he realized +must come some day, he turned away from the scenes of controversy and +contentions, seeking in books, the converse of his friends, in long +rambles with his children across wood and field, for oblivion of all +painful memories. Defeat and persecution never embittered him. Cruel and +false accusations found their way to his sylvan retreat. That they +grievously wounded can be doubted by no one who knew his proud spirit, +supersensitive to every insinuation of dishonor, but with the gentle smile +of a philosopher he passed them by, fully realizing that his beloved +people of the South, at least, would understand the stainless purity of +all his motives. + +A harsh or an unkind word never passed his lips concerning any of his +personal or political enemies. In fact, it would be no more than the truth +to say that this gentle old man cherished no sentiment of enmity toward +any of God's creatures. The storm and stress of life were over, its hopes +and its passions were dead, and grandly, majestically this man, who at +once embodied the highest type of American manhood and all of the virtues +of the perfect Christian gentleman, calmly awaited the end. It came on the +6th of December, 1889, in New Orleans, at the home of Judge Fenner, his +life-long friend. When the news of his death went forth, even the voice of +malice was subdued, and many of those who had sought to fix everlasting +infamy upon his name ceased for a time to be unjust and agreed that a +majestic soul had passed. Over the bier of the dead chieftain the whole +South wept and nine of its governors bore him to the grave. + +[Illustration: The Davis Monument at Richmond] + +No proper estimate of the life and character of Jefferson Davis is +possible in the restricted scope of this work, but lest I should be +accused of partiality I shall here append the conclusion of Ridpath, the +historian, written after a residence of almost a year under the same roof +with Mr. Davis, which I heartily endorse as a correct estimate of the man. + +"Before I had been with Mr. Davis three days every preconceived idea +utterly and forever disappeared. Nobody doubted Mr. Davis' intellectual +capacity, but it was not his mental power that most impressed me. It was +his goodness, first of all, and then his intellectual integrity. I never +saw an old man whose face bore more emphatic evidences of a gentle, +refined and benignant character. He seemed to me the ideal embodiment of +'sweetness and light.' His conversation showed that he had 'charity for +all and malice toward none.' I never heard him utter an unkind word of any +man and he spoke of nearly all of his famous opponents. His manner may be +best described as gracious, so exquisitely refined, so courtly, yet heart +warm. Mr. Davis' dignity was as natural and charming as the perfume of the +rose--the fitting expression of a serene, benign and comely moral nature. +However handsome he may have been when excited in battle or debate, it +surely was in his own home, with his family and friends around him, that +he was seen at his best; and that best was the highest point of grace and +refinement that the Southern character has reached." + +Lest any foreigner should read this statement, let me say for his benefit +that there are two Jefferson Davises in American history--one is a +conspirator, a rebel, a traitor and "the Fiend of Andersonville"--he is a +myth evolved from the hell-smoke of cruel war--as purely an imaginary a +personage as Mephistopheles or the Hebrew Devil; the other was a statesman +with clean hands and pure heart, who served his people faithfully from +budding manhood to hoary age, without thought of self, with unbending +integrity, and to the best of his great ability--he was a man of whom all +his countrymen who knew him personally, without distinction of creed +political, are proud, and proud that he was their countryman. + +This is a conclusion by no means extravagant, a conclusion which, despite +the fact of some mental faults that prevented him from quite attaining to +the first rank of the greatest statesman, nevertheless leaves him +pre-eminent as one of the purest and best of the men who has played a +conspicuous part in the world's history. + + +FINIS. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Real Jefferson Davis, by Landon Knight + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43979 *** |